their shadowed hell conspiring against him and his elect and hath geuen them the light of his saluation turned their raging race to warr with his Church into the most happie tracke of pacient sufferings and precious persecution for his names sake Wherfore let vs pray for all persecutors of his gospel for neither we or yet themselues do know whether the Lord hath predestinate theÌ„ to life Did the church of the Apostles expect Pauls coÌ„ming to their felowship who was the most cruel enemie that the Romaine power the Pharisaicall Jewes sent forth to their persecution did not the lord lead this LioÌ„ to lie vnder the féet as it were of those holy laÌ„bes euen then when he came with raging roaring huÌ„ger to deuour theÌ„ Did the famous prince most noble Monarch of the worlde king Henry the Eyght purpose to foster the Lordes people in Englande when he sat himselfe in iudgement agaynst the Godly Martir of Christ Lamhert and yet dyd the Lorde visit his Princely harte so that by the light of his Christ the spirite of God opening his harte he was made the Lordes instrument vtterly to thrust out that horrible Pope wyth all his power which no king before him could bring to passe albeit they eftsoones attempted sundry times to cut him short Which argueth Gods good lyke of his ministery with him of all such Bishops and ministers as did by doctrine stirre vp his hart her to themselues or most of them before being sworne to the Romishe obedience The noble Father and Martir of Christ M. Cranmer late the Archbishop of Canterburie shall we not accompt him amongest the lawfull ministers of God a trust none will be so wilfull as once to â—â—inke him vnworthie most reuerence 〈◊〉 Catalogie of Gods true and faythâ— ministers in his time And yet my 〈◊〉 bretherne in his persno and actions 〈◊〉 found apparant such a blemishes as for the same all of his lyke institution are of some vouched vmméete for the ministerie of the Church of god I speake not this to iniurie the fame of that holy man whom the heauens haue receiued but to offer such comfort to others as I haue I trust rightly receiued my selfe being in the dayes of Quéene Mary hatched vp in Popery and made an Idolatrous Priest often committing most horrible sacrileage to God by the sacrifising that Idolatrous Cake and counterfeyted Christ to God the Father against the glory of Christ his sonne But I dayly praise the Lord my God who hath taken mercy vpon me and called me from that power of darknes and hath translated me vnto the kingdome of his dear sonne Iesus and of from an Idolatrous Priest being ignorantly caryed into error hath chosen me wyth many others my Godly Bretherne to be a faythfull minister and true Preacher of his holy Gospell and that I craue for restes to the world the congregatioÌ„s which haue tasted of the swéet gyltes of his holy spirite by his mercifulnesse and riche goodnesse powred into their harts by my ministrie though a sinner But through christ called by grace to the preaching of the word of truth through whose good gifts by the portion of his sacred spirit giueÌ„ vnto me for their good and my continual comfort they are to confesse his grace apparant in my ministry with others our godly brethren called to the office This I say not bostingly after the fleshe but witnessing Gods great graces in me vnworthy the least after his calling me with many others from idolatry to his seruice And not to yéeld my self such like whose hartes be truly turned to the Lord to subscribe to such sharp censure as passeth to the offence of many a soule But Saul as he is not ashamed to confesse his error blasphemies So being by the Lorde in mercy changed to Paule warraÌ„teth vs with him good courage comfort to procede in our offices daring to say of himself erst a persecuter as of his fellow ministers which neuer were such séeing we haue this ministery c. He doth hereby the more embolden vs with humblenes of hart to chalenge the like authority to preach to administer the sacraments of the lord with and aswel as such others our brethren by the singular grace of god either preserued from such idolatry or since that time called to the function ecclesiasticall These spéeches therfore Q. Maries priestes K. Henries priestes c. are not so warely set downe as becommeth the place of such which séeme sufficient to supply the wants of this ecclesiasticall gouernment But the lord assist in his mercy the state present with his holy spirit grant to this our mighty monarch a zelous spirite in him yet more more to remoue reteine as the worde of God the honor of this his holy church in England the condition of our age time shall approue for truth most conuenient The places of Josias and EZechiel are not to beat vs down or to bear the contrary opinion from lacke in my iudgmeÌ„t Omitting the priuat example of the godly Iosias which can not in good diuinitie be drawne to a publique commandement I will onely note of the other place which séemeth to sundrye to stande for a law preceptorie as well to vs now as to the Leuits then First I say that Idolatrie is an horrible sin but not estranged is the Idolater from grace if the Lorde vouchsafe him repentance And where as the Lord there cutteth those Leuits froÌ„ his Alter at Ierusalem and the office of the Priest which fell to Idolatry he doth not say this shall be a perpetuall lawe to my house Church for euer Neyther did the Leuits alwais so deale to fore in the time of Moises law Did not Aaron fal to Idolatrie when he made with a grauen toole the molten image proclaimed a solempne feast day therfore attributing that selfe Idolatrous worship to the lord made an Aulter before the Idoll and if wel we weigh whose office it was in that congregatioÌ„ to offer vp sacrifice we shall further touch Aaron his person as also Moises séemeth to lay the whole crime vppoÌ„ him Yet behold the great mercy of God in the time of the law Nor is Aaron by god the lord or by his magistrate Moises depriued of his dignitie remoued from his ministery nor slaine with the slaughter of the sword at Moises his hands wheÌ„ .3000 of the Isralits were theÌ„ slaine for the same horrible Idolatrous fact This example may not moue such whom it doth coÌ„cerne to boldnes of sinne neither is the place of EZech. written to tye al times to that Iudiciall law But so hath gods wisdome enriched his written scriptures with Iustice in seuerity mercy in his christ that sin may be condemned the penitent sinner find fauor in the sight of God. It might be asked whether all the whole Chapter be of
substance of our religiō some little iarring crochet in lesse matters out of musicke her concorde are to be accompted as members of that musicall body whereof Christ is the head and worthy buylders of that spirituall house of which Iesus our Lord is the chiefe corner stone If I should stand to reherse the contentions of the Church since the first Church till this present I should passe the limits of a large booke farsed with onely testimonies to that end As for example the contention among the learned and Godly fathers in the East and west churches for the time and day wherein the Easter day should be kept was great and perilous a cutting asunder of the said church and an absolute breache of perfect vnity till Nicene councell ended the cause but salued not the whole sore For the hygh authoritye of places and men Ecclesiasticall it is a worlde to reade and sée how Iohn the Bishop of Constantinople began and the Romane Gregory encountering him Prophecied his Romish seate to be prepared for the same Antechristianisme after his dayes which Boniface the worker of euill enthronised in his full pompe which contention I feare will not be banished till the spirit of the Lords mouth consume the authors fautors thereof This sore how in those better dayes more pure times it hath festered into the harts of Godly learned men then most famous by this little taste ye may at the first perceiue But let vs as ye would haue it O ye fawning papists graunt ye that some Heresies doe bréed in our English church at this day shall ye therefore accuse the same to be estraunged from God shall you wyth wylye subtletie to that ye may deface the Churche our Spirituall Moother and carye the names of her Sonnes and Children and louers of our gracious Nurse ELIZABETH Naye rather ought ye to lyke of our Religion that manifesteth suche Heresies and confesse that where the Lorde hath fyrst sowne Wheate there the Enemie comming after hath in the same chosen Lande sowed Tares And ye ought to know that the Lordes will is to haue both for a season to grow together that the blade of the Tare might the better make knowne the eare of the good wheat So is it good reader the wisdome of Gods purpose that Heresies springing vp with true doctrine the veritie should more clearly appeare and the sowers of truth should more diligently study to refell the false opinions of the wicked by the forcible power of that first sowne truth the word of god Let not the wicked therefore perswade thée that our Church and Religion is euill false because of scismes Heresies which some wicked not yet by the sentence of the Church fully cut of percase do hold for it begā in the Apostles time that Heritykes and Seismatykes should frō the true church haue their procéedinge and of the same their first place to be trayned vp in trueth that their Iudgement should be the greater And Rome it selfe which is now wrapped in horrible heresie and manifold scismes though they yet boast of vnitie came out of Gods church and hath made manifest Apostacie there from as if you set the Religion in Rome now professed wyth the Doctrine which the same dyd holde what tyme Paule wrot his Epistle to them you shall most playnely sée that the Romanistes are gone out of Gods Churche great and Huge Herityques Came not Arius that pestiferous man who hath by his Bookes denyed Christes Eternitie wyth the Father onely acknowledging him to be made as a Creature Oh myghty and Monstrous Blasphemie came he not out I say of the Churche of GOD at Alexandria where he was first a Scholemaster and after an admitted Preacher dyd he not of malice agaynst Alexander the good Bishop there first broche forth his Heresies Where had Agelius ▪ his place to spred his Heresie which was of the sect of Nouatus that Heretike hatched vp in the Church at Rome and was the Father of the Heretykes called Katharoi but euen where the christian Chrisostom was chiefe Pastour and Bishop and in his Church at Constantinople Shall the contentions in the Apostles age in Christes Church then or the controuersies amongest the learned in the Christian Churches since cut the one or the other from being the Church of God God forbid Yea if from the church of the Apostles there procéeded scismes Heresies by the wicked amongst them if since in all times as the Eccl. histories tell vs Satan hath so troubled the good corne with counterfait cockle why shal we thinke it strange to haue the same tentations now which our fathers before vs our childrē after our departure shal be assalted with ▪ yea your holy mother of Rome ye papists hath nursed vp such wicked children her selfe in whom whose popes alone ye repose your whole trust as may bear the bel before the deuill the patron of your religion for their great heresies And they are sundry in number As Liberius Anastatius Honorius Siluester and the mery monster Iohn the B. aboue others more notable Adhere to al the rest in that sea since Antechrists possession first thereof taken Albeit ye cannot deny the premises or kéep frō our sight your many sundry iarring opiniōs yet ye wold that your sinagog of Rome should be accōpted the holy monarch mother church of the world that notwithstanding the procreation of such a pestilent poysoning brood why should ye then abridge vs of the lyke libertie which ye chalenge to your selues that séeing we doe with all might séeke to repreffe the opinions of them that be wicked wyth the power of the Gospell and to mayneteyne vnitye in Godlynesse to all our powers Herein you doe but poure out your much malice striuing to hinder vs You haue exhibited against your willes much lyke to your graundsire Caiphas to our side and with vs the Testimonye of trueth So mightie is God our defender that he draweth wyth violence out of your wicked mouthes to your greater condemnation if ye repent not the vouch of verity But to conclude this poynt Christian reader take and taste this Antidotum here confected to thy vse agaynst their venomous speaches and it shall not onely comfort thy afflicted minde which God graunt for his Sonnes sake but also shall kéepe thée stedfast vntill the Lorde performe the promise long syth by his holy Prophetes solempnely made to his Churche for euer As first in Micah thus Thou wylt perfourme thy trueth to Jacob and mercye to Abraham as thou haste Sworne to our Fathers in olde tyme. And agayne in Esay wholy and specially from eleuenth verse to the ende of the same which Chapter is most comfortable agaynst these our subtill dayes Oh thou afflicted and tossed wyth Tempestes sayth the Prophete to Goddes Churche thou that hast no comfort behold I wil lay thy
stones with Carbuncle lay thy foundations with Saphire I wil make thy windows of Emraudes thy gates shining stones all thy borders of pleasant stones and all thy Children shal be taught of God and much peace shal be vnto thy Children in righteousnesse shalt thou be established and be farre from oppression for thou shalt not feare it and from feare for it shall not come nie thée Beholde the Enemye shall gather himselfe but wythout me whosoeuer shall gather hymselfe in thée agaynst thée shall fall Beholde I haue made the Smyth that bloweth the Coales in the Fyre and him that bringeth forth an Instrument for his worke and I haue Created the Destroyer to destroy but all the Weapons that are made agaynst thée shall not prosper And euery Tongue that shall aryse vp against thée in Iudgement thou shalt Condemne Thys is the Lordes Heritage and their ryghteousnesse is of mée sayth the LORDE Thus farre the Prophete speaketh to teache thée good Reader great cause of comfort and courage agaynst dispayre though England which is Gods church haue now many enemies risen vp against her her religion yea though her owne skirtes doe carie suche as insult agaynst her she is Promised that theyr Weapons and the smith that framed them shal not prosper Their lybelling bookes which séeke to persecute her though they come from the house of counsell and séeme to procede from the seate of learnings iudgement yet shal this church of God be set a Iudge ouer their wearie trauels and toyling spite and shall condemne them Let that worthy Jewel of famous memory the holy confessor and Saint of and by Iesus Christ treasured vp in the Lapydarie of the heauens for the glory of our God let his excellent workes I say stand for an ample warrant hereto to this age to her posteritie for euer And let others whether at home or abroade looke for the same end of their molesting troubles which they cast into this our age and Church But thou wilt say why doth the Lord suffer so long our weake consciences to be troubled with these contending strifes What art thou O man that wilt dispute with God These troubles to vs yet in respect of the Schismes of old are but as an entring into the first moment of the day Waite thou the lords leysure and be still learne thy song framed by firme hope in truth which Micah hath taught the church of God alwayes in her trouble to sing thou shalt be relieued though thy enemies yet séeke to triumph ouer thée Reioyce not against me O my enemie saith the church there for though I fal I shal arise when I shal sit in darknes the Lord shall be a light vnto me I will beare the wrath of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntil he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me then wil he bring me forth to the light I shal sée his righteousnes Then she that is my enemie shall looke vpon it shame shall couer her which said vnto me Where is the Lord thy God my eyes shall behold her now shal she be troden downe as the myre of the stréets c. Thus much forth of the prophet Micah where thou maist learn to accuse thy self for thy sinne as Dauid did séeing the people afflicted not with Achab to charge the Lord or his profession Prophets whē troubles plagues arise in the church but to turne thy eyes into thy owne conscience sée the booke of thy iniquities there written to confesse before god man that thy sinne is the cause of such trouble plague brought into the church people by Satan his malice the pollicie of these his wicked impes Last of all discourage not at the romish scoffes taunting reproches nor yet despaire in the bottome of her darke dungeons sharpe persecutions for the lord wil comfort thée in them if thou rest vpon his laysure remaine constant in the end deliuering thée wil stampe thy enemie into dirt make thée beautiful in the sight of al men that thou maist serue him thy god thus deliuered frō feare in new holines deuoid of hypocrisie in iustice righteous dealing to with al men in the place of thy abode traffike els where amōgst men in earth And euer respect thy deliuerāce frō sinne regard thy state so that Satan eftsones pul thée not to thy former sinne which cōpelleth his erst bondage for the end of such as so fal is worse then the beginning And thus much for the first part of this Hymne in which I haue bene more prolixe then first I purposed but I trust that the profite which may rise vppon the attentiue reading of the matter simply set downe wil coūteruaile the tedious sight of so much blotted paper sith my willing trauayles hath forced me to dwell in comfortable spéech with the lesse learned some thing the longer because they of themselues can not conceiue such profitable matter as this our text doth exhibite to the serching eye assuredly perswaded that the better so godly learned will vouchsafe soueraigne Censure to this my vnpolished pen. And wherein I erre from the truth if by the same I may heare louingly therof as I hope I haue geuen no poyson to the Church so I wil be glad to reforme that and those thinges which godly reasons with learned truth shall require at my hands The Lord graunt continuance of his gospell in this Nation preseruation to her Maiestie with encrease of Gods knowledge and zeale to his holy name and to vs and his whole Church from all heresies Scismes and ciuill dissentions if it stand with his good wil and pleasure once full deliuerance that we may serue the Lord our god in sinceritie of hart and integritie of life in his sight by his holy spirite all the dayes of our life to whom by and with Christ our Lord to that deitie in the trinal vnitie be al praise power glory for euer Amen Vers 9 And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the most high for thou shalt goe before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes As the sacred Priest before had declared Gods great benefites and faithfulnes in performing his louing promises to the redemption of his elect So now he returneth to this present action and vsing the person of an interpreter expoundeth the Oracle of God declaring his sonne this child to be the same preacher and Doctor which erst by the Prophet Malachy was promised to precede Christ By whose trauel in Doctrine the way should be prepared for the Lordes comming his and our Messias Which office this babe in his appoynted time executed right wel with sinceritie of hart ▪ sparing no person place time or people or omitted any occasiō when he might most aptly performe such his calling This Baptistes voyce was euer crying against the sinnes of all exhibiting the remedie
An Exposition of the Hymne commonly called Benedictus with an ample comfortable application of the same to our age and people By A. Anderson Preacher Stay prophane vain bablings for they shall encrease vnto more vngodlines 2. Timothe 2.16 But if you haue bitter enuying and strife in your harts reioyce not neither be liars against the truth This wisdom discendeth not from aboue but is earthly sensuall and diuelish For where enuying and strife is there is sedition and all maner of euill woorkes Iames. 3.14.15 16. ¶ Imprinted at LondoÌ„ by Henry Middelton for Raufe Newbery The booke to the Reader To prayse the Lord is my desire To helpe his Church all that I can To quench if could such burning yre As Satan late hath caste in man VVhile pen doth carpe at brothers ill Sinne taketh rest the Church doth spill For other state some men do craue And cut themselues from this we haue In hart they hate thy state and life â–ª They ioy to see thee at such strife And they at ease do by disdaine Inuent all meanes t' encrease thy paâ—â—â— Their Pope and Masse they long to see Our Christ his law and vnitie They do blaspheme through our discent In cases new of gouernment Thy brawle their broyle would come to end If cease thou couldst thus to contend Ioyne hands in one embrace remorce To banish sinne bend all thy force Thy selfe restraine Gods truth respect His Church and peace of his elect Vouchsafe vs Lord thy Christ his grace Our Queene thy sprite but sinne deface Amen A.A. ¶ To the right reuerend Father in God THOMAS by the mercifull prouidence of God Bishop of Lincolne his good L Anthony Anderson Minister of the good Gospel of God wisheth all health and peace in Christ our only Sauiour THe holy Apostle sayth that whatsoeuer thinges are writteÌ„ afore time are written for our learning which sentence reuerend father as often as I do remember by the hand leadeth mee deepely to consider with reuerent regard what I read in the holy Scriptures and vrgeth me by feruent prayer to craue of God the geuer of all good giftes in Christ the true vnderstanding of the Scriptures sense and the hidden treasures therein comprised And so hath it pleased the lord of life to open the windows of heauen his name bee euer praised and from thence by his spirite most familiarly to speake vnto mee by his written word So that to his great prayse and my endlesse comfort I see that no iot of his Law is voyd of most excellent comfortes to the heart that simply in integritie of soule seeketh to quench his thirst in this fountaine of health the Gospell of God. In this word I find the knowledge of God Christ his sonne with promise of his holy spirit shall in all his elect open their hartes and write in them the true vnderstanding of his lawes Ezec. 36. The which most excellent gift by the learned books since the time of the Apostles and penned trauels of sundrie godly fathers in the Church aswell before our times as in these our dayes doth appeare to be eueÌ„ now most florishing in the church of God his name be alwayes praysed therefore And wherefore did the Prophets by his spirite speake or Christ and his Apostles preach or the godly Fathers before vs or these our learned writers in this age VVherefore I saye with hart mouth and penne haue they trauailed But to vtter the testimonie of gods gift confesse his name to the people of the earth to the life of the elect the inexcuse of the reprobate So will the Lord haue his spirite euer resiant in his Church to the end of the world To follow these Fathers as they followe Christ I accompt it my part hauing for further example amongest the many worthy workes of our writers now your L. profitable worke lately set forth to the better tast of Gods good wil in his expressed word in the appoynted Lessons at common prayer Of which worke I cease to speake further and seeke to follow as I can such good examples to the ende before touched VVhat if my Mite be not much worth Yet as it commeth from the Lord of heauen so shal it no doubt profite thither to his habilitie and that is my whole desire Let the learned eares accept as in inferior place this my small coyne yet good curraÌ„t siluer I trust tried by the touch of truth and geue him licence to passe to the lesse learned and poore countrey people whose state requireth yet mornings milke not all able for solidate questioÌ„s or deepe digested misteries Their soules are precious in the sight of God their liues ought to be deare in our consciences their wounded hartes require some soueraigne medicine of gentle digesture and quiet operation yet so that their ignorance weaknes may be remoued which God for his mercies sake in Christ vouchsafe them richly in his loue This is not the least cause why I haue stirred vp the small gift of God in me to exercise the same vpon this Hymne vsed in and at the morning prayer Iudging as by order through vse the wordes are readie at the lippe to vouch the Prophetes speech So if their tender hartes had some helpe to open therto the hidden cause of ioye in that holy letter no doubt I say the same of them shuld both with hart and mouth ioynd in one consent of grateful harmonie crie out the praises of the Lord in the temples of the holy Ghost which is the song that deliteth only the musical eares of Gods maiestie Assuredly al other chaunting notes and changing keys seeme they neuer so pleasant in the eares of men are far estranged from the good like of god al if set vp in his house of prayer This people worship me saith God with their lippes but their hartes are farre from me In vaine do they serue me c. And albeit I cannot touch the stile worthie so high a matter or set downe such deepe doctrine as the nature of the place requireth or yet approch such the hidden treasures as are here layd vp or the finenes of this our age expecteth yet nay the lesse the wydowes Myte is my boldninge comfort And on the other part the sorowfull lookes of the slothful Miser to whom the Lordes Talent was imparted maketh me afraid to queÌ„ch the spirit or stay the firie word kindled in my hart if I may vse Ieremies wordes at this present But be it that I should blushe to present my simple skill to the scanning of the wise and sharpned sight of the loftie learned deepe Doctors of our time knowing that my owne weaknes is to sundrie of them knowne also inable to this exploit in respect of infinit others â–ª yet I ioye at this refuge my conscience beareth me witnes tofore GOD and men that the onely end and scope of this my pen is chiefely to promote Gods glory
is on our side and therfore we feare not what the Pope or any other Carnalite can doe against vs. Fourthly where and when is this horne erected Euen there then where and in what place the worlds force is to represse the same euen in the house of his seruant Dauid When did Israel féele most the presence of the horne Whē Pharao entred with greatest rage to destroy the Lordes heritage When did Daniel perceiue his might and where Euen when his friend the Kyng wanted strength to helpe him and in the place prouided for his destruction Where did Helias the good Prophet beholde this wonderfull horne erected But where idolatrie had preuayled ouer all and then also when not one séemed to stand with the lord And did not Israell now decay and the heathen enter into their possessions Was not Dauids house aboue al persecuted Then there did the Lord send his promised horne Christ our Lorde by whose sapience the wisedome of all flesh is proued foolishnesse and through whose strength the strong armed mā is spoyled of his treasure Be of good comfort O thou little flock afflicted for the Lord hath and wil haue his Christ to haue the victorie Yea death is the instrument of life and he maketh persecution to bee the séede time of his Gospel and the bloud of Martirs the budding time of the same Wherfore alwayes with this other such places of the holy Scripture take comfort thou that trustest in the Lord And let the experiment of the last persecution in England assure thée that the power of this horne is eftsones encreased Where and when did this Christ shewe forth to our age his might But when the bloud of his saintes in our English bloudy Church became as riuers of water and in the time of their greatest pride and ripenes of their Butchers actes Then and there hath the Lord againe in this nation erected his Christ and Gospell and from the prison of the Tower hath to the Throne and diademe of this land raysed his more then halfe dead Elizabeth our godly and gracious Quéene vnder whom the ruines of the decayed walles of true Religion are greatly repayred once againe God make vs mindfull of his mercies thankfull for his benefites And giue her Maiestie such encrease of his zealous spirite that the remnant of the Hydra and seuen headed beast may be banished this nation that in her gracious raigne and by her godly hand with the state of her ecclesiastical and ciuil gouernment in God as Gods holy instruments Christ alone may be erected as he is set downe by the Psalmist to be our strength our light So shal her daies be many her throne established and her and our enemies vtterly ashamed And in the meane space graunt vs O Lord for Christes sake true and perfect obedience to her Maiestie with pacient abyding in humble peace till the time which thou hast set to frame her heroical heart further to those things which shall most sound forth thy glory her Maiesties honour and the profite of thy Church that so we may depend vppon Christ our horne of saluation God of strength The Prophet not contented to staye with this summary spéech dilateth the same more amplie sayth as followeth in the next verse Vers 3 As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which haue ben since the world began Least the saluation by him now preached in Christ should séeme to the world a new noueltie fréeed from vtilitie and truth he voucheth the same to be long sith determined of God and the same open to all ages before by the holy Prophets in their times Euē from the voice omnipotent to Satan at the fal of Adam vntill the houre of this ioyful song so sending as to our certaine stay the written word of god As if he had sayd other sauing health to looke for at the handes of God then hée hath promised and to refuse the same by him set and geuen according to his promise is mere wickednes To geue credite to his word and to subscribe therto is true godlines Wherfore come hither ye sonnes of God this is the promised séed the little stone the virgins sonne Jesse his braunch the Messias and the anoynted Sauiour of the Lord promised by al the prophets since the beginning of the world This verse exhibiteth as by hand to our sences excellent matter First that to the whole world aswell before Christ as since and till the last day and houre of the same world there is no saluatiō to be looked for by that perishing world els where then in Dauids house in and by the horne Christ Iesus alone by God and not men erected vp in all sight in that house not set with or vnder other helpes but alone and aboue all other séeking their helpe at him Of saintes the virgin Mary is of most worthy fame yet is she farre of frō hauing power to helpe in earth the sonnes of men Therefore she in her life for a lesson till the end of death to all Dauids house in the Gospell being called vpon of the seruitors at the mariage sayth Whatsoeuer he biddeth you do speaking of her sonne Christ se that ye do it And when Elizabeth this holy priestes wife had saluted her she acknowledged Gods mercie to be the cause and sayd My soule doth magnifie the lord c. And my spirite eke reioyceth in God my Sonne which is my Sauiour for els had I wyth the rest of the sinfull world both soule and bodie perished into eternall fire had not this Christ by the spirite of God my Lord bene conceited and borne not of me alone but to and nor me also Secōdly he hath promised by al his Prophets to deliuer vs from error that this Christ is not to be found els where then in Dauids house by the which as all false Christes are descried so also the true Church is hereby approuedly knowne For as after the flesh Christ is of the line of Dauid so spiritually Dauids house signifieth his new Church and in the same wise Christ is by the Prophets called sundrie times Dauid aswell by Jeremie as Ezechiel where the church is prophesied to serue God and Dauid their king vz. christ the sonne of Dauid For Dauid was now long sith departed to the Lord and again sayth the Lord I will set vp a shepherd ouer them euen my seruaunt Dauid c. And my seruaunt Dauid that is Christ shal be the Prince among them I the lord haue spoken it Therefore good Reader of force it must be so The house wherin this Princely Dauid raigneth and this priestly Prophet teacheth is the church of true Israelites the vnfayned house of Jacob to the which and for the which the Angels discend and ascend dayly by the commaundement of our King to the ministring comfort of his
downe by the LORDE in his woorde to haue Iustification without measure because of their numbered vertues suche I saye haue loste that they sought for nor could atteyne to that they would to saye deliuerance from their Spirituall Enemies and to be accompted iust before the Lorde the Apostle so witnesseth saying Israell which followed the Lawe of righteousnesse coulde not atteyne to the Lawe of Righteousnesse because they sought it not by Fayth but as it were by the workes of the Lawe for they haue stombled at the stombling stoane that is they are offended at the Christe which GOD hath set to be the Righteousnesse for his people and refusinge him and his merites they rest vppon the shyuering staffe of their imagined holynesse But the Gentilles sayth Paule which folowed not righteousnes haue atteined vnto righteousnes euen the righteousnes that is of faith that is to say the true righteousnes which cānot be bought by desert but is atteined by faith in the promise of god Here let our enemies the papists wey well with them selues how far they are frō the sense of truth If the holy fathers accepted with God in great fauor receiued not otherwise thē by his mercies his promised christ in him their saluation ful deliuerance also if they séeking him vnfeynedly with sinceritie of harte came so far short of merit the had not the exhibiting mercy preuented his prouoked iustice the same our fathers had perishe How then can they or man or angell for thē obteine for vs saluation or remission of our sinnes by any merit that can procéede frō a creature or creaturs The merits of the papistes are eyther the weight of their Massing Sacrifyces the bloud of Martyres the absolute power of theyr Pope or that which they thinke neuer fayleth the good workes of men men As for the meritte of their masse out of all question it meriteth neyther pardon with God the father nor place in the church of christ his sonne But it being vsed doth derogate as much as it may the Power of Christ whiche alone of God is set vp to for his church in Dauids house and arrogateth the honor of Christ and his office to that abhonable Idoll But beloued children of God geue attentiue eare to the Apostolicall wordes written to the Hebrues and thou shalt plainely perceiue by the power of Gods spirite that the one oblation of christes naturall body on the crosse in his death hath for euer not onely taken away from vs the wrath of God reward of sin but hath therewith abrogated the solempne sacrifices cōmaunded by himselfe in his written word and also hath taken away for all times to come all power from any man or angell to set vp any other sacrifice or oblation propitiatory in place thereof wherefore he sayth by the will of God by the sacrifice of Christ ordeyned of God we are sanctified euen by the Offering of the bodye of Iesus Christ once made Vers 11 And in the same place hée denyeth that the Sacrifyces commaunded of GOD can longer preuayle because that the true Sacrifyce Christ Iesus is alreadye Offered of which and whom they were Fygures Vers 12 And also denyeth that this Christ is any more to be Offered but playnely affyrmeth hym after that his once Oblation to fitte for euer at the Ryght hande of the Father and shall not thence come till his enemies be made his footstole And that all men might be Satisfyed he addeth a reasō wherefore saying for wyth one Offering hath he consecrated for euer those that are Sanctifyed And moreouer he calleth the Holy Ghost for witnesse of the same as in the 15. and 16. verses following and so concludeth vp his Assertion That since Christ Iesus hath thus redéemed vs there is no more Offering for sinne of one or other but in place thereof there is sayth hée set vppe to and for vs an entering into lyfe by a more beautifull manner which hée there calleth a newe and liuing way prepared for vs through the person Christ which is our hye Priest who requireth not sacrifice of vs Vers 23 but an approching hart made pure in conscience and body from sinne by fayth c. Therefore away wyth your Popishe trash your masking masses can no longer shaddowe the trueth Further I pray you whether doth God at any time accept the man for the Sacrifyce or the Sacrifyce for the man I trow the Text sayth that God regarded not Cayn or his Sacrifyce and contrarily he accepted Habell and his Oblation which sturred vp Cayn his wrath to kill his Brother Habell Here it is plaine God respecteth first the man and then his sacrifice if the man be not acceptable his sacrifyce is abhominable as in the Prophet Esay the Lord reproueth the Iewes for their paynefull seruing in will worshippe and sayth he abhorreth their deuises and will not turne towards them with fauor though their sacrifices be costly because they are sinful that offer them And the people for whom they are offred are the children of sinne their handes are full of bloud yea they geue to God that which he asketh not and therefore dislyking vtterly thereof he sayth who required this at your handes And there teacheth them to amend from their Wicked wayes to washe them from their sinnes so will he accept them and their Oblations Christ himselfe also doth nothing more pacifie the Fathers wrath in his most holy sacrifyce then in respecte that according to the Fathers wyll he hath yéelded himselfe for an Oblation as he was of him appoynted by his written woorde saying a body hast thou ordeyned me and loe I am here to doe thy wyll Let the Pope and his Clergye as Christ here doth shew vs the heauenly God or Father his holy written will for their accepted persones in Sacrifysing for the Quicke and Deade and for suche their fayned propitiatorie Sacrifyces and we will not shame for losse of credit to subcribe vnto them But this they can not and therefore they hate the scriptures and would not that wée shoulde Studye in them Because they knowe that there by their Idolatrye is bewrayed and their Trecherie made knowen and that both they and their Sacrifyces are wyth Cayn odious in Gods sight Oh that therefore we coulde wyth our Zachary retourne the Phrase of Popishe speache to the Forge that fyrst framed the same and coulde acknowledge our Saluatson to consist in Gods mercye alone by the meritte of his Sonne Christ in that his Sacrifyce in his naturall Bodye Crucifyed on the crosse once for al al ages By the which sayth the Apostle Peter wée are deliuered from Sinne to liue in righteousnesse for by the b strypes of Iesus Christes Death wée are made whole The bloud of Sayntes is their other Imagined meritte for mennes Saluations and Gods fauour But good reader of Sayntes the Apostles are chiefe and hath not Christ taught
to sweare truely that which hee himselfe knoweth by sight or self hearing and not to leane vpon other mens reportes Furthermore let no man frame himselfe to sweare for trifling things or lightly prouoked but in mere necessitie then with graue consideration and reuerent regard of Gods presence before whom wée all stand whose eyes behold the déedes of all men whose eares receaue the whispering spéech of the déepe dissembling harte Trēble therefore to sweare for light matters or at euery mans first perswasion for an oth is the extreme poynt of Gods ordinance to bée vsed of men and before Magistrates to banish braules and contention and to conserue the peace and vtilitie of his church The fourth and last poynt is that wée sweare in Justicia Let not your othes sayth he be contrary to right and godlines but thereby séeke to geue to euery man that which of right is due vnto him whether in cases pertayning to God to godly Magistrates or to any other sorts of men And let the loue of God and of eour Christian brethren wyth regard of the onely truth hée alwayes your guide in swearing and not the faces of sinfull men In any case beware of too much credite in other men geue thy selfe his true Iusticia that is to say let thine owne eyes thy reason thy conscience thy faith thy honestie thy person with his name fame and crauing credite kéepe him selfe subiect to the Lord his God in holines and righteousnes in the middle of the euill world al the dayes of thy lyfe Farre bée it from thée to become the slaue of the riche in thy swearing the foresworne tenaunt of thy leude prouoking landlord or a chayned lumpe of flesh to the bones of thy kindred by such meanes or any wayes else to bée caried from the truth to the hurt of an other though hée bée thine enemie or to the condemnation of thine owne soule by a false othe to purchase thy friend his pleasure Finally if thou shalt embrace that which here thou art exhorted vnto and shalt abhorre that which thou readest here forbidden of God thou shalt in such swearing blesse his name and he shall acknowledge thée for his child and in his Christ shall defend thée from the force and rage of the mighty wicked in earth and shall geue thée in the end of this thy life thy resting place and dwelling house his holy Tabernacle the heauenly blisse as the Prophet Dauid doth witnesse in the fiftenth Psalme most comfortably to the reading of the which I referre thée Now are we come to that which we erst promised vz. to speake of our deliuerance from our enemies by this erected horne Christ whereto god hath sworne that we should not only giue him the more credit but also shuld frame our selues in him to lead the life that such redemption requireth at our hands But this redemption reacheth to the ends of the world therfore what kind of enemies so euer or in what sort they bend their battrie against vs God by this Scripture with other his promises hath assured vs the victory and from our foes full deliuerance Our enemies are sinne Satan the world and the flesh who in all ages haue not onely troubled the church people of god with grosse and carnall vices but haue set vp in the sayde Church a fourme of Religion deuised in Hell carying the title of holinesse and Gods seruice wherewith they haue more easely drawne the multitude of men from GOD to such sinne vnder the cloke of deuotion to their perpetuall confusion and shame This imagined holinesse and humane religion did Sathan first broche in the church of Iesus vnder Moyses and eftsones renued the same as hée could chaunging him selfe after the fashion of euery age preuayleth till the time of Christ and the Pharisies and since also hath playd his part in the Synagoge of Rome of whose filthie cup the Kynges and Nations of the earth haue tasted to their extreme dronkennes This is the greatest enmitie that Sathan can worke to Gods people vnder coulour of séeking and seruing him to drawe them quite from his Maiestie and in such sort blyndeth their eyes and wyth his fierie Dartes so kendleth their carnall zeale that in the will worshippe of their owne inuention they spare no cost or shunne any payne to séeme more then religious therein In this our age the Church of England is vexed wyth two horrible Impes and messengers of our enemie Sathan as sent of hym to molest our happie state to stoppe the ioyes that wée are to conceiue in our most comfortable Christ The first imphe is the forraine papisticall foe the seconde is our domesticall Englishe hipocrites The forrayne Papistes beyonde the seas haue bent their force agaynst the truth professed here in Englande and to encounter wyth the same haue prepared a double shot agaynst this frontire our religion The one shooting slaunder by rayling penne at the truth and persons professing the same the other charged wyth treason and Popishe pouder shooteth at the state and person of our souereigne as at the Liefetenaunt of the Lordes bande But from them both the Lorde in his great mercie hath and doth deliuer vs And with the truth of his Gospel by such habilitie as he geueth to his church and ministerie in these our dayes doth so ouertake the wylinesse of our aduersaries that their penned bookes are in euery respect learnedly and truly made knowne as they are to be ouer weake to breake the Walles of Gods church much lesse to confounde the Doctrine professed in the same Wherfore as men alwearied in wofull wast labors after sundrye conflictes hauing spent all their popish muniments in this war they pray a peace take a day of truce and so by scilence subscribe to the conquering truth which by his force their pouertie they are compelled vnto The charged shot of treason which the Romanistes haue trayled to this nation are they not by the Lord before the time of their discharge and without the strength of man broken al in péeces The smith that framed them the pope I say is he not ashamed to sée his Platforme put to foyle What Nation doth hée more enuie then this our happye Land What confederacies doth he make with sundrie conspiracies both wyth in and wyth out the Lande against the Lord and his anoynted Prince What offers of ayde what practises for proofe of good successe hath his vnholy holinesse assayde in this Lande and yet the Lorde hath deliuered and preserued from al his subtle engines both her maiestie and vs that she should be mauger his bearde the Nurssing Moother not onely to the Churche vnder her gouernement but also to the Afflicted members of Iesus CHRIST which that Huge Dragon doth Persecute from place to place And happye may her Maiestie be that GOD vouchsafeth to select her béeing a weake woman from among the mightie Monarchies of
he sheweth himselfe bent to mercie But if both he spare to strike and spende his holy labors by his Propheticall preachers in vaine to the people to whom he sendeth them then and there will he poure out his double plagues to their vtter confusion Let Jerusalem alone suffize to testifye the same And grant O Lord more grace to England that we in no sort receue this thy long suffering aboundant gracious light of thy blessed truth in vaine for thy sonnes sake For then assuredly as it now appeareth by thy handy work is become to be the best Receptacle for thy afflicted members So shall it then be sene an horrible Cage for euery foule byrde and fylthie gryppe and in stede of songes of mirth and ioy howling lamentation and mourning for her great desolation shall found her sorow to the heauens redoūd to the earth againe accompanied wyth thy most terrible plagues in vehement sort Oh the securitie of England Oh the manifest contempt of the English nation Oh the depe dissimulation that enuironeth so the borders of this land as no wher thence it were permitted to haue his passage Wel God sēdeth to thée yet once Zachary Iohn Bap. in plentiful sort to cry with exalted voice incessantly repēt for the day of the Lord is at hand And through the preaching of truth they open the way to saluation in Christ Happie be thou ye twise blessed oh miserable England canst thou in time lende thyne Eares and laye thy hearte to the touche of truethe in this the daye of thy moste louing visitation And thy day of appearing canst be readye to tourne to thy Lorde who shall purge thée lyke vnto moste pure Syluer But if the Lorde take from thée Oh Englande his Worde and Preaching then Desolation is imminent For when Preaching fayleth the people perishe and dye for want of their spiritual breade the force of their lyfe Where is the beautie of the former Hierusalem What is become of the Learned Chorinth the pryde of all Achaia And where is the former glory of that Christian Antioche Is not the east Churche wholy become an Apostata from God and them selues betrothed to the seruitude of sinne his huge enemies And what shal we say of that roging Rome which somtime was the deare church of God is she not now become the seate of Antechrist and the Sinagogue of Sathan Yes forsooth Whence flowed the Floudes of Godlinesse thence commeth the Waters of fylth in the streame of Idolatrie superstition adulterie homicide treason murder couetousnesse and sinnes agaynst nature and the holy Ghost There as in a mirrour we may sée the testimonie of Paule speaking of the Heathen Idolators to the Godly Romanes verifyed For when they professed themselues to be wise they became fooles turning the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of a corruptible man c. Wherefore God gaue them vp also to their hartes lustes vnto vnclearnesse to defyle their owne bodies betwéene themselues which tourned the trueth of God to a lye and worshipped and serued the Creature forsaking the Creator which is blessed for euer Amen For this cause sayth Paule God gaue thē vp vnto vile affections The spirit of god foreseeing the lyke Idolatry and sinne to followe in this satanicall Sea warned them by these former plagues to auoyde the seconde destruction set downe by Iohn the diuine in the Reuelation But sith this seate is set for Antechrist and that no man can safely vnder her harbor be sure from Gods wrath or can be permitted to nussle as the Sowe in the myery puddles of her broken Cesternes Let vs wyth on consent recoyle to the commaundement of the Spirite which soundeth the retire from Romish Babilon and her damnable desolation lest running in her chase we be ouertaken by the Lorde which persecuteth her wyth al arma of sundry and sodeyne Fyghtes to her most terrible ouerthrow And always haue before thine eyes that pyller of Salt which sometime was the holy Lots wife who for her great loue she bare to her line bloud which would not lende their eares to God receiued a monstrous shape and lost the beutie of her first Creation A notable example certaynely Vers 10 And to giue knowledge of saluation vnto his people by remission of their sinnes The office of Iohn and how he is to prepare the way of the Lorde is here by Zacharie set downe namely by the Preaching of repentance and driuing the Iews to the view of their sins wherby they might be the more apt to receiue Christ by fayth in him saluation for their sins true righteousnes eternall lyfe This preparation is so requisite as without the same neither shall the wounded man féele his griefe or the dreined conscience gaspe thirst after christes bloud the founteine of health to euery dry sinning soule pined sinner that hungreth his water of life Wherfore his inestimable merit hath not onely giuen a sauiour but hath sent a heauenly voyce to cry out to our deade deafe bodies the knowledge of life and way to saluation which commeth to vs by the forgeuenes of our sinnes at the hands of our good God most merciful father he hauing fully satisfyed his iustice in the person of our crucifyed Christ the chastisement of our peace Thrée especiall poyntes this verse containeth first by what means saluatiō is atteined euen by the forgeuenes of sins Secondly whose sinnes are forgeuen Onely the sinnes of Gods elect chosen people Thirdly the way by the which they atteine to so hie a price Euen by that they haue this saluation made so apparant to them by the ministery of Preaching that they apprehende by fayth Gods spirit opening the hart of the hearer Concerning the first whence new iustification is had is apparantly sene by our Prophet namely that their sinnes be forgiuen thē Neither is there in any one to purchase such remission for then should not our iustification stand in forgiuenes but in mans purchase so god in bestowing life should not giue vs his son but according our merit and his debt pay to vs christ our desert which were to vttermost pestilent blasphemy against God and his Gospell So God loued the world sayth Christ that he gaue his only begoten sonne c. But this verse teacheth vs that our saluatiō is had by the remission of sins seteth downe both the meane for vs to apprehende lyfe and the cause of lyfe also The meane or hande whereby we take holde of christ which is our lyfe is fayth norished and bred in our hartes by the worde preached which accepteth christ as of the Father he is giuen and by the scriptures he is discribed vnto vs The cause here expressed is gods loue who hath predestinate to lyfe all those whom he hath translated from the poynte of death to the kingdome of his deare sonne and from