A Myrror for Martinists And all other Schismatiques which in these dangerous daies doe breake the godlie vnitie and disturbe the Christian peace of the Church Published by T. T. Math. 4. 24. Take heed what ye heare LONDON Printed by Iohn VVolfe 1590. The Preface THE Apostle Paul exhorting euerie Christian to take vnto him vniuersam illam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that same compleat armour of a godly man willeth him to girde himselfe with the girdle of truth This truth seemeth to haue great affinitie with mans nature because wee are made after Gods owne image who is truth it selfe that wee might expresse the same in our life in our words and in our maners But by reason of original sinne we all haue made shipwracke of the truth euerie man is become a liar Yet what man is he so vnregenerate that in open shew seemeth not to like and loue truth Doe not the greatest liers and most false accusers pretend truth Celsus and Antiphon two heretiques called their bookes Bookes of truth The false Prophets which deceiued Achab made a great brag of truth The deuill who can transforme himselfe into an Angel of light when he tempted Christ had in his mouth the infallible truth of Gods word But Prosper sayth very well Parum est si verum in ore est et falsum in corde And an other father to the same purpose saith Nihil prodest quia hymnum cantat lingua tua si sacrilegium exhalat vita tua It is a verie vile thing to haue truth in the mouth and falshood in the heart A theefe many times is not knowen by his face from a true man Experience proueth that as poisoning hearbes do grow greene as well as the wholesome And as counterfait golde looketh to the eie so faire as good coine so doth falsehoode appeare oftentimes like the truth yea to some more plausible and acceptable For art and science which should serue for the truth are by the subteltie of sathan verie often retayned against the same The wisest creature among beasts the serpent I meane was by the deuil abused to set forth lies to the seducing of the first man And do we not see that the same deuill imploieth still art learning ripe wittes and other good gifts which God hath giuen vnto men against the truth to wit such as are in the Papists Heretiques Brownists the familie of Loue Martinistes and all Schismatiques which neuer cease peruerting the truth It were to be wished that the lips of these men might be continually sealed as was the mouth of the image Angerona the Goddes of silence For better it were for them to be dumbe images of a vaine Goddesse then the clattering false spirites of sathan The hurt that may come vnto thee Christian Reader by the poison of these vipers if it do but touch thee for Sub melle latet venenum vnder the greene grasse lieth a serpent and falsehood is couloured with truth hath made me carefull for thy good to publish this small treatise Therefore such as it is take it well in worth and forget not this caueat of our sauiour Christ saying Take heede what ye heare Vlterius ne tende odijs A Myrror for Martinists WHen I call to minde the graue sentence of our sauiour Christ Wisedome is iustified of her children and doe beholde the miserable contentions with which the Church of England at this day is so vexed and turmoiled by the children of follie I cannot but on the one side condemne the late Martine libellers and their fauorites who hauing a bad cause do as leudly handle the same and on the other side mislike some repliers who notwithstanding they haue chosen the better part yet handle it not so charitably and modestly as it requireth And albeit the first scandale commeth by those foolish workers of iniquitie yet Angerona the Goddes of silence might better haue answered them then men of vncircumcised lips whose euill wordes corrupt good manners for wisedome will not in such sort be iustified of her children She is louing saith Salomon and will not absolue him that blasphemeth with his lips nay she will bring to passe that the iudgement of reproch shall not suffer him to escape These things considered I haue thought good to tender this Myrror to take from the face manifest spots wishing as hartely that the Church might be as frée from those Martine Libellers as they séeme to wish it to bee without all manner of blemishes and imperfections But although the Church of Christ for her simplicitie is called a doue for her fruitfulnes a vine for her beautie a rose for her strength mount Sion and for her holines a Priesthood yet is it not so pure and simple so long as it is vppon earth but that it fostereth foxes and wolues not so fruitfull but it hath thornes and thistles not so strong but the tyrants of the worlde doe sometime assaile and shake the same neither is it so holy but that prophane and wicked men séeme to haue place therein Our sauiour Christ sayd that the kingdome of heauen which is the Church hath in it fishes good and bad virgins wise and foolishe cockle and wheate yet these are not of the substance but as it were the dregs and excrements thereof The bodie of Christ is liuely neither hath it anie dead members and therefore Saint Iohn speaking of false Apostles sayth They went out from vs because they were not of vs for if they had ben of vs they had surely tarried with vs. Assuredly the wicked are conuersant in the Church no otherwise saith Saint Augustine then are corrupt and naughtie humours in a mans bodie for euen as those trouble corrupt the health so these vexe and disquiet the Church and are loathsome vnto Christ himselfe insomuch that he spueth them out of his mouth and will saie vnto them in that great daie Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie They then are too péeuish and wayward which at this day doe faine and imagine to themselues a Church so reformed héere in earth as they will haue nothing out of square in the same doe looke for that here which is no where to be found but in heauen And if they finde not the Church according to their conceit they incontinent forsake the same and make a scisme Which to the Church according to Cyprians opinion is more permitious than idolatrie For hee sayth that heresie and schisme succéeded in the place and selfe same degrée that idolatrie had afore time Christi aduentu prostratus inimicus vides idola derelicta c. The enimie Sathan being ouerthrowen by the comming of Christ séeing idols forsaken and his sees and temples to be left desart by reason of the great multitude of faithfull people deuised a new subtiltie vnder the verie title and name of Christianity to deceiue the vnwary he found out I saie heresies and
Samaritans did which caused great contention betwéen them and the Iewes in religion as it is to be séene in Iosephus Now a daies this vniformitie of many inconstant men is loathed noueltie desired who are euer learning deuising neuer holde anie thing firme and certaine Tertullian a most ancient writer doth in his booke de Praescriptionibus shew that in his time there were the like sort of men which continually did search the Scriptures that they might thence bring forth some new thing and were wont alwayes to defend themselues with these wordes of the Gospell Seeke and yee shall finde To whom he answereth in déede we must séeke but yet onely those things which pertaine to our saluation and not strange things which are nothing necessarie but are rather contrarie to the Scriptures and rule of our faith For like as he which hath found that which is true right ceaseth from séeking so he which continueth séeking testifieth thereby that he hath not yet found out the truth There is an end of séeking beyond the which we may not passe For the Christian faith is not such whose end cannot be found so that we shoulde haue néede alwayes to séeke And this is confirmed by the Euangelist S. Iohn who sayth y e Christ did many things which were not written for if they shoulde haue beene orderly written the world could not containe them But he addeth These thinges are written that ye might beleeue that Iesus is Christ the sonne of God and that so beleeuing yee might haue lyfe through his name And héerein wée sée commonly the most blinde the most bolde the more ignorant the more busie and the least wittie to be most inquisitiue With such kinde of men Saint Basil was also troubled in his time who beeing in godly conference with the Emperour Valens about pointes of religion one Demosthenes which was the Emperours cooke rudely woulde interrupt him and peruert places of Scripture according to his fantasie and purpose whose presumption Saint Basil béeing no longer able to beare hee méekely reproued him with these wordes Tuum est de pulmentariis cogitare non dogmata diuina decoquere It belongeth to thy office to make pottage and not to make a hotchpot of Scripture The heathen misliked that the shoomaker should censure aboue the shooe and woulde that Carpenters onely should because they best coulde deale with buildings Tractant fabrilia fabri c. He therefore is a good and true Christian which loueth the simple truth of God stayeth himself in true religion and abideth firme and stable in the faith what nouelties so euer anie one or a few light heads shall deuise in corners knowing that they doe not appertaine vnto religion but rather vnto temptation the which also the Apostle confirmeth saying There must bee sectes that the perfect among you may bee knowen And obserue it who that list at the first budding forth of euery noueltie the grauitie and steadfastnes of the wheate and the lightnes of the chaffe is by and by discerned For the chaffe is carried hether and thether with euerie vaine blast of erronious doctrine One while through rash presumption they approue and allow those things which séeme vncertain another while they stand in doubt through a feare without reason of those things which are certayn vncertayne they are which way to take or which way to returne what to take holde of or what to let passe Thus being out of the safe hauen of truth they are tossed with the waues of diuers cogitations and so are compelled to pull downe their sayles of pride which before they had spread abrode through the blasts of nouelties Which when I consider with my selfe I cannot meruayle enough at so greate madnes and so great a desire that some men haue to erre that not being contented with good and profitable rules of most ancient Ecclesiasticall gouernment doe still from day to day deuise and séeke after new and strange plats to fit theyr fansies and doe euer in the store house of theyr vayne conceites finde some thing to adde to change and to pull from religion as if it were not a diuine and heauenly thing which sufficeth not to be once well established but an earthly institution which cannot otherwise be made perfect but by a continuall and daylie reformation or rather reprehension Whereas the wise man giueth this counsaile Goe not from the doctrine of the Elders for they haue learned it of their fathers and of them thou shalt learne vnderstanding And the Apostle after the same manner instructeth Tymothe O Tymothe keepe that which is committed vnto thee auoide prophane vaine bablings oppositions of science falsly so called which while some professe haue erred concerning the faith O Tymothe sayth hee keepe that which is committed vnto thee c. The Apostle begins with an exclamation procéeding from a propheticall and most charitable spirite foreséeing sorrowing the errours to come Tymothe doth beare the image and representation of the cleargie at this daie In consideration of théeues and enemies Tymothe hath matter of charge committed to his safe kéeping least men sléeping they shoulde sowe tares vpon the good séede wheate which the sonne of man hath sowen in his field Keepe sayth he that which is committed vnto thee not that which thy selfe hast found which thou hast receiued not that which thou hast deuised a matter not of wit but of doctrine not of priuate vsurpatiō but of publique tradition a matter brought and deliuered vnto thée not set forth by thée whereof thou oughtest not to be the author but the kéeper not the institutor but the follower Keepe saith he that which is committed vnto thee that is kéep the talent of faith and truth inuiolate let that abide with thée which is committed vnto thée and let that onely be deliuered by thée Thou hast receiued gold deliuer gold again I would not haue thée chop and change deceitfully and as one deuoide of shame craftily to tender copper in stead of golde but pure and perfect golde such as thou hast receiued O Tymothe O most reuerend Doctor and teacher as God hath furnished thée with good giftes méete to teach so shew thy self a right Bezaleel of the spirituall tabernacle set forth the precious gemmes of Gods word place them faithfully and polish them wittily that they may be resplendant and beautifull let it be plainly vnderstoode by thy exposition which afore time was obscurely beléeued let this latter time be thankfull to thée for the vnderstanding of it which the former ages haue reuerenced not vnderstoode notwithstanding so teach those things which thou hast learned y ◠when thou speakest them newly thou speakest not nouelties But some man will saie do ye then mislike that there should be anie profiting and good procéeding in religion No verilie it is most to be desired And who is he so enuious vnto men and so abhominable vnto God which goeth about
to forbid this But yet there must be great care had that it be a procéeding in déed and not rather a backsliding an innouation alteration from good to euill It is a profiting and a good proceeding when a thing is amplified and enlarged in it selfe and it is an alteration or innouation when one thing is transposed into another The vnderstanding knowledge and wisedome as well of euerie one as of all men as well of one man as of the whole Church must of necessitie grow greatly profit by the degrées of ages times but yet onely in one kind y â— is to saie in one religion in one sense and in one and the selfe same opinion The religion of mens soules may be resembled vnto y â— course and order of their bodies which albeit they growe to their full stature and bignesse by processe of time and yeres yet they are the verie same still that they were before There is great difference betweene the blossome of youth and the ripenes of age and yet olde men are the verie same that they were when they were yong insomuch that although the stature apparell and forme of the man be altered yet the nature abideth all one and the person is the same Small are the members of sucking babes greater when they be yong men yet all one the same The child hath as many sinewes vaines anâ— bones as the olde man and looke what the more ripe age hath the same did the séede of infancie bring forth so that olde men haue nothing new in them which afore time laie not hid in children There is no doubt then but that this is the most true rule of profiting the sure and comely order of growing when age alwaies discouereth those partes and formes in the greater which the wisdome of the creator made before in the smaller But if the forme of man be turned afterward into any other similitude and likenes then of his owne kinde or if he haue anie more or fewer members then he should the bodie then must néedes either decay or els become monstrous In like sorte Christian religion must follow these lineaments of profiting to wit in yeres it must bée made sound and perfect in time extended and inlarged in time extolled and aduanced and yet so that it abide vncorrupted and pure full and perfect in all the proper members and sences therof because it will not suffer alteration or innouation no losse of propertie nor anie varietie of definitioÌ„ As for example Our forefathers of olde time I meane in time of the Primitiue Church did sowe in this ecclesiasticall sowing the séedes of pure faith It were now vnfit that we their posteritie in sted of the true and pure grain should choose the deceitfull errors of tares but this rather is more méete and agréeing that the first the last not disagréeing with themselues wée reape the fruite from the increase of pure instruction and also of pure religion that when the first sproutes of those séedes by processe of time begin to appeare and is now prosperous and garnished yet nothing of the propertie of the naturall séede is altered And although another forme difference and distinction be added yet the same nature of kinde remaineth For God forbidde that the rosarie plant of true religion should be turned into briers and thornes Yea God forbid that in this spirituall Paradise the swéete Sinamom and fragrant Balsamus trees should yield forth fodenlie and vnlooked for deadlie poison Therefore whatsoeuer hath bene sowen in this church which is Gods husbandrie hath bin sowen by the faithfull and painfull labours of their fathers the same ought now to be trimmed and garnished by the industrie of the children and posteritie the same must flourish and waxe ripe the same must profite and be profited For it is meet that those ancient decrees of heauenlie Philosophie shoulde by processe of time be adorned beautified and polished but vnmâ—et to be changed abridged or maimed They may receiue cleerenes light and distinction and yet retaine fulnesse integrity and proprietie If this wicked libertie to chop and change to alter to innouate to set vp and pull downe according to euerie fantasticall deuice be granted I feare to thinke and quake to speak in what danger religion shall be to be defaced and quite abolished The which one done but in part we shall haue euerie yere euerie moneth nay euerie daie a new religion For the parts by little and little being reiected what will followe at the last but that the whole also shall be banished And if nouelties may displace auncient godly rules if prophane men may deface goldie Fathers which stand as pillers in the Church it wil at the last come to this that nothing in the Church shall bee leste vntouched nothing sound nothing free whereby in the end y â— which was afore time the closet of a chast pure and vncorrupt truth shall become a filthie sinke of abhominable errours and a soule cage of vncleane birdes But God for his mercie furne this awaie far from the mindes of his chosen and let this bee rather the furie and madnesse of the wicked The Church of Christ being a vigilant and wary keeper of the doctrine committed to her doth not change diminish nor alter anie thing at anie time concerning the same It cutteth not off necessarie matter it doth not adde superfluous thinges it looseth not that which belongeth to her it vsurpeth not forain and prophane things but withall endeuour she seeketh this that making much and embracing the most ancient rules and precepts faithfullie and wiselie the may further aduance that which at the first was but begun she may ratifie and establish things expressed and manifested may constantly keepe whatsoeuer was before confirmed and determined But to returne to the wordes of the Apostle O Tymothe saith he keepe that which is committed vnto thee and auoide prophane and vaine bablings Shunne saith he such as a viper as a scorpion and as a most dangerous serpent least they strike thee not onely by touching thee but also by their sight and breath Auoid them that is with such see you deale not If anie come vnto you saith the Apostle and bringeth not this doctrine What doctrine The Gospell of our Sauiour first preached by him then by Saint Peter Saint Paul and the rest of the Apostles and which hath so remained from age to age by the incorrupt tradition of truth and shall also so continue for euer vnto the worldes end What then Receiue him not to house neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his euill Auoide saith Saint Paul prophane and vaine bablings And what is that Truelie such speeches and writings as sauour nothing of holinesse or religion with the which such as are members of the true Church are not acquainted Compare then the late seditious books of Martine and his mates with this sentence of
bodie of the flesh and of the bones of Christ that we be most néerely conioyned vnto him and the giftes which we haue bee deriued vnto vs by God through the flesh of Christ giuen for our sake vppon the crosse and so by the flesh of Christ we be coupled and vnited to God And in the Gospel of Saint Iohn Christ praieth thus for his Church Cause you that they may be one euen as I am in thée and thou art in me The vnitie of the Church therfore by the places alleadged consisteth in the spirit in the word of God in the Sacraments in a most néere bond with Christ who is the head of all the members of the Church This vnitie we must by no meanes breake but first séeke all the waies that possible we can to make the same safe and sound Bernard an ancient Father of the Church saith that neyther praier sacrifice nor anie thing else pleaseth God better then our concord and vnitie and that nothing grieueth the deuill more then that we should liue in vnitie For if we fast saith he the deuill seareth it not because he neuer eateth if we watch he careth not because he neuer sleepeth if we praie he regardeth it not because he neuer praieth but that we should be in vnitie it displeaseth him because we being men and on the earth should doe that which hée could not doe being an Angell in heauen Wee knowe it now by experience that Fratrum odia acerbissima and that inimici hominis domestici eius that the hatred of brethren is most grieuous and that a mans enemies shall be they of his owne housholde The Church of God neuer receiued more detriment by the tyrannie of papists then she hath and doth dailie by the cruell hatreds of false and dissembling brethren If therefore ye intend to be citizens of that heauenly Ierusalē Subtraite vos ab omni frate ambulante inordinatè Withdrawe your selues from euerie brother that walketh inordinatly and vnderstand that the earthly Ierusalem is builded as a citie that is at vnitie in it selfe Of the Primitiue Church it is said that they continued with one accord in praier and the multitude of them that beléeued were of one heart and of one soule If ye wil abide in this vnity then must ye be alwaies constant in the truth and not depend vpon men For through inconstancy the peace of the church which is the bond of vnitie is many times broken when as our affections and likings of men is such that therafter as ye loue thē so ye like their doctrine For ye regard the messenger and not his message ye looke vpon the earthen vessell and not vpon the heauenly treasure therein contained And hereof it commeth to passe that ye doe contemne and despise not onely wholsome doctrine but also the minister and preacher thereof and then commeth such a nicenes and choice liking of some that at the last followeth also an vtter loathing of others whom before ye greatly liked Thus hath the common multitude alwayes behaued thēselues towards the ministers of the Gospell Yea thus was our sauiour Christ himselfe handled among the Iewes who one while would néeds make him a king and anon after was ready to kill him one while they called him Rabbi and another while a Samaritan saying that he had the deuill they which once loued his doctrine sayd afterward this is a hard saying And as Christ himselfe so also were Apostles rewarded at their auditors hands and no meruaile for the disciple is not aboue his master It is inough for the disciple if he be as his master is Therefore Iohn the Baptist had such estimation for a while when he first began to preach the Gospell that he was taken of most men for the Messiah yet stood he not long before he lost his head When Paul Barnabas had wrought that notable myracle vpon y e lame man the people were blindly carried with such inconsiderate zeale that in all hast they would haue done sacrifice vnto them as vnto God but in a moment this hot zeale was so cold towards Saint Paul that they stoned him almost for dead The same Apostle was of the Galathians also reputed for an Angell of God insomuch that if it had bin possible they would haue pluckt out their owne eies for him to do him good but afterward they tooke him for no better then their enemie And why Forsooth because hee preached vnto them the truth Consider and sée if the verie like inconstancie and far worse if worse may be hath not bin among you In the beginning of her Maiesties most happie raigne you had those learned and graue fathers in great estimation which during the time of Quéene Mary suffered exile for the testimony of the gospel some in Geneua some in Frankford and some other in other partes of Germanie and at their first returne to the Church of Englande beeing placed by her Maiestie in the roomes of greatest charge in the Church as tried and approued men that had borne the whole heate and burthen of the daie ye estéemed of them worthily ye were very glad to sée and heare them ye embraced theyr most wholsome doctrine and so ye begun to runne wel in a good course but ye persisted not ye were soone wearie of your olde men and yee must needes haue new and I feare me that this propheticall saying of the Apostle is verified vpon many of you The time will come when they wil not suffer wholsome doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after theyr own lusts get them a heape of teachers and shall turne theyr eares from the truth and shall be giuen vnto fables Be not carried about with euery winde and goe not into euery way for so sayth the wise man doth the sinner that hath a double tongue Such double walking and such dissembling talking will at the last and that ere it be long cause greater diuision and contention among you to the wofull ruine of vs all if it be not amended betimes And if we goe forwarde in discorde and bitter contentions as we haue hetherto done it is greatly to be feared least GOD haue appointed and ordayned that same agaynst vs which in time past he did in the raignes of Dioclesian and Maximian the Emperors when as there were like strifes and contentions in the Church as notably appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall historie written by Eusebius the effect of which history is diligently to be marked for this cause to wit for that in those daies the Church of Christ flourished But the people were vnthankful vnto God and impenitent and the ministers of the Church were ambitious and stirred vp grieuous and hot contentions among themselues Wherefore God being angry with them gaue them into the hands of tyrants who raised vp greater persecutions agaynst the Church then euer was heard of before For thus writeth Eusebius