Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	merit_n	merit_v	6,691	5	10.7705	5	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13103	A motiue to good workes Or rather, to true Christianitie indeede. Wherein by the waie is shewed, how farre wee are behinde, not onely our fore-fathers in good workes, but also many other creatures in the endes of our creation: with the difference betwixt the pretenced [sic] good workes of the Antichristian Papist, and the good workes of the Christian Protestant. By Phillip Stubbes, Gentleman.	Stubbes, Phillip.	1593 (1593)	STC 23397; ESTC S111359	64,680	234

not now bee anie meanes to build vp or repayre his Church agayne any manner of waie The Lorde hath all meanes in his handes and both can and will in his good time build his Church by other meanes than by the reliques of Antichrist orrmaenentes of idolatrie and superstition Therefore let vs rest contented with whatsoeuer he doeth knowing let vs rest coytented with whatsoeuer he doth knowing that his wyll is the perfect square rule of all perfection and that he doth all things for his owne glorie and the good of his Church But to returne to the matter in hand so to conclude this point I graunt indeede that the building of Abbies and Monasteries in regarde of the abuses which afterwards insued of them by them was altogether vnlawfull pernitious and execrable yea altogether abhominable and consequentlie intollerable yet in respect of the intentions of the first founders of them and of the end whereto they were erected as namely to the end that God might bee glorified by them and his religion exercised maintained practised in them amongst all generations to the end of the world and the like I saie in respect of these ends they were not altogether so vnlawfull nor intollerable but beeing done to these ends to maintaine superstition and idolatrie to iustifie vs before God to purchase righteousnes to merit euerlasting life the like theÌ„ were they abhominable and detestable before God man But whatsoeeuer the building of theÌ„ was good or badde as good it could not be these are not such as the papists that liue in this age do greatly accouut of to be good workes And therefore to the end no man may heereafter bee ignorant hereof I will as briefly as I can endeuor my selfe to set down in order some such as the Papists now a daies do account for good workes in deede and such as deserue say they in this life infinit renumeratioÌ„ in the life to come euerlasting saluation These such like are they as followe The third Section Wherein is contained a briefe rehearsall of such workes as the Papists doe account to bee good workes and of great merite and desert before God though they bee repugnant and contrarie to the word of God and therefore caÌ„ they merit nothing but damnation in the iustice of God THE Papists account it a worke of infinit merite and vnspeakable deserte to persecute the Church of God to murther and kill his Saintes to massacre his children and to shedde innocent bloud That this is true I refer you to the registers and records of all ages and times that haue bene since the beginning of the worlde to this daie but especially in that famous ecclesiasticall cronologie of Actes and Monumentes of the Church made and published by that reuerend Father and learned diuine master Iohn Foxe wherein you shal finde almost infinite millions of blessed martyrs which haue bene murthered and put to most cruell death by these bloud-thirstie Papists yea in fiue yeres space to wit in the daies of Queene Marie you shall finde welneere if not altogether one thousand men women children of all ages degrees and sexes to haue bene some hanged strangled murthered burned racked and otherwise most cruelly tortured and put to death for the testimonie of Iesus and for the word of God If you list to haue further profe I refer you to that most perfidious cruell and more than barbarous massacre of Paris wherein were murthered and put to the swoord aboue fortie or fiftie thousand protestants within the compasse of one month throughout the whole realme of Fraunce And yet was this bloudie crueltie and slaughter of Gods Saintes so much applauded of the Pope that hee not onely dispensed with the murtherers but also graunted them pardon and indulgence of all their sinnes besides large promises of rewardes made to the perpetrators thereof as also bone fires banquettinges and feastinges throughout all the Citie of Rome for ioy as though it had beene the yeere of Iubelie or the creation of a newe Antichrist And heerein they doo but theyr kinde For it is the badge of the Church of Antichrist and the cognisaunce of the synagogue of Sathan to persecute murther and kill the Church of God It hath bene so from the beginning and shall bee so as Iohn in the Reuelation most prophetically speaketh to the end of the worlde Cain was a figure of theyr bloudie Church who persecuted his brother euen to the effusion of his bloud Esau was also a type of theyr Antichristian Church who persecuted Iacob threatning his destruction and which no doubt hee had perfourmed had it not beene wisely preuented by his mother Ishmael was the like who persecuted Isaac Pharao the verie same who persecuted the Israelites And truely this is a notable and an infallible marke to knowe the Church of GOD by from the synagogue of sathan For the badge of the Church of God is to bee afflicted persecuted and to haue theyr bloude shedde Contraryly the marke of the Antichristian church is to persecute to kill to slaie to murther and shed bloud to the end It was neuer read in any age or time that the church of GOD dyd euer persecute or shedde bloud but was alwaies persecuted and had theyr bloud shed by the synagogue of sathan and yet for all that which is myraculous the Church of God hath doeth and euer shall flourishe and increase still more and more maugre the heades and spite of all Papists and schismatikes whatsoeuer Yea by how much the more they goe aboute to suppresse it by so much the more it increaseth dayly much lyke to the Palme tree which the more waight it hath layde vpon it the broader it spreadeth his loppes and branches on euerie side True therefore is that saying of an ancient father Sanguis martyrum semen Ecclesiae The bloude of martyres is the seede of the Church And therfore would I wish all Papists to leaue off from murthering the poore Saintes of God anie longer for this if for no other cause yet for that they shall neuer bee able to preuaile against them no they are so inuinsible through the might of Christ who raigneth in them and strengthneth them that the gates of hell cannot preuaile against them nor death itselfe ouercome or vanguish them but euen in the middest of the raging flames they triumph ouer it The Papists also thinke it a worke of inestimable merite before God to laie violent handes vppon the Lordes annointed to kil and murrher Emperours Kings and Princes when they haue done they are canonized Saintes for theyr labour A fit guerdon for such a facte For as a holy writer sayth Multi adorantur per sanctis in hoc mundo quorum animae in inferno sepeliuntur Many are worshipped for Saintes vppon earth whose soules are buryed in hell Such Saintes are these whom the Pope doeth thus canonize Good king Dauid inspired with the spirit of God was of another mind when he

the crosse in Chepe side Others forsooth wyll kneele before them creepe to them bare foote and bare legged offer to them And others that wil not seeme so grosse wil yet make a thousand crosses on their forheds brests being of this mind that the signe of the crosse hath power to defend any one not only froÌ„ all corporall enemies but also froÌ„ all the diuels in hell And therfore as it is a moment of great superstition so I pray God it may be remoued from amongst vs. But if it be obiected that it keepeth in our mindes the remembraunce of Christ and of hys death which he suffered vpon it I answere we haue no warrant out of the booke of God to keepe any such superstitious crosses amongst vs to any such ende For the word it selfe was geuen vs to that end to keepe in memory and as it were to paynt out vnto vs the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ and not such Popish trash To that end also were the Sacraments left vs with the ministerie and preaching of the Gospell of Christ and therefore their obiection is scarse worth the answering The Papists also holde it to be a work of vnspeakable merit for a man or woman eyther before they dye or else at their death to giue the greatest part of their goods laÌ„ds the more the more merite to popish priestes though in the meane time theyr wife children and whole familyes goe a begging all theyr lyfe long to Monkes and Fryers with the rest of that filthie generation to the ende they may pray for them wheÌ„ they are dead to saie masses trentalls diriges de profundis Ladies psalters and I can not tell what riffe raffe else for them bearing them in hand that their souls the soules of al their friends pareÌ„ts kindred and aliance shall not onely bee releeued but also cleerely delyuered thereby out of the pains of purgatorie which otherwise shoulde lye there broiling in firie flames seauen yeeres for euerie sinne that euer they coÌ„mitted in this life either in thoght word or deed Which if it were true as it is most false and blasphemous I could not blame men though they gaue all they had and more too to the Priests But alasse who seeth not the vanitie of this fonde opinion of Purgatorie If Masses Diriges trentals de profundis Ladies psalters and such pelting trash could redeeme vs from paine and punishment after this life and place our soules in ioye and blisse I praie you then what is left to the bloud of Christ to doo for vs iust nothing at all And why died Christ if we might haue bene redeemed by corruptible money lands or pessessions as the Apostles Saint Paule and Saint Peter doe reason What can be more derogatorie to the death of Christ and the efficacie of his bloud than this You were not redeemed sayth Paul from your sinnes neither by golde nor siluer but by the precious bloud of that immaculate lambe Iesus Christ. And doeth not the apostle Iohn thunder out vnto vs The bloude of Iesus Christ doeth cleanse vs from all sinne And as for the ridiculous opinion of purgatory it is so foolish a thing that I am ashamed to bestow anie labour in confuting of it as hauing indeede neyther ground out of the word of God no nor so much as one sillable sounding that waie nor anie approued or autentike writer excepte out of such apocryphas as Ouid Virgil and other heathen Poets And yet for all that the Papists haue gayned as much I suppose by the broching of this fraibugge or scar-crow Purgatorie since it was first hatched as all christendome is worth besides But to proceede The Papistes also holde these to bee singular good workes yea the chiefest of all to heare Masse deuoutly euerie daie to worshippe Saintes to obserue and keepe precisely all holy dayes Saintes daies anp feastiuall dayes as they call them to giue frankely to begging Friers Nunns and Ankresses which were a sort of secluses or rather plain prostitute whoores mued vp in cloisters celles vautes and holes vnder ground onely to serue the Monkes and the Abbots turnes at theyr need whereof I could giue you a thousand instances if it were not from my purpose to mumble vp a great rabble of Pater nosters Creedes Aue Maries and the like vpon their beads to contribute liberally to the making and christning of bels and to bee god-fathers and god-mothers to them to the buying of waxe candles tapers lyghtes to buy coapes challices surplesses and other vestmentes of the Church to giue soule-cakes for so they shame not to cal them or rather foole-cakes agaynst all soules daie for the redemption of all christen soules as they blasphemously speake They account it also a worke of great merite to disple to whip scourge themselues with whippes made of ropes endes of cordes and some of wyre with lyttle rowels of spurres at the ends wherewith forsooth they must whippe themselues naked till theyr bodies appeare all full of bloudie gores and in so doing they merit the deuill and all I should say heauen and all They account it also an excellent good worke and of great merit to lie al night vpon the boords or the bare ground to weare shirts of hayre to fast with bread and water to carry candles tapers and palmes vp and downe the church and round about the Church-yard to see and worship theyr little God of the pix that hangs so pretily in a string like a Bee in a boxe to receiue holy bread and holy water to goe to shrift where euerye one must confesse his sinnes to the Priest and receue absolution but specially the women who many times haue theyr absolution giuen them with a Friers taile These with infinite the like are the good workes of the Papists wherby they trust to gain heauen and to merite euerlasting life whether God will or no. Yea they will haue it by merit and not by mercie and therefore God is bounde to giue it them ex debito and ex opere operato of duetie in regarde of their workes and not ex gratia and good reason if it bee so for doeth not the Apostle affirm that to him that worketh is the hire giuen of duetie not of fauour Nowe they doe all and more too or else they lie which God hath commaunded them and which is more they haue not onelie workes inough of their owne to saue themselues withal but also workes of supererogation which will helpe at a dead lift if need bee to sell or giue to others and therfore they must needs as I say come to heauen whether God will or not but God grant mee and all that appertain to him eternall life for his mercies sake in Christ and let the Papists challenge it stil by their workes merits and deserts And truly I cannot but wonder that the Papists should be so blinded as to think that anie workes at all much lesse these hauing no warrant at all out of the worde of God but rather quite contrarie vtterly repugnant shuld merite and

good works and the like it is vnpossible for thee to see the face of God to thy saluacion otherwise than the deuils and the reprobate who shall see the face of God I graunt but to their euerlasting condemnation So thou without good workes mayest see the face of God with theÌ„ but to thy vtter coÌ„fusion destruction both of body soule for euer Be zealous therefore good Christian of good workes do good whilest thou hast time for the night of death will come when thou canst not work redeme the time with wel doing as the Apostle speaketh yea withdraw from thy sleepe from thy meate drink and froÌ„ thy necessary affaires to do good Remember thy yeres are few vpoÌ„ earth thou hast but a short time to liue to work in Admit thou attainest to fortie fiftie sixtie or it may be eighty yeres wherto fewe doe come in comparison of those that die before alas that time is nothing neither in regard of the perpetuity eternity of the life to come Haue euer in thy minde that golden sentence of the Apostle He that soweth little shall reape little and he that soweth plentifully shall reape plentifully Let the words of our sauior neuer slip out of thy remembrance Beatius est dare potius quam accipere It is a thing more blessed to giue meaning to the poore than to receiue Giue therefore lend freely to them that haue need loking for nothing again and thy reward shall be great in heauen sayth our sauiour Christ. Consider it is sayde What is giuen to the poore is lent to the Lorde and looke what thou laiest out it shall bee paide thee again Distrust not Gods promises for he is yea and amen in all his sayings and faithfull and true in all his dooings Hee both can for that he is almightie and also will for that hee is mercifull most bountifully remunerate and most liberally rewarde them for whatsoeuer good thou dost in this life yea so precise is he herein that he hath bound himselfe with a promise that he wil not leaue so much as a cup of colde water giuen to anie in his name vnrewarded at that day The fifth Section Wherein is shewed the ends of good works and of our iustification by faith onely with a conclusion exhortatorie to good workes NOw as thou art to do good workes so thou must take heed that thou dost them not neither for desire of reward nor yet for feare of punishment but for the loue and obedience which thou bearest to thy God And so farre off oughtest thou to bee from thinking to be iustified or to merit any thing by thy workes as the blasphemous papistes doo contend that thou must both think saie as Christ teacheth thee to say When thou hast done all that is commaunded thee to doe thou art yet an vnprofitable seruant and hast done but thy dutie nay nor thy duetie neither no not in anie small measure No although thou were stable to do all the good workes in the world and all the good workes which the worde of God doth command thee yea and in that perfection which GOD doeth require of thee which thing neuer anie was nor euer shall be found able to performe Christ Iesus only excepted yet couldest thou neither bee iustified before God nor yet merite anie thing by them ex opere operato as the Papistes doo dreame But yet they are in deed notable seales and testimonies to thy conscience that thou art the childe of God and coheire with Christ Iesus of the kingdome of heauen And heereof is it that the Apostle biddeth vs make our saluation sure by good works not that good workes are any efficient cause of our saluation but doe assure confirme and seale vp vnto vs our saluation purchased by Christ. They are therefore most excellent fruites of our faith and infallible pledges of our election in Christe but no causes of our iustification before GOD. For euen as no fruit can make the tree good which by nature is naught so no good workes can make a man good before God who before was wicked euill for as the tree must of necessitie bee good before it canne bring foorth anie good fruite at all so a man must bee sanctified and regenerate by the spirit of God before he can doo anie good workes acceptable vnto God which once being accomplished theÌ„ follow good works as the effect from the cause And therefore I cannot but wonder at the more than palpable blindnes of these iusticiaries and merit-mongers the papists who beleeue that good workes can iustifie vs before God Our sauiour Christ sayth Without mee yee can doo nothing Whereto the Apostle seemeth to agree when he sayth It is God which geueth both the wil the deed euen of his good will and then alas what place of merit is there left for vs And whereas they obiect that God hath promised to reward our good works True it is hee giueth vs grace first to will then power to performe and put in practise euerie good worke that we doo and hath bound himselfe with a promise to reward these his own gifts in vs. But this reward standeth in the mercie of God not in the merit of the worke Let vs therefore abandoning our owne merits as filthie dong hold the mercies of God in Christ to bee our righteousnes beeing assured that if the Lord shoulde enter into iudgement with vs waying our verie righteousnes in the ballance of his iustice and rewarding vs according to our deserts we should be vtterly condemned and cast awaie for euer This the Prophet Esay confirmeth where hee saith That all our righteousnes is like a menstruous clout than the which there is nothing more filthy stinking or fulsome To which sentence Saint Barnard seemeth to allude saying Ve vniuersae iusticiae nostrae si remota miserecordia iudicetur Woe be to our righteousnesse if we should be iudged with out mercie And yet the papistes are perswaded that they are not onely iustified that is pronounced iust before God freed from sinne and all punishment due for sinne but also that they merite the kingdome of heauen and euerlasting life by their good workes Yea they haue not onely good works inough to saue themselues withall but others also and these they call works of supererogation that is wheÌ„ they doe moe good workes and in greater perfection than God eyther can or will require of them as I haue noted before and therefore with the ouerplus of these forsooth they will helpe their fellowes if they will paie well for them else get they none for No pennie no Pater noster And is not this a pretie matter that they can not onely saue themselues but also others to by their workes of supererogation What should a man care for doing of good workes himself when for a little monie hee may buy inough of others The fiue foolish virgines would haue bought oile of the wise but it was answered

within them anie feare of God anie loue anie remorse of conscience any regard of the saluation of theyr bodies and soules in the life to come nowe at the last to rouse vp themselues out of the cradle of securitie and drousie lethargie of sin wherin they haue long slept and by the examples of bruit beasts to do the workes and offices of their vocation and calling Let vs cast off the workes of darknesse as the Apostle exhorteth vs that is the workes of sinne and put vpon vs the armor of light that is the workes of righteousnesse holynes and truth redeeming the time because the dayes are euill as the same Apostle in an other place willeth vs. Let vs consisider weigh that we are they vpoÌ„ whom the endes of the worlde are come and that the bridegroome Christe Iesus standeth before the doores Let vs think that the iudge is at hand to suÌ„mon vs to the dome who though he defer his coÌ„ming yet be sure he will come at the last and reward euery one according to his doings in this life whether they be good or bad Let vs thinke that he who hath committed his talents to vs wil one day demaund accompts of them Remember these things whilest thou hast time deare Christian do the workes of mercy Follow the councell of the holy Ghost by the mouth of Dauid Eschew euill and do good Seeke after peace and ensue it Oh let not bruite beasts and vnreasonable creatures goe before thee in the doing of their duties Think thus that hee to whome much is committed shall be accomptable for much then reason thus with thy selfe As the Lord hath bestowed many great blessings and graces vpon me far aboue many other of his creatures so will he require of me that I should loue honor obey magnify prayse and in all my actions glorify him more than any other creatures And knowe this whatsoeuer thou art high or lowe ritch or poore yong or olde that thy yeares nay that thy very dayes houres and minuts of hours which thou hast to liue are numbred with God and that thou canst not by any means possible passe the same no not the twinckling of an eye or the least period of time that may be therfore good Dauid prayed the Lord to teach him to number his dayes that he might know how long he had to liue But admit that thou liuest to 60.80 or 100. yeres alas yet are thy dayes full of miserie affliction calamitie vexacion trouble as good Iacob sayd vnto Pharao being demanded how old he was few and euill are the dayes of thy seruant But say that thou shouldst liue to hundreths of yeres as many of our forefathers did yet must thou needs die at the last AdaÌ„ liued nine hundred yeres od he died saith the text Abraham so many yeres he died Isaac so many yeres and he died Iacob so many yeres and he died Dauid so many he died Salomon so many hee died MethusaleÌ„ so many yeres yea the most of any that euer liued vpoÌ„ the earth and yet saith the text he died so that the foot of the song is still and he died Irreuocable therfore is the sentence of God against al flesh Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt returne again The same thing witnesseth the Apostle Paul where he saith Destinatum est omni homini semel mori It is appointed to euery man to die once and then to come to iudgement Then seeing the case standeth thus that we must all die that we shal cary nothing with vs but our good works our bad as Iohn witnesseth in the 22. of the Reuelation saying Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labour theyr workes follow them let vs I saie in the name of God resolue our selues to glorify our God by good works in this life that we may be glorified of him for euer in the life to come The second Section Wherein is shewed how necessarie good workes are Of the great Zeale of our forefathers in doing of good workes Of their simplicitie and plaine dealing and of our want of both NOtwithstanding al that hath or can be sayde to this purpose there are some Atheistes that hold and also teach that Christ being come hauing shed his bloud for vs hath heereby so satisfied his fathers iustice and paide the raunsome for sinne that now whatsoeuer we doe is no sinne Nay further they will not sticke to affirme that Christ hath taken awaie all sin out of the world and therefore we cannot sinne Another sort of Locustes they affirme that as a man caÌ„not be saued by his good works so he cannot be condemned by his euill workes and therefore it maketh no matter saith these Libertines whether a man doth the one or the other But these bee all most execrable and damnable opinions inuented by the deuill and broched by his members to the vtter destruction and confusion of as many as follow them Let vs that be christians and hope to be saued by the merits of Christes bloud rather obey the counsell of the holy ghost who warneth vs to worke out our saluation in feare and trembling in another place make your saluation sure by good workes Let vs with the Apostle Iames shew forth our faith by our good workes beeing assured that that faith which bringeth not forth good workes in some measure is no true iustifieng faith but a dead faith such as the deuils haue who are sayde to beleeue tremble The tree is knowen saith our sauiour Christ by the fruit and a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit nor a bad tree good fruit To the same effect Christ telleth vs in another place that not euery one that saith vnto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heauen but he that doth the wil of my father which is in heauen he shall enter into the kingdome of heauen And the Apostle Iames telleth vs that not the hearers of the law but the doers shall be iustified And therefore let vs brag of a naked bare faith as long as we will I am fully perswaded by the spirite of God that if wee haue no other faith than such as bringeth foorth no good workes we can neuer bee saued by it For a true liuely and iustifying faith can no more bee without good works than the Sun without light or fire without heat And yet doe I not attribute iustification to good workes neither for that were to attribute that to the effect which is proper incident to the cause or efficient but to such a faith as bringeth foorth good workes to the praise and honor of God But of this heereafter in his due place now to returne to the matter in hand It was tolde Saint Paul how that some preached CHRIST vppon enuie some of mallice some of pride some of one affection and some of an other who

also doth a good worke but yet against his will and by deuine impulsion is it therefore euill because he doth it hee confessed that Iesus was the sonne of God is it euill therefore to confesse Christ because he did so is good seed the worse though an euill maÌ„ sow it so a Papist may do good works and to a good end is it therefore euill because he doth it but if he do them to this end to be iustified to purchase heauen and to merite euerlasting life by them then in respect of the doers and in regard of the ends whereto they are done they are altogether vnlawfull and no good workes indeede but rather pledges seales of coÌ„demnation against the doers Yet notwithstanding in as much as the most of these works although they were afterwards horribly abused by others tended to the glory of God and benefite of the common wealth they were therefore good works and notable testimonies and demonstrations as wel of their great loue and zeale as also of their godlines For example Is not this a good worke to build Churches Chappels and other oratories and houses of religion wherin the preaching of the word of God and other exercises of true religion might bee practised amongst all posterities to the end of the world yea it is such a worke that I pray God sende vs moe of them For it is lamentable in some parishes the people are forced to goe three or foure nay fiue or sixe in some peraduenture eyght or ten miles to the Church for want of Churches neerer them Shall wee thinke to build Churches was no good worke because they were afterwards prophaned by Idolatrie and polluted by superstition What thing is there in this world but it hath beene is or may be abused And shall wee take away the thing it selfe because of the abuse Then farewell meate and drinke farewell apparrell yea farewell word of God and all for euery one of them hath beene is and will be continually abused to the end But in as much as the abuse is not of the substance of the thing but meerely accidentall take away the abuse and let the thyng remayne still There are in deede neotericall and phantasticall spirits start vp of late that would haue all Churches pulled downe and defaced to the ende that theyr priuate conuenticles and Iewish Synagogues myght take place And truely the world is nowe almost come to theyr humor for nowe euery one seeketh to pull from the Church to raze and deface it by all meanes possible accoumpting that well gotten what soeuer is extorted or purloyned from it quo iure quaue iniuria eyther by hooke or crooke as they vse to say And the same to be true in deede doth the present state of the most of our Churches in England verify For where I haue trauayled as I haue trauayled the whole realme ouer I haue found in most places nay almost in all the Churches to lye like barnes some thatched with strawe and which is worser some with broome bent loope reede and I cannot tell what rubbish els the windowes all to torne the wals cleft and rent asunder the roofes rayning in without measure and the chauncels as they call them eyther pulled quite downe I will not saye begged of some greedie puttocke or insaciable cormorant or other to build his owne house withall or else ready to fall vppon their heads euery day with euery little puffe of winde And as for the pues and seates they are such as would make a man to loath to come in them Their flowres or pauements are so farre from being tiled or paued that there is nothing to be seene but sand and dust a foote or two thicke so that if you stirre your feete neuer so little all the Church is full of dust enough to stifle or choke a man Agayne in othersome places I haue seene the Churches strawed ouer either with hay grasse strawe sedges bent loope or such other trash worser than I haue knowen many swyne to lye in Yea truly I haue seene some Churches as I haue sayde to lye farre worser than eyther barnes or stables God be mercifull to vs. For the one they will keepe well and repaire for the safegard of their corne the other for their beasts and cattell And is it not a lamentable case that the Church and house of prayer for so Christ calleth it My house shall be called the house of prayer but you haue made it a denne of the eues should lye so beastly our owne houses in the meane time being most stately sumptuous and gay Good King Dauid was of an other minde when hee sayde Shall my house be of Cedar and Cipres wood and the Arke of God to lye in Tents and therefore made he infinite prouision to build a Temple for it Is it nowe tyme to build your owne houses and is it not tyme to build the Lordes house sayth the Prophet Well I wyll say no more heereof but I pray God that the reuerend Byshops to whome God hath committed the dispensacion of his word and the scepter and rule of hys spouse vppon earth may looke better to the building repairing keeping of the Church of God and house of prayer Now to goe forward Is it not a good worke to build bridges to make causies pauements and high wayes that trauellers may paste safely froÌ„ one place to an other There are some not a few no doubt that think it no good deede whatsoeuer it be if a penny of money must goe from them therfore they care not if al good workes were buryed in the graue of obliuion that they might neuer see the light but as abortiues to be vtterly smothered for euer Hereof is it that we caÌ„not so much as finde in our harts not only not to build but not so much as to maynteyne and repaire those bridges high wayes causies pauemeÌ„ts and other ancient monuments of good works which our Ancestors haue left behind theÌ„ as to their inestimable charges so to their perpetuall praise renowne so far off are we froÌ„ doing any of our owne I my selfe hauing trauayled ouer and about the whole realme haue found diuerse Bridges yea and that ouer mighty waters eyther cleane broken downe without any great hope of building againe in haste or else so shaken rent and torne that it would feare a man eyther to goe or ryde ouer them I could name aboue an hundred such in Englande but for that I will offend no man by name I will ouerpasse them beseeching God to put into the harts of our Magistrates and Rulers that they may be amended For I am sure there are not a fewe both men and women in England drowned in a yeare by reason these Bridges are not maynteyned Our good Auncestors not onely built them but also left for the most of them both landes and rents to vphould them I pray God they be not imbezeled and purloyned from them and bestowed an

deserue the kingdome of heauen and euerlasting life being indeed such as Christ speaketh of In vaine doo they worship me teaching for doctrines the ordinances of men But to conclude this point The Apostle saith whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne but these works of the papists are not of faith and therefore are sin And to proue that they are not of faith I reason thus Whatsoeuer hath not his grounde and warrant out of the worde of God is not of faith but these workes haue not anie ground out of the word of God and therefore are not of faith Therefore would I counsell all Papists to abandon theyr workes especially these which I haue recited to the deuill theyr author from whome they first came and to do those workes which God hath in his holy word commanded and which in mercie but not in merite he hath promised to rewarde at that daie And nowe because neyther they nor anie else shall bee ignoraunt what those good workes bee which God hath commaunded vs to doe in his holy word I will decypher forth vnto them though not all yet some of them in as fewe wordes as I can The 4. Section Containing a description of such workes as the Protestants doo account for good workes and which in deede are good workes and grounded vpon the worde of God Wherein by the waie also is shewed euerie ones dutie in his seuerall calling in this life OVR sauior Christ in the fiue twentith of Saint Mathewes Gospell setteth downe a notable Catologue of good workes amongst which hee accounteth this to be one namely to feed the hungrie to giue drinke to the thirsty to cloath the naked to visite the sicke and those that bee in prison to lodge the harbourlesse and to entertayne straungers and way-faring men This dyd good Abraham well vnderstand and practise who is sayde to haue sate in his tent doore in the heate of the daie of purpose to inuite and call in straungers way-faring men and trauelers to relieue them And therefore when the Angelles came to him in the forme of men he is noted by the holy Ghost to haue intreated them nay to haue compelled them to eate meate with him in his house Good father Lot dyd the very same watching in his dores or gates to harbour poore straungers and therefore when the Angells came into Sodome like strangers pilgrimes hee compelled them in some sort to enter into his house and to take such lodging and entertaynment as the countrey would yeeld and his state was able to affoord And hereby many as the Apostle noteth haue receyued Angels into theyr houses at vnawares in the formes of men But now adayes there are many that are so farre off from this kinde of liberality towards poore strangers or beggers as we call them that they wyll shut vp their gates when there is any meate or drinke stirring And which is too bad I haue knowne some that haue caused the poore to be whipped away from their gates Again othersome althogh of great reuenews because they wil not keepe hospitality nor relieue the pore at home they will geue vp house and eyther go soiorne table with some friend or els take a chamber in some city or town where they will kepe no house at all but with a man a boy and it is wel if that too liue both meanely basely and obscurely to the blemishing steyning of their worship credit for euer Euen they whose lands and possessioÌ„s are worth peraduenture 500. pounds a yeare yea it may be 1000. pounds a yeare whose pareÌ„ts ancestors kept 20. or 40. meÌ„ in a liuery mainteind great hospitality to the reliefe of all the cuntrey about them euen they I say wil not stick to do so And yet wil all their reuenews scarse serue to maynteyne this small port withall notwithstaÌ„ding that they so racke their lands rayse their rents exact such fines and incomes as they make twentie times so much more of their liuings now as their forefathers did in times past Now if it be demanded how they carrying so low a saile can spende so great reuenues which were wont to maintayne so many score and to releeue so many thousandes of poore soules I aunswere They spende it as I suppose for the most part either in sumptuous apparel gorgeous buildings both which are at this daie too rife in England if it pleased God or els in feasting and banketting in roieting and gourmandizing besides other chamber workes which I blush to name For as the Apostle sayth it is a shame once to speake of those things which are done of them in secrete God turne their heartes and giue them grace to contayne themselues within themselues to mayntaine hospitalitie for the releefe of the poore and to vpholde that porte worship and credit which their forefathers dyd Our sauiour Christ saith that a cup of cold water giuen in his name shall not bee lefte vnrewarded at the later daie And the Apostle Paul commendeth hospitalitie as one of the works of mercie calling it in many places a sweete smelling sacrifice pleasaunt and acceptable to God Alasse let them consider wherefore dyd God giue them such great store of riches and large possessions in this lyfe aboue theyr fellows brethren was it not to doo good with them and to helpe those that haue neede Let them knowe it was not giuen them to misspend in ryot and excesse in pride in gluttonie or dronkennesse in whooring no nor in hawking and hunting nor in anie other such kinde of vanitie No no it wyll not goe for payment at the daye of iudgement when it shall be sayd vnto them redde rationem villicationis tuae come geue accoumpt of thy Stewardship I woulde wishe them therefore to learne euen of the vniust Steward spoken of by our Sauiour Christ to make them friends of the wicked mammon And surely to bend my style to all in generall I would councell all men to studie to be more carefull and diligent in doing of good workes to feede the hungrie to cloth the naked to harbor the harborlesse to visite them that be sicke and in prison and to doe to all men as hee would wishe all should do to him if he were in like condicion Say not as Saint Iames noteth the rich mercilesse men of hys tyme to haue sayde I haue not for you now come agayne an other tyme God send you comfort and so they geue them nothing themselues notwithstanding in the meane tyme flowing nay ouerflowing with the aboundance of all things Saint Augustine tells vs that looke what apparrell we haue in our presses what clothes in our chests what garments in our warderobes more than we weare on our backes they are sayth this holy Father none of ours but the poores and to withhold them from them hauing neede is to robbe

and spoyle them And as the same author sayth if he shall burne in hell that hath not clothed the naked fed the hungrie nor harbored the harborlesse oh where shall he burne that hath robbed and depriued the poore of that that they had And yet I am not of that foolish pity that I would haue a man to geue to euery one without exceptioÌ„ for herein there is great discretion to be vsed many circumstances to be considered First we are to conferre with them before we geue them any thing of the word of God and of religion to the ende wee may knowe whether they bee true christians indeede or no. Secondly wee are to consider whether they be old blind lame or otherwise diseased and infirmed Thirdly howe they came to this pouertie whether by the hande of God as by fire shipwracke death of cattell or anie other the like iudgment and visitation of GOD. And fourthly what hath beene and is his lyfe and conuersation and in what sorte he spendeth and imploieth his goods all which if we finde to stand with the feare of God and a good conscience then are wee to releeue such a one to the vtterwost of our abilitie But to those that be either Atheists or obstinate Papists yong lustie able to worke and yet wil not I am not to giue any thing for in releeuing of such besides that I maintain them in their idlenes still I also offend both God and my brethren Of such the Apostle geueth a peremptorie commaundement that they who will not labour should not eate Now in the geuing of our almes we must haue regard specially to these sixe things First we must see that we geue our almes for the loue we beare to God and to our brethreÌ„ for his sake Secondly that we geue them not for vayneglory to be magnifyed and praysed of men as the Pharises did who sounded trumpets before them when they gaue theyr almes Thirdly we must geue our almes voluntarily willingly and without coÌ„straint grudging or murmuring for the Lord sayth the Apostle loueth a cheerefull geuer Fourthly we must geue liberally and not niggardly for as the same Apostle in an other place noteth they that sowe sparingly shall reape sparingly Fiftly we must giue our almes whilest we haue tyme in this life as Paule sayth dum tempus habemus faciamus bonum ad omnes whilest wee haue tyme let vs doe good to all men Wee must not leaue it to our executors to doe after vs who peraduenture wyll part stakes and geue one penny to the poore and reserue three for them selues It is not worth a blewe peese to geue them when thou seest thou must needes leaue them and canst inioy them no longer Sixtly and lastly wee must geue freely looking for no reward merite or recompence for it againe But to leaue this and to goe forward to the rest It is also accoumpted by Christ a good worke and a worke of mercy to visite those that be sicke and in prison and to relieue them Those that be sicke we must comfort exhort dehort counsayle and perswade as we see their present state and condicion doth require and besides if they want any necessary thing that eyther we haue or can any way procure them wee are to helpe them to it and to relieue them And those that are in prison wee must visite also and not only relieue them with meate drinke clothes but also with our counsayle and wisedome to the vttermost of our abillitie But as wee are in this case to relieue all so are wee much more bound to relieue those that are indurance for the word of God the testimony of a good conscience not suffering such to lacke in any case It is also a good worke to set vp hospitalls spittles almes houses for the reliefe and sustentation of the poore In which kinde we haue many good men thankes be to God for them that haue done notably I pray God increase the number of them But because I haue spoken of thys matter somewhat more at large in the beginning of this booke I will nowe therefore say no more of it referring the reader to the same place It is also an excellent good worke to erect Colledges and Schooles for the increase and propagation of good letters as without which barbarisme and palpable ignoraÌ„ce would quickly ouerflowe vs as I haue noted before and we in short time should become little differing from bruite beastes I pray God therfore to open the harts of all men and women that be able to be more beneficiall to them but of this I haue spoken more largely before in the second Section of this booke It is also a good worke and a worke wherewithall God is highly pleased to contribute liberally to the mayntenance of godly Pastors and Preachers For as the Apostle Paule reasoneth if they minister vnto vs heauenly things it is a small matter if they reape of vs earthly things And yet there are some nay too many Machianelists that thinke and say they haue too much and that all is well got that is got from them But if they knew the excellency of theyr office and the incomparable dignitie of their high calling if they knew whose place they supply and whose person they represent in their office if they knew how deere they are to the Lord in so much as in a certaine place he sayth they are as deere vnto him as the apple of his eye if they knew that epithites and names of honor are attributed to theÌ„ by God himselfe in holy scripture as namely angels lights ambassadors messengers legates pastors preachers doctors besides many other titles and denominacions of honor Briefely I say if they knew that to detract from them is to withdraw from God and from his holy ministery they would not thinke all wonne that is extorted from them God sayth touch not myne annoynted and doe my Prophets no harme And our Sauiour Christ sayth he that receyueth you receyueth me and he hath reiecteth you reiecteth mee accoumpting what soeuer iniury or wrong is done to them to be done to him selfe And therefore doe I hould this as an infallible maxime that who so euer deteyneth or withholdeth any thing of that which is right from his Pastor or Preacher neyther loueth God Christs Iesus nor yet his holy ministery for so our Sauiour affirmeth hee that loueth you loueth me and he that hateth you hateth me and agayne the Prophet speaking in the person of God sayth bring corne into my barnes that there may be meate in my house calling the barne and house of the minister hys owne barne and hys owne house And yet there are some so straight laced that they would not haue the ministery to liue vppon tythes forsooth but vppon contribucions that is playne almes indeede so that euery one should giue them what they would little or much which if it were once effected then might the ministery quickly goe a begging as they

A MOTIVE TO GOOD WORKES Or rather To true Christianitie indeede WHEREIN BY THE waie is shewed how farre wee are behinde not onely our fore-fathers in good workes but also many other creatures in the endes of our creation with the difference betwixt the pretenced good workes of the Antichristian Papist and the good workes of the Christian Protestant By Phillip Stubbes Gentleman MATHEW .5 verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your workes and glorifie your father which is in heauen LONDON Printed for Thomas Man dwelling in Pater Noster rowe at the signe of the Talbot 1593. To the Right Honorable Cutbert Buckle Lord Maior of the Citie of London P. S. wisheth all prosperity in this life and in the life to come euerlasting saluation by Iesus Christ. HAuing a desire right Honorable to see the state of this our noble Ilande in the bowels wherof as in the womb of my mother I was both bread and borne and wherein I haue liued euen to this present day I tooke my gelding about the Annunciation of S. Mary last past and so trauayling from place to place within one quarter of a yere or a little more I performed by Gods good prouidence and his blessed protection as much as I purposed compassing the whole realme in effect round about Which long and wearysome iorney albeit to my great charges and paynes I vndertooke partly for my priuate pleasure and recreation partly for the auoydance if it might please God of this generall infection of the plague which now raigneth and rageth not only in this honorable City but also almost throughout the whole realme vniuersally and partly to acquaint my selfe with the maners and dispositions of the people and finally to see and viewe all such monuments edifices and memorable deedes as our good Ancestors haue left behinde them In all which my progresse right honorable obseruing euery little circumstance as neerely as I could I found if not all yet very many things out of order and farre from that perfection which I hoped and loked for For as concerning the people I founde them in most places dissolute prowde enuious malicious disdaynefull couetous ambicious carelesse of good workes and almost altogether irreligious For the Cuntreys themselues I found them both pleasant and delectable and abounding with all kinde of commodities and store so as nothing seemed to be wanting that mans hart could desire vnder the sunne saue only good people and the same thankfull to God for his so great so inestimable and so infinite blessings bestowed vppon them And as for the ancient monuments which our good forefathers lefte vs as namely Hospitalls Spittles Almes houses Churches Chappels Schooles of learning Bridges high wayes pauements causies and the lyke I founde them some quite dissolued so as scarse any small remembrance thereof is in many places to bee seene and othersome so ruinate and decayed as if the first founders thereof were nowe liuing and shoulde see them they would not take them for their owne but rather for some disproportioned miscreants foysted in in their places Which generall decay of all good workes or rather playne defection and falling away from God right honorable when I considered returning to London from my long and paynefull iourney and hauing reposed my selfe there a little I was moued I protest before God euen in conscience to write this little treatise to the end that eyther by example exhortation or one meanes or other I might stirre vp the mindes of men at least of those whose hearts God hath touched if not to doe good workes themselues yet to maynteyne those which our predecessors haue left behinde them The want whereof as it is a blemish to our profession so is it a cause that maketh the enemy to barke against vs as if our Religion were nothing else but playne talking and not walking nay playne Atheisme and Libertinisme for so they falsely beare the world in hand And therefore I pray God we may if not for conscience sake yet for feare or if not for feare yet for very shame now at the last indeuour our selues to do good works and to leaue some monuments and testimonies of our christian zeale and charitie behinde vs. For else I am afrayde least not onely our good forefathers but also those which we accoumpt prophane and wicked persons as Christ speaketh shall goe before vs into the kingdome of heauen But of these matters we shall haue occasion to say more in the further discourse of this booke and therefore to bend my stile towards your honor After that I had in some sort penned this little treatise I considered with my selfe to whome I might dedicate the same and so after many ratiocinations pro contra I was at the last resolued to consecrate the same rather to your Honor than to any other and that for two causes First for that it hath pleased God to call you and that most worthely to the regiment of this so famous and populous a City to this end no doubt that by the sword of authoritye you might suppresse vice and by the scepter of wise gouernment you might commaund and enioyne men to the practising of good workes And secondly for that the same God hath made you not onely zealous of religion but also of good workes all which heereafter Christ willing shall be registred in theyr due tyme and place to your immortall fame honor and renowne Accept therefore my very good Lord according to your pristine affabilitie this little Treatise published in your Honors name and admit both it and the Author thereof into your patronage and protection so shall I thinke my selfe sufficiently remunerate and the Church of God being edified thereby shall prayse God for you to the end And thus I most humbly take my leaue From my lodging by Cheape side this 8. of Nouember 1593. Your Honors in all duty Phillip Stubbes Gentleman To the curteous Reader COnsidering with my selfe gentle Reader the great decaie or rather the plain abolition and extermination of good workes in these our vnhappie daies I was perswaded to publish this little Treatise to the ende I might stirre vp if it bee possible the mindes of men to the exercising and practising of the same The Argument I appeale to thy conscience in the feare of God is good the end and purpose of the Author also commendable and therefore I doubt not but it will be both well liked also no lesse esteemed of al those that feare God and then for the liking or disliking of the other I am so farre off from caring for it that I pray God I may neuer neither say doe nor write anie thing that may be liked or applauded of them For the manner of the handling heereof I haue not desired to be curious neither to affect filed phrases culled or picked sentences nor yet loftie haughtie or farre fetched epithites but a plaine bare and naked stile for I seeke not

vaine-glorie nor worldly prayse which many greene heades make so much account of but profite to the reader and gaine of Christian soules vnto GOD. And for those faultes which haue passed eyther my penne in writing or the presse in printing I pray thee friendly reader either amend them with thy pen or else couer them with the vaile of modestie And if thou reapest anie commoditie by these my labours ascribe the glorie to him whome the heauens doo worship the Angels reuerence and the powers adore And thus I commit thee to God and my booke to the censure of the godly wheresoeuer dispersed vpon the face of the earth Thine in the Lord Phillip Stubbes Gentleman Faults escaped in printing Fol. 89. line 23. for chase reade chastise Fol. 94. line 1. blot out these words Let vs rest contented with whatsoeuer he doth Fol. 95. line 22. for renumeration reade remuneration Fol. 96. last line for in that famous reade to that famous Fol. 102. line 2. for per sanctis reade pro sanctis Fol. 102. for supereminentibas reade supereminentibus Fol. 113. line 2. for chiefest worke reade chiefest marke Fol. 120. line 1. for a moment reade a monument Fol. 122. line 12. for pessessions reade possessions Fol. 154. line 20. for at last reade at least Fol. 159. line 17. for what soeuer reade wheresoeuer Fol. 164. line 1. for willingly reade willinglier Fol. 168. line 22. for defile reade defileth Fol. 188. line 13. for momentary reade momentany Fol. eodem line 21. for holy Iob reade the holy man Iob. A MOTIVE TO GOOD WORKES The first Section Wherein is shewed the end of mans creation in this life how all creatures do serue and obey their creator better than man in their seuerall callings with an exhortation to good workes IF God created the whole world with all things contayned therein of infinit variety to this end that he might be glorified by them and in them as without al controuersie he did than much more created he man to the same end whom he made after his owne similitude and likenesse indued with almost vnspeakable graces and whome also hee constituted Lord and ruler ouer all his other creatures And therefore euen as an earthly prince that shuld promote and aduance the meanest vassal or basest peasant of his realm as it were from the dunghill to great honor and dignitie making him not onely ruler ouer all his iewels and treasure whatsoeuer but also chiefe ruler and gouernor vnder him ouer all his people might in reason looke for greater gratitude loue obedience and loialtie at such a ones handes whome hee shuld so aduance than at the hands of the rest of his subiects whom he hath put in subiectioÌ„ so the heaueÌ„ly king calling vs as it were froÌ„ the dunghil and aduancing vs to great honor and glorie in this world and making vs Lords rulers ouer all things vnder him doth and in all reason may loke for greater thankfulnesse loue and obedience at our handes for it than hee doth or may looke for at the hands of all or anie of his other creaturs whome hee hath put in subiection vnder our feete And yet notwithstanding whether they or we in our seuerall conditions and callings do glorifie him the more it will easily appeare in the further discourse of this booke if we compare their doings and ours a little together And first to beginne with the Angells The Angels which as Paul saith are ministring spirites and most glorious substaunces created for the execution of Gods will for the comfort defence protection of such as be heires of saluation in Christ are so ready and prest to execute accomplish the will and purpose of God that they faile not in the least point And therefore when God sent them not onely to denounce but also to execute his iudgement and decree ouer Sodome and Gomorrha they were so precise and so exquisite in performing the least circumstaunce of their commission that they tolde Lot they could doe nothing till hee were gone forth of the citie Againe God commanded them not only to comfort but also to feed the good Prophet Eliiah when hee fled from the face of cruel Iezabel who presently obeied as you may read in the sacred historie They were sent to comfort Hagar who fled from the presence of her mistresse Sarah they performed their embassage both feeding and also comforting of her They were sent to accompanie Iacob trauelling from Haran towards his natiue Countrie they obeyed presently without all reluctation or resistance An Angell was sent to deliuer the three children Shadrach Mishach and Abednego from the furie of the raging furnace who without delay accomplished his charge so strictly that the very hairs of their heads were not once touched nor so much as anie smell of fire felt about them although they walked vp downe the firy flame The Angels also were sent to pitch their tents about the good Prophet Elisha and to defend him from the violence of them that were sent to take him they straight waie obeyed compassing him round about with firie chariots as it had beene mightie mountaines not onely defending him from harme but also striking his enimies with palpable blindnesse They were sent to conduct Tobias in his iourney to Rages in Media they straight obeyed guiding him not only thether but also bringing him home againe to the no smal ioy of his olde parents They were sent also to comfort to feede and to deliuer Daniel out of the Lions den they feede him by the Prophet Abacuc comforted him by most sweete wordes of consolation and finally stopping the mouthes of the greedie lions deliuered him by the power of him who worketh whatsoeuer hee will in heauen and in earth They were sent to conduct the Israelites thorough the wildernesse they obeyed going before them in the day time in a pillar of a cloude and in the night time in a pillar of fire shielding them from their enimies on euery side They were sent to strike the hoast of Dauid with the pestylence they obeyed slaying seuaentie thousande before they ceased and beeing commanded to staie their hande they stayed forthwith They were commanded to slaie all the valiant men of Sanâ—â—â—rib king of Asbur who inuaded â—â—dah with a mightie hoast in the daies of Hezechia they presently slew all the princes captains and famous men of the armie according to theyr commission inioyned them by the Lorde To conclude they were sent to salute the virgine Marie and to signifie vnto her the mysterie of the incarnation of our sauiour Christ they presently without all delaye obeyed as you may reade more at large in the Gospel after S. Luke I might heere inferre many moe the lyke examples of the obedience of Angelles towardes GOD who made them but these few least I might seeme tedious at this time shal suffice Nowe who seeth not except he bee

answered I am glad so that Christ be preached whether it be of enuie of malice of pride or of any affection else whatsoeuer and euen so say I I am glad that good workes are done whether it be of enuie of pride of vayne-glory or of any other affection else and I pray God to rayse vp moe good men to doe moe good workes for our great talking little walking our great prating and protesting and little or no working maketh our enemies the Papistes to open theyr mouthes so wyde agaynst vs and to slander both vs and our profession affirming that we teach nothing but carnall libertie and abandoning of all good workes But how false this theyr shameles slaunder is shal afterwards appeare Christ willing in his place And yet truly I must needes confesse that euen as the Apostle tould the Galathians the Gospell was euill spoken of and slaundered amongst the Heathen thorowe theyr wickednes so I say the Gospell and word of saluation is blasphemed and slaundered amongst the Papists who are not-only scandalized thereby but also in effect vtterly disswaded and drawne away both froÌ„ vs and our religion thorowe our inordinate licentious liues Yea and would God it were not true with grief of hart I speak it there are I feare me moe good works done daily by the Papists if they may be called good workes and not rather workes of ciuile office which the heathen the Turks or Iewes may doe than by the Protestants For he the Papist trusteth most blasphemously sacrilegiously to be saued by his works therfore he is carefull to do theÌ„ the other trusteth to be saued by a bare naked faith deceiuing him selfe without good works therfore eyther careth not for theÌ„ or at least setteth little by theÌ„ By which meanes it coÌ„meth to passe that many men had rather deale with him that is a palpable Papist than with him who is a precise Protestant And certainly to speak truth there is many times found plainer coÌ„scionabler dealing among most of theÌ„ than among many ProtestaÌ„ts And if we looke narrowly into the former times and ages past wee shall finde more godlynes deuocion and zeale though it were but a blinde zeale more loue one towards an other more simplicitie in dealing more fidelitie and faythfulnes euery way to haue remayned in them than is now to be fouÌ„d amongst vs. A maÌ„s bare word or naked promise then was better than any bands bills or writings now They passed their conueighances and state of lands in those dayes by so slender words and in so fewe lynes as now it is sooner wondered at of all than followed of any They studyed not to coyne quirkes quiddities nor to hammer clauses and prouisoes to circumuent and deceyue one another But now adays we must haue if not so many skinnes of parchment yet so many lynes as they had wordes and a great sort moe and yet all will not serue neyther but mayster Lawyer forsooth will finde you a hundred holes in it And for good works who seeth not that herein they went farre beyond vs and wee farre inough behinde them For example What memorable famous buildings what stately edifices of sundrye kyndes and what ancient monuments haue they left to the world behinde them What Churches Chappells and other houses of prayer did they erect to the ende the religion and seruice of God might be continued amongst all posterities to the end of the world Yea what Monasteries Abbeys Priories and other religious houses to their infinite cost and charges albeit they were afterwards most horribly abused by Popish Locusts that came out of the bottomlesse pit as out of the Troian horsse to the destruction of the Church of God did they build and erect What number of goodly Bridges did they make What and how many almes houses hospitalls and spittles did they found for the reliefe of the poore and indowed them with coÌ„petent lands and liuelodes for mayntenance of them What high wayes what pauements and causies for the safe and easy passage of the people did they make In summe what famous Colledges Halles and Vniuersities for the coÌ„seruatioÌ„ of learning did they found and edifye What Schooles free schooles as well in the Vniuersities as also in the cuntreys abroade did they erect indowed theÌ„ with wonderfull goodly reuenewes lands and rents for the maintenaÌ„ce of poore schollers propagatioÌ„ of learning knowledge amongst all posterities to the end of the world For proofe whereof and to the end I may stir vp the minds of this frosen and key cold age of ours to the like practise of good works I will giue you a tast of certain notable personages men womeÌ„ that were famus herein that as briefly as I caÌ„ It is recorded by ancient credible historians that one Cantabar a Spanyard before the incarnation of Christ 375 yeres not only built but also furnished with learned meÌ„ the thrise renowmed and famous Vniuersitie of Cambridge Afterwards being somwhat ruinate and decayed thorow the calamities of those times it was reedifyed and restored to his pristine state by Sebertus king of the East Angles in the yeare of our Lord 656. Hugh Balesham Bishop of Ely built the Colledge dedicate to S. Peter now called Peter house or Peter Colledge in the yere of Christ 1284. and indowed it with great reuenewes Richard Badewe then Chaunceler of Cambridge layd the first foundacion of Clare Hall now called the Vniuersitie Hall Afterwarde it was inlarged by Gualter Thacsted and lastly by Elizabeth Lady of Clare who called it after her owne name Clare Hall Pembroke Hall was founded by Marie of Valentia sometime wife to Adomare de Valentia Earle of Pembroke in the yeare of Christ 1343. and by her indowed with great possessions Corpus Christi Colledge was founded by the Aldermen brethren of Corpus Christi guilde with the helpe of the fraternitie of S. Maries guilde in the yeare of our redemption 1344. Trinitie Hall being first an hostell was purchased by Iohn Crandon prior of Ely for his brethreÌ„ the Monks of that house to study in which Hall afterwards by the industrie and good helpe of William Bateman Bishop of Norwich was conuerted into a Colledge and by him indowed with goodly reuenewes Gonuill and Caius Colledge was built by one Edmund Gonuill in the yeare of grace 1348. and one Caius a Phisition in the yeare of Christ 1557. and by them indowed with large possessions King Henry the syxt built a most famous Colledge now called by the name of Kings Colledge in the yeare of our Lord 1443. and adioyned to it a most sumptuous Chappell This Henry the syxt also built Aeton Colledge where are maynteined threescore schollers who in time as they rise in learning are promoted to Kings Colledge and gaue to them both goodly possessions Margaret Andegauensis wife to King Henry the syxt layde the foundation of Queenes Colledge in Cambridge in the yeare of Christ 1448.

Stone and Nantwich in Chesshire for horse and man to passe Hee caused the like causie to bee made betwixt Dunchurch and Brausen in Warwikshier well nere three miles in length Hee gaue twentie pounds in monie towards the making of Royton bridge he made also foure bridges two of stone and two of timber he built also a notable free schoole at DraitoÌ„ in Shrop-shier with lands sufficient for maister and vsher for euer Moreouer hee gaue in his life time fiue hundred poundes in monie to the hospitall of Christes Church in London and an hundred pounds at his death Sir William Peter knight besides that he gaue one hundred pounds a yeere in lands to Exeter colledge in Oxford builded also ten almes houses in Ingerstone for twentie poore people euerie one of them hauing two pence a daie a winter gowne and two loads of wood amongest them all keeping for sixe kine Winter and Summer for euer William Lambe Gentleman of the Chappell to king Henrie the eight made the great conduit nere Holborne bridge in London carrying the water by pipes of lead aboue two thousand yards and this he did of his owne proper cost and charges amounting by estimation to the summe of fifteene hundred poundes The same master Lambe gaue to the parish of Saint Faiths vnder Paules in London sixe poundes thirteene shillings and foure pence yeerely to be distributed equally amongst twelue pore people euerie fridaie twelue pence in monie and twelue pence in bread for euer He gaue also to Christs hospitall yerely for euer sixe pound and an hundred pound in monie to purchase lands to the same To Saint Thomas hospitall in Southwarke hee gaue 4. pound a yeere for euer To the hospitall called the Sauor hee gaue sometimes ten pounds at once towardes the buying of bedding for the poore He gaue to the Companie of the cloth workers in London foure poundes a yeere for euer He gaue to the same companie his dwelling house and other lands to the value of thirtie pounds a yeere to hire a Minister to saie seruice euerie wednesdaie fridaie and saterdaie to preach foure sermons euerie yeere after his decease in the Church called Saint Iamesses in the wall by Cripple gate in London and also to giue to xii poore men to euerie one a freeze gowne ready made a shirt of locoram and a new paire of shooes and to twelue pore women twelue gownes of freese twelue smockes and twelue payre of shooes for euer Hee also erected a free schoole and six almes houses at Sutton Valens in Kent with sufficient allowance mayntenance for them both Hee also gaue to the townes of Ludlow and Bridgenorth to either an hundred pounds a peece to set poore men on worke withall He gaue also towardes the setting of poore men on worke in Suffolke an hundred poundes I might heere recite many moe such lyke examples of our good forefathers if I feared not to bee tedious but I will wade no further heerein at this time hoping that those fewe except we haue shakeÌ„ hands with all godlynesse made a league with death a couenant with hell as the Prophet speaketh wil yet some what serue to the stirring vp of our drousie mindes to the exercise and practise of good workes and to leaue behinde vs to the posterityes to come some fruites of our faith some seales of our profession and some pledges of our christian loue and charitie as our good ancestors haue done before vs. For is it not a shame vnto vs that our forefathers liuing in the times of superstition when poperie and Idolatrie had ouerflowed almost the whole world and hauing but as it were a glimmering of the glorious lyght of the Gospell of Christe shoulde notwithstanding so farre passe vs in good workes as that we may not once be compared to them in anie small measure Oh what a condemnation will this be vnto vs It had bin better for vs a great deale we had neuer knowen the truth than knowing it not to follow it as Christ witneseth in a certayne place if I had not come vnto them and done those works which none else could do they should haue had no sinne yea I pray God that publicanes and sinners do not goe before many of vs Protestants into the kingdome of heauen for wee talke much but walke nothing after it And therfore now at the last euen in the name of God let vs contend and striue one with another in an holy zeale if not to excel yet to match or if not to match yet to come some-what neere our forefathers in doing of good works Let vs follow the councell of Christ who sayth Let your lightes so shine before men that they seeing your good works may glorify your father which is in heauen And doubtles God is glorified by vs in nothing more than in good works being done in faith according to the word of God and in leauing of monuments and remembraÌ„ces of our christian loue and godly zeale towards the brethren behind vs. And no maruaile for in the very actioÌ„ of good works we effect three most excellent vertues christian dutiess as first we glorify God in our selues and by our selues secondly we relieue sustaine and comfort our poore brethren and thirdly we moue theyr harts their soules spirits to thank God for vs to pray for vs and to praise the Lord for his blessings bestowed vpon them in the mouing of our harts to the succoring of theÌ„ For if the goods that wee bestowe be the Lordes and not ours as without all peraduenture they are the Psalmist bearing witnes where he sayth Domini est terra plenitudo eius The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof and the Prophet affirming the same speaking in the person of God golde is mine siluer is mine and all the riches vpon the face of the earth is mine and haue not my handes made them all and if it be God that geueth both the will and the deede as the Apostle sayth it is then great cause haue the poore soules to prayse the goodnes of God for hys fatherly care and mercifull prouidence towardes them in succouring and relieuing theyr necessities by the hande or ministery of such and such hys seruants And vppon the other side happie and blessed art thou whome God thy creator doth vse as an instrumeÌ„t to do good and to relieue his Saints vppon the earth that haue neede It is a testimonie to thy conscience that thou art a childe of grace a vessell of saluation and feaâ—â—ed vp to the day of redemption But heere peraduenture it may be obiected that these men that did these workes were for the most part Papists and therfore their deedes were naught and no better than the workes of the Turkes Infidels or Pagans I graunt that the most part of them were indeede Papists but yet it followeth not therefore that they were absolutely euill because they were done by Papists The Deuill may doe and sometimes

other way Good Lord I can not but wonder at the bountifull liberalitie of our predecessors they built all these edifices and buildings from the ground of theyr owne proper costs and charges without all contribucions or collections that we reade of and yet we can not so much as maynteyne and repayre them except we haue contributions collections and gatherings throughout the realme for euery little Bridge And if there be but a small Bridge to be built from the grounde Iesus what a peece of worke wee make of it yea wee must haue a licence to begge all ouer the land for it or else it will neuer be built So that I verely belieue if we should haue but euen one such a building to make as we haue some in England built by our ancestors Oh it would shake the verie foundations of the common wealth nay I thinke assuredly they would neuer be able to performe it not for that we are not able but for that we are wretched miserable for there is greater riches welth in EnglaÌ„d now Gods holy name be praysed for it than euer there was since the beginning of the world by many degrees and yet we will part with nothing to any good worke so couetous are we and so voyd of that holy zeale and burning charitie which our forefathers had To goe forward Is it not a good work to build Colledges and Vniuersities to erect free Schooles and houses of learning being indeede the very seminaries of all wisdome learning and knowledge for the better education of youth in good letters wheras otherwise ignorance and barbarisme would ouerflow vs And yet notwithstanding all this you shall haue some giddy heads that would haue all Vniuersities Colledges Schooles of learning to be vtterly supprest and ouerthrowne which were euen to pluck the Sunne out of the elemeÌ„t the starres out of the skye the Moone out of the heauens for as the world without the one would seeme as it were a confuse chaos palpable darknes so without the other should we be all as dizarts sots and peasants yea very buzzards blockheads little or nothing differing from bruite beasts Nay to wish the ouerthrow of them is to wish the subuersion of the word of God and of religion with a vniuersall confusion of all things For are not Vniuersities and Schooles the way to learning and knowledge Is not learning the way to wisedome and is not wisedome as it were the very fynewes and tendons that hold together the whole body both of the Churche and common-wealth Nay to say more is not wisedome the very life of them both and therefore they that desire the decay of the one doe wish the destruction of the other But yet to wade in this matter a little further Is it not a good worke to erect Hospitalls Spittles and Almes houses wherein all such as be eyther olde aged impotent blind lame halt or otherwise decrepite might be relieued yea I hould it to be one of the chiefest good workes that a man can doe in thys life For doth not Christ accoumpt it done to himselfe whatsoeuer is done to his poore members vpon earth And therefore I pray GOD to rayse vp more such men as may erect mo such houses yea if it were in euery Citie towne and village Then should we haue eyther none or at lest fewer beggers as we cal them amongst vs than we haue according to the coÌ„mandement of God who sayth Let there bee no beggers in Israel that is amongest those that professe the Gospell and religion of GOD whilest those that were olde halt blind or lame should be there harboured and other lustie vagabonds who were able to worke and would not shuld be compelled to worke by seuerity of law And to this end as I would wish moe hospitalls for the reliefe of those that are not able to worke as I haue sayd so woulde I wishe that there were mo houses of correction in euerie shiere one at the least to punish and chase such lusty knaues and queans as goe roagueing about the Countries not laboring at all but liuing vpon filching stealing purloining and pilfering froÌ„ others I remember there were certaine motions of late for the erectioÌ„ of such houses in euery shire but there is nothing effected as yet Parturiunt montes nascitur ridiculus mus It was too good a work to take place with vs we haue many good motions but few good effects follow God be mercifull vnto vs. But here a question may be asked whether the building of monasteries priories other religious houses were good workes or no I aunswere that in deed they had a zeale in them but not as the Apostle saith secundum scientiam and they built theÌ„ to a good inteÌ„t as namely that the seruice and religion of God might bee maintained and continued in them for euer And therefore if they were afterwardes abused as they were in deed as is before remembred and peruerted to another end than was intendended by the first founders of them by a sorte of caterpillers and idolatrous locustes that conuersed in them and poisoned the whole world with the filthie dregges of theyr fornication the fault was in the abusers not in the founders And yet I will not iustifie the founders for their good intents sake neither For a good intent is no good intent excepte it haue his ground and warrant out of the worde of God It is not inough for a man to doo euill and then to saie hee dyd it to a good intent Saul for a good intent as he preteÌ„ded as namely to sacrifice to the Lorde kept aliue the best of the cattel coÌ„trarie to Gods coÌ„mandement but notwithstanding his good intent God cast him of for it and deposed him from his royall dignity telling him that he delighted more in obedience than in sacrifice But howeuer they were built or to what end or purpose so euer sure I am they were pulled downe to a better purpose as beeing in deede the dens of theeues the neasts cels of vipers the dungeoÌ„s of dragons the harborows of cocatrices the cages of vncleane beasts And yet as I thank God for the ouerthrowe of them for that they had almost drowned and in short time would not almost but altogether haue drowned the whole world with the filthy puddle of superstition idolatry infidelitie buggerie and sodometrie so could I haue wished that the lands and reuenues of them had ben better imployed as namely to the mainteuaunce of Colledges and schooles of learning to the maintenance of preachers throghout the land to the reliefe and sustentation of the poore and defence of the common wealth and such other good purposes then shoulde not our land haue beene pestered with so many vpstart single-soled Gentlemen as it is But it was the will of God that those thinges which were the bane of his Church and the poison of his children and therefore stood as anathema and accursed before him shoulde

sayd God forbidde that I should laie violent handes vppon the Lordes annoynted The Apostle Paul was indued with another spirite when he sayde Omnis anima potestatibus supereminentibas subdita sit Let euerie soule hee sayth not one soule or some soules but euerie soule bee subiecte to the higher powers his reason for there is no power but of GOD the penaltie or dannger of those that doo resist and those that doo resist sayth hee the power they resist the ordinaunce of GOD and purchase to themselues eternall damnation Then I woulde aske these murthering Papists if they that doe but resist the power doe purchase to theÌ„selues damnation both of bodie and soule oh then what doo they purchase that not onely doo resist but also murther and kill the Lords annoynted And yet theyr delight is in nothing so much as to imbrue theyr cruell handes in the bloud of kings and princes For example What Emperours haue they poysoned yea in the verie wine of the challice What Kings and Princes what Peeres and Nobles haue they most cruelly murthered in sundrie partes of the worlde Did they not most trayterously murther the good Prince of Orenge with a dagge The late famous King of France with a double poisoned knife by the subornation of a Iacobine Frier Doe they not now also by all meanes possible by all plots and deuises seeke and practise the death of him who at this present is the most lawfull king of France Haue they not murthered two or three of the late kinges of Scotland And to come neerer home Haue they not practised attempted the murthering of our gracious soueraigne Queene Elizabeth by infinite waies meanes and by innumerable plots and deuises As first by sending in a number of Iesuites and seminary priests starke roagues and plaine traytors into her Maiesties realme to withdrawe the heartes of the people from theyr allegeance and to raise vp warres and commotions in euerie place And when these deuises and driftes dyd not take effect according vnto theyr expectation then they suborned and hired a sort of desperate graceles and reprobate villaynes to kill her Maiesties royall person as namely Parry Sommeruile Arden Throgmorton Babington with 13. moe of his collegues and confederates besides many moe which heare to recite were but superfluous All whiche notwithstanding Gods name be praysed for it receyued such condigne punishments for theyr deserts as I pray God all Traytors against their Prince and Cuntrey may do They hould it also for a principall good worke and of great merite to take armor and to rayse vp warres for the mayntenance inlarging and augmenting of their pretenced conterfeite Catholike Church or rather most diuelish antichristian synagogue of Sathan And therefore is the Pope with his Cardinals Abbots Friers Monks and all other consorts of that viperous generation sworne at their creation that they shall to the vttermost of theyr powers defend mayntayne and inlarge as they falssely call it Saint Peters patrimonie And to this end doth the Popes vnholie holynes sende abroade hys bandogges the Cardinalles hys curre dogges the Abbots and Monkes and his spanyels the sneaking Friers into euery cuntrey to perswade Kings and Princes to take Armes agaynst such and such for such and such causes as he hymselfe shall frame in the forge of hys owne brayne And the better to effect hys purpose hee sends them eyther some lowsye indulgence or else some beggerly pardon or other in a Bull of leade and that of all their sinnes for euer or else hee sends them some scalde relique or other and if that wyll not serue sometymes he sends them a goodly oyntment called rubrum vnguentum which wyll worke more then all the rest And when hee hath thus set them together by the eares then commes hee as a rauenous Gripe and deuoures eyther the one or both of them at hys pleasure And thus rageth hee euery where through-out Christendome so that in my conscience the Pope with the rest of hys broode are the very authors of all the warres and bloudshead in all Europe at thys present and that for the inlarging forsooth of Saint Peters Patrimonye What warres hath hee raysed heeretofore in Spayne What warres hath hee and at thys present doeth hee manage and maynteyne in the Kingdome of Fraunce in Flaunders and in the lowe cuntreys in Germany in Italy and sundry other places of the world it is vnpossible to number the infinit millions of Gods saints that he hath murthered and beene author of theyr murthers what warres he hath raysed what tumults he hath caused what rebellions insurrections and commotions he hath stirred vp throughout all Christendome and all to maynteyne his paunch his honor his glory his renowne his dignitie and estimation in the world And yet all will not serue for thanks be to God he cums tumbling downe euery day And the more he striues to be honored and magnified in this world the more is he hated of God and detested of men The Pope and Papists also accoumpt it a good worke to set vp stewes and brothell houses whether euery man may resort at his pleasure and that sana conscientia with a safe conscience as they say and inioy his whore or whores as many as he list and no man may say blacke is his eye or Domine cur ita facis because forsooth the Pope hath dispensed with him in a wanyon And as though this were no sinne but rather a good worke for so he and they all accompt it indeede he tollerateth Buggery Sodometry and other filthy sinnes for money which are not once to be named amongst the children of God And this is his reason Is it not better sayth this vile beast for me to tollerate them receyuing yearely a million or two of gould for them towards the maintenance of the Church or rather his owne carren carkasse than they to commit them secretly without my tolleration I receyuing nothing therfore But how light soeuer they esteeme of whoredome the word of God condemneth both it and the doers thereof to hell Was not Sodoma and Gomorrha consumed with fire and brimstone from heauen for this filthie sinne of whoredome buggery and yet thinke they to escape free The whole world eyght persons only excepted was drowned in that great and vniuersall deluge for the same sinne of whoredome The citie of the Sichemites was wholy destroyed and put to the sword for the same sinne also There were slayne of the Beniamites in one day 25000. for the defiling of a Leuites wife Zimri and Cosbi were both slayne for their whoredome together by Phinehas whose fact so pleased God that hee turned away hys wrath from the rest of the people that they were not destroyed Besides examples the Apostle Paule sayth that neither whoremongers adulterers nor incestuous persons shall enter into the kingdome of heaueÌ„ The Apostle Iohn saith mariage is honorable amongst all meÌ„ and the bed vndefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God

shall iudge But this winde shakes no corne as the Papists say for the Pope caÌ„ easily wipe away al this a thousaÌ„d times more with a word What am not I Christs viccar generall and Peters successor Haue not I claues regni caelorum the keyes of the kingdome of heauen haue not I potestatem soluendi ligandi power to bind loose In a word am not I God can not I forgiue sinne at my pleasure Oh blasphemous mouth God shall destroy thee with the breath of his mouth The very Iewes shal rise vp in iudgemeÌ„t against thee coÌ„demne thee who sayd Can any maÌ„ forgiue sin ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ God alone They thinke it also a good worke and of great merite to gad vp and down the cuntreys on Pilgrimage to this place and that place to this hee Saint and that shee Saint yea although it be as farre off as Rome Constantinople or Ierusalem is hence the further the more merite to visite Bethleem where Christ was borne the holie Sepulchre where he was buried the holy Crosse wherevpon he suffered the nayles that were driuen into his handes and feete the speare that was thrust into his side his bloud that was shed when he hanged vppon the Crosse the milke of Maries brests or else they lye the cratch or manger wherein Christ lay with infinite the like supersticious reliques too long to be recited heere To all which must be attributed a diuine worship with kneeling before them praying vnto them belieuing and trusting in them and aboue all for this is the chiefest work they shoote at offering vnto them as it were a sacrifice to Baal gould siluer iewels and precious stones of infinite varietie These things although they doe the idolls no good for so I will not feare to call them yet doe they serue to inritch these ambicious and greedie Priests who dayly gape for such prayes And truely but that the iudgements of God are a deapth without bottome hys counsayles vnsearchable and hys wayes past finding out I would wonder that any man could be so blinded or besotted as to trauayle so many hundred myles nay so many thousand myles sometymes in the meane tyme not regarding hys or theyr poore wyfe and children at home how miserably so euer they lyued to thys Saint and that Saint to thys Idoll and that idoll as though one were better than an other or that one could helpe better or more than an other Therefore it is true which the Apostle by the holy Ghost vttereth of such men where he sayth when men will not belieue the truth then God geueth them ouer to a reprobate sence to belieue lyes Alas did they or doe they thinke that these idolls can doe them any good eyther heare theyr prayers relieue theyr necessities or graunt theyr petitions No no this was but the subtiltie or rather playne knauerie of the couetous Priests to get money withall although to the destruction of theyr owne and infinite millions of Christian soules besides Full well was it sayde therefore of the heathen Poete Oh auri sacra fames quid non mortalia pectora cogis Oh cursed loue of money what wickednes is there in all the worlde which thou wilt not cause a man to doe for the loue of thee This caused the holy Ghost to denounce that couetousnes is the roote of all euill Oh remember what the Apostle sayth Godlynes is great riches if a man be content with that that hee hath Forget not what hee telleth you in an other place those that studie to be rich in thys world fall into diuers temptations and snares of the Deuill Seeke therefore to be ritch in God and not in the transitorie vanities of thys lyfe whiche vanishe away lyke a scumme or bubble before a man haue any vse or fruition of them Deceyue the world no longer with your bableries for filthy lucre sake repent and turne to God for hee is mercifull and would not your destruction Agayne the Papists accoumpt it a wonderfull good worke to make and erect Images and Idols in Churches and crosses in high wayes to creepe to them bare foote and bare legged to kneele before them to adore and worship them to pray to them to trust and belieue in them to aske and looke for all good thyngs at theyr handes to offer to them and in summe to attribute all diuine honor and worship to them being notwithstanding stocks and stones dead and insensible creatures and which as the Prophet sayth can neyther heare see smell taste nor vnderstande no nor so much as stirre out of theyr places If they be ouerwhelmed with dust they can not so much as make themselues cleane or if they be throwne into the fyre they can not ryse vp agayne and therefore not without cause doth the Lord pronounce accursed both the image and the image maker And as for crosses I see neyther reason nor scripture for them why they should be set vp eyther in Churches Churchyards high wayes or any place else Oh but say the Papists it doth a man good to looke vppon that engine whereupon Christ dyed But if they wyll needes haue crosses to gaze vppon let them looke vppon euery Christian man and woman who theyr armes being spread abroade doe resemble most liuely both the crosse and also Christ himselfe a thousand tymes more truely than these idolatrous counterfeite crosses of wood and stone And because they shall see the small or rather the no necessitie at all of these crosses amongst vs Christians I will shew the originall of them how and vppon what grounds and for what causes they fyrst came vp The heathen people and infidels denegers of the faith professed enemies to Christ Iesus reproched the Christians and cast in their teeth that their Sauiour and theyr Messias in whome they trusted was hanged vppon a crosse betweene two theeues as the most notorioust malefactor of all to his and theyr perpetuall approbrie ignominie and shame for euer as they most blasphemously affyrmed The Christians heerevpon to shewe that they were not ashamed neyther of Christ Iesus nor yet of his crosse caused to be set vp as well in Churches and Churchyards as also in high wayes streetes and lanes diuers and sundry crosses which custome hath continued and descended as it were by succession from them vnto vs at this day Now who seeth not heereby the small necessity of them amongst Christians For at this day there be none that doe vpbrayd vs that our Sauiour in whom we belieue was hanged vppon a crosse and therefore the cause of the erection or setting vp of crosses being ceased let the crosses themselues be remoued also For certainly the continuance of them in high wayes or elsewhere doth mayntayne a notable branch of Popish idolatrie and superstition amongst vs whilest some when they passe by them will geue them the right hand put off theyr caps make obeysance and worship them as that archtraytor seducer of Gods Saints Campion did passing along

doe nowe almost in Scotland If this be not the way to bring the ministery into contempt the Sacraments and word of God into hatred and religion into detestacion Say if this be not the way to bring in playne Atheisme and consequeÌ„tly confusion and ouerthrow of all things I knowe not what is For take away reward froÌ„ learning who will set his sonne to learning who I say will set his child to the Vniuersitie and bestowe almost all hee hath vppon hym to get him learning wheras afterwards he shall liue but as a begger all dayes of his life But as I would wish that they who be good able and sufficient preachers indeede should haue liuing enough so would I wish that those who haue too much should part with some of their superfluitie to others that eyther haue too little or iust none at all For you shall haue some that can speake but little congrue latine much lesse preach the word of God nay would God they could reade english well and yet they haue some of them two some of them three and it is well if not four benefices a peece you shal haue othersome fine schollers and famous preachers indeed want euen competent mayntenance And therefore could I wish if it might possibly be brought to passe that a more equall distribution of liuings were had amongst vs. But it may sooner I feare me be wished for than hastely effected Now as this is a great plague to our Church so I doubt least in time these impropriacions will be the bane of the same I pray God to moue her Maiesties royall heart and the heartes of her honorable Councell to redresse this great calamitie if it be his blessed will But whether am I caryed It is a good worke in a Bishop to preache the worde of God truely to minister the Sacraments sincerely to execute ecclesiasticall discipline and other censures of the Churche seuearely to rule and gouerne the Churche of God vprightly according to the word of God to constitute and place in euery seuerall Church and congregation as neere as is possible a good and sufficient preacher and to see that euery one in hys perticular charge and calling doe hys duety diligently He must bee an example to his flocke as well in life as in doctrine else what hee buildeth with one hand hee pulleth downe with the other Yea hee must bee of that holy conuersation and integritie of life that euen they that are without as the Apostle speaketh may bee wonne and reclaymed thereby Briefely hee must be in all poynts such a one as Paule describeth to Timothy and to such a one is all honor due as the same Apostle sayth in an other place those Elders that gouerne well are worthye of double honour It is also a principall good worke in a King or Prince fyrst and aboue all things to establish the true religion and worship of God to abolish all superstition idolatrie and Popery to roote out all vayne tradicions ordenances and constitutions of men eyther not grounded vppon the word of God or else repugnant to the same euer taking the worde of God for hys tutchstone and square rule to leuile all hys actions by It is also a good worke in a King of Prince and his very duty to publish enact good lawes and wholesome Statutes tending to the aduancement of vertue and godlynes and to the suppressing and ouerthrowing of all sinne and wickednes to see iustice ministred to all men alike without parcialitie fauour or affection to restrayne and inhibite all gnawing vsury extortion and exaction to suppresse all robbing murthering slaying and killing one of an other to defend the pore from the iniury and violence of the mighty to punish sin in all men according to the nature and quality therof as well in the nobility gentry and yeomanry as in them of the lowest degree knowing that the iudgement is the Lords that they be the Lords ministers and that they carry not the sword for naught as Paule witnesseth being also assured of this that the Lord respecteth no mans person neyther hath he graunted any greater charter to the mightie than to the poore to sinne No no they haue neyther commission nor priuiledge eyther of immunitie or impunitie no more than the poorest swayne or meanest peasant that lyueth vppon the face of the earth hath But the soule that sinneth shall dye sayth the Apostle of what condicion estate or degree soeuer they be Yea the greater honor or dignitie that the Lord bestoweth vppon any one in this life the greater innocency and perfection he requireth at his hands so farre off is hee from dispensing with any to sinne Princes therefore Noble men and Gentlemen should be examples of godlynes and holynes to those that bee theyr inferiors for it is an olde prouerbe and verie true Quales Principes Nobiles Gubernatores tales populi subditi Such as the Prince Nobles and Gentlemen are such are commonly the people and subiects also It is also an excellent good worke in a Prince to see that euery one man woman and childe be Cathechised and taught the true Religion of God and to compell them to heare reade meditate conferre and talke of the same contrarie to that blasphemous opinion of the Papists who teach that the knowledge of the word of God amongst the Layty as they call them doth make them Heretiques But our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs another lesson Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures for in them yee hope to haue eternall life And in an other place agayne Search the scriptures for they are they which testifye of me Also in the Acts we reade that the Byrreans searched the Scriptures dayly to see whether those things preached by the Apostles were so or not and they are wonderfully commended therefore by the holy Ghost in the same place Agayne when the Pharises came to Christ tempting him concerning the faith of the resurrection he answered them yee erre not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God So that whereas the Papists contrary to all truth do hould that the knowledge of the scriptures is cause of heresy we finde heere by our Sauiours owne words that the ignorance of them is cause of all errors heresy and supersticion Dauid in his first Psalme verse 1.2 accoumpted hym blessed that was conuersant dayly in the word of God saying Blessed is the man that doth not walke in the councell of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seate of the scornefull but his delight is in the lawe of the Lord and in this lawe doth hee exercise himselfe day and night Agayne in the syxt of Deuteronomie wee are commaunded by expresse wordes that the word of God shall neuer goe out of our heartes that wee shall teache it to our children that wee shall talke of it when wee are in our houses when wee goe by the waye when wee

laye vs downe and when wee ryse vp agayne and to bynde it as a signe vppon our armes and as a frontlette before our eyes and whych is more to write it vppon the postes of our houses vppon our walles and vppon our gates so farre off ought wee to bee from not reading or studying or meditating of it Our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell after Saint Mathew sayth non solo pane man liueth not by bread only but by euery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Why then if we liue by the word of God and if it bee the spirituall foode of our soules as it is in deede what cruell tyrants and bloudy soule-quellers are the Papists to depriue vs of that whereby our soules shoulde liue But yet I cannot greatly blame them for since the word of God came abroade and that it was lawfull for euery one to reade it in their mother tongue the least child that is almost can spye out theyr knauery theyr shuffling and iugling whereby it commeth to passe thanks be to God that both they and their pestilent religion is out of conceipt with most men and I pray God they may be dayly more and more till neither the memorie of the one nor yet the mention of the other be once heard of vpon the whole face of the earth To conclude this point it is a good worke in a prince to protect defend his subiectes and people as well from all extreame violence of forraine foes as also from all oppression and wrong of domesticall enemies finally to compel euerie one in their seueral callings as well of the spiritualtie or cleargie as also of the temporaltie to doe theyr duties and to keepe theyr standinges that the common wealth be peaceably maintained and God glorified who bee blessed for euer It is a good worke in inferior Magistrates and rulers to execute theyr princes lawes indifferently without respect of persons neither regarding the rich and mightie for their wealth nor contemning the poore for theyr pouertie And to this end it behoueth them to carry a single eie and to haue the feare of God before their faces a good conscience in their breasts that they take nor receiue no bribes nor rewards for as Salomon sayeth Giftes blinde the wise and rewardes peruert iudgement And as it is their dueties to minister iustice to all so must they doo it with expedition for he that delayeth iustice is as culpable before God as hee that giueth false iudgement and both are abhomination to the Lorde And yet for all that you shall haue some sutes which peraduenture might bee decided in halfe a daie continue notwithstanding seuen yeres yea sometimes twentie yeres to the vtter vndooing if not of both yet of one of the parties at last and in the ende he that hath money and is able to wage his lawe lustily goeth awaie manye times with the game But howe euer it bee let iustice bee ministred with expedition cut off all delatoryes all TardÃ¨ venits all put-offs all quirkes and quiddities coyned in the deceitfull mint of mannes braine for filthy lucre sake For by this delaying of iustice though in the ende it goe on the poore mannes side as sometimes it doeth though not verie often the poore man with his wife and children hauing spent all in the law are constrained eyther to begge or at least to liue in extreame miserie all dayes of theyr liues after so that it had beene as good hee had lost it at the fyrst as to spende more than it is woorth and to recouer it at the last To the ende therefore that iustice might bee ministred with expedition I coulde wishe there were men of discretion and iudgement deputed and appoynted in euerie shiere furnished with sufficient authority to determine all matters quarrelles sutes or controuersies whatsoeuer might arise within that particular shiere or countie so as none except vpon some speciall occasion should neede to goe further for iustice For now many men are forced to trauell two hundred or three hundred miles in the deapth of winter in which one iourney some spend euen all they haue and more too and yet when they come where they woulde bee theyr sute is as farre from an end as it was at their comming foorth And thus is the poore man thorough pure neede not beeing able to prosecute his seuen yeeres sute forced to loose all and constrayned to begge home peraduenture two hundred or three hundred miles as I haue sayd in the middest of cold winter To proceed It is a good worke in a subiect to loue honour and obey his Prince in all things not repugnant to the word of God for so the Apostle commandeth Let euerie soule bee subiect to the higher powers for there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordayned of God And in his Epistle to Titus he willeth Titus to put vs in mind that we bee subiect to principalities and powers and obedient and readie to euerie good worke It is also a good worke in a subiect and his duetie not onely to beare faithfull allegeance to his Prince in his heart but also to wish him wel to loue him to speake well of him and most heartely to praie for him for so the Apostle to Timothie the seconde Chapter exhorteth vs saying I exhorte therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thankes bee made for all men for kings and princes and for all that bee io authoritie and hee rendereth a reason why wee shoulde praie for them that wee may leade a quiet a peaceable lyfe in all godlynesse and honestie vnder them But heere ariseth a question whether wee are to obeye our Prince in all thinges or not I aunswere If our Prince bee a good prince and doeth publish good and wholesome lawes agreeable to the word of God then are we to obey them in all things and to aduenture and hazarde both our liues and goods as well in defence of him and of his lawes Vpon the otherside if our prince bee a wicked Prince bloudie cruell and tyrannicall and doeth constitute lawes and statutes cleane contrarie and repugnant to the word of God then we are thus to doe we must submit our selues vnder his scepter and in all humilitie humble obedience lay downe our liues at his feet rather choosing to die than to do any thing contrary to the word of God good conscience so far off ought we to be from taking armes against our prince for anie matter whatsoeuer For the Apostle saith flatly that those who do resist the powers doo resist the ordinaunce of God and doe purchase to themselues eternall damnation And heÌ„ce is it that we neuer read so much as of one traitour or proditor of his prince and country that euer prospered or had good successe but in the ende they were ouerthrowen and brought to confusion I pray God

they may so still that hammer anie matter or contriue anie plots against the Lords annointed in anie country or nation of the worlde whatsoeuer It is a good worke also in subiects to loue one another to praie one for another and to doo to others as they woulde wish others shoulde doo to them for this is the whole lawe and the Prophets saith our Sauiour CHRIST that is hee that loueth God aboue all things and his neighbour as himselfe fulfilleth the whole lawe And truely not without cause is it sayde that loue fulfilleth the law for if I loue my neighbor as my selfe then will I doo him no wrong neyther in worde nor deed I will speake no euill of him I will not detracte him slaunder him nor anie kinde of waie hurt or annoy him This caused our sauiour Christ to saie By this shall all men knowe that you are my disciples if yee loue one another This caused the Apostle Saint Paul to crie out Owe nothing to any man but this that you loue one another This caused the same Apostle in an other place to saie Though I speake with the tongues of men and of Angelles and haue no loue I am as a sounding brasse and tinkling cimball And though sayth hee I had the gifte of prophesie and knew all secretes and acknowledge yea if I had all faith so that I coulde remoue mountaines and yet had no loue I were nothing And though I feede the poore with all my goods and though I giue my bodie to bee burned and haue no loue it profiteth me nothing sayth this Apostle Yea such a precious thing is this loue that in the last verse of the same Chapter he preferreth it before either faith or hope and that verie worthely for faith and hope shall both cease and haue an ende when wee shall haue attained the full fruition and possession of those thinges which wee looke for after this life but loue shall euer remaine and neuer haue ende amongest the Saintes of God in the kingdome of heauen when all things else shall bee vanished awaie lyke vnto a scumme Then if wee must loue all men wee must hate none no not our verie enemies but contrariwise loue them praie for them and euery kinde of waie seeke to doo them good for so our Sauiour byddeth vs If thine enemie hunger giue him bread if he thirst giue him drinke for in so dooing thou shalt heape coales of fire vpon his head as the Apostle speaketh And in another place Christ biddeth vs Loue your enemies blesse them that curse you doo good to them that hate you for sayth hee if you loue those that loue you what great thing doo you Doe not the verye publicanes and sinners the same Wee must neither curse nor banne them as they saie nor in anie sorte seeke to bee reuenged of them what wrong so euer they haue done to vs but referre the reuenge to him who sayeth Mihi vindicta ego retribuam Vengeance is mine and I wyll rewarde For to reuenge euerie wrong and to contende for euerie strawe one with another is euen as if one member of the bodie shoulde rise vp and rebell agaynst another Therefore euen as the members of our naturall bodyes doe agree together in a most pleasant harmonie and sweete consorte doe loue one an other suffer one with another reioyce and sorrowe one with another and one helpe another in case anie bee distressed So let vs agree together one amongest another one loue an other one helpe comfort and releeue another to the vttermost of our power Let the counsell of the Apostle sinke deepe into our hartes where hee sayth Weepe with them that weepe mourne wyth them that mourne and be of like affection one towardes another Let not bruite beastes and vnreasonable creatures teach vs wysedome who loue all other of the same kinde and doe willingly conuerse with them than with any other of a coÌ„trary kinde Let vs not fall out amongst our selues for euery trifle nor goe to law for euery light occasion or rather many times for no occasion at all Let not the greedy Puttocks the Lawyers make you beggers and theÌ„selues Gentlemen with your goods Let your controuersies rather be decided at home by your honest neighbors friends rather be content to lose a peece than to go to law and spend all thou hast and in the end peraduenture lose all too It is a good worke if any be falne to extreme pouerty eyther by piracy on the seas or robbing on the land by fire by death of cattell by suretiship or any other like accideÌ„t whatsoeuer to relieue such a one to help him to restore him again to the vttermost of thy power that afterward by gods good blessing thy good meanes he may do good in the common weale thanke God for thee all days of his life after It is a good worke in euery one that is able to lend either money or goods or whatsoeuer els his neybour staÌ„deth in neede of without vsury interest or gaine according to the saying of our Sauiour Christ lend to him that would borow not loking for any thing againe and thy reward shall be great in heauen But some are of minde that vsury is nothing els but an eating a gnawing a coÌ„suming an vtter vndoing of my brother for so indeed the etymology of the word soundeth so that say they as long as we eate not gnawe not nor consume not our brother though in the meane time they take neuer so much interest of hym for their money it is no vsury But if this be not a eating a gnawing a coÌ„suming and an vtter vndoing of my brother to take after twenty pound yea thirtie pound in the hundred as many doo then I knowe not what is But if they woulde knowe what vsurie is in deede according to the sense of the worde of God I will tell them Vsurie is anie thing ouer and aboue the principall which was lent be it neuer so lyttle eyther in monie corne grasse groundes landes meat drinke clothes or anie thing else whatsoeuer But now a dayes there is no sinne so grosse which is not blanched and smeered ouer wyth such counterfait coulours that except a man haue an eye illuminate by Gods spirite hee shall take it eyther for a vertue or at least for no sinne at all But woe bee to them sayeth the Prophet which call euill good and good euill sweete sower and sower sweete light darknesse and darknesse light I doubt these excuses and gloses will not go for paiment at the day of iudgment let them flatter themselues as much as they will in theyr foolysh imaginations It is also a good worke in euerie one to fast from sinne as much as hee he can and from all excessiue vse of meates and drinkes which might anie waie moue or stirre vp the bodie to dissolutenes and wantonnes And therefore the Papists doo belie vs in that they affirme that

wee neuer fast and that our preachers doe preach against it as against a thing altogether vnlawfull But as they speake truth in this so let them be beleeued in euery thing else Indeede wee holde and that truely that all meates may bee eaten at all times and at all seasons of him that hath faith for so the Apostle teacheth saying Nowe the spirite speaketh euidently that in the later daies some shall depart from the faith and shall giue heede to spirites of error doctrine of deuils which speak lies thorough hypocrisie and haue theyr consciences burned with a hot yron forbidding to marry and commaunding to abstaine from meates which GOD hath created to be receiued wyth thankes-giuing of them which beleeue and knowe the truth And in another place hee sayeth Euerie creature of God is good and nothing ought to bee refused if it bee receiued with faith and thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the worde of God and by praier So that wee holde it a matter meerely indifferent to eat or not to eate at all times Wee repose no religion in eating or drinking but hold it rather for a matter of pollicie than of diuinitie Our Sauiour Christ sayth there is nothing that entereth into man that defile the man but those things which come out of a man those defile a man It is sayd also in another place All things are cleane to those that be cleane And further we reade in the history of the Acts how the Apostle Paule himselfe was commanded in a vision as it were by oracle from heauen to eate of all meates conteyned in the sheete being also forbid to call that vncleane which God had sanctified made cleane And therefore I say we hould it lawfull by the word of God to eate all meates at all times yea though it were in Lent it selfe But yet if it please the Prince for pollicy sake and for a common wealth for that at that time of the yeare all creatures do breede and ingender together and therefore besides that they are not so wholesome as at other times of the yeare if they should then be killed and eaten as they are at other times there must needes growe great dearth scarsity of them to commaund vs to absteine from eating of flesh that time of the yeare only we willingly obey it as a matter of pollicy and not of diuinitie religion or conscience And albeit it be obiected that Christ fasted 40. dayes and 40. nightes yet it followeth not that of necessity we should absteyne from flesh only for so long no more than it followeth that we must absteyne from all other meates because Christ did so Wee haue no one sillable in the word of God for our warrant to do so Nay if we would imitate Christs example in this we are not able For can wee absteyne from all kind of sustenance whatsoeuer 40. dayes and 40. nights as Christ did And yet if wee wyll follow strictly hys example we must doe so Therefore it is true omnis Christi actio nostra est instructio non imitatio euery action of Christ is our instruction but not a president to follow in euery thing And doubtlesse if he would that we should haue absteyned from the eating of flesh in Lent only he would haue geuen vs some precept or other or at least some one word or other sounding that way To conclude therefore we hould that fasting from meates and drinkes is both good and godly and many times very necessary to tame the wanton affections of the flesh and to subdue them to the spirit And yet we looke not to merite by our fasts neyther yet doe wee fast in honor or worship to any dead Saints as the Papists most blasphemously doe And thus much of fasting Now to go forward It is a good worke in euery one to preuent and as much as lyeth in hys power to hynder and stay euery euill action or vngodlye deede which eyther hee knoweth of hys owne knowledge or else is informed and aduertised of by others is like to come to passe if he do not he is as guilty of the mischife whatsoeuer it be that hapneth as he that committed it And therefore it standeth euery one in hand to take heed to himselfe that he be not partaker of other mens sinnes for euery one hath inough and too many of his owne to answere for God be mercifull to vs. It is a good worke in euery one to practise sobrietie temperancie and frugalitie as well in his meates as also in his drinks to eschew all gluttony drunknes ryot excesse to vse such apparell and attyre as is decent and comely rather obeying necessity than seruing curious phantesie knowing that our apparell was geuen vs to couer our nakednes withall to hide our shamefull parts and not to puffe vs vp into a prowde humor or vayne conceipt of our selues And trust me truly I see no greater reason that we haue to be prowde of our apparell than the poore Lazar hath to be prowd of his rags clouts that wrap his sores It is a good worke in euery one to moderate his affections so as he neyther thinke meditate nor practise any euil against any man that he refrayne his tongue from all maner of swearing and blaspheming of Gods most holy name that he fall out with no man curse nor ban not any finally that he keepe his eyes from beholding of vanitie his eares from hearing of filthines or ribaldry and his hands feet from committing of euill Now if these be good works as they are indeede then most vnhappy are they that be so farre from doing any of them that they dayly and hourely practise the contrary and will iustifie themselues too by the word of God For sayth one is not swearing tollerable doth not God say thou shalt honor me and sweare by my name and therefore they conclude that God is rather honored than dishonored by swearing Othersome when a man reprooues them for it will aske hym why Is it not lawfull for a man to haue God in hys minde and to name hym often yea the oftner the betters Thus these reprobate miscreants iustifye themselues in theyr sinne and abuse the word of God to their owne destruction For answere to the first I graunt indeede that God is honored by swearing by his name in this sence when a matter or controuersie falleth out which can not otherwise be determined than by an oth then are we being called by the Magistrates and those that are in authority to depose the truth by the inuocation and calling to witnesse of the name of God or else in a priuate action betwixt party and party to end a controuersy we may lawfully take an oth for so the Apostle sayth let an oth make an end of all controuersies In these two respects it is lawfull to sweare as I haue sayd and God is honored thereby if we depose the truth as he is truth But as he

is honored by these two kindes of othes so is hee dishonored and displeased with swearing by him at euery word in our ordenary talke and that vppon euery trifle or light occasion or rather for no cause at all This kinde of vsuall swearing is altogether forbidden by our Sauiour himselfe where he sayth Sweare not at all neyther by heauen for it is the throne of God nor yet by the earth for it is his footestoole neyther by Ierusalem for it is the City of the great King neyther shalt thou sweare by thy head because thou canst not make one hayre white or blacke but your communication shall be yea yea nay nay for whatsoeuer is more than this commeth of euill The Apostle S. Iames also warneth vs to the same effect saying but aboue all things my brethren sweare not neither by heauen nor by earth nor by any other kinde of oth but let your communication be yea yea nay nay least you fall into coÌ„demnation The very same doth Salomon teach vs when he sayth The man that vseth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity the plague of God shall neuer goe froÌ„ his house And yet notwithstanding all this there are not a few that make euen as it were an occupation of swearing and forswearing of blaspheming cursing and banning at euery word accoumpting him a peasant and no man that cannot sweare it out lustely In which point the diuels are better than they for as the Apostle Iames recordeth they tremble and quake at the very name of the Maiestie of God but these desperate roagues and shagd hayred ruffians are so farre off from trembling or quaking at the name of God that they rent and teare him in a thousand pieces at euery word as much as lieth in their powers blaspheming both him and his glorious name without all remorse or conscience But let them take heede for surely I am of this minde that it were better though both in the iustice of God be damnable to kill a man than to sweare an oth or once to blaspheme the name of God any maner of way for the one is the breach of the first Table which respecteth the worship of God only the other is but the breach of the second Table which compriseth our duties one towards an other And as it is forbid to sweare vaynely by the name of God in our ordenary talke familiar communication at euery word for euery trifle so is it also forbid to sweare by any other than by God alone in the two respects before remembred and neither by Saints nor Angels Sunne nor Moone Starres nor Planets bread nor salt fire nor water nor any other creature else what so euer neyther is it lawfull to sweare by any counterfaite oth as fay or fecke gogs bud gogs lownes nor the lyke for all these kindes of swearings are abhomination before the Lord who hath geuen vs an expresse commaundement that wee neyther sweare by their idolls nor yet once make mention of theyr gods in our mouthes For whatsoeuer we sweare by we make an idoll of it and a false God attributing that honor and worship to the creature which is due to the creator who only is to be inuocate and called vppon as a witnesse in all our actions and none but hee And nowe to the second part of theyr blasphemous allegacion Whereas they say that it is lawfull to haue the name of God often in our mouthes and the oftner the better I aunswere true it is wee ought indeede to haue the maiestie of God both in our heartes and in our mouthes and the oftener the better but how not in blasphemous sort to make a stale or a iesting stocke of hym for we are forbid to take the name of God in vayne and the Lorde wyll not hould hym guiltlesse that taketh hys name in vayne but in all holy reuerence deuotion and obedience yea in all holy feare and trembling This the Apostle meant when he sayde If any man speake let hym speake as sayth the word of God againe let your coÌ„munication be such as may minister grace to the hearers Let these lusty Caueliroes take heed how they dally with the Lord any while for as the Apostle noteth God is a consuming fire and in an other place it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of God yea he is that stone that vpon whom soeuer he falleth he grindeth to powder But to draw towards an end It is a good worke in euery one to be carefull of his brothers good name neyther backbiting detracting slaundering nor any way discrediting him by word or deede but rather seeking by all meanes possible to conserue his credit as much yea and in some respects more than his owne And if he knowe or heare any thing which might sound to the impayring of his credit or blemishing of hys good name to bury it in the graue of obliuion that it may neuer rise agayne nor come to light to the disparagement or preiudice of his brothers good name for euer What shall we say then to those vile persons and scummes of the worlde not worthie to haue coÌ„mon breath amongst christians who are so farre off from christian charitie that albeit they neither knowe nor in truth neuer heard anie euill of their brother will yet in the fulnesse of their mallice coine and forge matter defamatorie agaynst him and when they haue done publish it to the view of the world in railing pamphlets and paltrie libels to his vniust infamie and their owne perpetuall shame The badge or cognisance of the children of God whereby they are knowen and discerned from the children of the deuill is loue as our sauiour Christ saith himselfe By this shall all men knowe that you are my disciples if you loue one another Again the badge or cognisance of the children of the deuill whereby they are discerned from the children of God is hatred rancour mallice enuie lying slaundering detracting and backbiting of theyr brethren and the lyke Now then these fellowes are so farre off from wearing the cognizance of the children of God that they marshall themselues vnder the standard of the deuill being inuested with his cognizance as his seruants and vassals Is this to doe to an other as they would wish an other should doe to them Is this the nature of that loue which Paule describeth where he saith Loue suffereth long is bountiful enuieth not doth no euill is not prouoked to anger thinketh no euill reioyseth not in iniquity Is this the fruite of that loue which the Apostle Peter goeth about so earnestly to perswade vs vnto where he sayth But aboue all things my brethren haue feruent loue amongst your selues for loue shall couer a multitude of sins The Apostle S. Iohn sayth that God is loue and that those that dwell in loue dwell in God and God in theÌ„ Then it must needes follow that if those that dwell in loue do dwell

in God then those who dwell in hatred rancor and malice dwell in the deuill and the deuill in them Now then whether these men dwell in God and God in them or not rather in the deuill and the deuill in them let the world iudge Agayne the same Apostle Iohn in the same place aleaged sayth If any man affirme that hee loueth God and yet hateth his brother he is a lyer and the truth is not in hym Nowe then what kynde of people these are and how vnsufferable in a common wealth who delight in nothing so much as to broch lyes slaunders against their brethren and where they heare any thing against any man without examination of the quality and property of the party that told theÌ„ of the person whome they concerne or of the matter it selfe they presently spue out their mallice in libelling pamphletting agaynst him as though all were true that is reported of euerie man These kind of fellowes are worser than the caterpillers or locusts of Aegypt who deuoured but the fruits of the earth these the good names of men yea and of such men as in comparison of whome they are notworthie to be named the same daie the others are named in They are worser than rauens or kites who will not eat theyr praie before it bee dead but they will deuour the good names of theyr brethren beeing on liue Such curre dogges woulde bee hanged vp as will snappe euerie bodie by the shinnes liuing to the hurt of all and good of none And therefore I cannot a lyttle meruayle that our graue and reuerend Bishops and other inferiour magistrates and officers to whom the ouersight and charge of such thinges are committed will either lisence which I trust they do not for I wyll hope better of them or in anie sorte tollerate such railing libels slanderous pamphlets as haue beene of late published in print one man against another to the greate dishonour of God corruption of good manners breach of charitie and in a worde to the iust offence scandall of al good christians And truely to speake my conscience freely I thinke there cannot a greater mischiefe be suffered in a common wealth than for one man to write against another and to publish it in print to the viewe of the world I wis the noble science of printing was not giuen vs to that end being indeede one of the chiefest blessings that God hath giuen to the sons of men heere vppon earth For is not this the next way to broach rancor hatred malice emulacion enuie and the like amongst men nay is not this the next way to make bloudshed and murther to rayse vp mutenies insurrections commotions and rebellions in a christian common-wealth and therefore would I wish both the bookes and the authors of them to be vtterly suppressed for euer the one by fire the other by the halter or gallowes if nothing else will serue But what should I say I can not but lament the corruption of our time for alas now adayes it is growen to be a hard matter to get a good booke licensed without staying peraduenture a quarter of a yeare for it yea sometymes two or three yeares before he can haue it allowed and in the end happyly reiected too so that that which many a good man hath studyed sore for and traueyled long in perchance all dayes of his life shall be buryed in silence and smothered vp in forgetfulnes and neuer see the light whilest in the meane tyme other bookes full of all filthines scurrilitie baudry dissolutenes cosonage cony-catching and the lyke which all call for vengeance to heauen are eyther quickely licensed or at least easily tollerate without all denyall or contradiction whatsoeuer And albeit it may be answered that such filthy baudy bookes are not licensed by the Magistrates as I thinke in deede they are not for what man can with a good conscience licence those bookes to be printed which are seared with a hote iron and branded with the blacke cole of Gods cursse yet notwithstanding as long as they tollerate or suffer them eyther to bee printed or to bee soulde in theyr Shops they are as culpable and as guiltie before God for them as the authors of them and looke what euill commeth by them they shal one day aunswere for before the tribunall seate of God because it was in them to haue suppressed them and did not But I will leaue them to theyr iudge to whome they either stand or fall and who will one day reward euery one according to his dooings It is a good worke to meditate and to thinke that this lyfe is but momentarie short and transitorie no life indeed but a shadow of a life or rather a meditation of death for so good men haue called it a pilgrimage a thorough-fare an Inne or hostrie a place of trial of aduersitie calamitie a vale of woe a sea of all afflictions and miseries The consideration of this caused the holy Iob that mirror of patience to burst forth into these speeches Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and is ful of misery he springeth vp as a flower and is cut downe he vanisheth also as a shadow coÌ„tinueth not It is a good worke for the children of God to set their minds of heauen and heauenly thinges to meditate of the ioyes of heauen and of the glorie prepared for such as walke here with their God in all holy obedience and christian humilitie before him Finally last of all because I would draw towards an end though there bee no end indeede of good workes it is a good worke to mortifie our carnall lusts and to slay our inordinate affections to crucify the old man with the whole bodie of sinne and to put on the new man Christ Iesus walking going on from faith to faith froÌ„ hope to hope from repentaunce to repentance from holines to holines from grace to grace from perfectioÌ„ to perfection and from one good worke to another till wee attaine to the end of our hope which is euerlasting life in the kingdome of heauen These bee those good workes indeede which as the Apostle witnesseth Christ hath ordeyned that wee shoulde walke in them These bee those good workes which Zachary prooueth to bee the ends of our redemption that wee being deliuered out of the hands of our enimies myght serue hym without feare in holynes and righteousnes all the dayes of our lyfe These are the oyle which euery Christian is to haue in hys Lampe and whiche the foolish Virgins wanting were shut out and excluded the kingdome of God These bee they that I would councell euery Christian man and woman that haue any regard of their saluacion to practise in this life leauing the Antichristian workes of the Papists as abortiues and miscreants to their father the Diuell from whome they fyrst came For perswade thy selfe whosoeuer thou art that without these

them they could haue none lest there were not inogh for them both Wherby wee see that as no man can buy the good workes of another so no man hath inough to saue himselfe The Apostle Peter saith There is no other name giuen vnder heauen whereby man can bee saued but onely Iesus Christ. And if good workes coulde saue vs as the same Apostle reasoneth then had Christ died in vaine For how vaine a thing had it ben for the maiesty of God to haue sent his owne sonne into this miserable worlde to take our nature vpon him to shed his most precious bloud for vs if wee coulde haue iustified our selues or purchased our saluation either through our inherent righteousnes as the papists most blasphemously affirme by our merits or by anie other means whatsoeuer And therefore Paul was bold to conclude that wee are iustified by faith only without the works of the law Being iustified sayth he by faith we haue peace with God thorough Iesus Christ. And to the Galath he sayth further that as many as do relye vpon the works of the lawe are vnder the curse and banished froÌ„ grace To which the Prophet Abacuc seemeth to agree saying the iust shall liue by faith But what shall we say then to the Apostle Iames who sayth we are iustified by works and not by faith only I answere There are two maner of iustifications one absolute before GOD the other demonstratiue before the world Paule writing that wee are iustifyed by fayth onely meaneth absolutely before God Iames saying wee are iustifyed by workes meaneth demonstratiuely before the worlde Agayne Paule wrighteth of the efficient cause of our iustification Iames of the effecte Paule had to do with them that contemned faith as the Heathen Iewes and Turks do now and therefore he attributed and that worthely iustification to faith only Iames he had to do with them that contemned good works as things of no value affirming that bare faith alone was sufficieÌ„t to saluation therefore he attributeth the more to works therby to draw them to the practising of them Againe Paule speaketh of such works as goe before iustification Iames of such as followe after Paule meaneth not of a bare and naked faith without good works but of such a faith as can no more be without good workes than the sunne without light or the fire without heate Iames he meaneth of a bare naked and dead faith such as the very deuils haue as the very heathen infidels haue So that in substance matter they both meane and speake one and the same thing For truly as faith is the efficient cause of our iustification before God so our workes are the effects or fruits issuing thereout whereby wee are knowen to bee iustified before the world And therefore let vs brag of our faith as much as we will if it bee but such a faith as bringeth forth no good workes we can neuer be saued by it This is not that iustifieng faith which Paule speaketh of nor which the children of God haue but a dead faith a barren faith an historical faith which the deuills and all reprobates haue But here perchaÌ„ce some captious sophister wil aske me if we caÌ„not be iustified by good workes to ' what end then shoulde wee doo them To whom I answere We are to do good workes for sixe causes especially first for the loue obedience which wee owe vnto God secondly for the mutuall loue brotherly charity which wee beare one towardes an other thirdly to make our saluation sure certaine vnto vs as the Apostle saith Make your saluation sure by good workes fourthly for the zeale wee haue of the glorie of God fiftly to drawe others from sinne to the practife of godlinesse by our good example and sixtly for the increase of our owne rewarde in the life to come where no good worke such is the bountifull liberalitie and mercifull beneficence of our good GOD towards vs miserable sinners shall bee lefte vnrewarded And albeit that good workes are no causes of our iustification nor that thou canst not be iustified by them yet canst thou neuer be saued without theÌ„ And therefore woulde I wish euerie one that hath a care of his saluation to labor studie endeuor night day to do good workes Remember how notably our forefathers haue behaued theÌ„ selues heerein what monuments of charity and almes deedes haue they left behinde them to the posterities to come and yet liued in feare and trembling And doe wee thinke to come to heauen and leaue no good works behinde vs at all but rather infinite millions of wicked deedes and vngodly examples which cry for vengeance before the throne of God night and day incessantly Oh let vs remember and neuer forget if it be true which some do hould as I fully perswade my selfe it is that as our wicked deedes and euill examples which wee haue left behinde vs in this life do hurt vnto other and dishonor the Maiestie of God so shall our paine be increased augmented in hell for euermore world without end And againe as our good deeds and good examples which we haue left behind vs in this life do good to the Saints of God vppon earth and increase his glory so shall our glory and our ioy be increased from day to day to the end of the world in the kingdome of heauen Let either the feare of the one therfore deare christian or the loue of the other moue thee now at the last to this resolution of good works Let not the vayne-glory and deceiptfull honor of this world beguile thee let not couetousnes blinde thee nor any priuate affection else moue thee to do euill or to deceiue any more in bargaining selling or otherwise howsoeuer for the Lord as the Apostle witnesseth is the reuenger of all such wickednes and though thou escapest for a time the lawes of men yet canst thou not escape the iudgements of God but in his good time he wyll finde thee out and recompence thee according to thy deserts Remember that Salomon was rich and had as plenty of gould siluer as of stones iewells and ornaments great store with fish-pondes orchards gardens forrests parkes men-singers women singers musicke and all pleasures else vnder the Sunne and of them all he pronounced this sentence Vanitas vanitatis omnia vanitas Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanitie Consider with thy selfe and often reuolue in thy minde the wordes of our sauiour Heauen and earth shal passe but the word of God indureth for euer And againe in another place No mans life standeth in the abundance of those thinges which he possesseth And againe What will it preuaile a man to win the whole world loose his owne soule Remember the rich glutton though he fared dilitiouslie and ruffeled in his silkes and veluets euerie daie yet in one moment his soule was taken from him he lodged in hell Take example by the rich man in the gospell who flowed with such abundance of all things that he was forced to pull downe his olde barnes and to build new ones was it not saide to him Thou foole this night shall they fetch awaie thy soul and then whose shall those things be which thou hast gathered Oh what a vaine thing is it therfore for a man to rake into his handes fiue hundred or one thousand mens liuinges to leaue it to his children who for the the most parte spend it either in hauking hunting dicing carding or else in whooring gourmandizing and infinite the lyke vices for MalÃ¨ parta malÃ¨ dilabuntur Ill got ill spent whereas in the meane time thou must goe to the barre to aunswere for the getting of them peraduenture to euerlasting damnation both of bodie and soule Therefore haue a care whatsoeuer thou be that thou get thy goods in the feare of God with a good conscience so shall they prosper with thy children after thee and thou blessed eternally And when thou hast thus got them be carefull how thou bestowest them and to whome thou geuest them For it is not inough for thee to say I gaue so much and so much to my carnall kindred friends and aliance but if thou hast geuen so much and so much to the poore so much and so much to this good end and to that good end to this good worke and that good worke to remayne to the posterities after thee to the end of the world oh then well is thee and happy shalt thou be yea then shalt thou be sure to attayne to the end of thy hope that is euerlasting life To the which hee bring vs all that apperteyne to his kingdome that dyed for vs to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all glory and prayse for euer Amen FINIS Heb. 1.14 Gen. 19.22 1. Reg. 19. Gen. 21. Gen. 16. Gen. 21. Dan. 3. 2. Reg. 5 Tobit 5 Dan. 6 Exo. 1â— 2. Sam. 24 2. Chr. 12.21 Luke 1.26 27 28 Iude vers 6 Gen. 6. Psal. 51.5 Math. 5.28 Math. 15.18 19.20 Gen. 1 â— Gen. 1 â— Gen. 6. Esa. 1 Gen. 47 9â— Gen. 3. Reuel 22 Iudic. 20.35.46 Nu. 25.8 Gen. 18.1.2 Gen. 19.1.2 3. 1. Timot. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Cor. 14. Psal. 1.1.2 Deut. 6. Matth. 4. Rom. 13.8 3. 4. 6. 7. Tit. 3 Timoth. 2. Rom. 14â— 1. Cor 13 Esay â— Tim. 4â— Math. 5.33 34. 35. Iacob v. 12. 1. Cor. 13. 1. Pet. 4.8 1. Ioh. 4.16 Iob. 14. Luke 1.74.75 Matth. 25. Galath 5.

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