lavvgiuer in his Church vvho hath protested that he vvil not abide to impart the glory thereof vnto any other And vvhom should they then feare in this suite The Lorde hath promised that none vvho trust in him shall perish Psal 34.22 And he hath promised that although the vvicked vvatch to slay the righteous yet he vvill not leaue him in his hand psal 37.32 Yea he hath promised to be vvith those that fear him vvhen they Esay 48.1.2 passe through the vvaters that they should not be ouerflovven and vvhen they vvalke thorough the fire that they should not be burnt VVherefore then shold they fear man whose breath is in his nostrels as long as they sincerely stand to the cause of their God Though they be but a fevv in nomber yet the Lord vvith legions of Angels standeth on their side to d scomfite all those that contende vvith him Oh J vvould that the vvords of the Lord spoken by Isaiah the Prophet vvere thoroughly vvritten in the hearts of as many in this honorable assembly as for the feare of man vvill be the hardliar dravvn throughly to stand to the cause of their God For thus comfortably the Prophet Chap. 51 of his prophesie speaketh vnto all those that vvith an vpright heart seeke the honor of the Lord. Heare me ye that follow after righteousnes and ye that seeke the Lord looke to the rocke whence you are hewen and to the hole of the pitt whence you are digged Consider Abraham your father and Sarah that bare you for I called him alone and blessed him and encreased him Hearken vnto me yee that know righteousnes and the people in whose hearts is my law fear ye not the reproch of men neither be you afraide of their rebukes I euen I am he that comfort you Who art thou that thou shouldest feare a mortall man and the sonne of man which shal be made as grasse and forgettest the Lorde thy maker which hath spredd out the heuens layd the foundations of the earth c. Novv then vvhosoeuer they be that are timerous in the cause of God as alasse vvhat flesh and blood is not too too feareful here is a stedfast rocke for them to leane vnto here is a defender for them vnder the shadovv of vvhose vvings they might be bold to contemne vvhatsoeuer their aduersaries can bring against them Are they but a fevv in nomber let them looke vnto Abraham he vvas called alone and yet the Lord blessed him and encreased him Are they afrayd of the rebukes of man vvhy they seeke the righteous vvayes of the Lord and therefore he commandeth them not to feare Are they povverfull and mighty by vvhom the suit is d scountenaunced yea but notvvithstanding they are but mortall they shal be made as grasse and the time vvill come vvherein it shal be demanded VVhere are they novv that vvithstood the cause of God in the Parliament of England Js not their memory vvritten in vvater and their hope perished together vvith them To desire the free passage of the Gospell in this land together vvith the speedie remoouing of all that hindereth the same is to plead the cause of that God vvho hath controlled kings and great Monarches yea quite ouerthrovvne them their kingdomes for denying the free vse of his seruice vvithin their dominions Euen the cause of that God vvho hath not onely brideled the rage of tyrants entending the suppression of his trueth but also turned that vnto the great good of his Church vvhereby they sought to vvorke the ruine thereof Pharaoh Achitophel Senacherib Haman came to the graue vvith blood vvhen in the eyes of men the most of them vvere likeliest to preuayle and the cause of God and his children vnlikeliest to stand The Lord in this kingdom can do the like vvhen he thinketh good Ezra 4.7.8 5.3 Cap. 6.7 7.23 The accusations and slanders of Mithridath Tabeel Rehum Shimsai Shetherboznai vvith their companions did seeme likely once and againe to hinder the buylding of the holy citie but at the length it broght froÌ„ Darius a most sure strong commandement for the furtherance of the work clean contrary to the expectation of the enemie And vvho knovveth vvhether the Lord at this Parliament vvill not stir vp the spirits of the Sates and especially of her R. excellent Maiestie that they may say vnto the enemies of this cause as Darius did vnto the men aforenamed Therefore Tatnai captaine beyond the riuer Shetherboznai vvith their companions be ye far from them Suffer the vvorke of this house of God to go forvvard And a Ezra 7.23 vvhatsoeuer is by the commandement of the God of heauen let it be done speedely for the house of the God of heauen for vvhy should he be vvroth against the realm c. vvherfore beloued vvhosoeuer you be that at any time shal be imployed eyther as Parliament or othervvise in the sâ—tting forvvard of the cause of reformation stand manfully in defence of the truth the liberty of his Church The practises of the aduersaries I mean of our bishops shevv manifestly that these reliques of cursed Babylon vvhich they maintayne among vs must needs go avvay vvith a noyse as the rest vvas ouerthrovvne They vvill not yeelde to the trueth hovvsoeuer it hath gotten the vpper hande of them The Lord must vse violence to throvv them out as he did against the caterpillers their forefathers Reuel 18.19 They haue manifested hitherto hovv desperate and past recouery the cause vvhich they defend is become in that they haue denyed to yeelde a quiet and a brotherly conference or disputation vvith those vvho are contrary minded vnto them Jf J may but procure this vvith our BB. in VVales I vvill loose my life if they be not ouerthrovven vvhich I speake not vvithout the humble acknovvledgement of myne ovvne vveaknes And let me not be thought by any to deale too confidently for J deale in a sure and a confident cause vvhich is not timerously to be delt in but in the feare of God vvith all boldnes to be stood to and auouched And whensoeuer they or any of theirs shal but aduenture their places against my life they shall perceiue by the grace of God that there is strength in the cause which hitherto they haue withstood to their smal gaine Yea but I might haue dealt more sparingly against them It vvere pity in deed but J should intreat the high court of Parliament to heale the disease of my countrie but so notvvithstanding as they vvould suffer the cause of the griefe and misery thereof still to remaine The Parliament should be sued vnto for helpe against the disease and bane of the country of VVales but so as they vvould fauor the causes thereof And vvhat malladie is there J pray you in our Church vvhereof the dumbe ministers nonresidents our Lord BB. vvith the rest of that vngodly generation are not the cause J should spare them vvho spare not the Church
nowe with all humilytie to seeke the redresse both of the one and the other at the handes of this honorable assembly This ignoraunce also and these corruptions standing as enemies in the way to hinder my bretheren from eternal life I professe my selfe to seeke their overthrowe and confusion and by the Lords assistance as longe as I liue neuer leaue either of both vntill the Church of God in Wales be disburdened of suche vnnaturall plantes Concerning you of this honorable assemblye seing I haue receaued the former blessings throughe your handes by meanes of the outward peace whereof hir right excellent maiestie hath made the whole land partaker from the Lord I cannot of conscience but in most humble submission reuerent manner put you in minde of the estate wherein you stand before the Lord vnlesse at this your meetinge there be order taken for the reforming in Wales of such things as now shal be made known vnto you to be amisse and you earnestly with all reauerence and dutie entreated to reforme May it please you therefore to vnderstand that there is not only such a defect of the seruice of the euerliuing God in all the publike meetinges for the most part of all the inhabitantes of Wales hir maiesties free borne subiects and people as the most parishes within that cuntry want the means of saluation and haue wanted the same all this time of her prosperous gouernment but also that there is such corruptions in that part of Gods seruice which is established as the Lords holy and sacted ministerie with al other ecclesiastical functions pertayning vnto the outwatd seruice of God and the gouernment of his Church are most intollerablie abused and prophaned by such as are there tollerated to intermedle with them And may it please you in like sort that some order may be taken whereby the seruice of God in his pure worship being as you heare many waies defectiue and corrupt among the people may be without delay restored vnto the integritie which shal be acceptable in the sight of God and the meanes of their saluation who professe the same This most humble and most waightie petition I am the rather encoraged at this time to prefer in as much as it doth not only tend to the saluation of many thousandes soules whō now alasse perish in miserable darknes and ignorance but concerneth the furtherance which is the point especially to be respected of the pure and sincere worship of the eternall God And it is that cause being my second incouragement which you of this high court of parliament professe all of you to fauour For who is he that will not professe him self to be the fauorer of a suit tending to the honor of God and the deliuerance of men from eternall woe and perdition And it is that cause wherein euery of you are bound vpō your alegeance vnto the Lord and her maiesty laying al other maters aside first and principally to deale and so to deale as you suffer not your selues for any worldly respectes either by the vtter reiecting or by the cold and carelesse intertaining hereof to betraie God to betray his truth to betraie the saluation of men and to betray the whole kingdome vnto the fiery wrath of Gods heauie displeasure Of all which sinnes the Lord himselfe findeth and pronounceth euery one of you to be guiltie that will not labour at this time of your assemblie for the promoting of the cause nowe in hand And howesoeuer in former times he hath seemed hitherto to wincke at the carelesse respect which you haue had to his true seruice yet you are now to vnderstand that it is to be feared lest shamefull and speedie destruction wil betide the whole kingdome if the suite wherevppon the worshipp of Gods owne Maiestie standeth be as slenderly entreated of the parliament of England as alway heretofore it hath bene And that the petition may apear to be no other then that which he by whome alone all kingdoms and common welths are maintained requireth without contradiction to be graunted by this honourable assemblie except his heauie wrath and displeasure would be procured vpon the whole land And that it may apear to be no other then that the graunt where of is the onlie way to saue them on whose behalf it is made no other thē that which no state no kingdom no councell prince potentate high or lowe can denie except they would shewe them selues to haue no care of religion and pietie that these thinges I say may appear we are to consider more at large of the petition and then whether it be such as vpon the denial thereof the wrath and anger of God is to be expected for to fal vppon them who shall denie the same and the whol land for their sinne Nowe therefore if there be nothing else required at your hand in this whole treatise following but that which the Lord himselfe from heauen pronounceth to be so neerly joined with the former points as vpon the refusall of the suite you shal openly declare that you are an assembly wherein the Lords cause shal not be hard an assemblie wherein the felicitie of miserable men shall not be respected an assembly who wittingly and willingly call for the iudgements of God vpon the whole kingdome an assembly wherein trueth religion and pietie can beare no swaye then I hope that none will be found in this honorable court to be such an enemie vnto the honor of God the felicitie of men and the quiet state of this common wealth none so prophane wicked and irreligious as euen to thinke that the consultation of this matter may be differred But if on the other side the suite be founde to be of no such importance as before is expressed or if I be found to write any thing impertinent vnto the former points or not to haue behaued my selfe so dutifull in my stile and maner of writing towards this honorable court as it became the basest vassel vnder heauen hauing a calling to deale in the like cause to carie himself towardes the princes of his people then let not my life be precious in your sight Here therefore with all humility and reuerence before the eternall God his elect Angels and Church her right excellent our dread soueraigne Queene ELIZABETH I call euerye one of you to recorde that vpon the perill of my life I will shewe that you cannot but giue eare vnto the suite which is now preferred vnto you though by my base and sinnefull hands except you will neglect the honor of God set light by the saluation of his people endanger the state of her Maiesty whom the Lord long preserue vnto his glorie with the whole kingdome and proclaime vnto the world that all religion and truth is perished from amonge you My manner of dealing herein as it shal be by the grace of God in all dutie and submission as writing vnto those whose authoritie and places I am not without great reuerence
state men for tything Minte and Cummin whereas in the meane time they are not ashamed no not to withstande the consultation purposing to bring that to passe which the wisdome of God himselfe Iesus Christ hath pronounced to be worthy the whole world euen the sauing health of men Wel the day will come how soone he alone knoweth in whose handes are the keyes of all knowledge wherein it shall appeare by wofull experience that too late what an heauie reckoning will bee made with such Parliament men And take you heed that are of this assembly now at the length after so many warnings lest you be found in their number who make light account of the cause of the Gospell offered vnto them and who thinke the matter of mens saluation to be nothing else but a conceit wherewith the immaginations of melanchollicke heads are vsually troubled The cause one day shal be found worth the consideration howsoeuer men now thinke that they may without dammage securely contemne the same And I woulde humbly intreate this high courte more seriously to consider thereof The suite is that Gods honour may be truely yeelded vnto him by the subiectes of this kingdome and that their soules may be saued in the daye of Iesus Christ such a suit as a greater cannot be consulted of amongst the sonnes of men And will not the wisest and greatest assembly in the land take order that this may be harkened vnto Wil they not consult of a waye how men may come vnto the means whereby they may be saued To what end else my Lordes should you be assembled together if this cause be not handled in your meetings A Parliament gathered together in England in the dayes of the Gospell vnder Queene ELIZABETH and the cause of Gods honor the felicitie of the subiectes neuer thought vpon neuer accounted worthy the consultation Such a state and such a gouernment may flowrish and continue in peace for a time but vndoubtedly the destruction therof is decreed with the Lord the execution of which decree shal not be ouerlong deferred without speedie repentance Can there be a meeting of all states in the lande to consult in Parliament what may be most behoffull for the promoting of Gods glorye and the good of the common welth and yet no care had how the aeternal miserie of a whole nation euen almost the fourth part of the kingdome may be preuented What is this else but to dally with Gods honour and to delude his people of their saluation When especially after so many Parliaments in a kingdome freely professing the Gospell for the space of 30. yeares in the fourth part of the kingdome there shal be founde such grosse ignorance as no region vnder heauen coulde at anye time yeelde the like president so long after the bannishing of idolatrie I doe not solace my self in considering the miserie of my natiue cuntrimen neither do I thinke thereof at all vnlesse it be to bewaile their estate and to consider how it may be redressed This I may say of them without offence that they neuer as yet for the most part enjoyed the preaching of the Gospell since they wer professed idolators vnder poperie Now what felicitie concerning spirituall things a profession without the Gospell preached can haue the same they may enjoye I denie not But what will be the end of such a profession verely euen this After a few dayes miserably spent in this life such professors shal be sure for any thing that is otherwise reuealed to liue in hell for euermore Will it then profit them at all to haue liued in a kingdome professing true religion though they haue gayned the whol world therein seeing they are sure to lose their owne soules because in this life they haue wanted the preaching of the Gospell And if this that I haue set downe be not sufficient to expresse their miserie and to mooue you to consider of them I know not what may be accounted miserable or what may procure compassion Or if this will not mooue you to graunt them the preaching of the Gospell then shal you leaue vnto posterities but a small testimonie of your religious hearts and loue to the Lords sanctuarie Is there not an heauen my Lordes after this life for men to goe vnto Is it possible that they shall ordinarily go thither who neuer enjoyed the preaching of the Gospell Or can our people in Wales looke for extraordinarie saluation And will not you see that they be no longer destitute of this meanes whereby they may walk in the statutes of life and not die Is this peticion that God may be truly honored and the soules of men saued hurtful to the state dangerous to her Maiesties ctowne and dignitie and contrary vnto hir affection cannot this state stand if God should be truly honored and that people trained in the waies of godlines Cannot her Maiesties crowne and dignitie stand if these thinges be enacted in Parliament And must shee needs be vndutifully gainsaid when the honor of her God the blessednesse of her people are pleaded for Whosoeuer haue do or will slaunder their soueraigne and the whole state in this vile and vndutifull sort it is pitie they were not seuerely punished Againe my LL. is that a religious assembly Is that an assemblie wherein trueth pietie the honor of God and the aeternall happinesse of men shal beare any sway where this petition can not be granted Which desireth nothing els but that whiche may be enacted without the great hurt of any which ought to be graunted whatsoeuer in the judgment of fleshly wise men might seeme to ensue thereof They will neuer therefore in the sight of God and his Churche escape the ignominie and staine of irreligious and profane men whose eyes will not be mooued with compassion at the estate of our people and defects of Gods seruice among them Nowe if I be thought to haue reported any vntrueth concerning their estate let me be brought face to face for the triall hereof with those vnto whom the care I should say the spoile of the Church there is committed and being conuinced to haue vttered any vntrueth let me haue no fauour but dye the death before you of this honourable assemblye and my blood be vpon my owne heade for impeaching the credite of the rulers of my people and their gouernement vndutifully by publike writing whose estimation I know it to be vnlawfull for me euen in thought once to violate I doe here therefore before your Hh. offer to prooue more at large that the most congregations in Wales want the very especiall outwarde markes of a Church and so the meanes of saluation by the worde preached and the comfort of fayth by the right administration of the Sacraments I also offer to prooue that your Hh. without your speedie repentaunce shal be reckoned with because that in this point you haue plowed but iniquitie and sowed wickednes and so as Iob sayth Iob. 4.8 you
a readie way to bring a final destruction vpon the land is for the parliament to giue our ministers leaue to joyn the magistracie the ministery together And here it woulde be knowne whether they whoe in their bookes haue whotly and egerly pursued this example of Ely to defend the ciuill jurisdiction of ministers haue not therein some secret meaning if opportunitie woulde serue to aspire vnto the crowne For they may be suspected to hope if euer an inâ—erregium should fall as I trust in God it shall neuer be in their dayes that the estate would think â—t most convenient to commit the soueraigntie vnto som conscionable Churchman vntill it may be otherwise disposed off And therefore it may be justly suspected that in disputing from the example of Ely they had one eye vnto this wherof I speak For they may procue far better by the example of Ely who was the chiefe magistrate in his dayes that a minister may joyne a whol kingdome vnto his ministerie rather then any other â—nferiour office To conclude this point Seeing First to make that which belongeth to the outwarde worship of God to haue no more ground out of the worde then that which appertaineth vnto the ciuil magistracie Secondly to allowe of the popes superioritie as lawful And thirdly to holde that a minister may be both a king and a minister are wicked and absurd assertions and as we see directly against the word Therefore it is wicked in like maner to make the ecclesiastical gouerment to be an humane constitution and not vnlikely by little and little to paue the way for the vndermining of the ciuil gouernement as the reasons which our Bb. do bring for the maintenaunce of their superioritie and experience vnder poperie do giue vs just cause to suspect For why may not a forged donation of Constantine or Lodouicus pius in time joyne the crowne of England to the sea of Davids or Bangor especially whiche from Ioseph of Aramathea can be prooued to haue a little better continuance of personall succession then Rome can from Peter as well as it joyned the kingdome of Sicilia the Dukedome of Naples the Ilandes Corsica Sardinia c vnto the popes Miter The thirde reason is thus framed and I will be briefe That forme of Church gouernement and that booke or bookes which teacheth that there is something to be obserued besides that which was included in the commission giuen by our sauiour Christ vnto his Apostles Math. 28.19 wherin they were enjoyned to teache men to obserue whatsoeuer he commanded is a gouernement execrable and accursed by the spirite of God in plaine wordes Gal. 1.9 and so are the bookes And being such far beit that eyther the gouerment or the books shoulde be maintained by the authoritie of this high court of parliament Such a curse being pronounced against the maintaining of execrable things as we finde Deuter. 7.15 But our forme of church gouernement in Wales and this booke with many others published by authoritie teach the same For where is it included much lesse prescribed in the word that our Sauiour Christ abolished an outward gouernment of the Church in the Leuitical pollicy being in no sort an humane ordinance but altogether prescribed by the lord himselfe to the end that vnder the Gospel there should be no gouernement of the Church but an humane ordinance that might lawfully be changed at the pleasure of man Or where is it reuealed that the Apostles gaue the ciuill magistrate when any should be in the Churche the commission to abolishe the Presbytery by them established because there was no christian magistrate in the Churche as our aduersaries themselues confesse but as the worde sayth a 1. Cor. 13.5 11. ephe 4.4 rom 12.6 1. pet 4.10 math 21 25. established by the Lorde and therefore not to be abrogated by the magistrate vntill his pleasure in that poynte be farther knowne therefore this gouernment this book or books are execrable accursed Lastly that forme of Church gouernement that booke or books which affirme the kingdom of Christe in the outwarde gouernement to be a kingdome that cann be shaken that is altered or remooued as the ceremoniall gouernement was affirme that which is contrarye to the expresse written word of God Heb. 12.28 and therfore are not to be tollerated But our Church gouernment in Wales by L. Bb. archdea dumb ministers commiss c in their making of ministers excommunication c is such and suche is this vnlearned heape and sophisticall booke with the rest written on this argument And therefore both the booke or bookes affirme things contrarie to the worde and so are not to be tollerated vnlesse we would haue the Lorde to bring speedie shame and confusion vppon vs for mayntaining sinne by lawe The proposition is apparant Because that by the word kingdome that cannot be shaken in the afoersaid place Heb. 12.28 must needes be ment perticularly whatsoeuer significatioÌ„ els thei haue as more generall the outward gouernment established vnder the Gospel since the abolishing of the ceremoniall lawe which being compared in regard of continuance and remouing or doing awaie with Moses his gouernment is saide to be a kingdome that cannot be shaken that is such as the Lorde neuer meaneth to alter again vnto the worlds end as to haue any other gouernment placed in stead thereof by himselfe much lesse by man wheras that vnder Moses is affirmed by the prophet Haggaie Haggai 2.7 and heare by the apostle to be a kingdom or gouernment that could be shaken that is altered And this is the proper meaning of the place Heb. 12.28 For by the kingdome that cannot be shaken must needes be meant either the assurance of saluation which we haue vnder the Gospel or our inioying and professing of externall life or else the outwarde gouernement not only in the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments but in the Church officers the manner of their choise their subâ—ects wherin they are to be occupied But as concerning assurance of saluation in this life the profession of eternal life in heauen which the faâ—hers enioyed vnder the lawe it was no more to be shaken then ours the meanes thervnto by the word preached they want no more then we doe And so in these respectes they had a kingdome â—hat could no more be shaken then ours It remaineth therefore that theirs was to be shaken â—n regarde of their outward gouernment which was abolished by the comming of Christ And â—herefore ours immooueable in this respect vnâ—il his second comming which were senslesse to be affirmed if Christ in his kingdome wherevnto we are subiect had instituted no externall regiment of his Churche Can that be vnmooueable which is not at all More senseles it were to think â—his kingdom to be immutual in regard of the sacraments and not of the persons and officers who are to deale with those misteries To come againe vnto you of