let us look upon the sheep as they are a flock as they are Oves first in the plural number and secondly as Oves meae my sheep the sheep of Christ a multitude or number under the command of one supreme Sheepherd First Oves in the plural number otherwise Christ could have no Church and the great Sheepherd would have never a Flock One sheep can no more properly be called a Flock then one Swallow may be said to make a Summer and on the other side a multitude of sheep without rule or Government is no more a flock then several shreds of Cloth may be called a Garment So is it also with the Church one man though never so replenished with celestial Graces cannot so properly be called a Church as a Chappel of Ease and multitudes of men that live not under one Lord one Faith one Baptisme cannot with such propriety be termed a Church as a confusion of opinions To the making therefore of a Church a Flock there is a number first required and next an union or consolidation of those numbers It s true this number hath not been at all times eminent nor equally conspicuous in all places and yet there have been still a number Seven thousand knees there were in Israel which Elijah knew not that had not bowed themselves to Baal and infinite numbers in the Realm of Judah who never offered sacrifice to that wretched Idol visible Professors of Gods saving truths and devout worshippers of his holy name Nor ever was the Church so destituâ—e of the grace of God as not to hold those necessary fundamental Doctrines which are required unto salvation and those professed and taught in some place or other according to the will and pleasure of Almighty God Since God first had a Church there have still been numbers of Professors though more or lesse according unto times and seasons more in some places then in others although not alwayes in such whole and sound condition so free from erroâ— and corruptions as it ought to be But number simply is not so great a strength to the Church of God as is the unity thereof For as the holy Ghost in the Book of Psalms compares the Church not unto men but to a City a City at unity in it self and in the Canticles not unto Souldiers but an Army an Army terrible with banners so doth he liken it not unto sheep but to a flock a flock new come from washing in the same Song of Solomon a little flock as himself calls it in St. Luke And if a flock it must be then united and collected into one Fold under the leading and command of the same one Sheepherd unum â—vile and unus Pastor being joyned together in this Chapter v. 16. To finde this one Sheepherd who it is we need seek no further then my Text it is Christ our Saviour who therefore calleth them oves meas his own sheep his as the chief sheepherd and proprietary the Lord and owner of the flock And this supreme and universal sheepherd we acknowledge gladly and should account our selves in an ill condition were we not under his command fed by his blessed Word and Sacraments and safely sheltered under the wings of his protection There is indeed another who pretends to this this universal Empire over all the Flock one who cries out with Polyphemus in the Poet Hoc pâ—cus omne meum est that all the sheep upon the Downs are his or like the sheepherd in the Eclogue Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus Agnae and so are all the Lambs on a thousand Hills And whereas antiently it was conceived to be a perfect definition of the Church of Christ viz. that it was a body of men professing one Lord one Faith one Baptisme our Masters in the Church of Rome have now added this sub unius Christi in terris Vicarii Romani Pont. that this collected body must be under the command of the Bishop of Rome A patch subjoyned to the old definition of a Church much like the piece of new Cloth put to an old Garment which our Saviour speaketh of That which is added to it to make up the rent takes from the beauty of the Garment Et scissura fit pejor saith the Text the Schisme or rupture is made worse then before it was For by this patch this new addition the Churches of the East which are large and numerous those of the Moscovites and Aâ—thiopians which are farre more entire though not so populous and all the Churches also of the Reformation are cut off for ever from having any part in David or hope of an inheritance in the sonne of Jesse But with this new Divinity we have nought to do We know but one chief Sheepherd onely even the Lord Christ Jesus whose voyce we are to hear whom we ought to follow If it be asked whether the number or the unity of the flock be the more considerable no question but we must determine it in behalf of unity A small flock if it hold together are lesse obnoxious to the Wolf then multitudes of sheep dispersed and scattered without rule and order Luporum insidiis oves minus patent quod ita catervatim incedant à reliquis non aberrent as mine Authour hath it When the sheep keep together in a flock a Body the Wolf dare hardly meddle with them for it were madness in him to attempt a flock But if he meet them single or in scattered Companies divided from the main Body of their fellows or otherwise stragling from the Fold then takes he his advantage of them and destroyes them utterly As long as Dinah kept her self within the Sanctuary of her Fathers House fenced by the valour of her Brethren and guided by the counsels of a careful Parent it went well with her she preserved her honour But when the gadding humour took her and she must needs abroad to see the Daughters of the Land she forthwith met with Sichem the Sonne of Hamor who seized upon her and defiled her And so it also is with the stragling Christian such as do peevishly divide themselves from the Communion of the Church and wander from the rest of that sacred Body They either fall into the jawes of the roaring Lion who walkes about in expectation of his prey seeking out whom he may devoure or else by hearkening to the voice of strangers whom they should not follow they make themselves a spoyl unto Theeves and Robbers Keep we then all together in one Fold one Flock and so we need not fear the violence of Satan nor the power of Hell nor any mischievous design of malicious men And if we would preserve the spirit of unity in the bond of peace we cannot do it with lesse hazard nor with more assurance then if we hearken diligently to the voyce of Christ and tread with patience in his steps which are the duties to be done
the modern Herbalists Nay many of the ancient writers have observed no lesse Zizania tritico similia esse in arundine dissimilia in fructu the difference is not in the blade or stalk but the fruit alone So saith Euthymius Zigabenus Between the tares and wheat whilest they are yet in herba in the blade or stalk grandis similitudo est there is no small similitude So Hierome Lastly To add no more we are told by Chrysostome that it was Satans cunning to disguise his errors under the mask and veil of truth that so he might more easily seduce the simple and beguile the ignorant And for that very cause saith he he made choice of these tares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being so like unto the wheat in the first appearing that it was very hard to know which was right Tostatus hath affirmed as much in his work on Matthew Nam herba tritici zizaniorum similis est sed grana dissimilia the fruit saith he is different though the blades be like Lay these particulars together and they come to this that the false Doctrines noted and intended in the present Parable were such as had a shew of truth and might be easily mistook for sound Orthodox Tenets but being afterwards discovered and examined were disproved as dangerous So then the errors and false Doctrines which are noted here and said to have been sowen by Satan in medio tritici even in the middle of the Church were not like those of Arius who denied the Deity or of the Valentinians who denied the Manhood of our Lord and Saviour or of the Marcionites and Maniches which blasphemed the very Majesty of God the Father or of the Macedonians who quarrelled the Divinity of the holy Ghost Nor were they finally like those which had been set on foot in the primitive times by those desperate writers who in their severall turns and courses had impiously opposed and quarelled every or any Article of the Christian faith These we may rather liken unto briers brambles discerned as soon as in the blade or in the very first appearance The Church soon spied those Heresies and as soon condemned them nor ever were the servants eyes so heavy as not to note the time and observe the Authors of those wicked Doctrines leaving to us upon record the knowledge and relation of the whole proceedings so that those wretched and blasphemous Heresies wherewith the Church was exercised in the Primitive times were generally but like Jonahs gourd of a dayes continuance or the Solstitial Herbe in Plautus quae repentino ortae sunt repentino occidunt almost as soon supprest as risen Few of them though they had been sowen with all care and cunning came to take deep root fewer to cùm crevisset herba to the blade or blossom but none unto fecissent fructum to bring forth their fruit before they were descried and censured And however some of them as that of Arius became of universall latitude and long continuance so that ingemuit orbis as St. Hierome hath it the whole world groaned under the weight and burden of so foule an heresie yet did it never passe for Wheat or was counted Orthodox but still pursued and execrated as a wicked blasphemy But for these tares the Doctrines and erroneous tenets of the present Parable the case was otherwise either the servants were not able to discern them at first peeping forth or else conceived there was not so much danger in them as in truth there was or else were willing to believe that possibly they might prove wheat and so become a plentiful addition to Gods holy Harvest For either the opinion taken up was but the fancy of few however had in admiration for their parts and learning and so not likely to prevail or some such division from the Churches tenets as did not seem to threaten any present danger to the common quiet and so the lesse to be regarded And this is that which is observed by Lirinensis that many errors and false Doctriens had secretly been introduced into the Church quos nec cito deprehendere valeas nec facil damnare fas ducis which neither could be soon discerned nor were thought fit to be condemned on the first discovery By meanes whereof it came to passe that the said new but false opinions as they were scattered and dispersed when no man saw them so they took root when no man marked them And when they came to cùm crevisset herba when it came to that and that the blade sprung up and had shewn it self yet were they still so like the wheat both in shape and colour that few there were of such a searching and discerning eye as to pronounce aright from what seed they sprung nay when they came unto the triall to fecissent fructum and that their fruit discovered them to be but tares yet then they shewed themselves to the publick view with such a Copy of old age and reputation of Antiquity that they contended for priority with the wheat it selfe Such are the errors and false Doctrines whereof we challenge and accuse the Church of Rome such as a long time passed for truth and were not noted either in the seed or blade Errors which being set on foot by some private men and having gotten credit by continuance and long tract of time were first debated in the Schools as probable afterwards entertained in the Church as true and last of all imposed on mens souls as necessary Errors which at their first appearing did not directly ex professo either oppose the Churches Doctrine or disturb her peace but such as seemed to have upon them the character and superscription of sacred verity and grew up sensim sine sensu with Gods holy truth we charge them not with any of those impious blasphemies or wicked heresies derogatory to the honour of our Lord and Saviour or any other person of the glorious Trinity or any other common principle of the Catholick faith which Simon Magus and the rest of that damned crew have opposed and quarrelled In that they have done bravely for the Church of Christ and publickly opposed those wretched heresies which the Socinians have revived in these latter dayes Utinam sic semper errassent would they had erred thus alwayes had they erred no otherwise as once the Cardinal said of Calvin That which we have to say against them is that they have forsaken their first love like the Church of Ephesus and cast a stumbling-block before the people like to that of Pergamus and suffered the woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to seduce Gods servants from the right way of his Commandements like the Thyatirians So that the aberration from the Gospel which we charge upon them is not from the profession but the purity of the Christian faith not from the outward signes and Sacraments but the sincerity and soundness of Religion not from the Church of Christ but in it
have the hap or the seeming happiness to go down into the grave in peace yet God will finde them at the last and meet with these sowre grapes in his general vintage and tread them in the wine-presse of his indignation And to say truth there are as great and weighty reasons why some mens punishments should follow after them as that the rest should have a trial and essay of their future miseries by those which they endure in this present life for as St. Austin well observes should all mens sins be punished in this present life nihil ultimo judicio reservari putaretur it would occasion some to think that there were no necessity nor use of the generall judgement as on the other side if none nulla esse divina providentia crederetur others would be too apt to think that there were no God or at least rob him of his Providence and say with him in Davids Psalms Tush God doth not see it If therefore God permit the Tares to grow up together with the Wheat it is to shew his patience and longanimity in expectation of their conversion and amendment but that he brings them to the Harvest and moweth them down at last is to shew his justice And doubt we not but that the Lord in his just judgement will destroy those Tares which at this present threaten ruine to his blessed Field when they once be ripe and that we are sufficiently awakened out of that dull security which had seized upon us God dealing still with wicked and seditious men as heretofore with Haman Absâ—lom Achitophel and such other instruments when they have served his turn then he hangs them up But I must tell you this withall that if we do exexpect an Harvest of Gods temporall judgements upon the heads of those that lay wast his Church we must first put away those customary unrepented sins which have drawn them down upon our selves Si vis me flere dolendum est primùm ipsi tibi If we desire that God be pittiful to us in freeing us from those which do play the Tyrants over our bodies and estates we must be pittiful to our selves in labouring to free our souls from a greater tyranny that of sin and Satan We must first repent us of the punishment that is due unto them But I see little hopes of so great a change or indeed any hopes at all either great or little except it be unto the worse in the corrupting of those meanes which should work our peace For tell me I beseech you is not our fasting grown so formall and our humiliation mixt with so much hypocrisie that we are sicker of repentance then before of sin Is not our common talk so overgrown with oaths and prodigious cursings as if we meant to bid defiance to the Host of Heaven and our devotions in Gods House so cold and careless as if we thought as poorly of the Lord himself as of the Preacher or the Prayers And can we look for blessings from the hands of God when we send curses to his eares or that the Lord should work a double miracle upon us whether we will or not one in removing from us a deserved punishment the other in forgiving unrepented sins Assuredly unless we make our peace with God and wrest deliverance from him by our prayers and penitence the Lord in his just anger will afflict us further and give us over for a prey unto those that hate us God is not bound to bring upon the wicked and seditious person the Heretick and Schismatical man the Harvest of his temporal judgements though sometimes he do it sometimes he lets them passe till the general Harvest and calls them not unto account untill he bring them at the last to the finall reckoning But whether it be first or last it pleaseth him to give the Tares a longer Sinite then his servants did desire he should and suffered them to grow in his holy Field when meanes and opportunity was offered for their extirpation What might incline him thereunto and how farre we are bound by this present Sinite are the next enquiries Expertâ morbi molestiâ evidentior fit jucunditas sanitatis No man can judge so well of health as they that have been long afflicted with a wounded body or visited with some grievous sickness nor set so high a price on the light of Heaven as he who hath been lodged in a dolefull Dungeon Now that which darkness is in the Aire or Firmament and wounds and sickness in the body the same are errors and corruptions in life and Doctrine or scandala qui faciunt iniquitatem as our Saviour tells us of these tares v. 38. in the Church of Christ darkness best sets off light wounds and sickness health and so doth error truth and corruption purity God therefore doth sometimes permit the ungodly man to have his habitation with the just and righteous that so the justice of the righteous might be made more eminent of which we shall say more anon in the Simul crescere And sometimes he permits his People to walk in darkness wander in the crooked lanes of deceit error that when they come into the light and to the saving wayes of truth they may imbrace the same with the greater fervour were it not for this reason and in this respect it is not probable that God who is the God of truth and the Father of lights would suffer any Heresie or erroneous Tenet to be sowen or rooted in his field but either would discover them on the first appearing or cause them to be rooted up on the first discovery at least he would have harkened to the Proposition to the vis imus colligimus of the former verse were it not that the light of truth would appear more brightly after it had been long eclipsed with the Clouds of error Et sic deterrima comparatione gloriam sibi compararet For contraries when they are looked upon together do appear most visibly Besides Oportet esse haereses there is a farther use of Heresies which brings them in with an Oportet as we read of in the 18. of St. Matthew necesse est ut veniant scandala Scandala saith St. Matthew haereses saith S. Paul but in both Texts the same saith the Learned Scholiast and both attended or brought in by the same necesse Not a necessity simpliciter dicta an absolute necessity that so it must be as if truth could not stand without them but an Oportet a necessity secundum quid it being expedient that so it should be because truth stands the better by them How many excellent tractates grave discourses learned and pious writings had these Ages wanted had not the Primitive Church been exercised with so many Heresies In what an ignorance had we lived in matters which concern the glorious Trinity the powers of Grace the influences of the holy Spirit had not the Arians and Pelagians
the juyce and made it fit for nothing but the very fire Faction and error so behave themselves to the Word of God as Judas did to God the Word They are both of them cunning Traytors killing sometimes in their embraces and sometimes betraying in their kisses Or if not thus yet they destroy it at the last by over-spreading all the Church and eating out the truth of Doctrine if not tell me if in the Jewish Church the Pharisees had not almost made the Commandements of God of none effect by their traditions Tell me if in the Christian Church the tares of errour and false Doctrine had not even overgrown the Gospel if the Popes Canon and the proud dictates of the Schoolmen had not usurped into the Chair and Throne of Scripture certain I am that Frier Richard de Man 's in the Trent-Councel did publickly maintain and with good applause that all the points of faith had been so clearly handled by those Schoolmen ut ea ex Scripturis discere nil opus esset that now the word of God was no longer serviceable so truly was it Satans purpose not only by the sowing of his tares to corrupt Religion but by that cunning to supplant it And all this while what was become of those to whom the Lord had farmed his field and leased out his Vineyard My Text makes answer to this question and tells us that they were asleep wherein we have the Servants and their sluggishness my last Couplet cùm dormirent homines while men slept Invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam Cities are sometimes soonest taken when the siege is raised and all the Watch-men made secure for when the enemy is neare and a Trench cast about the Walls the Watch is doubled and there are Centinels and Scouts in every corner to mark the motions of the Enemy and observe his purposes so also was it with the grand enemy of Gods Field in generall but more especially in reference to that particular part thereof which we call the Church As long as he essay'd to batter down the Bulwarks in the House of God he was more closely watched and all mens eyes were bent upon him but having lulled it once asleep drenched it in sensuality corrupted it with ease and prohibited pleasures then was his time to venture on it and to sowe his tares an opportunity well watch'd No sooner did men sleep no sooner were the servants drowsie and regardless of so great a charge but he was straight about his business no sooner did men sleep what men Lyra makes answer the Apostles what of their negligence no God forbid but of the death the last sleep and departure of those blessed spirits St. Austin and Euthymius do a little touch at this conceit and they only touch it but Egesippus with great confidence affirms it saying that after the Apostles deaths the Hereticks did then begin to lift up their heads and advance their errors mingling their tares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their false and commentitious Doctrines with the truth and Gospel This we believe indeed that then the Hereticks became more insolent and adventurous then before they were and did oppose the Gospel as he tells us there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the greater impudence but yet I am not of opinion that this should be the sleep and these the men intended in the present Scripture With how much better reason doth the Glosse expound it of a general negligence both in the Pastor and the people a negligence of private men circa custodiam suae propriae personae in the preserving and defence of their several souls a negligence of the publick Pastors circa custodiam gregis sui in the ill tending of the flock committed to them This exposition of the Glosse confirmed by Chrysostom where he informs us of a misery of no mean quality like to befall those sleepy souls to whom the Husbandman had left his field yet not the Priest or Prelate only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the people also otherwise as the Apostle said that if there were no Resurrection then were the Christians of all men most miserable so were the Priest and Prelate the most miserable of all other Christians if all mens sins were rated only on their scores and they to give up an account of every soul in their several charges It s true indeed that both Euthymius and St. Hierome understand here only magistros praeceptores ecclesiarum the teachers and overseers of the Church And so far we may yeeld unto them that it is meant of them principally and as publick Ministers which are to have a care of the common safety but so that every private man is included also in the Parable The Devil first makes his advantage of the negligence of private persons and whiles they sleep secure and careless he scattereth in their hearts the seeds of Heresie and error that so they may be able to infect their brethren The enemy never sends out any of his Foxes to destroy Gods Harvest till he put fire-brands in their tails This done he seeks occasion to employ them in the destruction of the wheat in the infection of the Church and therein also makes advantage of the security and negligence of their Superiours of their Rulers These the Lords Bayliffs as it were to whom he hath intrusted his holy Husbandry and if they sleep if once they grow remisse and careless what else can we expect but that these tares take root and outgrow the Wheat and in conclusion overcome it Now in the Church we may observe three severall kindes of sleepiness all of them in their course predominant and of ill effect the sleep of negligence the sleep of ignorance and the sleep of sensuality The first the sleep of negligence and so St. Austin doth expound it but while men slept i. e. saith he Cùm negligentiùs agerent praepositi Ecclesiae when as the Rulers of Gods House grew dull and careless of their Watch and were not mindful of their duties This the disease even of the best and purest Ages for which is there almost of the Angels of the seven Churches which is not branded with this mark during the lives of the Apostles the falling from the love of Christ the tolerating of the Nicolaitans the suffering of the Woman Jesebel to seduce Gods servants the want of piety in one zeal in another and that poor little strength of faith which was remaining in the third what were they but the sad effects of dull and negligent security in the severall Pastors But the Apostles being gone those which did oversee the overseers there followed by degrees an infectious drowsiness over all the Church still more inclining to this sleep the more they were accustomed to it The times of Nazianzen how watchful were they in respect of those succeeding yet he complains in his Epistle to Nectarius as if the providence of God had
been quite wanting to his Church The Arians grown so insolent that they made open profession of their Heresie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had been authorized and licensed to it The Macedonians so presumptuous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that they were formed into a Church and had a titulary Bishop of their own Sect. The Apollinarians held theâ—r Conventicles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with as much safety and esteem as the Orthodox Christians And for Eunomius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bosom-mischief of those times he thought so poorly of a general connivence that at last nothing would content him but to have all men else to be his Disciples Of all which scandalls and disorders the said Nectarius then being Patriarch of Constantinople the greatest Prelate of the East is there affirmed to be the cause A man as the Historian saith of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an exceeding faire and plausible demeanor and very gracious with the people one that chose rather as it seemes to give free way to all mens fancies and suffer every mans proceedings then draw upon himself the envy of a stubborn Clergy and a factious multitude A pregnant evidence that possibly there cannot be a greater mischief in a Christian Church then a popular Prelate If so if by the negligence connivence of one man alone so great a spoil was made in the Church of God how busie think we was the enemy in sowing tares when as this negligence was epidemical and in a manner universal over the people The second kind of sleep which did invade the Church of God was the sleep of ignorance a sleep of such a generall latitude that neither Priest nor people were able to hold up or to look abroad The Priests lips destitute of knowledge the people so regardless that they did not seek it both so defective in their duties that at the last the Priest like those in Irenaeus veritatis ignorantiam cognitionem vocant taught that the safest knowledge was to know nothing and as they preached even so the people did believe if not tell me who can what was become of the gift of tongues is it not noted to our hands Quòd Graecè nosse suspectum foret Hebraicè propè haereticum that it was Heresie almost to be seen in Hebrew and a misprision of Heresie to be skilled in Greek And for the Latine the Books still extant of those times will inform us easily that there was nothing left of it no not the words Or of the Arts doth not Sabellicus complain how totally they were forgotten in the middle Ages Quanta bonarum artium per id tempus oblivio invaluerit Or of the Lawes do we not read how they were buried in a manner with the great Emperour their Collector till in the latter dayes Lotharius Emperour of Germany found an old Copy of them at Amalphi in the Realm of Naples Or of the Scriptures was not the Book sealed up for many Ages and had not worldly policy so farre prevailed above true piety that it was made unlawful if not capitall to look into it Nor was this ignorance only in the people but as the Prophet said in another case Aâ— is the people such was the Priest and as the Priest was such were the people nay even the Cardinal complaineth of an infelix seculum an unhappy age in which was neither famous Scholar nor Pope that cared much how Religion went which being so Divinity it self and all the Arts and helps unto it layed to so long and dead a sleep no question but the enemy was exceeding diligent both in the ripening of his old tares and in sowing new There is a kinde of sleep yet left as hurtful â—o the Church as the other two the sleep of sensuality and of immoderate ease and pleasures a sleep like that described in the sixth of Amos They lie saith he upon benches of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches they carouse wine in bowles and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments Did not the Prophet think you reflect a little on the last Ages of the Church or may not his description with good reason be applyed unto them if not why did St. Bernard in a pious anger upbraid the Clergy of those times with their Stage-like gestures their meretricious neatness their pompous habits and retinue Incedunt nitidi ornati circumamicti varietatibus more like saith he unto a spruce and Court-like Bridegroom then the severe Guardians of the Spouse of Christ Could it be thought that men so neat and complete as those drowned in effeminacy and ease and surfeited with too much fullnesse would leave the pleasures of the world to minde the business of the Church or shake away their pleasant slumbers to entertain so sowre a Mistress as the perplexities of learning and the severities of Discipline Nunquam putabam fore I never thought said Cicero that such a curious youth as Caesar one that so smoothly comb'd his hair and rnbbed his head with his fore-finger would either have the happiness or the heart to vanquish Pompey Though Tully was deceived in the event of that great action yet his conjecture had good grounds And we may well apply it to them that sure such men as in those dayes had the sole managing of the Church when as these tares were sowen and had brought forth fruit were never like to crosse the enemy in that purpose or disappoint him of his hopes or overcome him at the last in the main encounter not that the Priests and Prelates were all such without exception for the worst times have brought forth brave and vertuous men and such as stand upon record for their eminent piety but that they were thus for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus have I shewn unto you three several kindes of sleep which had not only seized the people but also had surprized the Watchmen and made blinde the seers and laid up the Guardians and hard it is to say which of the three gave most increase to the Devils Harvest The Pastors careless of their duties aimed at this especially that they themselves might live in peace and die if possible in the generall love and good opinion of their people Here were the tares first sowen and neither noted in the seed nor in the blade for either the opinion taken up was but the fancy of some few eminent like enough in point of learning or some such innovation in the Churches orders as seemed not in it self to violate the sacred truth or threaten any present danger to the common quiet And then what was it but a vain and faulty curiosity either to quarrel with a man so much renowned in point of knowledge or to enquire into their meaning and intentions who loved the Lord too well to disturb his Church By which connivence this plausible and popular beheaviour of the Watchmen the enemy first entred upon Gods
inheritance and having sowen his tares departed went away in good assurance of success Afterwards when this negligence was lulled into an ignorance the tares were grown into a stalk and began to sprout but who was able to discern them Bellarmine counts it an especial happiness in those dayes of darkness ut nullae novae surgerent haereses that there arose not in the Church any upstart Heresie And why so great an happiness but because that wretched Age neither afforded learned Scholar to confute them nor publick Councel to condemn them How much more happy had it been had not those seeds of error which were sowen before then took advantage to spring up had not the darkness been so great like that of Egypt that one scarce saw another neither rose any from his seat to look unto the publick safety But in the end when as the Priest and Prelate became luxurious and wanton stretched on their beds of case and lulled asleep with too much plenty then came the tares to bring forth fruit and to appear in their own likeness yet was there then lesse hope then ever Did those that dwelt upon the Nile and were accustomed to the noise ever observe the fall and roaring of the waters Or grant we that they saw these tares and took notice of them shall we conceive that men so drowned in ease and pleasure would undertake a restitution of the ancient Discipline Was any thing more odious to the Court of Rome then the attempts that some of the more pious Popes had made of a Reformation rather like the Amyclae an Italian people they passed a Law Ne quis de hostium adventu famam spargeret that no man should presume from that time forwards to give them notice of these tares or of the neer approach of the common enemy Nay at the last this Bastards Reign shall be legitimated by the Common-Councel proclaimed to be good seed of the Lords own sowing and then what man is he that dare call them tares In which so long a night of several and distracted sleepes in what a wretched state had the Church been think we had not the Lord awakened some to have a care unto his field and to take notice of these tares Once the affaires of Rome were brought unto so low an ebbe that there was nothing of the City left them but the very Capitoll and that too in a possibility to have been surprized ni anseres Diis dormientibus vigilassent had not their Geese been better to them then their Gods Hus as my Books inform me in the Bohemian Language of which Land he was doth signifie a Goose had not this Hus this Goose and such men as he Hâ—erome of Prague Wâ—clif and Luther and the rest though men which had I grant their own several errors discovered by their noyse and cackling the neere approches of the enemy and so awakened all the World out of that dull security in the which it was how easie had it been for Satan to have gained the Capitoll yea to have rooted all the Wheat out of the field of our Redeemer But at the last the World awakened and being throughly awakened some discerned those tares which had so long been sowen by this subtile enemy and having once discerned them took a speedy order in many places of Gods field to weed them out a thing of great offence to the Court of Rome which took it very ill to be so awakened and startled from their pleasant slumbers Marvel it is that like unto the sensual Sibarites their Italian Neighbours too they banished not all cocks the verge and territory of their Church ut mollùs viz. cubarent nulloque illorum strepitu interpellarentur for fear their sleepes should be disturbed and themselves called on to repentance For our parts as we are a parcel of this common field it cannot be denied by our greatest adversaries that from the sleep of ignorance and sensuality we have been very well awakened and we begin to be awakened also from the sleep of negligence And certainly it is high time that it should be so standing besieged as we do by two several enemies both labouring to subvert our Church and to advance their own in the ruines of it For to speak truth the present quality of our Church may with most fitness be resembled unto that of the Primitive times when both the powerful Arians and the popular Donatists were both at once in Arms against it or if we will we may compare it no lesse fitly to the State of Rome during the second Punick Warre We have the Macedonians upon all the skirts and quarters of our Empire calling to minde the Reputation of their Ancestors the great Dominion they have lost and watching all advantages to enlarge their border And there is Annibal ad portas a neerer enemy at hand at our very Gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father called Eunomius a bosom Traytor which grindeth upon our very entrails like Prometheus vulture One side assailes openly and profess their enmity and by a signe distinctive as they please to call it give us to understand that they are but tares These like the wild Bore in the Psalms endeavour in a publick way to destroy our Vineyard Secretior Pompeius Caesare non melior The other a more close and secret enemy doth not so much assault the Church as undermine it but they aim both of them at the same mark the subjugating of the Church and the chief Soveraignty of the State and have the same end of their journey although they travel diverse wayes Is this a time think we to sleep and slumber and stretch our hands in negligence and a carelesse sloth Did ever any Mariner permit his eyes to sleep or eye-lids to slumber sailing betwixt Sylla and Charibdis Or can we think the Romans looked not then about them assailed at once by Greece and Carthage or that the primitive Christians stood not on their Guard when both the subtile Arian and Saint-seeming Donatist did oppose her Doctrine Assuredly when men are compassed round with dangers and that they have not only forraign but domestick enemies they have good reason to be watchfull Thus as we see our dangers are alike on both sides though we perhaps are not alike or equally affected in apprehension of those dangers On the one side we think there never can be watch enough that all those Lawes and Proclamations which are out against them are not sufficient to secure us and dispossess us of our feares And now that his most sacred Majesty hath given new life unto those Lawes and by his royall Edict declared his pleasure that no man shall presume hereafter to practise on his weak and unsetled subjects for the reduction of them unto the superstition of the Church of Rome we think as true indeed it is that he hath shewn his zeal to the House of God and that we cannot magnifie him as we ought to do But
And yet I would not be mistaken as if I thought there were no Heresie to be found in the Church of Rome or that their errors which they teach were neither positively dangerous in themselves nor possibly pernicious and destructive to them that hold them without true repentance That which was first an error only when first taken up in them that taught it may by an obstinate pertinacy become an Heresie in them that hold it It s true that every deviation from the truth or opposition made against it doth not denominate an Heretick nor doth the voluntary taking up of a false opinion create such mischief to the Church as the unwillingness to lay it down Were it not for pertinaciter defensa sponte electa would beare no great stroke in the definition of an Heresie This was the case between St. Cyprian and the Donatists S. Cyprian and some other holy Bishops of the African Churches conceived rebaptization to be necessary in some certain cases but modestly and with submission to the Church of God determining according to his word in Scripture The Donatists maintained the same opinion but they did it obstinately refused to hearken to the Church or to admit of any Judges but themselves to decide the controversie The error was the same in both the Doctrine false alike in both and yet the Donatists stand branded for it by the name of Hereticks whereas St. Cyprian and his Associates are accounted Catholicks Why so because of pertinaciter defensa because the Donatist maintained it with so great perverseness that there was no reclaiming of him to the sound Doctrines of the Church And this is that which Lerinensis speaks of with such admiration O mira rerum conversio Authores opinionis Catholici sectatores haeretici judicantur absolvuntur magistri condemnantur discipuli This also is the case of the Church of Rome the enemy had sowen his tares in agro domini and they sprung up in medio tritici When they were sowen they were not noted and having taken root and put forth the blade they looked so like the wheat with so fair a shew that very few if at all any did suspect them And so long these of Rome were in the same condition and estate with the African Prelates either their ignorance or inadvertency might have salv'd the sore but when the fruit discover'd them to be tares indeed and that they notwithstanding would defend and countenance them proclaim them to be wheat of the Lords own sowing sell them for such to simple people in the open markets and make them eat as one may say their own damnation then fell they into the condition of the desperate Donatist and that which was an error only in the first broachers of the Doctrine is in them made Heresie And here I may repeat that of Lirinensis Authores opinionis Catholici sectatores haeretici They which first set on foot the opinion whatsoever they were might have no ill intention in it conceiving that which they delivered not to be contrary to the Churches tendries though perhaps besides them And so it might be with them also which took them upon trust and assented to them not having meanes or opportunity to come unto the knowledge of the truth in those particulars But so it is not with our Masters in the Church of Rome who have not only means to know them and opportunity to consider of the fruit they bear but having been informed of that long mistake in which their Predecessors lived and of the dangers which those tares do threaten to the Church of God do obstinately shut their eyes against the sacred light of truth and will not see the beames thereof shine they never so brightly In which estate if they continue wilful without true repentance let them take heed lest that befall them which my Authour speaks of Absolvuntur magistri condemnantur discipuli and so I leave them to Gods mercy with them the first point of this Discourse viz. the kind or nature of the Doctr. which are here intended proceeding hence unto the 2d the difficulty to discern them in the seed or blade until they came to bring forth fruit to fecissent fructum Nil magis curant quà m occultare quod praedicant Tertullian notes it of the Valentinians that they did use to hide their tenets and conceal their Doctrines A Lesson taught them by their sire the Devil who when he had a purpose to destroy Gods Harvest not only did it at a time when the servants slept and in so quick a manner that he was not noted but sowed Gods field with such a seed as could not easily be discerned from the wheat it self until the very fruits proclaimed it In all his other projects to subvert the Gospel the Watchmen of the Church so traced him and kept so vigilant an eye upon him that all his machinations were detected and his hopes made frustrate he is resolved to cheat the very Watchmen and therefore sets on foot such Doctrines in which was no apparent danger and much lesse any visible impiety that whilest the Watchmen let them passe neither examining from whence they came nor to what they tended he might by them effect his purpose with the greater safety and by degrees endanger and subvert Religion And certainly it is no marvel that they should passe without discovery and prevail so farre considering how closely the design was carried how little noyse it made abroad and by what leisure and degrees it did gather strength For howsoever it be true which the Cardinall tells us that in omni insigni mutatione religionis in every notable change and alteration of Religion a man may easily discern both the change it self and all the circumstances that pertain unto it yet in the sowing of these tares it was not so We neither know the Authors time or place by whom when where the said false tenets were first broached nor finde we any that opposed them at their rising up or whether any did take notice of them when the blade sprung up And yet it is most manifest that such tares there were and that they had almost corrupted and destroyed the wheat before the servants had espied them The Cardinalls Rule holds good in all sudden changes which are made publickly and professedly and all at once in publick and notorious Heresies which come in with violence and aim at the foundation of the House of God And any man of common reading can tell as well as he when and by whom and where the Macedonian Arian Valentinian Heresies or any of the rest of so high a nature did at first begin but between those and these in the body mystical the difference is as great and signall as between open Arms and Clandestine conspiracy in the body politique whereof that may be easily discerned this not or an outragious burning Feaver and a dull Consumption in the body naturall of which that comes with fury this
hill which shewes it self unto the eye of each beholder We may affirm thereof as doth St. Ambrose of the Sun deficere videtur sed non deficit the light thereof cannot be possibly extinguished although sometimes darkened Opprest sometimes it is as it hath been formerly by errors Heresies and false opinions supprest it cannot be for ever For magna veritas great is the truth and it prevaileth at the last however for a while obscured by mens subtile practises That Heresies shall arise St. Paul hath told us and he hath brought it in with an oportet oportet esse haereses in the Epistle And that there must be scandalls Christ himself hath told us and he hath told it too with a necesse est ut scandala veniant in the holy Gospel The reasons both of the oportâ—t and necesse we shall see hereafter when we shall come to scan those motives which might induce the Lord to permit these tares Sinite utraque crescere usque ad messem v. 30. Mean while it doth concern us to take special notice that as it pleased the Lord to give way to error and suffer sometimes heresies of an higher nature and sometimes false opinions of an inferior quality to take fast footing in his Church yet he did never suffer them to destroy his harvest but brought them at the last to apparuerunt The comfortable beams of truth dispersed and scoured away those Clouds of error wherewith the Church before was darkened and by the light thereof the foulness and deformity of falshood was made more notorious so that from hence two special Queres may be raised first why these tares or errors were so long concealed and secondly how they were at last revealed And first they were concealed as it were of purpose to let the Church take notice of her own condition how careless and how blinde she is in the things of God did not the eye of God watch over her and direct her goings Her carelesness we had before in dormirent homines when as we found her sleeping and regardless of the common enemy that time the tares were in their Sevit and no man would hold up his head to look unto the publick safety Her blindness we may note in this that being left unto her self she could not see them in crevisset when they put forth the leaf and the blade sprung up and that they did begin to spread abroad and justle with the truth for the preeminence If either no false Doctrines had been sowen at all or had they all been noted at the first peeping forth the Church might possibly impute it to her own great watchfulness pleaded some special priviledge of infallibility and so in time have fallen into presumption God therefore left her to her self that falling into sin and error and suffering both to grow upon her by her own remisseness she might ascribe her safety unto God alone whose eyes do neither sleep nor slumber The Church is then in most security when God watcheth over her when he that keepeth Israel hath his eye upon her Gods eye he being â—culus infinitus as the learned Gentile and totus oculus as the learned Father is her best defence Which if it be averted from her she walketh forthwith in darkness and the shadow of death subject to every rising error obnoxious to the practises of her subtile enemies And in this state she stands in this wretched state till he be pleased to shine upon her and blesse her with the light of his holy countenance the beames whereof discover every crooked way and bring them to apparuerunt to the publick view And to apparuerunt all must come every false Doctrine whatsoever there 's no doubt of that for Idem est non esse non apparere No Tenet is erroneous in respect of us till it appear to us to be so and till it doth appear to be so we may mistake it for a truth imbrace it for a tendry of the Catholick Church endeavour to promote it with our best affections and yet conceive our selves to be excusable in that it is amoris error not erroris amor In thâ—s regard our Fathers might be safe in the Church of Rome and may be now triumphant in the Church of Heaven though they believed those Doctrines which were therein taught or possibly maintained them with their best affections The errors of that Church were not then discovered nor brought to their apparuerunt and being taken or mistaken for sound Orthodox Tenets were by them followed and defended in their several stations So that we may affirm of them as once St. Peter of the Jewes novimus quia per ignorantiam fecerint we know that through ignorance they did it or if we know it not so clearly as St. Peter did yet we may charitably hope that it was no otherwise in those particular points and passages wherein we know not any thing unto the contrary He that makes any doubt of this what faith soever he pretends to shewes but little charity and makes no difference between an accidentall and a wilful blindness There are some errors in the Church like some Diseases in the body when they are easie to be cured they are hard to be known when they are easie to be known they are hard to cured but every error disease is of that condition that it must first be known the true quality thereof discovered or else it is impossible to prescribe a remedy But so it is not now with us nor any of our Masters in the Church of Rome as it was anciently with our fore-fathers in and of that Church Those errors which in former times were accounted truths or not accounted of as errors are now in the apparuerunt we see them plainly as they are and by comparing them with Scripture the true rule of faith are able to demonstrate the obliquity of those opinions and false Doctrines which they have thrust upon the Church in these latter ages And we may say of them in Tertullians Language Ipsa Doctrina eorum cum Apostolica comparata ex diversitate contrarietate sua pronunciabit neque Apostoli alicujus essâ— neque Apostolici The difference which appeares between the Doctrines of the Church of Rome delivered in the new Creed of Pope Pius quartus and those which were delivered once unto the Saints in the old Creed of the Apostles shewes plainly that they neither came from the Apostles nor any Apostolical Spirit so that in case we shut our eyes against the sacred beames of truth which now shine upon us or if they so long after the apparuerunt will not see those tares which are discovered to their hands both we and they are all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utterly uncapable of excuse in the sight of God If any man will be so obstinately wedded to his own opinion as to take up his Lodging in a Pest-house after he hath been made acquainted with the present danger
however we in charity may say Lord have mercy upon him yet he hath reason to believe that God in justice will inflict that judgement on him which usually doth befall those men which do wilfully and perversly tempt the Lord their God Nor was it only necessary in regard of us of private and particular men that the tares should come to their Epiphanie their apparuerunt God did it most especially for his Churches sake whom he had promised to conduct in the wayes of truth and to be with her alwayes to the end of the world The tare is in it self as the Poet calls it infelix lolium a wretched and unlucky weed and frugum pestis the bane and plague of other grains as the learned Herbalist And of the mischief which it brings to Gods holy Husbandry either by eating up the wheat the Lords own good seed or over-running all the field in the which it growes I have at large discoursed already Suffice it that the Devil sowed them with a devillish purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so he might destroy the labour of the Heavenly Husbandman And doubt we not but that he had in fine effected his malicious ends had not God brought them in due time to apparuerunt had he not made a plain discovery of their noxious nature and called upon his servants to take notice of them We may conceive what reputation they had gained by a longer sufferance how ill it would have gone with the Church of God in the attempt of reformation in that being so long since detected and brought to their apparuerunt so many in the world are not yet perswaded that there was any thing in point of Doctrine fit to be reformed It is with errors now as with temples anciently the more antiquity they have the greater sanctity Tantumque sanctitatis tribuerunt quantum vetustatis as Minutius Felix God therefore took his time to detect these errors and to give notice to the world that they were but tares before they could prescribe to truth or challenge such an interest in antiquity as was not possible to be disproved And this the Lord did partly for his own sake too that so he might acquit himself of those gracious promises which he had made unto his Churches and by that meanes became her debtor He promised to be with her alwayes and therefore could not possibly forsake her in her greatest need He promised to conduct her in the wayes of truth and therefore could not leave her as a prey to error He promised that the gates of Hell should not prevail against her and therefore could not give her over to the snares of Satan God never doth forsake his Church though he sometimes leaves her to her self for her further trial nor turn away his face though he look aside for her correction and chastisement for should he utterly desert it and leave it as a prey unto sin and error the Church indeed were in a very sory taking but in the mean time where were all Gods promises Might not the enemy rejoyce and advance his head and say that either God did not see his practises or was not able to prevent them that he was only rich in promises promissis dives but when it came to the performance then Quid dignum tanto And might not his most trusty servants have complained with David Ut quid Deus repulisti in finem O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long we see not our tokens there is not one Prophet more no not one is there among us that understandeth any more This the Lord heard but would not suffer And therefore when he had made trial of his Church and let her see her own infirmities he brought those errors and false Doctrines which did seem to threaten it to their apparuerunt to the open light And of false Doctrines many are of that condition that being once discovered they are soon confuted majorque aliquanto labor est invenire quà m vincere How this was done and when we must next consider which for the time thereof was tunc and for the manner of it in fecissent fructum my next particular and next in order to be handled Rectum est sui index obliqui There is no better way to discern any thing that 's crooked then by laying it to a right line or to discover errors and erroneous Tenets then to compare them with the truth Truth doth not only justifie it self but by the light thereof we are made more able then before to judge of falshood And howsoever many false opinions have passed and still may passe for currant in the conceit of those which have took them up yet by comparing them with Scripture which is truth it self or with the Catholique tendries of Gods holy Church the best Expositor of Scripture their folly and their falshood will at once appear Thus was it with the tares in the present Parable They seemed so lovely to the eye in the blade or stalk that few were able to discern them Most took them to be Wheat of the Lords own sowing a very excellent piece of Wheat and such as might have recompenced the labour of the heavenly Husbandman but when they came unto fecissent fructum when both the Wheat and tares came to bring forth fruit and that the fruits of each were balanced in the scale of the holy Sanctuary then was it no great difficulty to determine of them to say that this was Wheat and that these were tares that this was truth and that was error that this was seed of Gods own sowing the bonum semen mentioned in the 24. and for the others unde haec they could proceed from none but ab inimico So true is that which Christ our Saviour tells us in another case igitur ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos by their fruits you shall know them As for example The Doctrine of the Popes supremacy as it is represented to us in the fairest colours how specious seemes it to the eye how necessary for the preservation of peace and unity in the Church of God how excellent a piece of Wheat would a man suppose it at first looking on Nature pleads for it in regard that all living Creatures as Bees and Birds and Sheep and all other Cattel love to have some chief by which the rest may be directed Rex unus apibus dux unus gregibus in armentis rector unus as St. Cyprian hath it St. Hierome adds grues unum sequuntur literato ordine that the Cranes also have some Prince whom they love to follow The Politicks stand up in defence of Monarchy as the most excellent form of Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Master Aristotle And that they may not stand alone against those popular Estates which the world then cherished they bring the Poets in for seconds for whom in the name of all the rest it is said by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there is never any unity without one supreme The Theologues or Divines have affirmed as much in that the monarchie of all forms of government comes neerest to the Government of Almighty God who as he hath alone created all things by his Almighty hand so he alone doth govern all things by his mighty power Multoque facilius ab uno regi potest quod est ab uno constitutum said Lactantius truly which being so as so it is and that the Church is the most glorious State of all bodies aggregate good reason that it should be ordered according to the most complete and best kind of Government and be obedient to the voyce of one supreme Judge This being taken pro confesso what can follow next but that this supreme Government ought to have been in some one or other of the Lords Apostles And of that glorious company who so proper for it as divine St. Peter whom the Evangelistâ— alwayes make the Marshall in one constant place and that is primus Simon Petrus to whom our Saviour said Tâ—bi dabo claves super hanc petram pasce oves and whatsoever else might seem to intimate that he designed him for a Chief over all the rest Now being that these priviledges and prerogatives were not conferred on Peters person but upon him and his Successors as 't is said they were where should we look to finde them but in Peters See the Renowned City of Rome the Imperial Seat the Queen and Lady of all Nations Good reason that the Bishops of that most famous Church whose faith was spoken of through all the world Et quae dominaâ—i in caetera possit and had sufficient power to command the rest should sit chief amongst them chief President in all general Councels chief Justice in all publick controversies yea and Lord Treasurer too to dispense all indulgences and other graces of the Church Nay the commodities which the Christian world enjoyes by the sole benefit of the Popes Supremacie are said to be so great and weighty that they are able to bear down all cavils and objections which are made against it for what a signal blessing is it to have one common Father over all the Church to whom as to a Catholick Moderator and indifferent Umpire all Christian Kings and Princes may refer their quarrels one supreme head to whom as to a visible and infallible Judge the Prelates of the Church and other learned men may refer their controversies unity must begin from one and who more fit to be this one then he that can derive unto himself so faire a title And a faire title t is indeed and hath been so well pleaded by the Advocates of the Court of Rome that for long time together there was no suspicion that it would ever come in question whether true or false So fair a field could bring forth nothing but the purest Wheat the bread of life even manchet for the Lords own Table He that had thought or given it out that there was any tare amongst it much lesse tares all over might possibly have had some hearers but few believers The reason was because that all this while the Doctrine was but in crevisset herba in the blade or stalk not come unto the height to fecissent fructum But when it came to that and that the fruits thereof appeared in their proper likeness it proved to be so grosse a tare such an infelix lolium such a frugum pestis that a more dangerous was never sowen by Satan in the Church of God For then it was discovered plainly that the Popes in a manner had forsook the claim of being successors to Peter and would be Vicars unto Christ that they had changed Quodcunque ligaveris in terra into Omnis potestas data est mihi in coelis the Priestly and Prophetical power into the Kingly and built their rise not on the priviledges which Christ gave to Peter but upon those which God the Father gave his Christ and what did follow thereupon but that his Courtiers honoured him with the title of Vice-God or Vice-Deus as in the Inscription of Paulo Quarto Vice-Deo others with that of Dominus noster Deus â—apa our Lord God the Pope some giving him authority to make vertue vice and vice vertue as did Card. Bellarmine others to make a new Creed and coin new Articles of Faith as did Thomas Aquinas and finally some of them having gone so farre as to condemn our Saviour Christ of great indiscretion nisi unum post se talem vicarium reliquisset had he not left behind him such a Vicar so absolutely endowed with all manner of power as did Peter Berhardus So for the Popes themselves when they had layed the foundation of their Grandeur on those words of Christ Omnis potestas data est mihi how quickly did they turn that primacy which before they had in point of order into a soveraignty or supremacy in point of power with what subtile blasphemy did they shift the Scriptures to make them serviceable to their wicked and ambitious ends Instead of Tibi dabo claves one findes out ecce duos gladios behold here two swords the one spiritual the other temporall And thereupon Pope Julius passing over Tiber drew out his sword and threw his keyes into the River affirming openly that since St. Peters keyes would not serve his turn St. Pauls Sword should Instead of super petram hane a second brings in super aspidem basiliscum and that Pope Alexander useth to justifie his treading on the neck of the Emperor Frederick Instead of Pasce oves meas a third hath found out Surge Petre occide manduca Arise Peter kill and eat and this Pope Paul the Fifth alledged for an Authority that he might kill assassinate and murder disobedient Princes and by the same Authority for ought I can see he may eat them too And finally to mend the matter the Popes Supremacy thus founded and promoted by such wretched shifts mnst be reputed as an Article of the Christian Faith and that too primus praecipus Romanensium fidei articulus the first and principal Article of the Church of Rome certain I am that so it was defended in the time of Pope Clement the Eighth hath been since so ranked and marshalled in the new Creed of Pius Quartus Add unto these their practise in the points aforesaid proclaiming errors to be truth and publickly condemning truth for errors making new Articles of Faith and misinterpreting the old deposing Kings disposing of their Kingdoms and bringing them to be at their devotion and tell me if the ordinary fruits of the Supremacy do not discover it most manifestly for a dangerous tare Next for the single life of Priests when it first sprung up how lovely seemed it to the eye how few had reason to suspect that it was a tare Paul seemes to advocate the cause wishing that all men were as he
words there are there sprung up an exceeding quantity of Tares amongst the Wheat moâ—e then had ever been observed in the years foregoing And hereunto as other good Authors do agree so is it further verified and confirmed by those who are habituated and experienced in the Arts of Husbandry Which being so considering that the Wheat the good seed it self degenerates sometimes into Tares there is no question to be made but that the Tares by care and husbandry may be restored in time to their first perfection and prove Wheat again The Fathers do resolve it so especially as they behold it in the Morall and look on the condition of such mortall men as in the Tares are represented For if by Tares we mean the Heretick Fieri potest ut ille qui noxio dogmate depravatus est cras resipiscat defendere incipiat veritatem T is not impossible saith St. Hierome but that the man who is infected with unsound opinions may repent thereof and prove a zealous Champion of the Truth and Gospel Witness St. Austin once a Manichee but after malleus Haereticorum the greatest Champion of the Church against Sects and Heresies If by the Tares we mean the wicked who makes no conscience of his wayes so he may enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season multi primò zizania sunt postea triticum fiunt many at first are Tares which at last prove Wheat as St. Austin tells us Witness St. Paul a persecutor first and a Martyr afterwards St. Matthew first a Publican an Evangelist after Zachaeus an oppressor of the poor but in fine a Confessor and Mary Magdalen of an Harlot made a famous Convert Or finally if by the Tares we mean the Schismatick who out of pride and arrogancy doth divide himself from the main body of the Church Prodeant ipsae picturae calicum as Tertullian hath it The very Chalices of the Church in which they used to carve the figure of a Shepherd bringing home the stragling sheep upon his shoulders is Argument enough that possibly the Separatist may be gained upon and reunited to the Church Witness And yet to say the truth examples of this kind are more hard to finde then either of converted sinners or reclaimed Hereticks by how much the perverseness of the will is more hard to cure then any error of our judgements or the obliquities and defects of our conversation This being premised we may more fully see the reason of the Masters Negative for had the Servants gone the way which themselves propounded they had wronged the Harvest How so in rooting up the Wheat what Wheat futurum triticum that which in fine would have proved Wheat as one Author hath it quod pia praesumptione which we may charitably presume would prove Wheat in time quod fieri potest triticum which by the diligence and care of the spiritual Husbandman may be made Wheat at last though it now be none as some others tell us The Fathers generally do incline this way Monemur non citò amputare fratrem By this we are advised saith Hierome not to be too hasty with our Brethren nor to cut them off without great care and expectation for he that is to day infected with unâ—ound opinions may prove another man to morrow Many at first are tares as St. Austin notes but afterwards become good wheat whose reformation and amendment had not God patiently expected when man intended to destroy them ad laudabilem mutationem non pervenissent they never had attained to such a blessed change Had not Gods patience saith Chrysologus preserved the tares from extirpation from being rooted up on the first discovery nec Matthaeum de Publicano Evangelistam Matthew the Publican had not lived to be an Evangelist nor Saul the persecutor to be an Apostle And certainly had not God seen more into this last then Ananias did who was sent unto him no notice had been taken of the service which he was to do unto the Church for the time to come but of the spoyl and havock he had made thereof for the time preceding and then the Church had lost the benefit of his pains and preaching the notable Examples which he left behind him of his zeal and constancy And therefore very well saith a modern Author Si Deus eradicasset Paulum persequentem ecclesia non haberet Saulum praedicantem If God had rooted up Saul the Persecutor the Church had wanted Paul the Preacher Ne fortè is most usefull here There 's no such hast of imus colligimus but that we may defer it till a further time Here then we see the patience of Almighty God towards sinful men and here we see the reasons of it God beares with men in expectation of their conversion and amendment there being none so desperately ingaged in a course of sin but by Gods grace he may draw back and turn again and seriously repent him of his former wickedness Datur ergo locus poenitentiae saith an ancient Father there 's alwayes place left for repentance And God hath promised for his part that when the wicked man turneth away from the wickednesse which he hath committed and doth that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soul alive T is to this end and on this expectation that God sheweth such a strong and unwearied patience towards sinful man notwithstanding all his provocations Patientia Dei ad poenitentiam invitat malos as the Father hath it God doth as well invite them to repentance by his love and patience as scourge them to it by his punishments And this St. Paul doth also witness where he tells us saying that God endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Endure them why To the intent that being purged from all their evill wayes they may be made vessels of mercy sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared for every good work as in that to Timothy St. Austin by comparing both the Texts together doth expound it so Inde dicitur Deus tolerare vasa irae formaliter talia ut â—iant vasa misericordiae The shewing of his wrath and making of his power to be known upon them which the Apostle speaks of in the former place is but at such times and in such cases when neither his promises can wooe them nor his threats reclaim them nor his patience win so farre upon them but that they will run headlong on their own destruction This patience of Almighty God must be our instruction and teach us not to be too forward in the condemning of our Brethren Shall God be rich in goodness full of forbearance and long-suffering towards sinful man in expectation of his repentance and amendment and shall not men being all alike obnoxious to the wrath of God conceive some hopes of one another Doth God forbear to strike us with the Sword of Justice and cut us off
are so intermingled that there is no perfection to be looked for here and 2. That there want not great and weighty reasons why it should so be of which some relate unto the Tares some unto the Wheat some to God himself whose glory is most chiefly aimed at These are the points to be considered and of these I shall discourse in order beginning with Gods sufferance and the season of it and therein with the first enquiry What is here meant by messis the approching Harvest and what use we may make thereof for our own advantage Priùs dividendum quà m definiendum It was the Orators Rule of old First to distinguish of the termes before we take upon us to state the question A Rule exceeding necessary in the present business and much conducing to the Explication of the points in hand For the word messis is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of various significations according to the scope of the severall places where it doth occur And first not taking notice of it in the literall sense in the 9th Chapter of St. Matthew it signifieth the times and seasons fit for the preaching of the Gospel There read we messem esse multam that the Harvest was great i. e. that there were many people whose mindes were cheerfully prepared to receive the word And there 's another Harvest which the Baptist speaks of the bringing forth of fruits meet for repentance fruits worthy of the Preachers pains and the hearers diligence the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Harvest of good works which we finde in Chrysostom But we have other Corn to thresh and therefore must look out for another Harvest an Harvest not of hearing nor of fructifying but of receiving the reward of our severall labours an Harvest in the which each workman shall receive his wages according to the works which he hath wrought in the flesh whether good or evill And this again is either taken for the day of Gods temporall judgements upon particular Men or Sects or Collective bodies or for the day of generall judgement when all flesh shall appear before the Lord to receive its sentence In this last sense the word is taken in the 14 of the Revelation where the Angel said to him that sate upon the Throne mitte falcem mete Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come and the Harvest of the Earth is ripe i. e. all Nations were now ready to receive that judgement which God in his just anger should pronounce against them And in the other sense it is said by the Prophet Jeremy The Daughter of Babylon is a threshing-floore the time of her threshing is come yet a little while and the time of her Harvest will come Tempus messionis ejus veniet and what time was that even that wherein she had made up the measure of her iniquities and abominations and was to be given up for a prey to the Medes and Persians I know that most Interpreters as well old as new do take the Harvest in my Text for the generall judgement that which our Saviour doth describe in the 25. of this Gospel And they expound it thus for this reason chiefly because our Saviour gives this descant on his own plain song v. 39. Messis est consummatio seculi the Harvest is the end of the World A man would think the sense must be very obvious even to the vulgar wits when he that writ the Text made the comment also But then a question may be made what our Redeemer meanes by consummatio seculi or the end of the World or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Text hath it Assuredly not alwayes the last day precisely but the last times generally or the particular time appointed by Almighty God for the effecting of some speciall and particular purpose For in the 9 Chapter to the Hebrews the same words occur where the Apostle treating of the passion of our Lord and Saviour saith it was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in consummatione seculi in the end of the World Ask Beza what is meant there by the end of the World by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he will tell you that it is the same which the Apostle calls in another place plenitudinem temporis or the fulness of time i. e. saith he and so both Caietan and Ribera do expound the Text Seculorum perfectionem complementum the full perfection and accomplishment of some time appointed So then upon this disquisition we have gained thus much that though the Harvest in my Text be for the most part understood of the general judgement of which hereafter in the next yet may it also mean the time of Gods temporal punishments upon particular men or Sects or Collective bodies Whom though God suffereth for a while till their sins be ripe and lets them flourish and grow mighty both in power and wickedness yet have they all their severall Harvests in which they shall be mowed and threshed and winnowed to his greater glory The sickle of the Lord is alwayes ready and his van alwayes in his hand And when his Harvest-time is come and the fruits of wicked men be ripe he shall not only mowe them down as when the Harvest-man gathereth the corn and reapeth down the eares with his arme in the Prophets language but he will throughly purge his floore and make them like the chaffe in the Psalmists words which the wind drives away before it But for the just and righteous person he either shall be saved from the day of trouble or preserved in it Or if he fall as fall he may sometimes into the hand of the Reapers like a good eare of corn well grown or Grapes fully ripe he shall be congregatus in horreum gathered into the barn of the heavenly Husbandman In execution of which acts of his will and justice he many times makes use of Angels literally and properly so called which are the Reapers of this verse and the 39 and many times of other Ministers who do supply the place of Angels and may be called so in a borrowed metaphoricall sense as Attila the Hun the scourge of the impenitent Western Christians was in the Stories of those times called Flagellum Dei That there have been such Harvests in former times and that such Harvests are in the compass of our Saviours meaning the Stories of Gods Book and all the Monuments of the Church do most clearly evidence And to say truth did not the Text admit such Harvests all the seditious aggregations of unquiet men all the Idolatries of Rome Heathen and superstitions of Rome Christian the Pride of Babylon and the filths of Sodom with all the rabblement of pernicious Hereticks and factious Sectaries which have disturbed the Church in foregoing Ages must be still extant and unpunished to this very day But they have had their severall Harvests and the Lord hath reaped them
startled those opinions which put the Church to a necessity of setting learned men on work to confute and crush them And doubt we not but that Posterity will fare the better for those monstrous Paradoxes in Divinity which have been vented since the meeting of this new Assembly and penetrate more throughly into some deep questions which now disturb the peace both of Church and State then any of the former Ages Firmior multò fides est quam reponit poenitentia Faith saith the Father stands more firmly when it is built upon repentance as doubtless Peters faith was most strongly setled after he had denyed his Master And 't is no otherwise with truth then it is with saith best setled and confirmed and planted when strugling long with error or heretical Doctrines it hath got the victory God as before I said is the God of truth and they that wilfully oppose the least truth of Gods are Rebels against God and against his truth And 't was known to be an experiment in the School of Politicks conatus subditorum irritos imperium semper promovere that the rebellion of a people when it is supprest doth make a Prince more strong and absolute then he was before But the Oportet goes yet further it reacheth not to the truth alone but to all those who do defend it There must be heresies saith St. Paul ut qui probati sint that those who are approved amongst you may be known and manifested St. Austin tells us of two sorts of enemies which do afflict the Church of Christ whereof the one is blinde with error and the other with malice And then he adds That if these enemies have leave to afflict it corporally with any kinde of persecution exercent ejus patientiam they give the Church occasion to shew forth her patience but if they do assault the same with Sects and Heresies or malè sentiendo with their false opinions exercent ejus sapientiam they give her opportunity to declare her wisdom There were no need of Champions to defend the truth should there be none that did oppose it nor could we know by any meanes who would take part with Christ and who sight against him were it not brought unto the triall Hectora quis nosset felix si Troja fuisset Hector had never been so famed for his feats of Arms had not Troy been beleaguered by the powers of Greece Nor had the valour and fidelity of Joab the wisdom and fidelity of Cushai the bounty and fidelity of Barzillai the piety and fidelity of the Priests and Levites no not so much as Shimeis slanderous tongue or the inconstant mutability of the vulgar herd been manifested and made known to David had not Achitophel contrived Absolom actually raised a Warre against him What had we known of Athanasius had not the Arian faction joyned themselves together in a League against him and spent their whole united forces on his single person Parque novum fortuna videt concurrere bellum Atque virum As if that holy Patriarch had been born unto Ishmaels destiny to have his hand against every man and every mans hand against him How little had been left unto us of Irenaeus Basil Hierome Austin and all the brave Heroes of the Primitive times had not the Gnosticks Valentinians Arians Donatists afforded them occasion to expresse their piety and manifest their zeal to the cause of Christ And to come neerer to our selves where had been all the glories of renowned Jewel or of incomparable Whitgift had not this Church been crucified from the first beginning between the Popish superstitions and the Puritan frenzies All men are apt enough to professe the Gospel in a time of peace and to declare themselves for truth when there are no heresies therefore Oportet esse haereses that so it may be known more clearly as Tertullian notes it tam qui in persecutionibus steterint quà m qui ad haereses non exorbitaverint as well who dare stand bravely out against persecutions as who dare bid defiance unto Sects and Heresies So then there are some notable reasons for the present Sinite and suffering of the Tares and Wheat to grow up together till the Harvest besides the dangers mentioned in the former verse But then a question will be made whether the Sinite in this place be so strong and binding that in no case the Tares are to be rooted up till the Harvest come Where first we take it for a truth unquestionable which we finde in Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is not here forbidden saith that learned Father either to curb the Heretick or silence him or suppress his insolencies or to prohibit their Assemblies or disperse their Conventicles God hath not so disarmed his Church as to lay it open to the assaults and violence of malicious enemies and left her with no other weapons then defensive only In the spirituall Armorie which St. Paul describes there is as well the sword of the spirit as the shield of faith and truth appointed for a Girdle as well as righteousness for a Brest plate Gods Church is furnished with a power to convince gainsayers as well as to exhort or rebuke the sinner and may employ the pen though not tosse the Pike Else not the Heretick but the true Professor would be put to silence and God should send out men to fight and yet binde their hands And more then so the Lord hath given his Church Authority to deal with obstinate Hereticks and with perverse Schismaticks as St. Paul did with Hymenaeus and Alexander who having made shipwrack of the faith were by him cut off from the society of the faithfull For though some men of eminency in point of learning out of their love to that libertas Prophetandi now so much in fashion would have the Church be very wary in exercising this authority yet they profess they have no purpose utterly to deprive her of that power and priviledge segregandi eos à suis coetibus qui doctrinam adulterant of excommunicating those who corrupt her Doctrines What then is that which is denied the Church in the present Sinite Assuredly not to restrain the Heretick or confute the Heresie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to kill and slay them The Servants as we told you formerly were much scandalized to see Gods Field indangered by those wretched Tares errors in Doctrine and corruptions in point of manners being grown so prevalent that there was little hope to preserve the Church but by a sudden extirpation of them of what sort soever and thereupon they purposed as before I told you to go against them with the Sword to raise an holy Warre and destroy them utterly Which how unfit a way it was either to plant the Gospel or reform Religion I then told you also Warre being a Tragedy of such a nature as commonly destroyes the Stage whereupon t is acted
and esteem of others as illiterate may at last own them for less than fanaticall and groundless Opinionists He did not alledge any proofes for the other part both because he knew that others would do that for him as also because he had not that esteem for quotations to the contrary which he had for these not that he is much prepossessed through prejudice but upon an old protestant consideration that records and presidents differing from the received ways and interests of men are more to be regarded from any that make for them since the forgeryes and falsifications of precedent Ages make it propable that such passages might be inserted and foysted in but why or how these should be adulterated he did not see Even in matters of common transaction in our English Courts of judicature he thought he had been told that one precedent or verdict against the juriâ—diction of a Court is of more validity than a thousand for it because it is supposed that none will contrary to right and equity infringe their own power Further if any should oppose the sayings of others in the behalf of humane learning to what he had vouched he hoped they would produce them out of Authors contemporaries with his or else they should not imagine that he would think any such averrements to be contradictory to what his query may seemingly assert nor yet satisfactory to the question nor doth he think and. Heraldus Ouzelius and others concurr with him herein that out of Antiquty they can alledg any such quotations If they oppose his query with the practise and use of humane learning which is found in Clem. Alexandr Orig. Tertullian Lactantius Arnobius Minucius Felix c. He shall not think such dealing to be fair since the question is what was their judgment not what they did practise Of the latter no man will suppose the querist to be ignorant and if any should yet would the Objection be of no value untill they shall evince that every man did in those times live up to the light he had and acted as he spake He thinks it may have been with the Ancients as with Vega that excellent methodest in Physick who being sick of a feavour a friend visited him found him drinking wine whereupon he charged him with having formerly prohibited the use thereof in feavours by his writings The infirme replyed in my books you see the practise of Physick but in me the practise of Physicians He supposes that after persons have been brought over from Paganisme to Christianity something may stick by them as an ill scent may when one comes out of a jakes yet that is their failing not their justification If Moses learnt the Egyptian skill it was whilst he remained in Pharaoh's Court And so Paul was learned in Heathen Authors but it was before he came to the School of Christ he hath used them but three or four times in his works whereas now they are more frequent than Texts of Scripture Athanasius against the Gentiles saith the Scriptures are sufficient to declare the truth of themselves and that if his friend Macarius did read other Religious writers It was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a lover of â—legance not as a lover of Christ Other things there were which he saw might be objected which he will not now insist upon having weighed them in the ballances and found them light About the call of the Ministry and the first Reformers he hopes not to be opposed with the afterjudgment of Luther or the rest He is not of their Opinion who thinke the first reformers did use that Artifice of bending a crooked stick as much the other way that so it may at least become straight Such dealings are not to be admitted in the service of our God who is a consuming fire It is to charge them with a great hypocrisie since they never owned any such actions but delivered all as precious and glorious Truths and to make them guilty of the ruine of those poor souls who dyed in the profession of a belief their teachers did not intend them In fine it is to make the first Reformation as bad or not much better a way as thâ—t of Popery and all that embraces it and adhere thereunto to be in a different only and sinfull estate It is a slur to the greatest wonder God hath produced after the Churches being 1200. years in the Wilderness How much more ought we to prejudge all succeeding times from their Doctrines and having such pregnant motives to believe they were spirited by God let us impute their after-change to failings upon carnall considerations when Luther went to settle himself Pope in Germany and his writings were advanced as the test of truth and an Oligarchy of Ministers setled elsewhere Let us owe our Reformation to God and not Belial or Antichrist to the call and excitement of the former not consecration of the latter Let us acknowledge their zeal their chatity those more glorious principles of spirituall graces rather than prudentiall contrivements Are not those there first works which are here quoted are not those the works by which Luther said he would have men and Angels tryed If you say that there is a difference betwixt a Church setled and unsetled a question will arise if that can be questioned whether the Papists did not say their church was then setled and whether any settlement politicall will suffice to debarr those actings for then the first Reformers yea first Christians and Christ himself all are cast If only what is a settlement of truth or Gospel-settlement be intended doth not this resolve all into a tryall of doctrines a proof that the present way is the sole Gospel-way Which whosoever shall avow he need not want employment for his thoughts from the severall writings of Papists Episcoparians Presbyterians Independents c. however the Questionist should rest In Matth. 13. v. 3. In Matth. 13. Lib. 5. c. 1. In Mat. 13. Luk. 14. 16. Matth. 22. 2. Matth. 5. 1 Kings Joh. 16. 29. De Doct. Ch. l. 2. c. 3. in locum Ovid. met lib. 1. Georgic l. â— Gen. 4. 2. Lib. de Agricultura Joh. 10. 11. 1 Pet. 5. 4. 2. 25. Gen. 4. 2 Chron. 26. 10. Hist Rom. l. 1. c. 11. v. 1. Joh. 5. 17. Augustine Jâ—h 5. Joh. 6 61. Gen. 3. 15. Tertul. Exod. 21. 1. cap. 1. v. 9. c. 3. v. 17. Heb. 1. 1. 2. v. 37. Matth. 28. v. 20. In locum Ephes 4. v. 11 12. 1 Cor. 3. 9. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Ovid. Plautus Metam l. 1. Buâ—ling In Matth. 13. Homil. in Matth. 3. James 1. v. 13 14. Eusebius Hist 5. 19. Aug. de haeres c. 35. Ibid. c. 70. Ibid. c. 15. De Gen. ad lit l. 2. c. 17. Calv. Instruct adv Libertinos In Quintino Plutarch in Caesare Calv. Institut l. 3. c. 23. Se. 7. De Civit. l 5. c. 1. Joh. 3. 16 17. 1 Joh. 2. 2. 1 Joh. 2. 2. Acts 2. 3 11.
reserving them with the Apostate Angels in eternall chains to the judgement of the great and terrible day And though this be a truth so clear that it needes no proofs yet we will instance in some few the better to set forth the necessary truth of this together with the longanimity and justice of Almighty God In the old World the sinnes of men were very great all the imaginations of their hearts corrupt and evill so that the very Sonnes of God were tempted to go in to the Daughters of men and yet God spared them a long time and added 120 yeeres unto the dayes of their repentance But when their sins were grown so ripe that God repented him at last of Mans creation he brought the flood upon them and destroyed them all but saved righteous Noah and his Houshold with him The Citizens of Sodom had long swelled in pride and surfeited on fulness of bread and abundance of idleness as the Prophet tells us and yet God suffered them to live and fulfill their lusts But when the voyce of their sins became so loud as to cry unto the Heavens for vengeance and to occasion God himself to come down and see majorne infamia vero whether their sins were answerable to the cry which was come unto him then were they ready for the sickle 't was high Harvest then and the Lord sent his Angels to consume their City and rained down fire from Heaven upon them but delivered Lot and his small Family like a fire-brand snatched out of the flames Passe we on forwards into Egypt and we shall finde how patiently the Lord expected that the proud Egyptians would at the last dismisse his people with peace and safety but when that did no good upon them when they had added tyranny unto oppression and unto both a proud contempt of his Word and Messengers he brought his people out with a mighty hand the Angel of the Lord going before the Camp of Israel but overwhelming Pharaoh and his Host in a second deluge And if God did not presently invest his people in the possession of the Land so often promised it was not only for their disobedience or their unbelief nor for their murmuring against God and groundless exclamations against Moses and Aaron though these did all concur to retard their entrance The Scriptures give another reason and questionless the true reason of that long suspension nondum completa est iniquitas Amorrhaeorum the wickedness of the Amorites was not yet full 't was not Harvest yet and therefore God had not given order to the Land to spew out her Inhabitants Thus do we read in holy Scripture of the Harvest of Babylon and of the Harvest of Damascus i. e. of those appointed times in which for their Idolatries and abominations they were to be delivered over to the hands of their severall enemies And for those very Jewes themselves though God spared them long notwithstanding all their provocations and only visited them sometimes with Warre or thraldom yet he stayed not there for when they had made up the measure of their Fathers sins and added to the same the blood of the Sonne of God more precious then the blood of Abel and of all the Prophets then did the Lord destroy their City and disperse their people making them that they were no longer to be called a Nation but a poor scattered remnant of what once they were But for the persecuted Saints of Christ which lived amongst them the Lord withdrew them from that plague warning them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Dream or Oracle to remove thence to Pella a small Town of Syria before the first approch of the Roman Armies Thus was it also with the Church since the time of the Gospel The Princes of the Earth sometimes raged against it and harried it with fire and sword and all kinde of torments And though the souls of them which were slain for the word of the Lord had cryed unto their God for vengeance yet was it said to them from above ut requiescerent adhuc modicum tempus that they should rest yet for a season and tarry till their Brethrens blood was cast into the ballance also to make up the weight Which time being come the Lord did plague the persecutors with such grievous plagues that in the anguish of their souls and guilt of conscience they cryed unto the Rocks to fall upon them on the hills to hide them Never Dog barked against the Crosse but he grew mad after it saith the Author of the Book of Martyrs So for those vile and wretched miscreants which did afflict the Church of Christ with Schismes and Heresies they did exalt their horns a while and bare all before them the Arians especially being so predominant ut jam non portiunculam quandam that they thought scorn to be confined to one Church or Nation but like a generall scab or Leprosie had invaded almost all the parts of the body mysticall yet when their pride was greatest and their power most formidable when their impieties and blasphemies were so strongly backed that these few Orthodox Professors which were left untainted did tremble at the apprehension of the present danger God then conceived them fit for vengeance and put in his sickle the time being come for him to reap and the Harvest ready so that of all those Sects and Heresies which did afflict the Church in her purest Ages there is scarce any thing remaining but the name and infamy And though the Christians of those times being delivered from the fear of their deadly enemies had surfeited on peace and prohibited pleasures yet God reprieved them a long time from the hand of punishment but when their sins were grown so publick and so full of scandall ut pateretur lex Christiana maledictum that even the Gospel grew to be ill reported of by the Jew and Gentile then poured he out the Nations of the North upon them who sacked their Cities and laid waste their Palaces and in conclusion dispossessed them of their Countries also Now by this Standard we may take the measure both of Gods patience and his justice in all parallel Cases If we see Sects and Heresies rise up to disturb the Church and not to rise up only but grow strong and prevalent and in a way like Pharaohs seven lean Kine to devoure the fat if we see wickedness grow successful and rebellion prosperous and the best men become a prey to the cruel spoylers we must not think that God is all this while asleep and regards it not not so the Lord that keepeth Israel neither sleepes nor slumbereth But when the sins of men be ripe and the time of wrath is come that they should be judged the God that dwelleth in the Heavens shall scourge them with a whip of Scorpions and break them into pieces like a Potters vessel And though some of them