or can be And though our good God hetherto hath of his most gratious goodnes disappointed them of all their purposes blessed be his name for it yet they do still biggly breath foorth blood and slaughters and cease not For euen at this day they do by libells and letters threatten our ruine and blowe foorth their owne triumphe And herein they are so forewarde that they do name the persons which shal be they saye their captaines They assigne the time in which they shall reigne ouer vs they shall florishe we shall smoake or else their kalender fayleth them yea they do note the men almost by name whom they haue appointed to the slaughter and thus they do blowe vp the trumpette of their triumphe but before the victory thankes be to god Surely we do not feare them at all but we do feare God whose iust wrath we do prouoke by our vnholy handling of his most holy Gospel This this is it that doth most feare vs for by this we know that we do deserue that he shoulde once againe scourge vs with the whippes of these Popish Philistines But we do pray him that he will haue mercy on vs euen for his owne goodnes sake For he is kinde mercyfull and slowe to wrath yea he sayth of him selfe Isai 27. Anger is not in me May it please him therefore to giue vs the grace to be at peace at one with him we care not then though all the Papistes in the worlde and all the Deuills in hell do sette them selues against vs Whilest they fume freatte at vs we learne to beleeue that goodnes of the Lord which for our comfort he doth laye foorth Isai 48. where he sayth For my names sake I will differ my wrath for my praise I wil restraine it from thee that I cutte thee not of for mine owne sake will I do it And we humbly pray as they did Ier. 14. VVe acknowledge o Lorde our wickednes and the iniquities of our fathers for we haue sinned against thee Doe not abhorre vs for thy names sake cast not downe the throne of thy glory remember and breake not thy couenaunt with vs. And to this also we trust that he will haue an eye now as euer he hath had to his enemies and cutte them shorte of their purpose according to his owne good pleasure that they do not triumphe ouer him so we know that God as he is able so he wil deale against them for vs. He doth bid vs not to feare man whose breath is in his nostrells For wherein is he to be esteemed He biddeth vs not to feare them which can but kill the body but to feare him who when he hath killed the bodie hath power to cast the soule into euerlasting fire Notwithstanding all the bigge braue bragges which Papists make it seemeth that all thinges as yet do not come about to serue the turne so roundly as they woulde and therefore in the meane time they do content them selues to take a lower course and will by cullor of prayer creepe into our bosomes But the Apostle sayeth that the deuill can turne him selfe into the fashion of an Angell of lighte And therefore it is no great thinge though his ministers transforme them selues as though they were the ministers of righteousnes but their ende shal be according to their workes By libells at Oxford and bulls from Rome they breath out the furye of their conceaued malice and sodenly they chaunge their mode into their kind of prayer They do now herein as their kinge the Pope hath done hertofore against vs The last Pope Pius thundred out a bull of his currish censure against our good Queene Elizabeth to turne her out of her royall state and life and after that he sent into England closely a messenger whose name as Doctor Saunders telleth vs is Nicolas Morton by office a priest a meete officer for such a Pope purpose This man was sente to follow that Popish bull and he did it so freashly that thereon did follow a rebellion in the North partes of this lande But God almightie quenched this fire in his most riche mercy The rebells ranne their country Pope Pius by death is picked ouer the pearche Our Queene Elizabeth doth still holde her place thankes be to God reigneth in Godly quietnes O Lord graunt that she may longe so do Pope Gregorie that now is seeing this roughe attempt of his predecessor haue so euil succes chaungeth the course of his Popishe proceading and hath nowe sente by his suppostes certain bulls into England in which he promiseth full remission of sinnes to them which after that dissembled deuotion which he putteth downe shal pray for the conuersion of Englande he sayeth to the Catholicke fayth but he doeth meane the peruertion of Englande from the true Christian faith into that filthe and falsehoode of the Romish error Thus the Popes are cōtēt to fall from armes fighting and cursing to faire promises flattery and praying But I trust English men for whose pleasure the Pope wil seeme to haue brought foorth this bull haue learned more wisedome in the Gospell of God then now to be made calues by such a Popish bull In like manner our Louanistes hauing spente as it seemeth the greatest parte of their common shotte at vs but in vaine thankes be to God beginne to allure vs to like of them by teaching vs to praye But we haue already learned to praye of the best schoolemaister that euer was is or shal be euen of our Lord Iesus Christ And therefore we haue no eare to hearken to these Popish bunglers and corrupters of holy thinges They haue to this ende published in prince of late a thing which they call Iesus Psalter and the author thereof or Master Fowler the printer therof doth tell vs That there be three manner of Psalters the first is called Dauids Psalter which containeth thrise fifty Psalmes the second sayth he is called the Psalter of our Lady cōteining thrise fiftie Aues the third is called the Psalter of Iesu or the inuocatiō of Iesus conteining fiftene principall petitions which tenne times repeated make also thrise fiftie What meane these men so farre to forgette them selues that they do now commend to the Reader but these three manner of Psalters Their forefathers haue ben more liberall to vs as shall forthwith appeare The Psalter of Dauid conteyning 150. Psalmes we do acknowledge to be deliuered to vs by the spirite of God for our comforte and instruction For Christ Iesus himselfe teacheth vs that Dauid in his Psalmes doth speake inspired by the holy Ghost And therfore with all humblenes of harte and reuerēce we do receaue the same as a booke of holy Scripture deliuered to vs as other bookes of the holy Scripture are euen by God him selfe We do not receaue it as a Psalter giuen to vs by the Papistes For it is no Psalter of theirs although it pleaseth them nowe in
lighte it is meate it is medecine For Iesus is lighte to them which sitte in darknes he is meate to them which do hunger and thrist after righteousnes and saluation he filleth the hungry with good thinges he is a medecine and a playster of life for the sicke soule and broken harte Yea if all these had misliked him he mighte haue tolde vs yet that one of his owne elders sayth that the name of Iesus is a sweete name a name full of delighte a name comforting a sinner a name of good hope and that this man thus speaking of this name Iesus brusteth foorth into prayer as it shoulde seeme feeling some excellent sweetnes in that name and sayth O Iesus be vnto me a Iesus that is O Sauiour be vnto me a sauiour or O sauiour saue me All these thinges M. Fowler doth passe ouer and giueth vs as he sayth a psalter of Iesus in which he doth teach vs oftē to name the name of Iesus But it is a matter of vnderstanding sence and feeling truely to speake of Iesus it is not a matter of fidling with tenne fingers as M. Fowler teacheth They which haue experience of Iesus do know this best This is not had nor fee lt by looking on the letters nor spelling of the name of Iesus by sillables nor yet by bare pronouncing the name Iesu The old heretikes called Marcosij made them selues much adoe about this name and the letters thereof yea and curiously deuised on some nomber which mighte be noted by the letters of this name as Epiphanius doth write And notably doth this auncient writer saye to them all as in one Vocem enim solum habes virtutem vero ipsius ignoras that is thou hast onely the worde or voice but the vertue or power thereof thou doest not know It is one thing to pronounce the worde and an other to vnderstand and feele the vertue and power noted by that word This this giueth life and therefore to speake of Iesus with vnderstāding and sense of that life and saluatiō which Iesus doth giue is such a thing as the holy Ghost doth worke in the elect alone whereof the Apostle sayeth 1. Cor. 12. No man can saye that Iesus is the Lorde but by the holy Ghost If we saye the Lord Iesus truely we are taught so to do by the holy Ghost for it onely doth frame our tongues to make a true confession of the Lord Iesus and of the saluation which by faith we do feele in our hartes that we haue by him It teacheth vs to speake of Iesus not in bare speache alone but waying what we say as Hierom noteth in these wordes Tamen hoc ipsum dicere non sermone sed affectu cordis est ponderandum that is this saying is to be wayed with and in affection of harte not in or with bare speach Otherwise many haue vsed this name Iesus and pronounced it but euill and to their owne hurte We do reade of certeine vagabounde coniurers which tooke in hande to name ouer them that had euill spirits the name of the Lord Iesus saying We do adiure you by Iesus whom Paule preacheth They abused the name of Iesus they did not vnderstande the vertue and power of Iesus Though they did pronounce the word Iesus yet had they not faith in Iesus nor feeling of his power and sauing health They spake not of Iesus by the holy Ghost and in true vnderstanding and they did speede thereafter For the euill spirite aunswered them Iesus I acknowledge and Paule I know but who are ye Thus were these coniurers driuen awaye beaten and wounded euen by the euill spirite whom they thought to haue driuen awaye by pronouncing the name Iesus You maye see that coniurers and the deuill him selfe can name and pronounce the name of Iesus and yet are no whitte the better for so doing It is not therefore the bare pronouncinge of the name that doth profit at all as by this example is to be seene We do also reade of a certeine sorcerer that made him selfe so boulde of this name Iesus that he called him selfe Bariesus as though he were the very man of saluation And yet did this wretched man withstand so much as he coulde the doctrine of Iesus preached by Paule and sought to turne others from the faith and labored to peruerte the straight waye of the Lorde We are by Iesus Christ him selfe forwarned to take heede of such as shall abuse and counterfeit his name to deceaue and seduce vs beleeue them not sayth Christ Suche a company of counterfeits are in Poperie For in it they haue their brotherhoodes of Iesus their feastes of the name of Iesus their pardons of Iesus their Masse of the same mattens howres and euen song of it And of late dayes the Papists haue hatched and brought foorth a swarme of such vermine as call themselues Iesuites whose trauell is like to that of Bariesu that is to peruerte the right wayes of the Lorde Iesus to turne men from the true vnderstanding of the vertue and power of Iesus To this purpose be they sent foorth to carrye men from hearckening to the Gospell of Iesus and from beleeuing truly in Iesus and yet they be called Iesuites vnder this faire name to worke their feate that is to seduce men and leade them from Iesus They are enemies to Iesus to his doctrine power sauing health as both by their name doing and doctrine is proued at large by that learned writer of our age Martin Kemnitius And euen so to their new found psalter is the name of Iesu by them added but as a snare whereby the psalter maker woulde drawe his reader from the truth of Iesu into the puddle of poperie It may be maruailed greatly that Papistes dare thus boldly and impudently abuse the name of Iesus the name of our blessed God and Sauiour Haue they no conscience of breaking Gods commaundement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lorde thy God in vaine for the Lorde will not holde him giltles that taketh his name in vaine Though now they do not feare to committe the faulte yet shall they not escape but by a true verdicte be founde guilty of it before god For to take his name to confirme a falshoode is to take his name in vaine and to breake his commaundemēt But thus do they now take the name of the Lorde Iesus therefore lette Papistes holde vp their handes and aunswere guiltie or not guiltie if they pleade not guiltie they shall abide the triall before God by his lawe and then they wil be founde guiltie I know it will grieue them to be thus charged but if any of them do thinke them selues to be ouercharged herein lette them tell vs truely who made them so bolde to applie the holy name of Iesus to their owne deuises to their Masses pardons brotherhoodes and such trumperie or to call their sectaries Iesuites or to call this their new deuise the psalter of
Psal. 37. That the saluation of the righteous men shal be of the Lord he shal be their strength in the time of trouble For the Lorde shal helpe them and deliuer them he shall deliuer them from the wicked shall saue them because they trust in him And they haue such a corage faith in God his goodnes might and mercy that they say Psal. 23. Though I do walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I will feare no euill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comforte me And they saye also Psal. 48. This God is our God for euer and euer he shal be our guide vnto the death Thus doth the Lorde allure his people to looke for saluation and protection at his hande and for his sauing helpe in all their perills And we reade that Christ our Sauior at his death cried out with a loude voyce Father into thy handes I commende my spirite Luc. 23. and by his example doth teache vs to do the same For God is our protector defender Stephen also stoned to death cried Lorde Iesu receaue my spirite to the Lord Iesus as to his onely protector he doth commende him selfe and by his example he hath taught vs to cōmend our selues to this protector as he did and therfore in Iesus alone let vs rest abide so shall we be most safely kept and protected as the Psalmist sayth Psal. 91. Who so dwelleth in the secret of the most high shal abide in the shadow of the Almighty For truly he that maketh God his defence trust shall perceaue his protection to be a most sure safegard as it is at large set foorth in that Psalme which I wishe the godly reader diligently to reade and marke and he shall learne of Dauid in his holy Psalter that God is his protector But M. Fowler in this his Psalter or rather in this his fiddle assigneth vs to an other protection then Dauid doth in his Psalter whereby the reader may perceaue that these Psalters doe not agree We haue not learned to pray the Lord Iesus by the merites of his glorious passion to graunt such petitiōs as M. Fowler maketh here as that we shoulde offer our selues to the merits of Gods mother and other holy Sainctes and aske their protection The merites of Iesus Christ crucified for vs are of such a merite that for our safety protection saluation we neede no other merite either of the mother of God or of any Sainct but the onely merite of Iesus Christ alone The merites of Iesus Christ alone haue fully merited deserued for vs which do trust in him only seeke at his hande only all our safety full saluation He doth not send vs to seeke the merites of his mother or of any other saincts And this value and force of Christes power merites M. Fowler him selfe semeth to haue found out once againe For in his eleuenth petition he prayeth the Lord Iesus thus Thy power protect me againe thy passiō preserue me from euerlasting damnation and terror of mine enemy In deede these wordes haue some good sauor and sound of truth but he woulde neuer haue mingled the merites protection of Sainctes with the merites and protection of Christ if he had hartily reasted on the protection of Iesus and vpon the merites of the Lord Iesus alone for he shoulde haue founde him selfe so safe in the merites of Christ that he woulde neuer haue sought others as euen now he did And here you may once againe marke a iarre that Fowler in his Psalter maketh not onely with Dauid his Psalter but euen with him selfe also We knowe that Iesus Christ alone is the sufficient protector of his elect they are all giuen vnto him of his father none can take them out of his hand he hath not ioyned with him in this protectinge power any other person neither his mother nor Sainct And therfore the sheepe of the Lord Iesus doe greatly reioyce in this that they may rest protected conducted by Iesus Christ alone wherof the Psalmist doth sweetly singe Psal. 23. In the same eleauenth petition Fowler prayeth That God woulde keepe his mouth from slaunderous speaking lying false witnes bearing c. If this request had bene graunted Maister Fowler had made no such Psalter as he hath at this time in which is much lying false witnes bearing and sclaunderous speaking as in part you haue hearde and yet more shall heare by Gods grace In the twelf petition he hath this In my temptations Lord I beseech thee to helpe me for the tēder loue that thou diddest shew to thy mother she to thee It is well that he prayeth the Lord Iesus to helpe him in his temptations but to require him to doe it for the loue that he did beare to his mother and she to him is a thinge farre featched Why M. Fowler hath not the Lord Iesus borne any loue to you your selfe that is worth the remembring We know that the Lorde Iesus did tenderly loue his mother and she him againe but that loue which he doth beare to mankinde is no lesse and is also of his owne free goodnes Of loue he did giue his life for his sheepe greater loue then this hath no man when any man bestoweth his life for his freindes This is that great loue which Iesus hath borne to vs the Christians which doe beleue in him harken to his voice And the holy Ghost teacheth vs to learne to vnderstande and to taste howe sweete this loue is wherewith the Lord God our heauenly father and our good Lord Iesus haue loued vs for that loue is our life Of this loue the Lord Iesus doth teach vs saying Ioan. 3. So God loued the worlde that he hath giuen his onely sonne that whosoeuer beleueth in him shoulde not perish but haue life euerlasting The same our louing Lorde Iesus sayth of this his loue towards vs Ioan. 13. As the father hath loued me so haue I loued you And in his prayer Ioan 17. he asketh thus That the loue wherewith thou hast loued me may be in them and I in them Thus are we taught in the holy Scriptures to vnderstande the loue of the father and the loue of the sonne towards vs Nothing is there sayd to teache vs to looke to the loue which his mother did beare to him Yea he sayth Ioan. 10. I am the good shepheard the good shephearde giueth his life for his sheepe And againe therefore doth my father loue me because I lay downe my life And S. Iohn teacheth vs Beholde what loue the father hath shewed on vs that we should be called the sonnes of god 1. Ioan. 5. And againe he sayth In this appeared the loue of God towards vs because he sent his onely begotten sonne into the world that we might liue thorough him Herein is loue not that we loued God but that he loued vs and sent his sonne to be a reconciliation