A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLES-CROSSE VPON THE 1. OF NOVEMBER BEING ALL-SAINTS DAY ANNO 1607. By Sa Collins Batchelour in Diuinitie and fellow of the Kings Colledge in Cambridge LVC. 7.35 Wisedome is iustified of all her children GREG. MAG in Ezechiel Nihil ad defendendum honestate tutius nihil ad dicendum veritate facilius AT LONDON Printed by Humfrey Lownes for Richard Bonian dwelling at the signe of the spread Eagle right ouer against the great North dore of S. Pauls Church 1607. To the most Reuerend Father in God Richard the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie his Grace Primate and Metropolitane of all England one of his Maiesties most honourable Priuie Councell THe excellēcie of the calling most Reuerend Father that God hath promoted your Grace vnto by the vn-erring hand of his sacred Deputie to be their Agent in causis maioribus to the Churches of this Kingdome may iustly challenge the labours of as many as handle the pen with discretion in our daies but mine if J be ought after a more especiall manner whom the continuance of your fauour for no fewe yeares shining vpon my poore studies hath made wholly pledged to your seruice and some employments also vouchsafed from your Grace haue kept from being altogether idle So that if my meannesse should euer bee exalted to bring forth any thing worthy publication which your Grace rather construeth ouer-fauourably of this Pamphlet than it any way deserueth J haue long since consecrated it to the honor of your Grace as one that hath both countenanced alwaies mine endeauours and also directed after a sort my courses Howbeit this small worke such as it is J now present vnto your Grace not so much in lieu of receiued kindnesse which you haue multiplied vpon me and mine euen when your name hath beene concealed as inuoking patronage against the oppugners For lata porta but aduersarij multi as S. Paul said to his 1. Cor. 16.9 and As concerning this way wee knowe nothing but that it is euery where spoken against as they said to S. Paul Act. 28.22 J speake the truth in Christ most Reuerend Father I lie not the holy Ghost also bearing witnesse with my conscience that J grieue vnspeakeably night and day whithersoeuer J chaunce to looke at the malice of Satan how transformed soeuer and the disaster of our times And as our Sauiour sometimes in the dayes of his flesh wept in compassion ouer the great Citie diuining the ruines of it so mine eyes gush out with water to see there is no religion amongst menne for the most part but that which is tainted with a spice of faction But to let-go complaints and to leaue that to him which will purge his floore in a due time as one that hath his fan already in his hand and lets the yellow weedes to shoote vp but in a policie to exercise our patience and to magnifie his wisedome in the latter end as for the Booke my comfort is that whom the reuerence of your Graces mildnesse and temper most befitting Moses and the aduancement of his chaire shall not represse for shame him the edge of your iudgement long since tried and renowmed for the most accurate perusall of these causes and controuersies aboue all the Church-men of our Nation shall daunt perforce And with that very hope J end for this time humbly recommending the prosperities of your Grace and the good estate of the Church Christian to the Lord Christ that vnder your auspicious and happie gouernement which God of his mercy graunt may be most most long our Nazarites may bee whiter than the snow our Priests purer than the Sapphires Your Graces most humble Chaplaine and Seruant SAMVEL COLLINS A SERMON PREAched at Paules-Crosse 1. TIMOTH 6.3.4.5 If any man teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholesom words of our Lord Iesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according vnto godlinesse hee is puft vp and knoweth nothing but languisheth about questions and strife of words whereof commeth enuy strife raylings euill surmises froward disputations of men of corrupt mindes and destitute of the truth which thinke that gaine is godlinesse from such separate thy selfe IN 1. Sam. 13.17 thus wee reade that vpon a day there came out of the hoast of the Philistines three garrisons of Champions all minded to destroie but each turning seuerall waies one to Ophrah another to Bethoron and a third to Zeboim This was a picture of the Churches condition not only bodily then wasted and afflicted for the time but spiritually assaulted to the ends of the world whome a trebble squadron of conspiring enimies all bent to murther and destroy yet all attempting sundrie means to mischief do molest continually the heretique by his poisonous and corrupt doctrines the euill liuer by his scandalous and wicked examples the schismatique by his turbulent and vnchristian separations And against these the Ionathans of God with their Captain Saul higher by the head than all the children of Israel that is the king and his Clergie must alwaies haue their weapons in readinesse to suppress their furies We the weakest of ten thousand doe it as wee may to the vtmost of our power and haue done it often heretofore in diuers places encountring them and coping with them as the occasion guided vs either iointly all at once or diuidedly by themselues This day wee will single out the Schismatick from his fellowes as in a stage of renown the greatest disturber if my mind do not misgiue mee that our Church hath complained vnder these many yeares And yet we wil pursue him nor chase him no further than S. Paul himself shall giue vs leaue to do nay ayme and scope how to doe in the Text now propounded The parts whereof are in effect these sixe please you to peruse them with mee The first is The indifferency of the parties offending in these words If any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jf any bee hee who he wil be high or lowe rich or poor great or small learned or lay famous or of no reputation If any The second is the Quality of the fact consenteth not agreeth not accordeth not I had almost saide subscribeth not The third is the degree of the fault teach otherwise not only think but teach publish his fancies proclaime his conceits drawe Disciples after him make a Sect and blowe a trumpet to sedition with Siba the sonne of Bichri Euerie man to his Tents O Jsrael the 2. of Sam. 20.1 The fourth is the rule of tryall for this matter the square of truth to discerne and iudge by It selfe two-folde eyther the wholesome wordes of CHRIST and of godlinesse or euerie doctrine according thereto So I say not only the written word of God but euery doctrine that is not dissenting or swaruing there-from not onely that which is expressed but that which is inferred and by interposition of lawfull authoritie deducted not onely that which is originally good but euen that which is consequentially sound
you to damn Homilies to the pit of hell which coÌ„tained the kernell of saluation more liuely than all your vocall Sermons could euer amount to you to measure Baptisme by the person that administred it as if no Preacher were no sufficient baptizer a thing so contrarie to all the rules of Diuinitie that the principall Apostle sayes of himself He was sent to the one not to the other you to â—et the Baptisme of our new born babes like a thing indifferent at six and seauens as if the righteousnesse of the Parents made them perfect before God that were borne in sin and in damnation and the sauing Sacrament were now but a complement You to bite the lip and hang the head at Supremacie of princes in each kinde of causes mentioned in prayers as if that were but flatterie beeing cast vpon kings and the truer right thereof in Ecclesiasticall menages belonged to the Presbiters You to flie froÌ„ the Surplice the Cap as froÌ„ a she Beare robbed of her whelps in the wildernesse whereas that defileth not that goeth into a man much lesse that which coÌ„meth vpon him saith our Sauior * Rom. 14.14 there is nothing vnclean but to him that thinketh so And how shal we reckon vp al your other mysteries that you were wont to incomber vs with You to put great holines in not bending at Communion high religion in refraining from solemne thanksgiuing after child-birth main discretioÌ„ in withholding our children from the most godly confirmation deep iudgement in abhorring the ring as a ciuill pledge at Mariage This may the people say of their Teachers this must their excuse be in the last day when they shal be charged to haue wakened the spouse of Christ troubled her rest afore she would Oues auteÌ„ istae quid meruerunt as for these poore sheep that haue bin thus beguiled what alas haue they deserued Howbeit heere I cannot excuse the people altogether of this our Land so as fain I would but that a great part of the fault still resteth on theÌ„ who though at first they were angled with the enticing words of their new Prophets yet afterward so plaid vpon the hook as in the end they could not be beaten fro it the prophets now if they would please them might cast no other bait before the but that So as a man may say that if at first they were credited because they spoke it now they were to speake it because they wold be credited a very ball of factioÌ„ being thus tossed in a manner to and fro what betweene the politique drifts of the Teacher at his first entrance and the licorousnesse of the Auditors now not onely easie to be taken but iealous if the taker applied any meanes but those wherewith they were first taken And yet euen this againe is no more than the Church of the Israelites saw in olde times and had experience of that we might be like them both waies as well in our people as in our Priests For euen there Venite praedicate was the coÌ„mon saying of the people to their Prophets Come and preach to vs such and such things not as you should but as wee would haue you like best to heare of O my deare brethren it was neuer well since either the people durst presume to giue aime to their Ministers though neuer so secretly or the Minister stoopt at the Pulpit dore to take measure of the peoples feete But to returne to the Teachers because they without controuersie are the principall in this condemnation and our Text leadeth me by the hand to taxe them most directly it will be saide perhaps that such and such false Teachers there were in old time vnder Achab and the rest but none now a-daies in the time of the new Testament That indeede were to imagine a pretie popish Common-wealth where truth had clipther wings as they say and could no more flie away the spirit being as fast bound to the Desk as euer they imagined it was to the Chaire But besides S. Pauls heere If any teach otherwise if any which extends to all times besides that I say S. John tells vs that euen now many spirits are gone abroade into the world that would be tried before they be trusted examined afore they bee belieued S. Peter tells vs Erant Pseudo-prophetae and erunt 2. Pet. 2.1 I name the place because it is most obseruable that is there shall bee false preachers euen as there were false prophets and that in populo among the people what thinke you of that Will you haue any more notes of them that shall priuily bring in damnable Sects and many shall follow their destructions and shall make the way of truth to be euill spoken of And through couetousnesse they shall make merchandize of you with fained words walkers after the flesh despisers of gouernment bolde standing in their owne conceipt speaking euill of them that are â—n dignity or if they admire them it is but for aduantage sake contradicting the things that in very truth they knowe not beguiling the vnstable forsakers of the right way and turners aside to a balke of their owne after Balam the sonne of Bosor that loued the wages of vnrighteousnes whoÌ„ because he should not boast too much in his gift of tongue his owne Asse spake vnder him and a dumb beast rebuked the madnes of a speaking Prophet Haec Petri sunt ferè these are all out of S. Peter for the most part fore-telling the disastrous euent of our times And I might add yet more collected out of the same place which place is so worthy for discouerie of the ages that were then to come and are now vndoubtedly come vpon vs that S. Iude hath thought good to repeat almost the same in the selfe same words after S. Peter adding moreouer a most famous memorable mark one or two of his owne that S. Peter had omitted to demonstrate the men and to decide the question if it may be at once betweene vs and them Murmurers Complainers and yet Mockers too when they thinke good and last of all separators Quòd si haec picta videretis non dicta audiretis now if some painter had but drawne these things with a coale not an Apostle described them in colours as hee hath could you doubt by which side they were to be vnderstoode It was our wish a long time as you may remember vtinam omnis populus O that all the people did prophecie not only Eldad and Medad but all the people Such desire there was of that holy encrease But since we haue learned by a costly experience what hurt a Neophytus doth by speaking in an assembly because we would not beleeue S. Pauls aduertisements euery stripling nay euery boy beeing flabellum concionis and flagellum optimatism an instrument to set the mutinous a gog and making this his first admittance to popular commendation if he could declaim most lewdly yet most loudly against them
that scorned and had good cause to scorn to set his fathers or his fathers fathers with the curres of their flock as Iob saith The truth is now we might spare som of that seed which hath abounded so much to our woful decay Iuie-like eaten vp the Tree that supported it Take back take backe may we say with Moses not your stipends but your Labourers vnlesse they could labor any better amongst vs. Let goe Church-men and giue vp your Church-liuings that you haue with-held an vniustice frō vs. For not only the people perish there where prophecie faileth which is a sentence that these mē haue neuer out of their mouths but pastores multi indeed stulti many shepheards manie indeede too many to bee good Ier. 12.10 diripuerunt vineam meam it is Gods owne complaint by Jeremie are the cause that our vine lieth so waste so defaced as it doth at this day Wherefore in the name of God if any teach hereafter let them teach but not otherwise otherwise they were as good not teach at all Let the olde saying of the Chaldees be verified among vs Christians Mel. Canus in locis Homo quidam ex Iudaeis renit Sacerdos neutiquam decipiet nos there is a certain stranger come to Town a priest I trow he will not deceiue vs at anie hand Such opinion they had of the preachers sinceritie Let the pulpits be no Pasquils nor the Mosaicall trumpet a trunke to shoote pellets at gouernment and good order Let no slanderous Characters be drawne in the oile of the Tabernacle which no water can cleanse or wash away and let a man take heed how he come there to clawe sides where no good man enters without quaking For my owne part I say with Iacob Haecest Bethel this is Gods house and let the stone out of the wall witnesse against me if I decline to partiality or embrace vntruth But to returne to our Text If a man teach Si quis docet splendidum est but if he teach otherwise Si quis diuersum docet lubricum est teaching is honorable but otherwise is tempting teaching profiteth but this otherwise marreth and ouerthroweth all Yet Auia Pteridum lustro loca nullius ante Trita solo I would this were a Poets affectation onely and not a Prophets but selfe-loue they say lookes ouer Pulpits as wel as ouer meaner places and priuate glory is made the purchase of publique decay Abner calls it play to haue the young men skirmish and flourish before him though it be vvith edge tooles Samsons Foxes make a sport to tosse fire-brandes though it bee to burne corne fields the skittish Kine care not what become of the Arke which they carie so they may be frisking and the very confusion of tongues and languages is sweet meate to some though Babel misse of her aspiring purpose Well I say no more but so In teaching is not so much good but this otherwise brings as much euil with it like the good Figgs and the bad Figges Jer. 24.2 none better than the good none worser than the bad so the Teachers of olde times when religion was first restored in this our Land to those that put an otherwise to their teaching in our daies and fill all full of singularities But to breake off this point and passe on to the next The summe of all is my deere brethren that you make a difference heereafter betweene Teachers and false Teachers not honouring all promiscuously that beare the name nor yeelding your eares like a Lute to be played vpon by euery finger but distinguishing wisely betweene the Teacher otherwise as the Text heere hath it Jf any teach otherwise and the Teacher according to the wholesome words or according to that which is according thereto For as many as walke after this rule I pray you marke the rule for it is worth your marking Gal. 6.16 That Circumcision is nothing nor vncircumcision is nothing that is Ceremonie nor no Ceremonie but the substantiall a new Creature I say as manie as walke after this rule Peace be vpon them and mercie and vpon the Jsrael of God But if anie teach otherwise opposing indifferencie and oppugning authoritie Let no man trouble mee benceforth saith our Church for I beare in my body the markes of the Lord Jesus and am knowen to be his by the euident prints of his aduersaries in my flesh whom latelie they would haue blowen vp with hell-powder at once And is it a small thing for them thus to fight against me from my youth vp to vexe mee thus continually but you euen you must set to your hands and make heauie my yoake the children of the housholde and my owne mothers sonnes I Come to the third point with all the speede I can though I am faine to passe by some things of moment vnspoken-to here chieflie of the Coniunction of the two first parts betweene themselues Consent not and teach otherwise For the doore to false teaching is the not consenting or not subscribing at the first Therefore S. Paul puts one with another Jf hee consent and Jf hee teach otherwise And yet againe hee puts one before another as namelie false teaching before refusing to consent because some first teach otherwise and then haue no reason to denie Subscription but onelie because they haue otherwise taught They are loath that a woman should be said to braine Abimelech with a mill-stone from the wall loath that lawfull authoritie should correct and curbe their stubborne fancie THe third point is The Rule of Triall the Square of truth for iudging of matters that depend in controuersie A most liuely one and a most absolute one that the Apostle here giues if I misdeeme not consisting of 2. parts one the wholesome words of Christ or of godlinesse the other The Doctrine that is according thereto And first to speake of the wholsom words I cannot heere discourse in the praise of Theologie as gladly I would haue done at another time how that it is the onely wholsom science when all is done others are but for glosse and for ornament hanging gold and iewels vpon our apparrell as Saul did vpon the Israelites garments Abillis enim salubritas quaedam or not so much as that but ingenua animi delectatiotantùm ab hac sanitas vita ipsa petitur they put bloud into our face like the Aliptae amend our colour and our complexion a little but this like the Physician cherishes our sparke maintaines our life whom therefore necessitie her selfe compels vs to honour And surely without these wholsom words all that growes abroade in the greene fields of Philosophie it is but toxicum but euen meer poison and mors in olla mors in olla death is in the pott we may say where that but enters Elisaeus his salt only sweetens the broth which a strange root hath made distastable while the young schollers and children of the Prophets doo not discerne vvhat they gather and Moses his
worshipping of Images adoring of reliques inuoking of Angels building Churches to Saints sacrificing for the sinnes of quicke and dead with a Wafer-cake treading downe Kings the Deputies of God from their throne of Maiestie to set vp a foxie Intruder in their roome whom all ages haue acknowledged their vassall taking away Bibles mangling of Sacraments licensing Stews condemning mariage vvrapping vp your seruice and the obsequies of your conscience in the strange liuorie of an vnknowen tongue selling pardons for sixe pence soule-ease for money heauen at pleasure opposing the flax of our transitorie deedes to the vnpartiall fire of the heauenly righteousnesse mingling the bloud of Martyrs that I say not of Traytors with the bloud of the Lambe of God spotlesse and immaculate which onely taketh away the sinnes of the world which onely quencheth the rage of the wrath to come which onely abateth the edge of his fathers iustice and the sword Cherubicall that glitters afore Paradise these thinges are now no cause to leaue Rome for by our mens doctrine or at least no more cause then surplice or no surplice gesture or no gesture ceremonie or no ceremonie presbyterie or Bishopdome amount to heere at home betweene our selues But as I said before so I say once againe Let it bee noted J would wish you and noted most heedefully to shewe the disposition of the sect for euer that when they would reuoke it vpon better deliberation they may not bee able So much also concerning that For J doubt not I but your knowledge is satisfied and their phrenzie discouered sufficientlie heerewith J should proceed from hence to some of their obiections as weake as water and as vaine as vanitie it selfe vpon the weights As Mardocheus his refusing to rise to Haman though the King commaunded it will-worships mans ordinances Whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne therefore we must haue expresse Scripture for all that wee doe shewes of euill would be abandoned Reliques of Idolatrie layed aside no conformitie with vnbeleeuers and the like For who euer rose vp in contradiction against the Church but had a scriptum est of his side and somewhat to say for himselfe Yet with such stuffe as these a thing lamentable to be spoken they vsually sucke the bloud of your soules and peruert many from the right way But I must make haste to that which is behinde and to say truth whom the former positiue confirmations will not satisfie hee will bee little the better for dissoluing these and the like their cobweb-obiections I haue done it often most often in other places I pray you once giue mee leaue to passe them ouer heere So much of the third point The rule of trial or the square of truth which consists not onely in the wholsome words of our Lord Jesus Christ but in the Doctrines that are commenced and framed according thereto Contra Psychicos For as Tertullian saies most sweetly Non tantùm seruire debeo Domino meo sed adulari wee must not doe all that we doe of Iniunction but we may honour God with our freest inuention And S. Pauls limitation is very large and no way thralled to the narrownesse of those precincts that they imagine Philippians 4.8 Whatsoeuer thinges are honest whatsoeuer thinges are iust whatsoeuer thinges are pure whatsoeuer thinges pertaine to loue and are well reported of those doe and the GOD of peace shall bee with you Doe you but marke the promise that the God of peace shall bee vvith vs vvhom these men vvould so faine keepe out of our Land and banish as they say by head and shoulders O the sweet maske of Peace to appeare in O the gracious forme of peace to maske in Let him alway appeare to me in that forme let him alway present himselfe to me in that shape Not in fire nor in tempest for in them the Lord was not saith the Scripture but in the soft and still vvinde The God of peace shall be with you This was the promise but now mark the precept also I pray you Whatsoeuer things are honest whatsoeuer things are iust whatsoeuer things are pure whatsoeuer things pertaine to loue and are well reported of those doe Jf there be any vertue if there be any praise O notable accommodation of the Apostles pen to our times For what more honest than that which can be charged with no crime but onely iealousie suspicion refuseth So are our Ceremonies What more iust than that which lawfull aucthoritie hath established and those lippes that harbour an oracle ratified and approued Yet so are our ceremonies What more pure than that which is refined in the fornace and purged from the dregs of all ancient superstition yet so are our ceremonies What more pertainining to loue than the pledges of combination betweene the Ministers of one Kingdom likely also to draw the aduersaries to an vnion yet this is the verie nature scope of our ceremonies As for praise and vertue and good report and such like the best the best-iudgmented will easilie allow it them the worst I knowe depraue them whose iudgment makes them neuer the worse for all that And where the former titles goe before as honestie purity and the like these latter must needs follow of their owne accord they may not bee parted Wherefore if your delight be in the God of peace striue not against such thinges as for those that put them from them so violently they shew plainely that peace is not their seeking But so much shall serue as I said for the third point generall of the Text. THe fourth point remaines which is the indifferencie of the parties offending against that which wee haue formerly deliuered of consenting to the words that are according to godlinesse and not teaching otherwise If any man be hee who he will be learned or lewd Clarke or Lay-man spirituall or temporall holy or profane one or many For there is no rising vp against Iustice for respects and Salomons sword strikes vnpartiall where it hits Vlysses must not swarue for Telemachus in the furrow and a Iudge must haue eares to scanne the causes but no eyes to discern the persons If any Yet the multitude cries out The good men the purer sort the preciser sort of great parts of great paines they are silenced they are depriued Parúmne Sanctus Paulus vvas S. Paul thinke you an Apostle or no Did he speake by the instinct of the holy Ghost or no that hath so damped the clamours of the iniudiciall multitude and checked their fond exceptions long afore-hand with his If any if any man be hee who he will be looke not to his person trust not to thine eye make no difference remember the Church and the peace of the Church the coate of Christ nay the bodie of Christ Pereat vnus potius quà m vnitas and Nulla charitas ad eam charitatem qua obstringimur Ecclesiae Let Saul take heede how hee spare Agag for pretexts and slay the meagrer and
troublesome yet the Puritans must not looke to goe vncontrolled As whē the enemies assault a Citie or a Town the children may not be allowed to keep what rule they will in the house in the meane time but rather liue so much the more orderlie Or else we shal think there is a cōfederacie that they reape more aduantage by the thriuing of Poperie then they pretend for and fauour the spreading of Antichrists Kingdome with all their heart if the tyrannie of the one be the libertie of the other and as they shall haue encreased so these must be excused To conclude I might vrge them with this dilemma If the Papists be not so bad as they make shew for when they exaggerate their pestilence so much aboue their owne why are they so eager to haue them punished and if they be so bad what praise is it for them or why doe they place their defence in that that they come somewhat short of enormious Malefactors So much may serue to haue spoken to that obiection and so much also generally of the parties indifferencie You would not think how glad I am hauing passed these rockes and escaped these quicke sands Now we shall saile in a gentle streame now we shal goe forward with tide and winde Or rather once againe beholde a whirlpoole For the fift part followes which is the Censure full of dangerous and deuouring waters Hee is puft vp he knowes nothing he languisheth about questions of which commeth enuie strife raylings euill surmises c. Almost there is no bottome in it Is the sixt any better then the Inhibition or the Caution from such separate thy selfe We might speake heere J confesse of excommunication administred by one person as by Timothie himselfe For this in effect is nothing else Wee might speake of certaine separators and stragglers from vs heere at home erecting Church against Church Altar against Altar Paul against Peter and Christ against Jesus insomuch as they call themselues the brethren of the separation and openlie delight now in that title though in truth they deserue that wee should separate first from them Wee might in one word encrease the punishment by handling the two latter parts as wee haue layed open the fault by discoursing the foure former But J am not wont to insult ouer their infirmittes more then needes J must whose errours and euill courses J cannot choose but pitie from my verie heart Onelie I had thought to haue giuen a touch touching languishing away as Saint Paul heere calls it and hanging their Harpes vpon the wilfull trees that might make good melodie to the recouering of soules if they would applie them rightly and welcomming home of the prodigall sonne againe For let them not tell vs they would doe it but for conditions It is too nice in them of cōscience not to reach the cup but after a seruice of their own vvhen we that are ready to perish for thirst are content to drink the wine out of any hand Remember I pray you the Lamentation of Dauid ouer Abner being slaine and see if it fitte not more than ordinarie to our purpose Howe died Abner sayes Dauid howe died hee his handes vvere not bound nor his feete tyed vvith setters of brasse and yet he fell down at the foot of the Conquerour Yesterday a man to day a coarse No body compelled him no body constrained him no body forced him but his owne will was his owne ouerthrowe his owne outstanding his owne vndoing and the battell was fought betweene him and himselfe What wilt thou answer to the Lord in that day what shall thy excuse bee to him for slacking thy hand which thou hadst put so manfully vnto the plough and smothering the talent that he lent thee of his good grace not in a napkin of vnprofitable modestie but which is worse in snuffe and pelting discontent Is this to stirre vp the gift of God that is in thee as S. Paul bids Timothie to doe in this Epistle is this to become all to all that thou mightest gaine some which thou shouldest do by his example whereas thou standest vpon such strictnesse as thou wilt bee like none but thy selfe Is this not to iangle about words to no profit but onely to the subuersion of the hearers Is this not to offende thy Christian brother which offendest the whole congregation of Christ for feare of offence Nay is not this to be deliuered ouer bound hand foot to perpetuall doing nothing before the sentence of the last Iudge Why might not thy wit be as well occupied henceforth in explaining the ceremonies as thy tongue hath beene violent heeretofore in traducing them why shouldest thou not doe as much for true peace as thou hast done for erronious truth what shame is there with wise men in recanting an ouersight or who euer liued but had his error and what greater conquest than in ouercomming thy self For Lib. vlt. in Iul. Pelag. Cum animositatem viceris qua teneris veritatem poteris tenere qua vinceris as S. Austine saide to the loftie Julian Yea this were fit newes to be tolde in Gath this would sound terriblie in the streetes of Ashkelon that the English nation had voyded her faction that Pisistratus and his sonnes were made friends linked in the pledge of a long desired and neuer to be disannulled conformitie This I say and much more I had thought to haue spoken and prosecuted against the wilfull languisher of our times the cutter off of himself from the sacred Ministerie without cause That lets his daies consume in vanitie his yeares and beauty in trouble whose waters are turned into bloud so that no man may drinke of their riuers their fruite is giuen to the caterpiller and their labours vnto the Grashopper their vines are destroyed with haile-stones and their Mulberie trees with the frost Yea the fire consumeth their young men and their maidens are not giuen in mariage Imagine you by the losse of all their principall studies and endeuours Nay lastly their Priests themselues they are slaine but not with the sword and there are no widowes or but one at the most to make lamentation For the wretchednesse of the cause drowneth and banisheth all the compassion of the case BVt another theame expects my handling which I will not seeke how to apply to the Text though perhaps I could tell how if I would it self is Text enough to the handler And giue leaue I pray you once for deedes to beget words amōgst you since so many words of ours haue brought forth so few good deedes abroad in the world We must speak therefore a word or two of the worthie contributers to the performers of the dutie that is weekely heere accomplished throughout the yeare and I for my part haue now laboured to discharge First the reuerend Father and somtime Bish of this Sea John Ailmer how well does it become a Cleargie man to stand first holding out the candle of direction to