chrildreÌ„ take heed therof the wolfe is there can we heare this and not haue cause to suspect them And what then is more likely then to beleeue rather that our Church is much changed sith that the voice of our teachers is quite different from that of these holy Fathers that they set our candlesticke vnder abushel for feare we should perceaue these deformities gaps or seeke after a reformation or call them into the law at least to repentance Therefore Hunc audite Heare Iesus our saviour heare him in his Scriptures But to make vse of them Heare him with due reverence Think with your selfe when you alight vpon this newe Testament of our Lord that you enter into the temple of God into his sanctuarie that Christ preacheth vnto vs therein that it is his voice which is the truth and the way that it is not for naught that the Church hath called these Scriptures Canonicall that is to say Regular they being rules directing our faith and our salvation â—nter therefore with invocation of Gods holy name by the same Iesus requiring of him his holy Spirit that may inspire you enlighten you gine you an accesse to his mysteries being void of all passions full of holy affections hungring after salvation and covetous of his glory And doubt not but that seeking him there for there he is he wil be found of thee knacking at this dore he will open vnto thee hee will preuent thee and draw thee vnto hinn The Eunuch of the Queene of the Ethiopians Act. 8. read Esaias the Prophet in his chariot read him but vnderstood him not And yet found he there Iesus whom he scarse sought after Philip ruÌ„ning vnto him being carried by the Spirit for to bee his trucheman his interpreter Thus is God at hand to those that seek his Son in the Scriptures Thus also is the Son himselfe delighted in being sought after here and in offering himselfe to bee fouÌ„d here in his schoole Which being risen and glorified comming to his disciples at Emmaus when he might haue shewne them his wounds tokens of his mortality and also of his Godhead had rather resolue them in their doubts by Moses by the Prophets Did not our harts said they burne within vs while he talked with vs by the way and wheÌ„ he opened vnto vs the Scriptures Why then simple people idiots as we are you will say for I speak euen vnto them also in these Scriptures what are we to do Thou Christian that hast thy conscience doubtful about the controversies of this time thou shalt consult with Iesus thy Sauiour in this his word on them In a matter of great doubt thou coÌ„sultest with thine Advocate wilt beleeue his writings therin What wroÌ„g then shalt thou do to thy Sauiour in a matter of thine owne saluation if thou wilt not heare him if thou wilt not beleeue him Thou shalt also in reading it see before thee the chiefe points of thy Religion wherof thou art in doubt Those that aboue others are commaunded and commended vnto you of which ether the beliefe is more strictly prescribed vnto thee or the practise in special vrged vpon thee for to obserue or not to obserue those which are told thee to procure greater sinne or greater reward Thou shalt obserue in these holy Scriptures the words of thy Sauiour the rules of thy saluation if there be any mention made of them and in what manner if in the same manner as men teach them vnto thee as they are celebrated in thy church though not in name yet at least in effect though not in expresse tearmes yet at least in such as are equivaleÌ„t In briefe if in the reading of these holy Scriptures thou canst finde out the beliefe the doctrine the discipline the face the visage and lineamentes of thine owne church and of that which is taught beleeued and done in thy church Truely if thou canst perceiue all this call then thy selfe happy think that thou art in Paradise where the voice of Iesus where his worde is heard From this church be thou neuer desirous to departe But say with the Apostle who shal separate me froÌ„ this church wherin is felt the loue of Christ Shall tribulation Rom. 8 35 or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sworde No neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers For what greater consolation can there be in this conflict of opinions then to haue peace in his conscience and in these so dangerous occurrents theÌ„ to be assured of his way Of the true faith warranted by the word of his God and by a consequent of his saluation But on the coÌ„trary if thou findest nothing therein of the most part of that which men preach vnto thee make thee beleeue and inioine thee to do if in the inward and in the outward in the doctrine in the discipline thou findest altogither a different voice and different hue hast not thou theÌ„ cause to doubte that thou art straied from the Sheepefolde of thy Sauiour where thou knewest not his voice but the voice rather of a stranger in words doctrines so strange that it is now no longer the true temple of God seeing that it is an other then our Sauiour that causeth his voice there to sound hath seased on the chaire thereof And what remaineth then but that with the spouse in the Canticles thou sayest vnto him Shew me ô thou whom my soule loveth Cant 1.6 where thou feedest where thou lyest at noone for why should I bee as shee that turneth aside Psal 25. 23. Shew me thy waies ô Lord direct me in thy truth seÌ„d me thy light let it lead me let is bring me into thy Tabernacles Tabernacles in deed in regarde of that statelie building of this temple wherin I finde my selfe to bee and of a small shew and very contemptible But be they what they wil yet are they the tabernacles boothes of that chiefe Shepheard which I seeke for whose skins and cords hee will stretch out when it shall please him in the meane time I shal be sure to finde there my Shepheard I shall not want Psal 23. That good Shephearde which laieth downe his life for his sheepe Ioh. 10. and lifteth theÌ„ all vp euen the little lambes into his bosome Esa 40.11 doth wash them in the poole of Siloa feedeth theÌ„ to the hand and nourisheth theÌ„ vp with himselfe into life everlasting Whereas in this fained Temple I was fed with nothing but smoake with winde with sound with pride with rumour with luxury I laide out as the Prophet saith my siluer and my labour for that which neither did nourish nor satisfie Esay 55. in idle suffrages in vaine seruices and erroneous indeed because vain Here againe is another stop What then The Religion of Christ the true one the only religion doth she not admit of any increase or
change May not men adde therunto some Laws some articles some new ceremonies Learne this my friend that the true religion as a man from his first birth hath all his members all his ioints any the least part cannot be taken from it thou findest it so in thine owne body without maiming it any the noblest that thou canst imagine cannot be applied vnto it out of the work with out disproportion without deformity without wronging the whole frame if any thing be in it more then should be it is extuberancie or some vnnaturall flesh that groweth out because that Religion is not a thing invented by man but by a diuine Law and the rule of Gods service and of mans saluation and none other but God can giue or enioine it vnto man because that his thoughts are aboue the thoughts of man and are higher then the heauens that are aboue the earth Cor. 2.1 because that no man knoweth the thinges of a man saue the spirit of a man not one man of another mā though they haue the same ofspring do consist of the same faculties and like parts but every one of himselfe And with much more reason then no man hath known no man hath ever beene able to know the things of God but the spirit of God Who art thou Esa 40 13 saith the Prophet that instructest the spirit of the Lord or art his coūsailour to teach him any thing And hence it is that we see all those authours of religions among the heathen to haue bin so childish and ridiculous in their ceremonies and can we imagine that when wee vndertake to adde any thing to that religion which was ordeined from God by Iesus Christ wee should be less so thē they were can we thinke that the dirt and dust and smoke which we cast vpon it can any way honor nay canne it chuse but disfigure or pollute his worke And neuerthelesse do not thou think therfore that the Doctours in the church are vnprofitable or that they are not very profitable that the church her members all and euery one of them cannot helpe or grow vp Truely the right Religion can growe both in it selfe and in thee hath growne heretofore and can alwaies goe on in grouth But learne also how shee groweth She groweth in her selfe and even in thee also if thou canst make thine vse of it when the old Testament hath taught thee that it behooved the Christ of God to die and rise againe and the new that hee hath died indeed and is risen againe And beholde a sufficient clowde of witnesses of holy martyrs which many ages ago by hundreds and thousandes togither haue died for the witnes of this death of this resurrection by their suffrings and deaths haue subdued the world vnto him knit together vnder the banner of his crosse those which hee hath separated from the world dost not thou thinke that these articles I beleeue that he rose againe from the dead I beleeue the resurrection of the body are very well perfected by them well growne and strengthned both in them and in thee so far as to beleeue them and to embrace them euen to the death for this faith seeing that by this faith thou art to liue Behold also the lawe hath told thee that this Christ should be the son of God and neuerthelesse be borne of a Virgin and the Gospell that he is that Iesus that sonne of the living God God of God there fore from everlasting as the Father and that word nevertheles made flesh conceiued in the wombe of the Virgin Mary God and man both together Sundry heretickes Arius and Nestorius aboue the rest begin they to call in question some his eternity and Godhead and some his manhood and mortalitie and by a consequent the Character of the Saviour of the world wherevpon the Almightie through his spirit stirreth vp many great doctors frō al quarters powerful in the Scriptures which by the same doe ouercome and convince them doe demonstrate with efficacie in one only person as well the one as the other nature both the wills as well the one as the other to be necessarie for our salvation the one working without preiudice to the other And that by places well expounded and aswell applied and by arguments drawne from them both strong in themselues and as strongly vrged so that after many cumbats the field is left to the truth the victory glory to the simplicitie and to that seeming weaknesse of the Gospell Dost not thou thinke that these articles of our creed I beleeue in Iesus Christ the only son of the Father Almightie our Lord borne of the virgin Mary conceiued by the holy Ghost these very same in number as they vse to speak in the schools haue bred in thee a new impressiō in themselues new forces The like also is to bee thought of so many others for all that the hereticks doe set vpon thē which harden and make themselues strong against them and we by them as wrestlers against the skirmish according as the hereticks do trouble vex thē Those articles of the fall of man by himself of his restitution by one Iesus alone of the grace of God of free iustification for all that Pelagius Celestius their consorts either lay battery against them or vndermine thē stand fast notwithstāding with out once moving thēce where the Master-builder placed thē make no breach in the proportion of the building stir not from their first conformity to the which nothing cā be added but in the manner of a botch quite contrary to the nature of the first Law giuers intent and to that Lawe in the which nothing can bee altered without high treason from which nothing cā be derogated without sacriledge Vincent Lirinen contra hęreti cos Heare therevpon what saith our Vincentius Lirinensis for in such matters I speake not willingly without mine authour and such an authour as may please thee The Canon saith he of the Scriptures is perfect and more then sufficient in it selfe for al things What thē shall it not bee lawfull to put somewhat of our own there vnto Timothy saith hee thou that art a Doctour of the Church Depositum custodi keep that which hath beene trusted vnto thee thou hast received it of gold giue it vp againe of gold I will haue no lead nor brass or base mettle from you God hath hee endowed thee with his spirit or with learning then be thou a Bezeleel in his spirituall Tabernacle in his church cut and square these pretious stones of his divine doctrine set them cunningly in some worke giue a luster vnto them and a sparkling and grace But goe no farther then hee did presume not to change any thing either in the matter or the forme which the Lord hath prescribed vnto thee vnto this Bezeleel God had prescribed of euery thing euen to the very badgers skins and the loopes of the
to haue satisfied them No but he takes it yet higher In the church of God wherein we must not liue after examples or the commandements of men for the commaÌ„dement saith he V. 25. was by the hand of the Lord by the hand of his Prophets And wee must not thinke that al this while Hezekiah was attended vpon or assisted by others in that manner as so good a worke might haue required The Priests in the verie reformation of these sacrifices are found to be but fewe in number Those which haue the chiefest charge in the church are not alwaies the first that do reforme it for want of them he was constained to set a worke the Levites wee in our daies might say for want of Bishops the Priests or Deacons those which are lesse bounde to prevent and forbid these corruptions The Levites saith the holy story being found to be V. 34. 35 more vp right in heart for to sanctifie theÌ„selues then the Priests c And so the service of the house of the Lord was set in order In the like maner doth Hezekiah proceed to the reformation of the sacrameÌ„ts he publisheth a passeover to be kept throughout al Israel and that such a passeover saith the authour of this holy storie as for a long time before they had not celebrated after that manner as it is written to wit in the law of God For a long time before saith he This might haue beene enough to stop all reformation and if we had liued at that time wee had bin ready to tell them haue not our fathers done it on this manner Are they all damned What need is there then of such a change will we be wiser then they wifer theÌ„ the Priests wifer then the church it selfe But what then would Hezekiah haue told vs The same truly that he told them 2. Chron. 30.16 Ye children of Israell turne againe vnto the Lord God of Abraham Isaac Iacob It is no time now to stay still in these Abuses And he caused this to be cried every where throughout the land V. 7. Be not yee like your fathers like your brethren which trespassed against the Lorde God of their fathers What proportion I pray you is there betweene that respect which you owe to your earthly fathers and that duety which you owe to the Lorde God of you and of your fathers also There were not wanting saith be some men in Ephraim Manassen and Zebulun that mocked them being now growne old in their filthines neuerthelesse the greater part submitted themselues In Iudah especially with one heart V. 12. according to the word of the Lord. They take away therefore the altars that were in Ierusalem and all those for incense tooke they away they celebrated the passeouer according to the Law Some at legth of the Priests were ashaÌ„ed sanctified theÌ„selus the Levits supplying the places and the duty of those that were obstinate against theÌ„ And the like thing the like passeover was not seene in Ierusalem since the time of Salomon and of David V. 26. for many ages together And it followeth in the same place that assoone as the passeover was finished by the same commaundement all the people being inflamed with a new zeale went out and brake the images cut downe the groues and brake downe the high places and the altars But behold they did more yet at the same time also for it is to be read in the same verse the Authour maketh not two narrations of this and that which went before 2 King 18 v 4. Numb 21 v. 9. he brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made by the expresse commandement of God for a present remedy against the bitings of those fiery serpents to him that did looke on it as a signe of Christ the Son of God which was to be lifted vp on a tree for a remedy against sin the biting of that old serpent to him that would turn the eies of his faith towards him Because that now indeede of that present vse which remained no loÌ„ger tâ—ey had made an abuse of the signe and sacrament of Christ which was to come they had made it as the thing it selfe and had given vnto it divine honours and had lastly converted this so healthfull an image into an abominable idoll Wherefore also when he brake it hee gaue them to vnderstand that it was but Nehushtan a piece of brasse contemptible in it selfe hereafter for ever vnprofitable I daÌ„gerous too by reason of that relation which it had vnto Christ seeing they abused it And hee was very highly commended for it by the Spirit of God for hauing done vprightly in the sight of the Lord and because he trusted in the God of Israell for having laid aside al humane considerations that hee might retaine or restore the purity of his service And indeede by reason of the conditioÌ„ of the church wherein wee obserued hir to haue bin at that time as also by reason of the coÌ„nivence the slacknes and corruption of the Priests which then were it is not to bee doubred but that he met with some that contradicted him then is it not said here for naught that hee trusted in God to wit against the murmuring of the people And vnto those daies the children of Israell burned incense to it alleadging without doubt a prescriptioÌ„ of so many yeares but especially that this serpent was instituted by God and erected by Moses himself But against all this that answere which our Savior gaue here to the Pharisie stood him insteede Non sic fuit ab mitio From the beginning it was not so It was ordained to be a remedy for you against the biting of he serpents in the wildernesse and now you are no longer in that â—ase For a signe that on that Christ which was to come the sonne of the liuing God did depend all your health both temporall and spirituall and you now haue attributed all that to this image and transferred the honour of the Creatour to the creature of the ordeiner himselfe to the thing ordeined by him And therfore hath he now brought it backe againe to his first nature And I woulde to God we had not many thinges in our Christian ReligioÌ„ which haue very great need of the like remedie Iosiah likewise is renoumed amongst the kings of Israel 2 Chron. 34. 35. because hee had reformed the church that on good grouÌ„ds for Manasseh had defiled all the service thereof had brought in false Gods in steed of the Almightie and Amon his son the father of Iosiah had not done much better then he 2 King 22 23. Iosiah began this reformation by repairing the ruines of the Temple whereof he laide the charge on Hilkiah the high Priest It happened so that Hilkiah amongst many other old registers 2 King 22 which he sought for found the booke of the Law in the
law that lawe especially which forbad all these incestes whence ensued forth with the putting away of all their strange wiues and that by the common consent of the people and of the Priests themselues which at the reading of the law were convicted of their faults This was a hard sentence you will say as also an harder execution to part asunder so many housholds and to rent in two the wife from the husband the children from the mother And what became then all this while of Esdras his wisdome Was there no Pope amongst them in those daies that might haue dispensed with them for this But rather if thou beleevest the Lord when he hath spoken wouldst thou haue had him cast Gods people againe into that furnace from whence they were but newly come and that the wrath of the Lord for disobedience they are the very wordes of the law should waxhot against them Deut â— 4. and destroy them suddenly So certaine is that maxime in al good divinitie that wee ought to obey God without looking back and in a matter of reformation we ought to do nothing by roate but haue alwaies recourse vnto this booke Our Lord therefore which was come in our flesh to reform the Church doth giue vs also the same rule a rule indeed pronouÌ„ced by him in this one case but yet it extendeth it selfe over all whatsoever concernes Gods service and therefore is it herein so much the more to bee put in practise as this is a matter of greater mysterie and weight As also we learne the same in Gods law concerning his service So saith he in another place where hee instructeth his Disciples Thinke not that I am come to destroy the law or the Prophets Matth. 5. v. 17. The reformation of the church hath alwaies bin subiect to this slander I am come to fulfil them to recal the law vnto his right observation to restore vnto it his due and natural interpretation and to keepe it from all traditions inventions and Pharisaical glosses the which vnder a colour of giuing light vnto it doe indeed darken it insteede of establishing it doe destroy it insteed of honouring it doe make a mocke of it You haue hearde that it was saide by them of the old time your Doctors your Fathers Thou shalt not kill for whosoever killeth shall bee culpable of iudgement V. 21. For to avoide this iudgment they haue taught you that it was enough not to kill at all likewise it was saide Thou shalt not commit adulterie V. 27. And they haue made you beleeue that you were free from this law if only you kept your selues from acting this sin Like wise V. 43. Thou shalt loue thy neighbour and hate thine enemie And in like manner all the other coÌ„mandements But I say vnto you I that am the true law giuer that knowe the meaning of the Father of that eternall Father the creatour of bodies and spirites which giveth his lawe alike to the one and to the other That whosoever hateth his brother hath already killed him whosoever looketh on a womaÌ„ to lust after hir hath already committed adultery with her And if so be you do not helpe your greatest enemies euen those which persecute you then are you not his children but the children of hell Calling them backe in this manner from their Fathers as we haue observed throughout in the state of the church of Israell to the God of their Fathers froÌ„ the glosse to the text from the letter to the spirit to the right purpose of the Law giver to the reasonâ— of the law And this did the Pharisies saie we to blaspheme the Temple and to call Moses in question in these daies amongst vs men would say it were to condemne the Fathers and to overthrowe the Church Behold therefore this rule which our Sauiour giveth vs from the beginning it was not so This was not the will of him that made the Testament let this rule but bee stretched out over the building of the church and then whatsoever shall be found to bee out of this line or out of the squire let it be censured to be also out of the worke let it bee condemned to be battered by the hammer and to be cut of from the faith doctrine of the church Let S. Paul bee an example vnto vs even in those first times For men in matters of religion can never go on very farre without straying vnlesse they alwaies take this guide along with them EveÌ„ in his time was the holy supper of the Lord prophaned amongst the Corinthians in this church of God by theÌ„ that were sanctified in Christ Iesus Cor. 1.2 and Saints by calling for so hee tearmeth them But what saith he to them Everie man when they should eate 〈◊〉 11. v. 21 taketh his owne supper afore c. And one is hungry and another is drunken This is not to eat the Lords Supper This is not to celebrate that holy Sacrament it is rather to despise his church Here then is a remedie for it I haue received saith he of the Lord V. 23 that which I also haue delivered or taught vnto you Theodor iâ— 1. de 〈…〉 â— 7 And herevpon doth hee rehearse vnto them at large the whole institution of the Lords Supper in the same manner as we finde it in the Gospell As I haue receiued it euen so haue I delivered it vnto you It is now your dutie if you will be Christians to obserue it accordingly S. Peter also perceiving that hee was nowe shortly to leaue this worlde Gelas Cilic in Act. Conc. â—ic doth not tell the churches to the which he wrot after my decease doe not much trouble your selues about that which you are to do I will instruct you sufficiently by revelations and visions there shall scarce bee one weeke in the which I will not giue you some new Article of faith or deliuer vnto you some new ceremonie or other But on the contrarie he saith Seeing I know that the time is at hand that I must laie downe this my tabernacle 2. Pet 1. v. 14 15. I will indevour therefore alwaies that after my departing ye also may be able to haue remeÌ„brance of these things that is of the doctrine of saluation which openeth vnto theÌ„ an entrance into the everlasting kingdome of Christ Iesus To wit I my selfe beating this doctrine into you so deepe whilest I am yet amongst you in this Tabernacle that after I shall haue left you you caÌ„not forget it Which also was the reason why that great Emperor Constantine in the middest of all the hard contentions of his time went no where for helpe but thither There is nothing more vnworthy said he to the Bishoppes of his time then to wrangle one with another about the controversies of divine matters seeing that vvee haue the doctrin of the holy Ghost in writing And the bookes of the Evangelists and Apostles togither