thy seruants to do any thing and we will do any thing with all our power and giue vs after this Battle which we dayly maintaine and wage against the diuell and his two great Bassaes the world and the flesh that hire and those wages that are prouided and ready told out for all them that fight a good fight vnder thy Insigne for thy Church yesterday in the field to day in the Cittie and to morow in both till they die to themselues and liue to thee Esai cap. 40. vers 10 ô how happie how right happie how onely happie are they which liue with thee this day and the next day and for euer Thus much of the circumstance of time contained in this word The next day the first part of this history The second part is the circumstance of the Place where the baptisme of Iohn-baptist was celebrated and published among the Iewes in which respect and consideration I may reason thus In matters of greatest importance and weight the manner of historians is to set downe the place of the action and actor to make their histories credible seing all that is done is done in some place but the baptisme of Iohn is a matter of greatest importance weight and therefore the place of the baptisme must be named and so it is named in this chapter and called Bethabara in the verse going before Yet Chrysostome in his 16. homily vpon this gospell turneth both verses into one as though it were necessary to ioyne the verse of the place with the verse of the speaker but to omit this grammaticall point of ioyning parting verses S. Ierome in his translation if that translation be truly fathered vpon Ierome miscalleth the place Bethania for Bethania is not beyōd Iordan as this place is said to be neither is there any other Bethany but one Suidas inuenteth a newe place Thabara which is not seene in all that countrie besides this one proofe or rather reproofe P. Martyr addeth another sure one and concludeth that the place of Iohns baptisme was neere vnto Iordan but Bethania far from that riuer yea so much farther from the desert where Iohn baptized Then seing Bethania is but 15. furlongs that is two miles within one furlong southward from Ierusalem as is specified in this gospell c. 8. v. 18. it cannot be the desert of Iudaea which is at the neerest by Stellaes map 80. furlongs that is ten miles eastward frō Ierusalem where Iohn-baptist abode seing Bethany is on the foreside of the riuer and Bethabara on the farre side the glose cannot put the one in the others roome vnlesse it can put twelue miles into one hem seing Bethany is the towne of Martha and Mary whether Christ went and lodged c. 11. v. 1. and Bethabara a plaine field beyond Iordan except we turne a field into a towne we must read Bethabara not Bethania and so doth Chrysostome read so doth Theophilactus read and so doth Origen read so doe our best old and new doctors read Wherefore auoiding that old errour in Chorography we rightly name the place of Iohns baptisme Bethabara which is beyond Iordan This place is the common highway and passage from Syria to Palestina by ferry and therefore a most populous and much frequented place saith Gualter this is the place which the Israëlites went through right ouer Iericho with their puissant triumphant captaine Iosua while the water of Iordane was miraculously driuen backward on the right hand and on the left and therefore a famous and wonderful place Iosua c. 3. v. 16 this is the place where the inhabitants of mount Ephraim tooke the princes of the Madianites by the appointment of Gedeon both Oreb and Zeb and therefore a victorious and renowmed place Iudges c. 7. v. 24 25 a place both for the former excellencie and present vse most fit for Iohns baptisme wherby we enter the highway to heauen in which we tread the path that leadeth vs against our spiritual enimies by which we ouercome the kings of this worlde and the chiefest in the waies of the ayre These and other like causses might be prouidently foreseene of the Baptist besides these he knew that he ought to teach his doctrine in the promised and holy land Luke c. 1. v. 16 that his discipline chiefly respected the Iewes where Christ should come after him that his cries should be most heard in the desert of Iudaea that the more he persuaded the Rabbies of Ierusalem the more his doctrine should preuaile and as it were take roote among the people that the neerer he kept to that famous cittie in some open place the further he was from suspition of corner opinions and scismaticall conueyance for heresies being in a sort inward maladies and cankers 2. Timoth. c. 2. v. 17 go like a sicknesse from house to house from dore to dore but true religion seeketh no starting holes saith S. Bernard and wisdome standeth without in the high streete in the entrings of the gates in the tops of high places saith king Salomon and lifteth vp hir voice in the plaine of Bethabara So God sendeth his word as he giueth other his good benefits the light of the firmament the dew of the element the springs of the waters the fruites and gifts of nature and the insitions or graftes of grace are vniuersall and common to men he openeth his hands and filleth all things with plenty saith the kingly prophet Psal 145. v. 16 And as the Baptist preacheth here in an open great auditory so did other saints of God and embassadors of the Almighty at other times both to resemble with their whole imitation the property of God whose cognisance they carried in their harts and to make this one good the better by parting and dispensing it among a multitude for in no place were the acts of the twelue Apostles the seuen Deacons more seene then in open synagoges and on festiuall daies Acts c. 2. v. 6. c. 3. v. 6 7. c. 4. v. 10. c. 5. v. 12. c. 7. v. 2. c. 8. v. 12. c. the Prophets call the heauen and earth not one parcell or corner of heauen and earth to heare their prophesies and instructions Esai c. 1. v. 2. Ierem c. 6. v. 9. c. 22. v. 29. Michae c. 1. v. 2. And Ieremy againe is commanded to crie in the eares of Ierusalem to awake them frō their sleepe of sinne that all the citie may giue eare c. 2. vers 2. God speaking to Ezechiel calleth him sonne of man as if in him he spake to all mankind c. 2. v 1 3 6 8. c. Oseas and Amos and the rest call all the Israëlites c. 4. v. 1. c. 3. v. 1. Ionas is sent to all Niniue c. 1. v. 2. other men of God cal vpon whole townes whole prouinces all nations at once Ioel c. 1. v. 2. Abdias v. 1. Nahum c. 1. v. 15. Sophony c. 2. v. 1 4 c. Zachary c. 2. v. 7. God giueth his
of God for greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world they are of the world and therefore speake they of the world and the world heareth them we are of God hee that knoweth God heareth vs he that is not of God heareth vs not hereby know we the spirit of veritie the spirit of errour thus much S. Iohn in that place O let vs still and still more and more eschue abandon this spirit of error this spirit of the world this spirit of Antichrist and euer imbrace and acknowledge the spirit of truth the spirit of God the spirit of Christ O let vs for the loue of God for the loue of Christ for the loue of our owne soules euermore seeke the lambe of God follow the lambe of God behold and imbrace the lambe of God looke for the health of our bodies the saluation of our soules the safegard of both not in or from or by any other but only in and from and by the only lambe of God repose our whole beliefe trust and felicity in the lambe of God that taketh away the sin of the world that redeemeth saueth vs wretched and wicked sinners of the world that with his owne precious bloud hath paid the great ransome for the release of our miserable bondage and captiuity vnder the yoke of sinne and hath suffered that great insufferable passion due to vs sinners to bring vs vnto heauen vnto God vnto himselfe sitting on the right hand of the father in all maiestie power and glorie for euer and euer Thus you haue a short confutation of those vngratious worldlings that either with wilfull or no better then beastly violence or with witlesse desperate blasphemy or with fond and obstinate self-loue haue proued themselues the most indiscreet rulers the most vnskilfull writers the most vile and vngodly sinfull men that euer were called men or euer liued in the world I meane first those vngodly antichristian hellish Aristotelists Auerroists Plinians call them in word as they were in deed men of more subtilty then surety which denying the immortalitie of the soule accounting it no better then heat and breath mouing and remouing the body only haue ignorantly and preiudicially denied the finall cause of Christs sorrowfull humiliation and glorious resurrection which saued our soules from damnatiō and death in the nethermost noisome deadly pit the lake of torment the prison of misery and all thraldome world without end and defending the eternity of the world iudging it without beginning and without ending which vndoubtedly was fashioned finished in six daies as we surely proue by the Genesis of Moses the wonderfull prophet of God the wisest lawmaker in Israël the mightiest captaine of armes by the Hexaëmerons of diuers both Greeke and Latin doctors and fathers by our Apostolicke beleefe most stedfastly builded on God the father almightie maker of heauen and earth the sea and all that is in them at whose last comming the earth shall melt away like wax and the heauens shal be folded vp like a garment haue defaced with all their might the maiestie of Christs ascension and denied the eternitie of his last dreadfull iudgement both which wee reuerence and magnifie with all godly loue and Christian zeale hauing visiblie and faithfully seen the one with the Apostles eyes and vnfaynedly looking for the other with liuely heartes with spirituall hunger and thirst with desire to leaue this mad and drunken world to liue infinitely raigne with him in euerlasting life Then I meane those hypocriticall Pharisies those impious Iewes and Iewish confederats succeeding the heathenish infidels and pagans in course and time of yeares but farre before them in all wickednes sinne in euery notorious iniquitie and enormitie that did treacherously and sophistically seeke to vndermine Christ and to take him in his words that in the gall of bitternes and bond of impietie mocked and spitte at him and most grieuously and vniustly disgraced him in spite of heauen and earth of angels and men euen as God had appointed in his secrete ordinance and wonderfull prouidence before the foundation of the world was layd that in the pride and rage of Iudaisme in the height of anger and depth of malice whipped him like an outcast the sonne of God crowned him with thorns like a mad bedlem the innocent lambe of God nay led and perced and wounded him to death like a hurtfull beast the triumphant king of angels and men mightie Sauiour of the world But they soone felt the heauy intollerable hande of God for these so Iewish and diuelish abhominations and when their brasen faces would not blush nor their iron heartes relent the very stones of the temple were riuen asunder the faire vaile was rent in twaine frō the top to the bottom those sensles stones were more soft and pensiue then the Iewes the dead carcases were more tenderly and mercifully affected toward Christ crucified at his one and last exclamation in one hower then the elders of Iury were in all their life time which heard many heauenly admonitions diuers happy promisses sundry blessings and cursings yet liued and died in their gainesayings being at last themselues as stones and carcasses reiected throwne out and troden vpon hauing their children and cities vtterly destroyed and their land layd wast and those mockings and spittings that thorny crowne and vineger and gall those nayles and that speare and that crosse and all the rods and crosses that were laid vpon Christ haue euer since bene laide vpon them being esteemed the most odious abiects of all men the very roges and runnegates of the earth against whom all men haue set themselues euen as they oppose and set themselues against all men like Ismaëites and Edomites more vile in Gods eyes then dunge and clay on the ground and all good and godly Christians are inuincibly confirmed in Christian faith by the shamefull ouerthrow of those Iewish and christians which is come to passe according to the gospell of Iesus Christ for his kingdomes sake and our endlesse comfort and instruction to him therefore be prayse for euer Then I meane the Turkes and turkish religion or rather hereticall superstition that in steed of noble prophets on our side hath but one fugitiue monke but the same one false monke on their part to defend it against our so many learned and constant professours that hath no history for his defence and in that respect condemneth historians that could neuer get any sober and learned orator to maintaine his cause and therfore disaloweth the graces and power of rhetorick that cannot be defended by disputation and therefore forbiddeth all disputations that is forced against his owne will law to prefer Christ before Mahomet our mercifull king before his bloudie captaine for honest and honorable birth for vertuous and wonderfull acts for blessed and heauenly translation himselfe being borne basely and liuing vitiously and dying of lewd causes more like a ruffian
the land of promise the holy land and patterne of all holy land so far and so long as nothing was done without the lawes of Moses which were the lawes of God Now if it would please God to open the eyes and eares and hearts of our tribes of our hundreds of our counties of our shires of our fathers rulers that they might see and perceiue heare and vnderstand know fully acknowledge freely I say no more yet I might well name our reformers a sort of new Arrians that inuent lies against our spirituall lords as they did against Athanasius deuise one slander of his abusing a woman another of cutting of Arsenius arme both which in the triall proued false and ridiculous as those should doe if the libelling accusers were knowne yet truth wil raigne though they die in the darke and in another kinde of Arrianisme abuse Christs church impudently and profanely as if he were a man no God not caring whether it be true or not true that they write so that the wauering and rude multitude voyde of deliberation and iudgement seeme to like it for whose onely pleasures it is published in the rudest fashion seeing al learned and ciuill men peacemakers abhorre it but God almightie send a true spirite into them that as new borne babes they may be children concerning maliciousnes not in knowledge or a new Iubilee in vs and for vs at his good pleasure These are Gods goods Gods cities Gods suburbs Gods mannors which he himselfe hath geuen before Constantines donation no whit belonging to vs as legacies of his first will and testament to his owne holy and beloued Priesthood Or if our rough smoothed brethren which name they vse for a bayte if our Esaus and Nymrods reformers hunters if our temporizing temporall correctors mammonistes these presumed and supposed iudges of eternall lawes if they will in their wild and wily wilfulnes frustrate this constitution of God if they care not howe short their daies may be vpon the earth which the Lorde hath geuen them so that they may not honour their ghostly fathers without whose authoritie they shall neuer rule Subictes or seruants or children but suppresse and ouer-rule them if they wil clayme and auouch a second wil or testament and disauow and disclayme the old will and testament cancell the auncient actes of Gods former registers make a parlement act of their owne priuate and in deede no better then apostumated braynes which in the second consequence and in the third depending thereon concluding any way either simply or comparatiuely a causis and a partibus will certainly cast themselues and all other into a manifest anarchy into all disturbance and vtter confusion because the same obiections against one state of spirituall Lords may as iustly and more sensibly be deriued vpon secular Lordes of like degree I say if Moses eternall lawes the very true lawes of God be in these new reformations no better then temporarie and transitorie lawes which were a deepe roote for atheisme and a ground-worke for blasphemie yet I hope these Martins will not make themselues worse then Pagans being counted Christians they cannot possibly I trust be so irefull and raging as to exceede the profane Egyptians who allowed their priestes no small commodities in plenty of bread of flesh of wine besides their domesticall immunities and priuiledges whereby they spent nothing of their own neque è re domestica aliquid conterunt neque impendunt saith Herodotus in Euterpe and Danaeus in his Aphorismes gathereth more from that second booke than I doe they wil not for shame doe lesse for other christians thē they did for other idolatrous Egyptians cap. 47. ver 22. of Genesis But in trueth these reformers haue without trueth contemned Moses and Iosua like Iannes and Iambres and the Gibeonites in former times God send them more of his grace and mercie or the rewarde of those men if it be his will now will they also count Ioseph that heauenly politike guyde that true patterne of politickes a partiall and parciall iudge and account him and his rulers al superstitious rulers for not touching and buying the lands of the Egyptian priests and fathers in the seuen yeares of intollerable dearth and famine when all other men of the Temporaltie sold euery man his land his cattle himselfe and all to buy bread Surely those holy men of our so learned dayes and so christiā peace that put almost all Gods husbandrie in lopping and proyning and making euery thing lesse then it shoulde be much like that holines that the Graecians Hyppocrates name in those words sacer morbus sacer piscis os sacrum whereby they vnderstand greatnes more thē goodnes quantitie more then qualitie a diseased holines a fishy holines slicke on the skinne and sicke within a bonish holines and fitter to choake men then to feede them would in their reforming discipline make our gouerners and Iosephs worse affectioned to their naturall and spirituall countreymen or fathers and instructors that haue altogether alike one baptisme one confirmation one communion one beleefe one prayer one law one gospel one God and one mediatour sauiour then Pharao was to the idolatrous Priestes of his kingdome hauing more forcible necessitie then to haue sequestred and impropriated their church-landes and goods then euer other kinges and princes had or ought to haue by the rule of Gods word to empayre their church-lands and goods which euen in the naturall witte of Trebatius are sacred being once dedicated vnto God and therefore inuiolable according to the nature of holy things Macrob. l. 2. Satur. cap. 3. but receiuing al their blessings and fruites for the churches sake whereof they are members which is the onely spouse and best beloued sister of the lamb of God not for any meritorious worke of their owne ought contrariwise rather to increase their annuities and reuenues as they will for a woorse and meaner loues cause in common vsuall fauour increase the liuings of such as they onelie wish well vnto But these our reformers say what they list either like tyrants that cannot be hindered or like wittals that must be tolerated and these will haue their words though the rulers bid peace Then leaue them a while to themselues and let them alone and thinke in your harts beloued christians and iudge in your owne consciences vnfainedly like right Nathanaels without guile or gal iudge I pray soberly aduisedly in your mindes and then marke my communication Is not equitie or law and reason vniuersal and common for all reasonable men is any man forbidden in equity and reason to keepe his owne goods which are lawfully giuen him did Naboth offend God by keeping his inheritance vineyard or Ahab in asking and Iezabel in catching it by false processe and wrongfull execution when hir cosmeticall physitians had cōmended the prospect and recreation of the place and his greedy lawiers told him of his profit and prerogatiue may one man or lord
whereof they affirme 1. Timot. c. 1. v. 7. but haue erred from all lawe of religion and honesty and are turned vnto vaine iangling and euen very piperly scurrility like that cursed Cham from whom al wicked sects began or worse then he toward their reuerend Fathers and spirituall Lords delighting to see and lay that naked which blessed Sem and good Iaphet in all modesty desire to couer from their owne and others eyes Genes c. 9. v. 22 23. Of which kind of creatures those inward cynaedi S. Paul warneth al godly christians and not vnlike those lothsome mannermongers that count it finenesse to note filthines and thinking others senses worse then their owne will not sticke to say looke here smell there foh feele or see I pray did you euer know the like whereas they should say smell not vnto it looke not on it or rather not once note it of which thankelesse remembrancers and needlesse inquisitors their good master Galateo biddeth them in the authoritie of his greyheaded courtiership not to take example like hogges that runne from the hearbs to a new muckhill for feare of breeding offence to no purpose as I would be sory to breed disliking in any elderly learned well spokē man be it Aretius probl theol de Matrimonio or Bishop Ponet c. 6. of his Apolog. or other his friends for naming the author that here saith well and elswhere perhaps amisse Then see and touch with Thomas the apostle and then beleeue with Thomas the apostle who was so ready and resolute to go die with Christ his Lord Iohn c. 11 v. 16. and yet too would prouide to stand on a sure ground when time was for all that resolution and then became more incredulous and scrupulous then other in his happy foresight vntill he had a manifest answere in seing and touching which might stop all Antichristian obiections in latest times Many haue desired to see and touch Christ in the flesh to see their intelligible felicity in sensible proofe as namely S. Augustine did like a good harty subiect that wisheth to see the Prince of his country of whom al good men speake and himselfe thinkes most honorably yet blessed are all such as speake and beleeue and haue not seene Iohn c. 20. v. 29. the rather because they which report this vnto thē report no more then they haue seene and heard Acts c. 4. v. 20. The Apostles eyes were the eyes of Christians God grant our eyes may be as cleere and steady as their eyes were their eares were our eares ô that we could shut them from vanitie and open them to verity as they did that the word of Esai be not found in vs they shall see with their eyes and not perceiue they shall heare with their eares and not vnderstand c. 6. v. 9. but that first we may see him and then like him and then loue him and then know him within without Intus in cute his deity and humanity and conuey the image of his countenance into our harts by the most quick and hot spirit of his word and law that our veines and marow and so consequently by them all other partes may be fired and inflamed with this light of man Morning star and Sunne of the day loadstar alwaies euen Iesus Christ and make vs in colour and nature like to himself as one neighbour grape taketh colour of another God being the husbandman and Christ the vine and Christians the branches and their works the grapes Vuaque conspecta liuorem traxit ab vua saith Iuuenal Satyra 2. The ghostly and bodily forefathers desired to see this day and they liued and died in this hope Luke c. 10. v. 24. the prophets foresaw his comming both Esai c. 2. 7. 9. 11. 35. 42. 49. 53. 60. 65. and also Ieremy c. 31. v. 33. c. 32. v. 40. c. 33. v. 20. and other and they which go afore him crie and say Hosanna thou sonne of Dauid blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord hosanna thou which art in the high heauens Mark c. 11. v. 9 10. and all such as are true in hart shall be glad and say Saue vs we beseech thee O praise the Lord Hosanna Alleluïa Thus was blind Bartimaeus glad to heare him by whom he might receiue his sight and by and by he saw the light of heauen Mark c. 10. v. 49 52. thus was Simeon glad and willing to die when he had seene this saluation and consolation of Israël which was prepared to be the glory of all people Luke c. 2. v. 30. Thus the angell of the Lord bad the sheephards go to Bethleem and see their Sauior with him an army of heauenly souldiers that praised God said Glory to God in heauen and peace in earth goodwill toward men so notably they were stirred vp and euen rauished with this blessed sight v. 12 13. thus the wisemen of the East euen where all men are of quicke and winged wittes as Herodianus iudgeth lib. 1. and most of all other the wisemen selected from the rest with great wonder saw the starre of Christ which was neuer seene in their Vranoscopies before and went euen from Persia to Bethleem to see himselfe more diuine then the starre not caring for all those parasanges furlongs that were betweene their owne country and Iudaea but still and stil feeding vpon their heauenly meditation at last came vnto him and worshipped him with ioy and gladnes with their myters in their left hands and their presentments of gold of myrre and of frankincense in their right Myrrham homo rex aurum suscipe thura deus saith Claudian in his Epigrams O man take myrrhe ô king take gold ô God take incense Math. c. 2. v. 2. Thus the famous queene of Saba and all the world in those dayes came from farre countries to heare the wisedome of Salomon 1. Kings c. 10. v. 1 2 24. and behold a greater then Salomon is now in Bethabara Thus Iacob the sonne of Isaac sawe a ladder stand vpon the earth the top whereof did reach to heauen and he called that place the gate of heauen Gen. c. 28. v. 12 17. but we see not in a vision as he did we see in the noone day the son of the hiest before vs we see apparantly the sonne of God before our eyes Cuius aspectus decens saith Salomon in his Song c. 2. v. 14. and whose aspect is more happy may England say then all the trines and sextiles and coniunctions and fortunate aspects of the beneuolent starres To be briefe in this one word seeth is the fond and fantasticall heresie of Marchion with the heresie of Manes manifestly ouerturned and condemned for euer of which two Marchion thought Christes body a phantasticall one that is like such bodies as we seeme to see in our sleepe which are but thoughts Epiphanius haer 42. l. 1. tomo 3. The other as fanatically
of Dauid the kingdome of Israël the kingdome of Christ euen as Dauid himselfe fought most manfully for the establishing of that kingdome in the name of the liuing God ouercomming valiantly not onely mighty champions and huge Gyants in that defence but also vanquishing and subduing his other foes the enemies of God in infinite numbers before him behinde him and round him as appeareth notably in the bookes of Kings in the Chronicles and in his owne Psalmes And to omit the handling of militar vertues it is most certaine that no man is more carefull to doe his dutie then a christian cōscience no man more harty in doing it then a christian faith no mā more trusty then christian charity no man more conscionable more faithfull more charitable then a true christian man and that secretary of hell not only of Florence is forced to confesse in some places l. 1. disp c. 11. vpon Liuy and elswhere but most emphatically in his proeme to L. Philip Strozza by vehement and zealous interrogation In whom ought there to be more feare of God then in a warriour which euery day committing himselfe to infinite perils hath most neede of his helpe A right Italian sentence a notable word a fit preserue against the other venims which this Spider gathered out of old philosophers and heathen authors for that is the wit and disposition of our reformatiue age to gather precepts from those things which our forefathers in their learning iudged no better then obiections and to study those matters for practise which were first taught them for their safety by knowing and auoiding them and to gather common places of mens certaine and supposed errours omitting their vertues and commendations But I cannot now stand to debate any such particular point or seuerall branch of Antichristianisme he is already confuted sufficiently by the generall testimony of all good consciences and by the vniuersall harty consent of all godly and manly christians as it may also please God at his gratious pleasure to worke in many other not yet regenerate that now account too well of him Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life euerlasting Gala. c. 6. v. 7 8. Gods works are great and mighty and wonderful and exceeding admirable euen aboue the capacitie of the wisest and profoundest minde in the world yet are his mercies aboue his works and the depth of his mercies far more wonderfull then the height of his works O mercifull Lord open the infinite fountaines fludgates of thy vnspeakeable mercies and touch the harts of so many as are not vtterly obdurate and reprobate with the finger of thy holy spirit euen to the final reformation of the prodigall sonne and ioyfull recouery of the lost sheepe so farre as it is possible for strayed sheep to haue any portion in the sheepefold of the lambe of God Thy holy seruants and prophets assure vs of the most happy condition and blessed estate of the kingdome of Israël the kingdome of Dauid the kingdome of Christ ô let thy kingdome come and let thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen As for such vncircumcised Philistines such blasphemous Goliahs such rebellious Achitophels such vnnaturall Onans such wicked and desperate Atheists as I haue named if any such remaine vpon the earth as I feare me there are too many and haply some among Christians and haply some amōg schollers sauouring too much of these vngratious schollers Lord God either speedily reforme thē in the aboundance of thy mercy so farre as they haue not cōmitted that great vnpardonable sinne against the holy Ghost or vtterly confound them with the yron rod of thy iustice and teach other by their example to tremble at the mighty maiesty of their Lord God Let them feele the force of the liō of the tribe of Iuda that would not see the goodnes of the lambe of God let them tast the insufferable torments horrors of damnation that refused to enioy the most comfortable blessed estate of saluation thy mighty stretched out arme is not weakened or shortened teach them to feare their God either like good children or like cursed creatures dreading the horrible punishmēt due to their horrible sins It hath pleased God in all ages by the mouth of his Prophets vnder the law and by the mouth of his Apostles vnder the gospell to winne infinite thousands to vnfayned repentance and to the faithfull worship of the true God as manifestly appeareth partly by the ancient histories and prophesies of the old Bible partly by the gospell and Acts of the Apostles in the new Testament In the primitiue Church the number of conuerts and confessors and zealous Christians and martirs was infinite paganisme idolatrie blasphemie infidelitie and heresie gaue place to christianitie the mighty power and firie operatiō of the holy-ghost is exceeding wonderfull innumerable multitudes were dayly and continually gayned to the church as Augustine by the zealous and eloquent deuout and learned Sermons of S. Ambrose was reclaymed from his heathenish philosophy and manichisme and became a good Christian a zealous doctor a godly Bishop a reuerend father as his bookes of confessions doe testifie from the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the fift booke vnto the end of that worke I might declare the like conuersion of infinite other but his example is most famous and the matter it selfe most euident the kingdome of darkenes stouped to the kingdome of light Satan yeelded to Christ the world the flesh and the deuill were cōquered by the lambe of God and great hope appeared of the very vniuersall establishment and catholick peace of the Israëticall kingdome But Satan cannot sleepe long hee and his hellish angels must play their parts the malice of the deuill lyeth in continuall wayte to intrap and intangle the soule of man Satan is a cunning and strong aduersarie and euer striueth to increase his Synagogue and route of infidels of Atheists of Gyants of Heretikes of Apostataes of Schismatiks in euery dangerous and pestiferous kinde that iniquitie might haue the vpper hand Alas his malice and craft preuayle too much ô God when thou seest thy gracious time confound all his pestilent craft and malice good lambe of God take away the sinne of the world euen this horrible and abhominable sinne of the wicked world thy goodnesse is aboue all the naughtinesse of the world we are not to limit or restraine thy omnipotencie ô good God be mercifull vnto vs wretched sinners euen where our sinnes deserue hell fire and vtter damnation The world is wicked the flesh is frayle the deuill is busie man is man and man is subiect to all imperfections and vices to all infirmities and sinnes to all lewdnesse and naughtines euen to that great and most horrible sinne of blasphemie infidelitie
or will any peeuish vaine and factious tongue on that side once say for his life that maister Reformer knoweth in his wisedome better then did Salomon what is best belonging and behouefull to the Church Christs beloued spouse or may the zealous bounty of Christian Emperours the deuoute giftes of noble and godly Princes the liberall adoptions of magnificent and mightie men bestowing worldly goods on heauenly vses and bequeathing mortall heritages to immortal seruices may these lawfull and iust and successiue possessions priuiledges and charters and codicilles of ecclesiasticall endowmēt and maintenance be once abrogated ought all these liberties and prerogatiues to be made voyde to be disanulled and brought vnder then which none can be or should stand in more full strength and vertue for Bishops and vnder them Elders ought no lesse to bee reuerenced of all christened soules in the churches then fathers are of their children in the familie as Heresbachius writeth in his Christiana iurisprudentia But the liuing Lord of heauen and God of peace the God of our forefathers and king of all kinges preserue and arme his owne christian children from that outrage from that desolation from such abhomination standing in the temple of God where it ought not frō such heathen turkish martinish and carterly brutish rauine and make vs like his owne Moses like his owne Salomon like all his owne godly gouerners and Christian Princes and other good men of his owne in all ages not like any other vnlike them that maintaine seminaries of schisme and malignitie that hatch the Cockatrices egge and weaue the spyders webbe and woulde make men beleeue they are for their eating and wearing which in finall proofe would eate vp and weare them out to the poysoning and vndoing of thēselues of the whole Realme and of the whole world too as may easily appeare to them which can compare consequents and antecedents together Then looke not to them but looke into Gods owne holy and faultlesse booke the onely chiefe doctor and reformer of gouernment that is by Gods gracious prouidence more common among vs then it was with grandfathers in England by print by translation by expositiō meditatiō in which booke we know the euer lasting will and testament of God more then they did wherin we learne all that pertaineth to our direction and instruction for all spirituall and temporal iurisdictions and regiments whatsoeuer Here you haue and you reade or may haue and reade the Oecomenickes and Politicks of the Hebrew common-wealth which is the most auncient and excellent of all other as Sigonius wryteth in the yeares of his best and ripest iudgement when he had intreated vpon the Athenian and Roman common-wealth in his younger dayes and by which the most and best Nations of the earth haue bin taught and ruled to this present day in all good counsels in all great affayres in euery good intendment or order in personall and actionall and reall causes In this heauenly and righteous booke the same hande of Moses which gaue the Hebrews lawes from aboue and said Thou shalt not steale from the Clergie or Laitie thou shalt not couet thy neighbors house or any thing that he hath in the church or out of the church doth also institute and ordeyne that the measure of the sanctuarie should be much more then the measure of the congregation and the weight as much more againe the sanctuarie seruing God and his ministers the Elders of the Leuites and the high Priest set ouer them the other belonging to the people of Israël and other tribes only among themselues who reckoned in their accounts to the tribe of Leuie two for one and double for single as the sicle and talent of the Sanctuary was as much more as the sicle and talent of the congregation the cubite much more euen a hand breadth which is named a great cubite Ezech. c. 41. v. 8. c. 43. v. 13. Exodus c. 30. v. 13. Leuit. c. 27. v. 25. Num. c. 18. v. 16. Cenalis tomo 5. fol. 87 88 89. and tomo 9. fol. 133 134 c. Whose zealous example and godly deuotion all good men and women that loue God and his rulers ought readily to followe yea much more willingly and earnestly in this light of the trueth that shineth out among vs nowe then other did in time of ignorance next past whose reddinesse notwithstanding was more forwarde then our least we learning more and doing lesse then they be beaten with more terrible and wofull stripes according to Christs owne sentence in Luke c. 12. v. 47. Neyther yet Moses the soueraigne teacher and Lord of the Hebrews staied there but God bad him command the people of Israël and in them all true Israelites for euer to giue the cleanest the purest the fattest and lustiest of the sacrifices of lambs and goates and other cattell the tenths and first-fruites of all fruite vnto Gods vses Gods seruices Gods seruitors and euery thing that belonged to the church and sanctuary both liuing and dead both agent and instrument to bee appointed in the best and goodliest manner that could be deuised beside other certaine and determinate prescriptions giuen indefinitely by God himselfe agreing with that eternall statute of S. Paul 1. Cor. c. 14. where lastly he chargeth them in the name of the holy spirit which he verily beleeued to be in him both to keepe a good order alwaies and specially to haue a special care of adorning and bewtifying it with all seemely supplements or additions euen as the circumstance of the place or the time or the person may deserue and require In this consideration when the Hebrews vsed mettals for the sanctuary they were cleere and pure in the highest degree their wood must euer be that durable Sethim and the best or smoothest their oyle the sweetest and cleanest their frankincense the brightest their odors pleasantest their sacrifices males without blemish their flower similage and no meaner their fruits of the fairest trees the place of offring without all foulnesse the fatte must be the Lords and if any man eat it he shal be cut of from his people their musick choicest of all sorts harpes and trumpets and cymbals and organes and psalteries and other instruments together with lowde harty voices their vestures and garments of finest linnen and finest silke furnished with gold and precious pearle their workemen the most famous and cunning that could be gotten the churchmen without deformities of body comely and cleanly as it euidently and notably appeareth in Exodus from the 25. chapter to the 32 and in Leuiticus almost throughout and much elswhere For seeing these outward and momentany goods are not our but the good blessings of our God lent and giuen vs for his vse and glory then iudge I pray to whom they may so rightly or truly belong by way of dispensation as to Gods owne spirituall and temporall ministers which in all earthly and heauenly businesse and actions serue him and his
extreme vengible reformatiues these new metrapolitanes that haue pasports and inuestitures of the deuils good holines to Nymrodize and Iudaize their filles these that care not if heauen fall downe and earth rise vp so they haue their willes and get themselues a day and a name being now wearie of their right surnames and christian and wishing to bee their owne godfathers or nicknamers for here is their great theme and maxime of pure and purpure misrule I warrant you largely and illuminately handled here is the goale and price they runne at and long for here is that crucifige which they cried so long here is a correctiue Leiger and Factor for their new-shapen worships their humors of all sortes here is their vpright patrico or Abraham man as they tearme him at a beck at an inch with his dieu garde that can and will at a dead lift proue it good by his lawes and canons by his reasons and senses by his fathers and brothers and sisters by his angels and perhaps paredrall diuels that bare such a sway in their booke Nemith vel legum Orci Inferorum That Hazael and Ioas princes were base kings and as it were flattering dogs to call the ecclesiasticall prophet Elisaeus their lord and father 4. Kings c. 8 v. 12. c. 13. v. 14. that the third Semicenturion or captain of king Ochoziah with al his fifty men was but a swaine to fall on his knee and do the ecclesiasticall prophet Elias reuerence and cal him his good lord 4. Kings c. 1. v. 13 14. that king Benhadad Naaman the captaine and the rest in holy Chronicle did amisse to call prophets their fathers and lords themselues being noble and mightie men 4. Kings c. 5. v. 17. c. 8. v. 9. that God did not well to make Moses that was but a lawgiuer and counseller the God of Pharao a king drad soueraigne Exod. c. 7. v. 1. that al men in the earth which haue called the heads rulers of the church their lords in bookes in sermons in other meetings shall for that idle word giue account at the last day but not for calling other mē their lords that our Church is maymed vnlesse we turne 7. into 4 and yet so we mayme it more that our bishops are blasphemers and traitors vnlesse they set downe 4. sortes of churchmen by those texts where S. Paul setteth downe 7. seuerall things Prophecie Office Teachers Exhorters Distributers Rulers Mercymen Rom. c. 12. v. 6 7 8 c. where he setteth downe nine gifts of the spirite wisedome knowledge faith healing great workes prophecie discerning of spirits diuersities of tongues interpretation of tongues 1. Cor. c. 12. v. 8 9 10. where he setteth downe fiue orders with the fruits of them apostles prophets euangelists pastors teachers c. Ephes c. 4 v. 11 12. that deacons must not teach wisdome but pastors that elders must not teach knowledge but doctors that pastors must not meddle with goods but deacons that doctors must not deale with manners but elders that wisedome knowledge manners accounts these foure things belong not to euery pastor to euery doctor to euery elder to euery deacon because euery one in himself belike and in other men must not looke to the soule and bodie to the mind and māners to the inward and outward man that our confessors and martyrs of late time men as carefull of euery worde they spake as men might be and specially that most innocent and righteous preacher M. Bradford was ouerseen in being so dutifull and curteous to call the Bishops lords that these our Eliae Elisaei Moses our spirituall captaines and fathers should not be called lords nor charret strength of England any more though they euer were and wil be so that teachers must be poorer then their inferiours and schollers that the magistracies for none or least causes must bee contemned and ouerthrowne that the sheepherd must not be richer then a sheepe and Christ put from his See in the church because he is not corporally resident that laughing and reioycing vpon supposed faults betokeneth Gods spirit that the watchman in the tower must be kept of the meanest that saueth me best and al that he may in conscience be fostered that standeth stifly in a lewde cause that Philemon did not owe himselfe to Paul his spirituall father v. 19. that physicians of the bodies shall be in great account for healing an outward maladie that would cast into the graue and looking to the mortall part of man and our ghostly and heauenly physicians of the soule must be out of account for preseruing the immortall part of a man and curing the inward diseases that otherwise would cast downe to hell that the minoritie of Saul and the Iudaisme of Paul must preiudice the ones title and roialtie and the others doctrine and diuinitie that Edgars and Iustinians and the first Williams or third Edwards Henries lawes or Magna charta should set their lawiers aflote in wealth in magnificencie in all ability and Gods lawe descending from heauen vpon the holy mountaine Sinai in all maiestie and honorable reuerēce the prophets words writtē by the wisest spirit of the whole world euē Gods own holy Ghost the gospell of Christ that hath by Gods prouidence conquered heauen and earth as I coulde easily shewe vnto you if puritanisme were not and the spirituall true decretals of the Apostles which keepe all men from follies and lawmen from iniuries these 4. chartae maximae of God himself that hold vp euen the foure corners or quarters of heauen ouer our heads that else for our sin would contrarie to all philosophicall quintessences fall vpon vs shall set their students their barresters their counsellers and iudges at an eb or in a drought in more penury in greater want and contemptible estate Such reasons and conclusions which either must be vpholden with many other like inconueniences and mischiefes or else these nouelties and quarrels must be cast downe are more fit for the oration of Catiline with the coniuration of Lentulus Cethegus once in Rome then for reformation of our English church which is not of the same manner of spirit that Elias was for so our Sauiour teacheth his Apostles in the gospell of S. Luke c. 9. v. 55. euen as this commonwelth is not in such distresse by Gods fauourable goodnesse wherein it liueth for according to the times God raiseth vp diuerse graces in the world as those regions were at that day vnder persecution when notwithstanding the prophet was thus highly honoured and reuerenced of princes which if it were otherwise in deede then it was yet in right what argument call you this by your reformatiō what consequence is this in your witcraft your new logicke which desire to seeme so logical and sensible wittie men To set worldly magistrates vp on height for good seruice done to their prince and countrie duly and iustly to thrust downe these magistrates of magistrates as