base and beggerly fellow euerie lewd and wanton mistres euerie prophane and rusfianly gētleman euerie swearing swash-buckler and many such as make shew of honesty and conscience of religion in their feasting in their gaming in their riding in their going yea in all their affaires they will be medling and sensuring of ministers Some will blame them because of their conuersation some will despise them because of their wiues some will slander thē because of their apparel some wil disdaine them because they be poore some will scorne them because they be ritch and some will condemne them because they be couetous some cannot like them because they preach often some will discōmend them because they preach seldome and some will not fauor them because they preach too plaine and easie and some will not loue them if they preach too prosound and deepe some will not loue them if they pray for Bishops some will not loue them if they pray not for Bishops some cannot away with Latine Greeke and Hebrue some cannot away without it and some can not away with neither Alas poore silly souls of all sortes the greatest some mislikes you scornes you disdains you hates you and condemnes you O how few are there that likes you and loues you But be of good cheere saith Christ I haue ouercommed the world Ioh. 15 20. The seruant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you all these things will they doe vnto you for my names sake 1. Cor 15 14. to 21. Blessed are yee c. reioice and be glad for great is your reward in heauen If our reward were not with God then were we of all men most miserable Parishioner You are beholding to your selfe and the rest of your bretheren haue cause to praise you and to pray for you You haue condemned me as a man of no knowledge of no conscience and of no charitie and you haue made others my partners and assotiats that said nothing at all to you to iustifie your selfe and all sorts of ministers good and bad and yet neuerthelesse you assure your selues of Gods blessing in earth and of aeternall fauour in heauen Pastor Good Sir I haue said nothing of my selfe nor for my bretheren but that the Lord hath said and warranted out of his holy word He it is that condemnes all such as you are for medling with other mens matters 1. Thess 3.11 the holy Ghost councelleth you to be quiet to meddle with your owne businesse and to worke with your owne hands Vziah was strucken dead when he did but set his hand to stay the Lords Arke from falling 2. Sam. 6 6.7.8 and shal you remaine aliue yea and vnhurt that put your hands not to helpe but to hinder the Lords proceedings Mat. 18 1.2.3 Christ did promise a woe and a heauie iudgement against him that offendeth a little one in the church or in the society of the faithfull and shall you escape this woe and heauie iudgement that maliciously wilfully and tirannously doe intreat and handle such as are great such as are the ministers the disposers of Gods secreats and his heauenly Embassadours no no. I speake not in the commendation of any such as deserue condemnation much lesse did I warrant their iustification or blessing from the Lord. If their conuersation be euill and their doctrine good take the one leaue the other their doctrine doth belong vnto you their life conuersation to themselues You shall answer for their doctrine not for their doing The Scribes and Pharisies were counted hipocrites painted Sepulchers and deuourers Ma. 23 1.2 yet Christ willed the people to heare them so long as they sate in Moses chaire meaning so long as they preached truely and taught the lawe of Moses And I pray you is the gospell of Iesus Christ more defiled and of lesse force by the ill demeanors of the ministers than the law was through the vilenesse and abhominations of the Pharisies no no so great a maiestie and so great might the preaching of Gods word hath as it cannot be diminished by the vilenesse of the vilest nor augmēted by the vertue of the most holiest and therefore it is a question generally cōcluded That a vicious minister preaching the Gospell truely and continually doth more good and lesse harme in the church of God than an honest minister and good house-keeper that cannot or will not feed the soules of his people with the continuall preaching of the word As a seale of copper or of wood if it be well graued doth make as good an impression in wax as a seale of siluer or of gold so the holy word of God being well deuided and deliuered by an vngodly man doth make as good an impression in the souls of the saints as if it were deuided and deliuered by a most honest and an vpright man God forbid yea let it be farre from any man to thinke much lesse to teach that the vilenesse of the minister should derogate any working or withhold any force or effect from so great a maiestie as the word of Reconciliation for then Lord what good shall it doe all men are sinners we haue all sinned we haue done amisse and delt wickedly We can not exclude the ministers out of this number S. Paule speaking of the Sacrament of Christs death 1. Cor. 11 29. saith Whosoeuer eateth and drinketh thereof vnworthilie eateth and drinketh his owne damnation Is he accounted an vnworthie receiuer in respect of the minister or in respect of himselfe if it be in respect of the minister because he is vile c. then must you make God contrary to himselfe who saith Deut. 24 18. 2. King 14 6. 2. Chro. 2.25 4. The soule that sinneth shall die and shall nor beare the iniquitie of another and then you must also grant that faith in the receauer hath no effect which is contrarie to S. Paule 1. Cor. 13.5 who willeth all men to search and to proue themselues for the same thereby to make them worthie If the receiuer be counted vnworthie in respect of himselfe then it followeth that the receiuer either good or euill doth not helpe nor hurt in the administration of the sacrament As the vertue attractiue to draw iron is not in the iron but in the A damant euen so the vertue and power of saluation lieth not in the minister but in the power of the word wrought by the spirit As the raine and the snow commeth downe from heauen and returneth not thither againe but watereth the earth and makes it fruictfull euen so saith the Lord my word shall not returne vnto me void Esa 55.10.11 but it shall accomplish that which I will and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it Thus much briefly concerning the truth and dignitie of the word preached Wherein I haue said nothing to excuse much lesse to iustifie the vnlawfull and dissolute liues of some
the third are no people the first that sit vpon the mountains of Samaria the second the Philistins that dwell in Sichimis They that sit vpon the mountaines of Samatia repose themselues vpon the authoritie of Rome the Philistins represent the Turke Sarazens and other miscreants These are the sons of men said Dauid These are the generation of vipers said Iohn Baptist These are the children of darkenesse said S. Paule and these are they say all men that labor to ouer-run our countries to ouerthrow our churches to burne our houses to bereaue vs of our liues and to depriue vs of our queene and both hir and vs of the Gospell They conspire against God like Hipocrites against our quiet queen like traitors against our common weale like spoilers My good countriemen and kinsmen if you will adhibite any credite to my councell if you haue any comfort in the mercifulnesse of God and if you haue any bowels of Christian affection to your posteritie then now at the last get you Bibles leaue off your beads place learned preachers displace Ieroboams Priests walke in the light of the gospell extinguish the light of Tapers and Torches the one brings you the high way to heauen the other the ready way to hell As Ioab tooke hold on the horns of the Alter for the safegard of his life so now take you hold on Iesus Christ for the safegard of your liues All kind of creatures are in an vnitie praising God they call you to ioyne and to vnite your selues with vs in one religion Strange sights haue bin seen in the element and in the earth calling you to repentance fire hath come downe from heauen fishes haue throwne thēselues to land and beasts haue brought foorth vntimely monsters calling you to repentance the earth hath quaked vnder our feete and our houses haue shaken ouer our heads calling you to repentance O ioyne then with vs we wil now ioyne with you let vs goe togither into the house of God hād in hand heart in heart let vs sing one song as with one voice to the praise of our one only God Thus I haue boldly briefly admonished you in the Lord and that you may the better cōtemplate to your cōfort I haue here as you see comprised and composed my two former labors into one with some substraction and with some such addition as may best further you to the speech of his diuine maiesty in your owne person when occasion shal be offered for your selues for your houshold One quarter of a years pains as I haue pointed will bring you 40 years profit in earth and at the expiration thereof aeternall pleasure in heauen And when you haue obtained my promise I desire but your praiers and your meditations to God for me for the posteritie of the religious and magnanimious gentleman Sir William Herberd knight who for his owne part hath runne his race in the faith of Iesus Christ and finished his course according to conscience towards you as may appeare whose body is a sleepe in the Lord and whose soule is in ioy with Iesus Christ There are three sorts of professors that doe suffer great indignitie at the hands and from the hearts of many picke-thanke Parasites stily Sicophants too too hard yea heathenish or rather hellish censures are giuen in and granted out against them I know their obiections vpon long experience and I know that vpon small skill and little reading their turnesicke spirite of giddinesse may easily be quailed although through ignorance and wilfull stubbernnesse they will neuer be answered Good Christian countriemen and courteous Readers I am loath to offend you with tediousnesse about these matters hauing a great shew of indeuour and purpose to draw you to other matters of greater importance I haue therfore thought good and more conuenient to speake of them in the latter end of this booke The first doth partlie concerne this worshipfull gentleman to whom I write for protection The second doth concerne partly mine owne bodily health and the third doth concerne the earthly prosperity and the heauenly faelicity of all the elect and therefore I may not passe it neither may you in any case omit the learning of it that with him and me and with the rest of Gods inheritance you may be readie to defend it And thus for this time I humbly take my leaue and with such conueniencie as I may do now betake my selfe in the feare of God to the matter From Leonard Shordich and county of Middlesex nere London Yours if you be the Lords Edw Vaughan A briefe recitall of the generall heads or places of inuention contained in this booke 1 Away to know or to fetch readilie and roundly al the books in the booke of God either backward or forward in the old and new Testament 2 The Author the originall the occasion and the chiefe matter of euerie such booke 3 The books called Apocrypha how farre they are to be receiued and their imperfectiō when where and by whom found out among themselues 4 The principall stories chaining the whole scripture dispersed here and there in the old and new where euerie such storie doth begin and where it ends with a recitall of the principall matters therin 5 Sir William Herberts account vpon the tenth story of the age and time from the birth of Christ vnto the worlds end 6 Certaine principall obseruations or speciall matter to be marked for the reading and vnderstanding of all such books as are called Laegall 7 Certaine principall obseruations or speciall matter to be marked for the reading and vnderstanding of all such books as are called Sapientall 8 Certaine principall obseruations or speciall matter to be marked for the reading and vnderstanding of all such books as are called Propheticall 9 Other fourteene places and most direct rules how to read and vnderstand euery booke chapter and verse 10 Other foure and forty sure titles or matter supporting or agreeing with all the scriptures to be digested or framed into common places 11 The right vse of positiue Laws 12 The necessitie of Phisicke 13 The excellencie of the Ministerie 1 Introduction LEarne perfectly all the names of the Canonicall bookes as they are in order from Genesis to the Reuelation You must be able readily to render an account what booke is next before or next after any such booke taken in hand Then returne back and learne how many chapters is in euerie booke 2 Introduction NOw you must go ouer these books old and new by some proportion dayly either morning or euening after this maner wherein you shall see many profitable notes and especially the argument or summe of euerie booke it will pleasure you greatly by the report and iudgement of all antient authours The Argument of Genesis THis booke is called of the Hebrues Verescith that is to say Beginning Generation or Creation giuing vs to vnderstand that it containes the creation of all things Moses the son of Amram
the sting or the life of death the life of sinne is the law now take away the law take away sin take away sinne then death is dead death is gon and vtterly destroyed d Luke 7 and to conclude your husband sweete Lady is aliue he is not dead but liueth he was a knight on earth he is now a e Gal. 5 Re. 1 6. Cant. 5 1. king in heauen And since his chance was to make such an exchange good Madame be merrie though his companie was your comfort yet be not against his preferment and know this to be a common and a commendable saying Past cure past care Out of remedie out of remēbrance f 1. Sam. 12 20.21.22.23 Dauid whilst his sonne was aliue fasted and wept bitterly but when he was dead he was merrie and reioysed greatly As it is sure whilst your husband was aliue you did the one so now seing he is dead let it be surely seene for good example that you doe the other As Dauid said of his sonne I shall goe to him but he shall not come to me so say you good worshipfull Lady I shall goe to my husband my husband shal not returne to me Beare you the crosse valiantly which you haue taken vp zealously no manner of discōtentment is ioyous for the present time but grieuous neuerthelesse afterwards it bringeth quiet rest As fine Gold is wrought in flaming fire and white siluer in blacke pitch euen so glorie is to be gotten with the depth of danger and pleasure with the price of paine As the roots of a tree are bitter and the fruits sweete euen so of bitter annoy comes pleasant ioy and of an heauie sute happy successe That it may be a parcell of your ioy in heauē to see him which was your ioy in earth remēber the instruction he gaue you whilst he was liuing remēber the councell he gaue you whilst he was dying remember to keepe in practise seriously and sinceerely among your houshold the studie and the excercise of true religion according to the doctrine of Iesus Christ To whose holy tuition and mercifull prouidence I leaue your Ladiship with so many good desires for your godly deserts as miles hath seuered S. Iulian and S. Leonard Yours in the Lord Edw Vaughan Sir William Herberd knight his particulars vpon the tenth story to weet from the birth of Christ to the worlds end COnsider the times from the birth of Christ to the end of the world which by the doctrin of Elias amounteth to 2000 yeares the whole time may be deuided into seuen successiue ages according to the Seuen Churches Reuel 1 4. Seales 5 1. Trumpets 8 6. The two first are ascribed to the church of Ephesus and Smyrma which accomplished the first 300 yeares for it is manifest that the things spoken to those churches concerne the first 300 yeares after Christ that is to say The examination of false Apostles the hating of the Nicolaitans heresies the induring of the extreame malice of the Iews Reu. 2 10. and of the ten persecutions with patience and constancie is called the tribulation of ten daies The third deuision belongeth to the church of Pergamus to which as to each that follow we attribute 340 yeares which reacheth from the yeare of our Lord till the 640. That age is cōmended for constancie in the truth and because there were then some that doted vpon images and had ordained dedication to the Idols temple to the martyrs and vigils in their honour which was a spirituall fornication practised of the Nicolaitans this age was therefore thus reprooued I haue a few things to say to thee because thou hast maintained the doctrine of Balaam which taught Balac to put a stumbling blocke before the children of Israel and that they should eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication Reu. 2 14. The fourth deuision or age is appropriated to the church of Thiatira extending from the yeare 640 to the yeare 980. The church in this age is commended for hir great deuotion but because it permitted the church of Rome to vsurpe authoritie and to be another Iesabel in Samaria drawing people to Idolatrie it is therefore reproued the plagues that God would bring vpon the church of Rome are declared and the children of the true church exhorted to continue in the antient faith which they haue already receiued The fift deuision or age is the church of Sardic which beginneth at the yere 980 continued till the yeare 1332. In this age the spirit of Iesabel was growne so strong and hir Achab so wicked that the visible church bare onely the name of a church the doctrine generally corrupted and things reduced touching the publicke worshipping of the Almightie vnto that miserable estare that they resembled the raigne of Achab and Iesabel wherein Elias had so greatly complained yet God had then his secreat elect expressed in these wordes I know thy workes and where thou dwellest Reu. 2 13. euen where Sathans throne is thou keepest my name and hast not denied the faith The sixt deuision appertaineth to the church of Philodelphia which containes the times that we liue and all the yeares from 1320 till the yeare of our Lord 1660. In this age of the church the truth of the doctrine is replenished and the truth of the Gospell florished notwithstanding all indeuours against it the faithfull are endued with spirituall strength thus I haue set before thee an open doore and no man can shut it for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my works Reu. 3 8. and hast not denied my name The seuenth deuision or age is attributed to the yeare 2000 this age forgetting the mercie of God wil proue to be carelesse of heauenly things being neither hote nor cold Therefore God will loath and abhorre this age manifest in these wordes I know thy workes and tribulation and pouertie but thou art ritch and I know the blasphemie of those which say they are Iews and are not Reu. 2.8.9 but are the synagogue of Sathan Besides these mysteries of the seuen churches let vs receiue farther instruction in the opening of the seuen seales concerning those things from the birth of our sauiour vnto the end of the world THe first seale being opened is discouered the preaching of the Gospell and the victories of Christ in subduing multitudes to his truth I beheld and loe there was a while horse and he that sate on him had a bow and a crowne was giuen vnto him Reu. 6 1.2 and he went out conquering that he might ouercome Hereof speakes that princely prophet Dauid Psal 45. Good lucke haue thou with thine honour ride on because of the word of truth of meekenesse and righteousnesse thine arrowes are verie sharpe and the people shal be subdued vnto thee euen in the middest among the kings enemies thy seal O God endureth for euer the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter 1.
The second seale being opened the bloudie persecutions of the Idolaters Romane Emperors and in Gods iustice these cruell warres and bloudie deaths are prefigured in these words And there went out another horse that was red and power was giuen vnto him that sate thereon to take peace from the earth 3. and there was giuen vnto him a great sword The third seale being opened the darkenesse ignorance and heresies the famine both spirituall and temporall was discouered that horrible persecutions and warres should bring into the world in these wordes I beheld and loe a blacke horse and he that sate thereon had a balance in his hand saying A measure of wheat for a penny and a measure of barlie for a penny and oyle and wine thou shalt not hurt 5.6 Notwithstanding all the persecutions heresies and scarsitie both of true teachers and of true doctrine in the church yet the spirituall wine and oyle being the old and new testament the law and the Gospell were preserued and vncorrupt as you heare this is the wine and oyle that the good Samaritane poured into the wound which he thereby both clensed and cured this wine of the law searcheth our infirmities and this oyle of the gospell is the oyle of gladnesse wherewith we be annointed that be the true members of Christ It is the oyle that in the lamp of our soules kindleth and continueth the light of our faith This oyle the fiue wise virgins were furnished with and the fiue foolish wanted and it is the oile and the vnction that supplies our vnderstanding 1. Ioh. 2.20 27. The fourth seale manifested the Romish Iesabel and the persecuting church of Rome by palenesse pretending whitenesse by hypocrisie pretending pietie spreading his authoritie ouer the earth and destroying many some with the sword others with spirituall hunger others with spirituall death c. expressed by these wordes And behold a pale horse and his name that sate thereon was death and hell followed after him and power was giuen vnto him ouer the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword Reu. 6 8. with hunger and with death The fift seale being opened appeared the soules of them that were killed for the testimonie of the truth requiring iustice at the hands of God for their bloud but it was said vnto them that they should rest a little while vntill their fellow seruantes were also killed The sixt seale being opened the iudgement of God vpon the persecutors of his chuch the horror of their conscience and the anguish of their mindes was declared in these wordes And the kings of the earth and the great men hid themselues in dens and among the rocks saying Rocks fal on vs and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth vpon the throne 12.13.14.15.16.17 The seuenth seale being opened prefigured the beginning of aeternall rest Now marke what the holy Ghost discouereth vpon the sound of the seuen trumpets Reu. 8 it makes plaine all that was betweene the birth of Christ and the end of the world THe first and second trumpet hath relation and sit cohaerence to the church of Ephesus and the church of Smirma and to the opening of the first and second seale that is to say to the first 300 yeares after Christ The euent demonstrated is first the persecution of the church by the Romane Emperours whose cruelties were so sharpe bloudie that they are represented by the tearmes of haile and fire mingled with bloud this storme of persecution fell vpon Christs husbandrie so that the third part of the trees that is to say the third part of the people and all the greene grasse meaning the ministers bedued with spirituall grace yeelding plentie of food vnto their flocke were burnt vp and consumed The iustice of God vpon these persecutors in afflicting them with horrible warres which like a great mountaine burning like fire was cast into the turbulent sea of their tumultuous estate so that the third part of their dominions was replenished with bloud-shead the third part of their subiects slaine and the third part of their prouinces cities and gouernments which are resembled to shippes sayling vpon the sea of that Empire was destroyed The third Trumpet is answerable to the church of Pergamus and to the opening of the third seale representing the time from 300 yeares after Christ till the yeares 640. Superstition and idolatrie the doctrine of Balaam and scandalous endeuours of Balac the blacke horse of darkenesse ignorance and famine of Gods word began then to take roote And before the end of those yeares as this trumpet declareth a great starre no lesse than the Bishop of Rome fel from heauen burning like a torch and it fell into the third part of the riuers that is into the third part of the doctrine of the church and into the fountaine of waters that is into the principall points of religion And the name of the starre is called Wormewood or Corruption and the third part of the waters became as wormewood that is corrupt and false doctrine The fourth trumpet according to the times of the church of Thiatira and the opening of the fourth seale that is from the yeare of our Lord 640 to the yeare 980. In this time the Romish Iesabel had taken heart and deceiued the children of God and made them commit spirituall fornication In these times the pale horse of the hypocritical church of Rome was farre onward on his race carrying Death vpon his back and haling hell after him hauing power ouer the fourth part of the earth and killing with the sword with famine and with death no maruell then if this trumpet telleth vs In those daies the third part of the sun that is the Euangelicall light and the third part of the moone that is of the church which receiueth all her light of Gods word and the third part of the starres that is of the pastours and ministers were darkned and the day was smitten that is the doctrine both of the gospel and of the law was so darkened and so corrupted that they wanted the light wherewith they should haue illuminated their mindes Reu. 9 1.2.3 The fift trumpet agreeth with the times and state of the church of Sardie and with the opening of the fift seale In the ending of the period of yeares of the church of Sardie at the which Antechrist was growne to his full greatnesse and had set vp by publicke order the adoration of the sacrament and thereby brought in an idoll to be worshipped as God which was decreed at the councell of Laterane the yeare of our Lord 1315 and within seuen or eight yeares after no doubt generally receiued in the churches of Christendome we see the wordes of Daniell perfourmed taking his daies for yeares and from the time that the daily sacrifice shal be taken away which was abolished at Christs passion the idoll or desolation set vp there shall be 1290 daies which pointeth to the