would say with Dauid What that 〈◊〉 render vnto the Lord for all his benefites â—wards vs We will take the cup of salâ—ation and prayse the name of the Lorde â—et duety one of vs lay My soule prayse 〈◊〉 the Lord al that is within me praise â—ys holy name my soule praise thou the â—ord and forget not all his benefites Let â—s beware that we prouoke not God by our â—nthankfulnes and wickednes to depriue â—s of all these great benefites For surely 〈◊〉 God of his mercy hath restored vnto vs 〈◊〉 holy word so of hys iustice he may take 〈◊〉 same from vs. Here â—e may further learne that as God â—â—iâ— all things in conuenient time so ought 〈◊〉 also dâ— all thinges in conuenient tyme â—ho worldely wise men much obiect thys â—onuenient tyme chiefely against the reformation of religion and the house of god O say they it to not yet conuenient tyme thy â—yme wyll not suffer it the tyme will not beare it you must tary the tyme In deede 〈◊〉 â—â—â—dued â—s it is very mâ—â—te althings 〈…〉 â—â—ne in conuenient tyme so ought we 〈◊〉 the other sâ—â—e to take heede that we omit 〈◊〉 conuenieÌ„t time to do good in the church 〈◊〉 of God when it is offered How dangerous a thing it is in al kind of maters to let passe oportunity and conuenient tyme any man may easely perceiue If the Generall omit oportunity of tyme to charge his enemies when it is offered he may loose the victory as we read of sundry others as namely of Iohn Frederick the Duke of Saxonie and the Lantgraue against Charles the fiftâ—â— the Mariner take not conuenient tyme of wynd and wether when he may haue it he may lose his passage if the Merchant slyp conuenient tyme of making his bargaine he may forgo his gaines Therefore the prophet doth admonish vs to take oportunâ—ty of time Querite dominâ—m dum propeâ—st Seeke the lord whilest he is neare which teacheth vs that if wee doo not séeke the Lord whilest we haue oportunity when we our selues wold we shal not find him Christ our Sauiour tooke this tyme I must work saith he the workes of hym that sent me while it is day To this also S. Paule doth exhort vs Dum tempus habemus operemuâ— bonum while we haue time let vs â—o good I feare me we haue omitted this conuenient tyme When God at the first dyd rest oâ—â— vnto vs the comfort of his gospel then was it a conuenient tyme to haue made a â—ight reformation of religion But our eye was â—ot then single nor our doings simple then â—e drew not out of the booke of God a right â—at neither laid we a sure foundation of â—ght reformation we did not then vtterly â—bolished all superstitious vanities which â—ow by Gods iust iudgemeÌ„t are prickes in â—r eies and thornes in our sides But here peraduenture some men may say all things be wel and in good order we ought to praise the name of God for this we haue and be thankfull vnto the prince In deede as I doubt not but all that feare God earnestly prayse the name of the Lorde for these hys mercies that god may finish that good work which he hath begon by her maiesty So yet we must needes confesse that al things be not well and in right order For I thynke that there is no wise or learned man will hold that popish opinion that the church is sine macula et ruga without spot or wrincle or that nothing can be bettered or amended But if any should so say I would say that he wer ether wilfully blind and would not see or starke blind and could not see And ere I wyll touch some abuses which remaine in the Church not as God who seeth the secrete of mens harts knoweth to maintaine any contention which I vtterly haâ—e and abhorre in my soule but onely to moue vs to seeke some earnest reformation It is a misorder that popish priestes who haue be witched the world haue burnt incense to the idoles of the house of Israell who haue led the people to worship straunge gods haue caused them to commit fornication with stocks and stones shold by the vertue of their idolatrous orders remayne ministers in the Church of god No man saith the Apostle taketh this honor vnto himself vnlesse he be called of God as was Aaron but these popish priestes were neuer called of God as was Aaron for they were called to sacrifice for the quicke and the deade which calling is not of God for that they haue not the warrant of gods worde for it therefore I conclude they ought not to take this honor vnto them That zealous King Iosiah in hys zealous reformation did put down the Chemerims that is to say those black priests which had burnt incense in the high places and would not suffer theÌ„ to come vp to the Alter of the lorde which was in Ierusalem Euen so I say that these popish priestes ought not to come vp to the Alter of the Lorde which is in Ierusalem they ought not to remaine ministers in thâ—â—hurch of god These be those dragons of whom you heard lately in this place which â—uerthrow in the night all that was built â—n the day Yea these with their priuy presuasiâ—ns secret suggestioÌ„ wil ouerthrow more â—n one day or night then a Godly learned â—reacher is able to build vp in many daies Yea these wil so mumble and tumble vp the â—eruice as they call it that the poore people â—hall get small edification or comfort by it â—nd therein they haue their hartes desyre â—nd I will adde hereto this reason The â—apistes will not admit our ministers to â—ay masse vnles they be shauen greased and â—rdeyned againe And why should we then â—dmit their priestes to serue in the church â—f God hath not God commaunded vs to do vnto the great whore of Babilon as she hath done vnto vs But here I may rightly make that complaint which Tertullian in hys daies made O meâ—ior fides natioâ—um in suam sectum quae multam solemnitatem Christianorum sibi vendicat non dominicum â—em non pentecosten etiamsi nossent nobiscum non communicassent timerent enim Christian viderentur Nos ne Ethnici pronuÌ„ciemur non veremur that is to say O better faith of the natioÌ„s or gentils towards their sect who wil take to them selues no solemnity of the Christians not the sunday not whitsuntide neither wil they coÌ„municate with vs in any other thing that they know for they would feare least they should seeme to be Christians but we fere not to be counted or named to be Ethnikes EueÌ„ so many A say O noble papists O better faith of the Papistes towards their sect who wil none of our ministers none of our seruice none of our orders no not so much as a text of scripture painted on a wall but it should be washed out and defaced But O séely Christians O
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—