iustly and although the earth withall the inhabitance thereof be far out of frame yet he wyll stablish the pillers thereof bring al to good order againe 3. The third part conteyneth an exhortation to the folish and wicked neither to trust â—n their own power and wisedome nor to exalt themselues against God his people But rather to consider that al true preferment commeth of God and he exalteth some and putteth downe other 4. The fourth and last part conteineth partly a coÌ„mination of Gods heauy iudgementes which hang ouer the wicked and partly a consolatioÌ„ of his mercies towards the godly Vpon these foure points I purpose by Gods grace to intreat VVe wyl praise thee O God. This first part as I haue aboue touched conteyneth a promise of the people of God to praise the name of God because he is euer neare to heare them and hys power euer present his help euer at hand to saue deliuer theÌ„ First we haue to consider whom we must prayse and to whom we must pray Euen the Lord our god It is he onely who created made vs it is he onely who bestoweth all both spirituall graces temporall benifites vpon vs therefore him onely must we prayse and to him only pray Prayer whereof prayse thankes geuing is a part is the cheefest exercise of a good christians saith it is our spiritual seruice it is the sacrifice of their lips which confesse his name and therefore it is to be offered only to god But there vpon I will not stand Secondly let vs consider of whom God must be praysed not generally of all men but perticularly of some not of the wicked and vngodly but of those that feare God and walke in his wayes of those that loue him keepe his commaundements of those that bee iustified by his grace and saintified by his spirite God will not be praysed of a blasphemous mouth nor of tunge that is geuen to swearing God wil not be praised of a dronkeÌ„ head nor a malicious mind nor a couetous hart nor a filthy defiled body God will not be praised of those whose feete are ready to run to do mischife and whose hands are ful of bloud God saith by the prophets When you shall streâ—tch out your hands I wil hide mine eies from you and though ye make many prayers I wyl not heare you for your handes be full of bloud In the which place there is ment by bloud not onely the external and outward sheding of bloud but also al kind of cruelty extremity vsury extortion and oppression of the pore Therefore all they in whose houses is the spoile of the poore that beate the people to powder as Esay saith and that pluck of their skinnes chop in péeces â—heir flesh as it were for the pot as Micha â—aith or that eate vp gods people as though â—hey were bread as Dauid sayth cannot worthely and fruitefully prayse god And â—â—ere there such in Iudea and is there no such in England Yes to many Al vsurers that byte yea and vndo their poore bretheâ—in be such all raisers and rackers of rents be such all turners of the poore out of their houses and liuings be such to conclude all they that vse any iniury or violence against the poore be such And if we put all these together we shal sée that there be inough to many such There was neuer greater pride neuer greater extorcion oppression to maintain pride I do know wher of late there hath bene villages wherein diuers families haue bene norished men mainteyned able to serue both the prince and cuntry And now all are wrung out turned out and all is annexed to the demayne of one man to mainteine an vnsatiable cormorant Thefe that thus turne out the poore turne Gods fauorable face from them they turne Gods frowning face and ireful countenance toward them Wo be vnto them saith God by his prophet that ioyne house to house lay field to field tyll there be no place for the poore that you may dwell by your selues in the midddest of the earth This is in the eares of the Lord of hostes so that many houses shal be desolate euen many great without inhabitant Surely if this be not amended God hymselfe from heauen wyl reuenge it Salomon in the prouerbes saith he that stoppeth his eares at the cry of the poore he himselfe shall cry and not be heard If those that be merciles that shew no pity nor coÌ„passion vpon the poore that do not helpe reliue them in their necessity cannot frute fully praise God much more they that oppresse and vndo the pore can nether prayse nor please God. The same Salomon saith He that turneth his eare from hearing the lawe of the Lord his prayer is abominable By the which wee may learne that aswell they which be careles and negligent in hearing Gods word as also those wilfull obstinate papistes whych wyll not once voutsafe to come â—o the congregation and heare it can not worthely prayse God. S. Iames exhorteth vs in these wordes If any man lack wisdome let him aske it of God which geueth to all men liberally and casteth no man in the téeth and it shall â—e giuen him But let him aske in fayth wauer not for he that wauereth is lyke a waue of the sea tost of the wind and caried away nether let that man thynke that he shall receiue any thyng of the lord By the which we be taught that they in whose harts is the roote of infidelity who are destitute of faith by the which we apprehend the mercies of God in Christ can nether praise nor please God for by faith we are grafted into Christ by faith wee be adopted to be the children of God by faith Christ dwelleth in our harts therefore without faith it is impossible to please god And whatsoeuer is not of faith is synne Finally all they that work wickednes lyue dissolutely without feare of God cannot worthely praise god Dauid saith if I regard wickednes in my hart the Lorde wil not heare me And Salomon saith that the sacrifices of the wicked be abhomination vnto the lord Dauid also saith that the prayer of the wicked is tourned into synne In the ninth of S. Iohn it is sayd God heareth not synners But some maÌ„ may heare say whom then doth God heare Are we not al synners hath not God concludes all vnder syn are we not all vnprofitable seruantes Whom then shal God heare I answer Dearely beloued that we be al sinners and that there is not one that doth good no not one Yet notwithstanding ther are two sortes of synners There be some that synne but they are sory for their syns they haue contrite broken harts for their synnes they féele the burthen of their syns in their consciences they trauell be heuy laden with their synnes These come vnto Christ Iesus by him are refreshed
not those whom we call Morians â—â—tural fooles but the wicked and vngodly â—â—ho how subtil and crafty soeuer they séeme â—â—to man yet vnto God be very fooles And â—â—erfore whom the prophet in the first part â—f the verse calleth fooles in the other part â—e calleth wicked I sayd vnto the wicked â—â—t not vp your horne on hye So likewise 〈◊〉 another place The foolish shal not stande â—efore thy eyes thou hatest all those that â—orke iniquity Whom in the first part the Prophet calleth fooles in the second he calâ—eth workers of iniquity Such fooles be those of whom Dauid speaketh Dixit in saâ—iens in corde suo non est deus The foole hath sayd in his hart their is no god Those that professe in their words to know God and in their workes deny him being abhominable disobedient and vnto euery good worke reprobate are such fooles God saith by the prophet Hieremy â—tultus est populus mens me non cognouit c. My people is foolish they haue not knowen me they are foolish children and haue no vnderstanding they are wise to do euill but to do wel they haue no knowledge Those that haue wit to worke mischefe and none to do that which is righteous are such fooles They that haue not the true knowledge of God by his worde are al together foolish The beginning of wisdome is the feare of God without the feare of God there is no true wisdome Reâ—ecerunt verbuÌ„ deum c They haue reiected the word of the Lord and what wisdome remaineth in them That which is not grounded vpon the word of God is mere foolishnes And here I would admonish all men and especially rulers and magistrates to beware of carnall councels worldly policies which be not builded vpon God and his worde They which although they seme plausible to the flesh because they vs the fruites of the flesh and procéede from mans braine yet are they not acceptable â—ut rather detestable before god And in his iustice doth often confound them and turne vpon them vpon the heades of those that were the Autors of them He catcheth the wise in their own craftines Iosephes Breâ—heren hearing that he had dreamed that his â—ather and they shuld yeld reuerence to him they tooke crafty councell together to disappoint this matter and solde him into Egipt But thys which they thought shoulde haue â—ene a meane to haue auoided this their subâ—ection to Ioseph God made it a meane to bring the same to passe Ieroboam after â—hat the ten tribes were fallen from Roboâ—â—m had made him their kinge he thought with himselfe that if the people did go vp â—till to do sacrifice in the house of Hierusalem then their harts would turne againe to Roboam and so forsake him he tooke a subtil and politike counsel to make .ij. Calues and placed them in Dan and Bethel sayd these are thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the lande of Egipt and they lyke Calues went vp worshipped these calues This counsell redounded to the destruction of â—eroboam and his posterity and at the last of the whole realme and estate The Iewes thinking that if he shold suffer Christ our sauiour to procéede as he had began the Romaines wold come and take away their place and nation they thought it good counsel they procured gods anger and indignation against them who for the same brought the Romaines vpon them which miserably destroyed theÌ„ This we see the saying of the poet true Euell counsell is worst to him that giueth it Let all men therefore learne to direct their counsels to the glory of God and to build them vpon Gods worde and then though the raine fal the sloudes come downe and the wynnds blow yet they shal stand because they be built vpon the rock but if they build them vpon the vncertaine and vâ—suce sandes of their own braines a little blast of wind wyl easely ouerthrow them for ther is no wisdom vnderstanding nor counsale against the lord Submit therfore your wisdom to the wisedome of God Euen man saith the Prophet is a least of hys own knowledge the which may moue vs not to trust to much to our own wisdom and counsaile but rather to take counsaâ—â—e at the mouth of Goâ— to say with Dauid thy testimonies are my delight and my couÌ„sailers these counsellers will neither lye â—atter nor dissemble God graunt that wee may be counsailed by them Christ our sauiâ—ur said to the rich man that went about to â—nlarge his barnes and sayde to his soule â—oule thou hast much goods laid vp in store â—r many yeares take thine ease eate drink â—nd take thy pastime Thou foole this night â—al thy soule be taken from thee Those â—â—at be careful for this scaile and vncertaine â—fe and careles for the life eternal are very â—ples It is true wisdome first to séeke the â—ngdome of God and all other things shal 〈◊〉 giuen vnto vs The virgines which had â—â—t oyle in their lampes aâ— the coÌ„ming of the â—â—dgrom but wold seke for some of others â—â—e called foolish virgines and were shut out This oyle I take to be the righteousnes and â—eedes of others Iustus ex fide sua viuet the â—ighteous shall liue by his owne faith We â—ust all stand before the tâ—â—â—unall seat of Christ to receyue euery man according to â—hat he hath done in his own body whether â—f be good or euill Salomon saith stulti deâ—ident peccatum the foolish laugh at synne Those therefore that laugh at synne when â—hey be admonished or reproued are fooles and if God do not giue them repentaunce they shal be ther where ther is no laughing but weeping and gnasshing of téeth And he that sitteth in the heauens shall laugh them to scorne the Lord shall haue them in derision The Prophet saith they altogether dote and are become foolish for the flocke is the doctrine of vanity All Papistes which not only worship images but also make theÌ„ doctors and teachers of the lay people are coÌ„uinced by this place to dote and to be foolish the prophet Abacuc saith they be teachers of lyes A foolish thing it is for a man endewed with wit reason and the senses to fal down before a dum stock or block which hath no reason nor vnderstanding which hath eyes and seeeth not eares and heareth not nose smelleth not c But these fooles with their folly I will let go only I exhort theÌ„ not to do so foolishly but rather to seeke for true wisdome which is ioyned with the feare of god Let not the wicked lyft vp their horn I might here show you how the Pope hath lifted vp his horne He will needes be Christs Vikar vpon the earth Peters successor head of the vniuersall Church and byshop of the whole world is not this to lift vp his head very hye Yea he wil be Dominus deus noster Papa our God the Pope he wyll haue power in heauen
bloud of a man I wyll not say what maner of man I reade in an epistle lately written to the senate of Venice that in that solemne Church of S. Marke in Venice ther be cunningly and costly graued the foure pictures of the foure Euangelistes and vnder euery one his peculiar verse Vnder S. Mathew this ablue concta reae mentis mala sancte Mathee that is O S. Mathew wash away all the euils of a gilty minde and vnder S. Iohn thys Quo sine sine manes perduc nos virgo Iohannes that is O Virgine Iohn bring vs thither wher thou doest abide for euer If thys be not blasphemous against God the father our sauiour Iesus christ I know not what I shuld couÌ„t or cal blasphemous Christ was annointed to be our only mediator betwixt God and man as the Apostel saith But they haue made many mediators wherof we may wel doubt whether some be in heaueÌ„ or not And thus we may sufficiently sée that the Papistes although they professe Christ in worde yet they deny hym in déede Wherefore vnlesse we hate and abhorre this diuelish damâ—able doctrine which is repugnant to Gods â—ord and iniurous to Christs death we can â—e ther truely please nor prayse God. Now let vs consider how we must praise God It is here sayd VVe wyl praise thee O God we wil praise thee this repitition is â—n effectual kind of speach teaching vs that we must praise God earnestly and not negâ—ygently zealously and not caresly feruentâ—y not coldly And herein we must tread in â—he steppes and follow the example of our sauiour Christ who in the dayes of his flesh as the Apostel saith did offer vp prayers supplications cum clamore valido et lachriâ—mis with strong crying and teares to him that was able to saue him And howe we may thus effectualy pray the Apostle teacheth vs saying Spiritus interpellat pro nobis â—gemitibus menarrabilibus 1. The spirite of God maketh intercession for vs with gronings that cannot be expressed the meaning whereof is as S. Augustine doth truely expound it that the spirite of God doth moue and stir vp our harts to pray vnto God with sighes gronings which cannot be expressed They therefore which are sealed wyth Gods holy spirit and whom the sayd spirite doth moue to cry Abba father they I say do pray vnto god with déepe sighes gronings The Apostle in the 12 to the Romaines teacheth vs who be the true worshippers of God Spiritu feruentes domino seruientes being feruent in spirit and fearing the lord Those be the true seruers and seruantes of God which be feruent in the spirit But the world is nowe come to that pointe almost that it is couÌ„ted in a maner worthy reprosse to be zealous and feruent in the spirit For if a man calmely and temperately handle gods cause then he is counted a wiseman a sober man and a discreate man But if the zeale of Gods house haue eaten him vp touch the quick he hunger thirst the reformation of things that be amisse then he is called rashe foolish vndiscreate and I wot not what But I besech God that all men especially the ministers preachers of Gods holy worde may be endewed wyth the two properties which are commended in Apollo to be feruent in the spirite and mighty in the scriptures Both these must be coupled together and not seuered a sunder in a minister for nether knowledge is sufficient without zeale nether zeale without knowledge For S. Paule doth testifye of hys cuntrymen the Iewes that they had zeale towards God but not accordinge to â—nowledge And yet in my opinioÌ„ good zeale â—ith small learning is better then great â—arning with small zeale Now let vs consider why we shuld praise God and declare his meruelous workes it heare declared in these wordes For thy â—ame is neare The name of God that is to God himself his power and maiesty is said â—s be neare First because he is readye to â—ere our prayers and peticions Secondly â—ecause his mighty power is euer present â—o saue and deliuer vs Of the first Dauid â—aith the Lord is neare do al that call vpon â—im in truth And god promiseth by the prophet Esaias to here his people euen before they cal vpon him I haue good cause to confute the papists who imagine God to stand a soufe and far of and that therfore we must come vnto hym as vnto a worldly king by the meanes of Sainctes who in their opinion are nerer vnto vs then god But deaâ—ly beloued be not deceiued there is no saint in heauen nor earth so nere vnto thee as is almighty God For as touching the saintes which be are departed thys lyfe whether they do heare our praiers or knowe our estate it is to be doubted surely S. Augustin in his booke de cura pro mortuis ad Paulinum seemeth to conclude that as we here liuing do not know what is don in heauen so that saintes in heauen know not what is done on the earth And to thys purpose he alledgeth certayne places out of the holye scriptures First out of the .63 chapter of Esaias the Prophet Abraham nefciuitnos Israel ignorauit nos AbrahaÌ„ hath not knowen vs Israell hath not knowen vs thou O Lord art our Father and our redeemer thy name is for euer Here the Prophet doth not direct his prayer to Abraham nor to Iacob but only to God yea and he plainly professeth that Abraham Iacob did not know their estate and therefore he seeketh only to god Another place Augustine aledgeth out of the Psalme Pater et mater dereliquerunt me dominus autem susepit me My Father and my mother haue forsaken me but the Lorde hath taken me vp A thirde place he writeth out of the booke of Kinges where Hulda the prophetisse did shew king Iosia that he shuld be gathered to his Fathers and buried in peace that hys eyes myght not see the euil which God would bring vp on the people By these places S. Augustine doth proue that the saincts departed do neuer heare our prayers nor vnderstand our estate But if I should graunt that they do heare our praiers which yet cannot be proued by the scriptures yet doth it not follow that they be nearer vnto vs then god Salomon saith Tu solus nouisti corda filiorum Israel Thou only O lord knowest the harts of the sonnes of Israel He onely search the â—arts reines and therefore he is nearer vnto vs then all sainctes creatures But as touching thys matter of Inuocation I will say no more only this I conclude we haue in the scriptures the expresse coÌ„maundement of God to call vpon him Call vpon me saith God in the day of thy trouble and I wil deliuer thee and thou shalt glorify me We haue many promises that our prayers shal be accepted graunted being offered to god in the name of our sauiour Christ as may
earth and purgatory he will forgiue sinne and make Saintes and is not this to lift vp his horne very hye Is not this to exalt himself aboue all that is called God He hath made Emperors and kinges to kisse his féete and holde his styrrop to waite at the gates of a cyty â—j or iij. dayes in frost and snow barefooted he hath troden in their neckes he hath deposed them from their crownes kingdomes and hath absolued their subiectes from their obedience and loyalty and is not thys to â—ift vp his horne very hye Thys Romish â—â—ul hath of late lifted vp his horne against â—ur gracious Soueraigne against thys our â—ountry and the estate thereof But Gods â—ame be praised this Buls hornes are now sawed he cannot goare vs this Boores tusshes are now cut he cannot raâ—s vs And if we will vtterly flye and forsake hym all his damnable doctrine and depend wholly vpon God he shal neuer be able to goare vs or hurt vs God hath here promised in thys Psalme that the hornes of the wicked shal be exalted And let the Pope looke for thys that for as much as he hath thus exalted himselfe God wil put him down And although this great whore say that she fitteth lyke a Quéene is no widow and shall sée no mourning yet shal her plagues come at one day death and sorow famine and shée shall be burnt with fyer for strong is the Lord God which wil condemne her And the spirite of God by S. Paule did forshew that the Lord shal consume him with the spirit of his mouth and abolish hym with the brightnes of hys comming And let all those that séeke to flye a loft with the winges of vanity and seeke to exalt themselues by bribery flattery or any other vngodly meanes know that the Lord God wil throw them down The Angels which kept not their first estate but would exalt themselues either aboue or against God God threw them downe into euerlasting chaines of darknes vnto the iudgement of the last day Adam and Eue would be exalting themselues and would be lyke vnto God hauing knowledge of good and euill but God pulled them down shewed theÌ„ their nakednes and driue them out of Paradise Corah Dathan and Abyram woulde néedes exalt theÌ„selues against Moses their godly gouernour but God caused the earth to open and swallow them vp Absalon would exalt himself against his own father and king and would haue bene king in his place but God quailed hys courage and he â—me to a shameful ende as he wel deserued â—eing hanged in his heare and thrust throw â—ith speares Nabuchadonozer king of Baâ—ilon would ascend into heauen and exalt â—is throne aboue the starres of heauen and 〈◊〉 like to the most hyest but God brought â—im downe and made him eate grasse like â—â—n Oxe Beware therefore of exalting your â—elues let God exalt you for true prefermeÌ„t â—ometh neither from the East nor from the West nor froÌ„ the South but froÌ„ the Lord â—e exalteth Moses from kéeping of shéepe to â—e the deliuerer gouernour of his people â—e exalted Ioseph to be gouernour of Egipt â—nder the king he chose Dauid his seruant â—nd tooke him from the sheepefoldes euen â—rom behind the â—wes with yong and exalted him to feede his people in Iacob and his inheritance in Israel God exalted the virgine Mary froÌ„ low degree to be mother of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Christ calleâ— the Apostles from the nets and made them pillers of his truth thus we sée that true which Annasaid Ichoua pauperâ—â— facitâ—◠〈◊〉 humiliatâ—et exaltat The Lord maketh poore and ritch bringeth low and exalteth And that which the Virgine Mary sayde Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltauit humiles He hath put down the mighty froÌ„ their seate and hath exalted the humble méeke And howe daungerously they haue fallen which haue ascended very hye But as I haue sayd to consider that true preferment commeth from god And here I will admonish all those that be exalted to any authority to remember who hath exalted them and from what they haue bene exalted and thirdly to what ende they are exalted to acknowledge that what power or dignity soeuer they haue they haue it of God that to edification and not to destruction I might speake much more of exaltation but the tyme will not suffer me wherefore I wil now come to the last part wherein is set forth a commination against the wicked that in the hand of the Lord is a cup and the wyne is red it is full mixt and he poureth out of the same al the wicked of the earth shall wring out drinke the dregs thereof This word Cup is often tymes in the scripture taken in the euyll parte for affliction plague and punishment as in Hieremie Babel hath bene a cup of goulde in the Lordes hand that made al the earth dronken the nations haue drunkeÌ„ of her wine therfore do the natioÌ„s rage that is to say Babel hath â—e a scourge in the hande of the Lorde to â—rge the wickednes of the world So likeâ—ise Esay Awake awake stand vp Ierusaâ—â—m which hast drunken at the hand of the â—ord the Cup of his wrath thou hast drunâ—â—n the dregs of the Cup of trembling and â—ung them out And in the Psalme Pluet â—per impios vpon the wicked he shal raine â—ars fyre brimstone stormy tempest â—is shal be the portion of their cup. In this â—nse Christ said to his Disciples that were â—spiring to primacye ye know not what ye â—ke are ye able to drinke of the cup that I â—al drink of And againe Father if it be thy â—yl let this Cup passe froÌ„ me So we reade 〈◊〉 the Apocalips if any man worship the â—east and his image and receiue his marke 〈◊〉 his forhead or on his hand the same shal â—rinke of the wine of the wrath of God yea â—f the pure wine which is poured into the â—up of his wrath and he shal be tormented â—n fyer brimstone before the holy Angels 〈◊〉 before the lambe So dearly be loued if we â—o not vnfeinedly feare God stand in awe â—f his iudgements but worke wickednes â—oÌ„mit abominations in the sight of God â—urely we shall drinke of this cup which is filled with Gods wrath For vnto theÌ„ saith the Apostle which are contentious and disobey the truth and obey vnrighteousnes shal be indignation wrath tribulation anguish vpon euery soule that doth euil Let vs take heede that we prouoke not Gods anger by our synnes Consider that it is a terrible thing to fal into the hands of the liuing God wherfore I exhort you dearely beloued vnfeinedly to repeÌ„t you of your sins truely to turne to the lord your God to serue him in holines righteousnes all the dayes of your liues earnestly to pray vnto god that ye may drink of the cup of his mercies in Christ not of the cup of his wrath And this if we wil do god shal be our God we his people God shal blesse vs both with temporal benefites spiritual graces and we shal drinke the cup of his great mercies the which god our mercifull father for hys crucifyed Christes sake graunt vs to whom with the holy ghost three persons one true and immortal god be al lande prayse and glory both now and for euermore Amen Caluine in his preaface before the Psalmes Psal. 41 9 〈◊〉 â—5 15 Mich. 33 Psal. i4 4 Pro. 21. i3 Pro. 28.9 〈…〉 Caluine in his preaface before the psalmes Mich. 33 Psal. i4 4 Pro. 21.13 Pro. 28.9 〈…〉 Caluine in his preaface before the psalmes Mich. 3â— Psal. i4 4 Pro. 21. 13 Exo. 2.24 Exod. 3.9 10. Exe. 14.16 Psal. 14.4 Mich. â—â— Exo. 2.24 Exod. 3.9 10. Exe. 14. â—6 Psal. i4 4 Mich. 3â— Exo. 2 2â— Exod. 3.10 Exe. 14. iâ— Mich. 3â— Exe. 14. â—