Matth. 26.3 and Elders of the people assembled themselues together into the Hall of the high Priest named Caiaphas and helde a Councel how they might take Iesus Christ by subtiltie and put him to death Certainly by these examples it is plainly proued that if it were sufficient to alledge the multitude the greatest number for to vnderproppe and vpholde a Church the false and bastardly Church shoulde euer preuaile in the matter get the better in that respecte because that the number which cleaueth to it and followeth and maintayneth it is alwayes the greatest August in Psalm 128. Let vs adde here a sentence of Saint Augustine From the time saith hee that the Saintes haue begun to be the Church hath beene and is on the earth Sometimes it was in Abel alone who was slaine by his wicked brother Cain Sometime it was in Henoch alone who was reiected of the vngodlie Sometimes it was in the onely house of Noah and he bare with or suffered all them that perished in the floude and the Arke swimming vpon the floudes was saued and set vpon the drie land Sometime in one onely Abraham of whome we knowe thus much that he suffered manie thinges by the wicked Sometimes in Lott alone and in his onely house in the middest of the Sodomites whose iniquities and vngodlinesse he indured and suffered so long till God drewe him as it were by violence from among them Sometimes in the onely Israelites tormented by Pharaoh and the Egyptians By these wordes that appeareth verie well to be true and right which I haue said to wit that the Church ought not to bee iudged or acknowledged by the great number The faithfull then shoulde not at this day bee offended though they bee but a small number despised and cast out as the filth and ofscouring of the worlde for because they are not of the worlde Iohn 15.19 but that God hath chosen and drawen them out of the worlde therefore beholde doth the world hate them They shoulde not doubte that the Church is not with them though that it be assaulted and persecuted of the greatest number of men and those the mightiest of greatest reputation and highest exalted and namely of the popes Cardinals Bishoppes 1 Cor. 1.27.28.29 parishe Priestes Abbots and other of the cleargie of Rome who indeede ought to maintaine and vpholde it For so it is that GOD hath chosen the foolish thinges of this world to confound the wise things the weake or feeble things to confounde the strong and the vile and despised thinges and those thinges which are not to bring to naught things that are to the ende that no fleshe shoulde reioyce in his presence Psal 118.22 Matt. 21.42 1. Pet. 2.7 And on the otherside the prophecies must of necessitie be wholy accomplished touching the stone which the builders beganne long agoe to reiect and which euen at this day they doe also refuse although it be the master stone or cheife stone of the corner in Sion elect pretious in them which stay them selues thereon and be builded vpon it But some will say wherefore then is it that God hath heretofore suffered so many people in so many ages and times to bee seduced and deceiued Yea wherefore doeth he at this day suffer the greater parte of the worlde to walke in the darkenesses of errour and ignorance Verily it is not our part to take vppon vs either to discouer or curiouslie to search the secrete causes of Gods eternal iudgement neither yet to laye or cast vppon him the faulte of our naughtinesse and vngodlines for certaine it is that hee doeth moste iustly gouerne and guide all thinges and therefore cannot doe iniurie or wronge to any man what so euer he doe Psal 51.5 Ephe. 2.3 seeing that wee are all conceiued and borne in iniquitie and are by nature the children of wrath guiltie of death and eternall damnation And therefore Saint Paule in fewe wordes dissoluing this difficultie contenteth himselfe to alledge the onely will and good pleasure of god without ascēding or going vp higher so much as one steppe Act. 14 1◠Act. 17.30 GOD saith hee in times passed hath suffered all the Gentiles to walke in their owne wayes Neuerthelesse hee lefte not him selfe without witnesse in that hee did good c. And agayne The time of this ignorance God regarded not but nowe he admonisheth all men euery where to repent Notwithstanding also we may rightly say that God suffereth Sathan to haue so much power and might in the worlde as that he shoulde beare sway raigne ouer the greater parte to the end that he might thereby through his iust iudgement punishe men for their vnthankefulnesse and vnfaithfulnesse For it is not good reason that those which would not hearken vnto God neither receiue the truth which was offered them and who also euen willingly and of their owne accord haue despised and refused their owne saluation is it not meet I say that such shoulde be seduced deceiued through the subtilties and sleightes of the diuell and at the last cast from God and through his iust iudgement punished according as their vngodlinesse vnthankefulnesse deserueth Saint Paul writing vnto the Thessalonians sheweth and putteth downe this reason when hee saith 2. Thess 2.10 That because that they which perishe receiued not the loue of the trueth that they might be saued God shall sende them stronge delusion that they shoulde beleeue lies that all they might be damned which beleeued not the trueth of the word but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse This also fell sometimes and was laide vpon the Gentiles For from the beginning of the world Rom. 1.20 c. GOD made manifest vnto them his Godhead and his power and although this was not done by the preaching of men yet it was by the ministerie of the creatures in which his glorie was in such sorte manifested and shewed that a man may wel say they had in some sense a tongue as it were to shewe set foorth and rehearse the great power and the wonderfull workes of God But what thereof These straglers strayers hauing knowne God did not glorifie him as GOD neither yelded him thankes but became vaine in their imaginations and discourses and so foorth as Saint Paule sheweth of them in the first Chapter to the Romanes Who will then at this day say that GOD hath done them wrong when he giueth them ouer to the lustes of their owne heartes to filthinesse and their owne villanous affections through a spirite destitute and vnfurnished of all iudgement to commit things at no hand conuenient or seemely he punishing them after this manner according to their deserts and his owne most iust righteousnesse The same fell also in time heretofore vpon the poore and miserable Iewes For beholde our Lorde Iesus Christ who of his owne free will presented and offered him selfe vnto them being willing and readie to instruct and teach them in the
and Iohn who being couetous and greedie of worldly honours and desiring to liue at their case and rest Mark 10.35 c. demaunded of Iesus Christ That hee woulde graunt vnto them to sit in his glorie the one at his right hande and the other at his left But the scripture teacheth vs altogether the cōtrarie that is to say that so long as we haue to walk here below it standeth vs in hand to battell or fight yea to passe thorow the thornes and to be tormented by the malice of the Deuill wicked men his instruments yea so much the more by how much wee shal indeuour and labour sincerely to serue God Which thing also Iesus Christ hath well and sufficiently declared to the abouesaid sonnes of Zebedeus when he answered them Mark 10. 38. Yee knowe not what yee aske Can ye drinke of the Cup that I shal drink of and be baptized with the baptisme wherwith I shal be baptized Meaning therby that the common state cōdition of Christiās is this that they should be exercised in this world by the crosse tribulations before that they can bee crowned And this is the cause wherfore the church is called militant or warfaring so long as it is here below on the earth euē as we haue seene and heard in the first Chapiter And for this verie selfe same cause also Mark 4.36 c. it is compared to a litle shippe altogether tossed vp and downe in the midst of the bellowes or surges and of the tempests of the sea also to grounde continually ploughed ouer Psal 129.3 and thorowe which men make the plough continually to goe to rent or cleaue it to turn it vpside down Therfore also S. Paul saith in the Acts Act. 14.22 That by many tribulations wee must enter into the kingdome of God And in 2. Epistle to Tim. All those that wil liue godly in Christ Iesus 2 Tim. 3.12 shal suffer persecution Iesus Christ saith also vnto his Disciples Iohn 15.20 Remember the worde that I said vnto you that the seruaunt is not greater than his maister If they haue persecuted me Iohn 16.1.2 they wil persecute you also Also These things haue I said vnto you that yee should not be offended They shal excommunicate you yea the time shal come that whosoeuer killeth you wil thinke that hee doeth God seruice And this is the state and conditiō wherein God wil haue his Church to glorifie him here belowe on the earth And in deed the first lesson that Iesus Christ gaue to his Disciples was touching this matter of the Crosse and persecutions If any man saith he wil come after me Matth. 16.24 let him forsake him selfe take vp his Crosse and folow me The experience of all times and ages doth sufficiently shew vnto vs the truth of this matter whether we cōsider somwhat narrowly as well the estate of the auncient Church vnder the old Testament as the state of that which came afterward vnder the new Testament insomuch that it may rightly say Psal 129.1 They haue often afflicted mee frō my youth haue done mee a thousand euils as is saide in the Psalmes For euen from the beginning the Deuil hath alwayes beene like to himself that is to say a lier a murtherer Iohn 8.44 enuious a false and priuie accuser war hath alwayes continued betweene the womās seed the Serpents seed And howe can any man ioyne put together thinges which are of a cōtrarie nature Gene. 3.15 2. Cor. 6.14.15 How can any man make agreement betweene God and the Deuill betweene Christ and Belial betweene the faithfull and the vnbeleeuers Iesus Christ in the third Cap. of S. Iohn sheweth a reasō to declare why it is impossible that the good the wicked shuld suffer one with another agree together Iohn 3.19.20 to wit That all the workes which the worlde doeth are wicked and therefore lest they should bee discouered laide open by the light it hateth the light and loueth darknesse From hence is it that euen frō the beginning of the world enimites between the faithfull and the aduersaries of the trueth haue taken and had their originall and first foundation This is the cause why Cain slue his brother Abell that Lot the faithful seruant of the Lord was hated of the Sodomites that Ishmael mocked Isaac and persecuted him that Esaw went about to oppresse kill Iacob euen from his youth that Ioseph had his owne brethren for his enemies that the Prophetes could not agree with the wicked Kinges nor S. Iohn Baptist with the incestuous Herode nor Iesus Christ with the high Priestes Scribes Pharisees nor the Apostles and Martyrs with the infideles vnbeleeuers of their times And therefore it is meere follie to suppose and thinke that the children of God can euer bee beloued of the worlde Whereupon by good right for good cause S. Iames saith That the amitie of the world Iames. 4.4 is the enimitie of God and hee that will bee a friende of the worlde maketh himselfe the enimie of God Iohn 15.19 And for this cause also Iesus Christ hath saide to his Disciples If yee were of this worlde the worlde woulde loue his owne but because yee are not of this worlde but I haue chosen and separated you out of this worlde therfore the worlde hateth you To bee short if we woulde that the Church of God should bee without persecution then of necessitie must it bee that the worlde shoulde bee without hatred the Deuill without enuie and our nature without vice or sinne But to the ende that wee may specifie and declare certaine thinges A discourse of the ten great persecutions of the Church touching the persecutions of the Church let vs examine as it were one by one the ten persecutions which came vpon it after the death of Iesus Christ vnder the Emperors whereof the Ecclesiasticall historie maketh mention True it is that in the time of Augustus the seconde Emperour the church was muche persecuted vnder the greate Herode who thinking to put to death the King of the Iewes in the verie cradle commaunded men to slaie all the babes and litle children of Bethlehem and of all the borders thereof from two yeares olde and vnder Also vnder Tiberius the third Emperour by Herode Antipas the Tetrarch of Galilee who was the sonne of the first Herode who tooke away his brother Phillips wife and put to death Iohn Baptist because hee reprooued him for that sinne and offence And by Pilate also who condemned and caused to be put to death on the Crosse Iesus Christ the high Priests Scribes Pharises Elders of the people beeing the principall blowers of the fire and chiefe persecutors Moreouer vnder Caius Caligula that horrible monster who was appointed the fourth Emperor in the nine and thirtieth yeare after Christes birth raigned three yeares tenne monethes and
it and gathered out the stones of it and haue planted it with the best plantes and built a Tower in the middest thereof and made a Wine presse therein looking that it should bring foorth Grapes but in steede of Grapes it bringeth foorth wilde Grapes And nowe I will tell you what I will doe to my Vineyarde I wil take away the hedge therof and it shal bee eaten vp I will breake the wall thereof and it shal be troden downe and I will laie it wast Isaiah 24.3.4.5 c. And againe The earth shal be cleane emptied and vtterly spoyled the earth shal lament and vade away for the inhabitants thereof haue transgressed the lawes they haue chaunged the ordinaunces and haue broken the euerlasting couenaunt Therefore shal the curse deuour the earth for the inhabitantes thereof haue done wickedly And therefore shall the inhabitantes of the earth burne and fewe men shall bee left therein Ierem. 25.8.9 c. Also in Ieremiah Because yee haue not heard my woordes beholde I will sende and take to mee all the families of the North and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babell my seruaunt and I wil bring them against this lande and against the inhabitantes thereof and against all these nations rounde about and I will destroie them and make them an astonishment an hissing and a continuall desolation In this place Isaiah 10.5 the Lord calleth Nebuchadnezzar his seruaunt as in an other place he calleth Saneherib or Ashur The rod of his wrath because hee serueth him selfe with Princes tyrantes and wicked Magistrates and vseth them that hee may by them punish the vngodlines and vnthankfulnesse of his people Isaiah 59.2 Wherefore Isaiah speaketh excellently well That our iniquities haue made a diuision or separated betweene God and vs. And therefore when wee are afflicted and persecuted wee ought to cōfesse and acknowledge that God by that mean punish vs as wee in deed haue rightly deserued it Yet all this notwithstanding we haue to consider and weigh an other cause for which the worlde persecuteth vs which ought to bee a great comfort vnto vs in the middest of our Crosse and Martyrdome For in the first place the world in persecuting vs looketh not to our sinnes but to that religion which wee make profession of which religion in deed the world reiecteth and persecuteth because it knoweth not the Authour thereof and because it is altogether contrarie to his maners and peruerse and wicked orders of life and cōuersation euen as Iesus Christ hath foretolde the same and made his Disciples to see it Iohn 3.19.20 when he said vnto them This is the condemnation that light is come into the worlde and men loued darknesse rather than light because their deedes were euil For euerie man that euill doeth hateth the light neither commeth to light lest his deeds should be reproued Iohn 15.20.21 Also if they haue persecuted mee they will persecute you also But all these thinges will they doe vnto you for my names sake because they haue not knowne him that sent mee Iohn 17.14 And againe Father I haue giuen them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the worlde as I am not of the world Hereby we may see that the right and verie cause of the persecutions of the church is the plaine profession of the trueth righteousnesse and word of God as Saint Paule saieth That That all they which will liue in the feare of God or godly in Christ Iesus 2. Timo. 3.12 shall suffer persecution And also what shoulde bee our consolation and comforte in the middest of the Crosse if this point were not Socrates The answere which Socrates made to his wife was verie apt and fit for the purpose shee lamented because they put him to death wrongfully but he being somewhat moued answered That it was better for him to die an innocent without cause than if he had offēded But how much greater matter and iust cause haue we of comfort and ioy seeing wee knowe that God of his vnspeakeable gentlenesse goodnesse mercy burying all our sins giueth vs ouer or leaueth vs but for a time to suffer vniust persecutions to the end that we bearing the Crosse with Iesus Christ should communicate also and bee made partakers of glorie with him The punishment Saint Augustine hath saide maketh not a Martyre but the cause August And the Deuill hath as well his witnesses and Martyrs as Iesus Christ hath his In former times there were Heretikes which bragged much and boasted wonderously vnder the shadowe colour that men persecuted them And at this day the Anabaptists do in that behalfe the verie selfe same thing yea and that so farre that by this meanes they account them selues blessed and happie Math. 5.10 But we must marke what the scripture saith Blessed are they thus saieth Iesus Christ which suffer persecution for righteousnes sake for theirs is the kingdom of heauē Luk. 6.22 Blessed are you when men hate you whē they separate you reuile you put out your names as euil for the sonne of mās sake If yee bee rayled vpon for the name of Christ saith Saint Peter 1. Pet. 4.14.15.16 Blessed are yee For the spirite of glorie and of God resteth vpon you which on their part is euil spoken of but on your part is glorified But let none of you suffer as a murtherer or as a theefe or as an euil dooer or as a couetous person of other mens goods or as a busie bodie in other mens matters But if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God in this behalfe And this is the marke or badge by which the scripture discerneth the Lordes true Martyres from others that suffer For the wicked men and vngodlie persons doe in deede suffer persecution but in the meane season it so falleth out that they cannot bost them selues for all that to bee true Martyres neither by consequent that they are blessed for they suffer not for righteousnes sake neither to maintein Gods truth as doe the Martyres and witnesses of Iesus Christ Moreouer wee ought to marke that our good God sheweth vs great grace and aduaunceth vs to singular honour when hee vouchsafeth vs meete and worthie to suffer any thing for his names sake when as he might verie iustly if he would haue pursued vs with rigour nay if he woulde haue proceeded against vs by iustice haue punished vs with all kindes and sortes of afflictions sending them to vs and laying the same vpon vs. wherin he dealeth with vs as if a king should take from the Gibbet or Gallows some man who had rightly deserued to be bound thereto and hanged thereon and yet woulde set and appoint him among the chiefe Capitaines of his orders that he might goe to warre and imploy him for the maintenance and defence of his Crown and of his kingdō For who or
doctrine of saluation confirming his Gospell by excellent miracles and authenticall signes worthie of credite by which he did euidently shewe vnto them that he was the verie Messias promised in the lawe and the true and onely redeemer of the worlde but howe did these miserable people gouerne and behaue them selues in that behalfe Their obstinacie and rebellion was so great that they were not onely content desperatly to reiect and throwe from them the doctrine of the holie Gospell slaundering it and accusing it of falsehood but which is worse they killed and cruelly murdered the onely sonne of GOD and outragiously persecuted the Apostles as before that they had put to death also euen their owne Prophets and other Christians Who is he then which will affirme that these wicked people did not through their rebellion and pride iustly deserue to be deliuered and giuen ouer for a pray vnto Sathan and to be deceiued through the subtilties and craftes of his false doctrine The same is fallen out in our time and continueth yet euen euery day For there are diuers which are in such sort blinded before hand possessed with the darknesses of the prince of this world that they doe not onely despise all true religion and doctrine but also they inforce and straine them selues to bring into credite and estimation all the dreames dotages raylings and false opinions of Antichrist and his instrumentes in so much that for to attaine thereto they cease not to make warre vpon the poore faithfull people desiring with a burning affection the sheading of their bloud Who is he then which dare say that such people are not verie worthie and meete to be deliuered vnto Sathan that they may be so made drunken with the deadly poison of his false doctrine as they may neuer after be able to taste or smel the sweetnes pleasantnes of the word of God To be short then in that the diuell hath so great a sway in the world it is a very manifest signe or as a man would say a banner displayed of the iust vengeance of GOD and of his horrible and fearefull furie vpon all those who reiect and persecute the Gospell of his sonne For the vngodly perseuering in their vnbeliefe deserue to be couered and clothed with so great abhomination seeing that the trueth of GOD can finde no place amongst them CHAP. VII That Iesus Christ alone is the head of his Church and not Saint Peter neither any Pope what so euer EXperience teacheth vs what euill it bringeth vs when we turne aside from the worde of God be it neuer so little In olde time all the Pastors of the Church were commonly called Elders Auncients Bishops and they were all brethren and fellowes equall also and of like authoritie in their ministeries And this continued vntill such time as he that was chosen in the assemblies of the Pastours there for the time to be president and to gather the voyces came at the last to be especially and as it were only named a Bishop Hence the diuell beganne to frame and spinne as it were the tyrannie of Antichrist in the Church euen such as we beholde it at this day so that the man of sinne 2. Thes 2.3.4 and sonne of destruction reuealed is set downe in the temple of God as God shewing him selfe as though he were God For from Bishops they came to Metropolitanes who also are called Archbishops that vnder goodly shew and great pretence For these Metropolitanes were not but as it were Presidents or rulers to set the other in order and to call them together when it was needfull to haue some Synode for the affaires and businesses of the Churches of the Prouince and in good order and without confusion to redresse and guide matters in the assemblies made From Metropolitanes they leaped to foure Patriarches as though the whole Christian common wealth ought to be diuided into foure partes and be ruled and gouerned by foure Prelates These Patriarches were one of Antioch who bare rule ouer Syria one of Alexandria who gouerned Egypt Ethiopia one of Constantinople bearing rule ouer Asia Grecia and Illyricum and one of Rome ruling all the West that is to say Italie France Spaine Germanie Herevpon afterwardes there arose contentions and stirres betwene these foure Patriarches touching their iurisdiction and primacie in so much that they in such sorte set them selues one of them against an other with the hurt and losse indeede of the poore Church that at the last two to wit that of Antioche and that of Alexandria gaue place and yelded their roomes to the other two that is Constantinople and Rome the controuersie betweene which endureth as yet euen vnto this day For it is not yet well determined nor made plaine which of these two ought to be head and vniuersall Bishop In some sorte to quiet them and to make them contented and to keepe them selues within their owne boundes men haue limitted their charges thus the Patriarch of Constantinople to beare rule ouer all the Churches of the East and the Patriarch of Rome to beare rule ouer all the Churches of the West Wherefore the laâ—ter of these two is he whom the Romish Catholikes make them selues to beleeue that he is the head of the vniuersall Church as being the Vicar of Iesus Christe on earth and the lawfull or right successour of Saint Peter But we haue here two pointes to examine and sift the one touching Saint Peter The other touching the Pope who saith that he is his successour Concerning the first we shall not finde in all the scriptures that S. Peter was ordained at any time to be head of the whole Church and to beare rule ouer it neither that he him self did at any time either pretend or vsurpe such a iurisdiction and primacie bicause it did not at any hand belong vnto him but vnto Iesus Christ alone as we hope to proue and manifestly to shewe it by the reasons following The first reason is this Iesus Christ alone is called the head of the Churche Ephesians 1. verse 22. Ephesians 5. verse 23. Ephes 1.22 Ephes 5.23 Saint Peter then is not otherwise the Churche should be a bodye with two heads If they wil replie and say that Iesus Christ indeede is the onely head of the Church bicause that he alone reigneth ouer it and that by his owne onely authoritie yet that this nothing hindreth but that there may be an other head ministeriall as they call it that is to say one in respect of the execution of the charge and office vnder him who should be his great Vicar and liuetenant generall for to gouerne the Church I will demaund of them to shewe me when and howe this ministeriall head was ordained by Iesus Christ for if Iesus Christ be God liuing for euer Rom. 9.5 what neede hath he of a successour If we haue all his will in writing Ioh. 15.15 Act. 20.27 Matt. 18.18.28.20 and if he
or seeke newe places to offer their sacrifices oblations in but to come and to staye them selues within the Court of the tabernacle or of the temple Iesus Christ woulde not despise this place But wee knowe that whatsoeuer corruption was there no faithfull man was inforced to cleaue or sticke to anye superstitious manner or custome which is not practised at this day in the Church of Rome For as all there is of superstition and manifest idolatrie so they will constraine and enforce the faithful by fire and sworde to consent thereto and to pollute and defile themselues therewith against their owne consciences and gods expresse forbidding Lastly to what point did Iesus Christ bring the Church of Ierusalem when the high Priestes Scribes and Pharisees shewed them selues great madde men not doing their duties towardes it did hee not take his vineyard from these husbandmē who did not giue him the fruites whiche belonged vnto him and committed the same vnto others that is to his Apostles and their successors to yelde him fruite in their seasons Euen so likewise hath the Lorde done therewith in the Popedome He hath not destroyed his Church but hath only chaunged the estate thereof taking it out of the hand and guiding of the Bishoppes and Popishe Priestes and placing it againe vnder the gouernement and charge of other guiders and leaders who can see more clerely and be of better trust as it is spoken in Saint Mathewe Matt. 22 4◠vnder the similitude or parable of the vineyarde To conclude if they aske what shall become then of our predecessors who died in the faith of the Romish Church are they condemned I aunswere that wee leaue the iudgement thereof vnto GOD for it belongeth not to vs to determine iudge of that which is hidden from vs which indeed passeth our knowledge and calling It is verie true Ioh. 3.18.36 that the holy scripture pronounceth that they which die without the faith of Christ are damned and we cannot but say amen and giue our consent to this Neither serueth it to any purpose to alledge ignoraunce and to say that it excuseth the sinner before GOD For the scripture is plaine and manifest therein Luk. 12.47.48 The seruaunt saith Iesus Christ that knew his masters will prepared not him selfe neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many strippes But he that knewe it not and yet did commit thinges worthie of stripes shall be beaten with fewe stripes Also Matt. 15.14 if the blinde leade the blind they shal fall both into the ditch Saint Paul saith also As many as haue sinned without the lawe Rom. 2.12 2. Thess 1.6 shall perishe also without the lawe and as many as haue sinned within the lawe shall bee iudged by the law And againe it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you which are troubled rest and deliuerance with vs when the Lorde Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angels in flaming fire rendering vengeance vnto them that do not know God and which obey not vnto the Gospell of our Lorde Iesus Christe which shall bee punished with euerlasting destruction c. These places doe openly inough declare what is the ende of those that die without faith although they bee ignorant for their ignorance can not excuse them nor serue them for a cloake or couering to absolue and set thē free from the iudgement of God for confirmation proofe wherof wee may alledge also and put downe that which is written in Leuiticus Leui. 4.2 touching the offering commaunded by God for the sinnes which were committed through ignorance Lo what wee haue to say for one point But to that which remaineth touching our fathers and predecessors God might well shewe mercie vpon them at the end of their dayes making himselfe knowne vnto them by the secrete vertue and power of his holy spirite and putting it into their harts to beleue in Iesus Christ his sonne that so they might be saued For God is almightie to saue his owne people yea without vsing any of these meanes which he is accustomed cōmonly ordinarily to vse to plant faith in vs and to ingraue it in our harts to our owne saluation And this is S. Cypriā his answere touching those that die in some false opinions Cypri lib. 2. epist 3. If some one of our predecessors saith hee either by ignorance or through simplicitie hath not kept and helde that which the Lord hath taught vs to doe by his example and authoritie the mercie of the Lord may pardon him But wee cannot helpe the same being admonished instructed by him Behold what S. Cyprian pronounceth herein It is true that hee speaketh properly touching the matter of the holy supper but nothing letteth but that wee may applie his speach generally to the matter of all the other articles of the faith The IX CHAP. Of the degrees of ministers in the Church where mention is made of the orders of the popish clergie and of the offices and dueties of true pastors Matt. 9.38 WE haue sene and heard heretofore that it apperteineth vnto the Lorde of the haruest to sende foorth workemen into his haruest For it belongeth not to any what giftes soeuer he hath receiued from the Lord to thrust himselfe into the worke of the ministerie vnlesse he be lawefully called thereto Ephes 4.11 Now the Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Ephesians sheweth vs what workemen the Lorde hath sent into his haruest that is to say Apostles prophetes Euangelistes Pastors and doctors Apostles Touching the Apostles they were chosen immediately from Christe and their office was to sowe and spreade the Gospell abroad throughout all the world neither had any one of them any limites or borders set thē or some certaine Churches appointed to them Matt. 28.19 Matt. 10.2 Gal. 2.8 but Christ would that in euery part or place where so euer they came they should do their message before all peoples and nations Such were the twelue named in the Gospell to whome Saint Paule was added who was specially appointed to beare the name of Christ among the Gentiles Nowe bicause this degree of Apostles was instituted and ordained by God for the establishing of Churches those Churches being planted and established this name of Apostle ought not any more to be vsed among the ministers as to be giuen and communicated to them And yet we read that sometime it is taken generally in the scripture for a Pastor and preacher of the Gospell As Epaphroditus is called the Apostle of the Philippians Philip. 2.25 Act. 14.14 and Barnabas is named an Apostle Act. 14. Prophetes are distinguished into two sortes or orders Prophets Some were vnder the old Testament and in that time who being instructed and taught by a speciall reuelation from God did foretell things to come the other were in the newe Testament who in
his mirrour or glasse the thirteene booke Vincentius in specul lib. 13. cap. 2. Marcel histo 2. and seconde Chapter Notwithstanding that booke which is called the Sea of Histories saith that being taken at the forenamed Marsilles hee there hanged himselfe with a halter being threscore yeeres olde Beholde a summarie and short description of the horrible punishmentes which the Lorde sent vpon the ten Emperours vnder whome and in whose dayes the tenne great persecutions against the Church fell out and were committed Now as the Emperors which succeded those did not all withholde themselues from persecuting the poore Christians so the hande of GOD was not shortened but that punishmente and vengeance was executed vpon the persecutors For that which Saint Cyprian saide in the Apologie or defence hee made against Demetrianus the Gouernour Cyprianus contra Demetrianum is verie true to witte that verie hardlie there was any man at any time who through wickednesse lifted vp him selfe against the Christians but that incontinently therevpon Gods vengeance and iustice followed him and pursued him therefore Galerius Volaterran li. 23 Galerius a cruell Emperour or rather in deed a tyrant hath verie well tryed and proued the same for hauing continued and increased the persecution begunne by Diocletian and hauing with all maner of punishmentes tormented the Christians both cruelly and furiously at the last hauing raigned thirteene yeares not beeing able to abide the tormentes and paynes of a certaine sicknesse wherewith hee was taken and helde thorowe impaciencie hee slue himselfe with his owne hande And some say that in the time of his sicknesse hee put his Phisitions to death because they coulde not heale him of which one declared said That his disease proceeded from the vengeance of God The death of Iulian the Apostata Iulian the Apostata may very well also testifie what end the persecucutors of gods childrē may looke waite for For the histories declare Theoderit lib. 3. cap. 25. Volaterran lib. 23. that he continuing the war against the Persiās which was begunne by the Emperours his predecessours and vpō the way hauing made a vowe againe to shed and spill the Christians blood and namely in Ierusalem and to make them or set them out openly as a shewe in some solemne place if hee came againe victorious and a conquerer as hee was entred into a desart and wildernesse he and his armie wandering vp and down together without guide or leading he was sodenly taken and striken with a stroke either of an arrow or a sworde or of some other weapon for none knoweth as the historiographers say wherewith or howe hee was striken and so dying in dispaire hauing not as then raigned twelue whole yeeres hee cried out with a horrible blasphemie keeping and holding his blood which gushed into his hand and casting it into the aire said O Galilean for so in desspite hee was wont to call Christe at the last thou hast ouercome thou hast ouercome Valens Theod. lib. 4. Cap. 19. Valens also did very well feele know the power of Gods vengeance in his miserable death It is saide of him that hauing receiued the doctrine of the Arrians a certain season after that he harkened vnto the instruction of Basil and receiued it but straight wayes hee returned to his former naturall disposition and assalted and set vpon Basil and when it so fell out that hee coulde not perswade him to ioyne or take part with the Arrians hee commanded that a Lawe and Decree shoulde bee made for his banishment And when hee was minded to subscribe the saide decree the pen was found bruised after a sodeine and maruellous maner so that hee coulde not therewith make a stroke only or signe of a letter They brought vnto him the second penne yea euen the thirde and it fell out in thē as with the first and notwithstāding hee yet indeuoured to vndersigne subscribe ratifie that decree but he felt that his right hande shoke and trembled Socrates lib. 4. cap. 36. Theodoret. lib. 4. cap. 36. Sozomen lib. 7. cap. 40. and then being feared hee tare the paper But shortly after hee died wickedly For in a certaine battaile which he had against the Gothes who rebelled against him being inforced thereto through famine and hunger hee was hurt with an arrowe Wherefore he fled and withdrewe himself into a small graunge or farme house in the fieldes with some of his people and being close or hidden there the Gothes set fire on it not knowing that Valens was therin and there he was burned all aliue And to the end that they which shoulde come after might haue a more euidēt testimony that this was in deede a punishment sent from God and that also in this wicked person there might alwayes be had an example of the wrath of God he remained without any buriall at all But when will it be that we shall make an ende if wee woulde largely pursue and recite the Catalogue or beadrole as you woulde say of tyrants and persecutors of the Churche who for a iust recompence of their cruelties haue beene punished by the hand of God and died miserably Wee should not want examples of former ages neither yet of our time For God hath alwaies had care ouer his Church maintaining it and punishing the riottes and murthers committed against it yea hee will alwayes mainteine it and will exercise and execute his iustice vpon them which would oppresse it because hee accounteth it as deare Zachari 2. 8. as the apple of his eye whiche shoulde bring vnto vs a singular comfort and instruction For it serueth well to comfort vs when we vnderstand that we haue a keeper and defender in heauen who in the middest of our afflictions will not forsake vs no not then when it seemeth vnto vs that the whole worlde conspireth and ariseth against vs. On the other side we ought to receiue and take instruction therby because that wee heare that God taketh vengeance in his good time and as pleaseth himselfe vpon them which persecute his Church to the end that we should spoyle our selues of and cast farre from vs all particuler affections or motions of reuengement and shoulde leaue the iudgemēt of our cause vnto god to whō alone as he saith Vengeāce to repay the same Deut. 32.35 Rom. 12.19 doth belong when he shall see good and meete And notwithstanding the tyrants and persecutors haue to learne by the aboue saide examples to haue in horror and wonderfull feare the great iudgements of God and to knowe that albeit God doe for a time defer and put of the punishment of those which ragingly and furiously fall vpon his welbeloued Saints yet such are not for all that any whit the more blessed The furie and wrath of God as one hath said walketh and goeth verye softly Valerius Maximus in his historie but after it hath beene long time deferred or foreslowed it doeth at the last