whereof they affirme 1. Timot. c. 1. v. 7. but haue erred from all lawe of religion and honesty and are turned vnto vaine iangling and euen very piperly scurrility like that cursed Cham from whom al wicked sects began or worse then he toward their reuerend Fathers and spirituall Lords delighting to see and lay that naked which blessed Sem and good Iaphet in all modesty desire to couer from their owne and others eyes Genes c. 9. v. 22 23. Of which kind of creatures those inward cynaedi S. Paul warneth al godly christians and not vnlike those lothsome mannermongers that count it finenesse to note filthines and thinking others senses worse then their owne will not sticke to say looke here smell there foh feele or see I pray did you euer know the like whereas they should say smell not vnto it looke not on it or rather not once note it of which thankelesse remembrancers and needlesse inquisitors their good master Galateo biddeth them in the authoritie of his greyheaded courtiership not to take example like hogges that runne from the hearbs to a new muckhill for feare of breeding offence to no purpose as I would be sory to breed disliking in any elderly learned well spokē man be it Aretius probl theol de Matrimonio or Bishop Ponet c. 6. of his Apolog. or other his friends for naming the author that here saith well and elswhere perhaps amisse Then see and touch with Thomas the apostle and then beleeue with Thomas the apostle who was so ready and resolute to go die with Christ his Lord Iohn c. 11 v. 16. and yet too would prouide to stand on a sure ground when time was for all that resolution and then became more incredulous and scrupulous then other in his happy foresight vntill he had a manifest answere in seing and touching which might stop all Antichristian obiections in latest times Many haue desired to see and touch Christ in the flesh to see their intelligible felicity in sensible proofe as namely S. Augustine did like a good harty subiect that wisheth to see the Prince of his country of whom al good men speake and himselfe thinkes most honorably yet blessed are all such as speake and beleeue and haue not seene Iohn c. 20. v. 29. the rather because they which report this vnto thē report no more then they haue seene and heard Acts c. 4. v. 20. The Apostles eyes were the eyes of Christians God grant our eyes may be as cleere and steady as their eyes were their eares were our eares ô that we could shut them from vanitie and open them to verity as they did that the word of Esai be not found in vs they shall see with their eyes and not perceiue they shall heare with their eares and not vnderstand c. 6. v. 9. but that first we may see him and then like him and then loue him and then know him within without Intus in cute his deity and humanity and conuey the image of his countenance into our harts by the most quick and hot spirit of his word and law that our veines and marow and so consequently by them all other partes may be fired and inflamed with this light of man Morning star and Sunne of the day loadstar alwaies euen Iesus Christ and make vs in colour and nature like to himself as one neighbour grape taketh colour of another God being the husbandman and Christ the vine and Christians the branches and their works the grapes Vuaque conspecta liuorem traxit ab vua saith Iuuenal Satyra 2. The ghostly and bodily forefathers desired to see this day and they liued and died in this hope Luke c. 10. v. 24. the prophets foresaw his comming both Esai c. 2. 7. 9. 11. 35. 42. 49. 53. 60. 65. and also Ieremy c. 31. v. 33. c. 32. v. 40. c. 33. v. 20. and other and they which go afore him crie and say Hosanna thou sonne of Dauid blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord hosanna thou which art in the high heauens Mark c. 11. v. 9 10. and all such as are true in hart shall be glad and say Saue vs we beseech thee O praise the Lord Hosanna Alleluïa Thus was blind Bartimaeus glad to heare him by whom he might receiue his sight and by and by he saw the light of heauen Mark c. 10. v. 49 52. thus was Simeon glad and willing to die when he had seene this saluation and consolation of Israël which was prepared to be the glory of all people Luke c. 2. v. 30. Thus the angell of the Lord bad the sheephards go to Bethleem and see their Sauior with him an army of heauenly souldiers that praised God said Glory to God in heauen and peace in earth goodwill toward men so notably they were stirred vp and euen rauished with this blessed sight v. 12 13. thus the wisemen of the East euen where all men are of quicke and winged wittes as Herodianus iudgeth lib. 1. and most of all other the wisemen selected from the rest with great wonder saw the starre of Christ which was neuer seene in their Vranoscopies before and went euen from Persia to Bethleem to see himselfe more diuine then the starre not caring for all those parasanges furlongs that were betweene their owne country and Iudaea but still and stil feeding vpon their heauenly meditation at last came vnto him and worshipped him with ioy and gladnes with their myters in their left hands and their presentments of gold of myrre and of frankincense in their right Myrrham homo rex aurum suscipe thura deus saith Claudian in his Epigrams O man take myrrhe ô king take gold ô God take incense Math. c. 2. v. 2. Thus the famous queene of Saba and all the world in those dayes came from farre countries to heare the wisedome of Salomon 1. Kings c. 10. v. 1 2 24. and behold a greater then Salomon is now in Bethabara Thus Iacob the sonne of Isaac sawe a ladder stand vpon the earth the top whereof did reach to heauen and he called that place the gate of heauen Gen. c. 28. v. 12 17. but we see not in a vision as he did we see in the noone day the son of the hiest before vs we see apparantly the sonne of God before our eyes Cuius aspectus decens saith Salomon in his Song c. 2. v. 14. and whose aspect is more happy may England say then all the trines and sextiles and coniunctions and fortunate aspects of the beneuolent starres To be briefe in this one word seeth is the fond and fantasticall heresie of Marchion with the heresie of Manes manifestly ouerturned and condemned for euer of which two Marchion thought Christes body a phantasticall one that is like such bodies as we seeme to see in our sleepe which are but thoughts Epiphanius haer 42. l. 1. tomo 3. The other as fanatically
within vs and coole faith by continuance maketh vs stiffe and halfe dead with sinne and altogither vnfit to be our owne martirs in affection or other mens in example let vs beloued stirre and raise vp our fainting soules to a liuely zealous faith let vs good Countrymen quicken our senseles senses with good woords and good workes as effects of good faith that we be not starke dead in sin and rather seeke the saluation both of our soules senses that lasteth for euer then the delight pleasure of either that vanisheth away like a smoke that wasteth like a snaile that withereth like grasse and neuer continueth in one stay Then where shall we seeke this saluation but in the booke of life and in which part of that booke is it sooner found then in the gospel the law of grace what guide or teacher in the gospell can shewe vs a better pathway then Iohn-baptist who was sent frō God as the forerunner of the Christ saith S. Marke in his gospell c. 1. v. 2.3 to tell vs the way the truth and life the eternall word Iesus Christ For Iesus is the way because his doctrine and precept telleth vs the right and ready way to euerlasting life Iesus is the truth because without error he may alwaies and in truth must alwaies be followed in all our iudgements and consultations that we may walke in the light not in darknes Iesus is the life of our liues because without him we are as dust in the winde and straw in the fire and by him we passe through the greatest difficulties and euen the very seas of all deadly dangers and temptations which S. Iohn speaketh by a metaphore metonimy of the effect for the efficient c. 14. v. 6 in him we passe safely from the first day in the beginning of all yea before all measure of times euen vnto this day as S. Augustine writeth largely to Deogratias against Porphyrius in his 49. Epistle Wherefore in these and other respects heare and read I beseech you beloued Christians what the blessed and right honourable Prophet that most noble preacher Iohn-baptist hath taught vs of Iesus Christ in the gospell according to S. Iohn c. 1. v. 29. The next day Iohn seeth Iesus comming to him and saith Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world This text is short but sweete and weighty as the sunne in heauen seemeth little but is great and mighty in operation all bodies die without the sunne and all soules and bodies perish without the effect of this Scripture Philosophers thinke that the sunne and a man maketh a man but diuine philosophy wil thinke speake and conclude that this sonne of God the sunne and light of mankind maketh and saueth and crowneth man with glory in that he wipeth out and washeth away the sinne of the world the sunne is the hart of heauen the captaine of the stars the eye of the world this worde is the hart of the Bible the cheefe of al words to which our eares must giue eare and on which our eyes must alwaies looke For in this verse are cōtained the lawes of Moses and Israël with the prophecies of all prophets both great and small in that Iohn calleth Iesus the lambe of God and the fruit of the new Testament both in the Euangelists Apostles springeth and groweth from this ground in that he is said to take away the sinne of the world Then was Simplicius but a hellish iudge to count the tales of Aegypt and the tables of Moses alike and Galen was but a prophane humorist and Lacuna his shadow little better to mislike the creation of man and misreport the wonders of the red sea ignorantly then are the Pelagians peruerse and miserable disputers which denie and euacuate the baptisme of infants because Christ alone washeth and purgeth thē like them which would hinder the beginning of a thing because it shall at last be made perfect or say you must not vse an instrumēt because there is a principall or warme your self at a fire because the sun is the chiefest workemaster of heate warmnes But to let passe all dilating cōparatiue amplifications of words sentēces togither with other necessary occasiōs of discourse Marke beloued what is here written with the finger of God pen of the holy ghost the next day Iohn seeth Iesus cōming to him and saith and tell me if euer you heard a more louing a more gratious and cōfortable saying behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world O bountifull Iesu ô sweete Sauiour ô mercifull annointed of God the Father what is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of mā that thou so regardest him our bodies are brim full of sinne wickednes as the stables of oxen asses ouerladen and ouercharged with dunge and filthinesse the goodnesse of our soules is like a mēstruous rag as Esay witnesseth c. 64. v. 6. whose word is as an inuiolable seale a sure bond What is then within vs worthy of thy loue ô Christ or what is without vs worthy of thy liking ô son of Dauid ô son of God ô sunne and light of heauē earth we looke vpon thee with Iohn-baptist ô that we could alwaies looke vpō thee we see thee come to vs as did Iohn-baptist ô neuer turne thy backe vpon vs but euer come to vs stay with vs euer we reioyce in thy name that thou art a lambe to vs and a lion of Iuda to the enimies that thou dischargest the debts of the righteous and leauest the wicked in the debtbooke to be arrested and imprisoned till they haue paide the vttermost farthing we looke on thee with ioyfulnesse ô Iesu as infants looke vpon a light the wicked see thee with dazeled eyes as the Sodomites groped in the darke Genesis c. 19. v. 11 we walke in thy sun-light and are comforted we are blacke and sunburnt with walking we are black ô Iesu but louely before thee the wicked are parched with thy beames thy heat maketh their heads to ake their harts to pant their spirits to faile them that they may as it were call for butter out of a lordly dish milke out of a bottle with Sisara or some other delight which their sensuall soules long for and afterward be nayled to the earth with the hammer of one deceitfull Iahel or other close enimie in their sleepe and securitie or come to such like sudden and vile death And this in effect is the generall summe and chiefe purpose of this text Of the ioyfull estate of the godly by seing Christ and The wofull fall of the wicked by turning frō him Now to proceede in the playner exposition of euery portiō and particularity of this verse we see in it both a briefe History and a blessed Doctrine The History is that when Iohn saw Iesus comming to him he gaue out among the people his iudgement of
keepe them from blame and shame before God seeing he came apparantly into the mids of his owne and his owne receiued him not But be they hote or key cold be they carefull or carelesse be they Gods friends or the Diuels feends be they one or other or neither or all Iohn preacheth to them all at once and teacheth one with another excepting against neither and accepting of al as of one he will graft this science of Christ into the true oliue and if the body cānot nourish it hee will remoue it into the wilde oliue tree he offereth them the sauour of life the Sauiour of the world but if they refuse him he turneth to the Gētiles if the children of the family will not eate their bread giue it to the poore that cry out for hunger at the dores if the true and next legitimate heyre be dead raise vp another heire by adoption if the common directest path be stopped vp all is plaine ground open way in the valley of Bethabara and God is not tide to any man or to any way vnlesse he be his man and it be his way for if once he be Gods chosen seruant and once in Gods booke of life if God shall once say Thou art my sonne and I wil be a father to thee then if euery haire of his head were a Cayn and euery pore of his body a Nymrod though euery drop of his bloud be an Ammon euery blast of his spirit the seuen spirits of Mary Magdalene his haires shal be washed his pores clensed his bloud purged his spirit purified and all his inward and outward man made a liuely sacrifice of a dead a holy oblation of a defiled an acceptable and gratious sauour of a putrified and noisome smell and in a word to Gods children chiefly is this doctrine appertaining which S. Iohn deliuereth here behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world to them specially is it spoken which are written in Gods eternall Register whose faith is euer liuely mouing working neuer idle A foundation surely grounded is not easily remoued but a building vpon sand is soone ouerturned that is bred in the bone wil neuer out of the body but an outward maladie is soone cured a Iewish father maketh a Iewish sonne as the scholler is taught so he beleeueth as the blinde is led so he walketh an owne counteth night as day and the Iewe loueth his owne darkenesse more then the light of Christ and the fault is not in the day but in the oule when Gods holy spirit forsaketh a man he goeth and wandreth he cannot tell whether but is compared to swine that tread vpon pearles to beasts that perish the Iewe will be obstinate in his superstition and wilfull in his blindnes as the Aethiopian will euer be blacke and the diuell a liar at euery hand a reprobate sense may be reproued but neuer amended a peruerse opinion wil very hardly leaue a peruerse and crooked minde superstitious premisses alwaies drawe after them superstitious conclusions Iewish and vncharitable presumptions make Iewish iudgements vnkind and vnchristian thoughts beget vnkind and vnchristian censures a preiudicate minde can neuer determine rightly a purposed inuectiue is commonly more affectionate then reasonable though a voice from heauen approue Christ the Iewish voice in earth will reproue him and his by hooke or by crooke probably or impudently euen Martinlike if the diuell once set in his pawe all the whole house will smell of his rankenes one morsell of leauen leueneth the whole lump of dowe then beware of the leauen of the Iewish Scribes and Pharisees that write vnrighteousnesse and boast of leesings Historians say that the crow and the ape suppose presume their yonglings are faire and so perhaps they are in their kinde but who else will say so besides the crowe and the ape Mercury in his methode imagineth selfe-loue to walke in a gallery beset and hanged with seeing glasses wherein she may view and vaunt hir owne pecock feathers I cannot stand now vpon this common place of wilfull and Iewish obstinacie mixed with hautie and Iewish self-loue the truest historie and poesie in the world is the historie and poesie of the Bible that teacheth the truest and surest beleefe and the truest beleefe neuer refuseth the right sentence or hopeth for more truthes then one faith tempered with charitie pearceth the cloudes and loue among brethren is a sweete smell in Gods nostrels the loue of Iesus is more sweet then the loue of all women for he shall neuer repent himselfe of his loue that loueth Iesus he came to vs as a frend he dwelt with vs as a brother he died for vs as a mother in trauell he rose for vs as a God he ascended for vs as a Captaine a captaine to leade and defend his christian Souldiers to loade and oppresse his Iewish enemies must therefore be loued with the loue of all frendes of all brothers of al children of all creatures of al seruants and souldiers in the whole world from the first day to the last There is but one world but one sunne but one king and but one Messias and Sauiour greater then the world cleerer then the sunne stronger then king great without fault cleare without spotte strong without change the world of ioy the sunne of righteousnes the king of peace let vs goe out of this world and dwell in that world walke in that light obey that king but first follow the counsel of Iohn-baptist and beholde behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sinne of the world and then dwel with him walke with him and obey him Thus for vpon the first part of this text which is the historie Now followeth the doctrine which the wicked heare and marke not or if they marke it they soon forget it if they remember the word it taketh no roote in their hearts or if it be rooted it rotteth and withereth at the last and scarcely bringeth foorth the least tokens of regeneration but geueth leaues and no fruite and is therefore cursed with Christes owne curse as the Fig-tree was cursed for bearing no figges Marke c. 11. ver 13 21. Who then must cheefly wey and examine this sentence of Iohn-baptist Let all those that delight in their saluation behold this lambe of God with louing eye and constantly perswade themselues that he taketh away the sinne of the world let all such as loue their owne liues consider this sentence throughly deepely from which al meditations and prayers are growen and vpon which all the bookes and volumes of holy writers and godly learned fathers are buylded written for as al their works belong to the two testaments the old and the new so the two testamentes are singularly belonging to this one sentence But to leaue the longest and largest obseruations it shall suffice to set downe a compendious and if God will a fruitfull exposition Behold saith the Baptist behold with ioy awake
3. aduersus gentes and I hope some of the rest as it may please God to worke may reape some good therby as I hartily pray to God they may S. Iohn saith behold the lambe of God and so I still and still say and so must al good christians and euery good christian euer and euer say and not onely say with the mouth but euer and euer thinke euen with the very hart euen in the very bowels of al christian affection and zeale behold the lambe of God that was before the world was that was mistically and as it were in a holy reuerend vaile or shadow prefigured in Moses law that was in aboundance of diuine spirit liuely and zealously foretold by the Prophets that was certainely and effectually preached by the Apostles that is assuredly and infallibly described by the Euangelists that in the whole word of God in the law and the gospell in the old and new Testament euer hath and is and euer shall be preached from generation to generation as the onely true lambe of God as the onely true sauiour of the world as our onely true mediator and redeemer euen Iesus the righteous true God and true man by whom from whom and in whom only we haue whatsoeuer good wee haue otherwise without him remayning in the most wretched most wofull and desperate state of vtter damnation both of body and soule Therfore we that beleeue the law of God and the Prophets of God the gospell of Christ the Apostles of Christ the creation of the world and the saluatiō of the world as God forbid but we should all beleeue as it becommeth the people of God and all good christians to beleeue we that beleeue the Canonical scriptures and desire to be members of the Catholicke church whereof Christ is the head must faithfully and vnfainedly acknowledge this lambe of God to be very God himself to be the promised Messias and onely Iesus to be the onely sonne of God that taketh away the sinne of the world Wee often repeat our Beliefe of the creation of the world by God the Father of the saluation of the world by God the sonne euen the lamb of God of the sanctification of the world by God the holy-ghost one true euerlasting and onely wise God who raigneth in all and aboue all for euer and euer this we often say and should alwaies think as we are in al christian zeale and with all perfect hatred to abhorre those that say or think the contrary Alas a thousand errors and heresies and blasphemies and idolatries and impieties haue ouerflowen the world and wickednes hath stretched out a long arme on euery side from the East to the West throughout the world and round about the world yet Christ still hath numbred his elect the great Shepheard knoweth his sheepe there wanteth not a visible or inuisible congregation of the faithful to make vp Christes militant Church there are many true Christian souldiers euer ready to fight vnder the Ensigne ancient of the lambe of God that neuer bowed the knee to Baal that neuer committed any heathenish or prophane idolatrie that neuer were defiled or corrupted with the filthines of the whore of Babylon that neuer either deuoted themselues to false gods or denied the true liuing God or said in their hearts with the vngodly and godlesse foole there is no God that crie dayly and howerly and euer sincerely and faithfully Behold the lambe of God ô Lord Iesus come quickly thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen thou art God and there is none other God but thou a iust and a sauing God as the Prophet Esay saith c. 45. v. 21. O let vs all cry thus let vs all set our selues against all that write or say or think otherwise Students reade many things euen of God and of Christ and otherwhiles against God and his Christ as for God his Christ here they must folow the direction of a godly iudgement here true christianity must ouerrule false paganisme and desperate atheisme here the spirite of God must confute and confound the spirite of the deuill the spirite of Antichrist the spirite of false Prophets the spirite of deceitfull heretikes the spirite of worldly hypocrites the spirite of blasphemous and impious villaines that care neither for God nor the deuill that measure all by present profite or pleasure without any regard of posteritie and either acknowledge no God or els make thē their gods that feed their owne humor most or most aduaunce their wicked purposes Without this directiō of Gods spirite and without this godly discretion and Christian iudgement to discerne betweene the trueth of God the falshode of the deuill alas how soone may students most of all other be misled and seduced by many wryters of much account among them who had no sence or feeling of this lamb of God or any such christian doctrine but in the aboundance of their owne carnall humor and in their grosse worldly sense tooke vpon them to iudge of all matters as well spirituall as corporall by the only direction of their natural reason or rather fantasticall conceite which otherwhile carried them headlong into all error and blasphemie I will passe ouer those old Atheists Diagoras Protagoras Democritus Philosophers Aristippus and Epicurus Courtiers the 288 sectes of heathenish schollers which S. Augustine mentioneth out of Varro l. 19 de Ciuitate Dei many of the heathen Poets both Greeke and Latin and such like whose godlesse and vnchast opinions are too common among the common sort of Students I would to God Aristotles sensuall naturall philosophie in his 3. bookes de anima of the immortalitie of the soule which that small abstract of Athenagoras doeth sufficiently ouerthrowe to omitte Aeneas and other of greater labour herein and his morall philosophie of mans perfect felicitie l. 1. c. 10. Ethec l. 10. c. 6 7. were not sometime for vaine disputations sake or I wot not how more hotlie mainteined with leaue and liking then were conuenient in our christian scholes and companies seeing such other matters of lesse importance haue with the same Schoolistes been so earnestly and egerly disalowed but if Cassianus be iudged of his angry children they wil out vith their penkniues by and by and haue their peniworths of him that was once ouer them yoong vnskilfull physicians count bodies sometimes past hope that haue as much life in them as themselues with all their inspectiues the wild hart would not haue arrested the sheepe of debt if the woolfe his enemie had not bene iudge hee that maketh an error and the report thereof both one cannot recite it against another but he shall therein be against himselfe one eare and one tale can neuer doe the iudge honesty and how can he determine which knoweth not the controuersie which heareth but one part which maketh suspition a proofe he is extreemely partiall that winketh at a filthy life and will not abide a homely word as if
of Dauid the kingdome of Israël the kingdome of Christ euen as Dauid himselfe fought most manfully for the establishing of that kingdome in the name of the liuing God ouercomming valiantly not onely mighty champions and huge Gyants in that defence but also vanquishing and subduing his other foes the enemies of God in infinite numbers before him behinde him and round him as appeareth notably in the bookes of Kings in the Chronicles and in his owne Psalmes And to omit the handling of militar vertues it is most certaine that no man is more carefull to doe his dutie then a christian cōscience no man more harty in doing it then a christian faith no mā more trusty then christian charity no man more conscionable more faithfull more charitable then a true christian man and that secretary of hell not only of Florence is forced to confesse in some places l. 1. disp c. 11. vpon Liuy and elswhere but most emphatically in his proeme to L. Philip Strozza by vehement and zealous interrogation In whom ought there to be more feare of God then in a warriour which euery day committing himselfe to infinite perils hath most neede of his helpe A right Italian sentence a notable word a fit preserue against the other venims which this Spider gathered out of old philosophers and heathen authors for that is the wit and disposition of our reformatiue age to gather precepts from those things which our forefathers in their learning iudged no better then obiections and to study those matters for practise which were first taught them for their safety by knowing and auoiding them and to gather common places of mens certaine and supposed errours omitting their vertues and commendations But I cannot now stand to debate any such particular point or seuerall branch of Antichristianisme he is already confuted sufficiently by the generall testimony of all good consciences and by the vniuersall harty consent of all godly and manly christians as it may also please God at his gratious pleasure to worke in many other not yet regenerate that now account too well of him Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life euerlasting Gala. c. 6. v. 7 8. Gods works are great and mighty and wonderful and exceeding admirable euen aboue the capacitie of the wisest and profoundest minde in the world yet are his mercies aboue his works and the depth of his mercies far more wonderfull then the height of his works O mercifull Lord open the infinite fountaines fludgates of thy vnspeakeable mercies and touch the harts of so many as are not vtterly obdurate and reprobate with the finger of thy holy spirit euen to the final reformation of the prodigall sonne and ioyfull recouery of the lost sheepe so farre as it is possible for strayed sheep to haue any portion in the sheepefold of the lambe of God Thy holy seruants and prophets assure vs of the most happy condition and blessed estate of the kingdome of Israël the kingdome of Dauid the kingdome of Christ ô let thy kingdome come and let thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen As for such vncircumcised Philistines such blasphemous Goliahs such rebellious Achitophels such vnnaturall Onans such wicked and desperate Atheists as I haue named if any such remaine vpon the earth as I feare me there are too many and haply some among Christians and haply some amōg schollers sauouring too much of these vngratious schollers Lord God either speedily reforme thē in the aboundance of thy mercy so farre as they haue not cōmitted that great vnpardonable sinne against the holy Ghost or vtterly confound them with the yron rod of thy iustice and teach other by their example to tremble at the mighty maiesty of their Lord God Let them feele the force of the liō of the tribe of Iuda that would not see the goodnes of the lambe of God let them tast the insufferable torments horrors of damnation that refused to enioy the most comfortable blessed estate of saluation thy mighty stretched out arme is not weakened or shortened teach them to feare their God either like good children or like cursed creatures dreading the horrible punishmēt due to their horrible sins It hath pleased God in all ages by the mouth of his Prophets vnder the law and by the mouth of his Apostles vnder the gospell to winne infinite thousands to vnfayned repentance and to the faithfull worship of the true God as manifestly appeareth partly by the ancient histories and prophesies of the old Bible partly by the gospell and Acts of the Apostles in the new Testament In the primitiue Church the number of conuerts and confessors and zealous Christians and martirs was infinite paganisme idolatrie blasphemie infidelitie and heresie gaue place to christianitie the mighty power and firie operatiō of the holy-ghost is exceeding wonderfull innumerable multitudes were dayly and continually gayned to the church as Augustine by the zealous and eloquent deuout and learned Sermons of S. Ambrose was reclaymed from his heathenish philosophy and manichisme and became a good Christian a zealous doctor a godly Bishop a reuerend father as his bookes of confessions doe testifie from the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the fift booke vnto the end of that worke I might declare the like conuersion of infinite other but his example is most famous and the matter it selfe most euident the kingdome of darkenes stouped to the kingdome of light Satan yeelded to Christ the world the flesh and the deuill were cōquered by the lambe of God and great hope appeared of the very vniuersall establishment and catholick peace of the Israëticall kingdome But Satan cannot sleepe long hee and his hellish angels must play their parts the malice of the deuill lyeth in continuall wayte to intrap and intangle the soule of man Satan is a cunning and strong aduersarie and euer striueth to increase his Synagogue and route of infidels of Atheists of Gyants of Heretikes of Apostataes of Schismatiks in euery dangerous and pestiferous kinde that iniquitie might haue the vpper hand Alas his malice and craft preuayle too much ô God when thou seest thy gracious time confound all his pestilent craft and malice good lambe of God take away the sinne of the world euen this horrible and abhominable sinne of the wicked world thy goodnesse is aboue all the naughtinesse of the world we are not to limit or restraine thy omnipotencie ô good God be mercifull vnto vs wretched sinners euen where our sinnes deserue hell fire and vtter damnation The world is wicked the flesh is frayle the deuill is busie man is man and man is subiect to all imperfections and vices to all infirmities and sinnes to all lewdnesse and naughtines euen to that great and most horrible sinne of blasphemie infidelitie
and atheisme it is the only direction of thy grace and holy Spirite according to thy word that can keepe vs within the bounds of good order of good conscience of good faith of good christianitie of god zeale toward the lambe of God without which zeale what are we but the children of wrath the sonnes of iniquitie the impes of perdition the mēbers of Satan the ministers of Antichrist very wretches and atheists We are called Christians ô make vs true christians ô regenerate a new heart in vs a right christian heart wholly and sincerely deuoted to the lambe of God The kings of France affect the stile and title of most Christian the kings of Spayne haue beene tearmed Catholici our Kings and Queenes of England haue lately beene called Defenders of the faith ô good God make al good kings and all good Queenes throughout al christendome and all their Subiectes most Christian Catholike Defenders of the faith and suffer not any christian or vnchristian foole to say in his heart there is no God there is no such lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the world But aboue all other beyond all other woe be vnto thee Antichrist thou great enemie of Christ thou whore of Babylon thou abhomination of desolation thou holy father of infidelitie and reprobation thou vngodly god of perdition and damnation being the head of all euils not for time and influence as Aquinas distinguisheth but for that perfection of malice which is in thee by deuilish effects Part. 3. Quaest 8. Artic. 8. Some thinke thee to be the Turke as Melancthon in his common place on the fourth commandement some the Pope as Chemnisius in his Examen some both Draconites c. 8. Dan and Maior vpon the Epistles to the Thessalonians some neither as they which coūted Nero or one of the tribe of Dan or Luter to be he But god knoweth the prophesies of Ierem. touching the fall of Babilon in the 5. ca. throughout the prophesie of Daniel touching the king of lust and self-will c. 11. v. 36. c. 8. v. 23. and the reuelation of S. Iohn touching the same fall c. 17 18 19. and the description of the great whore the mother of the abhominations of the earth drunken with the bloud of the saints and the bloud of the martyrs of Iesus together with that declaration of Antichrists comming before the day of Christ sette downe by Saint Paul 2. Thessal cap. 2. vers 4 8. and other like Textes are by the censure of the soundest iudgementes examining all circumstances and appendices of that Text and that Reuelation most sensibly and visibly verified in the See of Rome and in the Pope the great bishop of that See whose intolerable pride tyrannising ouer all the kings and princes of christendome and exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God is gone before and whose ruinous shame foloweth after when it shal please God inuincibly to establish the kingdome of Christ Dan. c. 2. v. 45. and vtterly to ouerthrow desolate this kingdome of Antichrist the man of sinne the sonne of perdition the aduersary of Christ as God sitting in the temple of God and bearing himselfe for God as S. Paul writeth of him in the same epistle to the Thessalonians Let any indifferent diuine not ouer partially and vnreasonably transported with blind affection to that see vprightly and sincerely discusse the proper effects and accidents of Antichrist and I assuredly beleeue he shall not finde the like concurrence of those actions and qualities in any other creature but in the Pope whose doctrine discipline and whole regiment is notoriously knowne and whose corrupt liues displaid to the world in that high degree of their intollerable abhomination euen in the temple of God reueale a very incarnat Antichrist whose ecclesiasticall supremacie had nigh hand abolished all good ecclesiasticall doctrine and discipline But this common place of Antichrist and the whole anatomy of his ecclesiasticall doctrine and discipline requireth a larger discourse and may minister plentiful matter not of one treatise but of many treatises and whole volumes as already hath done to many notable learned men and some diuines in England I for this time am to leaue Antichrist with those other profane diuelish Atheists accounting no better of him then of them but rather abhorring detesting him in greater measure then any of them or then al they together by how much hee hath beene a greate enemy to the lambe of God more then any other I hasten to the rest yet I beseech you marke what the Prophet Esay saith against the idols of the deuil and for the lambe of God c. 46. v. 1. c. Bell is fallen Nebo is broken downe whose images were a burden for the beastes and cattle to ouerlade them and to make them weary they are sunke downe and falne together for they cannot ease them of their burden therefore must they goe away into captiuitie So farre against idolatrie then Christ the lambe of God speaketh prophetically as it were in his owne person v. 3. Harken vnto me ye house of Iacob and ye that remaine of the house of Israel whō I haue borne from your mothers wombe and brought vp from your natiuitie It is I euen I which shall beare you vnto your last age I haue made you I wil also nourish you defend you and saue you And seeing our last mention was of Antichrist marke also I pray you how the same Prophet in the very next Chapter or rather God by his Prophet more particularly and specially menaceth Babylon that is Rome v. 1. But as for thee thou daughter thou damsell Babilō sit down in the dust sit vpō the ground there is no throne ô thou daughter of Chaldaea for thou shalt no more be called tender and pleasant thy filthinesse shall be discouered and thy priuities shal be seene for I will auenge me vpon thee and will shew no mercie vnto thee as I doe vnto other Our Redeemer is called the Lord of hostes the holy one of Israel sitte still holde thy tongue get thee into some darke corner ô daughter of Chaldaea for thou shalt no more be called Lady of kingdomes I was so wrath with my people that I punished mine inheritance and gaue them into thy power neuerthelesse thou shewedst them no mercie but euen the very aged of them didst thou sore oppresse with thy yoake and thou thoughtest thus I shal be lady for euer and besides all that thou hast not regarded these things nor remembred what was the ende of the Citie Ierusalem Heare now therefore thou delicate one that sittest so carelesse and speakest thus in thy heart I am alone and without me there is none I shall neuer be widow nor desolate againe yet both these things shall come vnto thee vpon one day namely widowhood and desolation they shall mightily fal vpon thee and so forth as consequently followeth in the same chapter to the same effect of much trouble mischiefe ruine
Strawe with Leyden and his mate that the Nobilitie must returne back to auncient pouertie and deuide their summes and goods among their needy secular brethren and be reformed for company into a wofull and distressed case till euery one hath inough to liue thereby in some trade without beggery and woe because the first Nobles in this realme and all other liued so at the first in the primitiue Nobilitie following the sunne and moone and all lightes which the higher they are the lesse shadowes they make without such costly traynes and deepe expences and so many good morrowes whilest hūdreds starue for want of that they cast away But they neuer consider that none shoulde want if either those numbers would labour in their vocations soberly and painfully or many other beside Noblemen could doe their dueties neighbourly and willingly toward the impotent creatures the obiects of mercie they remēber not that idlenes destroyeth more then pouerty and that infinite men die or come to nought by their folly not by misorder of superiors by not obeying them not by any fault of them of their owne stonie obdurate wilfulnesse not otherwise O vnthankefull wretchednesse and wretched vnthankfulnes ô disobedient tongues against the law impenitent soules against the gospell ô forgetfull and vngratefull iniquitie ô creatures marprelates most vnkind and barraine of iustice distributiue as Sir Thomas Elyot proueth solemnly l. 3. c. 2. in his gouernour where he thus exclaimeth against thē which dislike the names and ceremonies that appertaine to reuerence and obedience together with the costly rewards ornaments of vertuous and godly men Ought they not to fal prostrate on the ground with fasting and prayer to glorifie God for his most louing and fatherly care for his princely prouidence for his bountifull goodnes euer more and more bestowed vpon vs and them ought they to refuse Gods gracious liberalitie to looke backward whē he looketh forward to thinke they can haue too much of Gods blessings to restraine that which is giuen only to a godly honest end for the sustenance of learned and religious men in schooles churches for the reuerence and safegard of the chiefest sober staied men and fathers approued and constant in learning and manners of life not for martinish whelpes that can neither speake well nor do well thrust in by them that now are offended with their dignities as Palamedes and Iosephs bretheren and Aesope were accused for hauing that which was thrust vppon them iniuriously O vos nefarij gnauiterque impudentes libelli nulla est Ecclesiae Anglicanae macula cuius autores fautores non sint vestri laici martinistae as the deuil cast sores vpon Iob and then made his lightheaded wife to vpbrayde him and tell him of that he had against his will It must needs be that offences should come but woe bee to them by whom they come and woe be to you that curse those things which your selues haue caused Math. cap. 18. vers 7. But happie are they that auoid the curse by keeping the right way by not coueting that which belongs only to churchmen contenting themselues with their owne not cōtending for sacred goods and possessions without which interserted among other the whole body of the kingdome would soone prooue a huge monster of ataxy and anarchy with a mouing earth and an immoueable heauen in Copernicus guise neither true astronomer herein nor theonomer howsoeuer he seemeth a reformer to some that are open at all times to receiue all that falleth or commeth next to hand yea if it were in their heat when they haue not their wils to curse God and die to lift fooles on horsebacke and set kings on foote to conuert with our deriuatiue cōuerts the belles into guns the leads into pellets the mother cathedrall churches into close chambers the fonts into basons the organes in water pipes and then themselues into diuels the realme into hell though God hath aboundantly besides their desert indewed them with all kinde of principall and necessary prouision for peace and warre that they might not haue euill eyes because he is good vnto other Math. c. 20. v. 15. How can they be the members of Christ that are the lims of Satan and make a sport of mocking those chiefe men of learning and sober life men casting aside all rayling and vnlearned innouations and as sufficient for their places of gouernment as euer any haue beene in England and notwithstanding the superlatiue of Erasmus concerning the fathers in his dayes How can they be true subiects that tell the Parlement they are starued with their Seruice booke wherein is the most perfit order and matter of diuine prayer and thankesgiuing set downe for all men that rend and cut in peeces hir Maisties irreprehensible Statutes inacted in the first yeare of hir gracious raigne c. 2. spurning them and abusing them rebelliously O good God we beseech thee if they be of thy flocke which haue erred and strayed thus desperatly from thy way of peace and righteousnesse lyke lost or diseased sheepe to open their eares and eyes and harts that they may at length by thy prouident fauourable goodnesse heare see and know what they are doing and vndoing for they are as deafe and blinde and dead in sinne without thee as the Iewes were that stoned thy protomartyr Steuen as the Libertines and Cyrenians were that persecuted thy disciples not otherwise able then with raging wordes hundreds of headlong sectaries to resist their power but onely thought they did well for want of thy spirit and through ignorance of thy holy worde Acts c. 6. v. 10. c. 7. v. 60. Thy primitiue Apostles count it in thy euangelicall histories a glory to thy name increase of thy gospell thy faith thy loue thy church when any maintenance and reuenew was bestowed on them and thy faithfull disciples and laid downe at their hands and feet 1. Cor. v. 16. v. 17. when any zealous patrone or other deuout person by thy fatherly loue and oeconomie was sent to help their christian brotherhoode and felowshippe in thy battels and heauenly embassages the more they receiued the more they reioyced they prayed daily for them which ministred to their wants Philip. cap. 4. v. 18. they were then enrolled among the godly Christians that intertayned and maintained thy Saints the laitie then striued among themselues who should be greatest in christian deuotion in liberality in patronage in loue and such like vertues which vphold mankind 1. Thessal 6.5 v. 12 13. they were such as should be saued saith the Euangelist S. Luke that were added and that added to the church Acts c. 2. v. 47. they were called brethren because they fed of the same table of the same milke of of the same store Acts. c. 21. v. 7. Rom. c. 1. v. 13. and shall their deriuatiue successors ô mercifull God ô bountifull Iesu count it for a dishonor to thy name and a decrease of thy Gospell a decay of thy loue
thy faith and thy church vnlesse their apostasie heresie and Martinisme preuaile and those goods which as thy Apostle S. Iames teacheth vs came from aboue by former good instruments be rauened and bribed and pulled away by these wicked instruments these mad dogs these infamous libellors from our feet and heads from our tables and studies from our mouthes and hearts to feede hounds to dresse whores to multiplie helhound and whore-hound ruffians swearers harebraines vnlesse we be desolate and forsaken without our owne patrones without tutors of our own without our owne Iudges as other men haue all of their owne without the possession and fruition of our own or rather of thy goods to the derision of thy omnipotent power to the contēpt of thy reuerend word to the ouerthrow of thy catholicke and apostolick church of thy faithfull and true bishops and priests which haue authority euen frō the great commission of thy holy spirite to be chargeable to the hearers and professors of the faith 2. Thessal c. 3. v. 8 9. in the dayes of this life and haue a more singular praeeminence then any other in the life of the resurrection Dan. c. 12. v. 3. which are the chiefest pillars in thy common-wealth that being in honor and reputation and enuironed with many godly Centurions defenders with many louing Dauids meeke Mosees and liberall Salomons the whole glorie and euery part thereof shall redound to thee ô father of heauen now in the last times and yeares of the world and continue euermore by thy mightie will as it did in the beginning of the law and the dayspring of the gospel when true zeal was earnest in enriching thy flock and tyrannie onelie occupied in empouerishing it when it was true religiō to confirme the estate of thy preachers and execrable atheisme to enfeeble them when it was esteemed for right diuinitie to obey God more then man for prophane Iudaisme to serue God and Mammon much more to serue Mammon and God after the Iewish cōstruction and antichristian manner that triumpheth in the name of bloud which is but aërie of seede which is but fierie of elementarie and minerall accidents which are but earthie and watrie of those bodilie blunt and sharpe properties and casual endowments which make the life tedious vnto men of this world and odious to thy maiestie in the world to come vnlesse they be consecrated to thy blessed lambe and dedicated to the vse of thy holy Church whose internall prosperitie first then externall is regarded of all good men howsoeuer these new putfoorths dronken textuals brainsick templaries monstrous protesters play the verball sophisters throughout their whole generations Now deere Christians let vs labour continually to bee deere to God let vs not vndoe the whole bodie for the faults of some parts let vs not for a worldly hope lose a heauēly certainty for accidentall shadowes essential substāces for indifferent ceremonies necessary lawes the good wheate for the cockle in the fields the fruitful trees for the fruitles hawty brāble in the woods for the fraile loue of a man the endles loue of our God his lambe that teacheth vs only to flie from the sin not the goods of the world but vse them godly and canonically Let vs I beseech you dulie consider the word of the Lord of hostes vnto Zachary his prophet which biddeth vs Execute true iudgement and shew mercy and compassion and that none imagine euill against his brother in his heart cap. 7. vers 9. Let vs daily and instantly pray vnto God to illuminate our knowledge with his heauenly empireall light to establish our faith to multiplie his gifts and graces vpon vs that wee sing with the spirit and with the vnderstanding as S. Paul our great doctor hath said If God be on our side who can be against vs who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all as a lambe to death how shall he not with him giue vs all euen all things also Rom. c. 8. v. 31 32. Let not vs make our selues worse then the heathen or reuerence our religious fathers bishops lesse then they did their holy men accounting their priests and pastors for nobles princes and their princes nobles for priests pastors of the people as Homer nameth metaphorically Agamēnon the prince of Graecians the pastor of the people Hector the prince of Troians the bishop of men as Sophocles and the other graue and sententious Tragedians call their prophetes princes and namely blinde Tyresias for being a prophet is called a king euen of a king as Virgil familiarly knowne to yoong schollers calleth Anius a king and a priest or as Moses rather telleth vs in his diuine iudgement that Melchisedech was the prince of Salem and the priest of God Genes cap. 14. v. 18. and S. Paul to preuent glossary cauils nameth him king plainely by the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the ground or foundation of the people whereon they build their cōfidence and strength Iesus being the corner stone Heb. c. 7. v. 1. and who hath not heard of the kingly prophete Dauid of Hermes that was a philosopher a priest a king and therof was among other Aegyptian princes named Trismegistus or thrise excellent Let not vs English men make our selues worse affected towarde Gods Church then our forefathers haue beene before vs whereof some leauing their crownes some their royalties some their riches deuoted themselues wholy to the orders of the Church and bestowed their liues and liuelihoods vpon Gods ministrations and seruices as some readers know very well besides diuers examples of other forraine chronicles iudging the name of a diuine better then of a man and the title of Gods priest as ioyfull and honorable with men and Angels as that which is the very best of all titles Let him that is taught in the word minister vnto him that teacheth in all good thinges who goeth a warfare at his owne cost who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruite thereof who feedeth a flocke and suffereth another to deuour the milke saith S. Paul the mightie Apostle and Bishop of the Gentiles Galat. cap. 6. vers 6. what true Christian man will once doe otherwise vnto an other then he would in that others place á paribus causis should be done to him saith Christ the almightie Sauiour Math. c. 7. v. 12. Let vs not follow Aërius the hereticke whose opinion concerning the equalitie of Bishops and Priests Epiphanius confuteth l. 3. haer 75. but rather satisfie our selues with the confutation thereof in that place then seeke new shifts for him and starting holes for that sentence of S. Ierome pronounceth a bishop to be a priest because they are diuers orders as a man might say in that phrase without confounding the degrees the same man which is a doctor is a maister but it doth not by conuersion iudge a priest to be a bishop a maister to bee a doctor Or if the