Mother of vs all hee that hath not Her for his Mother hath not GOD for his FATHER This is GODS Family hee that serues not Him in it serueth the diuell out of it This is the Court of the great King Hee that is not New-borne in it is some base-borne caitiffe and not counted among the Sons of the King Of the Militant Church CHRIST hath a part of His Mysticall Body triumphing with Him in the heauens and He a part warring vnder Him heere on earth This is a Spirituall Building made of liuing Stones hewen out of the Rocke CHRIST IESVS This is Noahs Arke out of which there is no meanes to scape the flouds of vengeance This like a Ship is weather-beaten with the raging winds and waues of worldly troubles yet is not swallowed vp This Church though farre and wide dispearsed is yet but One as many Members make but one Body many Branches make but one Tree many Riuers make but one Sea many People make but one Kingdom And One shee is because shee acknowledgeth but one GOD confesseth one Faith is ruled by one Head animated of one SPIRIT participateth of one Baptisme and is gouerned by one Law This Church Militant is the Sub-vrbes of the Church Triumphant None must enter into This but hee that hath first passed That None shall triumph like a Victor but hee that hath fought like a Souldier And hee that would weare a Crowne in This must first take vp His Crosse in That The proper and essentiall Members of this Church are all of them holy by the imputation of the Merites of CHRIST their Head and by the powerfull operation of the Spirit of CHRIST which is within them And all these are infallibly knowne onely vnto GOD who seeth the secrets of the heart and can certainely iudge of inward vertues As for the iudgement of men which may bee deceiued with shewes as the Birds were with those artificial grapes of Zeuxis it is vncertaine if of others except there bee some singular reuelation and rather an opinion of charity then a conclusion of certainety This Church Militant is in the world but not of the world All her Members are strangers in the earth but descended from heauen generated not of man but regenerated by the Holy Ghost not begotten of mortall bloud by the appetite of the flesh or will of man but of Immortall Seed by the Word of GOD according to His Will The onely Husband of this Church is CHRIST IESVS For Hee onely hath her holds her leads her To Him alone shee owes her loue her loyalty and fidelity The Friends not the Husbands for shee hath but One of this Bride and Bridegroome are all true Christians specially Pastors which heare the Voice of the Bridegroome and take great delight therein eschewing the voice of strangers The common condition of this Church and all her Members is affliction and persecution But shee counteth nothing more glorious then to beare the reproach of her Husband who is troubled in all troubles remembers all her sighes and enbottles all her teares And shee hath this property that like a Garden shee is greenest after a shower like Camomill shee is most odoriferous being troden on like Spices Shee is most fragrant being rubbed or bruised Whiles shee is persecuted shee flourisheth whiles shee is pressed shee spreadeth whilst shee is iniured shee vanquisheth whilst shee is corrected shee learneth and then gets vp when shee seemeth to bee beaten downe Then is shee most valiant in the Truth when shee is most oppugned for the Truth Being laden with tribulations she gathers strength being watered with the bloud of Martyrs shee taketh Spirit in sorrow shee reapeth solace being straited she is enlarged her very teares doe feed her her fastings do refresh her and those things doe make her floate aloft like corke which make worldlings like lead sinke downe vnto the bottome This Church is the pillar and ground of the Truth so termed of her seruice because shee doth by her Ministery Keepe Confirme and Preach the Truth not that shee hath authority ouer the Truth for the Truth is the ground and pillar of the Church But shee hath authority ouer her children and against all Heretiques from the Truth with which shee is betrusted to preserue and Preach I will therefore enquire for the Scriptures in the Church and for the Church in the Scriptures For the Church sheweth the Scriptures by her Ministery and the Scriptures demonstrate the Church by their Authority Of particular Churches THE Sea is one yet by reason that it washeth on many Countries it obtaineth many names as Brittish Spanish Adriaticall Mediterranean So all true Particular Churches in the world make but one Catholique Congregation though by reason of the Countries States or Nations in which they are dispearsed or else because of diuerse outward formes of gouernment they are called by sundry names These Churches by reason of their open profession of the Gospell and by reason of their outward formes are called visible and may bee seene though which of the Professours in them be truely Saints and appertaine to GODS Election and which are onely guilded pot-sheards and not truely sanctified no man can define precisely These Churches are like the Arke in which were all kind of beasts cleane and vncleane like a Barne where there is wheate and chaffe like a Garden where is flowers and weedes an Army where are men and milk-sops a Net wherein are good fish and bad a Kingdome or Citty wherein are good Subiects and false or vnworthy varlets Now these Churches are then reputed true and counted the daughters of the Catholicke when they professe the true faith of CHRIST and maintaine the true worship of GOD For there is the Church where there is true Faith saith Hierome where GOD is feared and praysed saith Austen where the Sacraments of CHRIST are rightly celebrated and His Word heard and conserued saith Beda Where there is consent in the Faith and consanguinity of the Apostles Doctrine saith Tertullian Where GOD appeareth and speaketh with his seruants saith Ambrose Into what Church therefore soeuer I shall come and shall perceiue the soundnesse of worship and the Faith of CHRIST Preached and maintained in the same I will liue peaceably and submit my selfe to the ordinances of GOD therein most willingly Of Christians CHRIST is the King of Kings and LORD of Lords and Christians of all men are onely of His Royall Bloud bone of His Bone flesh of His Flesh animated with His SPIRIT sprung from His Loynes swayed by His Scepter and partakers of His Glory Christians are not vnder the Law but delight in the Law For he that delights in the Law studies to deale according to the Law but hee which is vnder the Law is dealt with according to the law Euery Christian as hee is a Christian must say with Christ My Kingdome is not of this world And though it bee his destiny for a time to liue in this world
soule They may shew who is rich but this and the fruites thereof declare who is Religious They may perhaps tell who is wealthy great and glorious in the world but These point out a man that is wife and good and indued with the Grace of GOD. Finally a man may doe well enough as touching his soule though hee should want or refuse other seeds but the refusall and lacke of this Seed is very dangerous Hee that contemnes or puts away the Word of the LORD shall vndoubtly perish without repentance Yea and if we bee gotten by it what shall become of him that is without it Of Ignorance IT is better to bee ignorant then to erre Simple ignorance is better then vndiscreete knowledge Ignorance a bad mother hath two as bad daughters Falsehood and Doubting that is the more miserable but this the more to be pittied that is the more dangerous but this the more dolorous Affected ignorance of that which a man should know doth double the finne For it is one to bee ignorant and another and that worse to affect it and to bee pleased with it It is no small matter for a man to know that hee doth not know For it is the way to get knowledge to know that a man doth want knowledge None proue ranker fooles then they that thinke they haue all wisedome Many things worthy to bee knowne are not knowne either because men care not to know them or else because they thinke they know them when they know them not Hee that is the best and knowes the most will ingenuously acknowledge that hee knowes not many things which hee ought to know and that there are many things worthy to bee learned which yet hee hath not learned A wise Scholler will not so much content himselfe with what hee doth know as enquire after those things which hee doth not know not blessing himselfe with what hee hath learned but endeuouring to learne what hee hath not learned Hee that sees the light knowes how to iudge of darkenesse But hee that is blind cannot iudge of colours A blinde man they say swallows many a flye Ignorance is the mother of superstition but true deuotion affecteth knowledge It is an euill not to know what is lawfull to bee done as to doe that which a man knowes should not bee done When a man knowes not GOD hee knowes not how to worship Him and when hee knowes not himselfe hee knowes not how to behaue himselfe From the ignorance of GOD comes despaire from ignorance of ownes selfe ariseth pride and foollish philauty The ignorance of our selues is the beginning of sinne the ignorance of GOD is the consummation of sinne Hee commonly knowes most that knowes hee is ignorant of much Hee knowes but little that thinkes hee is ignorant but of little But hee knowes iust nothing that imagines hee knowes all and is ignorant of nothing It is an easier punishment not to bee able to liue then liuing not to bee able to know things needfull to bee knowne It were better to die being furnished with knowledge then to liue being fraught with ignorance It were better to haue knowledge and to die like a man then to be an ignorant sot and to liue like a beast Of Idols AN idoll is nothing Something it is in his conceipt that doth adore it but indeed it is not that which hee doth think it is And because it is nothing it can do neither good nor hurt Nothing can doe no good Some thing cannot come from nothing And nothing can do nobody hurt Nothing can doe no hurt to him that knowes no thing to bee nothing Yet this nothing hurteth him that thinkes it something not because it is in nature some thing but because hee thinkes it something when it is nothing and worships nothing in steed of some-thing The idols of the Heathen had eyes and saw not eares and heard not noses and smelt not hands and felt not and they that made them were like vnto them and so were all they that trusted in them That is they lackt their senses or else they might haue easily discerned that they were but statues and standing vanities But Popish Wafer-idol hath no eyes at all no eares at al no nose at al no hands at al such are they that make it adore it For if they had their senses they might perceiue it were a peece of bread Of a truth LORD said Hezekiah the Kings of Assyria haue laid waste all the Nations and haue cast their Gods into the fire for they were no Gods but the workes of mens hands therefore they haue destroyed them If it bee possible for this Romish Wafer-God to bee throwne in the fire and that it should bee destroyed of men yea of mice as it is by the same reason it doth appeare that it is no God but the worke of mens hands Saint Ierome writeth that at the time that the Virgine Mary fled into Aegypt with our SAVIOVR all their Idols fell downe and were defaced and that their Oracles ceased And Commestor likewise saith that vpon our LORDS Birth-day the Temple dedicated by the Romanes to the Goddesse Peace in Rome fell all in peeces to the ground Of the punishments of sinne SINNE is a thing so odious vnto GOD that it cannot scape vnpunished Euen the SONNE of GOD must dye rather then that sinne should goe vnpunisht But it is worth noting how GOD doth fit his punishments to the sinne Because the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approued it not iudg'd it not profitable to acknowledge GOD but reprobated Him therefore Hee deliuered them vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a roprobate minde and voide of iudgement that as they had neglected and dishonoured Him so they should neglect and dishonour one another The Sodomites sinned with fiery lusts and were destroyed with fire and brimstone Their sinne was vnnaturall and rare and their punishment was vnusuall and very terrible to nature Nadab and Abihu sinned with fire and were consumed with fire Adonibezeke had cut off the thumbs and great toes of seuenty Kings so the people of Iudah cut off his As thy sword said Samuel to Agag hath made woemen childelesse so shall thy mother bee childelesse among other women and so hee hewed him in peeces before the LORD in Gilgal Lucian as like a dogge hee was euer barking against Christian Religion so by GODS iudgement hee was deuoured of dogs Alladius a Latine King counterfeited lightening and thundring by an artificiall deuise that his subiects might take him for a God but it came to passe that his house was fired with true lightening and ouerthrowne with flouds and foule weather and so hee perished being burnt and drowned all at once Bladud the sonne of Lud a Necromancer made himselfe wings and assayed to flye but the diuill forsooke him in his iourney and so hee fell and brake his necke Olaus Magnus tels of a Pyrate called Otto who by the diuels helpe would to the sea and
such a punishment as neuer beast did doth shall or can endure Man was created to be a friend to man but now excepting deuils men are the greatest enemies that men can haue There are some serpents beasts and fishes which will not sticke to make their prey on man But all these doe not deuoure so many men as men do As for GOD Hee is enemy to none that truely loues himselfe in Him It is true Hee is an enemy to the wicked but it is for their wickednesse let them cease from their wickednesse bee friendly to themselues and Hee will not be their enemy but their truest Friend GOD made euery sencible creature with some defence Hee gaue some Wings to some Talants to some Tushes to some Clawes to other Hornes but Hee hath made man Armelesse to teach him to bee harmelesse He gaue him witin steed of weapons that cōsidering his owne weaknes he might still craue aide of GOD whom hee ought to make his Castle Comfort and Defence GOD made the world for man and man for himselfe therefore the world should serue man and not man the world Hee should possesse and maister it and not it him And because GOD made both it and him it for him and both it and him for Himselfe there is great reason that a man should behaue himselfe and vse it so as that GOD may bee glorified by him But of all the honours wherewith GOD did honour man this was the greatest that His Eternall and true Naturall SON assumed the Humane Nature and wedded it to the Diuine in one and the same Person and in that Nature performed and suffered euen vnto death whatsoeuer was needfull for mans eternall Redemption and Saluation His Name be praised throughout all Generations and for euer Amen Of Adam ADAM was the first of mankind made of the earth by GODS owne Finger indued with a reasonable soule voide of sinne and furnished with Wisedome Iustice Holinesse and all perfections fit for that kind of Creature yet so as that hee might both loose himselfe and them if it were his pleasure Adam was the roote of all man-kind for all hee receiued for all hee lost for for all hee stood If hee had continued fast wee had not beene vndone for our mothers fault Because not shee but hee sustained all out persons The Scripture saith in Adam all doe die and by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Adam in many things differs from all his children For hee was made but they all except the Virgins SONNE are begotten Hee had GOD for his Maker they haue Men for their fathers Hee had no mother but they haue euen hee that had no Father yet had a Mother Hee was of clay they are of bloud Hee was a created a compleate and perfect man in one day at one time they are a growing many yeares Hee had such a body giuen him for quantity qualities and colour till hee spoyled it by sinne as none of his posterity except our LORD euer did enioy Hee had that authority in his countenance and that great and absolute command ouer all earthly creatures which neuer any of his guilty children euer had haue or shall haue vnto the end of the world And finally whereas wee are all borne sinners and are made Saints by our new-birth Hee was not borne but made a Saint and when hee had fallen like a deuill hee was raised vp againe to be like an Angell and was made a Saint againe surer then euer hee was before For Adam created had a power not to sinne but Adam regenerated cannot loose the grace of Regeneration Adam now glorified can not hath no power to sinne Adam was the type of CHRIST For as Adam was made of the earth by GOD without a Mother so CHRIST was made by GOD of the Virgin Mary without the seed of a man Adam was the father of all the liuing according to the flesh so CHRIST is the Father of all as touching the faith Adam slept that Eue might bee made so CHRIST slept on the Crosse that the Church might bee made Whiles Adam slept Eue was made of his rib taken out of his side so whiles CHRIST was a sleepe His Side was pierced and Water and Bloud issued by which the Church is cleansed Vpon a Friday wee were all created in Adam vpon a Friday wee were all Redeemed in CHRIST By the disohedience of Adam all the children of Adam were made sinners by the Obedience of CHRIST all His Members are Iustifyed In Adam all that are truely men dyed In CHRIST all true Christians are made aliue and saued Adam was the father of naturall life and withall the Prince of Discord CHRIST is the author of a Spirituall and Celestiall Life and the Prince of Peace Of the Uirgine Mary MARY the Mother of our LORD daughter of Eli and wise of Ioseph was a Virgin neuer knowing man before shee had brought forth the SAVIOVR of the world into the world and continued a Virgin euer after For though IESVS be called her First-borne yet it is not as if shee had any other after but because shee had no childe before Him And al-be-it Iames bee called the brother of our LORD yet it is not meant that hee was of the same Wombe but of one Bloud for indeed they were sisters children which Scriptures sometimes call brethren as was the Hebrew custome And though Saint Matthew say that her Husband knew her not till shee had brought forth her First-borne Son yet it followes not that hee knew her after but puts it out of doubt that hee knew her not before So it is said that Michol had no children till her deaths day This Virgine questionlesse was indued with excellent vertues and was no doubt in godlinesse and other Virgine-qualities inferiour to none no not to the purest chastest holiest iustest and modestest that euer liued of that Sexe Shee was most blessed yet her happinesse consisteth in her Regeneration rather then in her Generation and in being the Member of CHRIST rather then His Mother and in that shee bare Him in her heart as well as in her Wombe The WORD was not onely made Flesh in her but shee also was made Flesh of His Flesh and Bone of his Bone and was animated by His SPIRIT She did not only bring forth that man that was Essentially GOD but she also beleeued in that God that is substantially Man And wheras other womē either bring forth nothing as Virgins or sinners as all mothers this Virgin-mother brought forth a Saint a SAVIOVR by whom both shee and all that loue Him truely are saued and redeemed I enuy not her praises but I would not that the mother should bee so aduanced as that the Son thereby should be dishonoured nor that whiles the creature is exalted her Creator should bee depressed For euen her owne Son was her Father Hee made her that was made of her Shee that gaue Him Flesh receiued both Flesh and Faith
from Him and though shee brought Him into the world yet Hee redeemed her out of the world Some out of vanity will call her the Queene of heauen shee is in truth a Saint in heauen shining in heauenly glory more then any Queene or Empresse in earthly here below yet shee is not the Queene of heauen For her Son receiued not his Royalty of her neither hath Hee inuested her with any other Royalty then such as Hee hath bestowed on all whom Hee hath loued and washed from their sinnes whom Hee hath made Kings and Priests to GOD. It is the pleasure of some to call her our Lady a Title which shee knowes belongs not to her though perhaps endowed with greater grace and glory then any other Saint besides For CHRIST IESVS is our onely LORD and hers as well as ours and as Hee receiued not His Lordship from her so Hee hath not bestowed it on her Hee is the onely Head and Husband of the Catholique Church Militant and Triumphant whereof His mother is not a Mistresse but a Member and which hath indeed a LORD but not a Lady This onely will I adde he that speakes or onely thinkes a thought dishonourable of the Mother it is pitty hee should receiue any honour by her SON Of the Incarnation of Christ THE WORD was made Flesh Hee that was true GOD became also true Man without diuision of Person or confusion of Natures assuming that Hee had not and continuing what Hee was Being Creator Hee became a creature that wee creatures might be brought into fauour with our great Creator Being GOD Hee was made Man that what wee had lost by man wee might recouer by Him that was GOD and Man Being GOD Hee tooke the nature of man vpon Him and marryed our flesh vnto His Deity that man which was for his adultery separated frō his GOD might by Him who was truely Flesh be marryed and ioyned anew vnto his GOD. It was miraculous that a Virgin chast shold bring forth a Sonne but not to be doubted of considering Gods Omnipotēce For He that could make the world of nothing Hee that was able to take Adā out of the earth He that could giue Sarah a child in her old age He that made Aarons rod bud He was as able doubtlesse to make the wombe of a virgin fruitfull For with him nothing is impossible if he doe but speake the word it is done It is strange that God should bee man that a virgine should be a mother that the mother should bee daughter to her owne sonne and that a mortall and weake woman should conceiue bring forth the immortall and Almighty God But let vs turne vp our eyes to God and grant that he is able to doe that which wee are not able fully to comprehend In things of wonder we must ascribe the reason of worke to the power of the worker In a word our Sauiour by his Incarnation hath honoured both sexes Mans in taking of his shape and Womans by being conceiued borne brought vp by a Woman And so amends hath beene made in that Sexe For as a Woman brought sinne into to the world so a Woman also brought forth and brought vp that SAVIOVR by whom alone wee are deliuered from our sinnes As by a Woman came Sinne Sicknesse Sorrow Bondage Errour Death So in a Woman came a Sauiour for Sinners a Physitian for the Sicke a Comforter of the Heauy-hearted a Redeemer for Captiues a Guide for Straglers and euen Light and Life it selfe for them that sit in darknesse and in the shadowe of Death Of Miracles A Miracle is some extraordinary thing done by the power of God aboue the course of nature such as was the creatio of the world of nothing the diuiding of the red sea the standing of the Sunne in the dayes of Iosua the Mother-hood of that vntouched Maiden the turning of Water into Wine and such like Some things may bee aboue nature as the conuersion of a sinner or true saith in Christ which is aboue created and corrupted nature and yet no miracle being common ordinary and vsuall in the Church Some things are strange and wonderfull yet no miracles because there are naturall causes of them though perhappes not certainly discerned alwayes nor of all as Comets Earth quakes Eclipses excepting that Eclipse of the Sunne at the Crucifixion of Christ which to see it was ashamed and amazed so it is maruailous but not miraculous that the Crocodile should eate and not moue his neatheriaw that the Salamander should indure the fire vnburnt that Pismires shold prouide for Winter that the King amongst the Bees should onely want a sting that a Worme should worke out Silke and that a Spider should draw a Webbe out of his owne bowels to intangle the Flies with Furthermore some things are strange and beyond nature yet not miraculous not truely miracles because they are done by the power and assistance of the Diuell as are many things said and done by such are possessed of Diuels Miracles were wrought in the Primitiue Church very often till the Christian Faith was sufficiently confirmed but now hauing beene so aboundantly confirmed so generally beleeued hee were himself a very wonderment that will not now beleeue it without a wonder And because that Antichrist shall come with his lying wonders that is either not true but appearing to bee true or truely tending to maintaine his lies and errors therefore we must take heed of wonders that we be not by new wonders misled and drawne away from the old way For his wonders serue not to confirme the faith but to try the faithfull This is a Lesson neuer to be forgotten No signe no wonder no miracle must withdraw vs from Christ and his faith but and if any Man or Angell should preach otherwise then we finde written in the holy Scriptures or shall presume to adde to substract from or to change the faith receiued wee are to hold him as accursed If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreames saith Moses and giue thee a signe or a wonder and the signe wonder which he hath told thee come to passe saying Let vs goe after other Gods which thou hast not knowne and let vs serue them What then Thou shalt not quoth he giue eare to the words of the Prophet or dreamer of dreames Why so For the LORD your GOD proueth you to know whether you loue the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soules Of Marriage MArriage is the Coniunction of but one man and but one woman for if it were lawfull to haue two wiues at once our Sauiour would not haue said that hee that puts away his wife except for adultery and marries another commits adultery The Man and his Wife are a matrimoniall Creature the Man is as the soule and the Woman is as the body The Man as Soule is to animate and rule the Woman as body is to be animated and ruled