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
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
Also Christ him selfe sayth that heauen and earth shal passe but not one iote of my word shall passe till all be fulfilled And the Apostle sayth that the doctrine of the Lord is not yea and nay but yea and Amen He speaketh the woord sayth Dauid they were made the times before vs till this presēt witnes of time the beautifull heauens shew forth the faythfulnes of God in his word that the same is most true and strong to the saluation of al that beleue in Christ through it Neither may we imagine that he did sweare thereby to hiue vs example or warrant to vse vaine and blasphemous othes but leauing to the weaknes of our fayth the Lord sware the more to confirme his promises in vs for he hath forbid vs to vse thē by his holy word where nothing is permitted vs to sweare by in heauen or earth no not by the heares of our head but there are we commaunded to frame our harts to honestie truth which shall out of all occasion of othes blasphemies from vs so kepe farre frō our consciēces the accusing worme of the same the vengeance of god which neuer departeth frō the house of the swearer Albeit sometimes we may ought to sweare to the glory of god the end of controuersies in amongst his people being called therto ordinarily thē must we sweare in truth and righteousnes Here would I gladly helpe my countrey of England if in this place I might borowe so large a licence which much vseth this kind of swearing in westminster hal and other the Tribunall seates of this land Many of them sweare and sweat to sweare and offer othes and both borowe and lend the same to satisfie their friends and what is the charge of an oth for the most part many forceth not so to winne their expectatiō by oth they may dispatch their proposed intent But learne a little here of othes good Rearder and first what an oth is An oth is a taking Gods name to witnesse to the better and more stable confirmasion of those things which we vouch in communication or testes or els in couenant or promise assuring those to whom we sweare that nothing but truth procedeth from vs Herein in his due place god is greatly honoured and worshipped hereby we confesse him to be euery where present to behold the hartes and actions of all men to be a reuenger of euil against the offenders in this poynt But if either falsely or for any other respect then for his glories sake and the peace of his people we sweare or séeke to sweare though it be true that we do sweare notwithstanding we sinne though not in the substance of the matter yet in the accidentall part therof because either the fauour of the one or dread of the other or linage bloud or other worldly respectes compelleth vs therto and not the sorce of truth it selfe and this God will plague Surely he wil also plague al such as mixt in their othes the creatures of heauen earth with the name of God by whom alone we must sweare being called therto He that sweareth sayth Esay shal sweare by the true and liuing God. And again Esay saith in the person of God Al knees shal bowe to me and euery tongue shall sweare by my name And as this is commaunded in Scripture so are we there forbidden to sweare by them that are no Gods All that which J haue commaunded you see that ye obserue the same and thinke not vppon the names of their Gods nor let them be once named of you And in Sophony the Lord promiseth and threatneth to destroy and cut of all those that sweare by God and by Malcham That God Maazim the Masse or such blind iudges as offer and geue charge to sweare by God and all saintes or either that wicked vse God our Lady God and saint John. c. Or such as not daring to sweare yet inuent to sweare by fayned new found othes as mat for Masse and gob for GOD and hods body and bloud for our Lordes blessed body and bloud c. There is no lesse wickednesse in the one then in the other for therein we still breake his commaundement that sayth sweare not at all and we declare thereby our willing desire to blasphemie which as we dare not enter into for feare of his vengeance so wée frame our selues as néere thereto as wée can by diuelish daliance much like to Maister Hardinges pleasant spéech of our Ladies spiritual sport with Christ her Sonne when shée in the popish Primer is prayed to saye lube natum c. Considering that these euils are to bée remoued and that swearing is not onely in some respect of GOD permitted but also wée haue now heard commaunded and is a chiefe part of the true seruice and worshippe of our God let vs learne to serue him herein in true holynesse and righteousnesse such as may wel bée accepted before him The which to do wée must obserue that rule in swearing which the Prophet geueth to euery mā appointed to sweare saying Thou shalt sweare sayth he in truth in iudgement and in righteousnes Foure poyntes he teacheth vs to obserue in our swearing First that wée sweare by no lesse then by the liuing God by no dead coniured cake or other Idoll Secondly that we sweare in veritate in truth as if he had sayd play not the hypocrite sweare not with lippes alone but with the hart also séeke not by any meanes to be deceiued in thy soule or to deceaue others by thy craftines in swearing Dare not to pronounce one part of thy mind to the hearing of the Iudge and another secretly to thy selfe As of late a Minister ryding to his reuerend Bishop for a benefice at his returne bostingly sayd as I am credibly informed that he vsed tofore him the same cunning figure of defection called calliditas which in plaine English is lying craftines swearing outwardly to subscribe c. and softly saying to himself as far forth as they are warranted c. Now surely to haue safe warrant of God is necessarie for our subscription in doctrine but to sweare to obserue and to allow of that whereof hée standeth in doubt is a halting with God a mocking of men and a manifest shew of an ill conscience in him that vseth the same which can not bee farre from the curse of God. Sweare truly therefore let heart and tongue goe together and vouch both one thing els thou doest heape Gods wrath vppon thine owne head The third poynt of swearing is to sweare in iudicio that is with discretion not rashly or ouerlightly but first weighing the cause why he sweareth the matter which by oth he is to witnesse the good that may come therof and the wrath of God following false swearing he is