our benefits bestowed upon them become more cruell but I by their wickednesse am the better instructed neither yet am I in this justified Oh when shall come those beasts the causers of my Salvation which are for me prepared when shall they be let out loose at me when shall it be lawfull for my carkas to enjoy them whom I doe most earnestly wish to be eagerly inraged against me and truely â— will incite them to devoure me moreover I will humbly pray least perchance they should dread to touch my body as in some others they have heretofore done yea also if they doubtfully stagger I will offer violence I will enforce my selfe upon them Pardon mee I beseech ye I know what is commodious for me even now I beginne to be the Disciple of Christ let all envy be it either of humane affection or else of spirituall wickednesse surcease that I may diserne to obtaine Christ Iesus let fires let crosses let cruelty of beasts let breaking of bones and renting of limbes with all the paines of the whole body and all the torments devised by the art of the devill be altogether powred out on mee alone so that I may merit to attaine unto Christ Iesus Why do ye behold these things with the sleepy eyes of your soules why do ye hearken unto them with the deafe eares of your sences Shake off I beseech yee the darkesome and blacke mist of the slothfulnesse of your hearts that so ye may see the glorious light of truth and humility A Christian and he not meane but a perfect one a Priest not base but one of the highest a Martyr not ordinary but one of the chiefest saith Now I begin â—o be the Disciple of Christ. And ye like the same Lucifer who was throwne downe out of Heaven are puffed up with words not with power and after a sort doe chaw under the tooth and make pretence in your actions even as the Authour of this your wickednesse hath expressed saying I will mount up into the Heavens and be like unto the highest And againe I have digged and drunk water and dryed up with the steppes of my feete all the rivers of the bankes Where more rightly yee should have imitated him and harkened unto his words who is doubtlesse the most true example of all goodnesse and humility saying by his Prophet I am verily a worm and not a man the reproch of men and the outcast of the people Oh unspeakeable matter that he called himselfe the reproach of men when as he washed quite away the reproaches of the whole world And againe in the Gospel I of my selfe am not able to doe any thing When as he being coeternall with the Father coequall with the Holy Ghost and consubstantiall unto both Created not by the helpe of another but by his owne Almighty power the Heaven and Earth with all their inestimable Ornaments and ye neverthelesse have arrogantly lifted aloft your voyces notwithstanding the Prophet saith Why doth earth and ashes swell in pridâ— But that I may returne unto the purpose which of yee I say like the famous Bishop of the Church of Smerna Policarpus that witnesse of Christ hath courteously entertained as guests at his table those who violently drew him out to be burned and being for the charity which he did beare unto Christ brought to the stake sayd He who gave me grace to endure the torment of the fire will likewise graunt mee without fastning of nayles to suffer constantly the flames And now overpassing in this my discourse mighty armies of Saints I will as yet touch but one for examples sake Basil I meane the Bishop of Caesaria who when hee was thus by the unrighteous Prince threatned that unlesse he would on the next morrow be as the rest defiled in the durty dunghill of the Arrian heresie he was absolutely to be put to death answered as it is reported I truely will be to morrow the same as to day and for thee I wish thou wouldest not change thy determination And againe O would I had some worthy reward to bestow on him that would speedily discharge Basil from the bands of this breathing bellowes What one of ye to daunt the menaces of Tyrants doth inviolably keepe the rule of the Apostolicall speech which in all times and ages when some ever hath beene observed by al holy Priests to suppresse the suggestion of men when they sought to draw them headlong to naughtinesse saying in this manner It behoveth rather to obey God then men Wherfore after our accustomed manner making our refuge unto the mercy of our Lord and to the sentences of his holy Prophets that they on our behalfe may now levell the darts of their Oracles at unperfect Pastors as before at Tyrants so as thereby receiving compunction they may be cured let us behold what manner of threates our Lord doth by his Prophets utter against slothfull and dishonest Priests and such as doe not as well by examples as words rightly instruct the people For even Hely the Priest in Silo for that hee did not severely proceed with a zeale worthy of God in punishing his sonnes when they contemned our Lord but as a man overswayed with a fatherly affection too mildly and remisly admonished them was sentenced with this judgement by the Prophet speaking unto him Thus saith our Lord I have manifestly shewed my selfe unto the house of thy Father when they were the servants of Pharaohin Egypt and have chosen the house of thy Father out of all the Tribes of Israel for a Priesthood unto me And a little after Why hast thou looked upon mine incense and upon my sacrifice with a dishonest eye and hast honored thy children more then mee that thou mightst blesse them from the beginning in all sacrifices in my presence And now so saith our Lord Because who so honour me I will honour them againe and who so make no account of me shall be brought to nothing Behold the dayes shall come and I will destroy thy Name and the seedâ— of the house of thy Father And let this be to thee the signe which shall fall upon thy two sonnes Ophnee and Phinees in one day shall they both dye by the sword of men If thus therefore they shall suffer paines who correct them that are subjected under their charge with onely words and not with condigne punishment what shall become of those who by offending exhort ye and draw others unto wickednesse It is apparant also what befell unto the true Prophet who was sent from Iudah to prophesie in Bethel and forbidden not once to taste any meate in that place after the signe which he foretold was fulfilled and after hee had restored the wicked King his withered hand againe being deceived by another Prophet as he was tearmed and so made to take but a little bread and water his host speaking in this sort unto him Thus saith our Lord
led to death and forbeare not to redeeme them who are murthered because as the same Prophet saith Riches shall not profit in the day of wrath but justice delivereth from death And If the just truely be hardly saved where shall the wicked and sinner appeare If thou scornest us and all these the darkesome flood of hell shall without all doubt eternally drowne thee in that deadly whirlepoole and those most terrible fiery streames that shall ever torment and never consume thee and then shall the palpable knowledge of these paines and sorrow for sinnes bee altogether to late and unprofitable unto him who as now in this acceptable time and day of Salvation deferreth his conversion unto the righteous way of of life And here truely if not before was this so dolefull and lamentable an history of the miseries of our time to have received a conclusion that our mouth might no further discourse of the workes of men But that we may not be esteemed fearefull or overwearied whereby we might the lesse carefully avoyde that saying of Esay which is Woe be unto them who call good evill and evill good placing darkenesse for light and light for darkenesse bitter for sweete and sweete for bitter who seeing see not and hearing heare not whose heâ—rts are overshadowed with a certaine thicke and blacke cloud of vices We will breefely set downe what and how great threatnings are denounced against these five aforesayd lascivious horses the franticke followers of Pharaoh through whom his army is wilfully urged forward to their utter destruction in the red sea and also against such others by the sacred Oracles with whose holy testimonies as with a faire roofe the frame of this our little worke may be most assuredly covered that it be not subject to the showres of the envious which otherwise would be mainely powred thereupon Let therefore the holy Prophets who have beene unto mortall men the mouth in a sort of God and the Organ of the holy Ghost forbidding evils and favouring goodnesse answere for us as well now as in that before against the stubborne and proud Princes of this our age that they may not say we menace them with such threates and so great terrors onely of our owne invention and over-busie talking rashnesse For to no wise man is it doubtfull how farre more grievous the sinnes of this our time are than those of the first age the Apostle saying Any one transgressing the law being convicted by two or three witnesses shall dye how much worser punishments thinke ye then that hee deserveth who shall trample under his foote the Sonne of God And he first of all appeareth before us Samuel by the Commandement of God the stablisher of a lawfull kingdome dedicated to God before his birth undoubtedly knowne by admirable signes to bee a true Prophet unto all the people from Dan even to Bersheba out of whose mouth the Holy Ghost thundreth to all the Potentates of the world by denouncing unto Saul the first king of the Hebrews onely because he did not accomplish some matters commanded him from our Lord in this sort Thou hast done foolishly neither yet hast thou kept the Commandements of our Lord thy God that he hath given thee in charge which if thou hadst not commited even now had our Lord prepared thy raigne over Israel for ever but thy kingdome shall no farther arise And what did hee commit adultery or any abhominable murder like to the offences of this time No truely but broake in part a Commandement because as well one of ours noteth The question is not of the quality of the sinne but of the violating of the precept Also when he endeavored to answere as hee thought the objections and after the fashion of men wisely to make defences for his offences on this wise Yea I have heard the voyce of our Lord and walked in the way through the which hee hath sent me with this reprehension was he corrected by him What will our Lord have burnt offerings or oblations and not rather that the voyce of our Lord should be obeyed Obedience is truely better than oblations and to hearken unto him better than to offer the fat of Rammes Because as the sinne of Southsaying so is it to resist and as the offence of Idolatry not to obey in regard therefore thou hast cast away the Word of our Lord hee hath also cast thee away that thou be not King And a little after Our Lord hath this day rent the Kingdome of Israel from thee and delivered it up to thy neighbour a man better than thy selfe The triumpher of Israel truely will not spare and will not be bowed with repentance neither yet is hee a man that he may doe pennance supposed ever upon the hard stony hearts of the wicked Wherein it is to bee noted how he saith that to be disobedient unto God is the sinne of Idolatry Let not therefore our wicked transgressors while they doe not openly sacrifice to the gods of the Gentiles flatter themselves that they are not Idolaters so long as they treade like swine the most precious pearles of Christ under their feete But although this one example as an invincible affirmation might abundantly suffice to correct the wicked Yet that in the mouthes of many witnesses all the offences of Britaine may bee approved let us passe to the rest What chanced to David for numbring his people the Prophet Gad speaking unto him in this sort Thus saith our Lord. The choise of three is offered thee Elect to thee one of these which thou wilt that I may execute it upon thee Either shall there befall thee a famine for seaven yeares or three monethes shalt thou flye thine enemies and they pursue thee or certainely there shall be three dayes Pestilence in thy land For being brought into great streights upon this condition and willing rather to fall into the hands of God who is mercifull than into those of men he was humbled with the slaughter of LXX thousand of his subjects and unlesse with the affection of an Apostolike charity he had desired to dye himselfe for his Country-men that the Plague might not further consume them by saying I am the same person that have offeÌ„dâ—d I the sheepheard have dealt unjustly these who are sheepe what have they sinned Let thy hand I beseech thee be turned against mee and against the house of my Father He should have purged the unadvised pride of his heart with his owne death For what doth the Scripture afterwards declare of his Sonne And Solomon wrought what was not pleasing before our Lord and he did not supply in his place that hee might as his Father follow our Lord. And our Lord said unto him Because thou hast thus behaved thy selfe and not observed my covenant and precepts which I have commanded thee breaking it asunder I will divide thy Kingdome and give the same unto thy Servant
Heare now likewise what fell upon the two sacrilegious Kings of Israel even such as ours are Ieroboam and Baasa unto whom the sentence and doome of our Lord is by the Prophet in this sort directed For what cause have I exalted thee a Prince over Israel in regard they have provoked me in their vanities Behold I will stirre up after Baasha and after his house and I will give over his house as the house of Ieroboam the Sonne of Nebat whoso of his blood shall dye in the City the dogges shall eate him and the dead carkasse of his in the field shall the foules of the aire devoure What doth hee also threaten unto that wicked King of Israel a fellow souldier of the former band by whose collusion and his wives deceit innocent Naboth was for his Fathers Vineyard oppressed talking by the holy mouth of that Elias yea the selfe-same mouth that was instructed with the fiery speech of our Lord. Thou hast killed moreover likewise thou hast possessed and after these thou wilt adde yet more Thus saith our Lord in this very place wherein the dogges have licked the blood of Naboth they shall lick up thy blood also Which that it fell out afterwards in that very sort we have certaine experience But least perchance according as it befell unto the aforesaid Achab The lying spirit which pronounceth vaine things in the mouthes of your Prophets may seduce ye harken ye to the speeches of the Prophet Michaias Behold God hath suffered the spirit of lying to possâ—sse the mouths of all thy Prophets that doe here remaine and our Lord hath pronounced evil against thee For even now it is certaine there are some Doctors replenished with a contrary spirit preaching and affirming rather naughty pleasure then truth whose words are softer then oyle and the selfe same are darts who say peace peace and there shall be no peace to them who persevere in sinnes as the Prophet in another place on this wise speaketh It is not for the wicked to rejoyce saith our Lord. Azarias also the sonne of Obed did speake unto Asa who returned from the slaughter of the Army of ten hundred thousand Ethiopians saying Our Lord is with yee while ye remaine with him and if yee will seeke him out he will be found by ye and if ye will leave him he will forsake ye For if Iehoshaphat but yeelding assistance unto a wicked King was thus reproved by the Prophet Iehu the sonne of Anany saying If thou givest aid to a sinner or lovest them whom our Lord doth hate the wrath of God doth therefore hang over thee what shall become of them who are fettered in the proper snares of their owne offences whose sinnes but not whose souleÌ„s we must of necessity hate if wee will fight in the Army of our Lord the Psalmist saying Hate ye evill who love our Lord. What was said to the sonne of the afore reÌ„cited Iosaphat named Ioram that most horrible murtherer who being himselfe a bastard slew his noble brethren that hee might possesse the throne in their place by the Prophet Elias the wagon and wagoner of Israel Thus speaketh quoth he the Lord God of thy Father David Because thou hast not walked in the way of thy Father Iosaphat and in the waies of Asa the King of Iudah but hast made thy passage through the wayes of the Kings of Israel and in unsensiblenesse according to the behaviour of the house of Achab and hast moreover killed thy brethren the sonnes of Iosaphat men farre better then thy selfe behold our Lord shall strike thee and thy children with a mighty plague And a little afterwards And thou shalt be marveilous sicke of a disease of thy belly until the entrailes of thy belly shal together with the malady it selfe from day to day passe forth away from thee And listen also what the Prophet Zachary the sonne of Ioiades menaced to Ioas the King of Israel leaving our Lord even as ye now do who arising spoke in this manner to the People Thus saith our Lord why doe ye transgresse the Commandements of our Lord and doe not prosper Because ye have left our Lord he will also leave you What shall I mention of Esay the first and chiefe of the Prophets who beginneth the proeme and enterance of his Prophesie or rather vision saying in this sort Heare O yee Heavens and O thou earth conceive in thine eares because our Lord hath spoken I have nourished children and exalted them but they themselves have despised me The Oxe hath knowne his owner and the Asse the manger of his Master but Israel hath not knowne me and my people hath not understood And after a few words framing threatnings answerable to so great a folly he saith The Daughter of Sion shall be uterly left as a shelter in the Vineyard and as a hovell in the Cowcumber Garden and a City that is sacked And especial-conventing and accusing the Princes he saith Heare the word of our Lord O yee Princes of Sodome perceive ye the Law of our Lord O yee people of Gomorrah Where truely it is to be noted that unjust Kings are tearmed the Princes of Sodome for our Lord forbidding sacrifices and gifts to be offered unto him by such where we with greedy covetousnesse receive those offerings which in all Nations are displeasing unto God and to our owne destruction suffer them not to be bestowed on the poore and needy speaketh to them who laden with abundance of riches are likewise given to the filth of offences on this wise Offer not any more your sacrifice in vaine your incense is abomination unto me And againe he denounceth And when yee shall stretch out your hands I will turne away mine eyes from ye and when ye shall multiply your prayers I will not heare And hee declareth wherfore he doth this saying Your hands are full of blood And likewise showing how he may be appeased he saith Be ye washed be ye cleane take away the evill of your thoughts from mine eyes leave of to deale perversly learne to doe well seeke for the judgement succour the oppressed doe justice to the pupill or Orphan And then assuming as it were the part of a reconciling appeaser he adding saith If your sinnes shall be as scarlet they shall be made white as Snow if they shal be as red as the little worme they shall be as white as wooll If ye shall be willing and will heare me ye shall feede on the good things of the Land but if ye wil not and shall provoke mee unto wrath the sword shall devoure ye Receive ye heare the true and publike avoucher witnessing without any falshood or flattery the reward of your good and evill not like the soothing humble lippes of your Parasites whispering poysons into your eares And also directing his sentence against ravenous judges he saith thus
confusion are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne and in their steps there is no judgement their pathes are made crooked unto them every one who treadeth in them is ignorant of peace in this respect is judgment removed farre off from yee and justice taketh no hold of yee And after a few words And judgement hath been turned back and justice hath stoode a farre off because truth hath fallen down in the streets equitie could not enter in and truth is turned to oblivion and who so hath departed from evill hath layne open to spoyle And our Lord hath seene and it was not pleasing in his eyes because there is not judgement And thus farre may it suffice among many to recite a few sentences out of the Prophet Esay Now truely doe ye a while with diligent eares hearken unto him who was foreknowne before he was formed in the belly sanctified before hee came forth of the wombe and appointed a Prophet in all Nations Ieremiah I meane what he hath pronounced of foolish people and cruell Kings beginning moderatly his Prophesie in this manner And the Word of God was spoken unto me saying Goe and cry in the eares of Ierusalem and thou shalt pronounce Heare the Word of our Lord thou house of Iacob and all ye kindreds of the house of Israel Thus saith our Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me who have beene farre removed from me and walked after vanitie and are become vaine and have not sayd Where is he who made us ascend out of the Land of Egypt And after a few words From the beginning of thine Age thou hast broken my yoake violated my bands and sayd I will not serve I have planted thee my chosen vine all true seede How art thou therefore converted into naughtinesse O strange Vine If thou shalt wash thee with Niter and multiply unto thee the hearbe Borith thou art spotted in my sight with thine iniquity saith our Lord. And afterwards Why will yee contend with me in judgement Ye have all forsaken me saith our Lord in vaine have I corrected your children they have not received discipline Heare ye the Word of our Lord. Am I made a solitarinesse unto Israel or a lateward Land why therefore hath my people sayd we have departed we will come no more unto thee What doth the Virgin forget her ornament or the Spouse her gorget my people truely hath forgotten mee innumerable dayes Because my people are foolish they have not knowne me they are unwise and mad children They are wise to doe evill but to doe well they have beene ignorant Then the Prophet speaketh in his owne person saying O Lord thine eyes doe respect faith thou hast stroken them and they have not sorrowed thou hast broken them and they have refused to receive discipline they have made their faces harder than the rocke and will not returne And also our Lord Declare ye this same to the house of Iacob and make it to bee heard in Iuda saying Heare ye foolish people who have no heart who having eyes see not and eares heare not Ye will therefore not dread me saith our Lord and yee will not conceive griefe from my countenance who have placed the sand the bound of the sea an eternall commandement which she shall not breake and her waves shall be moved and they cannot and her sourges shall swell and yet not passe the same But to this people is framed an incredulous and an exasperating heart they have retired and gone their wayes and not in their heart sayd Let us feare our Lord God And againe Because there are found among my people wicked ones framing wiles to intangell as if they were foulers setting snares and ginnes to catch men As a net that is full of birds so are their houses fullfilled with deceites Therefore are they magnified and enriched they are become grosse and fat and have neglected my speeches most vildly the orphans cause they have not sentenced and the justice of the poore they have not adjudged What shall I not visit over these saith our Lord or shall not my soule be revenged upon such a nation But God forbid that ever shold befall unto you which followeth Thou shalt speake all these words unto them and they shall not heare thee and thou shalt call them and they shall not answer thee and thou shalt say unto them This is the Nation that hath not heard the voice of their Lord God nor yet received discipline faith hath perished and been taken away from out their mouth And after some few speeches Whoso falleth doth he not arise againe and who so is turned away shall he not returne againe why therefore is this people in Ierusalem with a contentious aversion alienated they have apprehended lying and they will not come backe againe I have beene attentive and harkened diligently no man speaketh what is good There is none who doth pennance for his sinne saying What have I done All are turned unto their owne course like a horse passing with violence into battle The Kite in the sky hath knowne her time the Turtle and Swallow and Storke have kept the season of their comming but my people hath not known the judgement of God And the Prophet being strucken into feare with so wonderfull a blindnesse and unspeakeable drunkennesse of the Sacrilegious and lamenting them who did not lament themselves even according to the present behaviour of these our unfortunate Tyrants he beseecheth of our Lord that an augmentation of teares might be granted him speaking in this manner I am contrite upon the contrition of the daughter of my people astonishment hath possessed me is there no gumme in Galaad or is there no Physition there Why therefore is not the wound of the daughter of my people healed Who shall give water unto my head and to mine eyes a fountaine of teares and I will day and night bewaile the slaughtered of my people who will grant me in the wildernes the Inne of passengers and I will utterly leave my people and depart from them because they are all of them adulterers a roote of offenders they have bent their tong as the bow of lying and not of truth they are comforted in the earth because they have passed from evil into evill not known me saith our Lord. And againe And our Lord hath said Because they have forsaken my law which I have given them and not heard my voice nor walked thereafter and have wandred away after the wickednesse of their owne heart in that respect our Lord of hostes the God of Israel saith these words Behold I will feede this people with wormewood give them to drinke the water of gall And a little after speaking in the person of God See therefore thou doe not pray for this people nor assume thou for them praise and prayer because I will not heare in the
time of their outcry unto me and of their affliction What then shall now our miserable Governours doe these few who found out the narrow way and left the large were from God forbiden to powre out their prayers for such as persevered in their evils so highly provoked his wrath against whom on the contrary side when they returned with all their hearts unto God his divine Majesty being unwilling that the soule of man should perish but calling backe the castaway that he should not utterly be destroyed the same Prophets could not procure the Heavenly revenge because not Ionas when hee desired the like most earnestly against the Ninevites could obtaine it But in the meane while omitting our owne words let us rather heare what the propheticall trumpet soundeth in our eares speaking thus If thou shalt say in thy heart why have these evils befalne For the multitude of thine iniquities If the Ethiopian can change his skin or the Parde his sundry spots ye may doe also well when ye have learned evill supposed ever because ye will not And afterwards These words doth our Lord say to this people who have loved to move their feete and have not rested and not pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visit their offences and our Lord said unto me Pray thou not for this people to worke their good when they shall fast I will not heare their prayers â—nd if they offer burnt sacrifices and oblations I will not â—eceive them And againe And our Lord said unto me â—f Moses and Samuel shall stand before me my soule is not bent to this people cast them out away from my face and let them depart And after a few words Who shall have pitty on thee Ierusalem or who shall be sorrowfull for thee or who shall goe to pray for thy peace Thou hast left me saith our Lord and gone away backeward and I will stretch forth my hand over thee and kill thee And somewhat after Thus saith our Lord Behold I doe imagine a thought against you let every man returne from his evill course and direct ye streight your waies and endeavours Who said we despaire we will goe after our owne thoughts and every one of us doe the naughtinesse of his evill heart Thus therefore saith our Lord. Aske the Gentiles who hath heard such horrible matters which the Virgin Israel hath too often committed Shall there faile from the rocke of the field the snow of Libanus or can the waters be drawne dry that gush out colde and flowing because my people hath forgotten me And somewhat also after this propounding unto them an election he speaking saith Thus saith our Lord Doe ye judgement and justice and deliver him who by power is oppressed out of the hand of the malicious accuser and for the stranger and orphan and widdow doe not provoke their sorrow neither yet worke ye unjustly the griefe of others nor shed ye out the innocent blood For if indeed ye shall accomplish this word there shall enter in through the gates of this house Kings of the linage of David sitting upon his throne But if ye will not harken unto these words by my selfe I have sworne saith our Lord that this house shall be turned into a desart And againe for he spoke of a wicked King I live saith our Lord if so be that Iechonias shall be a Ring on my right hand I will plucke him thence away and give him over into the hands of them who seeke his life Moreover holy Abraham cryeth out saying Woe be unto them who build a City in blood and prepare a towne in iniquities saying Are not these things from our Almighty Lord and many people have failed in fire and many Nations have beene diminished And thus complaining hee beginneth his prophesie How long O Lord shall I call and thou wilt not heare shall I cry out unto thee to what end hast thou given mee labours and griefes to behold misery and impiety And on the other side And judgement was sat upon and the Iudge hath taken in regard hereof the Law is rent in peeces and â—udgement is not brought fully to his conclusion because â—he wicked through power â—readeth the just underfoote In this respect hath passed forth perverse judgement And marke yee also what blessed Osee the Prophet speaketh of Princes saying For that they have transgressed my covenant and ordained against my Law and exclaimed out Wee have knowne thee because thou art against Israel they have persecuted good as if it were evill They have raigned to themselves and not by mee they have held a Principality neither yet have they acknowledged me And heare ye likewise the holy Prophet Amos in this sort threatning In three hainous offences of the sons of Iudah and in foure I will not convert them for that they have cast away the Law of our Lord and not kept his Commandements but their vanities have seduced them And I will send fire upon Iudah and it shall eate the foundations of Ierusalem Thus saith our Lord In three grievous sinnes of Israel and in foure I will not convert them for that they have sold the just for money and the poore man for shooes which they tread upon the dust of the earth and with buffets they did beate the heads of the poore and have eschewed the way of the humble And after a few words Seeke our Lord and ye shall live that the house of Ioseph may not shine as fire and the flame devoure it and he shall not be that can extinguish it The house of Israel hath hated him who rebuketh in the gates and abhorred the upright word Which Amos being forbidden that he should not prophesie in Israel without any fawning flattery answering saith I was not a Prophet nor yet the sonne of a Prophet but a Goate herd I was plucking Sicamores and our Lord tooke me from my herd and our Lord said unto me Goe thy way and prophesie against my people of Israel and now heare thou the Word of our Lord For hee directed his speech unto the King Thou sayest doe not Prophesie against Israel and thou shalt not assemble troopes against the house of Iacob For which cause our Lord saith thus Thy wife in the City shall play the harlot and thy sonnes and daughters shall dye by the sword and thy ground be measured by the cord and thou in a polluted land shalt end thy life but for Israel shee shall be led from his owne Country a captive And afterwards Heare therefore these words ye who doe outragiously afflict the poore and practise your mighty power against the needy of the earth who say When shall the moneth passe over that we may purchase and the Sabbaths that wee may open the treasuries And within a few words after Our Lord doth sweare against the pride of Iacob if he shall neglecting forget your
actions and if in these the earth shall not be disturbed and every inhabitant thereof fall to lamentation and the finall end as a flood ascend and I will turn your festivall dayes into wailing and cast on the loynes of every one hairecloth and on the head of every man baldnesse and make him as the mourning of one over his beloved and those who are with him as the day of sorrow And againe In the sword shall die all the sinners of my people who say Evils shall not approch nor yet shall light upon us And listen ye likewise what holy Micheas the Prophet hath spoken saying Hearken ye Tribes And what shall adorne the City shall not fire and the house of the wicked hoording up unjust treasures and with injury unrighteousnesse If the wrongfull dealer shall be justified in the ballance deceitful weights in the scales by which they have heaped up their riches in ungodlinesse And hearken also what threates the famous Prophet Sophonias thundereth out together Neere draweth on saith he the great day of our Lord neere it is at hand and very swiftly approcheth The voice of the day of our Lord is appointed to be bitter and mighty that day a day of wrath a day of tribulation and necessity a day of clouds and mist a day of the trumpet and outcry a day of misery and extermination a day of darknesse and dimnesse upon the strong Cities and high corners And I will bring men to tribulation and they shall goe as if they were blinde because they have offended our Lord and I will powre out their blood as dust and their flesh as the dung of Oxen and their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of our Lord. And in the fire of his zeale shall the whole earth be consumed when the Lord shall accomplish his absolute end and bring solitarinesse upon all the inhabitants of the earth Come together and be joyned in one thou Nation without Discipline before ye be made as the fading flowre before the wrath of our Lord falleth upon ye And give eare also unto that which the Prophet Aggeus speaketh on this wise Thus saith our Lord I will once moove the Heaven Earth Sea and dry land and I wil drive away the Thrones of Kings and roote out the powre of the Kings of the Gentiles and I will chase away the chariots of those who mount upon them Now also behold ye what Zacharias the sonne of Addo that chosen Prophet said beginning his prophesie on this manner Returne ye to me and I will returne unto ye saith our Lord and be not like your Fathers to whom the former Prophets have imputed saying Thus saith our Almighty Lord Turne away from your waies and they have not marked whereby they might obediently heare me And afterwards And the Angell asked me what dost thou see and I said I see a flying sythe which containeth in length twenty cubits The malediction which hath proceeded upon the face of the whole earth because every one of her theeves shall be punished even to the very death and I will throw him away saith our Almighty Lord he shall enter into the house of fury and into the house of swearing falshood in my name Holy Malachy the Prophet also saith Behold the day of our Lord shal come inflamed as a furnace and all proud men and all workers of iniquity shall be as stubble and the approching day of our Lord of hostes shall set them on fire which shall not leave a roote nor a bud of them And hearken ye also what holy Iob debateth of the beginning and end of the ungodly saying For what purpose doe the wicked live and have dishonestly worne even to old age and their issue hath beene according to their owne desire and their sonnes before their faces and their houses are fruitfull and no feare nor yet the scourge of our Lord is upon them Their Cow hath not beene abortive their great with young hath brought forth her young ones and not missed but remaineth as an eternall breede and their children rejoyce and taking the Psaltery and Harpe have finished their dayes in felicity and fallen peaceable a sleepe downe into hell Doth God therefore not behold the workes of the wicked Not so truely But the candle of the ungodly shall be extinguished â—â—d destruction shall fall upon them and dolors as of one in childbirth shall with hold them from wrath and they shall be as chaffe before the wind and as the dust which the whirlewind hath carryed away Let all goodnes faile his children let his eyes behold his owne slaughter nor yet by our Lord let him be redeemed And a little after he saith of the same men Who have ravenously taken the flocke with the shepheard and driven away the beast of the Orphans and engaged the Oxe of the Widdow and deceiving have declined from the way of necessity They have reaped other mens fields before the time the poore have laboured in the Vineards of the mighty without hyre and meate they have made many to sleepe naked without garments of the covering of their life they have bereaved them And somewhat afterwards when hee had throughly understood their workes he delivered them over to darkenesse Let therefore his portion be accursed from the earth let his plantings bring forth witherings let him for this be rewarded according to his dealings Let every wicked man like the unsound wood be broken in peeces For arising in his wrath hath he overthrown the impotent Wherefore truely shall he have no trust of his life when he shall beginne to grow diseased let him not hope for health but fall into languishing For his pride hath beene the hurt of many and he is become decayed and rotten as the mallowes in the scorching heate or as the yeare of corne when it falleth off from his stubble And afterwards If his children shall be many they shall be turned to the slaughter and if he gather together silver as if it were earth and likewise purifie his gold as if it were durt all these same shall the just obtaine Heare yee moreover what blessed Esdras that Library of the Law threatneth in his discourse on this wise Thus saith our Lord God My right hand shall not be sparing upon sinners neither shall the sword cease over them who spill the innocent blood on the earth Fire shall proceede from out my wrath and devoure the foundations of the earth and sinners as if they were inflamed straw Woe be unto them who offend and observe not my Commandements saith our Lord I will not forbeare them Depart away ye Apostatizing children and doe not pollute my sanctuarie God doth know who doe offend against him and he will therefore deliver them over to death and to slaughter For now have many evils passed over the round compasse of the
earth A sword of fire is sent out against yee and who is he that shall restraine it shall any man repulse a Lyon that hungereth in the wood or shall any one quench out the fire when the straw is burning our Lord God will send out evills and who is he that shall represse them and fire will passe forth from out his wrath and who shall extinguish it it shall brandishing shine and who will not feare it it shall thunder and who will not shake with dread God will threaten all and who will not be terrified before his face shall the earth tremble and the foundations of the sea fleet from the depth And marke ye also what Ezechiel the renowned Prophet and admirable beholder of the foure Evangelicall creatures speaketh of wicked offendors unto whom pittifully lamenting before hand the scourge that hung over Israel our Lord doth say Too farre hath the iniquity of the house of Israel and Iudah prevailed because the earth is fully filled with iniquity and uncleannesse Behold I am mine eyes shall not spare nor yet will I take pitty And afterwards Because the earth is replenished with people and the City fraughted with iniquity I will also turne away the force of their power and their holy things shall be polluted prayer shall approach and sue for peace and it shall not be obtained And somewhat after The Word of our Lord quoth he was spoken unto me saying Thou sonne of man the land that shall so farre sinne against me as transgressing it shall commit an offence I will streatch forth my hand upon her and breake in peeces her foundation of bread and send upon her famine and take away mankind and cattle from her and if these three men Noah Daniel and Iob bee in the midst of her they shall not deliver her but they in their justice shall be saved saith our Lord. If so be that also I shall bring 〈◊〉 evill beasts upon the land and punish her she likewise shall be turned to destruction and there shall not be one who shall have free passage from the face of the beasts and admit these three men are in the midest of her I live saith our Lord if their sonnes and daughters shall be preserved but they alone shall be saved and as for the land it shall fall to confusion And againe The sonne shall not receive the unrighteousnesse of the Father neither yet the Father the sonnes unrighteousnesse The justice of the just shall be upon himselfe And the unjust man if he turneth him away from all the iniquities which he hath done and keepeth all my Commandements and doth justice and abundance of mercy hee shall live in life and shall not dye All his sinnes whatsoever he hath committed shall have no further being he shall live the life in his owne justice which hee hath performed Doe I with my will voluntarily wish the death of the unrighteous saith our Lord raâ—her than he should returne from his evill way and live But when the just shall turne himselfe away from his justice and doe iniquity according to all the iniquities which the unrighteous hath committed all the just actions which hee hath done shall remaine no further in memory In his offence wherein he hath fallen and in his sinnes in which hee hath transgressed he shall dye And within some words afterwards And all nations shall understand that the house of Israel are led captive away for their offences because they have forsaken me And I have turned my face from them and yeelded them over into the hands of their enemies and all have perished by the sword according unto their uncleane sinnes and after their iniquities have I dealt with them and turned my face away from them This which I have spoken may suffice concerning the threates of the holy Prophets onely I have thought it necessary to intermingell in this little worke of mine as well as the former menaces a few words also borrowed out of the wisdome of Salomon which declares unto Kings matter of exhortation or instructioÌ„ that they may not say I am willing to lade the shoulders of men with heavie and insupportable burthens of words but not so much as once with mine owne finger which is with speech of consolation to moove the same Let us therefore heare what the Prophet hath spoken to rule us Love justice saith he yee that judge the earth This onely testimony if it were with a full and perfect heart observed would abundantly suffice to reforme the governours of our Country For if they had loved Iustice they would also love God who is in a sort the fountaine and originall of all justice Serve our Lord in goodnesse and seeke him in simplicity of heart Alas who shall live as one before us hath sayd to see these things performed by our Countrymen yea if perhaps they may be any where accomplished Because he is found of those who doe not tempt him he appeareth truely to them who have faith in him For these men without respect doe tempt God whose Commandements with stubburne despight they contemne neither yet doe they keepe to him their faith unto whose Oracles be they pleasing or somewhat severe they turne their backes and not their faces For perverse thoughts doe separate from God and this in the Tyrants of our time very plainely appeareth But why doth our meannesse intermeddle in this so manifest a determination Let therefore him who is onely true as wee have sayd speake for us the holy Ghost I meane of whom it is now pronounced The holy Ghost verily will avoyde the counterfetting of discipline And againe Because the spirit of God hath filled the globe of the earth And afterwards shewing with an evident judgement the end of the evill and righteous hee saith How is the hope of the wicked as the doune that is puffed away with the wind and as the smoake that with the blast is dispersed and as the slender froth that with a storme is scattered and as the memory of a guest who is a passenger of one day But the just shall live for ever and with God remaineth their reward and their cogitation is with the highest Therefore shall they receive the kingdome of glory and the crowne of beauty from the hand of our Lord. Because with his right hand he will protect them and with his holy arme defend them For very farre unlike in quality are the just and ungodly as our Lord verily hath spoken saying Them who honour me I will honour and who so despise me shall be of no estimation But let us passe over to the rest Hearken saith he all yee Kings and understand ye learne ye Iudges of the bounds of the earth listen with your eares who conteine multitudes in awe and please your selves in the troopes of nations Because power is given unto yee from God and puissance from the highest who will
examine your actions and sift your thoughts For that when ye were ministers of his kingdome ye have not judged uprightly nor kept the law of Iustice nor yet walked according to his will It shall dreadfully and suddenly appeare unto yee that a most severe judgement shall be given on them who governe For to the meaner is mercy granted but the mighty shall mightily sustaine torments For he shall have no respect of persons who is the ruler of all nor yet shall he reverence the greatnesse of any one because he himselfe hath made both small and great and care alike he hath of all but for the stronger is at hand a stronger affliction Vnto yee therefore O Kings are these my speeches that yee may learne wisdome and not fall away from her For who so observe what things are just shall be justified and who so learne what things are holy shall be sanctified Hitherto have we discoursed no lesse by the Oracles of the Prophets than by our owne speeches with the Kings of our Country being willing they should know what the Prophet hath spoken saying As from the face of a Serpent so flye thou sinnes If thou shalt aproach unto them the teeth of a Lyon will catch thee their teeth are such as kill the soules of men And againe How mighty is the mercy of our Lord. and his forgivenesse to such as convert themselves unto him And if wee have not in us that Apostolicall zeale that wee may say I did verily desire to he amathematised by Christ for my brethren Notwithstanding we may from the bottome of our hearts speake that Propheticall saying Alas that a soule perisheth And againe Let us search out our wayes and seeke and returne unto our Lord Let us lift our hearts together with our bands to God in heaven And also that of the Apostle We covet that every one of yee should bee in the bowels of Christ. And how willingly truely as one tossed on the waves of the sea and now arrived in a desired haven would I in this place make an end blushing shame forbidding me further to proceede did I not behold such and so great mountaines of malice advanced against God by Bishops or other Priests or clearkes yea some of our owne order whom as witnesses my selfe must of necessity first of all stone accordiâ—g unto the Law with the hard blowes of words least I should be otherwise reproved of partiality towards persons and then afterwards the people if as yet they keepe their decrees must pursue with their whole powers the same execution upon them not to their corporall death but to the death of their vices and their eternall life with God Yet as before I have sayd I doe crave pardon of them whose lives I doe not onely prayse but also preferre before all earthly treasure and of the which if it may be yet before my death I desire and thirst to be a partaker and so having both my sides defended with the double shields of Saints and by those meanes invincibly strengthned to sustaine all that arise against me arming moreover my head in place of an helmet with the helpe of our Lord and being most assuredly protected with the sundry assistances of the Prophets I will boldly proceede notwithstanding the stones of worldly rioters flye never so fast about me IT is very aptly said that sinne creepeth on as a Cancker for no man in a moment becommeth absolutely evill but even like the Sea that making his entry first at a little hole and afterwards enlarging his passage in the end breaketh downe the bancke and overwhelmeth the whole land so vice hath her progresses in depraved mindes the lamentable example whereof we may in the history of Britaine apparantly behold Our Authour hath already declared the infection of Heresie the corruption of infidelity the disorders of warre and the dissolution of manners that distempered the body of the Iland he laid open the sores of the temporall governors to the end that medicines might have beene the better applyed for their remedies and here now he beginneth to discover the grievous imperfections of the Clergy which are truely so much the worse by how much their lives ought to be more vertuous and exemplar and yet would I have you to know that these were defects not of Religion but of life such as those offences of the Priests Scribes and Pharisees so often in the word of God recited whose sins although too foulely they soiled their owne soules yet could they never staine the immaculate Church of God committed unto their charge Neither yet did Gildas as another Elias complaine that there was not one left but himselfe alone who worthily served God since in sundry places he sheweth how many were yet here in this land whose holy lives deserved most high commendation even as our Lord spake to the same Elias saying There remained seven thousand in Israel who never bowed their knees to Baal But suppose Britaine had beene wholly drowned in the deepe Seas of offences yet did Italy Greece and Gall. with many other mighty Provinces of the Christian world flourish at the selfe same time both in vertuous Life and true Religion not unlike the Kingdome of Iudah which in that season when Elias so complained of Israel did notwithstanding openly maintaine the true worshipping of God but this insueing Treatise telleth us that in the field of our Lord there sprung up Cockell and in his barne of purest Corne there was found chaffe and among his wisest Virgins foolish ones all which in this world cannot be separated but remaine untill the day of judgement to be severally divided thus doth he set before our eyes the beginning and proceeding of the wickednesse of Britaine whose blessed soule possessed with a true zeale to God departed to receive a Crowne of eternall glory before the conclusion of this tragedy of sinne for as ye shall reade in venerable Bede presently after the decease of Gildas they fell to open errors and then to disobedience of the Church in withstanding the authority of Saint Augustine the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury although within a while afterwards it pleased God of his singular mercy to recall them backe into his Catholike fold againe Neither let any man imagine I have Translated this worke to disclose the faults of Pastors and Superiours For I had rather with Sem and Iaphet conceale then with Cham reveale the imperfections of spirituall Fathers But having Englished the former part of Gildas I did also because I would not leave the worke maimed and unperfect adventure upon this latter wherein I would wish the Readers to consider that if this flame of sinne did scorch the Cedars of Libanus no doubt but it may burne the lesser silly shrubs if it infected I say the spiritualty it may assuredly unlesse wee be ware consume us of the Laity BRitaine hath Priests but some shee hath that are unwise very many that Minister but many of
their hands not so worthy of the reverent Altars as the revenging flames of hell upon Christs most holy Sacrifices What doe ye therefore O unhappy people expect from such belly beasts as the Apostle calleth them Shall your manners be amended by these who doe not onely not apply their mindes to any goodnesse but according to the upbraiding of the Prophet also labour to deale wickedly Shall ye be illuminated with such eyes as are onely with greedinesse cast on those things that leade headlong to vices which is to say to the gates of hell Nay truely if according to the saying of our Saviour ye flie not these mostravenous wolves like those of Arabia or avoide them as Lot who ranne most speedily from the fiery showre of Sodome up to the mountaines then being blinde and led by the blinde ye will both together tumble downe into the infernall ditch But some man perchance will objecting say that all Bishops or all Priests according to our former exception are not so wickedly given because they are not defiled with the infamy of Scisme pride or uncleane life which neither wee our selves will deny but albeit wee know them to bee chaste and vertuous yet will wee briefely answere What did it profit the High Priest Hely that he alone did not violate the Commandements of our Lord in taking flesh with forkes out of the pots before the fat was offred unto God while he was punished with the same revenge of death wherewith his sonnes were what one I beseech yee of them whose manners wee have before sufficiently declared hath like Abell upon the malicious emulation of the more acceptable sacrifice which with the heavenly fire ascended up into the skies beene martyred since they feare the reproach even of a seely ordinary word which of them hath hated the councell of the malicious and not sate with the ungodly so that of him as a Prophet this may be verified which was sayd of Enoch Enoch walked with God and was not to be found in the vanity forsooth of the whole world as then leaving our Lord and beginginning to halte downe right after Idolatry which of them like Noah in the time of the Deluge hath not admitted into the Arke of Salvation which is the now present Church any adversary unto God that it may be most apparent that none but innocents or singular penitents ought to remaine in the house of our Lord Who is he that offering sacrifice like Melchisedeck hath onely blessed the conquerours and them who delivering in the number of three hundred which was in the Sacrament of the Trinitie the just man have overthrowne the deadly armies of the five Kings together with their vanquishing troopes and not coveted the goods of others Which of them hath like Abraham at the Commandement of God freely offered his owne sonne on the Altar to bee slaine that hee might accomplish a precept of Christ agreeable to this saying thy right eye if it scandalizeth ought to bee pulled out and another of the Prophet that he is accursed who withholdeth his sword from shedding blood Who is he that as a Ioseph hath rooted out of his heart the remembrance of an offered injury Who is he that as a Moses speaking with our Lord in the Mountaine and not thereupon terrified with the sounding trumpets hath in a figurative sence presented unto the incredulous the two tables and his horned face which they could not endure to see but tremble to behold Which of them praying for the offences of the people did from the very botome of his heart cry out like unto him saying O Lord this people hath committed a grievous sinne which if thou wilt forgive them forgive it otherwise blot me guilty out of thy booke Who inflamed with the admirable zeale of God hath couragiously risen for the revenge of fornication curing without delay by the present medecine of pennance the affection of filthy lust left the fire of the wrath of God should otherwise consume the people as Phinees the Priest did that by this meane justice for ever might be reputed unto him Who verily of them hath in a morall understanding imitated Iesus Nave either for the utter rooting forth even to the slaughter of the last and least of all the seaven Nations out of the land of promise or for the establishing of spirituall Israel in their places Which of them hath shewed unto the people of God their finall bounds beyond Iordan that it may be knowne what to every tribe is convenient in such sort as the aforenamed Phinees and Iesus have wisely divided the land Who is he that to overthrow the innumerable thousands of Gentiles adversaries to the chosen people of God hath as another Iephte for a sacrifice of a votive placation or appeasing slaine his onely daughter which is to be understood his owne proper will immitating also therein the Apostle saying Not seeking what is profitable to me but to many that they may be saved which daughter of his met the conquerours with drummes and daunces to wit carnall desires Which of them that he might disorder put to flight and overthrow the campes of the proud Gentiles by the number of three hundred being as before we have sayd the mystery of the blessed Trinity and with his men holding in their hands those noble sounding trumpets which are Propheticall and Apostolicall sences according as our Lord sayd to the Prophet Exalt thy voyce as a trumpet and the Psalmist of the Apostles Their sound hath passed throughout the whole earth and bearing also those famous flagons shining in the night season with that most glittring fiery light which are to be interpreted the bodies of Saints adjoyned to good workes and burning with the flame of the holy Ghost yea having as the Apostle writeth This treasure in earthen vessels hath after the hewing downe of the Idolatrous grave which is morrally meant duske and darke desire marched on like Gedeon with an assured faith in the evident signe of the fleece which to the Iewes was voyde of the heavenly moysture but to the Gentiles made wet with the dew of the holy Ghost Who is hee that earnestly wishing to dye to this world and live to Christ hath as another Sampson utterly extinguiâ—shed such innumerable luxurious banquetters of the Gentiles while they praysed their gods which is meant while the sences of men extolled these earthly riches according to the Apostle speaking thus And covetousnesse which is the service of Idols shaking with the power of both his armes the two pillars which are to bee understood the naughty pleasures of the soule and body by the which the house of all worldly wickednesse is in a sort compacted and underpropped Who like Samuel that with prayers and the
God Because thou hast beene disobedient to the mouth of our Lord and not observed the precept which thy Lord God hath commanded and hast returned and eaten bread and drunke water in this place in which I have charged thee that thou shouldest neither eate bread nor drinke water thy body shall not be buried in the Sepulcher of thy forefathers And so saith the Scripture it came to passe that after he had eaten bread and drunke water he made ready his Asse and departed and a Lion found him in the way and slew him Heare yee also the holy Prophet Esay how he speaketh of Priests on this wise Woe be unto the ungodly evill befall him for the reward of his hands shall light upon him Her owne exactors have spoyled my people and women have borne sway over her O my people who tear me thee blessed they themselves deceive thee and destroy the way of thy footesteps Our Lord standeth to judge and standeth to judge the people Our Lord will come unto judgement with the elders of the people and her Princes Ye have consumed my Vine the spoile of the poore is in your house Why doe ye breake in peeces my people and grinde the faces of the poore saith our Lord God of Hosts And also Woe be unto them who compose ungodly lawes and writing have written injustice that they may oppresse the poore in judgement and worke violence unto the cause of the lowly of my people that widdowes may be their prey and they make sâ—â—ile of the Orphans what will ye doe in the day of visitation and calamity approching afarre of And afterwards But these also in regard of wine have beene ignorant and in respect of drunkennesse have wandered astray the Priests have not understood because of drunkennesse and have beene swallowed up in wine they have erred in drunkennesse they have not knowne him who seeth they have beene ignorant of judgement For all tables are filled with the vomit of their uncleannesse in so much as there is not any free place to be found Heare therefore the Word of our Lord O ye men ye deceivers who beare authority over my people that 〈◊〉 in Ierusalem For ye have sayd we have entred into a truce with death and with hell we have made a covenant The overflowing scourge when it shall passe forth shall not fall upon us because we have placed falshood for our hope and by lying we have beene defended And somewhat after And haile shall overthrow the hope of lying together with the defence Waters shall overflow and your truce with death shall be destroyed and your covenant with hell shall not continue when the overflowing scourge shall passe forth yee shall also be troden under foote whensoever it shall passe along thorough yee it shall sweepe ye away withall And againe And 〈◊〉 Lord hath sayd Because this people aproacheth with their mouth and with their lippes glorifie me but their heart is farre removed from me behold therefore I will cause this people to admire with a great and amazed wonder For wisedome shall decay and fall away from her wisemen and the understanding of her sages shall be concealed Woe be unto yee that are profound in heart to conceale counsell from our Lord whose workes are in darkenesse and they say who seeth us And who hath knowne us for this thought of yours is perverse And somewhat afterwards Thus saith our Lord Heaven is my seate and the earth the foote stoole of my feete What is this house that ye will erect unto me and what place shall be found of my resting repose all these things hath my hand made and these universally have beene all created saith our Lord on whom truely shall I cast mine eye but on the humble poore man and the contrite in spirit and him that dreadeth my speeches he that sacrificeth an Oxe is as he that killeth a man he that slaughtereth a beast for sacrifice is like him who beateth out the braines of of a dogge he that offereth an oblation is as he that offereth up the blood of an hogge he that is mindfull of frankincense is as he that honoureth an Idoll Of all these things have thâ—y made choice in their wayes and in their abominations hath their soule beene delighted Listen ye also what Ieremy that Virgin and Prophet speaketh unto the unwise Pastors in this sort Thus saith our Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me because they have removed themselves farre off from me and walked after vanitie and are become vaine And somewhat after And entring in ye have defiled my Land and made mine inheritance abomination The Priests have not sayd Where is our Lord and the Rulers of the Law have not knowne mee and the Pastours have dealt treacherously against me Wherefore I will as yet contend in judgement with you saith our Lord and debate the matter with your children And a little afterwards Astonishment and wonders have beene wrought in the land Prophets did Preach lying and Priests did applaud with their hands and my people have loved such matters What therefore shall be done in her last and finall ends To whom shall I speake and make protestation that he may heare me behold their cares are uncircumcised and they cannot heare Behold the word of our Lord is uttered unto them for their reproach and they receive it not because I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the earth saith our Lord. For why from the lesser even unto the greater all study avarice and from the Prophet even unto the Priest all worke deceit and they cured the contrition of the daughter of my people with ignomy saying Peace Peace and peace there shall not be Confounded they are who have wrought abomination but rather they are not with a confusion confounded and have not understood how to be ashamed Wherefore they shall fall among those who are ruinating in the time of their visitation shall they rush headlong downe together saith our Lord. And againe All these Princes of the declining sort walking fraudulently being brasse and iron are universally corrupted the blowing bellowes hath failed in the fire the Fiâ—er of mettals in vaine hath melted their malicious acts assuredly are not consumed â—all them refuse and reproâ—ate silver because our Lord â—ath throwne them away And after a few words I â—m I am I have scene saith â—ur Lord. Goe your wayes to â—y place in Shilo where my â—ame hath inhabited from â—he beginning and behold â—hat I have done thereunto 〈◊〉 the malice of my people of â—srael And now because ye have wrought all these works saith our Lord and I have spoken unto yee arising in the morning and talking and yet ye have not heard me and have called yee and yet yee have not answered I will so deale towards this house wherein my name is now called upon and wherein ye have confidence and to this place
which I have given unto yâ—e and to your fathers as I have done to Shilo and I will cast yee away from my counâ—enance And againe My children have departed from me and have no abiding and there is not he who any more pitcheth my tent and advanceth my Pavillion because the Pastors have dealt fondlâ— and not sought out our Lord. Wherefore they have not understood and their flocke hath beene dispersed And within some words after What is the matter that my beloved hath in my houses committed many offences shall the holy flesh take away thy malitiousnesse from thee wherein thou hast gloried our Lord hath tearmed thy noone a plentifull faire fruitfull goodly olive at the voyce of the speech a mighty fire hath beene inflamed in her and her Orchards have beene quite consumed therewith And againe Come ye to me and be ye gathered together all ye beasts of the earth make ye haste to devoure Many Pastours have throwne downe my vine they have trampled my part under foote they have given over my portion which was well worthy to be desired into a desart of solitarinesse And againe he speaketh Thus saith our Lord unto this people which have loved to moove their feete and not rested nor yet pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visite their offences Prophets say unto them ye shall not see the sword and there shall no famine be among ye but our Lord shall give true peace unto ye in this place And our Lord hath said unto me The Prophets doe falsly foretell in my name I have not sent them neither yet laid my Commandement on them they prophesie unto ye a lying vision and divination together with deceitfulnesse and the seducement of their owne hearts And therefore thus saith our Lord in sword and famine shall those Prophets be consumed and the people to whom they have prophesied shall by meanes of the famine and sword be cast out in the waies of Ierusalem and there shall be none to bury them And moreover Wâ—e be to the â—astours who desâ—roy and rent in peeces the flocâ—e of my pasture saith our Lord. Thus therefore saith our Lord God of Israel unto the Pastours who guide my people ye have dispersed my flocke and cast them forth and not visited them Behold I will visite upon ye the malice of your endeavours saith our Lord. For the Prophet and the Priest are both defiled and in my house have I found their evill saith our Lord and therefore shall their way be as a slippery place in the darke for they shall be thrust forward and fall downe together therein for I will bring evils upon them the yeare of their visitation saith our Lord. And in the Prophets of Samaria I have seene foolishnesse and they did prophesie in Baal and deceived my people of Israel and in the Prophets of Ierusalem have I seene the like resemblance adultery and the way of lying and they have comforted the hands of the vildest offendors that every man may not be converted from his malice they have beene all made to me as Sodome and the inhabitants thereof as those of Gomorrha Thus therefore saith our Lord to the Prophets Behold I will give them wormewood for their food and gall for their drinke For there hath passed from the Prophet of Ierusalem pollution over the whole earth Thus saith our Lord of hosts listen not unto the words of Prophets who prophesie unto ye and deceive ye for they speake the vision of their owne heart and not from the mouth of our Lord. For they say unto these who doe blaspheme me our Lord hath spoken peace shall be unto ye and to all that walke in the wickednesse of their owne hearts they have said Evil shal not fall upon them For who was present in the counsell of our Lord and hath seene and heard his speech who hath considered of his word and hearkened thereunto Behold the whirlewinde of the indignation of our Lord passeth out and a tempest breaking forth shall fall upon the heads of the wicked the fury of our Lord shall not returne untill the time that he worketh and untill he fulfilleth the cogitation of his heart In the last daies of all shal ye understand his counsell And little also doâ— ye conceive and put in execution that which the holy Prophet Ioel hath likewise spoken in admonishment of sloathfull Priests and Lamentation of the Peoples dammage for their iniquities saying Awake ye who are drunke from your wine and weepe and bewaile ye all who have drunke wine even to drunkennesse because joy and delight are taken away from your mouthes Mourne yee Priests who serve the Altar because the fields have beene made miserable Let the earth mourne because corne hath become miserable and wine beene dryed up oyle diminished and husbandmen withered away Lament ye possessions in regard of Wheate and Barly because the vintage hath perished out of the field the vine withered up the figges diminished the pomegranates and palme and apple and all trees of the field are withered away in respect that the children of men have confounded their joy All which things are spiritually to be understood by you that your soules may not wither away with so pestilent a famine for want of the word of God And againe Weepe out yee Priests who serve our Lord saying Spare O Lord thy People and give not over thine inheritance unto reproch and let not Natioâ—s hold dominion over them that Gentiles may not say Where is their God And yet ye yeeld not your eares unto these sayings but admit of all matters by which the indignation of the fury of God is more vehemently inflamed With diligence also attend ye what holy O see the Prophet hath spoken unto Priests of your behavior Heare these words O yee Priests and let the house of Israel together with the Kings house marke them fastâ—n ye them in your eares for that unto ye appertaineth judgement because yee are made an intangling snare to the espying watch and as a piched nâ—t more and worse then the toyle which the followers of hunting have framed To ye also may this kinde of alienation from our Lord be meant by the Prophet Amos saying I have hated and rejected your festivall daies and I will not receive the savour in your solemne assemblies because albeit ye offer our burnt sacrifices and hosts I will not accept them and I will not cast mine eye on the vowes of your declaration Take away from me the sound of your songs and the Psalme of your Organs I will not heare For why the famine of the Evangelicall meate consuming in your abundance of victuals the very bowels of your soules rageth violently within ye according as the aforesaid Prophet hath foretold saying Behold the daies shal come saith our Lord and I will send out a famine upon the earth not the famine of bread nor the thirst of water
but a famine in hearing the word of God and waters shall be mooved from sea even to sea and they shal run over from the North even unto the East seeking out the word of our Lord and yet shall not find it Let holy Micheas also pierce your eares who not unlike a certaine heavenly trumpet soundeth shrilly forth against the deceitfull Princes of the People saying Hearken now yee Princes of the house of Iacob is it not for yee to know judgement who hate goodnesse and seeke after mischiefes who plucke their skinnes from off men and their flesh from their bones Even as they have eaten the flesh of my people and flâ—yed of their skins from them broken their bones to peeces and hewed them small as meate to the pot they shall cry to God and he will not heare them and in that season turne his face away from them even as they before have wickedly behaved themselves in their inventions Thus speaketh our Lord of the Prophets who seduce my people who bite with their teethes and preach against them peace and if a man giveth nothing to stoppe their mouthes they raise and sanctifie a war upon him Night shall therefore be unto yee in place of a vision and dâ—rkenesse unto ye in lâ—we of divination and the sunne shall set upon your Prophets and the day shall waxe darke upon them and seeing droames they shall be confounded and the diviners shall be derided and they shall speake ill against all men because there shall not be any one that will heare them but that I myselfe shall doe mine uttermost strongest endeavour in the spirit of our Lord in judgement and in power that I may declare unto the house of Iacob their impieties and to Israel their offences Hearken therefore unto these words ye Captaines of the house of Iacob and ye remnants of the house of Israel who abhorre judgment and overthrow all righteousnesse who build up Sion in blood and Ierusalem in iniquities her rulers did judge for rewards and her Priests answered for hire aâ—d her Prophets did for money divine and rested on our Lord saying And is not our Lord within us evils shall not fall upon us For your cause therefore shall Sion be ploughed up as a field and Ierusalem as a watch cabbin of a garden and the mountaine of the house as a place of a wooddy wildernesse And after some words ensuing Woe is me for that I am become as â—e that gathereth stubble in the harvest and a cluster of grapes in the Vintage when the principle branch is not left to be eaten Woe is me that a soule hath perished through earthly actions the reverence of sinners ariseth even reverencing from the earth and hee appeareth not that among men correcteth All contend injudgement for blood and every one with tribulation afflicteth his neighbour for mischiefe hee prepareth his hands Listen ye likewise how the famous Prophet Sophonias debated also in times past with your fellow banqueters for hee spake of Ierusalem which is spiritually to be understood the Church or the soule saying O the Citty that was beautifull and set at liberty the confident Dove hath not obediently hearkened to the voyce nor yet entertained discipline she hath not trusted in our Lord and to her God she hath not approached And he sheweth the reason why Her Princes have beene like unto roaring Lyons her Iudges as Wolves of Arabia did not leave towards the morning her Prophets carrying the spirit of a contemptuous despising man her Priests did prophane what wâ—s holy and dealt wickedly in the law but our Lord is upright in the middest of his people and no unjust morning will he make in the morning will he give his judgement But heare ye also blessed Zachery the Prophet in the Word of God admonishing yee For thus saith our Almighty Lord Iudge ye righteous judgement and worke yee every one towards his brother mercy and pitty and hurt yee not thorough your power the Widdoow or Orphan or stranger or poore man and let not any man remember in his heart the malice of his brother and they have beene stubborne not to observe these and have yeelded their backes to foolishnesse and made heavie their eares that they might not hearken and framed their hearts to be not perswasible that they might not listen to my law and words which our Almighty Lord hath sent in his spirit through the hands of his former Prophets and mighty wrath hath beene raised by our Almighty Lord. And againe Because they who have spoken have spoken molestations and diviners have uttered false visions and deceitfull dreames and given vaine consolations in respect hereof they are made dry as sheepe and are afflicted because no health was to bee found my wrath is heaped upon the Shepheards and upon the Lambes will I visite And within a few words after The voyce of lamenting Pastors because their greatnesse is become miserable The voyce of roaring Lyons because the fall of Iordan is become miserable Thus saith our Almighty Lord who have possessed have murthered and yet hath it not repented them and who have sold them have sayd Our Lord is blessed and we have beene enriched and their Pastors have suffered nothing concerning them For which I will now beare no sparing hand over the inhabitants of the earth saith our Lord. Heare ye moreover what the holy Prophet Malachy denounceth unto yee saying Yee Priests who despise my name and have sayd Wherein doe we despise thy name in offering on mine Altar polluted bread and yee have sayd Wherein have we polluted it In that ye have sayd The table of our Lord is as nothing and have despised such things as have beene placed thereupon because if yee bring what is blind for an offering is it not evill If ye set and apply what is lame or languishing is it not evill Offer therefore the same unto thy governour if he will receive it if he will accept of thy person saith our Almighty Lord. And now doe ye humbly pray before the countenance of your God and earnestly beseech him for in your hands have these things beene committed if happily he will accept of your persons And againe And out of your ravenous theft ye have brought in the lame and languishing and brought it in as an offering Shall I receive the same at your hands saith our Lord Accursed is the deceitfull man who hath in his flocke one of the male kinde and yet making his vow offereth the feeble unto our Lord because I am a mighty King saith our Lord of hosts and my name is terrible among the Gentiles And now unto yee appertaineth this Commandement O yee Priests if yee will not heare and resolve in your hearts to yeeld glory unto my name saith our Lord of hosts I will send upon ye poverty and accurse your blessings because ye have not setled these things on your hearts Behold I will extend out
an arme upon yee and disperse upon your countenances the dunge of your solemnities But that ye may in the meane time with a more thirsting desire prepare your Organs and instruments of mischiefe to be converted into goodnesse hearken yee if there remaineth as yet any so little inward listening in your hearts what he speaketh of a holy Priest saying My covenant of life and peace was with him for historically he did speake of Levi and Moses I gave feare unto him and he was timerous of me he dreaded before the countenance of my name the law of truth was in his mouth and iniquitie was not found in his lippes he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from unrighteousnesse For the lippes of the Priest shall keepe knowledge and from out his mouth they shall require the law because hee is the angell of our Lord of hosts And now againe hee changeth his stile and desisteth not to rebuke and reprove the unrighteous saying Ye have departed from the way and scandalized many in the law and made voyde my covenant with Levi saith our Lord of hosts In regard whereof I have also given ye over as contemptible and abject among my people according as â—ee have not observed my â—ayes and accepted counteâ—ance of men in the law What is there not one father of us all What hath not one god created us Why therefore doth every one despise his brother And againe Behold our Lord of hosts will come and who can conceive of the day of his comming and who shall endure to stand to behold him For he shall passe forth as a burning fire and as the fullers hearbe and shall sit melting and trying silver and he shall purge the sonnes of Levi and clense them as gold and as silver And somewhat afterwards Your words have growne strong against me saith our Lord and ye have spoken thus He is vaine who serveth God and what profit because we have kept his Commandements and walked sorrowfull before our Lord of hosts We shall therefore now call the arrogant blessed for because they are erected and builded up while they worke iniquity they have tempted God and are made safe But heare ye also what Ezechiel the Prophet hath spoken saying Woe upon woe shall come and messenger upon messenger shall be and the vision shall be sought for of the Prophet and the law shall perish from the Priests and counsell from the Elders And againe Thus saith our Lord In respect that your speeches are lying and your divinations vaine For this cause Behold I my selfe unto ye saith our Lord I will stretch out my hand on your Prophets who see lies and them who speak vaine things in the discipline of my people they shall not be and in the Scripture of the house of Israel they shall not be written and into the land of Israel they shall not enter and yee shal know that I am the Lord because they have seduced my people saying The peace of our Lord and there is not the peace of our Lord. Here have they built the wall and they annointed it and it shall fall And within some words afterwards Woe be unto these who fashion pillowes apt for every elbow of the hand and make veiles upon every head of all ages to the subversion of soules and the soules of my people are subverted and they possesse their soules and contaminated me unto my people for a handfull of barley and a peece of bread to the slaughter of the soules whom it behooved not to dye and to the delivery of the soules that were not convenient to live while ye talke unto my people that listeneth after vaine speeches And afterwards Say thou sonne of man thou art earth which is not watered with raine neither yet hath raine fallen upon thee in the day of wrath in which thy Princes were in the middest of thee as roring Lions ravening on their preyes devouring soules in their potent might and receiving rewards and thy widdâ—wes were multiplyed in the midst of thee and her Priests have despised my law and defiled my holy things Betweene holy and polluted they did not distinguish and divided not equally betweene the uncleane and cleane and from my Sabbaths they veiled their eies and in the midst of them they defiled And againe And I sought among them a man of upright conversation and one who should altogether stand before my face to prevent the times that might fal upon the earth that I should not in the end utterly destroy it and I found him not And I powred out upon it the whole designement of my minde in the fire of my wrath for the consuming of them I repaid their waies on their heads saith our Lord. And somewhat after And the word of our Lord was spoken unto me saying O Sonne of man speake to the children of my people and thou shalt say unto them The land whereupon I shall bring my sword and the people of the land shall take some one man among them and ordaine him to be a watchman over them and hee shall espie the sword comming upon the land and sound with his trumpet and signifie unto the people who so truely shall then heare the sound of the trumpet and yet hearing shall not beware and the sword shal come and catch him his blood shall light upon his owne head because when hee heard the sound of the trumpet hee was not watchfull his blood shall be upon him and this man for that hee hath preserved his owne soule hath delivered himselfe But the watchman if he shall see the sword comming and not give notice with his trumpet and the people shall not beware and the sword comming shall take away a soule from among them both the soule it selfe is caught a captive for her iniquities and I will also require her blood at the hand of the watchman And thou O son of man I have appointed thee a watchman over the house of Israel and if thou shalt heare the word from out my mouth when I shall say to a sinner Thou shalt die the death and yet wilt not speake whereby the wicked may returne from his way both the unjust himselfe shall die in his iniquity and truely I will require his blood also at thy hands But if thou shalt forewarne the wicked of his way that he may avoide the same and he neverthelesse will not withdraw himselfe from his course this man shall die in his impiety and thou hast preserved thine owne soule And so let these few among a multitude of Propheticall testimonies suffice by which the pride or sloath of our stubborne Priests may be repelled to the end they may not suppose that we doe rather of our owne invention then by the authority of the Lawes and Saints denounce such threats against them And now let us also behold what the trumpet of the Gospell sounding to the whole world speaketh
likewise to disordered Priests for as wee have often said this our discourse tendeth not to treate of them who obtaine lawfully the Apostolicall seate and such as rightly and skilfully understand how to dispose their spirituall foode in time convenient unto their fellow servants if yet at this time there remaine any great number of these in this our Country but wee onely talke of ignorant and unexpert Shepherds who leave their flock feed on vaine matters for learned and good Pastours are free from these vanities And therefore it is an evident token that hee is not a lawfull Pastour yea not an ordinary Christian who rejecteth and denyeth these sayings which are not so much ours who of our selves are very little worth as the decrees of the old and New Testament even as one of ours right well doth say We do exceedingly desire that the enemies of the Church should also without any manner of truce be our adversaries and that the friends and defendours thereof should not onely be accounted our confederates but also our fathers and governours For let every one with true examination call his owne conscience unto account and so shall he easily finde whether according unto righteous reason hee possesseth his Priestly chaire or no. Let us see I say what the Saviour and Creator of the world hath spoken Ye are saith hee the salt of the earth if that the salt vanisheth away wherein shall it be salted it prevaileth to no purpose any farther but that it be cast out of the doores and trampled under the feete of men This only testimony might abundantly suffice to confute all such as are impudent but that it may be yet by the Words of Christ more evidently prooved with what huge intollerable bands of offences these false priests intangle and oppresse themselves some other sayings are also to be adjoyned For it followeth Ye are the light of the world A Câ—ty placed on a mountaine cannot be hid neither yet doe they light a candle and put it under a bushell but upon a candlesticke that it may shine unto all who are in the house What Preist therefore of this fashion and time who is so possâ—ssed with the blindenesse of ignorance doth as the light of a most cleere burning candle shine with the lampe of learning and good workes in any house to all that sit in the darkesome night What one is so accounted a safe publike and apparant refuge to all the children universally of the Church that he may be to his countrimen a most defensible and strong City situated on the top of an high mountaine Moreover which one of them can accomplish one day together this that followeth Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father who is in Heaven Since rather a certain most obscure cloud of theirs and the blacke night of offences do in that sort hang over the whole Iâ—land that they turne all almost away from the righteous course and make them to wander astray through unpassable and cumbersome paths of wickednesse and so their heavenly Father is not onely by their workes not magnified but also by the same intollerably blasphemed And truely I gladly would in some historicall or morrall sense how so ever willingly interpret as farre forth as our meanenesse could afford these testimonies of Holy Scripture which are either already cited or hereafter to be intermixed in this Epistle but for feare least this our little worke should be unmeasurably tedious unto those who despise loathe and disdaine not so much our speeches as Gods sayings I have already alledged and meane hereafter to affirme these sentences plainely without any circumstance And to proceed within a few words after For who shall breake one of the least of these Commandements and so instruct men shall be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven And againe Iudge ye not that ye may not be adjudged for in what judgement ye shall judge ye shall be judged And which one I pray you of your Company will regard this same that followeth But why dost thou see saith he the mote in the eye of thy brother and considerest not the beame in thine owne eye or how dost thou say to thy brother suffer me I will cast the mote out of thine eye and behold the beame remaineth still in thine owne eye Or this insueing Doe ye not give what is holy to dogges neither yet shall yee cast your pearles before swine least perchance they tread them under their feete and â—urning against ye breake ye asunder which hath most often befallen unto ye And admonishing the People that they should not by deceitfull Doctors such as ye be seduced hee saith Keepe your selves carefully from false prophets who come unto yee in the clothing of sheepe but inwardly are ravenous wolves by their fruite shall ye know them Do men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles So every good tree beareth good fruite and the evill evill And somewhat afterward Not every one who saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but who so doth the will of my father that is in Heaven he shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven And what shall then become of yee who as the Prophet hath said beleeve God onely with your lippes and not adhere to him with your hearts And how doe ye fulfill that which followeth Behold I send yee forth as sheepe among the midst of the wolves Who doe cleane contrariwise proceede as wolves against a flocke of sheepe or the other ensueing sentence Be ye wise as serpents and simple as doves since ye are onely wise to bite others with your deadly mouthes and not to defend with the objection and adventure of your whole body your head which is Christ whom with all the endeavours of your evill actions yee treade under foote neither yet have ye the simplicity of doves but the resemblance rather of the blacke Crow which taking her flight out of the Arke which is the Church of God and finding the carren of earthly pleasures did never with a pure heart returne back thither againe But let us looke on the rest Feare ye not saith he them who kill the body but are not able to slay the soule but feare ye him who can overthrow both soule and body into hell fire Receive in your minds which of these ye have performed And what one of yee is not wounded in the very deepe secrets of his heart with this testimony following which our Saviour uttereth unto his Apostles of evill prelats saying Doe ye suffer them the blinde are leaders of the blinde but if the blinde be a guide to the blinde both shall fall into the ditch But the people doubtlesse whom yee have governed or rather beguiled have just occasion to listen hereunto Marke ye also the words of our Lord speaking unto his Apostles and to the