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A04483 A viewe of a seditious bul sent into Englande, from Pius Quintus Bishop of Rome, anno. 1569. Taken by the reuerende Father in God, Iohn Iewel, late Bishop of Salisburie. Wherevnto is added a short treatise of the holy Scriptures. Both which he deliuered in diuers sermons in his cathedral church of Salisburie, anno. 1570 Jewel, John, 1522-1571.; Garbrand, John, 1542-1589. 1582 (1582) STC 14614; ESTC S107782 85,989 232

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mercies of God Which way soeuer wée looke we sée the workes of his handes His workes of creation and preseruation of all things his workes of seuere iustice vppon the wicked and of gracious redemption to the beléeuer If we desire pleasant Musicke or excellent harmonie it speaketh vnto vs the wordes of the Father and the consent of the Sonne the excellent reportes of the Prophets Apostles Angles and Saintes of God who haue bene all taught by the holy Ghost If we woulde learne it is a schoole it giueth vnderstanding to the simple In it there is that may content the heart the eare the eye the taste and the smelling It is a sauer of life vnto life Oh taste ye and see howe gracious the Lord is saith the Prophet Dauid So manifold and marueilous are the pleasures which are giuen vs in the worde of God God hath made them and wrought them all for the Sonnes of men Thus haue I perfourmed promise and simply and homely opened those foure things which I tooke in hande I haue declared what weight and Maiestie the word beareth what huge haruest of profite we may reape by it howe needefull it is for vs trauailing thorough the wildernesse of this life and what repast and pleasure wee may finde in it But all this notwithstanding some take exception and say the Scriptures are darke and doubtfull the matters are déepe the words are hard fewe can vnderstand them One taketh them in this sence an other in a sence cleane contrarie The best learned can not agrée about them they are occasion of many great quarels Iohn seeth this booke sealed with seuen seales and an Angel preaching with a loude voice who is worthy to open the booke to loose the feales thereof No man cā open it no man can read it S. Peter saith among the Epistles of Paul some thinges are harde to be vnderstande which they that are vnlearned and vnstable peruert as they doe all other Scriptures vnto their own destruction And S. Paul saith God dwelleth in the light that none can attaine vnto whom neuer man saw neither can sée Therefore although the Maiestie bée neuer so weightie the profite the necessitie and the pleasure neuer so great yet it is not good for the people to reade thē Pearles must not be cast before swine nor the breade of the children vnto dog● Thus they say In déede the worde of God is pearles but the people are not swine They may not reade them say some they are not able to wéelde them the Scriptures are not for the people Hereof I wil say something and a word or two of the reuerence and feare with which we ought to come to the hearing of them They say the Scriptures are harde and aboue the reach of the people So saide the Pelagian Heretique Iulian whom S. Augustine therefore reproueth Exaggeras quàm sit difficilis pancisque con●●niens eruditis sanctarum cognitio li●erarum Yee enlarge and lay out with many wordes how harde a matter the knowledge of the Scripture is and meete onely for a fewe learned men You say the Scriptures are harde who may open them There is no euidence or triall to be taken by them they are fit onely for a fewe learned men they are in no wise fit for the people Thus saide Iulian an Heretique But God himselfe and the auncient Fathers of y e Church said otherwise God saith in Deuteronomie this cōmaundement which I commande thee this day is not hid from thee neither is it farre of It is not in heauen that thou shouldest say who shall goe vp for vs to heauen and bring it vs and cause vs to heare it that wee may doe it Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say Who shall goe ouer the Sea for vs and bring it vs and cause vs to heare it that we may doe it But the worde is verie neare vnto thee euen in thy mouth and in thy heart for to doe it Thou néedest not runne hither and thither nor wander ouer the Sea nor beate thy braines in searching what thou shouldest doe or by what meanes thou maist liue vprightlye the worde and commaundement of God will teach thée sufficientlye The Prophet Dauid saith The commaundement of the Lorde is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And Thy worde is a lanterne vnto my feete and a light vnto my pathes Thy worde is not darke it is a lighte vnto my pathe it giueth lighte vnto the eyes What is cleare if the light be darke Or what can hée sée which can not sée the light Humaine knowledge is darke and vncertaine Philosophie is darke Astrologie is darke Geometrie is dark The Professours thereof oftentimes runne a masket they léese themselues and wander they knowe not whether They séeke the depthe and bottome of naturall causes the chaunge of the elements the impressions in the aire the causes of the rainebowe of blasing starres of thunder and lightning of the trembling and shaking of the earth the motions of the planets the proportions and the influence of the celestial bodies They measure the compasse of heauen and count the number of the starrs they goe downe and search the mynes in the bowels of the earth they rippe vp the secrets of the Sea The knowledge of these thinges is harde it is vncertaine Fewe are able to reache it It is not fit for euery man to vnderstand it But the holy spirit of God like a good teacher applieth himselfe to the dulnesse of our wittes He leadeth not vs by the vnknowen places of the earth nor by the ayre nor by the clouds he astonieth not our spirites with naturall vanities He writeth his lawe in our heartes hée teacheth vs to know him his Christ he teacheth vs that we should deny vngodlinesse and worldly lustes and that we shoulde liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present worlde hée teacheth vs to looke for the blessed hope and appearing of the glorie of the mightie God and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. This matter is good and it is plaine the wordes are plaine and the vtterance is plaine Chrysostome sayth proprere à Spiritus gratia dispensauit illa temper auitqúe quo Publicani piscatores c. Therfore hath the grace of the holy Spirit disposed and tempered them so that Publicanes and Fishers and Tente makers Shepeherdes and the Apostles and simple men and vnlearned might bee saued by these bookes that none of the simpler sort might make excuse by the hardenesse of them and that such things as are spoken might be easie for all men to looke on that the labouring man the seruant the widowe woman and whosoeuer is most vnlearned may take some good when they are read For they whome GOD euer from the beginning endewed with the grace of his spirite haue not gathered all these thinges for vaine glorie as the Heathen writers vse but for the saluation of the hearers Some
famine of hearing the word of the Lord. We were driuen to eate those things whiche were loathsome and horrible to beholde we were driuen to féede vpon our owne children euen the phantasies and vanities of our owne heart There was no substance in them they coulde not féede vs. In this case were the children of Israel when they grewe wearie of the word of God and lefte the ordinaunces sette downe vnto them God had no pleasure in them their prayers and sacrifice were not accepted I can not suffer saieth the Lorde youre newe Moones nor Sabbaoths nor solemne dayes Who hathe required this of your handes In such case were the Scribes Phariseis when they forsooke to be guided by the word of God and tooke awaye the key of Knowledge they fedde vpon their own deuises they neglected the commādements and will of God and followed their owne traditions Therefore Christ reprooued them O Hypocrites Esaia● prophecied well of you saying Thys people draweth neare vnto mee wyth their mouth and honoureth mee wyth their lippes but their heart is far off from mee But in vaine they worshippe mee teaching doctrines mens precepts Therefore if wée séeke to knowe the Sacramentes of the Churche what they are if wée woulde bée instructed in the Sacrament of Baptisme or in the Sacramēt of the body and bloud of Christe if wée woulde learne to knowe oure Creatour and to putte the difference betwéene the creatour and a creature if wée desire to knowe what this presente life is and what is that life whiche is to come if we woulde beléeue in God and call vpon the name of God and doe worshippe vnto God if we would be settled in perfect zeale and true knowledge if we woulde haue an vpright conscience towards God if we would know which is the true Church of God it is verye néedeful that we heare the word of God There is no other word that teacheth vs vnto saluation Now it remaineth we speake of the delectation and pleasure which the word of God giueth The worde of God is full of sadde and graue counsell full of the knowledge of God of examples of vertues and of correction of vices of the ende of this life and of the life to come These are the contentes of the worde of GOD. These things saye you are greate and weightie of themselues there is no vanitie or pleasure in them They are greate and waightie I grant and bicause they are so waightie they be the more worthie that we heare them But we muste take a delight and settle our fansie that it maye like of the weight and greatnesse They were vnto the Prophet Dauid more sweete than home and the honie combe If we taste them with suche an affection as hée did wée shall féele and sée the greate and weightie and heauenly pleasure whiche is in them Many are delighted in the stories of Iulius Caesar of Alexander the Greate of mightie and victorious Princes They haue pleasure to reade of their warres of their victories and of their triumphes And many take their pleasure in trauell to far countries to sée the diuerse fashions and behauiour of men If it were possible we mighte stande vpon such a Hill from which we might at once see al parts of the world the Citties and Townes and Mountaines and Forrests and Castels and gorgeous buildings and al the Kings and Princes of the world in their princely estate if we might sée the varietie of the whole worlde how some liue quietly in peace others are turmoyled in war some liue in wealth others in pouerty and miserie some rise others fall To sée and beholde so greate varietie of things it cannot be but it would delight vs. Such a Hill from whence wée maye take view of so great varietie such a story in which we may reade of noble princes of their warres and victories is the worde of God Upon this Hill you may at once behold al the works of his hāds howe he made Heauen and Earth the Sun and Moone the Sea Flouds the fishes in the water the fouls in the aire and the beastes in the fielde Upon this Hill you may stand and sée his Aungels and his Archangels and blessed spirites howe some of them fell and some continued in glorie howe God hath sent them in message howe they haue come downe from Heauen to serue the sonnes of men Here you may reade of the warres of the God of Hostes howe he hath pitched his tentes in the middest of hys people and hath gone before them and foughte for them How the Amorrheans and Canaanites were rooted out howe the Amalekites were ouerthrowen by the lifting vp of Moses hands in prayer howe the wall of Iericho fell downe flat at the sound of a Trumpet and the shooting of the people and howe 185. thousand Assirians were slaine in one night by the hande of one Aungel when God raughte out his hand from Heauen to giue victorie to his people Here may you sée howe God plagued ouercame his enimies how he drowned Pharao in the red sea and his horses and men and Chariots altogither Her● may you sée Nabuchodonosor a mightie Prince so bereft of his wittes that hée forsooke his Palaces and the companye and order of men and liued in the fieldes after the maner of beasts Here may you sée how God stroke King Antiochus and King Herod with filthy diseases caused lice to eate their fleshe Howe he sent downe fire and brimstone from Heauen and destroyed Sodome and Gomorrha for their sinnes Howe he made the earth open and swallowe vppe Dathan and Ab●●am howe King Ozias was stricken with Leprosie and carryed from the Temple and cut off from his kingdom What stories of any princes or people in any age can report vnto vs so strange battels so mightie conquests so wōderfull deliuerance in extremities so dreadfull subduing of the enimies as the hand of God hath wrought and the storie of the Scriptures declareth vnto vs This worde also sheweth the goodnes and mercie of God towardes the people which put their truste in him Howe he made them terrible to their ennimies howe he made their enimies their footestoole how he ledde them safe thoroughe the red Sea how he sent his Aungell to go before them and guide them how he gaue them water out of a rocke and rained downe breade from Heauen howe hée brought them into a Lande that flowed with Milke and Hony and sware vnto them that hée woulde bée their GOD and they shoulde be his people In this worde are to be séene wonderfull and straunge workes of God such as are beyonde the course of nature and passe the reason of man That the Sea parted and stoode on both sides as a high wall that at the worde of Iosua the Sunne stoode still and went not on his course Ezechias spake the word and required it and the Sunne went backe tenne degrées At the word of Elias fire came
down from heauen to consume hys sacrifice Here may you sée an Asse open his mouth and speak reproue his Maister thrée seruants of God walk in a hot burning fornace without hurte Daniel in the den among Lions and not deuoured Peter in the raging Sea and not drowned Leapres clensed the lame to goe the dumbe to speake the deafe to heare the blinde to sée the dead to rise out of theyr graues and liue simple and vnlearned men to speake in strange tongues the diuell to go out of the possessed and to saye I knowe thou arte Christe the sonne of God Here may you sée twelue pore séelie men without speare or sworde or force make conqueste and winne the whole worlde No power coulde represse them no might coulde withstande them It is reckoned a great matter for a King or a nation to yéeld submission vnto an other King or nation It must therefore bée a matter of greate wonder to sée al Kings throwe downe their Maces and all people to yéelde before so fewe so simple so vnarmed And to acknowledge they embraced lies and liued in ignorance and that these twelue are the seruants of the highest and to sée how God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to ouerthrow the wise and the weake things of this worlde to confounde the mightie things Such force did God giue to their wordes He made them the sonnes of thunder they shooke the foundations of the worlde they threw downe whatsoeuer stoode againste them Here may you see the fight of Gods electe children How they patiently suffered afflictions in their bodies rather than they woulde deny the truth of God they gaue their backes to the scourge theyr neckes to the sworde their bodies to the fire No tyrant no menacings no racke no torment no sworde no death could remoue them from the loue of the Gospell which they had receiued The more of them were cut downe the more did spring vp the more were killed the more wer left aliue Augustine saith Ligabantur includebantur torquebantur vrebantur multiplicabantur They were bounde and shutte vp and racked and burnt and yet were encreased This is the victorie that hath ouercome y e world For the Lord answered S. Paule My power is made perfect through weaknesse It liueth in death it is made whole and sound by woundes and stripes it is increased by those meanes whereby men destroy it Iacob sawe a ladder stand vpon the Earth and the toppe of it reache vppe into heauen and the Aungelles of God goe vp and downe by it This was but a dream and vision in his sleepe yet when he awoke he tooke pleasure comfort of this Vision We haue not onely the delight of this with Iacob but wée haue other farre greater visions We sée Esay beholding the Lord as he sate vpon an high throne we sée Paule taken vp into the third heauens we sée the glorie of God appeare and heare the voice whiche came out of the cloude saying This is my welbeloued sonne in whome I am well pleased here him We sée Iesus Christe the sonne of God borne of a Uirgin and how he made himselfe of no reputation and toke on him the forme of a seruant and was made like vnto men and was found in shape as a man That he humbled himself and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse We heare him crye with a loude voice My God my God why haste thou forsaken mee We heare him say Father forgiue them for they knowe not what they doe And Father into thine hands I commende my spirite Here we may sée the Sun to be darkened that the Moone giueth no light the Earth to shake the rockes cleaue asunder the vaile rent the Graues to open and Christe rise from the dead and goe vp into heauen and sit at the right hand of this father Here maye we sée the ouerthrowe of Babilon which made al nations to drinke of the Wine of the wrath of hir fornication Howe shée is destroyed with the breath of Gods mouth Here we behold the resurrection of the dead and foure and twentie Elders sitte before God on their seates and the antient of dayes sit vppon his throne and the iudgemente seate and the Bookes opened and all flesh appeare before him and how some are taken into euerlasting life and some are sent into euerlasting death What tongue is able to expresse these pleasures and delightes which are laid open to vs in the word of God We buy Images and Pictures and Mappes of men and of diuers things Countries But what Mappe or Picture can shewe vs the like varietie and chaunge of thinges Wée purchase Landes and haue a liking so to doe Here we are taught how we may come to that lande which shall stand with vs and in which wee shall continue for euer To sée any one of these it were great pleasure either the creation of heauen and earth or the Angels Archangels and blessed spirites or the battailes of the God of Sabaoth or Amalech dasht in péeces like a Potters vessell or the wals of Iericho blowne downe with the sound of a trumpet or Pharao drowned in the sea or Nabuchodonosor eating grasse among the beastes or Antiochus smitten from heauen or Sodome and Gomorrha burnt with fire and brimstone or the earth to open and swallow vp the wicked or the sea to stand like a wall or water to come out of a stone or breade to come from heauen or the Sunne to stande still or to chaunge his course or an Asse to speake and teache his Maister or fire to be extreame hot yet not burning or Lyons hungrie yet not eating their meate or the Sea tempestous yet not drowning or blind to sée deafe to heare dumbe to speake dead to rise or ignorant men to speake in languages they neuer learned or the Diuel to roare and confesse Christ or God sitting in his Maiestie and Christ at his right hande or Babylon throwne downe and become a Tabernacle of fowle spirites a denne for the Diuel or Christ to sit in iudgement and giue sentence vpon the quick and the dead to sée any one of all these wōderous works of God it were great pleasure Howe can it be then but that we reioice and take delight to sée so many so great so marueilous so heauenly and so glorious wonders in one heape altogither Howe farre would we ride or go to sée the triumph of a mortall King Here is to be séene the triumph of God the Lorde of Lordes and the King of Kinges howe he hath made the name of his Sonne triumph ouer principalities and powers and ouer the whole worlde Here is a Paradise full of delightes no tongue is able to speak them they are so many No heart is able to conceiue them they be sogreat Here is a shoppe wherein is set out the wisedome and knowledge the power the iudgements and
worlde but for a fewe The heauen was made but for a fewe The mercie and loue of God was but for a fewe But the mercie of God is ouer al and vpon al and for all Al haue right to heare the word of God al haue néede to know the word of God Al haue sinned and are depriued of the glorie of God Therefore Christe calleth all Venite ad me omnes c. Come vnto mee all yee that bee wearie and laden Yong men and olde men men and women rich and poore come to mée God is no accepter of persons It is not the wil of your Father which is in Heauen saith Christ that one of these little ones shold perish Who wil that al men shall be saued come to the knowledge of truth God wil loke to him that is pore of a contrite spirite and trembleth at hys wordes God wil regard such a one and make him a fitte vessell to receiue hys truth Upon him that is suche a one shall the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirit of knowledge and of the feare of God reste Not only vppon the rich the wise and the learned but vpon him that is pore and of a contrite heart and trembleth at his words Upon hym that humbleth himselfe vnder the mightie hand of God He is the temple and the Tabernacle of the holy Ghoste He that is humble in heart shall be saued God resisteth the proud but giueth grace to the lowly Therefore Christe saide I giue thee thankes O father Lorde of heauen and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of vnderstāding and hast opened them vnto babes Euen to suche as haue no learning whych reioice in nothing but in thée The wise and learned of the worlde can not heare them can not sée them but they to whome it pleased thée to giue vnderstanding It is thy mercie Flesh and bloud cannot reach the knowledge of thy will The spirite of the Father hath reuealed it Christe saith My sheepe heare my voice and I knowe them and they followe mee They will not follow a stranger My people are simple as shéepe they are rude and knowe not what they doe Yet they knowe my voice and followe me they knowe their Shéepheard from a théefe they followe not the call and voice of a straunger So we sée that God chaceth no mā away from hearing his worde he loatheth not the pore because of his pouertie he refuseth him not for he is the God of the pore they be his creatures S Augustine saith Deus in Scripturis quasi amicus familiaris loquitur ad cor doctorum indoctorum Almightie God in the Scriptures speaketh as a familiar friend without dissimulation vnto the hearts both of the learned and of the vnlearned He abaseth hymselfe and speaketh to their capacitie for his will is that all shoulde come to the knowledge of the truth and be saued Nowe let vs consider with what fear● and reuerence we oughte to come to the hearing or reading of the worde of God The Aungel of the Lord appeared vnto Moses in a flame of fire out of the middest of a bushe When Moses turned aside to sée God said vnto him Come not hither Put thy shoes off thy feete for the place whereon thou standest is holye ground Againe when God had appointed to speak vnto the people from Mount Sion he said to Moses Go vnto the people and sanctifie them to day and to morow and let them wash their clothes let them be readie on the. 3. day for the. 3. daye the Lorde will come downe in the sight of al the people vpon mount Sinai The worde of the Lorde is the Bush out of which issueth a flame of fire The Scriptures of God are the mount from which the Lord of Hostes doth shew him selfe In them God speaketh to vs. In them we heare the words of euerlasting life We muste be sanctified and washe out garmentes and be readie to heare the Lorde We muste strippe off all our affections we must fal do 〈…〉 with fear we must 〈…〉 speaketh Euen God 〈…〉 and Earth God 〈…〉 Lord Iesus Christe God 〈…〉 iudge the quicke and the dead 〈…〉 whome al flesh shal appeare His worde is holie Let vs take 〈◊〉 into what hearts we bestow it 〈◊〉 euer abuseth it shall be founde guilti 〈◊〉 high trespas against the Lord. We may not receiue it to blow vp our harts and waxe proude with our knowledge We may not use it to maintaine debate and cōtentiō we may not vse it to vaunt our selues or to make shew of our cunning The word of God teacheth lowlinesse of minde it teacheth vs to knowe oure selues If we learne not humilitie wée learne nothing Although we séeme to knowe somewhat yet knowe we not in such sorte as we ought to know The Scriptures are the mysteries of God let vs not be curious lette vs not séeke to knowe more than God hath reuealed by thē They are y e sea of God let vs take 〈…〉 drowned in the. They 〈…〉 let vs take comfort by 〈…〉 take héed they burne 〈…〉 gaze ouer hardly vpon 〈…〉 blemish in their eye sight 〈…〉 the people of Israel sawe the 〈…〉 in the desart they said Man Hu● 〈…〉 this so they reasoned of it whē 〈…〉 it vp in their handes and behelde it They asked one an other what good it woulde do The Scriptures are Manna● giuen to vs from Heauen to séede vs in the desart of this worlde Let vs take them and behold them and reason of them and learne one of an other what profit may come to vs by thē lette vs knowe that they are written for our sake and for our learning that through patience comfort of the Scriptures we may haue hope They are giuen vs to instruct vs in faith to strength vs in hope to open our eies and to direct our going If we withholde the trueth in vnrighteousnesse if we know our Masters wil do it not if the name of God be ill-spoken of through vs the word of God shal be taken away from 〈…〉 nation which shal 〈…〉 thereof God shall send 〈…〉 on that we shall beléeue 〈…〉 heart shal condemne vs an 〈…〉 beaten with many stripes Therefore we ought 〈…〉 giue héede to those thinges 〈…〉 heare we must cōsider of them 〈…〉 chew the cudde Euerie beast that 〈…〉 not the cudde is vncleane and no●● for sacrifice Let vs be poore in spirit 〈◊〉 méeke in heart let vs be gentle as be commeth the Lambes of Christ and as his shéepe let vs heare his voyce and followe him Let vs be of a contrite spirit tremble at the words of God let vs when we know God glorifie him as God So shall God looke vpon vs so shal the spirit of wisdome vnderstanding and of coūsel of knowledge and of the feare of God rest vpon vs so shall we be