A Prayer LOrde God heauenly father and altogether mightie which hast drawen away and saued thy faithfull seruants Lot and Daniel from the flaming fire Moyses from the middest of the waters one Ioas from amonge them that were slaine and hast reserued in the persecution of Achab and of Iesabel so many thousand men which haue not bowed their knées vnto Baal yea hast lefte alwayes vnto thy people some prophets and true ministers of thy law in the captiuitie of Babilon Giue vnto vs thy grace in this ciuill warre and persecution of our owne countrey men yea our domesticall seruantes to acknowledge that thy hande is not so shortned that it cannot saue or helpe neither is thine eare so stopped that it cannot heare But that our iniquites haue made the diuision betwéene thée and vs and that our sinnes haue hid thy face frō vs To the end that we staying on thy mercy may not be altogether desolate Giue O Lord such feare vnto our enimies that they may haue cause to inuocate and call vpon thy name in such sort that we all with one spirite and will may confesse that thou art the ayde of the humble and little ones the helper of the weake and féeble the protectour of them that are forsaken the sauiour of the abiectes yea thou art the Lord of hoastes which doest reserue alwaies for vs a fewe aliue to the ende that we shoulde not be made like vnto Sodome and like vnto Gomorra and not to fal in dispaire with the vnbeléeuing And therefore wée praye thée in the fauoure or for the loue of him which hath cried with a loude voice that the Foxes haue holes and the byrdes of the ayre haue neastes but the sonne of man hath not whereon to rest his head he I say which deliuered himselfe vnto death for to assure vs of our dwelling in the heauenly kingdome our Lord Iesus Christ vnto whom be glorie for euer Amen ¶ THAT THE CHRISTIAN Religion cannot be tied or bound to any limittes and bounds Cap. 3. 2. TIM 2. b. The worde of God is not bounde IF it be written that the king being sette vpon the seate of his kingdome shal write the Law and shall reade therin al the daies of his life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and for to kéepe all the woordes of his lawe and his ordinaunces for to doe them and the same LORD doth promise vnto his Church that kings shal be her noursing Fathers and Quéenes shal be her norishing mothers It is certeine that as righteousnesse and truth are the estabishing of the throne or feate of the Lord so doth he preserue and keepe the kinges and doth mainteine their scepter by godlinesse and trueth I doe saie further if the Egiptians haue in such recommendation and praise the practise of their religion aboue all things as saith Plato that they will not create and make a king except that he were promoted and consecrated a priest yea greatly occupied or exercised in the dooings of the priestes And the Persians will not alowe or admitte for their prince but him which hath the knowledge of the science and discipline of the magiciens which doth conteine the true vse of their religiō Insomuch as vnto the young Princes of the countrey were ordeined foure schole maisters of whō the first did teach them the magicke of Orcastrus the sonne of Oroniasus which did conteine the dooings of the religion Truely we ought not to doubt but that the estate duetie of a christian Prince is first of al to establish mainteine the dooing of the religion and to acknowledge that he is the minister of God for the health of al men to the ende that the goods which the Lord hath giuē vnto him he should kéepe part of thē distribute part of thē that he do manifest delare him self by works as Aristotle doth write vnto Alexander that the kingdome is giuen vnto him to the end to doo wel vnto man kinde To the end also that vnder his obedience the good may be defended from iniuries and oppressions of the wicked leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie loking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the mightie God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Forasmuch then as it is nothing to professe to knowe God and with the déedes to denie him to haue a similitude of godly liuing but haue denied the power thereof that is not also much to mainteine a religion for certeine and true and in the meane time do depriue themselues from the exercise of the same for as the woorks do declare our faith so the exercise of the religion doth assure vs that we be no more as children wauering and caried with euery winde of doctrine but that we following trueth with loue we may growe and increase altogether in him which is the head that is to say Iesus Christ To conclude that the Lorde would be knowen chiefly in the assembly of the true christians as Dauyd sayth I will praise thée in the great congregation and performe my vowes in the sight of all them that feare thée and in another place he sayth Sing vnto the Lorde a newe songe let the congregation of the Sainctes prayse him and in an other place he sayth giue thanckes O Israel vnto God the LORD in the congregations from the grounde of the heart And Iesus Chryst hath promised his that where there shall bée two or thrée gathered together in his name that he will be in the midst of them Furthermore if the Prophet Dauid hath written that the woorde of God is a lanterne vnto our féete and a light vnto our pathes Iesus Christ would not that that lyght shoulde bée hid vnder a bushell but that it be set vpon a candlesticke that it may gyue light vnto all them that are in the house Therefore he woulde that our lyght should so shine before men that they may sée our good workes and glorifie our heauenly father which is in heauen Otherwise he that would limit and bind the dooing and exercise of the true christian religion in a certeine place as did of late certeine of the Iewes at the temple of Ierusalem and the other at the Mountaine of Garizen that should be to giue occasion of sclaunder not onely vnto the Christians estraungers and others but also vnto the auncient enymies of our Relygion to blame the name of the LORD For as the LORD hath no regarde vnto the appearaunce of men But in all people hée that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him So his worde ought not to be limitted in certeine places or persons inasmuch as by his word wée haue knowledge of him for vnto the end he hath sent vs by his welbeloued disciple saying search the scriptures for in them ye thincke ye haue
matter what it is to let the true Christian religion I do meane those which are confirmable and agreable to the Christian rule and good manners On the contrarie I beséech them to remember a lawe of the Aegyptians by the which the kings of the countrie did adiure and sweare the iudges not to iudge any thing wrongfully yea when the king hath commaunded them expresly and if they do disalowe me in this matter I wil put before their eyes the exhortation which Iehosaphat made vnto the Iudges of Iuda admonishing and warning them to consider that they doe not exercise the iudgment of men but of GOD and that it shall be with them according to the thing iudged to haue the feare of the Lorde before their eyes to know that there is no vnrighteousnes in the Lord your god nor the regarding of persons nor taking of rewardes They haue written this lawe not with ynke but with the spirite of the liuing God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of their heartes To the end that by their arrestes and Edictes they haue moued by that afore the people vnto a rage and furie more then barbarous and Scythian they may be also an occasion that hereafter the Christian people doe breake their swordes and speares to make sithes sickles and sawes thereof From that time foorth shall not one people lift vp weapon against another neither shall they learne to fight from thencefoorth but as the prophet Iob saith that we may all walke in the feare of the Lord let vs acknowledge also on our parte that God hath ben prouoked iustly against vs for our demerites and transgressions according as he doth menace and threaten some time his people by the Prophet that he wil take from them the Captein the Souldier the Iudge and the Prophet the wise and the aged man the worshipfull of fiftie yeare olde and the honourable the Senatours and men of vnderstanding the maisters of craftes and Oratoures and shall giue vnto them to be their Princes children and babes shall haue the rule ouer them The people shal be pilled and polled one shall euer be doing violence and wronge to an other The boye shall presume against the elder and the vile person against the honourable Bicause saith the Prophet that both their wordes and counseils are against the Lorde they prouoke the presence of his maiestie vnto anger Wherefore O Christian and faithfull people let vs consider our wayes and search them and let vs returne vnto the Lorde and bewaile vs for our sinnes Let vs lift vp our heartes with our handes vnto the Lorde that is in heauen saying We haue bene dissemblers and haue offended wilt thou therefore not be intreated thou hast conuerted vs in thy wrath and persecuted vs thou hast slaine vs without any fauour thou hast hidde thy selfe in a cloude that our prayers shoulde not goe thorowe thou hast made vs outcastes and to be dispised among the heathen All our enimies gape vppon vs feare and snare is come vpon vs yea dispite and destruction O Lorde be not so sore displeased and kéepe not our offences too long in thy remembrance but consider that we are all thy people The cities of thy Sanctuarie lie wast Syon is a wildernesse Ierusalem a desert Our holy house which is our beautie where our fathers praised thée is brent vp yea all our pleasures and commodities are wasted away remember not Lorde our offences but finish the worke which thou hast begunne in vs in this meane libertie of the religion that we may all sing in great hope and assurance with the Prophet Dauid mercie and truth are met together righteousnesse and peace kisse each other truth shal rise out of the earth and righteousnesse shall looke downe from heauen Graunt vs O Lorde that grace in the name and fauour of thy welbeloued sonne our Lorde Iesus Christe vnto whome be glorie for euer Amen ESAY 11. c. The Lord shall set vp a token among the Gentils and gather together the dispersed of Israel yea and of the outcastes of Iuda from the foure corners of the worlde A prayer O Lord which doest disperse and breake the counsells of the nations dost bring too nothing the enterprises of the people shed out the bowels of thy mercies vpon those which do fight daily against thée as their forefathers and woulde chase and driue thée from thy celestiall throne as the king of Babilon To conclude doe put and set them selues against thy sonne Christe teachers and liers as that sonne of perdition for to pull vp by the roote that which thou hast planted to destroy to ruinate that which thou hast builded to hinder and stop that which thou hast shed out euen vnto the vttermost ends of the earth yea do go about by all meanes to marre and to spill that which thou hast tried in the furnesse of the earth and purified seuen times in the fier to ad vnto that which thou hast ordeined in all integrie perfection To cōclud would suppresse abolish by force that which thou hast established for euer O Lord giue thē feare that they may acknowledg confesse him whom thou hast raised vp to set vp the kinreds of Iacob to restore the destruction of Israel and whom thou hast giuen for to lighten the Gentiles that he may be thy health vnto the end of the worlde our Lorde Iesus Christe vnto whome be glorie for euer Amen AN ADVERTISEMENT VNto these which doe crie dayly that wee must not suffer two religions Cap. 4. 1. TIMOTH 4. ¶ Therfore we labour and suffer rebuke bicause we beleeue in the liuing God which is the sauiour of all men but especially of all those that beleeue IT is most euident and knowen by the discourse of the holy scripture that as the Lord is true entire perfect so doth hée require of vs an acknowledging of him neither fained nor cloked That is the cause wherfore he did regard rather the sacrifice of Abel then of Cain did commaunde in the lawe that is written that wée must haue a perfecte and a iust measure and weightes and not to haue two manner of weightes he did rebuke Saul because that he did not wholy and fully accomplish his will and desire inasmuch as he did reserue some of the spoiles which they had gotten against the king of Amalech And in the Gospell is more praised the prayer of the Publican then that of the Pharisie To conclude in the booke of the Actes of the Apostles Ananias is punished bicause he deceiued the Apostles of the price of his possession In the same respect also we do greatly abhorre those which do mingle the sacrifice of the liuing God with that of Baal the doings of the Iewes with the fame of the Samaritans the baptisme with the circumcision the Christian lawe with that of Antichrist And yet
Hierusalem Beleeue in the Lorde your God and so shall ye continue and beâ—eeue his Prophetes and so shall ye prosper Then the enimies of Iehosaphat killed themselues and the children of Israel had great victorie Iehoram reigned after Iehosaphat and biâ—ause he walked in the waies of the kings of Israel and committed fornication with those of Iuda and with the inhabiters of Hierusalem after the fornication of the house of Ahab and killed his bretheren It was said by the Prophet that the Lord will smite his people his children his wiues and all his goodes with a mightie plague and that he shall haue much disease through infirmitie in his bowels vntil his bowels fall out Iehoas after the death of Iehoiada became an Idolater and the hoast of the Sirians came against him and came to Iuda and Hierusalem and Iehoas was killed of his owne seruaunts Amaziah after that time that he did tourne away froÌ„ the Lord they conspired treason against him in Hierusalem he fledde to Lachis Whether they sent after him and slewe him there Oziah did that pleased the Lord in all pointes as did Amaziah his father And he sought God while Zachariah the teacher to sée god liued as long as he sought the Lord God made him prosper And helped him against the Philistians against the Arabians against the Ammonites Ioathan the sonne of Oziah became mightie bicause he directed all his waies before the Lord his god he warred against the king of the children of Ammon and vanquished them Ahaz did not that pleased the Lord as did his father Dauid But he offered burnt incense in hil alters on mouÌ„taines vnder euery gréene trée Wherefore the Lord his God deliuered him into the hand of the king of the Sirians which bâ—at him and caried away a great multitude of his captiue into Damasco And also he was deliuered into the hand of the king of Israel which slew of his a mightie slaughter For Phaketh sonnne of Romeliah slew in Iuda an-hundred twentie thousand in one day and all fighting men that bicause they had forsaken the Lord God â—f their fathers Hezekiah throughout al Iuda did that which was good right truth before the Lord his god And in al the works that he â—egan in the seruice of the house of God to séeke his God after the law coÌ„mmaundement that did he with all his heart prospered greatly Manasseh succéeded Hezekiah did wickedly in the sight of the Lord like vnto the abhomination of the heathen he made Iuda the inhabiters of Hierusalem to erre to do worse theÌ„ the heathen which the Lord destroied before the childreÌ„ of Israel And when the Lord spake to Manasseh to his people they attended not to him wherfore the lord brought vpon them the captaines of the host of the king of Assur which tooke Manasseh in an holde bound him with chaines and caried him to Babilon And when he was in tribulatioÌ„ he besought the Lord his God and humbled him selfe excedingly before the God of his fathers and made intercession to him he was entreated of him heard his praier brought him againe to Hierusalem into his kingdome And then Manasseh knewe howe that the Lorde was the very God. Amon did that displeased the Lord like vnto Manasseh his father for Amon sacrificed vnto all the kerued images which Manasseh his father made and serued them méekened not himselfe before the Lord as Manasseh his father had méekned himselfe but Amon trespassed greatly wherfore his owne seruants conspired against him slewe him in his owne house Iosiah his people tourned not aside from after the Lord God of their fathers as long as he liued but did put away al manner of abhominations out of all lands that perteined to the children of Israel brought al that were founde in Israel to serue the Lord their god Iehoahaz the sonne of Iosiah is made king for his father in Hierusalem For the king of Aegypt put him downe at Hierusalem and made Eliakim his brother kinge vpon Iuda Hierusalem and did that displeased the Lord his god Against him came Nabuchodonosor king of Babilon bound him in fetters to carye him to Babilon Iehoachim reigned iij. moneths x. dayes in Hierusalem did that displeased the Lord when the yeare was out king Nabuchodonosor made Zedekiah his fathers brother king ouer Iuda Hierusalem Zedekiah did that displease the Lord his god humbled not himselfe before Ieremiah the prophet at the mouth the of lord And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers sending them betimes for hée had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the messengers of God and despised their woordes and misused his Prophets vntill the wrath of the Lord so arose against his people that it was past remedie And so he brought vppon theÌ„ the king of Chaldey and slew their young men with the swoorde in their holy temple neither spared he younge man nor maide neither olde man neither so much as him that stowped for age But gaue all into his handes And forasmuch as such like examples do teach vs that the eies of the Lord are vpon the righteous and his eares are open vnto their prayers But the face of the Lord beholdeth them that doe euill to destroy the remembraunce of them out of the earth That the Lord doth shed out his wrath ouer them which doe despise him and doth shew himselfe tractable and gentle vnto those which serue him with a contrite perfect heart I doe meane in all holinesse and righteousnesse Let vs keepe as much as in vs in possible the faith which we haue promised vnto the Lord and assure our our selues that he which worketh in vs both the will and the déede according to his good pleasure will finish the worke which he hath begon in vs to his honoure to the aduauncement of the christian Church and to the health of his Furthermore let vs retire and drawe our selues from the thinges which may seduce vs and make vs varie from the true seruice which is due vnto him Do we not know how that they that proue masteries absteine from all things and they doe it to obtaine a corruptible crowne But we to obtaine an vncorruptible Let vs ruÌ„ne then not as at an vncertain thing let vs fight not as one that beateth the ayre But with patience in dooing wel séeking immortalitie life euerlasting Amen Apocalips 2. a. ¶ I know thou hast suffered and hast pâ—tience for my names sake hast laboured and hast not fainted Neuerthelesse I haue somewhat against thee bicause thou hast left thy first charitie A praier O Lord God heauenly father and altogether puissant which hast said by the mouth of thy welbeloued sonne our Lord Iesus Christ that he that endureth to the ende
The same Philosopher did crie out sometime on the people of Athens O ye people of Athens I do loue you greatly but I loue rather to obey God then you Wherevnto we will aunswere that we will not depriue the Philosophers from the grace which the Lorde hath promised vnto the blessed for the Lambe hath béene killed from the beginning of the worlde But forasmuch as there is none other name giue vnder heauen vnto men whereby we must be saued then the name of Iesus We do say in this matter that the philosophers do differ from the loue which the true christians do beare vnto the Lorde forasmuch as the true christians doe acknowledge one Iesus Christ and him crucified which is the brightnesse of the glorie and the image of the personne of the father of whom the same father hath saide This is my welbeloued sonne heare him Also for to knowe perfectly the father and his wil we must know the sonne for this is life eternall that they do knowe the onely very God he whom the Lord hath sent to witte our Lord Iesus Christ according to that that the same Iesus Christ doth protest that the world knew him not that he hath giuen the name of his father to be knowē of his that the loue which the father hath loued be in them and he in them Wherefore if the onely begotten sonne which is in the bosome of the father hath declared him Who doubteth but that the Christians haue a more perfecter knowledge of the will of the father séeing the sonne by whome the father hath spoken vnto them in these later dayes and hath left vnto them the sacramentes as seales markes of his promises are not I say more moued to loue him then the Philosophers Inasmuch as the sonne hath said vnto Philippe Philip he that hath séene me hath séene my father Beleuest thou not that I am in my father my father in me And yet although that some Philosophers by the law natural haue had knowledge of God consequently they haue béene moued to loue him yet as saith Saint Paul they glorified him not as god Finally some may here say inasmuch as the Lorde desireth his that they do loue him perfectly that he desireth of them a thing either impossible or els too harde Wherevnto we will aunswere that the great perfection that the Lord desireth to loue him is not for vs to commaunde a thing which is too rigorous for he hath said that his yoke is easie and his burthen light But he hath regard to our imperfection fearing that thorough our infirmitie we should forsake him for to declare vnto vs the care that he hath of vs to gather what is the greatnesse of the precept Furthermore in that that he saith with all thy heart with all thy soule with all thy strength he requireth of vs a perfect obediēce insomuch that he would that we should consecrate our selues to his obedience loue The which also Saint Paul requireth of vs when he saith let not sinne reigne therfore in your mortall body that ye should obey sinne in the lustes of the bodie Neither giue ye your members as weapons of vnrighteousnes vnto sinne but giue your selues vnto God as they that are aliue from death giue your members as weapons of righteousnesse vnto God. And in an other place I beséech you therefore brethren by the mercifulnesse of God that ye offer your bodies a quicke sacrifice holy acceptable vnto GOD which is your resonable seruing of god And fashion not your selues like vnto this world but be ye chaunged in your shape by the renewing of your minde that yée may proue what is the will of God which is good acceptable and perfect in such sorte that the Lord would not that we shoulde lende him the tongue onely as the hipocrites do who do make profession to know God but with their déedes denie him But he would that we shoulde giue him both the word and the worke Vnto this Saint Iohn exhorteth vs saying my litle children let vs not loue in worde neither in tongue onely but in déede and in trueth That is the cause wherefore the lorde rebuked the Iewes by his Prophet that his people did approch nigh vnto him with their mouth and praised him highly with their lippes where as their heart neuerthelesse is farre from him Furthermore in this he comprehendeth a singuler perfection for the regarde of his commaūdementes For whosoeuer shall kéepe the whole lawe and yet faileth in one point he is guiltie in al. Forasmuch as he which hath said Thou shalt not commit adulterie he hath also said Thou shalt not kill At the end he concludeth So speake ye so do as they that shal be iudged by the law of liberty He would also by this cōmaūdemēt that w◠should loue him aboue al things yea aboue our owne life For he protesteth that he that loueth his father or mother more then him is not méete for him And he that taketh not his crosse and foloweth after him is not méete for him To conclude by these wordes he requireth of vs that we may be so carefull to loue him and with such affection that we may referre all our thoughtes wordes workes to his glory Whether therefore we eate or drincke or whatsoeuer we do let vs doe all to the praise of god For none of vs liueth to himselfe neither doth any of vs die to himselfe For whether we liue we liue vnto the Lord or whether we die we die vnto the Lord whether we liue therefore or die we are the Lordes One may finde at this day such a man vnto whom if one demaunde if he loue God he will aunswere franckly and fréely that which Sainct Peter aunswered vnto Iesus Christ Yea Lord thou knowest that I loue thée yea will say with the same Apostle I loue thée so much Lord that I am readie to go with thée into prison and to death And neuerthelesse if it were a question to endure and suffer some daunger for the Lord he will protest with an othe yea at the worde of a simple maiden I meane for a small occasion that he knew him not It maketh mee to remember for this matter of the same Apostle who seeing Iesus Christe transfigured in the mountaine his face shining as the sunne and his clothes as white as the light said vnto Iesus Maister here is good beeing for vs if thou wilt let vs make here three tabernacles but when the Lord said vnto him that hee must goe to Hierusalem and suffer many things did finde the things so straunge that hee began to rebuke Iesus saying maister looke to thy selfe this shall not bee vnto thee Those are they who in prosperity willingly loue the LORDE and in aduersitie doe denie him For there is no feare in loue but perfect loue casteth out
peace Cap. 7. Philip. I. d. Continue in one spirite and in one mynd fighting altogether through the fayth of the gospell in nothing feare your aduersaries FOrasmuch as the Scripture doth teach vs that God is not the God of confusion but of peace And that the Gospell of the Christians is called by the Prophet the message of peace And the christian church the congregatioÌ„ of saincts which doe liue in the peace of god Insomuch that the propht Esaie speaking of the church of God saith that God will let peace into her as a water floud and the might of the heathen as a flowing streame And in Baruch the god shal name his church with this name that is to say the peace of righteousnesse and the honoure of gods feare Finally forasmuch as the Church of GOD is the piller and staye of gods truth truely they maye knowe plainely howe wee ought to bee all diligent to keepe the vnitie of the spirite through the bande of peace to the ende that wée all agréeing together may after the ensample of Iesus Christ with one mouth as saith Sainct Paule praise Gâ—D which is the Father of our Lorde Iesus Christ And that we hence foorth be no more as chyldren wauering and caried about with euery winde of doctrine But let vs followe the truth with loue and in all things grow vp in to him which is the head that is to say Christ On the other side we are taught to auoide as much as we may possible the debates and contentions of the lawe and the parcialities touching the dooing of the religion According as Saint Paule did exhorte the Corinthians in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ that they all speake one thing and that there be no discentions among them But that they be knit together in one minde and in one iudgement that they doe continue of all one minde al fighting of one courage by faith And also hee dyd warne and admonish the Philippians that they bée lyke minded hauing the selfe same loue béeing of one accorde and of one iudgement that nothing be done through strife or vaine glorie but that in méekenesse of minde euery man estéeme other better then himselfe On the other side he writeth vnto Titus that he do suppresse foolishe questions and genelogies and brawling and strife about the lawe as vaine and superfluous Also the same Saint Paul doth complaine to the Philippians that some there are which preach Christ of enuie and strife and not purely Also in his seconde Epistle to the Corinthians he saith that hée and Siluianus haue preached vnto you Gods sonne Iesus Christ not in double worde yea and nay but in this worde which is true that is to say yea The same Apostle doth giue vnto vs the reason of this doctrine when he saith that questions and strife of wordes do ingender enuie strife railings euil furmising vain disputations of men with corrupt mindes And saith also in an other place that if there be enuyâ—ng strife sects among vs we do declare that we are carnall and walke after the manner of men For verily he that is contentious in the church especially touching the doing of the religion he sinneth many wayes First in that hee breaketh the vnitie of the Christian Church which ought to be vnited and ioyned together not onely by naturall coniunction and amitie but also by vnitie of doctrine For as Iesus Christ saith that by this shall al men knowe that we are his disciples if we haue loue one to an other Also saint Paul doth warne vs to beware of them which cause diuision and offences contrarie to the doctrine which they haue learned and auoide them Consequently he which is contencious in the church concerning the doctrine or doing of the religion First of all he sinneth against Iesus Christ which is the head of the Christian church and prince of peace as saith the prophet inasmuch as he hath reconciled all things vnto himselfe to set at peace through the bloude of his crosse both things in earth and things in heauen Secondly he doth giue occasion vnto the simple and foolish people to erre and go astray from the christian Church in the which doth lie and rest the piller of our saluation And that the same is greatly odious and hatefull vnto God Iesus Christ doth teach and declare it when he saith Wo be vnto him through whome offences come it were better for him that a great milstone were hanged about his necke and that he were cast into the sea then that he shoulde offende one of these little ones The which his Apostle doth confirme shewing vnto the Galathians that he that troubleth them shall beare his condemnation whosoeuer he be and desireth that they that trouble them may be cut off from them Finally he doth giue occasion vnto straungers and enimies of our religion to blame the name of God. According as the prophet did rebuke the gouernours priestes of the house of Israel that they haue caused the multitude to be offended at the lawe And Sainct Paul writing vnto the Romanes saith that the name of God is euil spokeÌ„ off among the Gentiles through them And by good right a certeine auncient authour did complaine that we many wayes in the church do teare and rent Gods coate through our contentions the which the Souldiours durst not deuide in his passion the whiche did moue sometime the Iewes as Clement Alexandrinus doth witnes to swell and rise vp euen there against the Christians to say that the Christian religion was not of God but some pernicious sect and false religion Because that the Christians had debates and contentions in the church For the same occasion that great heriticke Celsus and chiefest enimy of the christians did rebuke daily the christians of their diuisions and parcialities saying that it were not expedient that they shoulde growe and increase to any more greater number Bicause that being but a fewe in number they would be of one accorde and agrée well together but assone as they did multiplie and waxe many they woulde fall into diuersities of opinions Also Samosetanus in the ecclesiastical history doth witnesse that the Emperour Constantine did suffer verie impatiently the controuersies and contentions of the christians saying that by that means they do turne many men from the christian religion Vnto whome Themistus a christian Philosopher aunswered that the differences controuersies of the christians were nothing in respect of the confusion of the sect of the Gentiles Also the same authour saith moreouer that for certeine small contentions which do chaunce and happen to the churches the church must not therefore leaue and forsake the principall foundation of the true religion nor to be the true churches but that by that means the Lorde doth trie and proue the hearts of many doth declare make plaine the