of religious worship so is He onlie Directour and Iudge of it Next Pastors are not Iudges but Indices or interpreters to point out that that God hath set downe in his Word Thirdlie Princes are neither Iudges nor â—ndices but Vindices or Promoters of true Religion They are neither the Rule nor exponers of it but Vrgers of men to doe according to the Rule proponed of God and exponed by faithfull Pastors Constantine the great made this distinction to Church-men God hath made you Bishops of the inward things of the Church but hee hath made mee Bishop of the outward things That is ye haue a calling to discerne betweene Truth and heresie in doctrine hurtfull or wholesome in worship or maners To preach the word minister the Sacraments and lead people in religious Worship to deale with the Inner Man and instruct the Conscience in the Truth But my place is to maintaine Religion in the Professors and their maintenance to deale with the outward Man and to see that my Subiects worship and obey God according to the Rule that hee hath given and yee point out of his Word All his businesse about the Councell of Nice was nothing but a Commentar of that distinction hee saw the Church poysoned with the Heresie of Arrius and rent with the Schisme that followed therevpon And not beeing able of himselfe to iudge and determine these questions hee conveened the most learned and godlie Church-men to whom that inquitie appertained and when they had determined the matter hee repressed the Heresie that they damned and maintained the Truth that they proponed So Theodosius the great curbed the Macedonians in the Councell of Constantinople Theodosius the younger the Nestorians by the Councell of Ephesus And Marcianus the Entychians by the Councell of Chalcedon And when the Nestorians raised vp their head againe Iustinian curbed both them and Pope Vigilius their Patrone both by a Councell and by his Edicts against their tria Capitula the summe and marrow of Nestorianisme Synods and Councels assembled in the Name of the Lord are as Counsels to Kings in matters of Religion and the Word of God is to rule both Princes and Synods So though David was a Prophet yet hee did nothing of himself in Gods house but with consent and advyse of Gad the Seer and of Nathan the Prophet for so was the Commandement of the Lord by his Prophets He had Gods command for the warrant of his Command And Iehoshaphat sent through the Cities of Iudah and they taught the People and had the Booke of the Law of the Lord with them This was their Directorie Concerning the extent of their power some Princes got wrong of others and some did wrong to themselues They got wrong most of the Pope who after hee affected Antichristian greatnesse closed vp Kings within civill affaires and counted them but profaine Laickes who had no intresse in matters Ecclesiasticke If they medled with Investitures of Benefices it was called Simonie and oppressing of the Ecclesiasticke libertie And the discharge of that duetie which God hath founded in their Thrones and Scepters was called the Henrician heresie and a fighting against God On the other part they bewitched Princes by the show of Canonizing This was a deepe policie by the hope of that baite to steale from Princes their authority as the best way to that Canonizing and to turne them Babes in this life vnder hope to bee Saintes after death It was too superstitious simplicitie for that hope to disgrace themselues and their places by surrendering their power to the Beast He knew that Princes were ambitious of honour and there was none greater than they had alreadie except it were to bee sancted Hee perswaded them that there was no way to that honour of sancting but by his Canonizing who had the Keyes of Heaven at his Girdle Therefore when Princes were tickled with that Ambition they cared not how baselie they prostitute themselues and their dignitie to him for that Imaginarie Advancement Or rather shall wee say that God in this politicke abusing of Princes was discovering a part of the Mysterie of iniquitie For about thâ—se times when Kings were made Sainctes the Popes were Monsters In the ninth and tenth Ages Ignorance reigned in the Church barbarous Crueltie in Popes everie one disgraced his Predecessour and abrogat his Ordinances then Princes abhorring that wickednesse were the more stirred vp to Pietie and so comparatiuelie they seemed to be Saincts in respect of these monstruous Popes It was the complaint of these times That it was easier to finde many Lay-men turne good than one religious man grow better And that it was a rare fowle on earth to find one ascend but a little aboue the degree that he hath taken in Religion The Chaire of Peter was some time broodie of Saincts but then it became so barren that it brought out none but Monsters and that justlie for the Popes loathed that Chaire and affected the Throne of Princes And holinesse beeing banished that Chaire found her place more in Princes than Popes This was Gods Iustice that since Popes would bee Kings that Kings should bee counted Saincts And yet both of them were but vsurpers for neither did God admit these Saincts in Heaven for intercessours whom the Popes thrust on him neither did hee allow the Popes kingdome which hee threw from Princes Againe some Princes wronged themselues concerning Religion that in Policie Superstition Neglect For Policie some of them harboured Religion in their Kingdomes but abused it politicklie to their owne ends They measured it by the persons of Preachers and seeing them in worldlie things the meanest of their estates did thinke as baselie of Religion it selfe so served themselues of it as the fairest colour to lustre their foulest purposes Iehu in shew was zelous for God but indeed all his zeale was to stablish the Crown of Israel in his own house So soone as hee obtained that end his zeale for God was quenched and he followed the idolatrie of Achab It was the Authoritie of Achabs house not their Idolatrie that made him zealous So Ieroboam followed the counsell of his owne heart in making two calues and sparing the peoples paines in going to Ierusalem But indeed he cared neither for Gods glorie nor the people but for stablishing his owne house Hee pulled the hearts of the People from God and from the house of David So Iulian when he thirsted for the Impyre he gaue vp his name among the Cleargie and frequented the Assemblies of Christians to mak him mor acceptable to people as Basile obiecteth vnto him So Mahomet made himselfe great by the colour of Religion though hee neither beleeved nor keeped these Precepts which he fained to bee of God and the Popes seeking a Monarchie haue vsed Religion for a cloake as Leo the tenth in his last words tolde
Chaire it must bee either in Apostleship or Doctrine But the first dyed with the Apostles as a personall Priviledge and the second is lost because they haue not the Chaire of S. Peter who hold not his Doctrine This their opinion of not erring is a Capitall errour thereby they tye God to them and theirseate while they loose them selues to sin But God hath confuted their folie and shewed to the world that that seate is but a seate of scorners for their is no Lyne of Christian Princes or Prelates that hath moe monsters in it than the Succession of Popes For the space of an hundreth and fiftie yeares some fiftie Popes fell close away from the vertue of their Predecessors and were rather inordinate and Apostaticke than Apostolicke and in a word they were â—lagitious Monsters as I said before from their owne confession Indifferent men would think that where truth forceth their Conscience to confesse so matchlesse wickednesse in their Popes they would grant also a possibility of erring the interrupting of Succession at least in Doctrine and so the Apostacie of their Church c. But they inferre the contrare conclusion That not witstanding the wickednesse of Popes who both neglected to guide the Shippe of the Church and did rather what they could to drowne it yet God had a care to keepe a Church amongst them These are the conclusions of hardened hearts who take the worke of their owne sin and Gods punishment to bee a worke of mercie Wee grant they haue a Church but an whorish and hereticall one not an Apostolicke as they pretend but an Apostaticke as they confesse 2. The worke of the royall Gift Iust Governement That hee may judge thy people in righteousnesse THis is the second thing hee prayeth for the worke and vse of the gift the governing of Gods people aright Everie gift of God is his blessing to mankinde and that both to the possessour and others It maketh the possessour idonous and fit for to doe some good to mankind And the want in other it respectes as a remeedie to worke such a good as they neede Therefore there is required a worke of the gift to proue the liuelinesse of it in the possessour and to produce the worke of helping others A gift without its owne proper worke is but liuelesse and a Talent digged in the earth The gift it selfe is a sort of Gods presence with the possessour but the right vse of it is a greater degree of his presence And for this cause a gift even in a Mechanicke calling is called a Spirit I will powre my Spirit on Bezaleel c. To testifie it is all in action a vigorous and actuous power in man setting him on worke The end also of all gifts is for action whither it bee a gift of common providence the possession is personall but the vse is common or whither it bee a gift of grace for edification the possession is also personall but for a common vse Wee shall consider this worke in the rule the Practise the Difficultie and Remeedes The rule is the Law As all gifts are for worke so the gift of Kinglie governement and that both to make good Lawes by common consent and governe according to them In the beginning Societies had no enacted Lawes but a power committed to one But when they saw that one to abuse his power GOD by that same Law of Nature that led them first to Governement tooke them a steppe further to make Lawes that both Ruler and people might haue a standing and set Directorie by common consent So that as tediousnesse of solitarinesse drew them to Societies and iniuries of Societies drew them to Governement so the tyrannie of Governours drew them to Lawes for the good of the whole Bodie Lawes doe not onelie teach what should bee done but also enjoyne that it bee done and that with respects of rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience so God gaue his Law hedged with promises to allure and threatnings to terrifie for hee knoweth our slownesse to good hath neede to be allured by rewards and our forwardnes to evill to bee bridled with punishment These respects are proper to man for other creatures as naturall Agents worke according to the Law that God hath given them They haue no more but a common assistance of God as the first cause neither hath the worke the morall respect of vertue or vice or of reward or punishment But man commeth in another estate hee hath a minde to consider the equitie of the Law a Conscience to bee sensible of the obligement and a will to incline to doe And therefore his obedience hath the Name of righteousensse looking to the promised reward and his disobedience the name of sinne looking to the threatned punishment Good Lawes are the sinewes of Societies though they direct vs in outward things yet they sticke fast on our Reason which beeing in kind but one in all men maketh a great sibnesse of Notions in all so that reason in everie man can easilie conceiue or condescend to that equitie which vniversall reason the extract of the eternall Law of God directeth vs to doe All Lawes haue a binding notion and vse though in diverse respects The eternall Law is in God his will the fountaine and rule of all Lawes And amongst men the Noetick Law of Nature writteÌ„ in the hearts of all people in principles The laws of nations Dianoetick or discursiue in conclusions drawn out of these principles which are divers in sundrie places because of the diversitie of circumstances The greatest perfection of humane Lawes is in their conformitie to that prime and eternall Law in God and in their vigour when they are put in execution like the effectuall providence that executeth the prime Law Written Lawes are for direction and the living Law that is a King is for actions to see that direction obeyed As their calling prescryveth this so the people craue it For Iustice is an habite dwelling in the Soules of Kings and cannot be seene but in the worke and people are not so subtile as to consider royall Iustice in an habite but as they see it in practice When they see sinne punished and vertue honoured that is more forcible to perswade them of the gift of governement in Kings than a thousand subtile demonstrations This is plaine in the end of Solomons desire hee craved a wise heart not for that end to dwell in pleasant theorie but for practice that I may goe out and in before thy people No King abounded more in profound speculations yet â—ee made them not his end but vsed them as meanes to fit him for a practike Governement and to giue the world a proofe of his habilitie for his calling It was not the habite of wisedome in his heart but the practice that made him famous to the world The words that hee spake the order of his house and wise dispatch of
his affaires made the hearers beholders astonished Lawes are not made for Theorie but for Practice and the best practice on the part of the people is Obedience and on the part of the Magistrate execution And the best execution is when rewards and punishments the pases of the worlds Clocke are applyed as men deserue the god lie rewarded the wicked punished It hath bene an olde coÌ„plaint that Lawes haue bene well made but evill observed And he cannot be innocent who either spareth him that should bee punished or punisheth him that should bee spared By just punishment three things are procured First the amendement of the offender for so the evill of punishment layde vpon the evill of his disobedience will curbe that corrupâ—ion in him since it bringeth vpon him a worse evill in his account Next a bettering of other who seeing iniquitie punished will feâ—re to doe the like least they incurre the like punishment Thirdlie the peace of the whole Bodie when such as trouble it with their wrongous dealing are condignelie punished for their wrongâ— On the other part when righteousnesse is rewarded three answerable fruites doe follow First the righteous are made better when the good of their righteousnes is augmented by the good of their reward Next others are provoked to righteousnesse when they see it rewarded Thirdlie the whole body is reioyced to see the good honoured for when the godly are exalted the people reioyce and so publicke peace is keeped by the vniversall care and study of well-doing But when the application of these things goe contrare both to the meaning of the Law and the deserving of the persons then fearefull confusions follow All men are discouraged from righteousnesse which they see neglected and punished And none sleeth from evill but rather followeth it when they see it honoured with the reward of good The wicked are both imboldened to committe sinne and proud of their reward The godly are grieved that matters goe so crosse and lament to see good men cled in the liveray of the wicked and the wicked in the liveray of the godly It is a shame for the sonnes of men when the wicked are exalted In such a case Lawes are without life their execution is contrare to their direction and their direction serveth for no other end but as a shining light to discover the iniquitie of such application Impyres and Kingdomes are no lesse mortall than a man they haue their owne Infancie Adolescence and Vigour and from that their inclination decay death and others arise of their fall Their greatest high is in Pietie and Iustice and their deadlie disease is in profainesse and vnrighteousnesse As the heate decaying in the heart so is profainnesse in a Kingdome and injustice is as a palsie that dissolveth the whole Bodie It was one of Solomons remarkes of vanitie I saw vnder the Sunne the place of Iudgement that wickednesse was there and the place of righteousnesse that iniquitie was there It is grievous to see iniquitie any where but most in the seate of Iustice and it is great boldnesse in iniquitie to out-face Iustice in her owne seate and great presumption in the vnrighteous when they darre either prosecute or defend iniquitie in Iudgement The case of that â—and is lamentable where Iustice â—eats are â—ade seates of injustice and the remeede of inquitie turned in the disease there is no hope that Iustice can reigne where iniquitie vsurpeth so vpon her as to thrust her out of her place and from thence vnder her name maintaineth wrong That case seemeth so desperate to Solomon that hee putteth it amongst these cases reserved to Gods owne cure and the great appellations to be discussed at the last day I said in mine heart God shall iudge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time for everie purpose and for everie worke God hath established Iustice amongst men to doe them right but when shee is so oppressed as to bee displaced and her name borrowed to colour iniquitie then of a Iudge shee turned a Plaintiue compleaning to God of that violence Though Lawes were wrong exponed in their meaning and their rewards wrong applyed yet supreme reason the life of the law liueth with God and will vindicate the owne true sense and apply rewards aright This is the law of Lawes abyding in God which wee may know and ought to follow â—ut may not iudge so that wee may say THAT THE LAVV OF THE COVRT OF HEAVEN AND OF REPVBLICKS IS THE VVILL OF GOD. Hee hath appointed Indicatories to keepe men in order but when they are abused to maintaine wrong and oppresse right hee hath the last Iudgement for a remeede to call all proceedings to a new tryall and to discusse the appeales of the distressed Kings indeede haue long eares to heare and long hands to doe many things yet they cannot heare and doe all by themselues Therefore Iethroes counsell to Moses was good to divide his burthen and set vp Iudges and Magistrates with authoritie vnder him But that work is full of difficulty that in respect of the Lawes the parties Witnesses Lawes are many yet short for all incident and daylie emergent causes Iustinian thought hee had put out a perfect bodie of the Lawes when hee caused digest the Roman Lawes for twelue hundreth yeare and yet these many Volumes may be called short for so vniversall a purpose and the matter appointed to end Pleas is turned a seminarie of pleas because of briefnesse Though all Lawes and Decisions were gathered together they cannot meete with everie new circumstance Mans corruption is ever devysing new wrongs and new colours to colour them withall â—he diverse interpretation of Lawes increaseth this difficultie and that Emperour misseth his end of the hastie decision of pleas when after long disputing the question is more doubtfull than when it was first stated albeit the small brookes of Lawes before Lotharius time are turned since in Mare magnum a great ocean of Lawes The parties vsuallie whither of simplicitie or purpose are bold to bring the evill cause to Iudgement they are confident of their cause and oft times the worst cause hath most diligence to supplie the want of equitie by the excesse of businesse If righteousnesse ruled men Iudges would haue little to doe and if Truth were in their words questions were soone decided But the Clients information to their Advocats is so badde that it is hard either for them to know or the Iudge to discerne where the Truth is Witnesses also helpe this difficultie They are subiect to their own corruptions and may deceiue the best Iudges who by their office are bound to judge according to things alledged and proven If the religion of one Oath had force the matter were easie for God hath ordained it to put an end to controversies but mans wickednesse hath turned it in a
while the desire of profaine and new curiositie cannot containe it selfe within the marches of sacred and pure Antiquitie And they speake directly like the Pelagians by vs as Authours as beginners and expounders condemne the things that yee held afore and hold these things that yee condemned cast away your auncient Faith and receiue another And what faith I shrinke to speake it they are so proud that I thinke they cannot so much as bee rehearsed let bee refuted without some guiltinesse in like manner Abelardus said All men thinke so but I thinke not so And Bernard posed him iustlie What then art thou Tell vs what is that that seemeth to thee and to none others What hath the Law What hath the Prophets and Apostles or Apostolicke men preached vnto vs but that that thou onelie denyest And Hilarie speaketh like an Orthodox These things I haue beleeved by the holy Spirit so that beyond this Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ I cannot bee taught And a little aboue I hold fast that that I haue received neither doe I change that that is Gods I demand of them as Pacianus did the Novatians VVho teacheth so Did Moses or Paul or Christ No none of these Who then Novatian commanded it after three hundreth yeares So I may say That Socinus hath both invented new heresies and renewed old heresies after a thousand fiue hundreth and eightie yeares And I charge them as Ierome did Vigilantius If any before thee hath received this thy Interpretation let it bee true thou sayes But if the Church of God never heard of such wickednesse and Sathan hath spoken by thee then repent in sack-cloth and ashes and wype away such great wickednesse by continuall teares This is the damnable fruit of liberty of prophecying and professing after that God hath blessed a Church with a bodie of sound Doctrine according to the paterne of wholesome words The mindes of people are shaken from the Truth made susceptible of any opinion and inclinable to the worst When Arianisme and other errours had shaken the Church for a time the ambiguous mindes of people received Mahumetisme greedily For keeping of true Religion it is necessar to keepe Peace in the Church Schisme bringeth heresie and these two renting the Church doe rent the state also The Church and state are twins and their peace and trouble are inseparable Some Politickes haue advysed Princes to foster dissentions in the Church as a way to make the Impyre floorish So did Themistius to Valens the Emperours but hee found confusion in the end And Iulian allowed Heretickes to vexe and trouble the Church because he thought these dissentions a speciall meanes to put Christian Religion out of the world When Peace is keeped in the Church the state flow risheth but where it is neglected horrible confusions follow as well in state as in Church The Schisme betwixt the Greeke and Latine Churches could never reconceale and the Greeke Emperour lost the hearts of the people for too much inclining to the Pope The divisions of Germanie are most by schismâ— and the disputes of their Theologues turne the Courts of Princes in factions The thrusting of Gregories Liturgie on Spaine devided the hearts of people from their King and amongst themselues for alâ— beit things were good yet change of custome doe more hurt by noveltie then helpe by profite as Augustine well observeth When affections accord men may well brooke other in diversities of opinion but the renting of affection the marrow of Schisme breaketh vnitie of opinion also By nature wee are averse from the Gospel but if a stumbling blocke bee layed in our way our aversnesse findeth a reason for it selfe The kinglie Prophets practice is good heerein Pray for the peace of Ierusalem let them prosper that loue thee Peace bee within thy walls and prosperitie within thy Palaces Of three sorts of Kings 1. Of GODS King BEfore I leaue these verses suffer mee to present to you three sorts of Kings Gods King Machiavells Tyrant And the Pops Vassall First a good King whom wee call gods King comes to his Throne in Gods mercie both to himselfe and to his people as David and Solomon c. Secondly in his Disposition hee is religious to acknowledge his placeing on the Throne not to come of man or Fortune but of God His exalting aboue man maketh him not forget his subiection to God but by heartie devotion hee doth homage to him daylie both for the Crowne hee holdeth of him and for gifts to vse it His businesse is not with people alone but with God to enable him for governement Hee thinkes that a Tyrants verdict si libet licet if thou like it is leasome and knoweth that to whom more is leasome than to others they can easelie will more than is leasome Thirdlie in his governement hee is wise by Rehoboams folie Hee leaneth not to his owne wit or to the counsell of these who are of his owne yeares but labour th 〈…〉 to doe Gods worke with Gods wisedome Therefore heâ— readeth and meditateth his Word and with David maketâ— his Commandements the men of his counsell Hee knoweth nothing in his governement will bee acceptable to God â—ut that which agreeth with his word As hee holdetâ— his Kingdome of Gods will so in ruling it he followeth his revealed will that hee may abide in his favour Fourthlie in his account of his people hee counteth them not slaues but free men even Gods people to iudge thy people and that by Creation Redemption and Covenant Hee knoweth that Gods right to them is first and more than his and that his power over them is not absolute but delegat for which hee must bee countable to God Hee counteth them as his Children as David spake to Israel Hearken my Brethren and people Hee looketh not so much to that relation of domination and subiection as to that sweeter relation of Father and Sonne Hee rejoyceth as much in the name of a Father as of a King and sweyeth the kinglie Scepter in a fatherlie loue Fiftlie in his ends By all meanes hee seeketh the wealth and peace of his Subjects as his joye and glorie But hee counteth their divisions amongst themselues or their hatered of him as greevous wounds Hee craveth their hearts more than their goods and counteth their loue his best Guard vnder God 2. Of Machiavells Tyrant BVt Machiavell or rather Sathan in him hath drawne vp the Portrate of a Tyrant vnder the Name of a Prince and that contrare to all the pointes of my Text. First hee directeth his Prince for his entrie not to care how hee come to a Kingdome so that hee may haue it Truth or false-hood right or wrong craft or crueltie blood or poyson c. All are alike to him if they furder his end Hee looketh not to God and Providence but to Fortune and his owne fleshlie
did for Pharaohs Daughter That she may forget her People and her Fathers house and that as God hath begun to make her a fruitefull Mother in Israel so hee would increase that fruitfulnesse and make her proue new-borne in Israel And with this bond of the fruite of her wombe that tyeth her to the King and this I land to tye her heart also to the Trueth professed amongst vs. To pray for our Prince That the matter of our Ioy in him may be constant That God with the increase of his Dayes would increase his Gifts and Graces and enable him for the Place hee hath appointed him that when his Father is full of good Dayes hee may succeede him in all these forenamed blessings as well as in these Thrones That so there never faile a Man of that Line to sit on the Throne of these Kingdomes That as Mankynd is increased by his Birth so the number of the Faithfull may bee increased by his new Birth in the â—awer of Regeneration And as God hath made him a Sonne of our Desires so hee would make him a Sonne of Delight to vs and the Posteritie by growing in favour with God and Man To pray for our Selues That wee may know the Tyme of our Visitation and the things that concerne our Peace and proue thankfull to God for his great Mercies Wee are like Ierusalem in the Happinesse of our Tyme and as like her in not knowing of it Wee are like that Figge Tree which was long spared and if wee bee vnfruitefull still wee are neere to a curse Wee are that Vineyard that was well dressed but if wee bring not our better fruits wee shall bee destroyed For all Estates of this Land from the greatest to the smallest doe meete Gods mercie with ingratitude and rebellioun God hath beene passing through the reformed Churches these yeares by gone with a fearefull yet a iust visitation Wee are as guiltie as they and yet God in a forebearing mercie is waiting if wee will repent If wee turne not to him vnfainedly let vs resolue that the dregges of this Cup are reserved for vs onely let vs take heede and keepe our Soule diligently lest we forget the things which our Eyes haue seene and lest they depart from our Hearts all the dayes of our life But let vs not thinke that our present businesse in this Church is sufficient wee must heereafter walke in a new obedience to God who ladeth vs dayly with blessings This is our best thanksgiving and a most forcible Prayer to obtaine new blessings vpon the blessings receaved and with all it is a Seale that Gods Mercies are given vs in Mercy If our Thanksgiving be a constant walking worthie of Gods blessings then he will delyte to dwell amongst vs and blesse vs more than shall we still be a matter of ioyfull wondring to the World and of comfort to our selues when the blessings of the Scepter of Christ and of the well sweyed Scepters of our Princes are visible amongst vs in Religion Iustice and Peace The Lord who hath blessed vs with this ioyfull Occasion and brought vs together in this house to testifie our ioy before Man and Angels put this Day amongst these white and ioyfull Dayes that are marked with rare blessings and make it a period and beginning of a ioyfull reckoning of yeares to come The Lord make vs constant in thankfulnesse that his goodnesse may continue with vs That the end of all his blessings may bee his Glorie in the Salvation of our Princes and of our selues through Iesus Christ our Lord. To this God Father Sonne and holy Ghost King of Kings and Lord of Lords bee praise honour and glorie now and for evermore AMEN FINIS A LOOKING GLASSE For PRINCES and POPES OR A Vindication of the sacred Authoritie of PRINCES from the Antichristian vsurpation of the Popes By the same Authour M. William Struther August Civit. lib. 4. cap. 7. Ipsi attendant speculum suum Bernard Consid. Lib. 4. Ipsi sint speculum ipsi forma Idem Lib. 2. Admove speculum faedus se in eo vultus agnoscat EDINBVRGH Printeed by the Heires of Andro Hart. 1632. The Preface of the Uindication REligion is the sacred Bond betweene God and vs And the certaintie of the Trueth professed maketh it stronger In this litigious age Contentions haue almost buried the Trueth And the inconsiderate Reader of Controversies shall neither finde Papists in their diverse and contradictorie opinions nor himselfe The best resolution for that certaintie next to Scripture is not so much by the theoricke of controversies as the practicke of Now-Romes pertinancie Therefore it shall be a price worth our labour to consider Rome as now it standeth and the graduall shifts whereby shee hath driven her selfe to it Her present estate is a judiciall hardnesse In that most obstinate pertinacie as Saint Austine calleth it that maketh men defend errour for trueth and pursue trueth for errour And all their businesse in wryting disputing c. is that made presumption as Patianus sayeth whereby they seeke only the victorie in any cause And like the olde Pagans they choose rather to obtrude their owne errours impudently than patiently to heare our Trueth as Cyprian said to Demetrian Potius tua impudenter ingerere quà m nostra patienter audire As Copernicus in Astronomie and Paracelsus in Physicke loathing olde Trueths layed their new Hypotheses and threw all things by the haire to countenance them so doe they in their new broached heresies And like Photinus c seeke not to show a reason of their doctrine to their hearers but draw things that are simply spoken to the colouring of their errour as Ruffinus speaketh of him Ut simpliciter ac sideliter dicta ad argumentum sui dogmatis traheret The first Ages delighted to comment Scripture But when Lombard gathered his sentences their itching ingines loathed Scripture and commented Lombard And when Thomas the floure of the Schoole had diggested his summes they were made the Text for commenting and reading in Schooles And the Canons of Trent are more holy than all not to bee commented least Trueth breake out amongst their hands but to bee believed and adored as Oracles So they stand now in the pertinacious defence of the Antichristian Faith canonized in Trent This is the present estate of the Romish Church wherevnto shee hath drawne her selfe by seven necessarie but miserable shiftings First at their great challenge by Luther they began with Scripture Though Caietan lurked in the bushes of Schoole-divinitie and Prierias worbled in his Cases yet Eccius and others appealed to Scripture But when they had assayed they found it hurtfull I herefore they cast it away with contempt calling it a nose of waxe a leaden sword c. like the olde Hereticks who as Irenie b sayeth turned to the accusation of Scripture when they were convinced by Scripture Cum à Scripturis
arguuntur in accusationem earum convertuntur Before the Colloque of Ratisbone when the Protestant Divines intercommuned by letter with the Iesuits that they would agree on the places of arguments The Iesuits in their Preface declared that they would not stand to Scripture least say they we had lost our cause in the verie entrie I his their distrust of Scripture is a reall confessing that their faith is not Scripturall Secondly they came to Traditions and because wee sticke to Scripture they called vs Scripturarij to tell vs that they are Lucifugae Scripturarum as Tertullian calleth Hereticks And againe Credunt sine Scripturis vâ— credant contra Scripturas And yet they finde no rest in Traditions The indefinetnes of their number the confussion of their kinds Divine Apostolicke Ecclesiasticke hath confounded them who expresly laboured to distinguish them But the first tymes reasoned not from their owne asseveration but by divine testimonies as sayeth Lactantius Non asseveratione propriâ sed testimonijs Divinis sicut nos facimus Thirdly from Traditions of an vncertaine Author they come to Fathers and with a froggish and laterane coaxation doe cry Patres Patres But Protestants haue driven them from that retreate also for though in the Fathers some Liturgicall ceremonie may bee found yet in Dogmaticke poynts they are all for vs Neither can they make Lirinensis triple tryall to fitte their Tenets that they were receaved ab omnibus semper vbique Fathers are worthie of respect when they speake according to our Heavenly Father They gaue that respect to their Ancestors and craved no more to themselues Who ever shall reade these things let him not imitate mee erring but growing to the better Non me imitetur errantem sed in melias proficientem sayeth Augustine even of his retractations And they themselues condemne the Fathers except they speake to their sense Fourthly from Fathers a-part they come to Fathers mette together in Councells So Bellarmine everie where thinketh it enough In hoc conveniunt omnes Scholastici propter Conciliorum authoritatem But when these Councells are searched they are but late Conventicles gathered for their purpose as Dioscorus did at Ephesus Irene at Neece The Laterane Councells of Florence Constance Basile And lastly their Trent Councell by a preposterous order giving authoritie to the former They contemne ancient and lawfull Councells as Vives remarketh Reliqua non pluris aestimant quam conventus muliercularum in textrina vel thermis These are Councels to them sayeth hee which serue their turne as for other they count no more of them Conventions of Women c. Fifthly they muster the Testimonies of their Popes as the last and greatest ground of their Faith A matter more ridiculous than serious to judge a malefactor by his owne testimonie If they thinke them infallible why giue they them not the first place They are neither as Primipili or Triarij but rather Rorarij and Ferentarij amongst the Legions more for number than for weight But the wiser â—ort are ashamed to vse these shaddowes in disputs Sixtly When they finde no safetie in all these refuges they come to humane learning And for this cause the Iesuits seeing their Cleargie ignorant affected a Monarchie of Letters As Ierome said of the Hereticks who called themselues Reges Philosophorum Kings of the Philosophs They are destitute of Scripture and runne to the supplie of Nature Arte. These olde Hereticks boasted of the furniture of humane learning So Novatian threw the darts of poysoned eloquence and was more hard by the perversenesse of secular Philosophie c. In like manner Aponius descryveth them that they turned the trueth in a lie by sharpe words and syllogismes And Ierome d telleth that the Htreticke propter acumen ingenij discurrit per testimonia Scripturarum and laboureth by Sophistrie to oppresse the Trueth And againe the good Christian veritatis simplicitate contentus Haereticorum suppellectilem argumentorumque divitias non requirit Hee is content with the simplicitie of trueth seeketh not the furniture of Hereticks Papists coÌ„fesse a sympathizing with Pagans Humane learning is Gods gift indeede but should not bee abused to impugne the Trueth And it is Gods will that naked and simple Trueth bee cleerely proponed because it is sufficiently decored of it selfe sayeth Lactance And to that same sense Ierome Nolim Philosophorum argumenta sectari sed simplicitate Apostolicae acquiescere And Basile likewise Nuda est veritas paâ—rono non egens ipsa seipsam defendens Though with Nazianzen hee profited wonderfully in Philosophie at Athens yet hee calleth it an hyding of the Trueth to trouse it vp in humane farding ne contegamus veritatem verborum fuco But they acknowledge their distrust of this refuge also For Transubstantiation is so contrare to sound Philosophie that Scotus doubtes against it are neither solved by himselfe nor any other as Quantum futurum cum quanto Quantum fine modo quantitativo Partem extra partem tamen in qualibet parte totum Therefore they haue devised a bastard Philosophie to colour their bastard Divinitie That there is a penetration of Dimensions that one body of a numericall vnitie may bee in innumerable places at once that many compleete bodies may bee couched vnder these same Speces that they may bee consumed and yet abide that in their consumption they neither feele nor are felt of the consumer that one bodie is continued and discontinued in Heaven and Earth at once that it hath a localitie and illocalitie that an Accident can subsist without a Subiect that a dimensiue Quantitie is a Subiect of the Speces that there is a mixed proposition whereof one part is in the mouth and another in the mynde c. If Aristotle and olde Philosops were in the world and heard these monstruous opinions in Philosophie they would misknow their owne Art With these weapons they haue long mustered and their Armies are led with two Goliaths Baronius and Bellarmine from whose first syllabs some haue wittily found out BA-BELL They haue done what Nature and Sophistry can to oppresse the Trueth and colour heresie Bellarmine dogmatickly in great volumes laboureth in the perpetuall Elench of the authoritie of the Church Baronius practickly in his Anachronismes Suppressions Inversions of Order Anticipations laboureth in the perpetuall â—lâ—nch facti pro â—ure And all of them fill the world with large volumes vt stupefaciant ignaros literarum as sayeth â—râ—neus Suarez with his tedious Disputs hath gotten the rewarde of fire to his treasonable Booke Ualentia thinketh his Analysis can not bee loosed and yet it is but a petition of the principle of the Churches pretended authoritie Gretzer hath casten himselfe off the stage by his scalding Uasquez with his blasphemous worshipping of Sathan is abhorred Becane with his affected brittle subtilities is
are alreadie both iudged of GOD and sentenced in his word to consumption and Abolition and the hand of Providence goeth on in the execution of that sentence there is neither ground to treate for reconcliation nor hope to attaine to it Or if wee will treate of it wee accuse the Lords sentence of iniquitie and his execution of rigour Let Babell then bee vnder her sinne and punishment begun and approaching and let all that loue the Lord Iesus separat themselues from these wickedmen A CONCLVSION Exhortatorie to Princes I Turne now that speach which they abuse to you most sacred Princes Bee wise O Kings bee learned yee Iudges of the earth Christ Iesus whom yee haue long pursued by Antichirsts direction when hee might destroy you calleth you to repentance to change both your mindes and course Your Mindes to know that poperie is that foretold Apostasie and that the Religion which yee persecute is the trueth of God And your course that since blind zeale the companion of false Religion hath made you thinke it good service to God to destroy his Saincts you would turne your power for the service of the Lambe of whom yee haue it and both revenge Gods quarrell and your owne vpon the Beast Consider how GOD setteth downe his Dittay and Dâ—ome His Dittay in Idolatrie Filthinesse and aboue all the blood of the Saincts Rome was ever bloodie the Mathematicians observed that when her ground-stone was layed the Moone was in cauda Draconis to tell that all her changes in rysing growing standing would bee in the câ—uâ—ltie of the Dragon And soone after Romulus wet her wals with his Brothers blood Shee turned the earth in a Butcherie by warres abroad And her Ganâ—es at home in the Theater were bloodie Shee shed the blood of the Saints in her persecuting Pagan Emperours And lastlie sheddeth the bloodie of the Protestants by her Antichristian head Ierusalem was guiltie of the blood of all the Prophets because they succeeded the Murtherers in malice and crueltie And Rome succeeds Ierusalem and exceedeth her in persecuting Christ All blood of the Saints is shedde either in Rome or by Romes authoritie Shee hath shedde more blood than Ninivie Babylon Shusan and Ierusalem it selfe Her Doome is doe to her as she hath done to you And what she hath done to you your Soules Thrones may feele For beside your soules killing the Pope hath overthrowen the Maiestie and dignitie of Impyres Shee denuded you of Kinglie Authoritie when shee exposed your Sacred Persons to the contempt and violence of the basest Villanes Shee ate vp your flesh not so much in catching the riches of your Kingdomes as by nesting in your bosome like a Viper to destroy you Shee burnt your with the fire of excommunication raising such combustions that your Countrie and Courts were divyded The Sonne set against the Father as Henrie the fifth against Henrie the fourth to pursue him to death and after death to deny him Buriall Therefore this is her recompence that you make the Whoore naked eate vp her flesh and burne her with fire God hath sentenced her and there remaineth no more but execution Though wee rest on none but Scripturall Prophecies yet their owne Prophets foretold their ruine For Hildegardis and Catharina Senensis whose contraire visions Delrio laboureth to reconceale Brigitta telleth them of their destruction What ever bee the force of her writ it must be Canonick to them since Boniface the nynth hath cannoized her and Martine the fifth confirmed that canonization and their later writers as Chemensis Capistranus Aytinger c. haue spoken broadlie That Rome shall bee ruined by the Almaines and the French As God calleth and commandeth you to doe it so you are bound to it by these two bonds wherey they presse you most your Baptismall initiation and sacred oath In Baptisme yee were initiate in Christian faith and not in Antichristian perfidie And the substance of your oath is to defend Apostolicke and primitiue trueth and not the yesterday novelties of Rome Their own Patrons graÌ„t that in the middle ages they were Apostaticke and Apotactick but since we never find their reformation or amendement The errour of time confirmed by badde custome hath made men mistake these Notions of Christ and Antichrist trueth and vntrueth and so to misplace their affections and actions about them but open your eyes to the light God offereth in his word and your better informed mindes shall reforme your affections and rectifie your actions least you take darknesse for light night for day and death for life that you may forsake Antichrist and heresies and ioyne your selues to the Lambe and his trueth in the reformed Churches Or if you will not take Gods cause to heart nor bee moved with these bonds let your Life and Crownes moue you Though hee vnder a Iudiciall hardnesse bee senselesse of the guiltinesse of his vsurpation yet be not you senselesse of these indignities He maketh you to fight against your selfe in his quarrell while hee abuseth your power for the maintenance of his greatnesse to the overthrow of your authoritie Remember hee is head of that Court whose Ambassadours boasted in England that they served at that Court which commanded both other Kings and their Courteours It hath ever beene your fault to neglect the commoun cause of Princely authoritie There is nothing more sâ—oothed than that that is pleaded by many When any one Prince was thunder-beaten by Iupiter Capitolinus hee exhorted other Princes that they should not betray the common cause but all in vaine For the ruine of one made a prey to many Therefore they suffered the present storme to passe over and that because by a wicked purchas some accession came to their state This was specially when a great Prince was broken whose greatnesse was fearefull to them all The Emperour was most left in the sturre while smaller Princes thought it their securitie if he were redacted to that state that hee might not rise to the greatnesse of his Ancestors It is tyme for you to awake when their flatterers pittie your injuries and the Iesuits admire your patience Petrus Ferrariensis marking how the Pope insnared you to inlarge his owne iurisdiction cryeth out But alace miserable Emperours and secular Princes who suffer these things and make your selues slaues to the Pope and see the world by infinite cousanages abused and yet you thinke not of a remeede And where the Iesuits please to bee free they wonder fatuos fuisse veteres Imperatores imperij nostri ordines qui sibi tanto cum dedecore ora sublinia Papis sustinuerint that Emperours and the States were so foolish as to bee gulled with Popes Wee haue better cause than Athanasius to say I am Ecclesiae tempora oculatos operosos Principes requirunt that the tymes of the Church require seeing and doing