Think not the Lorde to winke al this while at our great sins Nay thinke rather that the Lorde will throwe as with a sting the inhabitantes of our land because our pastors are become beasts haue not sought Iehouah Ier. 10.18.21 There be two Archplagues vndoubtedly to be expected for of vs the inhabitants of Wales if our petition be not graunted The first indeed containing all the exquisite torments that may be inuented yet leauing a place for the latter In a woord it is the putting out of that small light of religion which wee haue the cutting off both of vs and our posterity from belonging vnto the Lord. The reason hereof is this if the knights of our shiers and Bishops c. will not shew themselues desirous to returne vnto the Lord with earnest labour for the word preached then they doe asmuch as if they said the woord spoken vnto vs in the name of the Lord we will not heare but we wil do whatsoeuer goeth out of our owne mouth as did the wicked Iewes Ier. 44. But what was replied vnto them Verily this Vers 26. Behold I haue sworne by my great name saith Iehouah that my name shal be no more called vpon by the mouth of any man of Iuda in the land of Aegypt saying Iehouah liueth Our sinnes being like vnto theirs shall be surely rewarded alike The other punishment is the vtter ruine of our land the rasing of our names frō vnder heauē that we shal be no more a people Ieremy maketh it but a smal matter with the Lord to ouer-throw a kingdome for the sinnes of the people therein Chap. 18.7.8.9 So doth Amos 9.8 We haue not indeed as yet a barren womb giuen vnto vs but I feare me we haue brought forth children for the murtherers Though we bring foorth children yet will the Lorde slay the dearest of our bodies yea wo vnto them saith he when I depart from them Hos 9.21.17 Accoūt not these I pray you whom I haue before named to be the visions of the daies afarre off Ezech. 12.18 but tremble and feare least the Lord say the words in our daies and perform thē Thinke rather the Lord to expostilate with vs as he did sometimes with the people of the Iewes O you inhabitants of Wales why wil you dy saith the Lord Why should I giue you for a terrible plague to al the kingdoms of the earth Ier. 12.7 Why should I forsake mine house leaue mine inheritance giue the dearely beloued of my soul into the hands of her enimies Ier. 3.12.13 c. Thou disobedient saith the Lord return and I wil not let my wrath fall vpon thee for I am merciful Be thou instructed least my soule be dismembred frō thee and I make thee a lande without an inhabitant Ier. 6.8 Think these speeches I say to belong vnto you vs in respect of them be vehement The calamities of vs your kinsmé in the flesh yea your own and your childrens wil force you or els you are vnnaturall to vnfould our griefe vnto hir Maiesty and this assembly Our case is pitiful you know Our life short we know not how soone the Lord wil cal for vs. How soon he wil make an end of al. If we haue not more knowledge than as yet we haue enioied meanes to come by the same we can hope for nothing at his hand but that deadly voice I know you not You haue both a Herod in Vra◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuasion and necessity which driue wise men to take great matters in hand to pricke you forwarde Throw downe your selues before hir maiesty and this honourable assembly and plead for your liues and your peoples rise not thence vntill your suite bee yeelded vnto We poore people look for nothing else but destruction except our God graunt you fauour at this verie instant time in their sight I with in the Lord that if wee perish we may perish our selues alone and that Queene Elizabeth and hir counsel with the estate and the whole communalty of England may in a good conscience testifie before the Lord and say b Deut. 21.17 Our hands haue not shed the blood of these men neither haue our eies seene it I do most earnestly beseech the Lord Iehouah for his Christes sake who is great and wise in counsell seuere in punishing sinne yet aboundant in mercy and kindnes towards the brused and humble soule to turne his wrath from vs to giue hir Maiesty and this honourable court his spirit to direct them in euery action according vnto his word to make al the enimies of his truth Queen Elizabeth like c Ier. 29.22 Ahab and Zedechiah whom the king of Babel burned in the fire continue hir raigne ouer vs hasten the comming of his Sonne Christ Iesus Amen Amen Yea come quiokelie Lord Iesus To the reader Some rumor of the speedy dissolution of the Parliament enforced me from the 32 Pag. or there abouts so much being already vnder the presse to cut off more of the booke by two parts than is now in the whole The neerer I came to the ende the more hast I made I regarded not herein Amphora coepit Institui currente rota cur vrceus exit The ouersight I hope hath not been very great if any I hartilie craue pardon How tedious vngainful it was for me to dismēber the whole and sow togither the torne parts let other men iudge Some thing spoken of in the Epistle could not be well perfourmed Pag. 30. l. 22. Read through-out his dominion
night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You must not sleepe al night in this case but intreat the Lord her maiesty and this honourable court to raise the ministerie of his word in Wales This matter concerneth al verie nearlie The way to procure to your selues fauour with the Lord and credite with her Maiestie is to sollicite our cause and so you shal find it The more earnest you be herein the more honor shal be vnto the Lord and her Maiestie wil be the more beholding vnto you Nebuchad-nezzer an idolater blessed the Lorde because Shadrak Meshak and Abednago the seruants of the liuing God Dan. 3.9 changing the kings decree did yeeld their bodies rather than they would worship anie other God If they had been as backewarde as were other Iewes in this case howe had that notable decree to the honour of God beene promulgated ver 29. Where had been their commendation No other waie conueyeth the true fauour of anie prince vnto the subiect Prou. 10.22 Gods blessing which maketh rich and honourable is ioined hereunto Though it were otherwise yet this thing is laid vpon you be not disobedient And likely it is to be otherwise For I am affraid behold that which the Lord hath built he wil destroie that which he hath planted he will roote vp Ierem. 45.45 And doe you seeke for great things vnto your selues Seeke them not If in the daie of trouble you will be hidden you must be Ieremies you must be Hebedmeleches you must be Barucks In these three men the Lord shewed that euen in this life he maketh great difference betweene the zealous and luke-warme professors Ieremy for his roundnes in his office was beaten and put in the stocks Ier. 35.15.16 Ier. 29.26.27 Iere. 35.15.16 iudged worthy to die Ier. 29.26.27 accounted a rauer and one that made himselfe a prophet Ier. 29.26.27 a man that sought not the wealth of his people but the hurt Iere. 38.4 Hebedmelech was a noble man but some thing ouer zealous and one that would not stick to tel the king himselfe that he had yeelded vnto his noble men in a thing that was euill in all that they had doone to Ieremie the Prophet Ier. 38.5.9 Baruch was out of fauor both with prince and priest Ier. 36.19.26 because he fauoured Ieremie But when the land was made desolate and the wordes of poore Ieremie became true who then went vnto the wal Verily the king and his nobles priests and prophets And Ieremy the true seruant of the Lord must haue a whole senat of noble men sent to take him out of prison and to know his wil Nebuzaradan Nebushasban Raebsaris Neregal Ier. 39.4.13 c. the king of Babeles princes Hebedmelech should not bee giuen into the hands of the men whom he feared but bee surely deliuered because hee put his trust in Iehouah Ierem. 45.45 Baruch should haue his life giuen him for a pray Howesoeuer it goeth therefore your seruice in our cause shall bee recompensed They that know what it is to haue their iniquities forgiuen and their sinnes couered by the sufferings and passions of Iesus Christ will be wounded to see others vnder the curse The Churches of God round about vs goe to wrack in Fraunce Belgia and a great part of high Duch I would Scotland had continued in her first loue and that the hands of the builders were strengthned among you Come what will come stand you manfully in the faith my fathers and brethren and according to the counsel of Iude a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renew the battle againe with your spiritual enimy Iud. 3. and contend with earnestnes It maie please God though the liuelie branches be cut off to quicken vs dead boughes by the vertue of our head Iesus Christ I doubt not by the Lords goodnes if the truth be established among vs through continual preaching but that al which professe Godlines in Europe shall hartilie thank the Lord for our zeal and courage therein Our nation are ful of drosse I graunt as al the sonnes of Adam are by nature and verie stonie harted But the word of God is a fire for the drosse and an hamber for the stone Ier. 23.29 And the weapons whereby the man of God warreth are not carnal but mightie through God to cast downe houldes and to bring vnder euerie imagination that is against the knowledge of God 2 Cor. 10.5 when al things shall be measured vnto vs by the measure of the sanctuarie as all must bee or else the building proue ruinous our God will be for a diadem of beutie vnto vs and for a spirite of iudgmēt he wil giue vs his spirit to please him I thought it needlesse to put hir Maiestie and the Parliament in mind that euerie thing amongst vs must be ordered according to the word it selfe For otherwise both the word and the Minister shall want a great deale of the dignitie due vnto both Suffer the scepter of the word to rule this will not be derogatorious vnto man much lesse vnto the word It wil be hard to find a yoke fellowe for that which can neither abide superior nor brooke an equal My brethren for the most part know not what preaching meaneth much lesse think the same necessarie to saluation Though they graunt it needeful they think it sufficient to heare one sermon once perhaps in al their life Therefore was is needfull for me to set downe the necessitie of preaching and of continual preaching that if they labor not for the same their bloode maie be vppon their owne heads For they cannot denie themselues to be put in mind hereof If there be anie other point of doctrine touched it tendeth also to this end The diligence beloued which I hope your learned Bishoppes Doctors and other great Diuines men of famous report haue taken in England cannot suffer you to be ignorant in these pointes Therefore take thē not as written vnto you For the case it selfe you know what it is euen that which the Lord of host will haue most seriouslie thought vpon graunted without al naie In respect wherof it commeth with Gods own letters patents wherewith all estates in the worlde naie all the Angels in heauen cannot dispence Concerning the hādling of it by me a wretch I protest my self to haue labored according to the example of the Apostle to speak as I haue beene allowed of my God seeking to win the fauour of none much lesse the disliking of anie least mans vnequall displeasure would bee contented with no lesse satisfaction than the bloode of manie a thousand soules God forbid mans infirmities in mee should bring this effect Naie it must not For be I the sonne of Adam ten thousand times compassed with neuer so manie infirmities neuer so base vile polluted and defiled yet the preaching of the word in Wals is Gods glorie and therfore must stand And yet it maie be the Lord by this supplication doth but trie the good
and beyond all his might to make knowen the case of such a people vnto those who both can and also would find a remedy therunto For mine owne part because I see the spirituall miserie wherein wee nowe liue in the Country of WALES for want of the preaching of the Gospel and the great plagues that are like vndoubtedly to fall vpon vs for the same I cannot but be so asfected toward these our calamities as in respect of the Lords honor the desire of the saluation of my breethren my loyall obedience vnto her Maiesty and the discharge of my own conscience I doe alwaies from the bottome of mine heart wish and pray for the redresse heereof nowe by writing with all humility and submission in the feare of God lay open our estate first vnto the consideration of your excellent Maiesty my dread soueraigne Queene Elizabeth vnto whom only of all the potentates of the earth I owe all obedience and seruice in the Lord Iesus and next vnto the viewe of your high court of Parliament desiring you vpon my knees in the name of the great God the creator and preseruer of heauen and earth whose honor is now in hand that our petitiō may be so throughly waied as our necessity requireth The summe whereof is that it would please your Maiesty this honorable assembly in a zealous and a godly compassion to regard the lamentable and wofull estate of vs your poore subiects breethren which liue at this day altogither without the knowledge of a Isai 43.11 ◠a sauing God because we haue not b 2. Chro. 15.2 teaching Ministers among vs that some order may be taken by your Maiesty and the estate whereby wee may bee freed from that destroieng grosse darckenesse of ignorance wherein we nowe are bewrapped to the woe of our soules for euer And so by our true conuersion vnto the Lorde we may auoid euerlasting death and preuent the fiercenesse of the wrath indignation which we see iustly to hang ouer vs in this life The remedy of this our grieuous case is only had and no other way by speedie d Luk. 10.2 Matth 9.8 prouiding vnto vs such pastors as may feede vs with the food of life the pure worde of God and bring vs home vnto the only a 1. Pet. 5.4 Heb. 13.20 Luk. 22.25 Mark 10. Lord of pastors sheepeheards the Lord Iesus This is the summe of al my dread soueraigne that I your base vassall haue emboldened my selfe to offer vnto you and this your high court of Parliament wherein I protest that in respect of my weakenesse al maner of waies the basenesse of my condition I intreated the Lorde to send vnto you by the hand of him whom b Exod. 4.13 hee should sende that is by one endued with such giftes and authority also as whereby the suite might haue purchased some countenance and so be found more auaileable and plausible But considering that this mine endeuor might be a means to stirre vp some such and that the Lorde is the Lord of countenance credit and fauour therefore can adde vnto his own cause the good liking of men either more or lesse as seemeth best vnto him which only guideth the harts of the children of men And that he is then fullie seen for his own glories c Rom. 4.2 Ezek. 36.32 sake to bring the worke to passe that tendeth to the saluation of any when hee vseth most abiect and vnfit tooles I doe not doubt if it be his good pleasure but that this supplication though put vp by a sinfull weake hand shal haue all the intertainment that the message of the liuing God desireth to haue And although our estate beeing duly waied doth with most patheticall pierceing cries that may moue againe the very flinty rockes make intreaty for it selfe and declare the vnanswerable necessity either of hauing our petitions graunted or of the torments of our soules in hel fire for euer and our fatal ruine in this life yet I thought it most needefull in this briefe treatise to set downe some of the reasons whereupon our petition is grounded that by the view of them it may appeare how daungerous a thing it is in the sight of God and man to deny our suite And here verilie the cause may be seene at the first sight to be inuironed with a two-fould wall as it were of most iust and apparant equity First in respect of the honour of God whereat especially it aimeth Secondly in regard of man whom it doth not a litle concerne Whether therefore you do consider the Lord himselfe whom we disdain and contemn for want of better instruction out of his woord by our vngodlie liues or her gracious Maiestie and this honourable assembly who are bound before the Lorde with an vncancelable band to see the eternall verity of the Gospell of Iesus Christ taught vnto obeied of al the inhabitants within the precincts of her Maiesties dominions or my deere brethren and countri-men whose ioiful and happy felicity is this way sought for you shall find the supplication to be full of dutifull endeuors towardes the maintenance of Gods glory the safe estate of this kingdome our soueraign whom the Lord long preserue ouer vs hurting none full of equity on all parts Wee desire to haue the knowledge of our God and the Lawes of his kingdome whose subiectes in name wee professe our selues and in deede ought to bee made knowne and taught vnto vs. We desire that the tyranny of Sathan who a 2 Cor. 4.4 Ephes 6.2 2.23 exerciseth a regencie in the hearts of all them amongst whom Gods trueth hath not beene taught may be ouerthrown b Rom. 1.16 Heb. 4.12 Ier. 23.29 by the powerfull arme of God the worde preached c Iam. 1.21 who can saue our soules Now therefore to you right honorable worshipful and reuerend of this Parliament with al humility be it spoker in the audience of our God in the presence of Iesus Christ and in the witnesse of euery child of God who shall read this litle treatise we most earnestly and vehemently as in the cause of Iesus Christ and in the cause of our soules entreate and beseech you cry and cal vpon you to do your endeuors that Sathan may no longer keep vs in bondage which ought to be imploied in the seruice of our God and that the Lorde Iesus his throne may be established in our hartes d 1. Cor. 6.19 3.16 as it ought to be in those which are his members What interest hath sathan in vs that wee should be permitted to be at his beck and leaue vndoone the duty we owe vnto our most beneficial louing God euen by the law of creation Why should he preuaile more with you which continually seeketh your destruction ours than Iesus Christ whose loue towardes vs was sealed with the losse of his life euen then when we were his enimies Wil you
Kin. 16.29 went through the people from Bersheba to mount Ephraim and brought them againe vnto Iehouah the God of their fathers so litle a thing was it in his eies to haue once verie notablie reformed his people vnlesse he did the same as often as need required Religious Ioshia 2. Chro. 33.29 caried the like heart with him The good king rent his clothes his heart melted within him with weeping and wringing of handes he humbled himselfe before his God and immediatly set vpon the reformation of euery thing amisse as soone as he perceiued the Lord to be dishonored by neglecting the performance of his will in any point But what needed he to haue taken all these paines He had a promise all should go well in his daies and after him his people were sure to smart for their former sinnes He had doone well for his part fals-religion was expelled in the 1. yeare of his raigne this being the 18. Iudah Ierusalem were purged from their high places time would not serue to establish euery thing according vnto the lawe of Moses the people were simple not capeable of the gouernment required by the worde of God his nobility by reason of their long continuance in Idolatry not so well perswaded of the true religion he sought to establish It was very new vnto them their weakenes were to be born-withal Yea they must haue the liberty of their consciences Perhaps they who should haue beene most forward as the high priest and others were found very great enimies vnto all good proceedings It may bee they looked that all should bee committed vnto their handes as the pope hath done in times past For what had a ciuil magistrate to doe with setting in order things belonging vnto religion These and many other hinderances hee had I grant 2. Chro. 34.3 But looke when the zeal of the Lords house hath eaten vp any how easily they swallow all occasions that might hinder the true worship of God in any that belongeth vnto them And therfore that very yeare euen then when he was farther instructed by examining the booke of the Lawe of Moses concerning his duty he gathered the people from the greatest vers 30 31 32 to the smallest priest and Leuite read the woord of the couenant in their eares and made a couenant before Iehouah to keepe his commaundements his statutes and his testimonies with all his heart and with all his soule He cause al that were found in Ierusalem and Beniamin to stand vnto it So farre was hee from bearing with any in their Idolatrous perswasions that could not for consciences sake forsooth but turne backe from Iehouah the God of their fathers that as it is recorded of him hee a verse 33. compelled all that were found in Israel to agree vnto the couenant to serue Iehouah their God which they did al his life In which actiō religion being now receiued by publicke consent hee did not only according to the commandement a Deut. 13.69 the example of his pre decessors the b Ius 22.21.19 whole cōgregation in the booke of Ioshua and godly king Asah c Chro. 15.13 who de creed that whosouer would not serue Iehouah should be stoned whether he were small or great but also that which the wonderfull and great woorkes of God wrested from e Dan. 3.29 Neubuchadnezzer and almost nature it selfe shewed vnto king Artashash f Ezra 7. a6 Gods honorbeing precious in the eies of this assembly as I hope it is wil driue them to follow these godly examples and to looke with the eies of an Egle into the estate of our Church in Wales yea compel vs by authority rather than faile to honour sanctifie the Lord by the knowledge of our saluation For then he is said to gaine a name and maiesty to himselfe when he is seene to forgiue sins not for mans desert but for his own g Isai 4.8.9.12 glory sake and he is then knowen to be the Lord when hee is h Ezek. 76.23 sanctified in his people For indeede none is able either to forgiue sinnes or to sanctify the prophane hart of man but the Lord himselfe Therefore the prerogatiue aboue all others giuen to out sauior christ in the reuelation is that when there was none found in heauen or earth or vnder the earth worthy to looke vpon the book sealed with seauen seals muchlesse able to open it he the lyon of the tribe of Iudah performed both But who knoweth this saue they Ephes 2.13 that are redeemed by his blood And his blood clēseth none but these i which heard the worde of trueth euen the gospel of saluation preached vnto them The way then to procure that the people of Wales maie cry with a loude voice Woorthie is the lambe to take the booke open the seales thereof Reuel 5.12 because he was killed and hath redeemed vs to God out of euery kindred and tongues people and nation is to bestow the worde preached vpon them And howe greatlie the calling of men vnto saluation augmenteth both the might and the exceeding riches of Gods strength shal be easily gathered if you doe but consider that the treasury the iewell house and wardrobe as I may say of Gods glorious in heritance in the Saints and the exceeding greatnes of his power towardes them that beleeue is no other way discerned but by the spirite of reuelation through the knowledge of god as the expresse woords of the Apostle do enforce Ephes 1.18.19 All which proceed from hearing the worde of truth verse 13 as he set down before The wordes which the Apostle vseth to expresse the meaning of the holy-ghost doth most euidentlie conuince that they who felt not this power in themselues count the Lord to be but a weakeling For although the contemplation of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the mouing of the heauens and the creatures therein contained may afforde some glimse of the might that is in the creator yet this is not indeede so much as a shadowe of the other wherein the Lord is said to exercise the power of his own right hand As first in giuing the Lord Iesus a conquest ouer al the k Coloss 15 principalities and powers of his enimies making him to triumph ouer them and that l Heb. 2.10 18.4 5. 5.7 by weakenesse sufferings crosses calamities temptations yea and death it selfe then in raising him from death to giue him a name aboue all names and to make him the head of al. Secondly in vs his poore members sauing our helplesse and damned soules woorking mightily in our sinful stony hearts by the conuersion of vs vnto him giuing vs poore flesh and blood a conquest also ouer our owne fleshe and the rebellious motions thereof and which is more ouer the prince of the world himselfe Assuring our vnbeleeuing hartes of his loue towardes vs shewing how mightie his spirite was in