Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	father_n	know_v	worship_v	2,551	5	9.5681	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08280	A mirror for the multitude, or Glasse Wherein maie be seene, the violence, the error, the weaknesse, and rash consent, of the multitude, and the daungerous resolution of such, as without regard of the truth, endeaour to sinne and ioyne themselues with the multitude: with a necessary conclusion, that it is not the name, or title of a protestant, christian, or catholicke, but the true imitation of Christ, that maketh a Christian. By I.N.	Norden, John, 1548-1625?	1586 (1586)	STC 18613; ESTC S120153	80,770	136

and Archenemy of the church of Christ who in the beginning seeing our first parentes in a blessed estate in a sincere godly course of life hee neuer lefte by pernicious practises vntill hee had pluckt thē from their obedience to their maker into wilfull rebellion and sinne and consequentlye vnto deathe And hath not since in anye age ceased to seeke the meanes to preuent the passage of the truth and to hinder as much as in him lyeth the saluation of all men He raysed vp wicked Cain to laye violent handes vppon godly Abell and to shed his innocent bloud onely because he saw that Abell began to serue God aright When Ioshna the high preist prayed vnto the Lorde for the prosperity of the Church Sathan stoode at his elbowe to resist him and of a surety so endeuoreth to resist euery action euery enterprise and motion tending to the setting forth of the glorye of God and the saluation of our soules He raysed vp wicked Saul to persecute godlye Dauid Herod to seeke the death of Christ and his many ministers euen mighty multituds to persecute his Apostles We may read how he incited vngodly Iesabell to seeke the death of Eliah and to conclude hath neuer omitted tyme and meanes to persecute as many as haue professed the truth such is his malice towards the church of God And for that the church of Christ is so subiect to the stormy tempests of Sathans persecutions and euery godly action so encountred and kept back with the blusterous blasts of his buffets It is rightly resembled vnto a ship that is beaten battered and continually subiecte to the rough and boyling waues of the raging Sea But herein is our comfort that when the greatest tempestes and stormes doe arise when wee seeme to be in most perill and likely to be ouerwhelmed with the belowes fomy flashings of affliction and when we think that our heauenly father is a sleepe and regardeth not our troubles our daungers or present and imminent perills he suddenly ariseth and rebuketh the windes and chaungeth the stormes into calme weather our despaire of helpe into a manifest token of our certaine safetie And as in respect of the trobles incident vnto the professors of the trueth their estate is resembled vnto a ship tossed in the sea Euen so let vs further consider that as the ship that is greeuously tossed and the mariners and passengers that thereby are most perilously endaungered haue then the greatest care and take circumspectest heede that they runne not against the rocks nor be driuen into any gulph and if they safely ariue vnto their expected harbour their ioy is then the more great gladesome by howe much they were in desperate perill Euen so the poore soules that are most cruelly handled and the bark of their fraile fleshe most sharply tossed and driuen to and fro with the force of bitter persecution for the testimony of the truth their care and diligence to keep the euen and direct course is thē most regarded they carry then an eye vnto their course least the wind of these troubles shoulde driue them vpon the rockes of error And when they shall safely namely truely constantly ariue at their wished harbour namely of the passage from this mortall life vnto the immortal hauen whether it be by Martirdome or by any other kind of determination of their course their ioyes shall bee so much the greater by how much their afflictions and persecutions haue bene for the testimony of their godly professions with constancy due pacience tollerated accepted for blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnes sake for theirs is the kingdome of heauen This thē is our sufficient warrant patiently to accept of Sathans buffets knowing that the grace of God shal hold vs vp and preserue vs from confusion And therefore although through persecution and crosses wee be thought contemptible in this world and through the slaunders reproches of the wicked we be thought and accompted abiects in the worlde let vs perswade our selues that all the persecutions afflictions troubles cares calamities scornings scoffings scurgings and crosses which wee can beare in this life are not worthy of the ioy of the life to come Yet may we fully resolue our selues that as a sparrowe lighteth not on the ground without the prouidence of God no more doeth the least of these afflictions light vppon vs without our heauenly fathers will for our saluation And therefore wee may not think it straunge when this firy tryall of persecution commeth but rather to reioice in somuch as we be thereby made pertakers of Christ our dear maisters sufferings For when his glory shall appeare wee with him shall appeare in glory But why shoulde God permit his children to be so hardly dealt withall by the wicked Why doth Christ suffer his sheepe thus guiltlesse to be slaine and his spouse the church to be so persecuted afflicted for that shepheard that hath speciall regard vnto his flocke will not suffer thē to be so hunted and vexed by the tiranny of rauening wolues Neither will that father that loueth his children see them abused and ill dealt withall by any but will with speed show himself a carefull father and the shepheard a watchfull shepheard vnto his flocke Euen so naturall reason would seeme to controll Christ in that hee wincketh at the wicked when with open mouths they run vpon the godly as though they woulde swallow them and deuoure them vp quick but should rather presently take their cause in hand and reuenge himself of such as defile his sanctuary But Christ to resolue our weaknesse and to confirme a farther hope in vs touching his good pleasure herein saith that it muste bee so vntill the number of the faithfull bee fulfilled that the wicked shall persecute the godly as who should say I do allowe that my children shall taste of the whippes of the vngodly and by them to bee cast out of their Sinagogue to be excōmunicated and put to death and why For my names sake saith hee And in that they thus afflicte them they shal think they do god good seruice namly in that they knowe neither God the Father neither Christ whereby we see that none that trulie know God or seeke his glory will moue as much as their hands or tongues against any of his seruaunts much lesse against his annointed against lawfully established kings princes and magistrates which couet to maintaine the setting foorth of his truth and exalting his name Then to conclude what may wee holde them that seeke the murthering of Christs annointed namely our Queene and gouernesse and suche like defenders of his true religion May wee not say they be such as know not God such as seeke nothing but how to crucifie Christ in his members Nabuchadnezar not knowing God neither being acquainted with his trueth did euen the like in persecuting the

heare the lawe of the Lord but say vnto the seers see not and to the Prophetes prophecie not vnto the people the trueth but speake flattering wordes vnto them prophecie errors go out of the way forsake the right path cause the holy one of Israell to cease from vs. Is not this the manner of these men to keepe such frō the truth which are tyed to their vsurped authoritie with the cordes of obstinate blindnes which was the cause that in the dais of Christ himself the multitude cried out to crucifie him yet thought they did wel Christ praied his father to forgiue thē saying they knowe not what they doe But it is now otherwise with vs for we haue the trueth before vs we may read it we haue the truth preched we may heare it we haue it reuealed we may vnderstande it and therefore the neglecting thereof is now inexcusable and the Lord will not suffer his truth now to be darkened with feyned holines And therefore let vs returne vnto our selues enter into cōsideration of our own cōuersations whether they be framed according to the trueth which we haue learned We are fruitfully most plentifully fed with the bread of life the gospell of Christ beyond al other Nations of the world let vs not be therfore glorious in our words only or in our outward actiōs expecting the praise of mē but let vs be pure in hart obediēt in soule mind to God that searcheth the raynes and entrals thereof and accepteth not of those that can but brag and say we haue the Gospell wee haue the Gospell and bringe not foorth the fruites of the Gospell It was not enough for the Iewishe Priestes to crye out the temple of God the temple of GOD as though the bare title of the temple maketh it the true temple of God or the name of a Christian a member of Christ or the title of a Protestant wherof some doe boast a man in deede that protesteth in life and inward zeale that he is a true Christian. The Papists cry out we are catholiques we are catholiques we are of the Church for looke vpon our external works of charity actions of deuotiō we fast we praye wee giue almes we pinch our bodies we scurge our selues wee are they that shall ascende vnto the holy hill But alas howe far these things are of thēselues from that which God requireth he himself declareth saying such as haue pure heartes and cleane handes such as are inwardly zealous togither with the outward testimonies of their godly life such shall inherite heauen And therefore there may bee manie wolues in lambes skinnes many deuils vnder the habite of Pharazaicall deuotion and therefore not in wordes or outwarde behauiour only standeth the perfect estate of a Christian but euen in the sinceritie and perfect purenesse of the heart depending in faith vppon the merits of Christ The outward action is the messenger of the hart it is a witnesse of the minde but not at all times a like for the outwarde kysse of Iudas was outwardly a token of loue and yet it proceeded of an heart full of gall and bitternesse of deceyte and murther his words of all hayle master came as if his lippes had testified obedience to his master but the poyson of Aspys was vnder his tong The muncke of Swynsted that poysoned Kinge Iohn came with his poysoned potion with the sweete words of wassayle my Leige and inwardly pretended the death of the King are there not in these dayes manie that can couer their poysoned practises with the outward show of all hayle Madam and God saue your Maiestie and such like faire words that come frō a poysonsom stomach doth not counterfeite deuation couer many diuelish deuises Is not sometimes dutifull obedience made the cloke for wilfull rebellion and diligent attendance made the collour of conspiracie Looke vpon Parrie his practises and there is a proofe of these pollicies Man seeth not the heartes of men but God findeth them out in their secrete counsailes he bewrayeth some to be traytors that make outward show of true subiectes And therefore let no man deceiue himselfe in a perswasion of his saftie when his heart is burned with the hoat yron of a guiltie conscience against God or his Prince God will not be flattered with although man flatter man dissemble with man or play the hypocrite before men for he will vncouer their cunning and reueale their inwarde deuises and showe them vnto the worlde as a due reproch and rewarde them in fine with the condigne guerdon of their endlesse tormentes Oh let vs therefore be wise in the truth let vs be circumspect as serpentes that wee be not ouer taken with these alluring Cerenes that sing sweetly in our eares absolution absolution pardon pardon dispensation dispensation for sin they deceyue vs they drawe vs with the flouds of errors beware that their pleasant tunes preuayle not with any of vs but like wise Vlysses let vs binde our soules to the maste of the trueth of Gods word least we yeeld the sayles of our consentes vnto the winde of their wylinesse and so being pertakers of their practises wee become likewise pertakers of their punishments Let vs be simple as doues let vs harbour no kind of wil to ioyne our selues with these dangerous men although the greatest part of the world that vnder the pretence of holines vnder the title of catholikes seeke to ouerthrowe the kingdome of god the church of Christ the knowledg of his word preching of his gospel Although they say Lord Lord they are not thereby made the seruants of the Lord. If we do not that which the Lord cōmandeth we are meere enemies vnto the Lorde It is not ynough to beare the greene leaues and the beautifull blossomes of a godly life but we must bring forth the fruits which come frō the roote heart of our in warde affections zealous obedience wherwith euery true christian is so adorned that whensoeuer Christ our sauiour passeth by vs with consideration of our good-workes he findeth thē so frutefull that he blesseth the figge tree of our hearts making it profitable though no● of it selfe yet by the inspiration of his holy spirite in such sort as men may see our good fruites glorifie our father for his mercifull watering our soules to the bringing foorth therof And on the contrary where there are the leaues the glorious showe of a godly life only in externall actions without the true fruts proceeding frō the heart the Lord hath no pleasure in that tree but curseth it withereth it euen with the breath of his mouth so that they that passe by shall say that in such paynted Sepulchers the Lorde hath no delight We must therefore endeuor to bring forth the fruts of a godly holy innocent life following as in outward profession so in

inhabitants thereof in peeces and grind the rebellious to powder euen with the breath of his mouth For surely he that can shake the tree euen to the rootes he can much more disperse the leaues and consume them to nought Seeing I say good reader that our dulnes is such our hearts so besotted with the obliuion of any regard of so high a matter of so newe a thing and so straunge an euent I am vtterlye discomforted to present thee anye more newes then within nine dayes I may assure me shall perish in the floud of forgetfulnesse And on the other side to write what hath beene already written to present vnto thee what hath beene or is already extant I know it will be thought stale stuffe and so a needles trauaile So that ●are is the trauaile in these dayes that draweth not after it some mislyke of the authour be it new or old But such is my boldnesse in the feare of God and premised obedience to my dreade Soueraigne that I haue aduentured to present vnto thee such things for thy learning and comfort as haue beene in the dayes of our fathers of old done to shew the goodnesse of the Lorde to those that trusted in him and his vengeaunce and judgementes againste them that were rebellious againste his truth and that stood vpon their owne strength and multitude against the same which although I confesse hath been already written yet to shew my selfe willing to do thee what good my poore tallent can extend vnto I haue endeuoured to perfourme this little trauaile the summe wherof is but to encourage thee to frame thine affection to the truth of Gods worde and not to bee dismaied at the threats of gods enimies notwithstanding they seeme vnuanquishable in respect of their multitudes and boast of their assuraunce of the truth in respect of their manie heades These are friuolous vauntes whose fruites declare their profession pestilent and their perswasions nothing els but to plucke men into the pit of wilfull rebellion against God and conspiracie against his annointed of the land And that which I haue here collected is nothing but the fruits of the tree of life the sacred word of God for thee to feed vpon in these daungerous dayes perswading my selfe that if thou be a true christian thou w●lt more willingly accept it though altogeather voyde of eloquence thē that which the multitude couet namely that which may encrease subtilty of wit make men more wonderfull amonge men in respect of the curious conceited rules of falshood and felowship of Sophistry such like which as it is far from the intent of my trauaile so I know thou wilt not expect it as a thing necessary to staine the way to the true christian profession or to moue willing zeale zealous willingnes to perseuere therein I haue intitled it A MIRROR FOR THE MVLTITVDE for that as in a glasse all men may see and beholde the common course of the most parte alienate from the truth of Christian religion And the lesser number to bee the true seruants of the liuing God For notwithstanding the common censure of the worlde doth rashly attribute greatest assurance of hauing the truth in respect of many heads and generall consents of countryes and kingdoms and doe yeeld greatest likelihood of safty vnto the might of manye adherentes It fareth not so with Gods eternal truth which hee reuevleth vnto babes and sucklinges and hideth it from the wise of the world who plucketh downe the mightie and proude and exalteth the humble and meeke And therefore is it a deceite of Sathan to allure men to consent vnto the multitude to be sure of the truth and to trust in the mightie showes of multitudes to be preserued from the foyle It is not the horse that saueth a man in the battayle but the mightie hand of God God is not tyde to the force of man but the puysaunce of the mightiest multitude vnder the power of the inuincible God And therefore a daungerous thing to followe the multitude For many are called but fewe are chosen many are inuited to the heauenly sweete banquet of the true knowledge and exercise of the sincere religion of God but fewe there bee that frame their willes and powers to performe it in deede And why onely for that they finde the way thereunto rough burdensome and bodily dangerous and therefore start aside like broken bowes and retire like dastardly souldiers and attain not vnto the end of the race that leadeth vnto life but take the broad pleasant and easie way that trayneth vnto errors feyned holinesse consequently vnto death It is a painefull hard and tedious thing to fleshe and bloud to forsake worldly vanities and pleasing thinges of the worlde to followe Christ for that in flesh there is no goodnesse pronenesse or readinesse to do well to denie and suppresse our owne naturall affections and as it were to kill our owne selues in true mortification to the ende the more freely to imbrace the crosse of Christ and to liue to him in singlenesse and purenesse of heart The Apostle sayth for thy sake are we killed all the daye long agreeing with the wordes of the Prophet who likewise sayth that for the loue and dutifull affection the godly bare vnto God for his sake they are slaine contitually namely suffer the wicked to rage against them to rayle at them to persecute them and punish them wherein being led by the spirite of God in perfect holinesse they take it not onely patiently but to their vnspeakeable cōfort for that they are thought worthy to suffer such reproch for the testimonie of their true and verie Christian profession when they are carried as sheepe to the slaughter for their faith in Christ and not as wicked doers traytors rebels murtherers bloud thirsty men for Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heauen But if any man suffer as a murtherer or an euill doer or as a busie bodie in other mens matters he hath no portion with thē And yet such is the blindnes of our late conspirators that they are perswaded their rebellions their treasons murthers and all their bloudie practises not onely lawfull but meritorious only by the dispensation which they haue from the vicegerent of Satan who presumeth to make the word of God in this behalfe namely that no murtherer or wicked person shall enter into the kingdome of heauen of none effect and not only tollerateth murther other the most intollerable euils but warranteth the actors thereof not only pardon but great rewarde for murthering the most godly vpon the earth yea whē for these wicked pretended practises they come by due proofe course of lawes vnto the gallowes as wicked doers such is the blasphemous boldnes of the man of Rome that he blusheth not to canonize them

the foundation of their deuises to come from the wel-spring of wickednes frō him that can dispence and giue tolleration for murthers and al wickednes els whatsoeuer and say further that the wise the learned the mightye and the multitude agree and giue not onelye their consents but their helping hands with money and force to further their enterprises And therefore is their madnes in taking such actions in hande so muche the more to bee tollerated and borne withall naye to be fauoured and accepted Alas poore weake defence a slender excuse were there not two hundred and fiftye Captaines famous men ioyned themselues to Korah Dathan Abiram whose generall consent was neither a sufficient excuse neither a proofe that their rising and rebellion was lawfull But Moses told Korah another tale for sayd he thou and all thy companye are gathered together against the Lorde This agreeth with the word of God to Paule when he went to persecute the christians namely that he persecuted God himselfe And thus we see that although these men arme them-selues with the glorious title of the Catholik church their deuises manifest and plainly betoken that their harts are set against the church against Christ christians And therefore although they outwardly pretend great showes of holines deuout workes of charitie therby win vnto themselues credit in the world glory of their long continuance though their cunning collusions haue caught as in a snare with their inchantments bewitched the greatest part of the world brag of their vnion of their mutuall consent of their mighty adherentes great multitudes that ioyne with them yet seeing they haue forsaken the faith seeing they deny the truth fight against it seeing they seek to resist the passage of the gospel with out which there can appeare nothinge but the shadowes of good thinges seeing they set not forth but vtterly depraue the glory of God and the merits of his Christ. Seeing they goe about and endeuour as we see not onely to resist but to betray and ouerthrow Moses and Aaron We may say truly auere yea cōstātly affirme that they haue a golden vizarde vpon their leaden faces they haue the names but not the effect or fruites of Catholiques They call themselues the Church and are not of the Church Christ commandeth that the light of euerye good christian should so shine before men that they might see the fruites of the true light And is not murther of Princes Sacking of Cities Ouerthrowing of commonweales Nay of their own natiue countryes the fruits of their light Are not these the fruits and works of darknes which bewray their consciences to haue no true light Is this course which now they begun to take they way to make themselues cleane to take away the euill of their works from before the eies of the Lorde Is this course that they take the meane to become holye as our heauenlye father is holy No no but they eat the bread of malice deceipt of liyng slaughter which in their mouths seemeth sweet but the operation therof shall fill euen their bowels with deadly grauell But all ye that are infected polluted with this poyson of their practises callinto your minds for the loue of God the daunger of your estates here in earth where the law throgh the iust iudgement of God condemneth you the diuell deceaueth you and the merciful God leaueth and forsaketh you who al thogh he wil that al mē shalbe saued come to knowledge of the truth he detesteth abhorreth he cannot abide wilful contēners therof Receaue therefore with meeknesse the word of the Lorde which is able to saue your soules For beholde by it we heare the most comfortable promises of our mercifull God by it we may learne the way to his truth and to auoyde the pollicies practised against the same Let vs therfore yeeld with reuerence our eares to heare it our tonges with diligence to read declare it our hearts with ioy vnderstanding to cōsider it And thē may we rightly apply this saying vnto our selues Come vnto me all ye that trauaile and are heauie laden and I shal refresh you Loe deare Christian brethren what greater cōfort can we haue then this If any be burdened in conscience that he hath addicted himself too much to the crooked and by wayes of mans inuentions forsaking the direct rule of the sacred worde and endeuoureth duly to reforme himselfe and to bee clensed then I say here is water offered here is the liquor of life extended in the bason of Gods booke to refresh vs withall Let vs ioyfully receiue it and turne vnto God and verily we shall be saued We haue sufficient warning to flie the company of the enemies of God and Christ and to haue no fellowshippe with their vnfruitefull workes of darkenes let vs I say learne of Peter to saue ourselues from this froward generation so shall we eate the good thinges of the lande namely we shall enioye the thinges necessary for our pilgrimage heere and aboue all shall be fed with the breade tending to the feeding of our soules to life But if we refuse and become rebellious we shall be deuoured with the swoord for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Wherfore I saye let vs girde vp the loynes of our mindes and refer ourselues faithfully vnto our Lord God being sober trusting faithfully perfectlye on the grace that is brought vnto vs by the reuelation of Iesus Christ And let vs shew ourselues obedient not to fashion our selues to the course of our fathers who were led in ignorance neither according to the course of this world which with greedines followeth and imitateth the red Dragon who seketh to deuour the gospell of our Lord and sauiour and with tiranny to persecute euen to the death all the professors thereof But the trueth is great and it shall preuaile Yet haue these men that pretende these mischifes which haue beene so graciouslye by the almighty God reuealed had their onely confidence in the strength of the multitude of their confederates in respect of the great number of them and the little number and small company of the true and constant christians they cry out and saye they haue the truth with them for that so manye and so learned men as holde with them cannot be deceiued neither can so many and so mighty as take part with thē be conquered or resisted These are arguments which they ground vpon naturall reason and therfore doth the worde of God vtterly confound them as by the testimonie of the worde and truth of God shall appeare CHAP. 2. A most comfortable discouery by examples out of the holy Scriptures applyed to our time how daungerous a thing it is to measure our profession according to the mindes of the multitude and how vaine a thing it is to ioyne ourselues

bent their bowes and made readie their quiuers ful of sharpe arrows although they haue whetted their swordes prepared powder peeces and shot let vs not I say be any whit at all dismayd at these their hautie attemptes For beholde God who is iealous of his owne cause will not suffer his honour to be throwen in the dust his Church to be ouerthrowen his trueth troden downe nor mans owne inuentions grounded vppon the weake foundation of good intent and not vppon the rocke the worde of God to goe awaye with the glorie For surely great is the truth and it shall preuaile let Herode rage let Iudas dissemble let Pilate Iudge let all the crue of Antichristian potentates conspire consulte condemne controule coniure afflicte persecute and seeke by all meanes to suppresse the trueth It shall in dispighte of them and all their forces breake foorth appeare and shew it selfe most triumphantly to the vnspeakeable comforte of the little flocke of Christ and to as great terror of these men mightie multitudes as the renting of the temple shaking of the earth and the other strange euentes at the crucifying of Christ were vnto that huge multitude of the aduersaries of the truth in those dayes yea farre greater forasmuch as it is nowe plentifullie preached manifest and auncient then newe and straunge and not reuealed to all Wee are nowe voyde of all excuse and although Christe himselfe prayed his Father not to laye the cryme of his death vppon them or to their charge in respect of their ignorance it shalbe farre otherwise with those that in these daies so obstinately seeke to crucifie him againe But to imagine or thinke that eyther the trueth is tyed to the multitude or to bee ouercome by the wisedome the pollicie the force or multitude of men or that the rage of Tyrauntes can extinguishe that ardent and godlie zeale that by the instinction of the holie Ghost is imprinted in the heartes and consciences of the faithfull members of the assured heade and vnmooueable rocke Christe Iesus were meere incredulitie nay a meere denyall of Christe and of his power and vertue Wherefore be it farre from vs to yeelde anie prerogatiue at all vnto the multitude further then may stande with the woorde of God And for our instruction and farther comfortes sake let vs with pure heartes and innocent intentes looke backe consider what our good God hath doone for our Fathers of olde that did professe his name aright whereby wee shall haue due proofe that it is not the multitude that imbrace his trueth nor that can resist suppresse or preuayle against the same although from the beginning the church of God hath bin farre the least part of the worlde the least part of euerie countrey and kingdome the least part of euerie Citie yea the least part of euerie congregation Yet such hath beene the care and louing affection of God towardes his fewe and small number that he hath not suffered them at anie time to take the foyle at the handes of his aduersaries beeing neuer so manie and mightie But doubtles this their argument of the force and soundnesse of the multitude doth not a little harme with the weaker sort of people whose heartes are not grounded vppon the sure foundation of Gods mightie protection And by reason thereof is the verie sounde of the multitude terrible only for that they knowe not nor consider the mightie workes of the Lord whose hand bringeth mightie thinges to passe they are ignorant of the truth and therefore can not conceyue the goodnesse of the Lord but desperately break out into this dangerous resolutiō namely to take part with the multitude be it with or against the truth They consider not how that god hath said that he hath chosen the weake thinges of the earth to confound the mightie the foolish such as in the world are accounted foolish to confound the wise in their own conceits the vile and base ones and such as are not regarded but despised in the world he hath raised vp and appointed to bring those things to nought which in the iudgment of man are of great estimation and account and the cause is that none should too much glorie in his owne strength wisdome or power No flesh should glorie in the presence of God Is not this sufficient to mooue the heartes of all those that couet to be accounted Christians to stande in the truth although they be therefore despised in the worlde threatned of the worlde and are as strangers and outcastes to the world rather then to accompanie the multitude and become glorious in the world and hated of god strong in the worlde and weake in the truth familier with the world at discord with Christ conuersant in the worlde and straungers in the Church of God Seeing that it is not the number of the persones the power or glorious showe of the persons but the inwarde godlye zeale of the heart the vnfeyned affection of the heart which bringeth foorth perseueraunce in the truth vnto the ende whome God regardeth to whom he giueth aide to stand and victorie wherein truely to boast and say the mightie hande of the Lorde hath done this thing and in so doing he will not suffer his little contemned children to be confounded of the high and hautie minded multitudes but will confound them in their own imaginations And therfore saith he feare not my little flocke be not discōforted or discouraged I wil fight for you wil scatter your enemies before your faces I wil throwe downe and confounde these wicked people that delight and long for warre that thirst after bloud and hunger after the destructiō of the Saints of God But we see that our heauenly father comforteth vs he louingly willeth vs counsaileth vs gladly to leaue the bondage of Aegypt speedely to flye from the filthines of Sodome and with Noah to enter into the arke of our safety euen to the amiable courtes of the Lord to hold our selues by the piller of the trueth euen the Gospell of his Christ and to visit his temple So will he be our God and we shall be his children he will be our father and we shall be his sonnes and daughters whome hee will mightelye protect and defende from the force and erronious course of the multitude And whatsoeuer Sathan Antichrist and their adherets doe deuise or imagine against vs howsoeuer they seeme to feare vs and dismay vs with their multitudes let vs be patient wayting the Lordes leasure for our deliuery Let vs be both carefull and constant in our callinges and euery one from the highst to the lowest the heade and members euery one according to his office and function frame our selues diligentlye to haue cleare heartes and readye handes in the feare and due reuerence of him that hath promised vs ayde to stand not only vpon our own garde but as one body compact of many members stand

whome the mighty hand of the God whome he serued sufficientlye protected shutting the Lions mouthes so that they could not hurt him But when those were cast into the den that conspired his death they were rent in peeces ere they came to the ground of the den This Daniell was likewise hardlye beset with manye enemies for that he in zeale of Gods truth reprehended Cyrus king of Persia for permitting and committing suche idolatrye vnto a filthy monster Bell the idoll of whome such was the opinion of the king and the people that they worshipped it as God the whole multitude fell downe before it But Daniell resisting them to their faces sayd this that yee worship is an idoll and no God and when the kinge hearde that he seemed wroth and to maintaine this Dragon to be a God he framed his argument saying doest thou thinke it to bee no God beholde he eateth and drinketh and therefore doest thou speake blasphemie against our God he eateth an hundred gallons of fine flowre and forty sheepe and drinketh sixe great pots of wine euery day here was a gluttonous God But beholde the poore idoll was slandered and deceiued for the priests their wiues and children deuoured all this prouision secreatlye These were like vnto our late abbey lubbers who deuoured that in loiteringe lasines which the painfull labourers should liue by But poore Daniell beeing sharply reprooued not onely at the handes of the king but threatned by the multitude not fearing their force hauing his assured confidence in the help of the liuing God and seeking to maintaine his glorye and deface superstition idolatrye vndertooke the destruction of this false God without swoord or staffe which he by his power whose hande is alwayes ready to assist his seruaunts and to confound his aduersaries presently performed and brake it all in peeces confounded it and shewed it in it likenes namely to be a false and counterfeyt image and in deed no God Whereat the whole multitude of the Babylonians raged not onely against Daniell but also against the king himselfe for that hee permitted Daniell to take this enterprise in hand The king being timorous and more fearing the force of the multitude then seeking the glory of the liuing God deliuered poore Daniell into their handes who threw him violentlye into the Lions den to be deuoured But such was the omnipotent power of God ouer these greedy and rauenous beastes which Daniels aduersaries of purpose kept hungry and without meat to make their stomaches so much the more greedy of the bloud of this seruant of the true GOD who in suche sort stopped their mouthes that they hurt not Daniell at all What a most louing God what a mighty and merciful iudge of our distresse doth he shew himselfe for this is also written for our learning to shew that he neuer saileth the faythfull but helpeth them in due time of need And that we should not fear the great and mighty multitudes of Romish Babylonians that endeuor to bring vs into the den of their deuouring Lions their spanish inquisition and such like deepe deuoring gulphes that they haue deuised to ouerthrow if they coulde euery true Daniell by persecutions torturs and the feare of death Now for asmuch as we haue seene the mighty workes of the Lorde in great aboundance towards the deliuery of those that put their vnfeyned confidence in his protection vsinge sometymes worldly meanes sometimes his power against worldly meanes and sometimes without worldly meanes to allure his people in their distres to come vnto him for their encouragement hath made waies for their safety when naturall reason coulde not deuise or imagine the meane to escape and hath by few of his seruants ouerthrown vanquished great multitudes of his aduersaries pulled downe the mighty by the hand of the weak and exalted the weake against the expectation of the mightye Let vs therefore duely applye all these his mighty workes to our instruction according vnto the time set them before our eles as a mirror or glasse to see the estate of the enimies of God their slippery standings and weake holds and the sure refuge the buckler which the righteous haue in the mighty hand of God The christiās we see are inuironed with manye perillous snares of the enimies of God their state in naturall reason standeth dangerous but the Lord deliuereth them out of all And therfore let vs assure our selues of the ayde of him that hath not as we see failed those that truly and constantly professed his name And as he hath beene neare vnto them so will he be vnto vs if with pure heartes and constaunt mindes we perseuer and continue not as hypocrites neither as suche as beare the name onelye of Christians but very christians not in name so much but that our conuersations may bee aunswerable therunto to the vttermost to the praises of God and our saluation in Christ. CHAP. 3. A comfortable conclusion to stirre vp such as couet to be called Christians to bee inwardly the same that they doe outwardly professe to be considering that it is not the name but the pure life in Christe that maketh a Christian. THE bishop of Rome and his adherentes doe perswade all men to ioyne with them in the Religion whiche they holde Catholique which the holy Ghost reprooueth and sheweth it to be meere idolatry and altogether repugnant against the truth They say and affirme it to be true pure and the sounde religion the way that leadeth vnto Christe and saluation in him But the trueth findeth that the foundation thereof is layde vppon traditions and inuentions and not vpon the rocke Christe Iesus frō whose example whoso dissenteth cannot though in name yet not in deed become a perfect Christian or true catholike whatsoeuer great shewes of deuotion workes of charitie abstinence prayers or other outwarde ceremonies these fayned and false foxes these hidden and cloaked Catholiques can or do glory of although they could deriue the same from the beginning of the worlde from the wise from the studious and learned from the mighty or greatest multitudes of the whole worlde and from a generall president For the truth whereupon the conuersation of euerye Christian is to bee grounded is setled in the heart of none by the power the will the wisedome or inuentions of man neither can it bee increased or bettered by the pollicie of anie nor sufficientlye protected or mainteined by the authoritie of princes but where first the spirit of GOD hath framed the foundation By the meere workinge whereof it is apprehended followed imbraced and duelye mainteined and by it the spirite of errour and falshood and counterfeyt christianitie is reuealed controuled suppressed and confounded and so consequentlye the perfect trueth confirmed and allowed Besides which truth who so endeuoureth to establishe any doctrine carry it neuer so fayre and glorious a shewe of good intent is a