if once it catch the heart roote it will eate out all goodnes all care all loue all zeale and indignation against sin Hence groweth nonresidencie swallowing downe of steeples as easie as the hungrie doth his crummes Loue of the world choakes care of painfull preaching Hence instead of hunting the Foxe there is hunting for promotion and preferment hunting for the profits and pleasures of this present life hunting for honour and for hundreds scratching of consciences in beating of the bushes for many benefices wheeling about the thickets to spie the couch of a prebendary or a deanrie c. and therefore hath it come to passe that some which haue had salt in them that is vnderstanding knowledge and zeale haue lost it through the perswasion of him that said All this will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me there being now no more relish in them then there is tast in the white of an egge And what shall we say then of them that neuer had any salt at all in them neuer any loue any knowledge any zeale surely they be vnprofitable seruants worthie to be cast out of the temple of God as filth and dounge For what breedes greater contempt against God or discredit to his Gospel what more reuiues a catholikes hope to returne vnto Babilon or encourageth the traitours to the accomplishment of their practises then the blindnes ignorance and impietie of the ministerie how commeth it to passe that foolish people retain their old liking to their fathers old faith yong imps haue the like opinion powred into them and consequently as it may seeme easie to be drawne from their dutifull loyaltie to the loue of a stranger but because they haue wanted such as should rightly enforme them can the inestimable treasurie of a mightie prince be seene in the beggarlines of a base Embassadour can the aduersarie of the Gospell be drawne from falsehood and errour by him that knowes not I had almost said beleeues not the truth can a papist be reduced from his worshipping of idols by him that is no better then an idoll himselfe can the carnall gospeller the wanton libertine the prophane heart the beastly Epicure be brought to continencie modesty and sobriety by such which rather binde them in the cordes of iniquitie Lastly if to know God and according to that knowledge to serue him be the ground-worke of all true obedience how is it then possible that they whose consciences were neuer seasoned with any religion should yeelde either to God or their prince any dutifull subiection Saint Paul saith that he had begotten the Church of the Galathians Gal. 4.9 1. Cor. 4.15 and called himselfe the father of the Corinthians in regarde of the ministerie because hee had begotten them by the preaching of the Gospell Such fathers such children such as are the seedmen such seede they doe sowe Where olde wilie Foxes such as whose loue to religion may be iustly suspected are admitted into this great calling there poperie is sowne in stead of the Gospel and Foxes growe vp in steade of sound christians where blinde guides are made ministers such as haue no more knowledge then idolles of woode and stone preachers as they call them of idiots there must needes bee poore knowledge of God and suspected dutifulnes to the prince The great hurt and dishonour that these bring to the Church of God no man can with effectuall words display it nor plentie of teares lament it all sermons exhortations reprehensions doe rather aggrauate their condemnations then worke any reformation We reade that the Emperour Commodus was so cunning in darting that hauing gotten stones for the exercise of his hand many citizens did assemble to see him throw whose dexteritie was such that hee neuer cast at wilde beastes and missed his marke nor gaue any wound that was not deadly It is to be wished that euery one that rebuketh sinne should leuell so straight as did this Emperour that neuer threw but he hit neuer hit but he wounded so should the reader with the Romans neither see one monster twise galled neither any sin recouer the first wound If darters at deformities could wound as deadlie as they aime directly this monstrous monster had been vanquished long ere this day but alas it liueth ô yet it liueth liueth to nourish papisme atheisme and epicurisme If any maruaile at this how such are aduanced to houlde the helme as are scarce worthie to sit in the sincke hoysed into Moses chaire that are more meet to sit at Gamaliels feete called to feede with the dugge of the Gospell before they themselues be well weaned and sent to fight the Lords battles before they haue one stone to sling against Golias that is one scripture to resist the tempter withall let him vnderstand that this is either because the heartes of patrones are limed with the loue of this world which makes them not care whom they present or many Bishops haue such motes in their eyes that they cannot well see whom they blesse I am loth to rake in this dounghill of buying selling of benefices the which is a sufficient testimonie if there were no more that men haue as much true loue to religion as euer had Machiauell Fiue sorts of patrones of benefices There are diuers sorts that giue spirituall promotions in this land some are our great Catholickes whose care to send good ministers into the Church I durst sweare for them is as great as the Foxe euer had to feede the lambes And how can it stand with their blind religion to send good ministers into the true Christian Church but rather to dishonour and deface it by sending in the basest such as haue neither Vrim nor Thummim neither brighnesse of knowledge nor vprightnes of life It is said that Ieroboam made Israel to sinne that is to contemne religion and why because he made priestes of the basest of the people Therfore the diuell knowes well that if he can get priestes to be made of the refuse he shal bring people to condemne preachers and prophecying priests and religion Here let our Bishops be circumspect to sift narrowly when the patrone giues the Foxe for his cognisance There is a second sort of patrons open adorers of their god Mammon Mammonistes patrones described These are as good to Gods Church as the former Indeed I must confesse that when they giue their spiritual promotions all their care is to get a mā of gifts O gifts gifts nothing at all respected with these Merchants but gifts My meaning as no mystery Si nihil attuleris ibis Homere foras If you haue no gifts the passage is plain you must pack Can we find saith Pharao such a man as this meaning Ioseph for his excellencie in whom is the spirit of God Gen. 41.38 thou shalt be ouer my house And can we find such a man as this saith a sacrilegious patrone meaning a Sir Iohn lacke Latin
A TOILE FOR TWO-LEGGED FOXES Wherein their noisome properties their hunting and vnkenelling with the duties of the principall hunters and guardians of the spirituall vineyard is liuelie discouered for the comfort of all her Highnes trustie and true-hearted subiects and their encouragement against all Popish practises By I. B. Preacher of the word of God CANTICLES 2.15 Take vs these Foxes and these young Cubs which destroy these vines while our vines bud forth 2. CHRON. 15.8 Asa made a law in his time that whosoeuer would not seeke the Lord God of Israel should be slaine whether he were small or great man or woman A Maxima As Poperie and treacherie goe hand in hand whilest Poperie is kept vnder so Poperie and crueltie are companions vnseparable if once Poperie get the vpper hand LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston for Thomas Man 1600. TO ALL FIRME AND FAITHFVLL LOVERS OF TRVE RELIGION and loyaltie encrease of peace and ioy in Christ Iesus MAnifold haue been the opinions of men concerning the soueraigne good and welfare of mankinde Different opinions about mans soueraigne good Epicures The swinish Epicures sought it in sensualitie and carnall delights and to couer their shame haue bestowed great trauaile to disguise their lady pleasure and to make her goe for an honest woman Stoiks The Stoicks placed their welfare in morall vertue and in the right reigning of reason as though man were made for himselfe and not for common societie fearing least their surmised felicitie should fall to the ground they haue sought to vnderprop it with health wealth strength courage measurable pleasure c. The Peripateticks Peripateticks make two sorts of blessednes the one consisting in action which is politike or ciuill the other in contemplation which they call wisdome The Academicks Academicks or Platonists mount somewhat higher and considering that contemplation is but a continuall wrastling sometimes against the obscuritie of things and sometimes against the dimnes of our minds say that felicitie is to be ioyned vnto God and to become like vnto him who is the furthest end the highest top the vttermost bound of all blessednes Thus some of them haue groped in the darknes of this world for that which cannot be found here and others haue soared aloft but yet far too short in finding out that resting poynt whereat euery one ought to aime True religion the meanes to attaine our well fare and what true religion is How thē must we attaine vnto it surely by that which they knew not that is to wit true religiō which is the right rule of seruing God of reuniting mā vnto him that he may be saued of the which true religion there be three especiall marks so much the more worthy of deepe impression in our minds because many foolish ceremonies haue disguised themselues in the attire of true religion The first marke is The first marke of true religion to worship the onely God of Israel wherein behold how Sathan hath tyrannized ouer mankind in making mē forge as many gods as they had fancies as that people in Africke who worshipped that which they met first in the morning or the Assyrians that worshipped as many gods as they had townes or the Persians Mans vanitie being destitute of Gods word that worshipped as many gods as there be fires in the earth or stars in the skie or the Aegyptiās that worshipped as many gods as they had plants or trees or the Romans who subduing nations wan their superstitions so became the sinck-pan of Idolatries In a word the diuell by Gods permission so deluded the world that some made gods of their goods some worshipped the beasts which God gaue them for their benefite some builded Temples to their passions some made gods of themselues some deified their kings as the Aegyptians their king Apis the Babylonians their Belus the Macedonians their Cabyrus the Latines their Faunus the Sabines their Saucus the Romans their Quirinus what Christians will not shudder at the rememberance of such mysteries when Euripides could speake thus Euripides Thou Neptune and thou Iupiter likewise with other gods whom faining words disguise If that due Iustice vnto you were doone both heauē temples should be emptie soone Then the first chiefe note of the true religion is that the true immortall God be onely worshipped who founded the earth and stretched out his meat-line ouer it who shutteth vp the sea within the banks and boundeth the waters who maketh light and darknes holdeth backe the Pleiades and vnbindeth Orion who spreadeth out the heauens like a curtaine and maketh his chambers in the depths who maketh the windes his messengers and the elements his seruants This I say is the true God who in his worship admitteth no collaterall companions and as for the rest gods in name and not in nature they are like vnto dog leaches which professe but the curing of one disease onely or common craftsmen which professe but the skill of some one mysterie The second marke of true religion is The second marke of true religion that we serue this onely God aright As for the Philosophers they also were pricking at this poynt but so that they were alwaies too wide or too short for which of them euer said that God is a spirite and ought to be serued in spirite True it is they set downe many morall precepts for direction of mens manners but when they come to the matters of God they either speake of them dreamingly or deeme of them ouerthwartly yea the seruices of God inuented by man are but so many childish imaginations not onely vnbeseeming the maiestie of God but farre inferiour to the discretion of a man as gaming 's stage plaies running of horses sword playings wrastlings buffetings and such like Aristotle in his metaphysicks commendeth a certaine answere of Symonides to Hieron King of Sicilie which was that none but God ought to haue skill of things that are aboue nature much lesse then to dispose of Religion that is to shew the meanes how to surmount nature The countrie clowne should shew himselfe ridiculous if hee should take vpon him to set downe how his Prince should be serued and yet is he a man as well as his Prince differing in state and not in nature What is to be said then of man being a worme lesse then a worme in respect of the euerliuing God if he will needs prescribe him his seruice Surely as none can see the sunne but by the helpe of the sunne so none can serue God The third marke of religion but by the light of his word There is a third marke without the which religion although in it selfe the path to saluation is nothing else but a booke wherein we reade the sentence of our owne deaths Therefore religion must shew vs a meanes to satisfie Gods Iustice without the which not onely all other religions but euen that which conteineth the true seruice
are altered religion mournes because her best seruants want their wages For they neuer gaue so fast as now they take away Sublatis studiorum praemijs ipsa studiae pereunt saith Cornelius Tacitus and substraction is become a great part of patrons study The conclusiō like to follow such polling premisses is the decay of learning piety religiō the bringing in of al Atheisme error Barbarisme For they which would study diuinitie aboue all when they see that the Church hath scarce the fauour of an ordinarie ward yea when they behold the contempt the beggerlines vexatiō and miserable want of the ministery are glad to fall to phisicke or law or some other trade Gen. 48 7 What shall I say of you You are worse thē Pharao for he had a care of his priests howsoeuer the world went with the rest You are not so kind to ministers of the gospel as Iesabel that painted harlot 1. King 18.19 These shall rise in iudgement against you Iud. 17. was to the prophets of the groues for she fed foure hundred at her table you are not half so religious as Micha was superstitious for he maintained his priests You shew that you haue lesse loue to religion then they papists haue to superstition The kite is your cognisance who being greedy and rauenous yet mounteth aloft as though he would touch the gliding clouds but yet when he flieth a matchlesse pitch he hath his eies fixed below on the earth spying and prying for a carrion carcasse euen so you soare aloft in your contemplation and in a certain counterfeit sanctimony seeme to be raised and carried aboue the clouds yet so long as you can find in your harts to play the part-stake patrons to spoile the Church to seeke to enrich your selues by such robberies they are no better it is an infallible signe that you are worldlings and earthly minded seeking your owne gaine and priuate profit For Gods loue let this be reformed that we may know you by another cognisance The last and best sort of patrons are such as account them worthie of double honour which rule well The best sort of patrones 1. Tim. 5.17 that hold the labourer worthie of his hire that no man goeth to warfare on his owne charges 1. Cor 1 from the 5 verse to the 15 that husbandmen should eate of the fruit of such vineyardes as they themselues planted that sheppeheards should eat of the milke of their owne flockes that sowers of spirituall things which are the greater are well worthy to reape carnal things which are the lesser that they which serue at the altar are worthie to liue by the altar These for their cognisance may fitly giue some rare bird I had almost said the blacke Swan but it shall be the Eagle for she mounteth on hie and falleth not on the ground but to seeke her necessarie food and being satisfied straightway soareth aloft euē so the minds of these are occupied in heauen all superfluous cares being cast apart they indeed wish the prosperity of Ierusalem the happy florishing state of the Church O Lord almightie encrease the number of these and in thy mercy conuert or in iustice confound such Church-robbers as sauor nothing but their own gain as daily indeuour to take away the reward of knowledge are the death of thousand thousands of souls stir vp O Lord thy faithful seruant our dread soueraigne that with Nehemiah she may thrust out all such Eliashibs as abuse the Church in this manner Nehem. 13.14 and euerie Tobiah linked in affinity with them that thy seruants may haue their own portions and that thou maist not be mocked so we thy workmanship and sheep of thy pasture for so great a mercy shal praise thee fer euer Amen CHAPTER 12. The dutie of Christian Magistrates as well Soueraigne as others in hunting and taking the two-legged Foxes THere be two sorts of men which say that the charge of Religion belongeth not to the office of the magistrate First they which vnder pretence of their annointed cleargie and priuiledged priesthood cannot abide to haue their abuses reformed Secondly they which eyther are infected with some heresie or else are willing to dally with heretikes The first sort doe onely require of the magistrate to maintaine and defend their degrees The second sort holdeth that the magistrate ought onely to meddle with the maintenance of publike peace and not to regard what others beleeue or not beleeue But the true Church teacheth that the charge of publike religion doth not in part Charge of religion belongeth to the Magistrate but principally and most of all belong vnto the magistrate which thing the holy scripture approueth Moses the first generall magistrate of the Israelites God gaue the order of religion to Moses not to Aaron who did not represent the person of a priest which was put vnto Aaron but of the superiour power like vnto the authoritie of a king did giue the order of al religion vnto the people appointed vnto Aaron the order of the priests what they should do what they should not do Wherby it appeareth that the care of the order of religiō doth rather belong vnto the superior magistrat then vnto the degree of priesthood I know they will say that Moses did dispose all these things at Gods commaundement It is true but I will be answered againe why God gaue not the commaundement for order of religion vnto Aaron whom he had consecrated to be a priest rather then vnto Moses So then this rather sheweth that the charge of the institution and gouernance belonges vnto the magistrate but the institution charge and ministration belongs vnto the priests Againe after the death of Moses the charge of religion belonged not to Eleasar the Priest but to Iehosua the magistrate who was of the tribe of Ephraim Iosua 5 and not of Leui by whose commaundement the children of Israell were the second time circumcised the Ark of God carried by the priests the altars builded the people sanctified and the rest of the lawes fulfilled which Moses prescribed Againe Iehosua charged them to feare the Lord Iosua 8 and to serue him with an vpright and faithfull heart Iehosua charged them to rid out of the way all straunge gods Iehosua renewed the couenant betweene God and his people and compiled the words of the couenant into the booke of Gods law True it is that the office of magistracie and priesthood both were ioyned together in the person of Samuel 1. Sam. 1. but yet he being at that time the chiefe man in Israell iudged and determined as a magistrate taught and sacrificed as a priest Dauid a patterne for good magistrats The ordering of religion by Dauid and vnto whom Christian rulers ought to haue an eie for godlinesse 2. Sam. 6 had the authority of disposing setting forth true religion 1. Chro. 16 1. Cho. 22.23.24.25 he