diuellish subtlety woluish cruelty or Antichristian hypocrisie they be not scattered Blesse Lord those Cities and Townes where thy Gospell is purely preached that they may liue in peace which loue thy lawe make we beséeche thée peace within their walles and prosperitie within their Palaces make strong the lockes of our Portes and blesse thy children within them put peace for our bandes and fill vs with the fatte of thy Corne that thou King of glorie and Lorde of Hostes mayest enter in by our gates thy pure word not onely abide within our walles but also in our willes Thou which breakest the bowe and snappest the speares in sunder and burnest the Chariot with fire protect vs from slaughter and scatter the Nations which delight in warre Thou Lord extinguish the fire and flames of discorde which canst conclude a peace for vs with the stone of the grounde Compell the Woolfe to lye downe with the Lambe and the Leoparde with the Kidde worke a conuersion in the heartes of those which preferre vncertaine riches and vaine pleasures of this vile sinnefull and wretched world before the profession of thy truth and preaching of the Gospell Autoph Amen For surely the Lorde hath miraculously deliuered vs from their deuouring and gréedy rauening mouthes Philox. You say well Autophilus in commending him for our maruelous deliueraunce but will you bee mindefull of so great and manifold benefits Autoph I hope so Philox. Then be so Autoph Can you prooue the contrarie Philox. I woulde Autophilus prooued it not It is a common and vsuall practise nowe a dayes amongest Hypocrites to carrie about with them faintlike mouthes and diuelish minds to say Amen to euery good praier with their mouth when their hearts are worldly and wickedly excercised But it is not painted wordes which please the Lorde but the workes of righteousnesse and obedience wherein he delighteth to take vp the Crosse and followe Christ and to deny a mans selfe which Autophilus will neuer doe are two not able markes of Gods children Autoph Be not to rash in iudging Philox. Then leaue to be Autophilus Autoph Indéede so shall I forsake my selfe but as yet I meane it not and yet haue you mooued me so farre that since the Gospell and persecution goe both hande in hande together I coulde be content to suffer sometimes persecutions but not continually for such as I am can hardly away with continual afflictions Philox. I am not ignorant how naturally men are infected with the disease Philautia that is to say selfe loue how much they are addicted to it and they estéeme of themselues But if any man commeth to me sayth our Sauiour and hateth not father mother wife children yea and his owne selfe cannot be my disciple Not that we should enuie or be malitious towards them but that we haue such affections towards them that neuerthelesse the loue of the sonne of God be aboue all thinges Of such an holy hatred Abraham is a worthy example who had rather be cruell against his owne sonne euen to the death then in one point shewe himselfe disobedient Let the husband therefore loue the wife the wife her husband the father his sonne the sonne his father So that their humane loue drawe nothing from the spirituall loue of Christ Nowe therefore Autophilus since there are but two waies the one narrow and rough difficult to the flesh to be traueled the other broade smooth and leading to destruction Tell me briefly whether you had rather goe with worldly ease to eternall damnation then to take vp the Crosse and goe the narrowe waye to life euerlasting for one of them wee must néedes runne at length that is either to ioy or vtter perdition Autoph I cannot tel what you call worldly ease but I am sure I woulde goe to heauen Philox. Walke not then after the flesh but after the spirite they that frame themselues after the will of Christ are his liuely members they which loue not themselues nor the world loath their former life feare to fall into sinne at a worde they which crucifie the fleshe with the affections and lustes thereof shall possesse those ioyes Autoph What I doe it pertaines not vnto you you shall not answere for mée I doubt not but I am cloathed with Christes righteousnesse I hope that Christes perfect obedience yéelded vnto his father shall make satisfaction for me Philox. A goodly countenance of honestie and pretence of fleshly Christianity doe you thinke that Christe will holde you for righteous when you giue your selfe to vnrighteousnesse what is this but a dishonouring of him and a scorning of him for his redemption of you as if Christ shoulde accept the proude man for lowly him for a louer of God which is a louer of himselfe him for a delighter in God which onely delighteth in vaine pleasures him for mindefull of Gods benefits which is altogether vnthankfull him for a chast person which is a whoremonger him for sober which is a drunkard lastly him for a true worshipper which is an Idolater Autoph I hope you cannot iustly affirme that I am stained with any of these vices Philox. Doth your conscience acquite you Autoph What is that to you Philox. I aske you for no harme notwithstanding if euery stitch of your conscience were throughly ript vp I feare we shoulde finde it sore sicke of many of these sinnes Beware of Idolatrie it is the Mother vice from whence doe spring many other Autoph Idolatry quoth you I thanke God I neuer knewe what it meant Philox. So much the worse you may be sicke of that disease and knowe it not Beware of Couetousnesse it is the roote of all euill Which also is called of the Apostle Paul Idolatrie Autoph Call you Couetousnesse Idolatrie either I forgette it or else I neuer learned it as for my Couetousnesse care you not I knowe my selfe to bée farre enough from it vnlesse you will call good husbandry Couetousnesse as many indéede are woont for nowe a daies a man must lashe out sette Cocke on hoope spende all on the poore and in House kéeping or else he shall be counted a Niggarde nay verily doe what we can wée shall offende some parties If we be warie then are wée accounted Couetous if liberall then vnthriftes and thus they terme euery thing at their pleasure Philox. Nay you put on faire visards on beastly and vglie monsters hyding couetousnes vnder the cloke of good husbandrie pride vnder the shewe of handsomenes stoutnes vnder the colour gentrie thus although the couetous of cormerants store vp treasures in their Palaces by violence and robberies eate vp poore men euen as Beasts eat grasse kéeping it vnder nothwithstanding all this is the point of good husbandrie Good husbandrie said I No verilie as bad as may be for the winning of a fewe pence to loose Gods loue and for to haue rich chistes and coffers stuffed with red ruddockes to léese the fauour of the euerlasting God No
as it wer y e gold frō y e drosse the wheat from y e chaffe the good from y e bad from hēce it is y e the wicked become so outragious do whet their téeth to persecute the painfull laborers in the Lordes vineyarde calling them the troublers of the common wealth vnto whom wée answer as Elias answered to King Achab that not hée but the King was the troubler of the Countrie Euen so not the ministers which teach the worde painefully but these vngodly ones which defame them despitefully trouble the common wealth and hurt the health of the Church The vnbeléeuing Iewes at Thessalonica cried out against Paul and Silas saying these felowes that haue troubled the whole world are come hither also But Paul speaking against y e Iews his enemies persecutors said they as they haue killed y e Lord Iesus their own Prophets so doe they perseeute vs they please not God are aduersaries to all men resisting vs y t we shoulde not preach the gospell vnto the Gentils to their saluation that they may still fulfill their sinnes and so at last the endlesse anger of God may fall vppon them It is to be feared it is with vs as it was with the Iewes in the prophet Ieremie his daies a few that imbrace the worde of the Lorde with profit The rebellious Iewes obiected against Ieremie that since the time they beganne to leaue the worship of their idol gods and to hearken to the preaching of the worde of God they neuer had any iot of felicity but that mishaps by troupes fell one vpon the necke of an other hereupon they saide to Ieremie when we made sacrifice to the Quéene of heauen that is to say to the sunne all thinges went well with vs we had abundance of corne c. After the same maner say many of our time it was well when we heard masse when we went on pilgrimage when wée worshipped before images when we gaue to monks and priests the feare of God was greater and there was more loue and good fellowship in a day then there is now in half a yeare Autoph A thousande are of that minde Philox. neither can you make them beléeue but then it was a good world whē a man might buy as many egs for a peny as would serue him halfe a dozen meales Philox. What drunkennes what astonishment what madnesse hath dazeled the eies of men y t they should sée nothing what sleighty elusions of Sathan hath couered their spirites that they shoulde beléeue nothing Is this the thanke that we render vnto God for the preaching of the gospell what madnes can bée compared vnto this The Lord doth offer vs saluatiō fréely without monie or monie worth and we had rather féede like swine on huskes and shales pay for popish dotages dirty deuises The Lord doth offer vs drinke of the welsprings of Israell the fountaine of euerliuing water and we had rather drinke of the filthy puddle of mens deuillish inuentions He sendeth his ministers amongest vs to sowe the incorruptible séed of his holy word to rouse vp these lumpish spirites of ours to bring vs to repentance we accuse his word to be the cause of our sins miseries his ministers to be the sowers of sedition discention But tel me this one thing Autoph art thou perswaded y t the preaching of Noe was the cause of the ouerwhelming of the old world w t waters or y e good perswasions of Lot the cause why Sodome and Gomorra was burned with fire brimstone frō heauen or the forewarning of our sauiour Christ vnto the Iewes to be the cause of the destruction and desolation of that famous city Ierusalem Autoph How should I be so persuaded sithens it was the fulnes of their abhominatiōs which kindled y e wrath and indignation of God against them Philox. In like sorte it is not the word of God which maketh our sins miseries abound causeth dearth or penury stirreth vp sedition strife or contention it is our sins enormious offences that draweth the heauy iudgments of God vppon vs let lewde tongues therefore for shame leaue off to blaspheme to lash out at randome against the gospel of Iesus Christ let vs remoue far from vs the causes of our miseries namely contempt of the word of God couetousnes oppression swearing tearing of y e name of God for vaine trifles prophanation of the Lords Saboth drunkennes surfeting rioting c. and let vs know assuredly that the happy and prosperous victory which God hath giuen to the professors of his gospell in putting a snaffle in the mouthes and an hooke in the nosthrels of mercilesse Tyrants and bloudie persecutors of his children it was for his name sake his worde and his truthes sake Therefore let vs with humblenes of heart beséeche the Lord of his entire goodnes to send daily more and more painefull labourers into his vineyard to water the vine of Englande with the moysture of his holy worde and that all idoll pastors and hirelings may be rooted out Autoph Yet more adoe about hirelings I pray you whom doe you call hirelinges or idoll pastors it may bée that I shall mistake you Philox. The very same Autoph whom thou callest simple fellows and quiet soules which care not whether the people committed to their charge sinke or swim stand or fall liue or die be saued or damned which either for feare or fauour dare not once mewe or open their mouthes to reproue the sins of the wicked which are more fit for y e tauern than y e tēple for y e plough than y e pulpit which are more fit for y e slaile than to féede the flocke of Christ The shepheard if he want knowledge may confer with his Dog if the séely husbādman want wisdome he may aske counsell of his whip for the lips of these idols preserue no knowledge Autoph Now as I am an honest man and a Christian I haue hearde many vnreuerent spéeches and reprochfull raylings yet neuer hearde I any thing against honest men so vncharitably spoken Philox. Beware how y u iudgest lest y u condemne y e prophets thēselues Esay calleth the ministers of his age blinde watchmen dumbe dogs gréedy dogs The prophet Ezechiel termeth y e prophets conspirators gréedy raueners deuourers like Lions The prophet Zacharie in zeale of y e spirit termeth them no better thā idols I could recken many more sharpe sayings of the Prophets against such biters of the Lords people but take these for a tast and cease to call the godly zealous followers of the Lord despitefull and malicious dealers because they will not iustifie the wicked in their waies say that good is euill euill good make darkenes light light darkenes call sower swéet swéet sower to whom the Lord doth threaten that horrible woe of reuenge Autoph Shall you make me beléeue that the prophets speak of
those which such as you are call dumbe ministers not rather of the enemies of Gods truth neuer whilest you liue Why man these loue God regard his truth exhort edifie to the vttermost of their power I pray you call to minde that saying of the prophet Zacharie who dare despise the day of small things things of no reputation who dare reproue the Lordes souldiers lapping water like dogs The stately champions being sent home who dare vpbraid Elizeus his plowing Peters fishing Paul his tentmaking Mathews pilling and powling who were they that despised Iesus Christ because he was a Carpentors son Let these men beware lest hereafter they be like them in torments whom now they do imitate in taūts Who would vpbraid Luther with his monkery since S. Paul was so long a Pharisée S. Augustine a Manichée Why doe you despise these brethren Do you thinke that they which bring them into the church know not what they do You might as well accuse the one as the other if you durst I am sure there is as great care as may be taken by the bishops and their substitutes at this day to admit such to the ministery as be learned and such as they are wel perswaded of by men of good calling and credit to haue liued an honest and godly life what can bishops do more they be no Gods Philox. You are not y e first Autoph that haue answered this matter with such a flimflam howbeit this coine will not goe for currant when as it is tryed by y e touchstone of Gods truth But doe the prophets speake of those which regard not y e truth of God If y e were granted to go for good coin must not men therfore be roughly spokē vnto when they cōmit wickednes Is y e sinner so tender y t he may not be touched Idoll pastors saith Autoph loue god regard his gospel I doubt whē y e Iudge shall hold his Assise the booke of accoūt must be laid open there shal néed no Proctour to plead against thē no clark of Assise to read their inditements no great inquest to cast them for their owne consciences shall both accuse condemne them for the contrary Is not this y e true badge cognisance wherby y e shepheards ouer the flock of Christ are knowne to loue the son of God by If thou louest me feede my sheepe Where is then the loue of those shepherds y t neuer had any care of féeding of the flocke of Christ what shall become of them which haue pinched pined to death y e soules of their poore brethrē for want of spiritual sustenance when they shall drinke as a iust recompēce of their iniquities the bitter cup of Gods eternal wrath and indignatiō in y e kingdome of darknes in y e fearful presēce of Satan where the doleful drums of Gods anger shal cōtinually soūd in their eares where shalbe wéeping howling and endlesse lamentation It were ten thousand times better for them to heare of their sinnes nowe that they may be brought to repentance make their hearts smart for the same then hereafter to cry woe alasse that euer we were borne when the day of repentance is past and the gate of mercy is shut vp That which you inferre of Elizeus his plowing Peters fishing Pauls tent making together with the rest maketh nothing at all for the maintenance of a blind guide we despise thē not for that which they haue béene but we lament for that which they are Neither are we ignorant that the Lorde hath chosen y e simplest and basest of the people to set abroach the glad tydings of the Gospell and to confounde the wisedome of the wisest As touching the care of Bishops in constituting of Ministers Philoxenus could find in his hart to iustifie them if their owne carelesnes did not condemne them I would they had a litle better learned that lesson of S. Paul to his Timothie Laie hands sodainly on no man Which lesson if it were as well practised as I would to God it were then should men of sounde doctrine polished with good giftes of the mind adorned with good Art and furnished with all kinde of science and knowledge receiue this calling then should such as be constāt in the faith painfull to til the Lordes husbandrie faithful zealous watchful laborious of a tried conuersation be sent to labour in the Lords vineyard whereas oftentimes wee sée the contrarie that ignorant men of corrupt conuersation haue that calling granted vnto them Philox. This is a new learning in déed when such gréene heads dare presume to reproue their elders as though they knew not what to do vnles they were aduised by you Vndoubtedly for mine own part I wil tell you Philox. if I had xx benefices I had rather bestow xir of thē vpon those against whō you so bitterly inueigh then one vpon a controuler whom it séemeth you fauour so much Philox. Do you cal it a new learning to reproue the sinner Did not Iohn y e Baptist being but a base contēptible mā reproue king Herod to his beard Did not Dauid being a child reproue tel the elders of their faults saith I am wiser thā the aged because I haue kept thy commandements Was not Micheas singular when he reproued resisted 400. false prophets Was not Elias mightie when he withstood all y e false prophets of Baal God hath made the vile basest to confoūd the proud very babes to cōfoūd y e mightie Out of the mouth of babes sucklings saith y e prophet hast thou ordained strength to stil the enimie and the auenger To flatter men in their sins were y e next way to make thē rot in their filthines therfore sinners must make their rekoning to be rebuked Let the wicked therfore cease to make hue crie ouer y e country saying such are proud malitious men because they wil not run to the same excesse of riot but rather reproue y e wais of y e vngodly vnles they wil take in y e prophets Christ his Apostles charge thē w e y e same crimes Let thē consider y t of the prophet Esay O how beutiful are the feet of the embassadour that bringeth the message from the mountaine proclaimeth peace that bringeth the glad tidings and preacheth health and sayeth vnto Sion thy God is thy king Let them consider that of our Sauiour Christ Hee that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me But shall I tell you wherefore the word of God is hated of the world and the Ministers thereof enuied because it containeth sharp corrosiues against secure consciences because it requireth mortification of the flesh quickning of the spirit a liuely faith and vnfained repentance and this is one of the especiall causes wherefore Autophilus fauoureth the
this subtlety he preuaileth not he will séeke to assault thée with drunkennesse whoredome and lechery ambition and vaine glory Lastly he besiegeth thée with hypocrisie and idolatry so that if thou féele no fight betwixt the flesh and the spirite I say it is a great signe that thy estate is more desperate Fili accedens ad seruitutem dei saith Ecclesiasticus Stato in iustitia c. That is my son if thou wilt come into the seruice of God stand fast in righteousnes and arme thy soule to temptation For which cause it is that Gregory sayth Hostis noster quantò magis sibi contrabellare conspicit tantò magis impugnare intendit Which thing also might séeme to bée figured in Holophernes which assaulted the Israelites resisting saying thus Iudith I haue not hurt the man which woulde bee captiue and in bondage to the King of Babylon as for the people if they had not despised me I shoulde not haue lift vp my speare against them Autoph You Philoxenus may speake what your pleasure is neuerthelesse I alwaies carrie with mee a quiet conscience frée from any care or calamity for what thing shoulde tempt mée I haue the worlde at will my bagges bée well bumbasted and my Barnes well filled with corne I haue Coyne in my Coffers and carry a countenance in my Country and I haue wealth at will To bragge of my woorshippe were small wisedome and yet I am a Gentleman I haue had as litle aduersitie I thinke as any hath had Philox. If Gregory shoulde bée your Iudge in this case hée woulde pronounce a very harde sentence against you which is after this manner Continuus successus rerum temporalium certum futurae calamitatis indicium which is to say the continuall successe of worldly matters is an assured shewe of calamity to come Againe the same Iter electis suis Deus asperum facit ne dum delectantur in via obliuiscantur eorum quae sunt in patria That is God hath made an harde trauelling for his chosen lest while they are delighted with any thing in their waye they forget those ioyes in that Country whereunto they direct their iourney If a man had a iourney to make to the furthest part in the worlde who woulde not thinke and also count him a madde man if by the way hée beholding diuers delights and pleasures shoulde one while gaze vppon this toy sometimes vpon that and in the end shoulde forget whither he was going Christians are compared to wayfaring men amongest whom I doubt if we shoulde examine many wée shoulde finde a number of foolish trauellers which neither weigh how farre they haue to goe nor which way but wander aside for euery vaine pleasure yea although they propounde to themselues heauen as the least marke they shoote at yet they goe the broade way iocundly and voyde of all care which leades them in the end to the pit of eternall perdition Autoph You may preach till you be weary and cry out against sinne till you be hoarse you shall neuer make a number beléeue this or at the least to consider of it Philox. True it is and yet this is the path to godlinesse and eternall felicitie Whereas on the other side security and inconsideration is the dore to vtter destruction and damnation For what maketh the couetous so litle to regarde the curse of God thundring against them but lacke of consideration What maketh the proude and hauty heart to runne headlong into the fiery wrath of his Creator but inconsideration what maketh the lasciuious Lecherer to liue so loosely to make his body a loathsome sinke of sinne the receptacle of the diuel himselfe either by lusting after or retayning his neighbours wife or daughter but inconsideration what maketh swash-bucklers to delight so much in Ruffanisme to stampe and stare like helhoundes to sweare and forsweare themselues so diuellishly and desperately but inconsideration In fine what driueth so many Théeues to the gallowes so many wretched soules to hell but want of consideratiō Alas if we be about any bargaining as buying or selling of Land or Lease we will both consider and consult nay for feare we shoulde light on the lash we will haue counsaile I warrant you although we pay well and truely for it we will ride and runne and be well aduertised yea we will vse consideration in matters not woorth two strawes But in this businesse howe to attaine the Kingdome of Heauen howe to make a purchase which shall last for euer without the which obteining it had béene better wée had neuer béene borne good Lorde it is woonderfull howe slackely and howe drousily men goe about it Nay he that will goe to Westminster againe and againe and craue counsell with Cappe and curtesie will scarcely goe a furlong from home to learne the duety of a Christian what is his duety towardes God and what he ought to performe towardes his brethren héerein wanteth consideration and héerein Autophilus if such as your selfe woulde vncloake and lay open the closet of their owne consciences to searche and examine euery corner of them I feare you should finde more staines and blemishes then can easily bée either washed or wiped away Autoph If this bée true Philoxenus many thousandes deceiue themselues for who had not rather ryde forty miles to a learned Lawyer to knowe his aduice and counsell in worldly affayres and giue him twenty shillings for twenty wordes then goe to the Church where he may haue as you say the glad tydinges of the Gospell preached and teached to his owne edyfying and soules health and surely me thinkes not without some iust cause for it is as easie a matter for any man to bée a Christian as it is to bée a learned Lawyer and more easier too Why it is no more but to say the Lordes prayer the tenne Commaundementes and the Creede as I saide before or els there be in the Lande too many Christians nickenamed Philox. You are nickenamed Christians indéede no better then Atheists and Infidels you cloake your hypocrisie with the visarde of falsely challenged Christianitie and bragge of the name reiecting the thing it selfe you couet to be called by the name and account it an excellent ornament yet you neither desire to learn the dutie nor to liue according to the same vocation But that which is spoken by the Prophet shall light vppon your pates and not misse Quia tu repulisti scientiam ego te repellam sayth the Lord after you haue boasted of your praying in excusing of the which howe aptlie you played the parte of an Asse who if he be not starke blinde cannot plainlie sée The Asse is a slouthfull creature which will do nothing without whipping euen so Autophilus according to your owne confession when as the scourge of any worldly and temporall calamitie is like to touch you then your Pater noster is in your mouth and the diuell in your mind You name God with your