they will tourne the Popishe face into the inwarde mynde and be couered with this cloke to fawne vpon the gospell But marke their lyues and eyther they be manifest contemners of Religion hating reformation of their wickednes or they doe priuily shoote out their arrowes Psal 120.23 euen tongues as whote as burning coales into the eares of Princes and Potentates against the Lorde and hys truth and against his faythfull seruantes in déede which eyther by preaching exhortation or pen séeme to sommon their conscience to a better consideration of belonging duety to their God Then saye they Come let vs imagine some deuise against Ieremy Iere. 18.18 for the lawe shall not perishe from the Priest nor counsell from the wise The practise of Atheists nor the worde from the Prophet That is the Romaine Church cannot erre or the holy Pope sauing thy reuerence good Reader be deceyued and therefore whosoeuer speaketh against that as farre as we may kéepe credite in these dayes and though it be with some stayne Come let vs smyte him with the tongue let vs slaunder him and accuse him for we shal be beleeued and let vs not giue heede to any of his wordes But let not Ieremy be afrayd For Esay sayth The enimy shall come lyke a flood vz ioyned together vehemently working but the spirite of the Lorde shall chase him away and Christ our consolation doe we wayte for him giuing breade to our brethren in due season shall come to Sion and vnto all them that turne from iniquity in Iacob sayth the Lorde in the former places Wherfore I eftsoones say to you Fleshe bloud earth and ashes not wyse in God deceyuing your selues If ye lyue after the fleshe Rom. 8.13 yee shall dye but if by the spirite ye mortifie and kyll the deeds of the fleshe ye shall lyue which be these Adultery fornication Gal. 5.19 vncleannesse wantonnesse ydolatry which in our dayes is Popery Witchcraft hatred debate emulation hypocrisie wrath contention herisies enuye murther dronkennes gluttony and such lyke you shall lyue eternally Further here are conuinced euery such which not caring for anye Religion at all take parte of neyther side but accounte themselues Gods good seruants if they lead an honest cyuill lyfe amongst men But in Symeons commendation to be Gods seruante we fynde this principallye noted that he was iuste and religious To these we adde all hypocrites which professing outwarde shadowes of fayned holynesse doe spende their waste labors in mens tradicions for the obseruance whereof they make no care to transgresse all bounden pietie and seruice to God obedience to Princes and godlye Magistrates or obsequie to their natural Parents or louing brethren But Christ sayth these worship him in vayne Mat. 15.9 Remember wel the prouident care of the Euangelistes pen that he doth not commend to vs Symeons good lyfe first but his state from God and his religion in God as if hereby he would tell vs that we are not precisely to tye our selues to immitate this or that kynde of worke of the saints for works shall not be wanting in the children of God as we haue sayde but that we should séeke to follow their fayth in Christ First grace then graciousnesse and be zealous in his Religion walking therin with a right foote vpright in the sighte of God Gala. 2.14 We haue here also to consider the dyuers natures of earthly men according to the spirite whereby they are ledde whether of synne vnto death or of righteousnesse vnto lyfe Rom. 6.16 And this note I gyue vpon the reporte that Symeon wayted for the consolation of Israel The sonnes of Symon Magus the Pope and his adherents as carnall Gospellers and Popishe Atheists doe wayte also and séeke for all opportunitie but it is to haue wherewith to satisfie their worldly lustes and that is their expectation When will the newe Moone come say they that wee may sell our corne deare Amo. 8.5 and chaffe for corne and sell our brethren for smale tryflying pleasures and valors to suck the bloud of their Tenants and inferiors The fruite of carnall Gospellers These men can and doe fyrst pull downe Tyllage and dyke in pastures with Lammas cloking Closes they driue the poore pâ—wman to feast with pease breade on Christmas daye euen thys yere it was so These wayte but it is for the deare yeare Some of these nowe buy Corne in Markets hauing great store of their owne to bréede a dearth and in the latter parte of Sommer when the same is established Such mind such purpose then bring they forth their corne to fyll their lucring luste Yea and Dauid expecteth Bethseba her comming to his call And Iesabel the euente of her Deuillishe deuise against Noble Naboth for his Vyneyarde made Achab sicke Herodiadas that dauncing Dame also wayteth but it is for fytte oportunitie when best she maye by the caperous footing and vnwomanly vawting of her Daughter to begge at Herods hands the heade of her reproouer the holye preacher of God Iohn Baptist Whose graunte in delight of such perillous fantasies shall force the fleeting tymes retyre to be a wayling wytnesse of this Princes wicked decrée Iudas did wayte in lyke manner but to betray his mayster Christ And the Pharisies expected oportunitie to crucifye the Lorde of lyfe and yet to kéepe quyet in the common wealth 2. Tim. 4.10 Demas a follower of the Apostle Paule wayteth when best he maye vnder pretence of religion become ritche wherof fayling He forsaketh him and loueth this presente worlde Alexander the Copersmythe and Demetrius wayte to reuenge the ouerthrowe of Diana her shryne Act. 19.23 2. Tim. 4.14 3. Epist 9. vers and therfore become they enemies to the Apostles So doth Diotrephes to stop the Truth though Iohn the Euangeliste doth wryte the same The Pope and his wyll not permit the worde of God to come to lighte for then his kingdome must decaye The Satrapas doe wayte for tyme Dan. 6. that Daniel maye by Acte of Parliament be cast into the Lyons Denne and a lawe for his destruction to be established as the lawe of the Medes Daniels lotte which cannot be broken But bicause they cannot obtayne this in christian Cyrus daies they wayte for another Bull to bring in a Cambyses which shal vtterly forbyd the buylding of Ierusalem Athalia wayteth also after the Kings seede 2. Reg. 11.1 the Scarlet Romanist expecteth her tyme when to broyle once again Iehosophat his posterity but Iehoidah our highe and eternall Priest shall cause the Kings Commission at length to cast her out of the house of God that all christian Lords and Captaynes maye bathe their obedient blades in her thirstie bloode Oh that the house of Israel had not wayted the departure of Iehoiadah 2. Chr. 24.17 supposing with more ease to disswade vertuous Ioash from the Lorde The departure of godly Byshops the decaye of Religion God graunt our
Mathewe he descrybeth Abrahams seate to be in the kingdome of heauen Luc. 23.43 Mat 8.11 Ioh. 14.23 And in Iohn our seates with him in the heauens as in our Mansion house But neuer in the scriptures is the place of our deade godly fathers called eyther Lymbus or Purgatory but contrary they affirme there is no payne to them And Purgatory hath the same paynes the Papists which fayne that place say that Hell hath onely this is the difference that they which be in Purgatory shall come thence by the merits of the Church and purging in fyre in Hell there is no redemption Wherefore the godly fathers were not in Purgatory paynes but in the handes of God which is a Paradise of most pleasure And whereas by the Apostle Peter they go about to proue their Fathers Lymbo as whence the soule of Iesus Christ brought them that place doth neyther affirme the naturall Soule of Christ to go to Hell after his death on the crosse or else that he did bring thence the soules of the fathers For his spirite discending left all those there which he found not in a fayned Lymbo but in the paynefull Helles For thus sayth the Apostle He suffred in the fleshe but was quickned in the spirite 1. Pet. 3.18.19.20 by the which he also wente and preached vnto the spirites that are in prison which were in tymes paste disobedient in the dayes of Noah c. The Apostle sayth not that Christ in his naturall Soule went downe into Hell but he sayth that by that spirite which raysed him to life he preached to them that are in prison Nowe againe he sayth not he fetched out the soules of the fathers which were before hys comming in this prison but he sayth his spirite preached vnto them that still are in prison So farre from delyuerie are they that they as obstinate Rebelles remayne in their former tormentes Nowe then the reason standeth thus By what spirite Christ was raysed from the deade by that same spirite he wente or came to the spirites that are in prison but Christe was raysed not by his owne soule but by the deuine spirite of God euen by the operation of the father Therefore by his deuine power Eph. 1.17.18 not in his humaine soule he came vnto the spirites that are in prison Again note it is one to say he delyuered the Gaole and an other to saye he made an exhortation to the prisoners This their alledged place were it the soule of Christ yet prooueth not a delyuerye but a preaching to them that now was that Sauiour borne dead and crucified for the redemption of the worlde which by his spirite in the mouth of Noah for one hundred and twenty yeares space preached to the disobedient in his dayes had they beléeued That it was not the soule of Christ which quickned Christ from death but the Deuine power these places approue 2. Cor. 13.4 Rom. 8.11 Althoughe he was crucifyed by infyrmitie yet he was raysed and lyueth by the power of God Againe But if the spirite of him that raysed vp Iesus to lyfe dwell in you he that raysed Iesus from the deade wil also quicken your mortal bodies bicause his spirite dwelleth in you And againe Act. 4.10 Be it knowne to you al and to the whole people of Israel that by the name of Iesus of Nazareth whom ye slue and hanged on high whome God raysed vp from death by this man standeth this person sound before you To the Romaynes also we are commaunded to beleue in him Rom. 4.14 which raysed Iesus Christ from death And in the vj. chapter thus As Christ is raysed vp by the glory of the father where note that not by the soule of Christ but by God the father Christ was raysed vp so let vs walke in a newe lyfe And to the Ephesians Ephe. 1.17 Alwayes in my prayers I praye for you that the God of our Lorde Iesus Christ the father of glorye might giue vnto you the spirite of wisedome c. And a little after that ye may know what the hope is of his calling and what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saintes is and what is the exceeding greatnes of his power towardes them that beleeue according to the working of his mightye power which he wrought in Christ when he raysed hym from the deade set him on his right hande on heauenlye places These places sufficiently expounde our Apostle or rather assist his affirmation which sayth that he suffred in the Fleshe but was raysed in the spirite that is by the Godhead of the father by which spirite in his deuyne nature long before he had our humayne nature vpon him he by his Prophetes taught the inobedient then as by vs his Apostles sayth Peter he preacheth to you in that spirite at this present Yea and also to the verye damned in the Hels no doubt at the death of Christ by the deuyne power of his holye spirite was the glory of his crosse opened to their greater condemnation which contemned their saluation in him as the godlye fathers and their sacred bodyes in great comforte by his power were raysed sundry from their brethren to testifye the glory of this our crucifyed Christ raysed vp by his father and set vp wyth him in glory Adde to this this place of Peter is so farre from warrante to that Popishe opinion that the soule of Christ fetched forth the soules of the godly fathers Adam c. That of the flatte contrary he sayth they to whome thys spirite came were disobedient And that thou shouldest not dreame of Christs soule after his death herein he setteth thée the time when this office was fulfylled saying In the daies of Noah whyle the Arke was a preparing Last of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the godly learned Beza doth interprete qui sunt which are not which were in pryson according to the efficacie of the gréeke worde And the Apostles purpose is not to tell vs that they were in prison what tyme Christe by his spirite in the dayes of Noah preached vnto them for then they were men in naturall lyfe as Noah was but he will giue the Iewes to vnderstande that all were drowned except eyght persons bicause they were disobedient vnto his worde All whose soules that then were damned nowe at the wryting of this Epistle and at this present and euer shall be thoughe their bodyes be rotten and dust are in prison So now most iustly they receyue damnation which refused their saluation in Christ preaching vnto them in spirite in the mouth of Noah not hauing as yet our nature vpon him We conclude therefore that Abrahams Bosome is a place of celestiall comforte a Paradise of pleasure vnspeakable the hande of God deuoyde of Hellish or any torments the Aulter of ioy the kingdome of God Iohn 14.2 Ephe. 1.18.19 Christes fathers house where he sayth are many Mansions euen the inheritance of the iust
worldly cares and enimies there is consolation and happy euent easely had If destrest and perplexed there is sound counsell and faythfull friendship If doubting of Gods lyfe there is a most sure Towre of defence and well buylded bulwarkes against all such assaultes And truely our second Dauid Christ did not else where 1. Sam. 17.40 Mat. 4. then forth of this Scrip take those little stones which slue the olde Goliath Satanas in his subtile assaulte and cruell temptation Scriptum est c. What wouldest thou haue Hence floweth the Ryuers of God in Christ to the drinking of which Ioh. 4.14 our Christ doth daylie inuyte vs whose nature is absolutely to quenche oure intollerable thyrst The treasures dwelling in the worde of God and to satisfie vs in desire of most happinesse Here is the Storehouse of GOD whether we ought to goe to satisfie oure hungry soules Thys is the Table of the Lorde most amply furnished with all dyshes of necessary dyet dressed by the finger of God wherewith he doth most lyberally féede vs Here is also moste pleasaunt Wyne of consolation and lyfe the Fountayne of Christs bloud daylie open for euery soule that thyrsteth after it to washe away his synnes In this holy Byble is situate the Heauenly Paradise farre passing the Garden of Eden where is all kinde of fruit for vs to eate in which the Trée of lyfe Christ Iesus is most fayre and frée to vs. The trée of knowledge of good and euill is set to our instruction vz the worde of God of which we maye eate and muste eate wyll we be saued But that we eate not as our fyrst Father Adam did in earthly Paradise it is fyt that we come as Bées and not lyke vnto venemous Spyders Let vs search and séeke therein the most swéete lycour of lyfe the knowledge of God and his Christ the knowledge of our synnes the reward of them the forgiuenesse of them by whome and the maner howe The will of God and the strength to serue him orderly the power of Satan and his wylie engins and how to escape them The weapons and armour of God and how to be armed therewith and by battayle in our Captayne Christ to beate downe Satan vnder our féete If on this sort we come and humbly with open hartes pray and reade aduisedly and eftsoones meditate in the lawe of God we shall moste ioyfully returne daylie to our brethren into the Hyue of Gods Churche where we shall become profitable to all men by the honey of lyfe euen his spirite and truth which forth of the Garden of Gods scriptures we haue receyued But if we come with mindes to cauill forestuffed with errors and bent to gather to féede our yll we shall misconster the worde for his truth is open to babes Mat. 11.15 that are content to take the lesson at the parents mouth and not to the worldly wyse and lyke learned resting in their owne wouen webbe of frayle humayne spynning Hence commeth darknesse error heresies schismes backslydings from God and running into Hell without remorse Take héede therfore how thou commest to this holy booke and looke not therein superficially but in great diligence and let the hardnesse thereof procure thy whole industrie as before consydering wyth what paynes men attayne to skyll and how harde things by often vse become both swéete and easie Mortall men take great paines to read prophane but little in gods Booke The mortall bookes of heathen men we toyle and turne ouer with incredible endeuour and contynuall labor beating body and brayne the solace and safetie of health often berefte and contemned hereby that we might attayne the perfection of the wryters will And yet doe such labors but teach or the kéeping or recouery of Natures health or the increase of state and wealth or the ruled lynes of common welths guyde or such other artifyciall poyntes of temporall blessings which in themselues consydered are in deede precious but compared with the treasures of Gods booke the lyght of lyfe there is no comparison For we haue not therein mannes earthy but Gods heauenly wisedome speaking vnto vs to whose worde Gods word wyll make vs apt to all perfection if we giue obedient eare we shall receyue most synguler aptnesse and ability to al heauenly things we shall dryue from vs all heauy depressing pleasures that hinder godly paines in Gospel studie we shall be lightened with consolation in the booke of God and his worde shal become most swéete and easie vnto vs of what estate soeuer Kings shall haue in this booke their rule to gouerne learned Preachers to teache and the matter and Methode Counsellors Lordes and Lawyers matters of health the déepe wyttes and great Clarkes high and déepe mysteries and louing lowly persons plaine and most open doctrine sufficient to their saluation Therfore reade diligently and praye continually and no doubt the Lord according to his promise seeke and you shal finde Luc. 11.10 Math. 6. Ezech. 36. pray and it shall be giuen you c. will giue thée his holye spirite change thy heart of stone into a fleshy heart and teach thée his statutes giue thée the vnderstanding of hys lawe and teach thée himselfe This onely remayneth that we which be Gentyls should cast away our former darknesse and put on this armour of lyghte and embracing Christ for our lead Starre as he is of his father giuen to vs should by his spirite and sacred worde of fayth in his power cast of the power and workes of darknesse Otherwise it shall be to all Recusants their condemnation that light is come into the worlde Ioh. 3.19 and those blynde men loue darknesse rather then the light The Iewe ought to refuse his Righteousnesse by the lawe also and the Pharisey not to bragge glory of his holynesse but sincerely to receyue this our light Christ and in him onely to repose his trust bycause he is giuen him of GOD to be his onely glory And this God graunt to his good pleasure in Christ To the which Christ with God the Father and the holy Ghost be all honor and glory nowe and for euer Amen Laus Deo A. A. ⧠Imprinted at London in Fleetestreate beneath the Conduite at the Signe of Saint Iohn Euangelist by H. Iackson 1581.