3. aduersus gentes and I hope some of the rest as it may please God to worke may reape some good therby as I hartily pray to God they may S. Iohn saith behold the lambe of God and so I still and still say and so must al good christians and euery good christian euer and euer say and not onely say with the mouth but euer and euer thinke euen with the very hart euen in the very bowels of al christian affection and zeale behold the lambe of God that was before the world was that was mistically and as it were in a holy reuerend vaile or shadow prefigured in Moses law that was in aboundance of diuine spirit liuely and zealously foretold by the Prophets that was certainely and effectually preached by the Apostles that is assuredly and infallibly described by the Euangelists that in the whole word of God in the law and the gospell in the old and new Testament euer hath and is and euer shall be preached from generation to generation as the onely true lambe of God as the onely true sauiour of the world as our onely true mediator and redeemer euen Iesus the righteous true God and true man by whom from whom and in whom only we haue whatsoeuer good wee haue otherwise without him remayning in the most wretched most wofull and desperate state of vtter damnation both of body and soule Therfore we that beleeue the law of God and the Prophets of God the gospell of Christ the Apostles of Christ the creation of the world and the saluatiō of the world as God forbid but we should all beleeue as it becommeth the people of God and all good christians to beleeue we that beleeue the Canonical scriptures and desire to be members of the Catholicke church whereof Christ is the head must faithfully and vnfainedly acknowledge this lambe of God to be very God himself to be the promised Messias and onely Iesus to be the onely sonne of God that taketh away the sinne of the world Wee often repeat our Beliefe of the creation of the world by God the Father of the saluation of the world by God the sonne euen the lamb of God of the sanctification of the world by God the holy-ghost one true euerlasting and onely wise God who raigneth in all and aboue all for euer and euer this we often say and should alwaies think as we are in al christian zeale and with all perfect hatred to abhorre those that say or think the contrary Alas a thousand errors and heresies and blasphemies and idolatries and impieties haue ouerflowen the world and wickednes hath stretched out a long arme on euery side from the East to the West throughout the world and round about the world yet Christ still hath numbred his elect the great Shepheard knoweth his sheepe there wanteth not a visible or inuisible congregation of the faithful to make vp Christes militant Church there are many true Christian souldiers euer ready to fight vnder the Ensigne ancient of the lambe of God that neuer bowed the knee to Baal that neuer committed any heathenish or prophane idolatrie that neuer were defiled or corrupted with the filthines of the whore of Babylon that neuer either deuoted themselues to false gods or denied the true liuing God or said in their hearts with the vngodly and godlesse foole there is no God that crie dayly and howerly and euer sincerely and faithfully Behold the lambe of God ô Lord Iesus come quickly thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen thou art God and there is none other God but thou a iust and a sauing God as the Prophet Esay saith c. 45. v. 21. O let vs all cry thus let vs all set our selues against all that write or say or think otherwise Students reade many things euen of God and of Christ and otherwhiles against God and his Christ as for God his Christ here they must folow the direction of a godly iudgement here true christianity must ouerrule false paganisme and desperate atheisme here the spirite of God must confute and confound the spirite of the deuill the spirite of Antichrist the spirite of false Prophets the spirite of deceitfull heretikes the spirite of worldly hypocrites the spirite of blasphemous and impious villaines that care neither for God nor the deuill that measure all by present profite or pleasure without any regard of posteritie and either acknowledge no God or els make thē their gods that feed their owne humor most or most aduaunce their wicked purposes Without this directiō of Gods spirite and without this godly discretion and Christian iudgement to discerne betweene the trueth of God the falshode of the deuill alas how soone may students most of all other be misled and seduced by many wryters of much account among them who had no sence or feeling of this lamb of God or any such christian doctrine but in the aboundance of their owne carnall humor and in their grosse worldly sense tooke vpon them to iudge of all matters as well spirituall as corporall by the only direction of their natural reason or rather fantasticall conceite which otherwhile carried them headlong into all error and blasphemie I will passe ouer those old Atheists Diagoras Protagoras Democritus Philosophers Aristippus and Epicurus Courtiers the 288 sectes of heathenish schollers which S. Augustine mentioneth out of Varro l. 19 de Ciuitate Dei many of the heathen Poets both Greeke and Latin and such like whose godlesse and vnchast opinions are too common among the common sort of Students I would to God Aristotles sensuall naturall philosophie in his 3. bookes de anima of the immortalitie of the soule which that small abstract of Athenagoras doeth sufficiently ouerthrowe to omitte Aeneas and other of greater labour herein and his morall philosophie of mans perfect felicitie l. 1. c. 10. Ethec l. 10. c. 6 7. were not sometime for vaine disputations sake or I wot not how more hotlie mainteined with leaue and liking then were conuenient in our christian scholes and companies seeing such other matters of lesse importance haue with the same Schoolistes been so earnestly and egerly disalowed but if Cassianus be iudged of his angry children they wil out vith their penkniues by and by and haue their peniworths of him that was once ouer them yoong vnskilfull physicians count bodies sometimes past hope that haue as much life in them as themselues with all their inspectiues the wild hart would not haue arrested the sheepe of debt if the woolfe his enemie had not bene iudge hee that maketh an error and the report thereof both one cannot recite it against another but he shall therein be against himselfe one eare and one tale can neuer doe the iudge honesty and how can he determine which knoweth not the controuersie which heareth but one part which maketh suspition a proofe he is extreemely partiall that winketh at a filthy life and will not abide a homely word as if
congregation him his people him and his saincts which excell in vertue in higher and lower places of degree and title both in the church and out of the church as those goods haue beene euer most plentifull since the world began with the godliest fathers of all ages and namely most of all with those chiefe men Noa Abraham Iacob Ioseph Salomon Iob Ezechias and the rest who neuer thought any goods too good for Gods Church for his right hand is on them that feare him throughout all generations as his children are right-handed one to another in all places and in all cases of truth and conscience Yet if these men in our white lilly mending dayes more diuine reformers forsooth and purer correctors of abuses then Moses if these litle ones diuine ones descended from the bosome of father Abraham or some better Saint if better may be for so they beare themselues euer with and aboue the best that haue all zeale and all knowledge among them and can spare or affourd no morsell or parcell of these their two Spirituall graces for other pore men simple creatures in respect of such new creators if they had bin in the time raigne of Moses Iosua or rather very Moses and very Iosua were now in their times for all must be drawne to M. reformers cōputatiō perhaps we shall heare news shortly of another cōputation then we must say in the yeare of reformation 1 2 3 4. so on apace as long as it lasteth be you sure of it that they would in their pure quick fine Sybilline melancholy the cause of Prophets and Prophetisses in Agrippaes minde that neuer kept a meane but was euer extreame in writing magicall toys or dispraysing all liberall and mechanicall arts in extolling women aboue men and suppressing almost euerie man with his owne excellencie in his Epistles no vnfit master for these extreme reformers haue sayde and say vnto Moses and Iosua euen as they said to our Mosees and Iosuees to our priests and rulers For looke how Corah Dathan Abyram and On rose vp before Moses and Aaron and tolde them in their reformatiue discipline ye take too much vpon you why lift yee your selues aboue the congregation of the Lord we are all as holie as you what Moses and Aaron ye are too high Num. c 16. v. 3. So spreaken our pure and holy ones reformers so our holy and pure ones speake euen thereabout as holy as Corah and as pure as Abyrams conspiracie and as pure and precise as all honest conspirators sober men men in other times who at the first euer pretended reformations and corrections of abuses and then corrections and reformations of vices and nothing but amending of vniust matters corruptions reliques these haue a pleasure to water and dresse and reuiue that withered oake that reformatoria quercus Ketti ducis adorning and adoring it as the only chiefe tree of the fielde and forrest euen in a precise iollitie to abase and ouer-crow the famous planetree of Xerxes or any other Dodonean shade but they for all their numbers of voyces their singular holines or hollownes of heart so cunningly hid were deuoured of the earth and swallowed vp quick to the example and terror of all conspiring reformers euen to the worlds end that now they should hinder the authoritie of Gods messengers no more like those cursed Dathanites And what became of furious Ket and what is like to come vpon these practisers that can neuer see when they are well Neither yet did Moses put of his zeale or leaue of from enriching the holy Priesthoode in Israël or from honouring their posterities successiuely after his and their death but hee gaue them the goods and lordships and dominions of many cities for themselues and the lands and suburbes of them for their cattle and substance Num. c. 35. Ios c. 21. No doubt at that time many rough mal-contents and enuious Reubenites spake among the Israëlites as our hotspurres Rufi say now among vs Church-bread is sweete that is stolne thinges are pleasant but heard they neuer of a sweete and pleasant poyson amōg their prouerbs delightfull at the first and at the last deadly It is not Gods will say they that know not the legacies of Gods will that they should be troubled with such reuenues with such lāds liuings with so many loaues which might finde an armie to defend Israel a number of lustie choise valiant yongmen a sort of experiēced captains and souldiers of the best stampe Notwithstanding such a vulgar and plausible insinuation the most prouident and heauenly law-geuer Moses reproueth their rebellious and stiff-necked harts he went forward in setling the ground of his godly gouernment because he by yeares and wisdome knewe better then they could tell him that their youth is too rash to wish that which troubleth men that their experience is vtterly imperfit that greatest hotspurres are least conquerors that a man is not deliuered by much strength that armour and men are counted but a vaine thing to saue a countrey that nations are not defended preserued by the puissance chiualry of the inhabitants but that the wisdom grauitie of learned mē the coūsel vnderstāding of sober discreet mē that the firy zealous heauēly minded man like the priest Phinees or the king Iehu that moderation which is neither too high nor too low halfe vp halfe downe euen in the mids that Gods blessing bestowed on those that blesse him is cause of al obediēce peace at home of all safetie and security in respect of forraine daunger abroad that the head and heart must rule the hand and foote that the outward partes must bee preserued by the inward and preserue one the other mutually that if they must needs take away goods from other men their value should be stretched out against their heathenish enemies and therefore he commaunded them in Gods holy name on the Eastside of Iordan in the land of promise and in the same holy name the fathers commaunded Iosua his successor on the other side of Iordan in the land of promise they willed charged their Tribes by the will of their God to whom they were al tributary that fortie and eight cities with the granges and villages and suburbes and all bounds and limits of them should be allotted vnto the principall fathers of the Leuites out of their inheritance which the Leuites God their God had bestowed vpon them among which eight and fortie cities were those six principal places of refuge noblest sanctuaries of safegard for the vnwilling vnluckie slayer euen those three cities within the riuer Chades Sichem Hebron and those three cities without the riuer Golan Ramoth Bosor standing in both the ends and in both the middle parts of the land that no tribe might be without the lordships of Leuy that the land and mannors of Leuy might with greatest libertie lie in euery part and on either side of
be manifest vnto all men as also theirs was 2. Timo. c. 3. v. 8. Neither am I only to complaine of Lucian or those other vaine greekish wits as of Iannes and Iambres and such like and far aboue any such but diuers learned Romans of much better note when they liued and euer since reputed very sensible reasonable wise men cast themselues headlong into the same damnable gulfe of blasphemy and Atheisme If any man loue not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be anathema and had in execration yea let him be maranatha and abhorred vnto the death 1. Cor. c. 16. v. 22. Lord God what should I say to the two Plinies the vncle and the nephew famous learned men but alas most wretched soules to God whereof the one in his naturall history l. 7. not subtilly or sophistically like Aristotle or his Arabian and corrupt interpretour Auerroes but flatly and resolutely denieth the immortalitie of the soule the other l. 10. reporteth of Christ and the primitiue christians of his age as he listeth in the aboūdance and liking of his owne carnall conceit measuring the soule by the body the line by the timber these are fleshly they are makers of sectes they haue not the spirit and therefore they mislike the fruits hereof as S. Iude saith v. 19. I cannot deny but Cornelius Tacitus is a graue wise historian in many points yet how lightly and foolishly nay how wickedly and impiously doth he report of Christ and his professed followers l. 15. wherefore these are no more to be esteemed of vs eyther for their oratourship or other learning then Tertullus that oratour and Elymas that cunning man were esteemed of the Apostles Acts c. 13. v. 10. c. 24. v. 16. The like censure I and all good Christians must giue of Suetonius in the life of Nero Claudius of Symmachus in Prudentius works of Celsus in the bookes of Origene of too many other in that kinde who either reuiled Christ in abhominable most hellish tearmes of a notable malefactor and seducer of the people in very trueth no better then hungrie rauenous dogges licking vp the vomit of the Pharisees Mat. cap. 27. v. 62. or els acknowledged his only humanitie without any christian confession of his deitie Such is the fashion of the worlde and such is the guise of disguised malignant worldlings to rayle on the person whom they may see when they cannot disgrace his vertues which they will not see to respect the men that are of meane estate without regard of their stately and excellent gifts to vse generall reproofes without particular proofes and rather be content to call him good then leaue him out of the Libell to soare aloft and houer in the ayre like a spirite of the aire and yet at length to licke dust and seize vpon flies and wormes and meanest things to carry a great name euen a title of Legions and yet to end but in brutish and hoggish conquestes vpon the worst and vilest matters These disloyalties and misdemeanors are too well knowen among some men and I would to God they were either lesse notorious or more abhorred I confesse many bookes are otherwise of very great importance and worthy the reading but Christ knoweth how much better it were quite to banish them the Countrey then that they should creepe into the least credite with vs in any such matter of faith and religion we must not iudge of Angels by the deuils will or learne of our enemies how to vse our frendes we must haue no felowship with the vnfruitfull works of darkenesse of pride of malice of blasphemie but rather reproue them as S. Paul teacheth the Ephesians c. 5 v. 11 c. Men voide of the feare of Gods holy church and geuen ouer to a recklesse sense seeme they otherwhile to the world neuer so sensible neuer so reasonable neuer so learned neuer so wise neuer so hardie neuer so subtile both cast away themselues in the end and doe either little or no good nay exceeding much harme without the good direction and reformation of a christian spirite which buildeth not vpon flesh or bloud or vpon any goodly shew of humane witte reason learning experience or wisdome but euen vpon that corner stone and vpon that most sound and inuincible rocke whereon Christ buildeth his church that is a true confession of Christ with S. Peter and a faithfull heholding of the lambe of God with S. Iohn Other good parts and other good gifts are good in their kind at least as the world counteth good and as good goeth now a dayes but alas all other good without this good is too bad What auayleth it to haue all the experience all the policie all the learning all the wisdome all the wealth and plausibilitie in the worlde nay what doeth it profite to winne the whole worlde and to lose thine owne soule there runneth an olde prouerbiall rithmicall verse among Schollers notable for the sense though otherwise not so excellent Hoc est nescire sine Christo plurima scire Qui Christum bene scit satis est si caetera nescit The greatest knowledge without Christ is no better then blind ignorance he that well knoweth Christ it maketh the lesse matter if his knowledge bee the lesse otherwise O it is Christian beleefe Christian zeale Christian humilitie that leadeth to heauen Saluation commeth not of thy selfe or of thy owne witte thou art damned in the first Adam and must either remayne damned still or be regenerate and saued in the seconde Adam Iesus Christ the propitiation of our sinnes the immaculate lambe slaine from the beginning and once offered on the altar of the crosse for all the very true right only lambe of God that taketh away the sinne of the earth we may endeuor to sowe or to plant or to water or to runne or to doe any action but it is God that geueth the increase and victorie God be mercifull vnto vs and geue vs more and more of his mercie that through his grace and spirit we may grow and increase in his vineyard still from better to better to seeke still the finall destruction of these foxes which destroy the vine till we inherite that kingdome and enioy that crowne of glory that is prepared for him and his Angels for him and his elect for him and al good Christians Wee see how throughly the diuell hath playd his part in opposing so many great schollers and od wits in all ages against our sauiour his craft and malice hath left no way vnattempted whereby he may winne the world vnto him he continually goeth and rangeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may deuour 1. Peter c. 1. v. 8. O he is a wicked and a crafty diuell and is too well learned to spie his owne aduauntage and euer ready to take the least occasiō of his gaine by our losse of his strength by our infirmity of his comfort by our miserable fall and perdition of setting vp his
a rhetoricall rule were more precious then a morall neyther Irenaeus nor Epiphanius nor other old or yoong schollers are blasphemous for repeating the blasphemies of written heresies he that knew Alipius well did not once thinke him guilty of theft because he studied in the place and by chaunce handled the hammer and other tooles that a robber left there S. Augustine would not accuse him more in his confessions to God then those hasty fellowes which tooke them out of his hands and handled those instruments more then he had done he is strangely wise that feareth shadowes and yet taketh his enemy by the hand that strayneth at a gnat and swalloweth a camell that condemneth an heresie in one schoole and yet commendeth it in another that thinketh no mans gowne whole cloth but only his owne as Aristotle iudged all writers erroneous beside himselfe He was without doubt in some points an excellent philosopher but sometimes euen his naturall reason faileth and our common sense confuteth his common sense but the particulars of his questions and disputations wherein he transcendently exceedeth other men are not very fit for this place Come to supernaturall and diuine matters and alas what are his Metaphisicks where he maketh any mention of god or gods but either absurd Paganisme or intollerable Atheisme If we doubt hereof let vs search better l. 12. metap c. 7 6 8 9 10. and not fondly goe about to excuse or salue the matter by distinction of a Philosophicall truth and a Theologicall truth or by any like fruitlesse suttilty and quiddity of the schooles there is but one perfection truth of one the same matter that truth must be fet out of the diuinitie and highest schooles euen into the philosophy and lower schooles wheresoeuer heathenish philosophy is cōtrary or contradictory to Christs diuinity as Viues speaketh more instantly l. 5. cor art Beware lesse any man spoile you through philosophy and vaine deceipt after the traditions of men and after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ saith S. Paul Colos c. 2. v. 8. We must not be miscarried with the plausible name of Aristotle or Philosophy no more then of Therapontigonus of Pyrgopolynices or such but must christianly consider what becommeth Christians to beleeue most christianly defend that which may be warranted by good christianity whereby in our infancy we were incorporated into the church and in our last end hereafter shal be receiued into the triūph of heauen Aristotle no doubt had a notable high reach in many controuersies of common reason notwithstanding his errors of the number of spheres the order of planets the saltnes of the sea the cause of fountains the time of the rainebow the Salamanders quality the proportion of mans body and other particulars noted by Viues Greuinus Albertus Bessarion Bodinus the rest but Christ knoweth how far he was frō the true knowledge of a regenerate minde a more perfit reason directed and reformed according to Gods owne philosophy in the only fountain of all truth cōcerning matters of beleefe the very perfit truth it selfe for they which knew not God nor his word that is the bread of life vnderstanding and the water of wisdome without which none can liue saith Iesus c. 15. v. 3. nor glorified him as God became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish heart was full of darkenes filling their hungrie schollers with swines meate in steade of the childrens bread Luke c. 15. v. 16. as Gabriel Biel applyeth that text in his initial oration against philosophical curiositie and ignorance and for christian profession to his prelections de canone missae when they professed thē selues wise they became fooles saith S. Paul that great Doctor Rom. c. 1. v. 21 28. But no maruell though before Christes comming the heathenish Philosophers hauing no conference with the people of God preferring Athens before Ierusalem and the kingdome of Macedonia or Persia before the kingdome of Israël no maruell though such Philosophers before Christ had no sense or but very little feeling of God and Christ considering how many great Scholers and famous writers euen since the incarnation of our Sauiour Christ according to his humanitie euen since this Christian Philosopher S. Iohn cried out Behold the lamb of God haue either blindly of ignorance or spitefully of malice or diuelishly of impiety and wickednes not only not acknowledged this lambe of God or any such saluation or redemption of the world by this lambe of God but also denied and defaced blasphemed this most innocent and most righteous lambe of God I let passe the rabble of Scribes and Pharisees and Iewish Rabbines and other hypocrites that not regarding Christs vnmatchable starre or Gods irrefragable voice from heauen either with hand or with heart did conspire the bitter most intollerable passion of this most innocent lambe of God and so vniustly and vnmercifully crucified the most mercifull Sauiour of the worlde We are taught by S. Paul not to take heede of any Iewish fables or commandementes of men turning from the truth Tit. c. 1. v. 14. He that readeth of their Thalmud or doctrine may soone see their blasphemies against God in fayning him euery day to weepe once to be angry once then the creste of the cock is white and pale in accusing him of sinne when hee made the Moone lesse then the Sunne of a lie when he calleth the Sunne a greater light and the Moon a lesse against Christ in supposing that the temple of Ierusalem was not so rased and destroyed but that three or foure cubites were vntouched and those stones left one vpon another where a Rabbine might sitte and studie the Thalmud against heauen by deuising a hole in the North-parts which is vnfinished to trie by way of chalenge if any can match Gods worke and make it vp Whereupon certaine new Buylders with new wittes haue set a Chappel with the high end to the North that their faces being turned that way in prayers time God at their humble suit may himselfe make vp that hole after so many yeares triall of other defectiue efficients Nowe they saide all euill comes from the North because that part is open which being stopped the euill may perhaps be stopped and thus they builded If our Emanuel like well of this dedication who may or dare call it mis-went or mis-set and what new founder wil not follow this patterne by the counsell of that Quidam in Munster he that seeketh riches goeth and looketh toward the North perhappes hereby to obtaine an increase of yerely reuenues by praying that way for dayly bread or to be contrarie vnto Mahomet whose face is toward the South as other Christians are contrarie to the Iewes in looking towards the East O happie times and happie men that reuiue Homer and Auerroes and other renowmed Pagans to make them builders and Architects in Christes Church wee are too common and vulgar now but they are so
peerelesse that we may hope for new artes new manners new worldes to preuent articall hyperboreall harmes and to winne goods by the sonnes of Arcturus whom perhaps they can guide by their learning and answere the question in Iobs booke cap. 38. v. 32. against the Moone in sending her to God her creator to complaine of the Sun for keeping the light from her at his certaine times against innocent Adam by geuing him both natures of male and female in Paradise before Eue was made and telling of his ingendring with the beasts of the field against Noa the Preacher of righteousnes by reporting of the Crowes ielosie toward him to let passe many such impudent fictions vnreasonable impieties senselesse things But the Iewes credit is little worth with Christians and themselues are weried and tyred with looking so long for a new Messias whereas they had the right lambe of God among them and most horribly slaughtered him without all pitie or mercie euen according to the spirituall visions and diuine predictions of the Prophets that euery scripture might be fulfilled and no iote of Gods word passe vnaccomplished Act. c. 4. v. 28. The first comming of this lambe in humilitie is as certainly past as his second comming in maiesty glory is not farre of God grant we be found ready at the great comming of the great bridegrome with the fiue wise virgins that were so well prouided with oyle in their lamps Math. c. 25. v. 7 10. As I haue lightly passed ouer the light and vaine Iewes so I hope I may also do with the Turks considering that the very name of Iew and Turke are alike odious among good Christians The Alcoran and Mahomets whole heape of learning is not vnknowne to some students where Mahomet is made a greater and a mightier prophet then Christ because he had a greater body and was girded with a sword where the lambe of the diuell or rather that woolfe of hell is preferred before the lambe of God because the beast wrought more wonders then Iesus where God is said to be but one onely single God in person without any wife and therefore without any sonne or daughter or any such issue because God is not able in his extraordinary power to beget a body without ordinary means where diuers notable histories and speciall parts of the bible are fabulously deliuered strangly corrupted because otherwise they serue not his purpose where the finger of the diuell hath incountred the finger of God and the spirit of Belzebub opposed it selfe against the spirit of Christ This horrible abhominable booke although it be read of some men yet I trust there is not any christian that maketh any better account thereof then it deserueth though Leo Nardus gather out of it a certaine Confirmation of our gospell in his tollerable vnnecessary deuise being in truth the very booke of the diuell vnder pretense of worshipping the one only true God whereas no man cōmeth to the father but he whom the sonne leadeth and guideth as many texts of scripture might be alleaged to that purpose Iohn c. 14. v. 6. Math. c. 11. v. 27. c. In this booke Sergius a false monke and a Nestorian heretike had his hand therein thinking to go beyond all Antichrists in oppugning and defacing the diuinity of Christ Sabel l. 6. Enne 8. but I hope there shal not greatly neede any long confutation in this place either of Mahometists or of Nestorians or of any like hereticks that denied the deity of Christ they haue bene materially and throughly confuted by the best diuines of al ages from time to time euē since the primitiue church to this day and these Sergianks and Alcoranks cannot endure long but they shall be stopped vp as wels without water and they are carried about with a whirlewinde and tempest and to them the blacke darkenesse is reserued for euer 2. Pet. c. 2. v. 17. God be praised this poison hath not greatly at any time infected this church of Englād or any special mēbers therof but hath alwaies bin reckoned among the most venimous scismes the most horrible apostasies the most abhominable heresies of other erroneous churches and little better account may iustly be made of Scaliger that suttle maister of late yeares suttle as a spinners web full of cunning and simply good for nothing and therefore hated of right wisdome which the heathen miscalled Pallas as the morall physitian Petrarke writeth l. 1. dial 7. who eyther in the pride of his name Iulius Caesar or of his wit or militarship accounteth the ministers of holy things in al countries and places like those Mahometicall impostors which deceiued the king of Moluccae with their Manucodiata a bird of paradise for dreaming and fayning many matters thereby to lead the people into vaine hope and maintaine their opinions or sects Exercit. 228.5 And little better account hath bene made of Iosephus the writer of the Iudaicall historie and himselfe a Iewish priest who reporteth of Iesus but as of another good wise man or a good prophet at the most because he could say no more then he knew or would not seeme to be wiser then his countrymen from whom both the turkish and all other vngratious violent doctrines had their beginning l. 18. c. 4. antiq Some other places of christendome haue bene more touched and plagued with these corrupt inuentions of Iudaisme Nestorianisme Mahometisme such like execrable apostasies and heresies robbing Christ of his diuinity and themselues of their saluation in denying him to be the lambe of God I pray God wee may euer continue cleare in the vniuersities and cities which are to be the nurseries of true doctrine and seminaries of true religion the tree of apostasie and heresie must not onely be hewen downe but plucked vp by the very rootes and burned in vnquenchable fire Math. c. 3. v. 10. Certaine ancient fathers in the primitiue Church were troubled with confuting the wicked ruffianly apostata Iulian Carion saith l. 3. who desperately opposed himselfe with might and maine with haue among yee my maisters the Nazarites during that short florish of his empire which vanished like a mist euen as Athanasius had prophesied of him against the holy one in Israel the blessed lambe of God and not onely fought against Christ with the tyrannicall armes of a bloudy Emperour but also with the sophisticall weapons of a broken rhetorician euer ready aswel to martyr the zealous confessor with the one as to confute the most zealous doctor with the other But himself in the end was striken with an arrow wonderfully as Achab was cōstrayned to crie out in a horrible and wofull agonie Vicisti galilaee ô galilean thou hast gotten the victory ô Christ I must needes confesse my selfe ouercome and so he gaue vp the blacke ghost Theod. l. 3. c. 25. and certaine fragments of his glorious and blasphemous stile are yet extant sufficiently confuted aswell by many learned christians as by that
and theomachies commonly made euen of poets in reuerence of religion the causes of greatest mischiefes and sorowes to which end and purpose all the most auncient tragedies haue beene written euē euery one of them as R. Haruey hath proued in his Logical and Enthymematicall Analysis dedicated to the valiant and vertuous noble Lord the Earle of Essex If Menelaus counted a light and idle pratler abuse Calchas or Agamemnon a great drinker in his hast and anger misuse Chryses or Pentheus in his frensie disturbe the Bacche or Creon in his pride disable Tyresias and so forth neither shall their passions hinder the spirites of those Prophets nor make Nestor or Vlisses or Cadmus or the Thebanes or the wiser sort or God himselfe in their phrase termed Apollo and Dyonisius of destroying euill thinges and working great matters to despise them one iote the more but the rather to defend them which decorum is euer kept in all their bookes in geuing the best ende of their controuersies to their religious persons hee that hath eyes to read let him reade Then let him thinke in his heart whether pacience and humility in one man should prouoke another man to presumption and rigour and the naked innocencie and innocent nakednesse of Gods holy prophets and teachers may in any heauenly or worldly reason cause busiebodies the rather to annoy them if he answereth in himselfe it should not it may not be why goeth he against his conscience and woundeth his owne soule in allowing these idle flies these troublesome waspes these stinging gnats these vnprofitable wormes if he saith it should be it may be he maketh loue a reason of hatred and submission a cause of oppression he taketh away the reward of vertue and doth euill for good which is worse then the worst beasts then diuels all Then I beseech him to consider how disalowable it is in good discipline which they and he stand vpon so much to change that order and breake downe those degrees that are nether diuers from Gods holy and reuerend word nor contrary to true and godly gouernment to be firie vehement in their innouatiōs wheras old standards haue more equity and safety in thē by much or else by such an infinite methode we shall neuer make an end of changings and euer trouble the world with needles questions besides that is the most inordinate vnlawfull thing in the world to haue priuate men speake and write their pleasures in publicke cases seeking on their owne heads without any good allowance or lawfull warrant of the rulers factiously and arrogantly to alter the state that is builded and framed on Gods and mans law Then I desire him to examine this question whether vertue and wealth godlines and riches may not be in one and go together if they may not why were the most soueraigne princes and godly puissant captaines of Gods church euer as welthy and rich as any other will they reforme God too for doing this and teach the Almightie to do better or if they may be in one being both good what meane these immoderate clensers of no faults to pull downe or spoile to beggar or abase with all their forces the countenance and maintenance of spirituall magistrates and fathers of ecclesiasticall teachers and rulers whose reuenues and iurisdictions are more necessary and lesse hurtful more charitable and natural then any other and whose children shall not be behind any in true vertue and true proofe How truly hath S. Augustine defined him to be an heretick which for profits sake or fame beginneth or followeth new opinions God in his goodnes and mercie forgiue all ignorant and weake offences as he will in his powerfull iustice ouerthrow all presumptuous and strong offenders to his owne immortall glory and the euerlasting comfort of his true church his peculiar people his faithfull children his obedient seruaunts which beleeue in him aboue al which feare him vnder all which loue him with all the powers of their soules and bodies in all thankfulnes and dutie in all visible inuisible offerings of their goods and goodwils For when the reasonable and honest soule remembreth in it selfe that the weight of Gods sanctuary was euer as much more as the weight of the congregation and the measure much more that the best fairest of all things were alwaies bestowed vpon Gods diuine vses and seruices who giueth vs the best all for his vses that the lands of the Leuites in that only little land of Canaan cōtained at the least in compasse one hundred and ninety miles Num. c. 35. v. 5. or if later times be better that of the whole land of Iurie diuided into foure seuerall parts two parts of them were giuen to the priests to the temple and the Leuites for their inheritance Ezech. cap. 45. vers 3 4 5. or if an interpretor be required herein in that S. Ierome in his notorious and notable epistle to Euagrius concludeth and calleth this an apostolical tradition that the Bishops and Priests and Deacons may aske and chalenge so much in the church as Aron and his sonnes and the Leuites did in the temple that the liuings of the Aegyptian priests euen idolatrous priests were not once touched or diminished in common dearth and famine and need and knoweth withall that these benefits and liberties were ordained by two of the most godly and politick lawmakers that euer liued except Christ euen by Moses and Ioseph men euery way most singular vnmatchable men taught of God himselfe from heauen it selfe by visions and reuelations and familiar conferences how can he iudge otherwise then honorably and graciously for the heads and parts of the church as he will iudge both graciously and honorably for the heads and parts of the congregation there is not I am sure any one of vs that reading S. Paul 2. Cor. c. 3. v. 7 8 9 10 11. of the glorious and continuall ministery of righteousnes more excellent then the ministery of condemnation or c. 4. Galat. humbling the law with the names of rudiments and bondage and those which liued vnder the law of children and seruants but exalting the gospell with the titles of fulnesse of time and redemption and the gospellers of sonnes and heires and such other concordances of like Scripture can once thinke that the law of Moses is greater then the gospell of Iesus but that the gospel is both for the godhead of the autor Hebr. c. 3. v. 3. and for the doctrine it selfe and for the first teachers of both greater and woorthier then the law which proposition of the gospels excellency and preferment beyng truly graunted and rightly grounded these consequents must necessarily be conioyned that they which teach the gospell ought euery way to liue in more honour and credite thereby among the Christians then they which taught the law liued in honour and reuerence thereby among the Israëlites as the perfitest state of the church must haue perfitest honour that he is the
surest freend to God and Gods people which ioyneth the power of the world vnto the mightines of the word the arme of Moses to the tongue of Aron the blessings of God to Gods blessed church that by vniting of both powers either may be stronger Eccle. c. 4. v. 12. that in this greatest light of diuinitie diuines should be in greatest light and reputation yea if it were but to anger the deuill in hell who like a crafty theefe as he is euer seeketh by miserable pouerty to cast them into wofull contemptible estate That vnhappie pouertie may make the men ridiculous as Iuuenall wryteth Satyra 3. or as Synesius bishoppe of Ptolomais singeth in his seconde and thirde Hymne sad pouertie may pull them from heauenly studies to earthly cares as he had learned of Agur the sonne of Iaketh or rather of experience the daughter of trueth that our preachers nowe may pronounce a seuenfold Vae and a mighty malediction ouer thē which empayre Gods tenthes or any other dues as the olde Prophets aforetime did in Iudaea Mala. c. 3. v. 8 10. Amos cap. 4. vers 4. that there is no iust cause why the papistes should be readier to magnifie their Cleargie in a false superstition then the Protestants to vphold rewarde their cleargie in a true religion why the heathen churches should be in greater reuerence with the paganes then the christian churches with the christians as the loue of good men should exceed the loue of the wicked why secular men may get their wealth by testamēt or desert spirituall men hauing the same plea both of testament and desarte may misse of their own goods and lose them by force by tyrāny hypocrisie vnder a mercifull Prince in a peaceable state in their owne natiue countrey of their own neighbors by the waiward and sophisticall wrangling of their own professors and such other deceitfull and vngodly meanes and essayes of the maker the shifter the hooker against the golden rules of vniuersalitie of antiquitie of vnanimitie which Vincentius in his commentarie standeth so well vpon Then to whom may I best liken this race of Reformers and with what may we iustly and truely compare them If I should continua similitudine resemble them to the Vipers broode that kill their owne damme which bred and brought them vp to life I am sure you that know the vse of this kind of simile and the manners of this people against their mother the Church that first bred them will say I speake trueth If in like sort I compare them to the noysome Cuckoo reckoned among other vnclean birdes in Leuiticus which must not be eaten or tasted of c. 11. v. 16 whose propertie is to starue his nest-felowes and destroy his nurce that fed him our dayly experience doth approue it and if Orus or Pïerius were aliue euen they woulde make these two naturall examples the Hierogliphickes of Reformers God graunt they be not like the vnaduised Physitian that would needes cut a veine where no danger was and thinking to ease and lighten the head where the signe was which poynt hee either forgat or neglected let the life bloud out and killed both head and heart together I pray God they prooue not like the hasty and curious husbandman that to make his trees growe in more sightly order as he thought so cropped and disarmed disarayed them that in short time they withered vp I hope in Christ they shall neuer be like that conceited harebrainde Captaine who when by grosse ouersight and blindenes he had lost the Citie in neglectigg one gate which had most neede of defence beyonde his expectation cast himselfe and his neighboures into bondage and death and as it were out of Gods blessed Paradise into the wilde fielde and hote Sunne But alas I see well they are to day like themselues yesterday and to morow like themselues to day seking this day and all other like themselues to make desperate exchanges to bring in fruitlesse amendments stūbling at strawes that hinder not the way and leaping ouer great blockes that halfe stoppe vp the way crying out vpon the godly orders and decent customes of the church as il birds that file their owne neast exclaiming against conuocation robes and graue apparrel because sometimes forsooth there hangs a straw or feather or threads end or some such great thing which a cranke a cursitour a Martin a carter threw or blewe vpon them in his terrible mocking vaine and letting passe the mōstrous vnnaturall vnlawfull vngodly vnciuil and more then Iewish vsurers whom the most learned M. doctor Wilson once her Maiesties Secretarie hath condemned in his Dialogues to the endlesse shame of gromelgayners ill occupiers by heathens by Christians by the old fathers by the auncient counsels by emperors by bishops by decrees by canons by all sectes of regions and of all religions by the gospell of Christ by the mouth of God omitting the outlandish and English corruptions or witcrafts by which and those kinde of people together if we marke well this seminarie of reformers is cheefly vpholden and boulstred out and by such companions as make the bookish vnwary Minister a cloake for their conueyances and a shadowe for their skarres It is but too true which Ptolomy wryteth in his 12. aphorisme that loue and hatred corrupt mens iudgements either in themselues by extenuating the greatest faults and by extending the least commendations or by enlarging the least faults and abridging the greatest prayses of their aduersaries which like not their proceedings Wherefore I would to Christ they would once leaue off from their vncharitable and vnwarie contradictions and be so gratiously and godly wise to take the lambe of God out of the Lions and Beares mouth as valiant young Dauid did saue his lamb with his cunning and hardy sling and taught some old shepheardes as he learned of other to keep their sheepe and lambes from hungrie and emptie and rauenous beastes of the field and of the wood Saue the lambe of God not because he hath need of your helpe but that yee may bee blessed and saued by him Hurt not the seruants of the Lambe if ye haue any foresight in you least while you goe about to drowne the poore mouse as the enuyous frog did you make your selues a pray to your enemies by the same deuise and thread which drowned him as Aesope said to Delphi for himselfe in a sillie tale conteyning a subtile and solemne precept to beware of reuenge Let vs looke vpon the Princes and heads of Israël let our noblemen allow and follow their actes which shal be renowmed and praysed for euer their offeringes shal be famous throughout all posterities no reformers or misinformers shall euer deforme and defame their good workes and good names and the sixe sonnes of Arcturus in heauen shall not continue longer then the giftes of Naason Nathaniel Eliab Elizur and the other rulers vnto Pagiel and Ahyra which giftes they gaue at the setting vp of