good his doctrine by miracles being a new doctrine and therefore the miracles which were wrought by the Apostles and Prophets could not serue to strenghten it but onely by the sword and an arme of flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they be the words of the Alcoran that is he came not to giue the Law by miracles but by the sword and how then can such a doctrine be embraced by any saue such as are plainely bewitched or out of their wits for to vse onely naturall reason to naturall men how can God be thought to be of one mind for twenty or fiue and twenty ages together for so long he gouerned the Church by Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine then vpon the suddaine change his minde vpon the starting vp of a Start-vp neither learned nor wise nor vertuous onely he had a great Army and had some successe against the Emperour Scilicet illum expectabat liberanda veritas a likely matter that the truth should be held captiue till Mahomet set it at liberty No no the strength of Israel the God of the whole earth is no changeling neither is there with him any shadow of change He is Amen that is true and stable and though heauen and earth perish yet no tittle of the Law or Gospell shall fall to the ground till all be fulfilled God hath spoken in these last dayes by his Sonne He hath spoken by him it is not said that he will speake by any after him that will oppugne him or correct him Therefore away with Mahometisme It is enough to say of it as the foresaid Tertullian said vpon the like occasion Nobis curiositate non est opus post Christum Iesum nec inquisitione post Euangelium that is Hauing Christ Iesus we need not be further curious and hauing the Gospell we need not be further inquisitiue thus he The same reason doth militate against the Romanists who although they seeme to attribute much to the Gospell in words yet in effect they deny it For they are not content with the written Word but they stand vpon vnwritten supposed verities which they may multiply at their pleasure as well as they doe magnifie them making them to be of equall authority with the written Word so doe they of Trent speake insomuch as if we will beleeue them we shall not know what to beleeue nor what to affirme For whatsoeuer is questioned betweene them and vs touching either Purgatory or prayer for the dead or praying to Saints or praying in an vnknowne tongue or touching the Masse or Chrisme or the Ceremonies of Baptisme c. All these points and an hundred more which they can no more finde in the written Word than they can finde water in fire fire in a poole of water they poast ouer vnto Tradition appealing vnto it which is as much as if they should turne vs to seeke them vpon the backe-side of the booke For what is Tradition else but the report of men and what are men all men sauing they which were priuiledged with the priuiledge of infallibility the Apostles and Prophets I meane which neither were deceiued in matters of faith neither could deceiue but deceitfull vpon the weights and in plaine English lyers I meane subiect to error and mistaking We must take their credit for doctrines affirmed by them to haue beene preached by Christ and his Apostles fifteene or sixteene hundred yeeres agone when they cannot be beleeued touching that which themselues or their confellowes preached two or three yeeres since except there be notes kept of it nay he hath a good memory that can repeat in the after-noone as much as he heard in the fore-noone Behold we count them for no better than mad-men that will make claime to a piece of land for the which they haue nothing to shew but bare words as I heard my neighbour say this or that or mine vncle or my father c. whereas the party that they would get it from hath Euidences and Records ancient and faire without any shew of rasure without any suspition of forgery And can we thinke our Aduersaries to be well in their wits that would wrest from the Laity the Cuppe of the Lord against so faire a Record as this As oft as yet shalt â—ate of this bread and drinke of this Cuppe c Thus Saint Paul writing to the Church of Corinth consisting of Laickes as well as Ecclesiastickes also from the Cleargy they would wrest marriage against this Record Marriage is honorable in all in all persons not in all things onely as it appeareth by the Anâ—uhesis Adulterers and Fornicators he doth not say Adulteries and Fornications And againe To auoide fornication let euery man haue his wife and euery woman her husband if Ministers be men then they may be married So further from the vnâ—earneâ— they would wrest the vse of the Scriptures they will not suffer them to vse them in their mother-tongue vnlesse they haue a Licence by as good reason they might forbid them to looke vpon the Sunne or to drawe in the ayre without a Licence contrary to the Commandement Deut. 3â— When aâ—l Israel shalt come to appeare before the Lord thy God c. thou shalt read this Law before all Israel that they may heare it c. He was to read the Law therefore it was written he was to read it before all Israel therefore it was written for all Israel So in the Gospell When a young man would know what he might doe to attaine eternall life our Sauiour answered him saying What is written in the Law 〈◊〉 readest thou Behold he doth not send him to the â—radition of the Fathers but to the written Word that he should beleeue and liue according to that rule But now forâ—ouâ— Aduersaries iâ— ye hap to conferre with them or shall haue a desire to looke into their bookes you shall find that the claimâ— that they make by the Scriptures for any thing of moment in Controuersie betweene them and vs either touching the head of the Church or the visibility of the Church or the keyes of the Church c. is but dicis causâ for fashion-sake their sure-hold and fortresse they fly vnto is Tradition Now what is this else but to bring all things to their owne Consistory as they say and to make themselues Iudges in their owne cause and to measure themselues by themselues as the Apostle speaketh yea and to symbolize with those Heretickes whom Ticonius allowed by Augustine for this speech noteth thus to speake Quod volumus sanctum est that It is holy because we would haue it so and so it is true because they say it is a Tradition But well speaketh the same Augustine Contra insidiosos errores Deus voluit ponere firmamentum in Scripturis c. Against deceitfull errors God thought it good to place a sure foundation in the Scriptures against which no man dares to speake that would be counted a
that be against vs said Elizeus and saw Elizeus It is all one with God to saue with few or with many and so it is all one with God to iustifie with few or with many Doe you not see saith Chrysostome that it is better to haue one precious stone then to haue many halfe-penies that it is better to haue one eye whole then that the same one being dazeled to haue much fault in the hole to haue one sound sheep then to haue ten thousand scabbed ones Quid mihi cum multitudine What haue I to doe with the multitude c. So before him Cyprian Non attendas numerum illorum melior est enim vnus timens quà m mille filij impij Neuer regard their great number for better is one deuout man then a thousand wicked ones When one told a Lacedemonian that the Persians would shoote so many arrowes at them that they would take from them the light of the Sunne Then said he we will fight in the shadow Nos ergo in vmbra dimicabimus When Constantius told Liberius that hee was no body in comparison of all the World that had condemned Athanasius Liberius told the Emperour againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of faith is neuerthelesse the Word of faith though I be alone Indeed we are taught by the Prophet Esay Chapter 8. Say not you a conspiracy to whom this people saith a conspiracy but sanctifie the Lord of Hostes. And by Moses before him Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill For why They are transported many times rather by passion then by reason and if one lead the way they follow on like sheep that want vnderstanding and stay not till they come to a downefall nor then neither Take for example the Ephesians Actes 19. Demetrius bloweth the coales and presently the whole City is vpon a light fire yea and vpon an vproare too one cryeth one thing and some another and the assembly being out of order the more part knew not why they were come together And the case standing thus many times with the multitude should any wise man pinne his faith vpon their sleeues and hand ouer head doe whatsoeuer he seeth them to doe or shunne whatsoeuer hee seeth them to forsake Will you goe away because many that haue beene Disciples doe goe away Alas beloued the Campe neuer wanteth Turne-coates nor the Common-weale Traitors nor a Society false brethren nor the Church of Christ hollow-hearted Christians There goe from vs to them and they turne from them to vs these things ebbe and flow and be as changeable as the Moone In this confusion of things what is to be done In warre the straggling or staggering Souldiers resort to their Standard and Colours and call to mind their watch-word also in Peace they hearken to the Proclamation and view the same also whether it be authentically warranted If they finde either the hand to be counterfeited or the seale to be the seale of an vsurper or him that pretendeth to be his fellow to faile in the watch-word then they flee from him and will not abide with him lest they fall into the same danger of Law So should it be also in this hurly-burley and difference who are true subiects and Souldiers who not who good Citizens who bad Antichrists fauorits pretend a Proclamation as well as Christs also they would be counted as faithfull Souldiers as whosoeuer is most faithfull should not their voyce be marked their Commission perused their watch-word called for By their fruites yee shall know them saith Christ that is by their Doctrine sheweth Vincentius Lirinensis not so much by their conuersation for howsoeuer they will goe about to make it good by the sentences of the Law of God yet they will be found to breathe forth Nouitiuâ—n virus New poyson and to open and vent forth prophane nouelties Bid them pronounce Shibboleth and they will pronounce Sibboleth bid them speake the Language of Canaan they will vtter halfe the Language of Canaan and halfe the language of Ashdod For example Be not the Scriptures the rule of our faith the direction of our steppes c Yes they will grant after a sort they be a rule but not adaequata regula there are other rules besides namely Traditions But Christ saith Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke you haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me Search the Scriptures He doth not say Search or enquire after Traditions The Scriptures testifie of me Why doth not He send them to something else if any thing else were to be trusted Surely that which Tertullian saith of the Apostles that if either they knew not all things themselues or knowing did not teach others they subiected Christ to reproofe that sent forth his Apostles either minus instructos aut parum simplices either not sufficiently instructed or not such plaine dealers as they ought to haue bin This I say may seeme iustly to be obiected to Christ euen primarily namely if there were any other meanes worth the talking of whereby wee might learne Christ and consequently attaine to eternall life any other besides the Scriptures then Christ in not reuealing the same necâ—ssarily bewrayeth either want of knowledge or want of charity want of knowledge if hee were not acquainted with the same want of charity if he would not impart the same but now both these imputations ought to be as farre from the Sonne of God as heauen is distant from the earth yea and from hell too Therefore we are to rest vpon the Scriptures hold them to be sufficient witnesses of Christ euen without tradition O but though he doe not send vs to Tradition or to the report of Fathers in that place yet he doth else-where as Math. 23. The Scribes Pharises sit euer vpon Moses Chaire all therefore whatsoeuer they say vnto you keepe and doe but according to their workes doe not The Successor of Moses his doctrine must be obeyed much more then the Successor of the Apostles I answere first to them then to their allegation To them thus namely that in 1. Peter 5. they are content to vnderstand by Babylon Rome to gather thence that Peter sate there not marking how deepely they wound themselues If Rome were called by that name in that Epistle why should it not be as well vnderstood so in the Reuelation and then the great whore which was to make all the world drunke with the Cuppe of her fornications So here to get some priuiledge to their Chaire and to the Chaire of their fathers they will needs haue themselues the successors of the Scribes and Pharises euen those that contradicted the Sonne of God and at the last crucified him Like fathers like children Secondly to the Allegation I answere with Origen alleaged by their Aquinas Omnia quae dicunt nobis ex Lege intelligentes sensum Legis c. All that they say vnto vs out of
aduise the high Estates of all ages to strike sayle to our Sauiour and to yeeld obedience to his Law To put the matter out of doubt the Apostles themselues who could not be deceiued hauing receiued the first fruits of Gods Spirit and would not deceiue being indued with grace and sincerity from aboue they I say Acts 4. doe plainely apply this Psalme to our Sauiour that we should no longer be doubtfull in the matter but beleeuing yea as Saint Augustin saith out of Moses Deuter. 32. Inimiâ—us meus testis mâ—us that is My Enemy is my witnesse some of the chiefe of the Iewes doe grant that it may be vnderstood of our Sauiour either in their owne iudgement or in the iudgement of their Fathers or ancient Rabbins The former point is affirmed by Aben-Ezra surnamed the wise the other by Shelomoh somewhat more ancient then he So then the Kingdome that is here spoken of being chiefely to be vnderstood of the Kingdome of Christ and the opposition that is here signified to be chiefely directed against it we may without offring any violence to the Text hence exhort all Kings and Princes vpon whom the ends of the world are come to looke vnto themselues and to the station wherein God hath placed them and to esteeme it the greatest policy to be wise according to godlinesse and the highest Soueraignety to be subiect to Christ. Especially it being granted by all that the Scriptures were not made to serue one age or two onely No for then there must haue beene many Bibles made from the beginning of the world and then there must haue beene a continuall sending downe of the holy Ghost and a continuall sending forth of Apostles Prophets but to be the rule for faith the direction for manners to all posterity Therefore Irenaeus saith well That which the Apostles first taught they afterwards committed to writing to be the ground and pillar of our faith He speaketh indefinitely without limitation of time and therefore would be vnderstood to meane of all times And Tertullian not long after him is bold and saith Latè semper Scriptura diuina diuiditur vbicunque secundùm praesentis reisensum disciplina munietur The Scripture is of a large extent and wide circumference as oft as any thing from it is to be deduced that pertaineth either to information or reformation Hitherto I haue proued both that this whole second Psalme is chiefely to be vnderstood of our Sauiour and that my Text out of the tenth verse may rightly be applyed to the Kings and Princes of these dayes Now I come to the words themselues Now therefore be wise O Kings be instructed O Iudges of the earth Two kinds of persons are here called vpon Kings and Iudges Kings as the chiefe Iudges as they that are appointed by them for the punishment of them that doe iâ—l the praise of them that doe well Two kinds of duties are here vrged to be wise and intelligent this is required of Kings to be instructed and disciplined this of inferior Magistrates I at this time shall speake onely of the first kind of persons that is of Kings and their duties and therein I meane not to speake of Kings by themselues and of wisedome by it selfe that were not to deuide the Text aright but to breake it but of both together as God shall giue grace But first I obserue and it is worâ—hy to be obserued how the Psalmist begins with Kings surely great cause for it not onely for their place eminent and supereminent Imperator homo à Deo secundus soloque Deo minor Tertullian Supra Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus Optatus Nor onely for their Titles Shepheards Leaders Fathers Sonnes of the Highest the liuely Images of God Gods Vicegerents Gods vpon earth Sine dubio Imperator non est nisi Deus terrenus saith the Gothe to Theodosius witnesse Paulus Diaconus but for two other more maine reasons first for the great dependency vpon their safety for that they neither stand nor fall to themselues Secondly for the great power of their example either to good or euill Touching the first they doe not stand or fall to themselues as I said but are the standing or falling of most in Israel They may be compared to the two Pillars vpon the which the great house of the Philistins did rely which while they stood did beare vp the whole building euen when there were many hundreds vpon the roofe but when they fell they pulled downe all with them and the fall of that house was great Also to the Sun in the Firmament which while it is ouer our Horizon and scatters abroad its glorious beames it giueth light vnto the world and reneweth the face of the earth but when it is whirled from vs or eclipsed by the interposition of the Moone then it causeth or occasioneth darkenesse and filleth all things liuing with horror and amazement Briefely to the head and heart of a man not to the head onely nor to the heart onely but to the head and heart vpon whose liuelinesse and soundnesse the life and motion of the whole body doth depend Smite the Shepheard and the sheepe shall be scattered it is said in Zachary Let me smite Saul King Saul but once and the Kingdome shall be thine and the victory thine said Abishai in effect Let me smite Dauid King Dauid and all Israel shall be gathered to thee said that wicked Counsellor Achitophel 2. Sam. 17. When Alexander was dead the Army was not lessened but by one man euery man knew but yet it was compared by the wise to the Cyclops which had his eye and the same his onely eye boared out In like manner fared it with the great forces that Cyrus the younger led against Artaxerxes when he through his forwardnesse was slaine all went to wracke and of vanquishers they became vanquished So with the Christians at Varna when their King Vladislaus was lost So with the French at Rauenna when their Foisee was ouer-throwne Therefore be wise O ye Kings ye carry about in your bodies not your owne liues alone but the liues of thousands you haue vpon the stake not your owne safety alone but the safety of thousands Thou shalt not goe forth with vs any more to battell lest thou quench the light of Israel for thou art worth tenne thousand When one exhorted Cleomenes to hold his life vile vnto him and to powre it out like water vpon the ground he answered I will not sticke for that if I had none to care for but my selfe but now I must make much of my life to doe my Countrey good When Cesar had giuen forth in speech that he had liued long enough and cared not though he dyed on the morrow Thou speakest reason said Tully if thou liuedst onely for thy selfe but thy Countrey cannot spare thee Sertorius his Souldiers were not wont to
Christian Thus Augustine And to the same purpose Chrysostome who liued but a little before him Where haue ye read this saith he Forasmuch as he hath not read it written but speaketh of himselfe it is euident that he hath not the holy Ghost And to be short Irenaeus who liued before them both shall be instead of all others To sticke vnto the Scriptures which containe Lat. are a certaine and an vndoubted truth that is to build ones house vpon a strong and firme Rocke Thus he whereby â—e â—heweth that they that build their faith vpon any other foundation as namely vpon Tradition they build it but vpon sand which will not abide the least blast oftentation nor the least push of strong reasoning but will soone fleet and fall to the ground To shew the vanity and vncertainty of Tradition let this one Story that I shall recite vnto you suffice and then I will proceed to that which remaineth In the Primitiue Church by the report of Eusebius there was a sharp contention and betweene such as would not be counted babes or obscure fellowes but Fathers and Pillars touching the celebrating of Easter The Easterne Church went one way and the Westerne another And what was the cause of their iarre The Easterne Church pretended a Tradition as from Saint Iohn the Euangelist that he forsooth should command it to be kept vpon such a day The Westerne Church a Tradition as from Saint Peter that he should ordaine it to be kept such a day vpon a Sunday by all meanes What shall we say to this were Saint Peter and Saint Iohn diuided that yea should be with them nay and nay yea No but their Disciples misse-heard them or misse-remembred them or misse-reported them and hereupon they brake forth into quarrell Now iâ— in the best times when many that had heard the Apostles or Apostolicke men were yet aliue when the extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost as the miraculous curing of the sicke and the casting out of Deuils c. were yet to be seene in many by the testimonies of Iustine Martyr Irenaeus Tertullian c. if this were done say I when the Church was yet a Virgin as it were by the iudgement of Polycrates in Eusebius what can we looke for in the latter perillous times when she had abandoned her selfe to Spirituall fornication I meane not onely to superstition but also to Idolatry Is any mans word to be taken that Christ spake thus or thus by his Apostles when he hath not their writing to shew Thus much against Papists Traditions now in the words that follow I pray you obserue with me how Angelically or rather Diuinely the Apostle doth mount and causeâ—h his speech to grow Sermo crescit in describing the Sonne of God by his estate by his Acts by his Nature Person c. He hath taught vs saith the Apostle by his Sonne would ye know what Sonne Not an ordinary Sonne such as we are but the Heire and Owner of all things nay the Creator of heauen and of earth nay the very brightnesse of Gods glory and the ingraued forme or expresse Image of his person distinguished onely in person not separated or diuerse in nature nor inferiour to him Is this all No he preceedeth bearing vp all things by his mighty power therefore not onely the Creator but also the preseruer of the world Is that all No it had beene to small purpose at least to small benefit to vs if God should make vs and preserue vs onely and there stay but that which is a greater matter for vs he hath redeemed vs by purging vs from our sinnes yea and for the full consummation of his victory and our Redemption he sitteth at the right hand of the Maiestie in the highest places from thence to oppugne our spirituall enemies and from thence to reach-out his hand to helpe vs and supply vs. And what can be spoken more fully more richly more comfortably Christ called the two sonnes of Zebedee sonnes of Thunder Augustine speaking of a certaine Sentence of Ambrose exclaimeth ô sensum hominis Dei ex ipso haustum fonte gratiae Dei that is O sense of a man of God drawne out of the very fountaine of the grace of God! Hierome calleth Hilary a Rhodan that is a most swift riuer of Eloquence Theodoret calleth Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an Ocean of Diuinity I cannot tell what I may call this third verse else but a very depth of mysteries a fountaine of Water of life that can hardly be sounded to the bottome I find that the Iewes haue a booke which they call Tseâ—ormor that is a bundle of myrrh that they haue another which they call Tsemach Dauid that is The branch of Dauid that they haue another also which they call Orach Chaiim that is the path-way of life False titles the bookes be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they doe not deserue such glorious names But surely he that should say that this one verse deserueth all these Elogies and Titles should not speake a whit out of the way For it is no lesse than a bundle of most fragrant odoriferous flowrs refreshing the inward man and preseruing the whole soule from putrefaction it describeth also the true branch you know Christ is called so by the Prophet Zechary so expressely that fewe places of the Scripture may be compared with iâ— Lastly it sheweth the path of life namely wherein our true Life consisteth to wit in the Sacrifice and bloody Offering oâ— Iesus Christ which purgeth vs from all our sinnes But let vs come to the particulars that remaine yet to be handled The first is that God hath made hiâ— Sonne Heire of all things This place is abused by two sorts of Hereticks Anabaptists and Romanists I will but point at their errâ—rs The former vrge Christ is made heire of all things therefore faithfull Christians onely they meane specially such as be of their stampe haue interest in the things of this world all others are but vsurpers and therefore may lawfully be stript of them But they should know that the heauens euen the heauens are the Lords the earth hath he giuen to the children of men to the children of men promiscuously he doth not say precisely to the children of God indeed he that made Abraham and Isaack rich which were faithfull and the Fathers of the faithfull made also Laban and Nabal which were prophane he that causeth the Sunne to shine and the raine to fall vpon the iust did and doth the same for the vniust Briefely he that gaue Caesar a mercifull Prince gaue before him Marius a cruell Tyrant Caesar was not to be iustled with being chosen by the people and Marius was to be stooped vnto while he had Lawe on his side Now whereas they would make their claime by Christ Christ was heire of all things therefore they rightly beleeuing in Christ are the onely true heires