and the beame out of the timber answereth and denounceth Woe to him that buildeth a Towne by bloud and getteth a City by iniquity Hab. 2.11 Who would haue thought that when Abels mouth was stopped by death and his bloud swallowed vp by the earth that there had bin none to complain but his bloud saith God Gen. 4. which the earth had swallowed crieth to mee out of the bowels thereof What a complayning noyse then must the bloud of so many men as is dayly shed in this land make in the eares of the Lord of hoasts crying now for vengeance against them that will not reuenge it against them that helpe to smother it and do not remoue euill from Israel But I will not dwel vpon these sores of our land we see the fruits which the chosen Church of Israel and Iudah his pleasant plant brought forth wee see the fruits which our vnthankefull land so blessed of the Lord so instructed in the precepts of piety and righteousnesse doth affoorde to him for all his mercies and louing kindnesses I looked for grapes and behold wilde grapes Here iust occasion is ministred to inquire out some reason why all these blessings of God in planting watering and pruning his Church should not be of force to make it fruitful but that notwithstāding al his husbandry it shuld so degenerate bring forth the fruits not of the new but of the old stocke I wil not vndertake to set down al the particular reasōs therof but amōgst many no doubt one not the least is that first blessing of planting his Vineyard in a fruitfull soyle his temporall blessings his peace his plenty his furnishing of it with all outward necessaries that it might bee in heart and strong to bring forth goodly fruit It may seeme strange that these helpes of piety should proue the bane therof for whē straw is not ministred to Israel but that they are forced to wander ouer the land to seek stubble what maruell if they yeeld not their ful tale of bricks or if the necessities of this life doc distract Martha vnto many things how can shee with her sister intend to fitte at the foot of Christ and by the waters of the Word which should increase her fruitefulnesse But though Abraham Iob Dauid all faithfull men truly rooted and grounded in Christ the more they are increased with those outward blessings of wealth of honour of authority the more abundance of the outward fruits of righteousnesse and mercy they doe yeeld yet in men not truly regenerated and altered into the nature of the roote Christ of which sort the greater parte of outward professors alwayes are lamentable experience sheweth how that fatnes of the soyle which in the fanctified branches of the Vine Christ doth increase good fruit contrariwise in these vnreceiued Christians doth feed the corruption of their olde nature and doe helpe to the fruites thereof This corrupted the purity of the Church of Israel Deut. 32.5 Hee that should haue beene vpright when hee waxed fat spurned with his heele And Ier. 5. Though I fedde them full yet they committed adultery they assembled themselues by companies in harlots houses This corrupted the Church of Christians Religio peperit diuitias filia deuorauit matrem Piety brought forth wealth and this daughter destroyed her mother that brought her forth This corrupted the Church of Rome As soone as the Church was indued with riches saith Platina the worshippers of God were turned from seuerity to wantonnes and by the generall impunity no Prince repressing the lewdnesse of men monsters vsurped Peters seat Lastly this hath been the bane of our church our peace our plenty our rest euen the Lords blessings like plenty of showers hath brought forth this haruest of weedes and brambles which haue choaked true deuotion abundance hath increased luxuric and ministred food to the pride of life fulnesse of bread hath brought forth wantonnes of the flesh and lust of vncleannesse which in want and hunger do ordinarily wither peace hath bread security and called euery man to the building of his own house Here beganne our gathering when wee conceiued hope of inioying and the increase of our goods increaseth our loue to wards thē and by stealing our affection separateth our hearts from the roote Christ in whom wee should grow And thus when men should haue said in their hearts Let vs feare the Lord our God that giueth raine both earely and late and reserueth to vs the appointed time of haruest or when they should say with Dauid Psal 116. Enter into God thy rest O my soule for he hath beene beneficiall to thee wee say with the glutton Take thy rest O my soule for thou hast goods laid vp for many yeares eate drinke and be merry Whereby as our Sauiour obiecteth to the Iewes Math. 13.15 This peoples heart is waxen fatte and their eares are dull of hearing with their eyes haue they winked lest they should see with their eyes and heare with their eares and vnderstand with their hearts and be conuerted and I should heale them So necessary is the prayer of Salomon for the Church of God also Giue mee not abundance lest I be full and deny God and say Who is the Lord But to conclude this point howsoeuer the corruption of mē doth turn this plenty of earthly blessings to the nourishing of their earthly affections seeing as Vines cannot bring forth fair goodly fruit in a barren soile so the fruits of the Church of righteous men cannot be abundant fair without this food seeing God in his mercy also often taketh away this abundance when his Church groweth wanton by breaking the staffe of bread tryeth them with scarsity somtimes with afflictions the Lords challenge doth notwithstanding still continue firm What could I haue done to my Vineyard which I haue not done In this abundant allowance vnto our bodies if any man thinke that the abundant prouision made for the foode of our soules also this plenty of preaching and of instructions should haue kept downe the pride of the body and held vp the spirit aboue the flesh reformed the abuses of wealth peace I may adde euen this abundance of spiritual food as one of the causes of cōfirming hardning corrupt minds in their corruptions for in those fat hearts which are either wanton or sleepy the continuall plenty of the word causeth a fulnesse a lusting after Quailes and nouelties and a wearie loathing of that plaine bread of life which came from heauen Our soules said the Iewes are dried vp with this Manna Euen as water and bread and fire because they are things without which we cannot liue God made them more cōmon then things of pleasure and yet because they are so common they are of lesse price so that word without which there is no spirituall life God in his mercy maketh it cōmon in his church that according to the prophesie it may runne like waters in the
imposed lawes to his owne mother drawing all power into his hands and making himselfe as the Sunne from which all others both Moone and Stars do receiue their light Thus hath Lucifer inuaded Christs poore Family and hath made choyce of a person of humility by whom vnder the colour of piety and religion hee might bring into the Church of Christ the highest degree of pride that euer the world saw in any worldly state or the weakenesse of man is capable of whom hee setting vp on the foundation not of a rocke but of imagination and opinion only and crowning with a triple crowne hath perswaded both him to take and perswaded men to giue more then humane honours as high as to the titles of Optimus maximus our Lord God the Pope and as our Countryman Stapleton writeth to him Supremum in terris Numen forcing the Emperors sometimes acknowledged for his gracious Lords and Soueraignes to yeeld their neckes for him to trample on and the Kings and Princes of the earth to licke the dust of his feet and all the people for their saluation to fall downe before him as hauing all keyes and powers of heauen and earth and hell and purgatory as blasting with the breath of his mouth like lightning whatsoeuer hee curseth as hauing the oracles of God in his breast and that neuer ordinary priuiledge that he cannot erre This was the punishment of the Church after that thorow abundance and wealth and ease she became wanton and loued not the truth that as it was prophesied 2. Thess 2. God should send strong delusions and men should belieue lies to the astonishment of all other churches both Easterne and Southerne who wonder that wee can belieue such fancies As for the necessity of one visible Monarch to make the visible church one seeing the Apostles writings in their so often mention of the church and the pastors of the same neuer intimate this doctrine of this Monarchie seeing Eph. 4. the Apostle of purpose laieth the grounds of vnity alledgeth those other bonds One Lord one Faith one Baptisme and omitteth this seeing after reckoning vpon the seuerall degrees of Ministers both ordinary and inordinary giuen to his church after his affection for the building of it in truth and loue hee setteth downe Apostles Euangelists Prophets Pastors Teachers this one Monarch is not once named to the church seeing before Christs comming God had a visible Church in Iob his house not depending vpon the Church of Iudah and is also granted by Bellarmine and yet the Church of God was alwayes one seeing since Christ the Primitiue Church had no such head but as Aeneas Siluius acknowledgeth Ante Nicenum Concilium sibi quisque viuebat ad Romanam Ecclesiam paruus ad modum respectus habebat and yet in the long time of that little regard of Rome the Church of Christ was one seeing to this day all Churches in the three partes of the world haue so anciently renounced this one head who notwithstanding may not be accounted castawayes and no partes of Christs Church seeing whatsoeuer reason is vrged of necessity one Bishoppe doth as necessarily proue the necessity of one King ouer all the Christian world truely we are so farre from thinking the necessity of one visible head to be an article of our faith that contrariwise wee agree in iudgement with Gregory the Great concerning the danger of the same who disputing against the very name and title of an vniuersal Bishoppe bringeth this reason against the thing Ecclesiae vniuersa corruit si ille vniuersus cadit if that vniuersall Bishoppe should fall his fall be the ruine of the whole Church This our lamentable experience hath made good not onely in the gouernment of the Western Churches in which he hath been like a wilde Bore in the Lords Vineyard but also in their faith which by reason of their generall subiection to that one head was as generally tainted with the same errors for as when one foot slippeth the other may stand and vphold the body vnlesse it bee carried with the sway of that which slipped so when one Church faileth in any point of truth an other may stand vphold the same vnles they be dependant one vpon an other respect not that only vncorruptible head Christ and his vnchangeable lawes 2 Now that we haue found out the Lords Vineyard and considered the nature and state of the same wee are in the next place to consider the husbandry which the Lord of this Vineyard vseth the labour the cost the skill and care hee bestoweth on it to make it prosper for since that vniuersall curse pronounced by the mouth of God Cursed be the earth for mans sake thornes and thistles shall it bring forth Gen. 3. good things do hardly thriue without skilfull and Industrious planting and cherishing their impediments are many their helpes must be so many that the Vineyard which is neglected and left to it selfe may seem in a manner blamelesse though it proue not fruitfull for these duties therefore of the husbandman the Lord conscious to himselfe of his own goodnesse towards it doubteth not to make the Vineyard and Church it selfe and euery plant thereof euen all the inhabitants of Iudah his Iudges what one thing hee hath omitted which might haue smothered it What could I haue done to my Vineyard saieth God which I haue not done The particulars were set downe before 1. The choice of the seat of Canaan My beloued had a Vineyard on a verie fruitfull hill 2. His fencing it from spoyles He hedged it about with his mighty protection 3. The choyce of the plants Hee planted it with the best plants the roote the true Vine that came downe from heauen the branches the sonnes of Abraham 4. The preparing of the Soile he gathered vp the stones that might hinder the growth the Cananites and Hittites 5. For a further defence hee built a Towre in the middest of it his glorious Temple 6. He set vp a Vinepresse in it an Altar vpon which they might offer the fruits of their free will offerings to those hee added continuall pruning and dressing watring of it from the cloudes of heauen It appeareth after Ver. 6. For the proofe of these particulars reade the old Testament What is the whole history of the Bible but the narration of Gods blessings vpon his owne people as if hee minded no other nation no part of his creation but onely them What is Genesis but the miraculous preseruation of them in their first spring and tender beginnings till they were growne into a great people now a plant able to bee remoued and to stand by it selfe What are Exodus and Numbers but a powerfull translating of this Vine by a mighty hand out of the Garden of Egypt where it was borne downe and the gracious ordering and preseruing of it as it were aboue ground in a wildernesse where it had nothing to liue on for forty yeares till it
was to be planted in Canaan What are Leuiticus and Deuternomy but the heauenly rules and orders of husbandring disposing and pruning and dressing this vine to preserue it in state And lastly what are the histories of Iosua and Iudges and Kings but the mighty planting of it in the land of Canaan the casting out of the Cananits like stones thorns the weeding out of those mighty Nations which might hinder the growth of the Vine There the heauens and the earth the sunne the fire the cloudes and the sea together with the Angels host of heauen all were commanded in their seuerall callings to attend vpon this Vine for they were the people which the Lord called to be a holy generation his royall Priesthood and that was the place of which he prophesieth Psal 132. The Lord hath chosen Sion and loueth to dwell in it saying here is my rest for euer here will I dwell for I haue delighted therin I will surely blesse her victuals satisfie her poore with bread I will cloath her Priests with saluation and her Saints shall shout for ioy Now those temporall blessings of peace and abundance those temporary deliuerances from al enemies those miracles and those wonders and that sensible presence of God himselfe in the middest of them though they seeme strange in our eyes and at the reading of them doe make vs Christians to say Hee hath not dealte so with any Nation Hee hath not dealt so with any Christian Church yet wee are deceiued for the gracious kindnes of God died not with Israel but rather those visible mercies towards Iudah were the visible seales of his inuisible and perpetual graces towards his Church and euery part therof for where he hath an outward Church there he hath also some elect to bee placed in it for eternity and where any of his elect are there are all things necessary to their accomplishment his Ministers his Word his Sacraments his Graces his Protection his exceeding loue For seeing those outward visible Churches bee as it were the Lords Worke-houses wherein hee frameth the inuisible members of Christs body by grace and proportioneth them to glory that etern all wisdome and loue will so prouide order and proportion also those means one to another and all vnto the end that it may iustly challenge the whole world what should I say What could I haue done for my Vineyard which I haue not done And here though occasion is offered It were a good thing to prayse the Lord and to sing vnto the name of the most high to declare this his louing kindnes in the morning and his truth all the day vntill night season for so much of our life is Angelicall as is spent in songs of thankefulnes vnto our God yet I must leaue this work to be the sacrifice of your priuate deuotion In which that one onelie benefit vpon the Christian Church is more then wee shall be able to comprehend that this Vineyard this Paradice whereof himselfe vouchsafeth to be the husbandman hee hath purchased to himselfe by the price of bloud not as Ahab purchased Naboth his Vineyard by the cruell shedding of the right owners bloud and vniust robbing the possessor of it but by giuing an infinit price for it the bloud of his onely beloued sonne to redeeme it where it lay ingaged in the hand of iustice and the Apostle concludeth necessarily Rom. 9. Hee who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for his Church how shall hee not with him giue all things to her he that hath yeelded vp the person of his infinitly beloued to be a sacrifice for her sins and doth giue his flesh to feede his Church and his bloud to bee her drinke how iustly may hee demaund What could he doe more for his Vineyard which hee hath not done But here though it be with the consent of all tongues acknowledged that the blessings of God vpon his Church and euery part thereof are exceeding great yet this challenging as it were of his own omnipotency What could I haue done more which I haue not done rayseth a doubt not to bee ouerpassed For might not this house of Iudah the inhabitants of Ierusalem haue replyed in the wordes of the Leper Math. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane the ordinarie obiection which many godles persons in our times doe frame both against God and themselues attributing their impenitency not to their owne obstinacy and corruptions but to Gods vnresistable will for if hee would say they he could sanctifie vs and make vs cleane also Wherein first that is vndoubtedly true that God who made Iron to swimme and rockes of stone to yeelde forth streames of water who made Aaron his dried staffe to bud and bring forth Almonds in a night he who could of stones raise vp children vnto Abraham if hee would by miracle could mollifie these obstinate sinners also and make their rockie hearts gush forth with teares hee could make them of stones children and of withered stickes fruitfull trees and that in a moment by the might of his omnipotent power but as in the gouernement of the world hee hath set downe an ordinary course according to the nature of his creatures which he doth not alter but vpon speciall occasion as our Sauiour noteth in the cure of Naaman and in the feeding of the widdow of Sarepththa Luke 4.27 so in the ordering of his Church also conuersion of the soules of men he hath set down an ordinary course of secondary spiritual causes agreeable to their end and fitted to perswade the mind of man as principally the word of truth and light in the mouth of his messengers accompanied with a measure of his spirit Thus by Moses and the Prophets hee conuerteth sinners if men will not heare them no though a man should rise from the dead saith our Sauiour they will not belieue for these are so forceable and so proportionated in his wisdom to the heart of man so seconded with the graces of his powerfull spirit both for the instructing of the mind and thereby the inclining of the will that vnlesse a man hath more then ordinarily corrupted himselfe in sin vnlesse he be like these trees in Iude his Epistle Twice dead and plucked vp by the rootes vnles hee bee like Lazarus not onely dead but stinking also in his graue habitually corrupted and that with such kinds of particular vices as are opposite to the receiuing of the life of grace it could not but draw him vnto God Of this sort are those obdurate sinners which haue hearts and cannot repent Rom. 2.5 for though all inherent sinne be contrary to God and his truth yet some sinnes and vices are more opposite to Christ then others which maketh some sinners conuersion more difficult then others Thus our Sauiour affirmeth that Publicans and Harlots shal sooner come to Gods Kingdome then proud Pharisies that stand vpon their owne righteousnes according to the Law and
vnto God but what is in the eye if man may iudge whose tongue wil not confesse but that as God spake of Iudah Ezec. 16. that shee had iustified her elder sister Samaria by her sinnes so wee haue iustified our eldest sister Iudah by these our sinnes and in steade of grapes haue brought forth oppression vniustice couetousnesse wild grapes full of poyson and the gall of Aspes our peace our plenty the richnes of our soyle in which we liue our want of seuere pruning hath brought forth a luxurious haruest of pestilent weedes in the Vineyard which haue in a manner ouergrowne and choaked piety righteousnesse and all hearty deuotion I know the Lord hath reserued vnto vs a seede a small remnant also but look on the general face of our land how hath this hatefull sinne of vniustice ouergrowne all for the roote thereof couetousnesse and selfe-loue hath got deepe rooting and all men now in a manner doe turne the sappe and the blessings of God their wealth their labors not into clusters of fruits according to their vocation but into their own armes and branches euery one striueth not to bee a good but to be a great tree the bramble wold grow to be of the bignes of the maple and the maple would be strong and tall like vnto the oake ouerdropping and by getting ground starueth another some by an vnsensible soaking from them some by violent and open wrong some vnder colour of right pretence of loue so that in euery quarter and ranke of the Lords Vineyard there is oppression and from oppression there ascendeth a cry to the Lord of the Vineyard But what doe I speake of priuate vniustice betweene men and men when there is found in our Vineyard a kinde of oppression not heard of amongst the heathen Christians in their greedinesse to lay hands vpon their God and father and vnnaturally to seeke to rob him of that which the bounty of his better children had bestowed on him for the maintenance of his worship amongst men Doth any man rob his gods sayth the Lord Malachy 3.8 yet this people robbeth their God and they aske wherein euen in tythes and offerings This is one maine roote of vnnaturall impiety a principall cause of all our corruption when the branches of the Vine doe not onely sucke and draw one from another but doe intercept that also which should maintaine the principall roote on which wee all grow euen Christ his seruice in his Church When God sent his sonne vnto the Iewes Come said they let vs cast him out of the Vineyard kill him and the inheritance shall be ours The Lord our life hath yet some inheritance and patrimony in his owne Vineyard amongst vs for the maintenance of his labourers which should plant Christ amongst vs and in graft vs in him vnto his inheritance how many couetous men doe cast their greedy eyes and put to their hands also that first the Labourers might bee cast out and the inheritance may be theirs What is this but by consequence to cast out Christ himselfe out of his owne Vineyard and as much as in vs lieth to kill Religion and Piety to kill Christ himselfe within our hearts For it is not the losse onely of earthly liuing and the dayly diminishing of the maintenance of his Labourers which is to bee lamented though when you mussell the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out your corne and detract from the ordinary allowance of your labouring beast you shall find the want therof in their hartles trauell and in your own empty haruest but the greatest cause of lamentation complaint herein is the corruption of the Ministery of Christ whilst Patrones and such as deale in the disposing of Church liuings doe shut vp all the ordinary wayes for the Labourers to enter into the Lords Vineyard but onely by the dore of Simonie by which men of good conscience will not enter Thus is the Lords worke and tillage of his vineyard vnfruitfully followed whilest men of corruptest minds and the basest of the people take vp the places of should bee plentifull among vs crying I haue looked for righteous dealing as amongst brethren who should rather suffer then offer wrong and behold a crying I haue heard a voyce saith Moses Exod. 32. when hee descended from the Mount the noise neither of them that haue the victory nor of them that haue the worse for the people had sate downe to eate and were risen vp to play But where there is oppression and wrong there is a kind of warre some haue the better and some haue the worse and therefore amongst them there is alwayes heard the noise of them that haue the worse the noise of Oppression the noise of complayning and of crying A dangerous thing to haue any crying heard in the family of God amongst brethren a fearefull thing that the complaint of the oppressed should come to his eare Omne sub Regno grauiore regnum est Euery Court is subiect to a higher Court. That there should be no wrongs it cannot bee prouided but for redresse there is refuge to Gods officers and ministers of Iustice vpon earth and if they by righteous iudgement do take away the cause of crying God is satisfied but if the wronged party can find no ease in those inferiour Courts but that in griefe of soule hee appealeth to the supreme Court when hee cryeth after the Iudge of the world as Dauid Psalme 10. Arise O Lord lift vp thy arme forget not the poore wherefore doe the wicked contemne and say thou wilt not regard thē the righteous God the refuge of the fatherles prouoked with those often appeales taketh iudgement into his owne hands and as Psalme 12. Now for the oppressing of the needy and sighes of the poore I will rise vp sayth the Lord for seeing Deut. 15.9 hee chargeth vs not to harden our hearts from giuing to our wanting brother lest he cry vnto the Lord and it bee sinne vnto vs How much more certainely will hee performe that which he protesteth Exod. 22. If thou trouble or vex the widdow or fatherles so they call cry vnto me I will surely heare their cry and my wrath shal be kindled and I will kill thee with the sword thy wife shall bee a widdow and thy children fatherlesse Oh my beloued as there is much vniustice in euery estate cōtrary to Pharaohs dream the fat doe feed vpon the leane the stronger vpon the weaker as the fishes doe in the sea so let no man presume vpon the weakenes of the Plainetiffe or vpon his own means to beare out his cause in the world for though men should be silent in their owne wrongs the stones shall cry and the dumbe creatures shall make complaint the detained hire of the labourer though it lie in our chest yet it sendeth vp a crie into the eares of the Lord of hostes Iacob 5. The stone that lyeth in the wall of our owne buildings crieth