and in vvhose eyes the glory of God is not esteemed and yet the Lord knovveth I hate them no farther then they are Gods enemies Their fauor I desire not as long as they continue to be the aduersaries of the Church If they vvould yeeld peace vnto it I vvould be soon brought to lay dovvn my complaints against thē Concerning you my deare countrimen vvhom God of his infinit goodnes and mercy hath translated out of the kingdome of darknes vnto the blessed possession of the heauenly Ierusalem I beseech you very earnestly that you vvould be carefull to walk vvorthy the Gospel of christ Be carefull hereof vvhether your abode be in England or in VVales and at any hand endeuor to liue vvhere you may enioy the meanes of the vvord And be carefull to haue the Lord purely vvorshipped in your families Take heed of the profanenes vvhereby the most novve liuing are dravvn to contemne Gods iudgements against their sinnes The time vvil come wherin it shal be made known that your hope vvas not in vaine Labor diligently as far as your callings vvill suffer you to be a means to conuay that treasure vnto your country vvhereof you your selues haue bin made partakers Particularly let me here put you in minde R. honourable and vvorshipfull vvho of my countrye are in this Parliament to acquaint this honorable court vvith the miseries of our country and to be earnest for a redresse And you my brethren vvho hauing fit gifts and are employed in the ministery either in your ovvn countrie or in England forget not I pray you to be remembrancers of Sion giue the Lord no rest vntill the righteousnes thereof breake foorth as the light and the saluation thereof as a burning lampe J vvould to God that I might ioyne vvith you and you vvith me in some endeuor vvhereby the means of saluation might be had in our natiue countrie it is my harty desire The God of peace who hath called vs to his eternall glory by Christ Iesus make vs perfect confirme strengthen and stablish vs to the ende Amen A viewe of some part of such publike wants disorders as are in the seruice of God within her Maiesties countrie of VVales togither vvith an humble PETITION vnto this high Court of Parliament for their speedy redresse Anno 1588. THe aeternall God before whom I nowe stand and shall stande in that day eyther to be acquited or condemned knoweth that the pitifull miserable estate of my pitifull and miserable countreimen the inhabitants of Wales doe inforce me in most dutifull and humble maner at this time both to lay open before your eyes whoe by the prouidence of God are now to be assembled togither in this highe court of parlament the wantes and deformities of the seruice of god in wales my deere natiue country and also to intreat with the like submission that the same by your wisdomes may be speedely redressed The Lords holy seruice amonge that people hath many corruptions and more wants Their case in regarde therof is very pitifull Few or none there be who are thorowly touched to haue compassion thereof The means of redresse is in the hands of this assembly who are met together to the end that al the subiects of this kingdome may with fredome and liberty acquaint them with their suits and Petitions for the promotinge of Gods glory and the good of their cuntry And therfore in that I make known vnto this high court the greefes of my country desire the redresse thereof therin I neither intreat any thing which lieth not in your power to grant nor craue that wherin the case being neglected by others I may not lawfully be a suter The reason that mooueth me thereunto is the discharge of my duty towards the Lord my God towards his Church towatdes my natiue country and towards you of this honorable assemblie which coulde not stand with my silence nowe in this suit Concerning the Lorde because I am a pore wretched sinner vpon whom he hath shewed great mercies in pardoning my great offences often committed against his maiestie I haue by his grace taken a bonde of my selfe to seeke the promoting of his honor by al means possible and in the seeking thereof to vtter the truth as far as my calling wil permit without respect of person time place estate or conditiō of life whatsoeuer and so to become an vtter enemie vnto all these corruptions by what authoritie or person soeuer they be maintained whereby his holy seruice is hindred And therfore you of this honorable assembly are not to maruel that I both seeke the ouerthrow of these corruptions in Wales whereof a non I wil speak more at larg wherby the Lords holy and sacred ministery is shamefully polluted and his seruice with the saluation of his people greatly withstood and also lay vppon you whose authority good name credit estimation and high place I ought and by the grace of god wil defend against al the detractors therof euē with the losse of my life when it shal be needful the staine and discredit of denying gods heauenly truth the passage joyned with the continuance of the lamentable miserie of soules and the defence of monstrous impietie euē in gods own house vnles you yeeld vnto the suit whervnto at this present you are entreated to be fauorable As for the Church of God into which I haue bin begotten thorowe the word preched by means of my abode in Englande in these peaceable dayes of her highnes I haue wholly dedicated my selfe to seeke the flowrishing estate thereof by labouring to beutifie the same both in the plucking vp by the rootes of these filthie Italian weedes wherwith it is nowe miserably deformed and planting therein whatsoeuer might be for the comlines of Gods orchard in respect of my poore countrey because it pleased the Lord of life that therin I first sawe the light of the sunne and haue been by my parents there liuing brought vp in both the vniuersities of this land to the end if euer the Lord enabled me I should procure the good of my natiue countrymen I haue vowed my selfe dutifully to benefite them al the waies I may And in doing them good I purpose not to respect mine own quietnes yea or life where my death can win them the gospel And wherein shal I stand my deare cuntrimen in any steed if not by speaking in their behalf then when their wantes are most pitiful they not able or not willing to make knowne their miserie if not in blessing their deaf ears in remouing the stumblinge blocke from before the eies of the blinde if not in labouringe to bring them to heauen who of their owne natures should liue eternally in a worse place to their woe Their misery at this day consisting partly in the great ignorance of God wherein they liue partly in those corruptions and vnlawful callings where by the Church generally within her maiesties dominions is pestered I am
honorable assembly let my counsell be acceptable vnto you breake of your sinnes by rooting out these plants which the Lorde neuer planted in his vineyarde and your iniquities by abandoning the same so much as in you lieth so there may be a healing of your former ouersight If not the Lords face will be against you yours and the wholland for euil not for good Oh my Lords is it not a miserable case that men should so liue vnder your gouerment in this life as they cannot possibly but liue in hel in the life to come Oh my Ll. heauen cannot be obtayned whē we are gon Oh my Ll. now is the time for the gospell to florish in Wales or neuer Oh my Ll. if her Maiestie and your honors whome from my verye heart I wish the Lorde to blesse should be gone the way of all the world for mine owne part the staffe of mine hope to see any good done amongst my brethren should be broken Blame me not therefore if I deale earnestly in a cause of so great a moment and so vnlikely to be obtayned of our wofull posterities whom my suit in a most neere sort concerneth Oh why should they haue cause to say the Lord be judge between vs and the gouernours which were vnder Queene Elizabeth in the dayes of our fathers for they might haue opened our eyes and healed our woundes which now alasse are desperat and past recouery It is now full 30. yeares and vpward since Babylon hath bin ouerthrowne in Wales rather by the voice of her maiesties good laws whom good Lord forget not for this worke then the sounde of any trumpet from the mouthes of the sonnes of Aaron among vs. But alasse what shall we and our posterities be the better for this if Sion bee not built And what comfort can Zerubbabel or Nehemiah haue to bring them out of Babylon if they meane but to reaedifie Shilo seeing it is the beautie of Sion wherein the Lorde delighteth We haue cause in deed to thanke God that this wicked citie hath beene by her Maiestie broken downe in some sort but are neuer the better seeing the walles of Sion lie euen with the grounde Nowe for the space of 28. yeares no man greatly laboured to her Majestie the parliament or the people themselues eyther by speaking or writing in the behalfe of eyther of these vnreconcilable cities Men belike thinking no more to be required at their hands then the razing of Babel and the diuel as yet contenting himselfe with Bethel The last parliament by al liklihod the very same week vpon a sodaine the interprises of the building of both in 2. seueral books issuing from 2. of the remotest corners in our lands Southwales and Northwales was taken in hand The one of the books pleading the cause of Sion cōminig forth by publike authority and alowance was directed vnto her Maiestie and the parliament requiring at their hands by vertue of the lords own mandatory letters the performance of this work shewing by euidence of greatest antiquitye this to be required of duty at their hands as a part of the homadge due vnto his highnes whose foedaries and vassales all the princes and states vnder heauen must acknowledg themselues to be and a portion of that inheritance being theirs by lineall dissent from their predecessors the godly kings and rulers who time out of minde alwaies laid their shoulders vnto this burthen y druch Christiano-gawl The other written in weltch printed in an obscure caue in Northwales published by an author vnknowne more vnlerned for I think he had neuer read any thing but the common published resolution of R. P. a booke contayning many substantiall errors Fryer Rush and other shamful fables stood to by non and hauing no reason to shew why his Babilon should be raedefied it contained it self within the hands of a fewe priuate men and neuer durst to this houre be made knowne vnto any of our magestrats Both the books in this thing had the same successe in that both together they fel into the hands of the prelats who as they pretend are enemies vnto both places but vndoubtedly vnto Sion especially as it apeared by their hard dealing with the patrone of that cause This is spoken in respect of the church gouernment whereas the fautors of the other being also in their handes were either not at al delt with or very curteously entertained of them The reason of their enemity vnto both but their hatred vnto Siō is that neuer I feare me meaning to go thether and constrained by lawe to be enemies vnto the other they haue of the gold of Caldea and the drosse of Ierusalem compacted them a citty wherewith they meane to content them selues vntil they returne to Babel again or the Lord be merciful vnto thē vnto a worse place Haue they not therfore good cause to be the more beholding to the on for the gold then the other for the drosse Wel be you asured hereof that they who stirred vp both these instruments both at one time will neuer suffer them to cease vntil in Wales either a church of Christ or a sinagogue of sathan be built Out of question the concurring of both causes sheweth that the lord hath som secret work in the matter Sathans instruments for their parts were neuer busier then they are at this houre and shal I be silent They trecherously against the lawes of God and this land seek to bring the people again vnto Egipt I according vnto both endeuour neuer to let them rest vntil it please the Lord by meanes of her Maiesty and the parlament to bring them within the land of promise no though they were vppon mount Nebo whence with their eies they might view the same They haue delt and deal secretly with poor soules in dark corners and dare not make knowne the fabulous cause I haue delt al this while in the face of the sun and nowe before the state of the land assembled together I-want not a good cause and by the grace of god it shal neuer want the poore defence which I cann yeld vnto it or hide the face as long as I liue whether you countenance it or no I know that on day it shal preuail when this wil be the Lord knoweth best but the matter is whether you wil embrace Christ in the building of his Church or Sathan in continuing the breaches thereof Therfore entertaine this cause you giue Sathan the foile reject this and you strengthen him And try if you deny it the hearing whether the very papists in this land wil not be thereby encoraged to supplicate vnto the parliament that you would graunt them the liberty of their seared consciences to commit publike idolatry Al that hitherto I haue spoken hath ben said either in the cause of Christ which is a good cause or in the behalfe of Sathan If I seeke the building of his sinagog wil you let me liue If of the
church of Christ wil you deny me your help which yet againe and againe in the name of the eternal God I require for the precious deth passions sake of Iesus Christ I earnestly desire at your handes My Ll. and whosoeuer are parlament men as you would haue the Lord to entertaine your souls in the life to come as you would haue him shewe you any mercy as you loue her Maiesty and her life as you would haue the continuance of her peaceable raign over vs which the Lord vndoutedly threatneth to shorten because he woulde bring destruction vpon you and vs al for the contempt of his truth as you would not haue your names razed from vnder heauen as you would not haue the Lord to bring vpon vs and our land the Spanish Italian Romish or Guisian forces as you would not haue these who shal liue to see the desolation and desperat sorrow which the Lord is likely to bring vpon this land not abide to see you or your childrē ride or go in the strets as you would not haue the most contemtible to stretch forth his hand vpon the derest things you posses and offer violence vnto the frute of your bodies So entertaine this cause grant this suite and be careful of the Lords true seruice in wales Otherwise the vengeance of God I feare me will neuer leaue you and your posterities as long as there is a man of your houses left vnder heauen Ezekiel in deed is not nowe liuing to put you in mind of the necessity of redressing the things amis by laying open the corruptions of all estates vnder your gouernment as he doth cap. 22. of his prophesie His words I wil set downe that you may wey our estate with the time wherin the prophet liued and see whether the Lorde wil spare you vs if we stil prouoke him to smite There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the middest thereof saith the prophet like a roring lyon rauening the pray they haue deuoured soules they haue taken the riches and the precious thinges they haue made her many widdows in the middest thereof her priests haue broken my law and haue defiled my holy things they haue put no difference betweene the holy profane neither discerned between the vncleane and the cleane and haue hid their eies from my sabboth and I am profaned among them Her princes in the middest thereof are like wolues rauening the pray to shed blood and to destroy soules for their owne couetous lucre And her prophets haue daubed her with vntempered morter seeing vanities and deuininge lyes vnto them sayihg thus saith the Lord Iehouah when Iehouah had not spoken The people of the land haue violently oppressed by robbing and spoiling and haue vexed the poor and needy yea they haue opressed the stranger against right Thus far Ezechiel Be the sinns of our prophets of our princes and of our people the same that here he speketh against be they greater or be the lesse yet without controuersie if the Lord may say I haue sought for a man in the parliament of England that should make vp the hedge stand in the gapp before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none then woe be vnto vs for that shal follow which is set downe in the prophete Therefore haue I powred out mine indignation vppon them and consumed them with the fier of my wrath their own waies haue I rendered vpon their heads saith the Lord Iehouah And vnlesse there were just cause to thinke that this Lorde had either already or shortly ment to pronounce this sentence against vs we might cōtemne and scorn at the broken assalts of the Spaniards or any other the enemies of the Gospel and her Maiesties whosoeuer But as long as we giue not the right hand to the Lord by entering into his sanctuarye we haue just cause to feare a nation that is no nation much more a people in number as the sand which is by the seashore Our leagues and most stable couenants with the enemies the Lord will soone disanul standing thus at the staffes end with his Maiestie as we doe Let it not be sayd in this pIace that the Lord would not haue so wonderfully wrought our late deliueraunce out of the hand of the Spaniarde if he ment at al to haue called the land to reckoning for the great ignorance and wicked ecclesiasticall constitutions which are truly sayd to be maintained therein For this both Moses and Saloman Deut. 29.18.49.20 note to be the man of all those that shall not prolong their dayes Moses warneth al states in any case to take heed that there should not be among them man woman family nor tribe which should turne his hart away from the Lord God so that when he heareth the wordes of the curse he blesse him selfe in his hart saying I shall haue peace though I walked after the stubbornenes of mine owne hart thus adding drunkennes vnto thirst For saith he the Lord wil not be mercifull vnto that man but then the wrath of the Lorde shall smoke against that man and euery curse that is written in this booke shal light vpon him and the Lord shall put out his name from vnder heauen the Lord shal seperate him vnto euil according vnto all the curses that is writen in the booke of the lawe Eccles 8.11.13 And Soloman knowing the corruptions of men to be such as their harts are fully set in them to doe euil because sentence against their euil works is not spedely executed openly testifieth that although a sinner doe euill an hundreth times the Lord prolong his days yet it shal only be well with them that feare the Lord and do reuerence before him But it shall not be wel with the wicked saith he for he shal be like a shadow because he feareth not before God And therefore although at this time the Lords anger hath not visited nor caled the sinnes of our land to account with gret extremity by the hand of the Spanyard yet let vs be assured that it shall not goe wel with vs vnlesse you of the high court of parliament shew that you feare your God and doe reuerence before him in purging out of his holy seruice what soeuer is superfluous therein and in adding whatsoeuer is wanting therevnto The Lord by that deliuerance gaue vs warning that he passed by vs but so as vnlesse the corruptions of his seruice be clean don away with speed by her Maiesty and the parliament meaneth to passe by vs no more but to suffer his whol displeasure to fall vppon vs at his next comming And in deed as often as I consider our late defence from the Spanish invasion together with our deserts I am induced to think that the Lord then was affected towards vs as somtimes he was towards Israel his owne people concerning whom he speaketh Deut. 32.26 I haue sayd I would scatter them abrod I wold
state men for tything Minte and Cummin whereas in the meane time they are not ashamed no not to withstande the consultation purposing to bring that to passe which the wisdome of God himselfe Iesus Christ hath pronounced to be worthy the whole world euen the sauing health of men Wel the day will come how soone he alone knoweth in whose handes are the keyes of all knowledge wherein it shall appeare by wofull experience that too late what an heauie reckoning will bee made with such Parliament men And take you heed that are of this assembly now at the length after so many warnings lest you be found in their number who make light account of the cause of the Gospell offered vnto them and who thinke the matter of mens saluation to be nothing else but a conceit wherewith the immaginations of melanchollicke heads are vsually troubled The cause one day shal be found worth the consideration howsoeuer men now thinke that they may without dammage securely contemne the same And I woulde humbly intreate this high courte more seriously to consider thereof The suite is that Gods honour may be truely yeelded vnto him by the subiectes of this kingdome and that their soules may be saued in the daye of Iesus Christ such a suit as a greater cannot be consulted of amongst the sonnes of men And will not the wisest and greatest assembly in the land take order that this may be harkened vnto Wil they not consult of a waye how men may come vnto the means whereby they may be saued To what end else my Lordes should you be assembled together if this cause be not handled in your meetings A Parliament gathered together in England in the dayes of the Gospell vnder Queene ELIZABETH and the cause of Gods honor the felicitie of the subiectes neuer thought vpon neuer accounted worthy the consultation Such a state and such a gouernment may flowrish and continue in peace for a time but vndoubtedly the destruction therof is decreed with the Lord the execution of which decree shal not be ouerlong deferred without speedie repentance Can there be a meeting of all states in the lande to consult in Parliament what may be most behoffull for the promoting of Gods glorye and the good of the common welth and yet no care had how the aeternal miserie of a whole nation euen almost the fourth part of the kingdome may be preuented What is this else but to dally with Gods honour and to delude his people of their saluation When especially after so many Parliaments in a kingdome freely professing the Gospell for the space of 30. yeares in the fourth part of the kingdome there shal be founde such grosse ignorance as no region vnder heauen coulde at anye time yeelde the like president so long after the bannishing of idolatrie I doe not solace my self in considering the miserie of my natiue cuntrimen neither do I thinke thereof at all vnlesse it be to bewaile their estate and to consider how it may be redressed This I may say of them without offence that they neuer as yet for the most part enjoyed the preaching of the Gospell since they wer professed idolators vnder poperie Now what felicitie concerning spirituall things a profession without the Gospell preached can haue the same they may enjoye I denie not But what will be the end of such a profession verely euen this After a few dayes miserably spent in this life such professors shal be sure for any thing that is otherwise reuealed to liue in hell for euermore Will it then profit them at all to haue liued in a kingdome professing true religion though they haue gayned the whol world therein seeing they are sure to lose their owne soules because in this life they haue wanted the preaching of the Gospell And if this that I haue set downe be not sufficient to expresse their miserie and to mooue you to consider of them I know not what may be accounted miserable or what may procure compassion Or if this will not mooue you to graunt them the preaching of the Gospell then shal you leaue vnto posterities but a small testimonie of your religious hearts and loue to the Lords sanctuarie Is there not an heauen my Lordes after this life for men to goe vnto Is it possible that they shall ordinarily go thither who neuer enjoyed the preaching of the Gospell Or can our people in Wales looke for extraordinarie saluation And will not you see that they be no longer destitute of this meanes whereby they may walk in the statutes of life and not die Is this peticion that God may be truly honored and the soules of men saued hurtful to the state dangerous to her Maiesties ctowne and dignitie and contrary vnto hir affection cannot this state stand if God should be truly honored and that people trained in the waies of godlines Cannot her Maiesties crowne and dignitie stand if these thinges be enacted in Parliament And must shee needs be vndutifully gainsaid when the honor of her God the blessednesse of her people are pleaded for Whosoeuer haue do or will slaunder their soueraigne and the whole state in this vile and vndutifull sort it is pitie they were not seuerely punished Againe my LL. is that a religious assembly Is that an assemblie wherein trueth pietie the honor of God and the aeternall happinesse of men shal beare any sway where this petition can not be granted Which desireth nothing els but that whiche may be enacted without the great hurt of any which ought to be graunted whatsoeuer in the judgment of fleshly wise men might seeme to ensue thereof They will neuer therefore in the sight of God and his Churche escape the ignominie and staine of irreligious and profane men whose eyes will not be mooued with compassion at the estate of our people and defects of Gods seruice among them Nowe if I be thought to haue reported any vntrueth concerning their estate let me be brought face to face for the triall hereof with those vnto whom the care I should say the spoile of the Church there is committed and being conuinced to haue vttered any vntrueth let me haue no fauour but dye the death before you of this honourable assemblye and my blood be vpon my owne heade for impeaching the credite of the rulers of my people and their gouernement vndutifully by publike writing whose estimation I know it to be vnlawfull for me euen in thought once to violate I doe here therefore before your Hh. offer to prooue more at large that the most congregations in Wales want the very especiall outwarde markes of a Church and so the meanes of saluation by the worde preached and the comfort of fayth by the right administration of the Sacraments I also offer to prooue that your Hh. without your speedie repentaunce shal be reckoned with because that in this point you haue plowed but iniquitie and sowed wickednes and so as Iob sayth Iob. 4.8 you
shall reape the same Beleeue them not who tell you that all is well within Wales that they are a sort of clamorous and vndiscreet men who affirme the contrary Beleue them not who tell you that it belongeth not vnto your duties to be carefull of the estate of the Church and that the Lorde requireth no more at your hands but the mayntenance of outwarde peace As though men committed to your gouernement were but droues of bruite beastes onely to be foddered Ie. 17.13.14 and kept from external invasions and inroods Giue eare rather vnto the words of the Prophet who with a loude voyce crieth vnto you Why will you die you your families people by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence And why will you be damned I may alude without injurie vnto the word as the Lord hath spoken against all those gouernours that wil not see their people prouided a Ezra 7.17.23 psa 2.10 101. 2. chr 29 10. 30.9 34.27 ex 20.10 gen 18.19 2. chr 15.12.13 17.7 for of the meanes of saluation Therefore heare not the words of the prophets who tell you that you shall neyther see sword nor famine though you be still as careles of your people as hitherto you haue bene Looke the punnishments both of flattering prophetes and of those that are deceiued by their flatterie Ierem. 14.15 Heare them not I say but obeye the Lord in the execution of that dutie which he exacteth at your hands by calling your people to the knowledge of his sonne that you may liue For why should this lande be made desolate for this your carelesnes Ierem. 27.17 They prophesie vanitie and lies vnto you which saye peace peace while you dispise the Lorde and walke in this secure course or else Ieremiah is deceiued If they be prophets and if the word of the Lord be in their mouths let them intreat her Maiestie you of this parliament that the misery of helples Wales may at this time of your meeting be considered off and redressed Thus I haue set downe some part of the wants â—n the seruice of God in Wales and some part of â—hat miserie wherein my countrie is bewrapped â—nd which you are bound vnto the Lord but by â—â—e most humbly entreated to redresse And this â—s the cause wherein if you deale not you betray â—he honor of God betraye his trueth betraye the â—eligion which you professe and betraye her Maâ—estie and the whole kingdome vnto the reuenâ—ing hand of God For without controuersie the continuance of our ignorance and the defectes of Gods seruice will one day and that shortly I feare me bring the Lord in fearefull and consuming judgementes to take punnishment of you your wiues children families and the wholland because in your states consultation his honor and the blood of mens souls were not regarded But this is neyther all the miserie of the inhabitants of Wales neythet is this all that the Lorde requireth to be amended by this Parliament vnder paine of his heauie wrath In the seconde place then we are to consider the corruptions tollerated by the positiue lawes of this land and countenanced by the authority of this high court of Parliament in the seruice of God within Wales Whereby no small dishonor redoundeth vnto the Maiestie of God and wherein no small part of the spirituall miserie of that people doth consist For the remouing of which corruptions it behoueth the Parliament with speede to be very carefull euen before such time as the Lord calleth the land to an account for the wicked constitutions therein maintayned Here therefore I affirme vnlesse without delay you labour to cleanse the Churche vnder your gouernement in Wales of all L. Bb. dumbe ministers nonresidents archdeacons commissaries and all other romish officers offices there tollerated and so tollerated as by the consent authoritie of the Parliament they are mainteyned that you are both in this life and the life to come likely to be subiecte vnto the intollerable masse of Gods wrath the execution whereof is not vnlikely to fall vpon you and your houses vnlesse you preuent the fiercenes of the Lordes indignaâ—â—â—â— If Moses by a positiue lawe should haue allowed the offring of strange fire by Nadab and Abihu tollerated the ministery of blemished a Leu. 20.18 23. deformed Leuites ennacted that one not being of the line of Aaron might presse before the Altar b Num. 16.10.18.7 to offer the bread of his God if Dauid had made it lawfull for Vzzah to lay his hand vpon the Arke if Iosiah or any other the godly rulers had either giuen leaue to the cursed shepheardes in their dayes to place others in their stead to take c Ezek. 44.9 the ouersight of the Sanctuary Or permitted a consecrated priest to be a ciuill gouernour briefely had established any thing in the Churche gouerment prescribed by Moses contrary to the commandement had they not bene in danger of the Lords wrath They had without controuersie And shall you of the high court of Parliament be dispenced with being guilty except you labor to remoue the dumbe ministery nonresidence with the vsurped and Antichristian seats of L. Bb. c. of tollerating establishing greater sinnes among your people in Wales in steed of the gouernment prescribed by Iesus Christ assure your selues no. I do therefore in this point also for the discharge of my dutie and conscience towardes the Lord his Church my countrie and the whol estate of this kingdom taking my life in my hand â—estifying vnto you before the Maiestie of God â—nd before his church that our dumbe ministers â—hat the callings of our L. Bb. archdea commiss with al other remnants of the sacriledge brought â—nto the Churche by that Romishe strumpet and now remaining in Wales are intollerable before the Lorde and that it is not likely 〈◊〉 â—uer you tollerating these thinges any longer shall escape Gods fierie wrath The trueth hereof I do briefly make knowne by the reasons following and offer to prooue them more at large euen vpon the peril of my life against our 4. L. Bb. all their chaplains retainers fauorers and wel willers whether in eyther of the two vniuersities of this lande or in any place els whatsoeuer These things I offer to prooue against M. D. Bridges who lately in a large volume hath vndertaken their defence In which booke of his he hath offered her Maiestie the Parliament most vndutifull injurie by going about for the maintenance of his owne belly the belies of the rest of his coat to allien at the hears of the loyallest subiects in the lande from their most carefull prince and gouernours As though her Maiestie and this honourable court ment to turne the edge of the sword against theÌ„ who indeed deserue not to be threatned with the scabbord Compare pag. 448. of D Bridges his booke with Bellarmine cap. 10. li. 5. cont 3. and you shall finde
the one to haue writen the verie same thing for the Aâ—ch that the other hath for the pope Into which booke he hath crammed as plaine poperie for the defence of our Bb. as euer Harding Saunders Turrian Bellarmine or any other the firebrands and ensigne bearers of Romish treason against her Maiesties crowne haue brought for the Popes supremacie And for as much as he in that booke hath both vndertaken the defence of those corruptions for the tollerating wherof the anger of God hangeth ouer the whole land and also shewed himselfe to be Ammonitish Tobiah against the buylding of Ierusalem in Wales by defending the very breaches ruins of the Babylonish ouerthrow which by the just judgements of God vnder poperie we sustained to be the perfectest building that Sion can be brought vnto and so by this slander withstandeth the saluation which I doubt not her Maiestie and the parliament wishe vnto my country I haue so framed the reasons following as they ouerthrow the very foundation and whole frame of that wicked book of al others writteÌ„ for the defence of our established Church gouernment Now that our dumbe ministers nonresidents L. bishops archdea c. are nothing els but an encrease of sinnefull men Num. 22.14 risen vp in steed of their fathers the idolatrous Monkes and Fryars stil to augment the fierce wrath of God against this land and our gouernors that this booke of D. Bridges and whatsoeuer els hath bin written for their defence are nothing els but edicts trayterous against God and slanderous to your sacred gouernment to defend the sale and exchange of Church goods the very destruction of souls to speak al in a word that both these corruptions their defences are coÌ„demned by the Lords own reuealed wil as things directly against the same and the lawes of her Maiestie expressed in his written word and therefore not to be tollerated by your authoritie vnlesse you thinke that you may tollerate sinne by your lawes nor yet once to be spoken for or countenaunced vnlesse you would plead for Baal I prooue by these reasons That forme of Church gouernement whiche maketh our Sauiour Christ inferior vnto Moses Iudg. 6.38 is an impious vngodly and vnlawfull gouerment flat contrarye to the worde Heb 3 6. Nom. 12.7 and therefore in no case to be tollerated by any lawes or authoritie and the booke or bookes defending the same are vngodly and impious bookes But our Churche gouernment in Wales by L. bishops archd dumb ministers and other ecclesiastical officers as for nonresidents let this one reason for all serue against them they as much as in them lieth bereaue the people ouer whome they thrust themselues of the onely ordinarie means of saluation which is the word preached is such gouerment as maketh the Lord of life Iesus Christ inferiour to Moses and this booke of D. Bridges with all other bookes of the like arguments doe the same Therfore this gouernment is a gouernment not to be tollerated by law in any state vnlesse men woulde feele Gods heauie judgementes for the same and therefore also it is a gouernment most pernicious and dangerous euen in pollicie vnto the ciuil gouernment where it is established and this booke or books defending the same are vngody wicked and pernicious bookes trayterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christe crying for vnsufferable vengeance vpoÌ„ such as tolerate theÌ„ The proposition is not to be doubted off For is that Church gouernment or bookes to be tollerated which make Christ Iesus the sonne of the aeternall God yea God himselfe inferiour vnto Moses The assumption is thus prooued That gouernement and that booke or bookes whiche holdeth Iesus Christ God and man to haue prescribed no externall forme of the gouernment oâ— his Churche but such as at the pleasure of the magistrate when time and place requireth may be altered without sinne preferreth Moses before Iesus Christe This is manifest out of the expresse wordes of the text Heb. 3.2.6 Because the Lord Iesus being the sonne is in that place compared with Moses a faithfull seruant in deed and preferred before Moses in regard of the external gouernment which Moses had so faythfully prescribed vnder the law as it was not to be chaunged at the pleasure of any magistrate vntill a Dan. 9.27 the Messiah should cause the oblations to cease For what king was there euer in Iudah who without the breach of Gods law 1 Chron. 23.24 could alter the external regiment of the Iewish Church in the Leuitical priesthood and officers Dauid I grant ordained some things not mentioned in the bookes of Moses but that whiche he did proceeded from the spirit of God and he had the worde for his warrant The same is to be saide of whatsoeuer was done by any other of the godly kings in Iudah Nowe that the former comparison Heb. 3.2.6 betweene the sonne and the seruant Christe and Moses is concerning the externall regiment of the church and not the spiritual gouernment of the inner man as D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 51. lin 30. it is plaine Because Moses had nothing to do with the gouerning of the inner man and therefore it were no prerogatiue for the Lorde to be preferred in faithfulnes before Moses in that dispensation wherein Moses neuer dealt Hence theÌ„ I assume that our forme of Church gouernment in Wales and this wicked booke holdeth Iesus Christ to haue ordained such an externall forme of gouernment in his Churche at his departure from earth to heauen as at the pleasure of the magistrate might be altered without the breach of Gods institution which thing D. Bridges affirmeth pag. 55. And all our prelates grant that this high court of parliament may lawfully alter the forme of Church gouernement now established Therefore this gouernment and this booke preferreth Moses before Iesus Christ And I cannot see how far this differeth from blasphemie Now if Christ should be saide to ordaine no externall regiment at all then Moses is far before him and the thirst of superioritie in our prelates and their accomplisses is turned into extreame drunkennes of impietie by this assertion I beseech the Lord in mercy to open your eies that are of this assemblie that you may see how he and his people haue been dealt with by retaining such laws in force as justle ouerthrow the 〈◊〉 prerogatiue of his sonn And the Lord make you to see whether those men that defend the interest of the sonn of God in this point against the tiranicall vsurpation of Bb. and haue brought for his title vnanswerable euideÌ„ce out of the sacred records of Gods owne writings offending eyther in matter or circumstance in no one thing but that they haue not dealt more earnestlie with your Hh. and more roundly with the aduersaries in the right of their master haue deserued to be imprisoned thruste out of their liuinges reuiled railed vpon by vngodly and wicked prelats vnto the state as
this honourable â—ourt of Parliament you are not to learne that â—o defend by lawe or to countenance by authoriâ—ie the breach of gods ordinance is the defence of sin and that the defence of sinne is the hatred of God who rewardeth them to their faces that â—ate him Deut. 7.10 and therefore also you are â—ot to be taught what horrible sinnes you shall â—ommit Nomb. 26.9 if hereafter you stil maintaine such plain manifest impieties They are no trifles as you â—ee For I assure you that Dathan and Abiram â—he sonnes of Eliab men famous in the congregation had more colour of right to claime vnto themselues either the ciuill gouernement from Moses or the priesthood from Aharon Because they were the sonnes of Reuben the firste borne vnto whose lotte had he not defiled his fathers a Gen. 49.4 bedd by all likelihood either the scepter or the priesthood should haue fallen then these vsurpers haue to claim the places they are in wherevnto either by right of inheritance according to the flesh or ordinaunce from God they came by no title Here it must needes followe you of this honorable assemblie hauing regarde vnto the estate of your soules and bodies before the Lord and your good names amoÌ„g posterities that if these things set downe be true if not bring vppon me deserued shame and punishment you wil either labor to redres the miserable estate of distressed wales by erecting there a godly ministerie and abollishing all Cananitishe relikes or for the defence of a fewe vnconscionable and godlesse men aduenture to vndergoe the fierie and flaming execution of the burning decree of Gods wrath My Lords and you the rest of this assemblie be not deceiued the Lord of heauen is angrie with you and his whole hoast for the Babilonish garments of these Achanes Ioh. 7.9.21 Retayne them no longer if you would not fall before the enemie When the L. shall plead with you your wiues children family the whole land Ezek. 38.22 with pestilence or with blood as he is likely to do for these wedges of execrable golde it is not the pontificall Lordships of Bishops at whose commaundement the Lords sword wil returne again into his sheath when your gasping soules shal cry for mercy at the Lords hand it is not the proud and popelike Lordshipps of Bishopps their vsurped jurisdictions their profane excommunications their pitiles murthering of soules their railinge slaunders against Gods truth and his seruants their impious brething of the holy Ghost vpon their Idol priestes that wil driue the Lord to giue you any comfort Let me therfore thogh my persoÌ„ be base entreat you that the judgments of God against sin both in this life in that other of eternal wo misery may apeare so terible in your eies and of that vndouted consequence as you wil no longer retain vnder your gouernment these things whose continuance do giue the Lord just cause in this life to pronounce this sentence by the mouth of Ieremie against euerie on of you Iere. 22.29 that wil not promote this sute and execute the same O earth earth earth here the wordes of Iehouah write these men destitute of children men that shall not prosper in their dayes yea there shal not bee a man of their seed that shall prosper and bee a-parliament man or beare rule in England any more And in the life to come to say moreouer These mine enemies that would not haue me to beare rule Luk. 19.27 by mine owne lawes ouer them and their people bring hither slay before my face yea bind them hand and foote and throw them to vtter darknes there is weeping gnashing of teth And let me crauing vpon my knees with all submission and earnestnes and more earnest if it were possible to obtane that my countrymen by your meanes may haue the word preached euen the meanes whereby they may liue for euer with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen Graunt them this my Lordes though I dye for it And this the Lord knoweth is the only scope of my writing and not the discrediting or galling of our Lorde Bb. Let not their places withstand the saluation of my brethren and the true seruice of God among them and if euer I either write or speake more against them any further then their places are like to be the ruine of hir Maiestie and the whole state let it cost me my life Here me in this sute good my Ll. The reward thereof your soules shall find otherwise I am likelie to become a wearisom and an importunate sutor vnto this high assemblye The cause is so juste that if it were as sometimes it was by the apostle him selfe decided in the Athenianes Areopago a court for heathen justice of famous and celebrated memory I doubt not but it should be hard And shal it not haue justice in the christian parliament of England Iustice my Lords I say for I seeke nothing else but that the statutes of the God of judgment and justice may be made known in my country wher now they are vnhard of Then the which I know not what can be more just neither can I see what justice in truth can be administred by them that neglect this cause Trulie for mine owne parte God aiding me I wil neuer leaue the suite though there shoulde bee a thousand parliaments in my dayes vntill I either obtaine it at your handes or bring the Lord in vengeance and bloud to plead against you for repelling his cause I hope it wil not be here said that the parliament can doe nothing in the matter because hytherto all Churche causes haue bin referred vnto the conuocation house the leaders thereof namelie to our Bishops And doe you meane it shal be so still Then shall you still maintain these horrible profanations of Gods sanctuarie whereof I haue spoken Then may it be said vnto your shame that Sion lying vppon the ground and mourning like a widdow stretched out her handes vnto the parliament of England but could find no comfort Then may you stil be said to betray Gods truth to betray the saluation of his people yea and to betray the liberties of this parliament For what assembly is there in the land that dare chaleng vnto it selfe the ordering of religion if the parliament may not When you say then that you may not deale in the matters of religion because the determinations of that cause is referred vnto the Bishops assembled in the conuocation house who in their Cannons are to prouide and see that the church be not in a decaied state do you not thereby thinke you rob your selues of your owne prerogatiue and liberties and take order that the church without controuersie may be starued and spoiled In deed if the conuocation house were such as it ought to be vz. a sinod of sincere and godly learned ministers wherein matters of relligion were determined of according to the worde and
as being the highest councel in the land in this cause I apeale debarred of my liberty before my cause according vnto the word be ouerthrowne The injury which I sustained the last parliament being a suitor in this cause enforceth me to craue this at your hands which otherwise I should haue perswaded my selfe to be a needles suit For wheras the auncient priueledges and liberties of this house do giue leaue during the parliament vnto any that are suitors thereunto quietly to follow their suits without feare of any arrest and being arrested do presently deliuer and set them free I was not suffred to enioy any the former liberties But contrary vnto all religion law equity and conscience to the great derogatiō of the liberties of this noble court was committed close prisoner by some who abused the high commission their dealing might haue appeared more tollerable lesse derogatorious vnto your Hh. worships if they had shewed any cause of mine imprisonmēt their abused authority only excepted which vnto this day is altogether vnknowne vnto me I know that the infirmities and wants of men who deale in good causes are commonly beaten vppon the back of the cause they handle Therefore the Lord knoweth how careful I haue bin to keepe it vnspotted and my selfe out of all vnnecessary danger Setting downe nothing before I had considered what might insue ether in regard of the matter or manner of deliuery But why did I publish a matter of such waight before I aquainted the parliament therewith Whie it is published to the ende that the parliament may bee acquainted with the suite which could not be done by priuate writing And it is but an vngodly shifte of those that woulde smother the trueth to pretend it to be against the law to moue the parliamēt in any suit that is printed As thogh the suits of men vnto that high courte were parliament statutes In deede if the parliament had enacted the remoouing out of Wales all L. Bb. dumb ministers c. Then were it an intollerable part for any to publishe their actes but by their appointment Graunt you the petition and the cauill of committing it to the presse will easily be answered If you do not meane to yeeld vnto the suite neither woulde you haue done it being mooued therevnto by priuate writing The cause I make knowne to the end it may be granted and herein let not my life be precious vnto me vpon the necessitie of the publishing hereof I stande because that the worlde may see when you redresse these things that you did nothing that you durst leaue vndone vnles you would bring swift destruction vpon your selues and the whole lande But what follie is it to thinke that such great matters wil be reformed in our dayes Rather what injurie doe they vnto the whole state who thinke that they wil any longer tollerate the breach of Gods law And in this point let the good opinion that they who alledge such pretences conceiue be wayed with my dutiful perswasions of this honorable assembly and both causes judged accordingly For mine owne part I think the majestie of the cause to be such as they who are the Lordes dare not but entertaine it and tremble to thinke that all this while it hath beene so carelesly attended vpon And it is in the behalfe thereof that I haue presumed to deale with you who otherwise durst not haue suffered my voyce to be hearde in the ears of the princes of my people Let what I haue written bee examined yea by mine aduersaries themselues if I haue any and it shal appeare that I haue made a conscience howe I haue delt with my superiors especially those concerning whom it is said you are Gods lest I should seem to leaue behinde me the least print of a minde in any sort tending to defame them or their gouernement As I haue bene carefull hereof so let the Lorde yea and no otherwise which I speak as far as my corruptions will permit grant this cause and my selfe also if it be his will fauour in your eyes In deed in regarde of the cause I come Mandatorie wise vnto this honorable assembly but in regard of my selfe I come in feare and trembling as vnto the Lords vicegerents entreating most humbly that the dignitie of so high a cause be thoght off nothing the more dishonorably because it is brought in my hands And I protest in respect of my sinnes that the Lorde may justly denie it the fauour it deserueth in your eyes because I am a dealer therein But this should be no reason why the parliament should giue it a repulse For in the eyes and eares of al the world I make it knowne that it is the cause of the liuing god wherin I deal And that if it had beene possible for me to haue written more humblye and dutifully I had done it Or if I had seene anye waye that might haue bene likelier to preuaile wirh my superiors then this I take the Lorde to witnesse vnto my soule that I woulde not haue vsed this course And I would to God I could tel how to make the cause plawsible So farre I am from setting downe any thing that might cary with it any shewe of occasion to hinder and disgrace the same Well I haue don my endeuour the successe I expect at the Lords hands vnto whome I commend the cause and the saluation of that poore people The sword of iustice reached vnto you by the Lord himselfe to take punishment onely of him that is an euil doer I fear not because I haue not offended If it should be drawne against me for this action the president would be such as they who ment herafter to prophesie vnto you might be aduisedly counseled not to prophesie and the Lord as a token of your iust destruction to ensue would say they shal not prophesie nor take shame If I haue spoken any vntruth beare witnes thereof if a trueth I dare stand to it by the Lords assistance and demand what he is that will presume to obiect and throw him selfe vnto the vengance of God by punnishing me an innocente It is a common manner with some in these dayes to threaten those who deale in this cause nowe in hand but they are to know that it is not so easie a matter to spil their bloud whose daies are numbered with the Lord. The Lord may I confesse with griefe in regard of my other sinnes bringe mine head to the graue with bloud but in this case what haue I offended And therfore vndouted woe wil betide him that shall molest me for this worke Howe soeuer it be thus I haue performed a duty towards the Lord his church my country you of this high court which I wold doe if it were to be done againe though I were assured to endanger my life thereby And be it knowne that in this case I am not afraid of earth If I perish I perish My comforte is that I knowe whither to go in that day wherein the secrets of all hearts shal be manifested the sincerity also of my cause shal apeare It is inough for me howsoeuer I be miserable in regard of my sinnes that yet vnto Christ I both liue and die and purpose by his grace if my life should be prolonged to liue hereafter not vnto my selfe but vnto him and his church otherwise then hitherto I haue don The Lord is able to raise vp those that are of puerer hands and lipps then I am to write and speak in the cause of his honor in Wales And the Lord make them whosoeuer they shal be neuer to be wanting vnto so good a cause the which because it may be the Lords pleasure that I shal leaue them behind me in the world I earnestly and vehemently commend vnto them as by this my last wil testament And haue you R. honourable worshipful of this parlirment poore Wales in remembraunce that the blessing of many a saued soule therein may follow her Maiestie your Hh. and worships overtake you light vppon you and stick vnto you for euer The eternal God giue hir Maiesty you the honor of building his church in Wales multiply the daies of hir peace ouer vs blesse her and you so in this life that in the life to come the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen may be her and your portion So be it good Lord. By him that hath bound him selfe continually to pray for your Hh. and worships IOHN PENRI