of Eagles cary stones in their mouthes least their voice bewray them concealeth these words they shall keepe thee in all thy waies because they z Ps 91. 11. made against him the waies to which he tempted being none of Christs waies and like the painter which Plutarch speaketh of who when hee had drawne a hen in very badde proportion chased away the liuing hens from his shoppe window lest his euill workmanship should be perceiued but it fareth with them as it did with the painter in Queene Maries times whom when he had painted King Henry the eight in harnesse with a sword in the one hand and a booke in the other whereupon was written verbum Dei the Bishop of Winchester sent for him and after many reuiling words commanded him to wipe out the booke and verbum Dei too the painter because he would be sure to wipe out both cleane wiped away a peece of the hand withall and the Papists while they wipe out verbum Dei and take away what they please out of the word of God haue wiped out their hand too they cannot so much preuaile with men seeing their leger de maine as otherwise they might no by this and the like meanes not onely their arme is shortened a 1 Sam. 2. 31. like Elyes arme but the very legs of their holy father the Pope are broken b Io. 19. 32 like the legs of the theeues which were crucified with Christ King Henry the eight broke his right leg of rents and reuenewes whereas before that time his legs were strong like the legs of the image in Nebuchadnezars dreame because many patrimonies went downe his throat and by the foisted name of Peters patrimony he deuoured the naturall inheritance of secular Princes whereas before that time his kitchin full of gridyrons and caldrons to broyle and boyle soules was like an yron mill which consumes all the wood in a country and all the flouds in England did runne into his sea King Edward the sixt broke his left leg of Idolatrous seruice when the temple was well purged Images burned when many papists shipt ouer their trinkets and packt away their paltry but our late Q. Elizabeth of famous memory crushed his head c Iud. 9. 53 like the woman who cast a peece of a milstone vpon the head of Abimelâ—ch and brake his braine-pan Secondly if God spake all and all must be obeyed then is the Pope to blame to dispense with the law or any part of it yet hee alloweth of curtizans who pay tribute for licence to be common whores the Auditor of his Exchequer excommunicating those which keepe not touch in bringing it in neither is onely fornication finable in Rome and a good â—alable kind of sinne but very incest it selfe for the Pope permitteth the brother to marry his wne brothers wife and the vncle his sisters daughter Neither dispenseth he with the breach of the seuenth Commandement alone but if hee bee displeaseed with the King as he was with King Iohn then against the fifth Commandement hee assoileth Earles Barons Knights and all other manner of men of their homages seruices and fealties that they should doe vnto him commanding vnder paine of his great cuise that no man should obey him keepe him company eate or drinke or talke with him forbidding his owne houshold to doe him any kind of seruice either at bed or at boord in Church hall or stable But what need I speake of this or that particular Commandement when the Canonists say he may dispense with the lawes of God and sinnes of men that hee may dispense against the law of God a-against the law of Nature against Saint Paul the Apostle against the old against the new against all the Commandements of the old and new Testament May I not say vnto him as Moses to Korah Dathan and Abiram d NuÌ„ 16. 7 ye take too much vpon you ye sonnes of Leui. But I proceed being indeede more desirous to lead men in the road way then to shew them the turnings or point at them that wander out of the way I am the Lord thy God e Iudg. 14. 14. In Sampsons riddle out of the strong came sweetnesse hony out of the Lyons belly here is a medely of the name according to Sampsons riddle both of strong and sweet the Lord see how strong God is thy God taste and see how sweet the Lord is hee is fortâ—er suauis and suauiter fortis there is a sweet entercourse of both that both the one and the other might winne obedience to the law I am the Lord God hath a Lordship in heauen where he hath good seruants in hell where hee hath bad in earth where hee hath both hee is not a God of heauen alone as the Poets feined Iupiter not of hell alone as they fained Pluto nor of earth alone as f 1 King 20 23. the Aramites spake as though there were gods of the mountaines and gods of the vallies but of all The Pope though he hath but some angle not all the corners of the earth though he is but as a foxe in a hole yet the Papists say as much of him as God saith here of himselfe his discreet Doctors say he is potestate maximus bonitate optimus which Epithites in former times were proper to God who was called Deus Optimus Maximus Others say he is not wholy God nor wholy man and this was true in Pope Ioane they speake righter then they are aware for she was a woman but a Canonist saith plainly onr Lord God the Pope and the Pope as Bishop Iewell reporteth was content to suffer one of his parasites to say vnto him in the late Counsell of Lateran Thou art another God on earth and he weareth a triple crowne either because he would vsurpe the Antichristian power ouer the three diuisions of the world Europe Asia and Affricke or else for that he would be a Lord of heauen where he may Canonize Saints of hell where he may free soules out of Purgatory of the earth where he may bind and loose set vp and put downe at his pleasure and because happily you will not beleeue their owne bare words you shall heare how they bring scripture for it g Ps 8. 6. he hath put all things in subiection vnder his feet the beasts of the field .i. men liuing on the earth the fishes in the sea .i. soules in Purgatory the foules of the ayre .i. the soules of the blessed risum teneatis this would make Heraclitus himselfe who alwaies wept to fall a laughing it were present remedy against all his teares But in earnest if the Pope cannot doe this why doe they attribute so much vnto him if he can what can God doe more he can say no more in generall tearmes to shew his power and dominion to shew his mercy and goodnes then this I am the Lord thy God A Lord whose title is alike to all places and therefore
inordinate quarunt h Io. 8. 19. vbi est quia vbique est the Pharisees should not aske where he is but where is he not he is a circle whose centre is no where and circumference euery where he filleth all things not that they containe him but rather that he contains them he is whole in all things and all things in him and as he beareth vp heauen and earth and yet is not burdened so he filleth heauen and earth and yet is not inclosed Heauen is his chamber of presence there he is by glory the heart of his elect is his preuy chamber there he is by grace and though he be farre off from the thoughts of the wicked yet is he not away for where he is absent by grace there is he present by vengeance The argument then is this I am the Lord therefore you that are seruants must obey i Mat. 8. 8. I say to my seruant doe this and he doth it It is Gâ—rrans obseruation The other Apostles call Christ k Mat. 26. 22. 25. Lord because they meant to obey him but Iudas doth not so because he had shaken off the yoke of obedience they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 howsoeuer it come to passe that our Geneua translation in English make no difference in the title l Luc. 19. 3. 8. Zacheus desired to see Iesus because he needed a sauiour by and by he called him Lord as though he were at his beck to doe his will The whole order of nature is nought else then a proofe of the obdience which all creatures both aboue and beneath yeeld vnto the Lord the m Iob 37. 12. Raine Winde and Stormes execute that he commandeth n Mat. 8. 27 The Sea obey him when he stilleth the raging waues thereof when he treads vpon it as his freehold o Mat. 14. 25. when it is so stiffe that he may walke vpon it p Luc 5. 6. 7 The inhabitants of the sea obey him when they come thicke and three-fold into Simons net The earth obey q Ioh. 11. 43 him when he bids Lazarus come forth The heauens obey him r Act. 1. 9. when it openeth and receiueth him into glory This is sufficient euidence to condemne vs and shall set a glosse on our rebellion if we which haue sense wit and reason shall disobey if the heart of our heart and the inmost concauity thereof which is made to containe vitall breath be not filled vp with subiection to the will of the Lord that we can say euery one of vs thy law is within my heart The Lord thy God the Lord of all by right of possion the Lord God by right of ereation but the Lord thy God O Israell by â—ight of speciall election for thou art separated from other Conntries as Å¿ Es 20. 6. an I le from other lands t 1 Pet. 2. 25. God is a Bishop and u Mat 28. 19. he giues his Apostles a commission to visit all other Diocesses of the world but Israel was a Peculiar and this x Luc. 1. 68 he visited in his owne person y Deut. 7. 6 others were as the Commnos of the world these as Gods owne inclosure Other nations like wilde beasts wandred among mountaines woods and deserts these as his owne flocke hee receiued into his folde z Hos 11. 3. 4. Hee ledde Ephraim as one should beare them in his armes hee ledde them with cords of a man euen with bands of loue They which voluntarily come into any Kings dominion euen by the common law of Nations are subiects to that King a GeÌ„ 46. 6 Iacob and his family goe into Egypt yet God giues them a priuiledge calling in Israel his sonne and b Ex. 4. 22. his first borne At the first before the couenant God made with Abraham one person was not more respected then another but as soone as it was said c Gen. 17. 7 I will bee thy God and the God of thy seed after thee the Church was diuided from other nations no otherwise then light was from darkenesse in the first creation but as in the time of Brutus sic parâ—is componere magna solemus Britaine was but one Monarchy which after him was diuided into three Kingdomes till our gratious King Iames pulled downe the partition wall and ioyned not onely Roses but Realmes together so the people of the world before the couenant being of one and the same condition and all alike vnder one God were afterwards diuided into Iewes and Gentiles and one much more respected then the other till Christ the Prince of peace came who breaking downe the wall of partition made an vnion made of Iewes and Gentiles one people so that d RoÌ„ 2. 29 he is not now a God of the Iewes alone but of the Gentiles also and the Greeks may as well say Christ as the Hebrews Iesus the one e RoÌ„ 8. 15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as the other Abba and this that God is our God is the second argument here vsed to allure vs to obedience f Gen. 27. 12. Iacob is afraid to abuse old Isaac because he is his father g GeÌ„ 39. 8 Ioseph will not consent to the inticements of his mistrisse because Putifar is his good master and we must be afraid to offend because we haue a good Father a good Master a good God if we wander out of the way and go astray from his Commandements turning aside to the right hand or to the left he may iustly challenge vs and say I am thy God thy God why hast thou forsaken mee h 1 King 12 â— The gray-headed Counsellors in Israell which had stood before Salomon while he yet liued told Rehoboam his sonne If thou speake kind words vnto this people this day they will bee thy seruants for euer God speaketh kinde words vnto vs this day I am the Lord I am thy God and therefore wee must not bee seruants vnto sinne but in a resolute detestation whipping that bad merchant out of the temple of our heart be his seruants for euer Which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Egypt was a land full of superstition it honoured diuels it honoured men it honoured beasts it honoured plants what thing was it but it was to them a God and therefore this was a great fauour of God to be deliuered out of it Nature hath ingrafted in euery creature to loue the place where it tooke birth and beginning i Ecc. 1. 7. The Riuers goe to the Sea from whence they came k Gen. 8. 9 The Doue returned to the Arke from whence shee came forth l 1 King 11 22. Hadad lacketh nothing with Pharaoh yet in any case will goe into his owne Country but yet if Caldea the place of Abrahams natiuity serueth strange gods then the Lord saith vnto him m GeÌ„ 12. 1 Get thee
require by vertue of this precept resteth in the soule you may dissemble with men you may set vp Idols in your heart and conceale it from them for I haue walled in the heart and mans eyes cannot be let into it but deceiue not your selues see you doe it not for I know the Anatomy of the heart and can gage the very bottome of the thoughts your doings are not behind my backe but before mee before my face in my sight I am all eye all hand all eare all foot I see worke heare all and am euery where I view all things as one and each one thing as all being whole together without diuision change or abatement Thus you see the streames into which this fountaine diuides it selfe now come to the waters and drinke raste of euery one as they present themselues in order to your view Wee must haue one God and he must be Dauids God a Ps 31. 14 I said vnto the e Lord thou art my God this God shall be our God vnto death therfore we must 1. loue him aboue all 2. feare him aboue all 3. trust in him aboue all for whatsoeuer we loue feare or trust in most that is a god to vs for the first loue him aboue all our Sauiour Christ said vnto Peter three seuerall times b Ioh. 21. 13. Simon Ioanna louest thou mee that his three-folde confession might wipe away the shame of his three-fold deniall or as Bernard c Mat. 26. 70. saith to teach thee that thou must loue God plus quam tuos tua te more then thy kinred more then thy substance more then thy selfe 1. More then thy kinred Great is the loue of children towards their parents it was a strange thing that Sarah d Gen. 18. 11. old Sarah when it ceased to be with her after the manner of women e 21. 7. should giue children sucke it was as strange that a childe should giue sucke to the parents yet Moses witnesseth the one the French Academy reports the other for when a father was condemned to die of famine his daughter gaue him sucke with her owne breasts which being made known to the Magistrates she obtained pardon for her fathers life here was loue much like the naturall loue of the Storke which feeds the dam when shee is old because the dam did feed her when she was young greater is the loue of parents towards their children magis discendit quā ascendit amor of the children the Poet said filius ante diē patrios inquirit in annos but the parents praied offred to the gods to preserue their children that they might ouer liue them therfore called superstitiosi the child is many times sicke of the father and weeps because his father liues so long whereas the father is ready to dye for sorrow that his child doth dye so soone When Iacob supposed verily that his sonne Ioseph was dead he would not be comforted but said f Gen. 37 35. surely I will goe downe into the grane vnto my sonne mourning and Dauid shewing his fatherly affection when hee heard of the death of Absolon wept as hee went and thus hee said g 2 Sam. 18 33. O my sonne Absolon my sonne my sonne Absolon would God I had died for thee o Absolon my sonne my sonne but this notwithstanding if our parents if our children stand betwixt vs and our God wee must not regard them nay in this case our holy carelesnesse must make them our footsteps God is loue and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him yet loue it selfe speakes of hate in this respect and exhorts it h Ln. 14. 26 If any man come to me hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters hee can not be my disciple in this case odium in suos is pietas in Deum and if they lye in his way as he is going to God he must tread and trample them vnder his feet for loue vnto God forget his blood as i Gen. 29. 18. Iacob forsooke his kinred for loue he had vnto Rachell This serueth to reproue the father which maketh a God of his child as father Hely did he himself was a good man but his children of disposition vnlike himself the white Halciones hatch black young ones k Esa 5. 2. the vine in Esay brings forth wild grapes these children were young twigs that liked not vnder the old tree weeds that waxed out of measure noysome and fruit vpon which a bad aire falling it did quicklie rotte and fall from the tree and because their cockering father doting on them gaue them but light admonition for heauy sins and small l 1. Sam. 2. 23. 24. 29. rebuke for great offences Why doe you such things for of all this people I heare euill reports of you doe no more my sonnes for it is no good report I heare hee is said to honour his children more then God on the other side it serueth to reproue the child which maketh a god of his father Elisha was somewhat faulty this way who being too much wedded to his parents would first go m 1 King 19. 20. kisse his father and mother when he was called to the seruice of God more blameable was that disciple who being called to follow Christ would stay till his father was dead n Mat. 8. 21 Master suffer me first to goe and bury my father when the matter respecteth faith and religion and seruing of God o Mat. 23. 9 call no man your father vpon earth which should haue superiority ouer your faith or hinder you when God calleth for there is but one your Father which is in heauen 2. Loue God plus quam tua more then thy substance we may roue a riches but God must bee our standing marke Crates otherwise a wise man in this was reckoned but a Philosophicall foole to throw his mony into the sea with these words Ego te mergam ne mergar à te I will drowne thee lest thou shouldest drowne mee The Cappuchines are but Hypocrites who neither take nor touch siluer but start backe when it is offered as p Ex. 4. 3. Moses did from his rodde when it was turned to a serpent the prodigall man is blame-worthy who comming to his wealth before he comes to his wits runneth beyond his pale and liuing without compasse maketh his owne hands his executors and his owne eyes his ouerseers supposing he onely knoweth the value of the world and that others ouerprise it wee may haue riches as the Egyptians had their bondmen for vse onely and vse them as trauellers doe their third legge to helpe them along to their iourneies end but the immoderate loue of them must be left to the heathen which know no other heauen os homini sublime dedit whereas other creatures looke downewards to the ground God hath giuen man a contrary countenance that
the Gospell come short in zeale of those which had but the dim candle-light of Nature let vs not who haue the law of God in our mother tongue pointing more directy to the true God then any finger to the dyall haue our motions kindled with lesse true zeale then theirs were igne fatuo which had the booke of God but clasped vp in an vnknowne language let vs not who haue knowledge and can speake diuers tongues bee to seeke in the language of Canaan be to seeke to sing the songs of Sion diuine notes of Halleluiah and glory to God in the highest Knowledge without zeale is a lame sacrifice zeale without knowledge is a blind sacrifice Å¿ Mal. 1. 8. Malachy will haue neither offred to God therefore let them not like t Ioh. 20. 4 the two Disciples Peter and Iohn or u 2 Sam. 18 21. the two Messengers which Ioab sent to carry Dauid tidings of his deliuerance one out-run the other but as the two x Luc. 24. 13. Disciples when they went to Emmaus goe together arme in arme like man and wife cheeke by ioul as Hippocrates twines if one be lacking there will want a ronge of Iacobs ladder it will be too short to reach vnto heauen Or the likenesse of any thing that is in heauen aboue or in the earth beneath or in the water vnder the earth Ex malis moribus bona'leges natae sunt bad diseases haue giuen occasion of good remedies in that therefore God forbids not onely images in generall but so many sorts in particular some in heauen as birds that flie in the firmament of heauen the Sun and Moone and Sarres the whole hoast of heauen some in earth as the similitude of men and beasts and creeping things some in the sea as the likenesse of fishes I note that to be true which the Lord speaketh according to the number of thy Cities were thy Gods O Iudah y Ier. 11. 13 and according to the number of the streets of Ierusalem haue yee set vp altars of confusion The minde of man is a glasse so long as a glasse remaineth whole there is but one face of him which looketh in it represented backe againe but if it bee once crackt or broken let but one man looke in it there appeares so many faces as there be crases so is it with the minde of man as long as it continued sound and whole there shined in it but the image of one true God but when by a fall it once lost this integrity then it receiued sundry images and Gods maiesty was disguised by variety of Idols But yet I doe not reade of any open idolatry before the floud but after the floud it entred euen into the posterity of Sem for Ioshua said vnto all the Tribes of Israell that their fathers z Ios 24. 2 euen Terah the father of Abraham serued other gods the threds of this sinne did thy draw so bigge and so long that they made them cords of vanity they did wreath these cords till they became cart-rops of iniquity busying themselues in their owne dreames and doting fancies till God caused them to be carried away captiue vnto Babilon But after the captiuity Israel said a Hos 14. 9. what haue I to doe any more with Idols b Hos 2. 7. I will goe and returne to my first husband I will not play the harlot and be to any other neither did they change the house of God into a shop of Idolatry no when the Romanâ— Emperours would haue thrust images vpon them they chose rather to die a thousand times then lay Gods honour open to the spoile of creatures neither could they euer bee brought to admit into their Temple the Standard of the Romans neither was there found any pensill relike or image in their temple * 1 Mac. 1. 23. neither when Antiochus Epiphanes sackt it for couetousnesse or when Pompey spared it for reuerence nay they were so farre from worshipping the worke of mens hands that they would not admit painter or caruer into their City But all this while among the Gentiles Idolatry did lift vp her head till the Apostles came who cryed out vpon it down with it downe with it euen to the ground then such as God had added to his Church that they might bee saued put away the strange Gods that were among them ouerthrew their altars broake their images in peeces cut downe their groues destroyed all their pictures pluckt downe all their high places broake downe their pillers and burnt their images with fire But in processe of time for if the diuell bee cast out he is discontented and saith c Mat. 12. 44. I will returne into mine house from whence I came God was againe put out of doores and his house changed into an idolatrous shop For about the yeere of our Lord 490. Gregory the first the worst of all the 63. Bishops of Rome that went before him and the best of all the 175. that followed since him though he vtterly condemned the worshipping of images yet thought it not amisse to haue them in Churches as necessary Alphabets for lay men and good shepheards Kalenders The diuell now hauing gotten an inch would take an ell and hauing gotten in his head like a subtile serpent made his whole body follow after for when the Emperours of the East and the Popes of Rome were at daggers drawing they to put downe images these to vpholde them so mightily grew the power of the Popes that they preuailed then mens hearts were not perfit with the Lord they went a whoring after their owne eyes looking to other gods they said to the wood awake and to the dumbe stone stand vp they asked counsell of their stocks and their staffe taught them they had many altars to sinne and villany was seen in their houses I would spend no further pilgrimage in this walke but that so many seuerall gods present themselues vnto my view which if I should goe about to number they should bee more then I am able to expresse To omit therefore the Persians which had as many gods as there were Starres in the sky and fires on the earth the Greekes which had as many gods as they had fancies the Romanes which canonized so many new gods as their Senate would alow to omit this infinite variety there were twelue principall gods Iuno Vesta Minerua Ceres Diana Venus Mars Mercurius Iupiter Neptune Vulcanus Apollo To these were added Saturne lest he might seeme to be wronged since his sonne Iupiter was a god and his mother Vesta was a goddesse and also Bacchus because being a hot fellow hee might make some fray seeing Câ—res was one goddesse and Venus was another herein Europ were gods for particular Countreys S. Iames for Spaine S. Dennis for Fraunce S. Patricke for Ireland S. George for England in England were gods for particular Citties S. William of Yorke S. Thomas of Caunterbury and Bonauenture but it
lesse godhead to be in those gods then in the least creatures This serueth to reproue the Turke whose oath is this I sweare by God the maker of heauen and earth and the 4. Historiograpâ—ers of Euangelicall Histories and by the 8000 Prophets that came from heauen and by our mighty god Mahomet aboue all other to be worshipped and by the spirits of my father and Grandfather by this my sacâ—ed and imperiall head It serueth to reproue Châ—â—stâ—ans who by their oathes lay open Gods honour to the spoyle of creatures and though it be a thing forbidden by flat statute beautifie and set our the Saints with the ornaments of his name Let not therefore the name of Saints waite vpon our worâ—es to serue where our humour shall place them let vs not fill our mouthes with them as though the sentence were not full if they were left out let not Oathes by Saint An. by Saint Mary by Saint George or other fly at all aduentures and waite at the heeles of euery word these and other oathes are but custome in the elder sort imitation in the younger sort brauery in the rich necessitie in the poore no pleasure in them no profit of them and sinnes cloathed with no delight or gaine are lesse excuseable euen in the sight of men As weare not to impart Gods worship with Saints so not with reliques of Saints which Clement the 5. thought were to be bad in the highest veneration a Heb. 11. 22. Ioseph gaue commandement of his bones and b Gen. 50. 25. lying on his death bed tooke an oath of the children of Israell to carry his bones with them out of Egypt least as Chrysostome saith the Egyptians remembring the good c Deu. 34. 6 things he had done should vse the good mans body to an occasion of Idolatry God buryed Moses body the Iewes knew not where one reason was left they should bring his carkeis into the land of Canaan from which he was excluded by the iudgement of God another reason was that by this meanes he might meete with all and preuent their superstition for therefore saith D. Raynolds it may be thought that the diuell when he did striue with Michaell about the body of Moses did striue that his body might be reuealed to the Iewes that thereby they might haue occasion to commit idolatry when a miracle was wrought at the martyring of Policarpus the Centuâ—ion would not haue his body deuided least the remnants of the dead corpes should be worshipped of the people Indeed if that were true that the bones of Siluester the 2. did coÌ„monly ratle in his tombe before the death of Popes for this they say the ratling of his bones doth portend then there were some reason why they should be esteemed but his bones are vsed like Dice made of womens bones to cozen a man and no such ratling indeed and therefore let this ratling lye be buryed with them The Israelites must reserue nothing of the Paschall lambe lest d Ex. 12. 10 they should mixe that holy banquet with their daily bread 2. lest the sight of raw flesh might make it lesse esteemed 3. lest any superstition might creepe in by reseruing the reliques and therefore the very bones must be burnt and more then so e Ex. 32. 20 Moses tooke the sinne of Israell and the calfe which they had made and grounde it to powder and strowed it vpon the water and made the children of Israell drinke of it both in despight of their idolatry and that there might remaine no monument thereof lest they which were most giuen to superstition might gather together the reliques This serueth to reproue such as while they liue appoint or obserue any festiuall day in honour of reliques as Pope Innocent who ordeyned the feast of the holy speare and of the holy nayles and though we doe well to obserue the seuenth day that thereby we may learne to rest from sin that day and make the rest of the weeke sutable to the same yet to make more reckoning of one Sabboth then another in regard of reliques and to haue our Gaudees and feasts on relique Sunday as they call it cannot be without sent of superstition Againe it reproueth such as when they dye thinke reliques will helpe them the sooner to heauen as those which are of this minde that if they be buryed in a Gray Fryers frocke the third part of their sinnes shall be forgiuen them which dignity was indeed granted by a Bull to that religion But neuer thinke that these nor Saint Peters Cope or his other vestiments can be a quittance for our debts they are pallium breue not talaris tunica a short cloake not a gowne long enough to hide our sinnes only the coate of Christ without seame can couer them all f Esa 43. 25. I euen I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake where euen as God excludeth all other motiues when he saith for mine owne sake so he excludeth all other meanes when he saith I and that with an ingemination euen I doe it He hath grace if we sinne g Eph. 2. 7. riches of grace if our sinnes be great exceeding riches of grace if they be many h 1. Tim. 1. 13. mercy for Paul for he did it ignorantly i Psa 51. 1. great mercy for Dauid for he sinned willingly he can pardon for his mercy is omnipotent he will pardon for his omnipotency is meryfull as for reliques they come short of his mercy that remitteth sinnes and come not neere the value of that ransome which was payd for them The Masse wherein is consecration transubstantiation missall oblation and adoration is a great Idoll and should haue as little worship as these reliques much vertue as I haue already shewed was attributed to it whereas in very deed there was no vertue in it it could not so much as defend it sacrificer who in some place of this land in the reigne of Queene Mary was beset with Swordes and Bucklers lest hee should be disturbed in his missall sacrifice to blame also therefore were they which did flye to it for succour neither did men thinke it only present helpe for themselues but if their pigges were sicke they had a Masse called the Masse of Saint Anthony to ridde them from their diseases another for their Hennes that were sicke and lost againe to blame were men to vse it for the conuersion of those which were thought heretickes as did Anthony Kechin Bishop of Landaffe in Queene Maryes dayes to vse it for deliuering of soules out of purgatory as did Odilo Abbot of Cluniake who thought that his Masses had deliuered diuers soules from thence saying more ouer that he did heare the voices and lamentations of diuels crying out for that the soules were taken from them by the Masses Dirges funerall by reason whereof Pope Iohn the 19 brought in the feast of all soules Againe to blame were they
workes and in very deed the best men haue some let spot or want euen in their very deuotions goe to prayer when the best men haue prayed they had need to pray againe that God would forgiue the faults in their prayers and therefore there is an Angell that powreth sweet odours into the prayers of the Saints to shew that they yeeld no sweet sauour to God without fauour in Christ Goe to loue a Reu. 8. 3. Peter loued much but yet hee did fault in his loue when hee heard of the passion as he did afterward fall from b Mat. 16. 22. his loue when the passion was hard at hand We desire to be c Luc. 22. 57. but conformable to the Angels d Mat. 6. 10. They will be done in earth as it is in heauen but the Angels are not without blemish in his sight and though there were no other thing yet the very corruption of our flesh it selfe doth infect that which of it selfe is pure as a muddie ground doth the cleane water and as an vnsauery caske doth the good wine that is put into it This serueth to condemne such as relie vpon their owne merits especially such as thinke Gods law too strait for their holinesse stand for supererogation aboue law supposing they are so farre from need of mercy that they haue satisfactions to spare for others ouer and aboue their owne discharge for when the Lord saith he will shew mercy to the best he insinuateth e Luc. 17. 10 that when wee haue done all wee can we are vnprofitable seruants and that reward is giuen not according to our deserts but according to the worthines of him that doth bestow it our merit is the mercy of the Lord and as long as God is manifold in mercies man is manifold of deserts indeed we are ready to stand too much vpon our good actions and therefore the Psalmographer teacheth vs to speake twice against our selues f Ps 115. 1. Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the praise A good man doth that for which hee came not so as hee can boast but so as God accepts it while he pardons his weaknes so that our righteousnes consists rather in forgiuenes of our sinnes then perfection of our vertues and when God rewardeth vs hee recompenseth vs according to his owne honour not according to the basenes of our owne hearts or the estimation wee haue of our owne worth Againe this serueth for the comfort of those which are determined to keepe the word of God which enforce themselues to obey it and to walke in the name of the Lord their God for euer yet grone vnder the burden of their sinnes and when they would doe good euill is present with them cals at their doors craues entertainement and of force will bee their tennant I say this is their comfort to know that God will shew mercy si faciunt pracepta etsi non perficiunt if they keepe his commandements in truth though they fulfill them not in perfection God accepteth that which his children doe willingly though weakely he takes the will for the worke and measuring the deed by the desire and the desire by sincerity will shew mercy hee will shew it it shall appeare and shine as Saint g Tit. 2. 11. Paul speaketh of the grace of God as if the Lord had reared it vp in the midst of the firmament like the sun that all the world might see it To thousands The Lord is mercifull and righteous and our God is full of compassion h Ps 116. 5 I the Lord thy God here the Lord is mercifull visiting the sinnes here he is righteous shewing mercy to thousands here our God is full of compassion visiting sins to the third and fourth generation not that he confines himselfe to three or foure discents for when he had executed vengeance vpon the posterity of Ham to the sixt and seuenth generation yet his wrath was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still and shewing mercy to thousands not that hee ties himselfe to any set number but making comparison of iustice and grace he sheweth that hee is more prone to mercy and that this mercy doth outgoe his iustice as that other Discipel did out run i Ioh. 20. 4 Peter as they posted to the sepulchre Iustice is Gods left hand mercy is his right now God is right-handed he vseth his right hand more then his left therefore that is the greater of the two if his wrath like Nilus hath ouerflowed a while at last like the flouds in k Ex. 15. 8. Exodus it stands still as an heape or else like Iorden it is driuen backe or is like the waters about Ierusalem which might be dryed vp with l Ps 1 14. 3 the tramplings of an army m Es 37. 25 but his mercy is as the fountaine of the gardens n Can. 4. 15 a Well of liuing waters and the springs of Lebanon the one like the garments of the Gibeonites worne out o Ios 9. 13. in a few discents the other like the p Deu. 29 5 garments of the Israelites in the wildernesse which did not weare the one like the wings of the Eagle in q Dan. 7. 4. Daniels vision pluckt off the other r 1 King 6 27. like the winges of the Cherubims neuer pulled in but euer stretched forth the one like Å¿ 2 King 4. 6. the widdowes Oyle which ran a while and then ceased the other like t Ps 133. 2 Aarons oyle for as that rested not on Aarons head but ran downe vpon his beard and went down to the very skirts of his garments So Gods mercy resteth not on the head on the good father but discendeth to his children to the next generation and so along still to the lowest borders of his religious issue Gods mercy died not with Abraham but stretched it selfe to his righteous seed from generation to generation as the kindnesse of the Athenians to that same good and iust Aristides dyed not with him but extended it selfe to his posterity for when hee died so poore that he left not to bury him according to his place and desert they respecting his children gaue his sonne Lysimachus one hundred Minas that is 240. pounds and married his daughters at the charge of the City This serueth first for the comfort of those good parents which haue a great charge of children and small meanes to leaue them who doe not see the riuers and flouds and streames of hony and butter themselues whose children inheriting the wind are like enough to be filled with pouerty this I say is a comfort to thinke that though they cannot make their sonnes and daughters plenteous in goods though their hand did not get much though they did not heape vp riches for them though they did not lay vp golde for dust and the golde of Ophir as the flints of the Riuer yet
for his case and tells them that if they contend for God and make a lye for him as one lyeth for a man for bad cases may be so well handled that they may bleare the eyes of men they neither conceiue his Maiesty nor yet know their owne infirmity and therefore may be laughed at as Elihu in the person of God mocketh n Iob. 34. 31. Iob if I see not teach thou me if I haue done wickedly I will doe no more as if hee should say let me know where I haue done amisse and I will be ready to mend it God likes not those nor will euer thanke them for their kindenes which will lend him false colours hee will breake those false glasses which doe not represent his owne face To conclude this point we hurt the truth when we adulterate the sense of Scripture and change the meaning of it when we take a wrest to make the tune sound to our key when as though we had the winde in a bagge we make it blow with oursayles when we make it the hindge and rudder to turne all about as we please when we fit it to our fancies imitating Scyron and Procâ—stes who fitted the passengers to the bedd of brasse which they had framed to their owne bignes if they were to long for the bedd they cut of their legges for catching cold if to short they rackt them at length like those which set Pauls Epistles on the tenters and would make them walke a mile or two further for their fancyes then euer the holy Ghost meant to goe such are they which inuent viperous glosses to eate out the bowels of a text as quirking heades haue found waies to eate out the meaning of good lawes which in stead of naturall milke which the Church giueth out of her two breasts the Old and New Testament inforce out the bloud of violent interpretation as he o Pro. 30. 33. which wringeth his nose causeth bloud to come out as this is done at other times so then when we vnderstand plainely that which is spoken by a figure and contrariwise figuratiuely that which is to be taken in the literall sense for the first the Pharisees did wrong to the law who following the bare words defrauded the meaning the more they bound themselues to the shew of the letter the further they were from the truth As for example p Deu. 6. 8. Thou shalt binde the commandements for a signe vpon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets betweene thine eyes hereby God commanded the meditation and practise of his law but hereupon the Pharisees got two lists skroles or peeces of parchment and therein they wrote the two tables putting one on their left armes next their hearts and binding the other to their browes which custome the Iewes obserue to this day and then they thought they might well say with the seruant q Luc. 14. 22. Lord it is done as thou hast commanded againe beware of r Mar. 8. 15 the leauen of the Pharisees and of the leauen of Herod hereby Christ meant the corrurpt doctrine of the Pharisees the adultery incest vnlawfull vowes swearing dissimulation and cruelty of Herod but the Disciples for indeed at that time they had forgotten to take bread sayd it was because they had no bread these are like those simple men who if they should heare vs say deuoremâ—â— hominem would by and by gather that we would turne Cannibals or like the foolish patient who eates vp the paper when the Phisition bids him take the Recipe that he prescribed vnto him For the second as we must not take that plainely which is spoken by a figure for many times the sense of the Scripture is against the shew of words and the shew of vvords against the trutâ— so on the other side wee must not vnderstand that figuratiuely which is to bee taken in the literall sense for then we wrest the rule of truth for example our Sauiour Christ saith vnto Peter Å¿ Lu. 5. 4. launch out into the deepe and make a draught here is a Text say some to proue that Peters successour which they say is the Pope shall catch the great fish of Constantines donation for they faine that Constantine the great gaue vnto the Bishops of Rome the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction ouer all but both Ecclesiasticall and Politicall ouer the west parts of the world and this they say was meant when he bad Peter launch out whereas by such gathering they reape that which the holy Ghost sowed not Not but that one text may haue two senses literall which the very words vnderstood aright doe import misticall when they conteyne a deeper mistery but the misticall is not knowne to be the meaning except God himselfe reueales it for example t Deu. 25. 4 thou shalt not muzell the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the corne this is plaine the cattle that worke must eate but this litterall sense is but chaffe the misticall is the corne and with the Apostles we must u Mat. 12. plucke the eares of corne and rubbe them with our handes In the first Iacobs roddes are couered with rindes in the second they are in part pilled Saint Paul shewes vs the corne and takes the pilles from it when he saith x 1. Cor. 9. 9 doth God take care for Oxen Nay he had a further reach in it to teach that they who sow spirituall things should reape carnall things Againe y Ex. 12 4â— yee shall not breake a bone of the Paseball lambe here is a bone and there is marrow in it the first is the outward shell but Saint Iohn z Ioh. 19. â—6 expoundes this of Christs bones there is the inward kernell The first is the foote of a Gen. 28. 12. Iacobs ladder next the earth the second is the top of the ladder reaching to heauen in the first thy mother and thy brethren stand without O Christ and cannot finde thee in the second with the Disciples they are within and leane vpon thy bosome and therefore the first of these senses must call for the second as one depth calleth an other If we goe no further then the' first with Abrahams c GeÌ„ 22. 5 seruants we stay with the Asse that is our foolishnesse at the foot of the hill but if we goe to the second with Abraham vve goe vp to the mount and d Eze. 1. 16 with Ezâ—chiell see a wheele in a wheele the wine of the spirit in the dregs of the letter but yet withall we must take heed wee goe not to a mysticall sense except we haue the word for our warrant for e Mat. 2. 9. the wise men went no further then they vvere guided by the starre and the starre no further then Christ if vvee straine a text too high we must know the note aboue Ela is a iarring note and makes a discord in the Harmony and if we climbe with Duns his ladder we
euen the most mighty 〈…〉 two â—isciples naming Iesus 〈…〉 n Luc. 24. 19. of Nazareth a Prophet mighty in 〈…〉 we speake of Kings we make their names glorious when the o 1. Cro. 29 26. Scripture mentioneth the death of King Dauid it maketh fower wheeles whereon the height of his honour did run Dauid had reigned ouer all Israell super totum Israelem super therefore he was a superiour 2. he reigned therefore hee was a principall superiour 3. not a superiour or King of an infamous Kingdome as Ogge the King of Basan but ouer Israell a Countrey which if God p Ios 12. 24 had fashioned the world like a Ring as he did like a Globe might haue been the Gemme of it 4. not Regulus ouer part of the Kingdome as the one and thirtie Kings before Dauids time q 1. Kin. 12. 17. 20. and Rehoboam and Ieroboam who succeeded his sonne Salomon and parted the Kingdome or as the three sonnes of Brute among whom their father parted this Iland or as one of the seauen Kings which were in England in the reigne of the Saxons but an absolute Monarch super totum ouer all Israell so when we speake of our gratious King Iames either in our priuate instruments or in his Letters Patents we make him glorious in his Titles Iames by the grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King defender of the faith c. so in styling a noble man we doe not derogate from his honour in barring or abasing his titles and shall we not then make his name glorious who is King of Kings God of Gods and Lord of Lords as to fay with Abraham r Gen. 24. 3. the Lord God of the heauen and God of the earth the King of Israell Iudge among the heathen Lord of hostes with addition of euery other stile whatsoeuer by which the Scripture doth set out his glory so likewise must we glorifie God in speaking of his nature and properties as of his mercy to say there is mercy with God that he might be feared there is iustice in God for he rewardeth euery man according to his workes power and vengeance belong vnto God for he is a consuming fire by which he takes away all the vngodly of the earth like drosse as hee did the Sodomites there is prouidence and great louing kindnes in God by which the Lyons being sauage beasts became men in humanity towards Å¿ Dan. 6. 22 13. Daniell when men which are kind by nature became sauage beasts in cruelty against him by which the flame was martyred with spending her heat when the three t Dan. 3. 25 children as so many Salamanders were in the fire Againe we must set out the glory of God in declaring his wonderfull workes euen before the sonnes of men for if the builders of Babell did thinke to make themselues famous by making the Tower shall Gen. 11. 4. not God get him a name by the workes of his hands now all the workes of God are wrapped vp in three large volumes the heauens the earth and the sea the heauens declare the glory Psa 19. 1. of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke what a thing is this that the Sun should reioyce as a Gyant to run Psa 19. 5. Iosh 10. 13. his course and againe that it should stand still as in the dayes of Ioshua goe backe as in the dayes of Ezechias and being Esay 38. 8. Luc. 23. 45 euer bright should lose it light as at the passion of Christ The earth is full of the goodnes of the Lord what a thing is this Psa 33. 5. that it being founded vpon the seas and prepared vpon the Psa 24. 2. Iob. 38. 5. floudes and being poysed in the iust proportion by line and measure should abide stedfast when the high mountaines which doe as it were imbosse the earth may seeme able to shake it ouersway it and tumble it into the sea They that goe downe to the sea in shippes see the wonders Psa 107. 23 of God in the deepe is not the Whale a wonder in nature that Psa 104. 26. takes his pastime in it is not the ship it selfe an artificiall wonder that Merchandize should goe froÌ„ countery to countery in such a woodden conueyance if we doe not speake of these and all his other workes for his name is stamped vpon them all to his glory we doe in speach though we sweare not take his name in vaine as God must win glory by our words so by our deedes when being transformed into the image of Mat. 17. 4. Christ we shine before other like lights as the face of Christ when he was trasfigured on the Mount did shine like the Sun therefore mindes and soules are likened vnto Lampes because we should shine each vnto other superiours to in feriours in being talking lawes and walking Statutes inferiours to superiours in being like the tree in Genesis faire to looke vpon Gen. 3. 6. 1. Peâ— 3. 1. euery one oweth good example as a due tribute that God may haue the glory due to his name and thus much of this fence or hedge both ad extra and ad intra as farre forth as it keepe out beasts and keepe the good Christian within the boundes of Gods glory The binder of this hedge is the rodde of Gods Iudgements the Lord will not hold him guiltles that taketh his name in vaine The sinne of the blasphemy hath been so odious that euen ciuill authority hath set sharpe censures vpon it Henry the first and Maximilian the Emperour set fines vpon their heads which should open their mouthes to sweare vainely the greatest fines vpon the greatest persons as being not onely guilty of the sinne it selfe but of the bad example they gaue vnto other Ludouicke commonly called Saint Lewis caused the lips of blasphemers to be seared with an hot yron Philip the French King did punish this sinne of blasphemy with death yea though it were committed in a Tauerne where many wise men many times forget themselues But if any did binde two sinnes together by binding a lye with an oath few nations had any pitty on him The Aegyptians did strike of his head because thereby faith and truth among men might be decayed in this case the Scithian did suffer death and he that made proofe of periury should haue his goods The like did Philip an Earle of Flanders decree for the precinct of his dominion King Edmond before the Conquest as Gregory the 9. in another place gathered a Councell at London where he made this law that periurers should be separated from the company of God and our law as I haue read is that if a false verdict giuen by twelue men bee found the twelue men be attainted and their iudgement shal be the same that is appointed for petty treason their medowes shal be ared vp their houses broken downe their woods turned vp and
shalt see wee set not so much by the life of the liuing as bones of the dead What an euill sonne then was this Euilmerodach who himselfe would worke that cruelty the like whereof the Barbarians to dye for it would not suffer their enemies so much as to attempt But I proceed The second point of honour required in children is to obey their parents precepts and to suffer themselues to be led and guided by them in matters of marriage men are commonly carried by affections their choise is not so much led by vertue and religion as by gaine or pleasure their flesh sleepeth not while their wines are chufing as Adam slept while his wife was â— Gen. 2. 21 making this makes them like those whom they soone mislike againe and to take wiues as men doe flowers which they cast away when they are once withered but Isaac in matching himselfe is well content to be at his fathers disposition for otherwise f Gen. 24. 3. Abraham had reckoned without his host wheÌ„ he sent his seruant to take a wife vnto his sonne Isaac and the seruant would haue cast a doubt of Isaac as well as of Rebecca but he sayd onely what if the woman will not come with me he makes no question of Isaac for he saw before g Geu 22. 6. how obediently he went with his father to the Altar though he saw no burnt offring he perceiued that he shewed no semblance of dislike though hee saw no reason of the thing commanded Mordecai was not father but in stead of a father to Easter yet being made Queene a Est 2. 20. she was obedient to him that had brought her vp This serueth to reproue First those children which shaking off their fathers yoake slatly deny their obedience Secondly those which promise fayre but are slacke in performing patternes of both these we haue in the Gospell by Saint Mathew for of the two sonnes which the father bids goe worke in his Vineyard b Mat. 21 28. the elder sayd I will not yee afterward he repeuted himselfe and went the younger sayd I will sir yet he went not in the one is a deed without shew in the other a shew without deede worse are they in whom is neither deede nor shew of obedience such were those graceles waggestringes in Terence Clitipho and Clinia of which the first when his father Chremes giues him good counsell to wit that he should not giue himselfe to Wine and women that he should resist the beginning of euill for that by continuance it gathereth more strength and more and will hatch if her eggs in time be not broken O saith he Quam iniqui sunt patres in omnes adolescentes iudices qui aequum esse censent nos iam a pueris ilico nasâ—i senâ—s c. is not this a prety matter that our fathers would haue vs in our dotage before we are past our nonage shall not we take our swinge as well as they did when they were of our yeares the crafty old fox telles me now that I should make vse of other mens harmes ne ille haud sâ—it quam mihi nunâ— surdo narrat fabulam I wis little wots he what a deafe eare I lend to all his talke let him say what he will I will doe as I list here is true patterne of a child past grace to whom truth is vntoothsome because it treadeth downe his owne likeing to him I send other children to schoole but as that cunning Musition who set his schollers to an ignorant and homely minstrell but before hee sent them out he bad them take this lesson with them see you shunne your masters doings the matter of his songs the manner of his playing his lessons his fingring is naught so when you see graceles Clitipho pensiled out vnto you see you follow not his floting iumpe not in his steps he treades too much outward and will not be vnderlayde yet make this vse of such carrions gather hony out of their weedes by their enormities learne to correct your owne otherwise goe ye not after them fashion not your selues like vnto them be not as c 1. Sam 2. 25. Hophni and Phinehas the sonnes of Eli for they obeyed not the voice of their father therefore d 1. 5. 4. 11. the Lord slew them harken rather what Saint Paul saith e Eph. 6. 1. Children obey your parents but hee addeth in the Lord obey your parents in the Lord for parents loose their right to be obeyed when they command against God f Luc. 2. 51 ver 29. Our Sauiour Christ went downe with his parents to Nazareth and was subiect to them but yet preferreth his dutie to God before any dutie to them and therefore he saith g Heb. 12. 9 knew yee not that I must goe about my fathers busines Wee haue fathers of our bodyes and of them we haue esse naturae our being in Nature we haue a father of our spirit and of him wee haue esse gratiae of the one our being of the other our well being both these we call father we obey both so long as they both inioyne the same duties but when they command contraries and he whose sonne thou art by nature will haue superioritie ouer thy faith and lye in thy way as thou art going to God in this case a Mat. 23. 9 call no man your father vpon the earth for their is but one your father which is in heauen now goe from thy father as b Gen. 12. 1 Abraham from his fathers house now c Luc. 14. 26 hate thy father as charitie it selfe doth exhort now let thy holy carelesnes make thy father thy footestep The third thing wherein this honour of children consisteth is in supplying their parents wants if they be in case able to relieue them to raise their fathers out of the dust when they are impouerished and fallen in decay and cannot see the riuers nor the floudes and streames of hony and butter this doth very nature teach for we see that all boughes doe incline and bend themselues toward the roote from which they tooke their originall and more then so in sommer time receiuing from the roote leaues and flowers and fruite doe in winter time let them fall againe to the fatting and nourishing of the roote The Storkes and Pliny writeth the same of the birds Meropes doe feed their dammes when they are old because their dammes did feed them when they were young if Nature worketh thus in creatures which haue life without sense and sense without reason shall not Nature and grace doe the like in children which besides life and sense haue a reasonable soule The good nature of Ioseph shall be remembred to his great commendation d Gen â—6 29. 31. who after that for honours sake he had gone to meete his father comming into Egyt had his next care that hee might dwell in the land of Goshen the fatt of the