in this land whereof many seueralls haue buried as much treasure as would erect and found seuerall collegiat or cathedrall Churches This age therefore wherein wee liue admiring all these Temples and Colleges which are built and see none built now doe say and often affirme looking but vppon one of our Churches If this were now to bee built the whole land could not erect the same Whereas if they cast their eies vpon the houses of many Noble men Knights and meane gentlemen they might easille discerne where the affection resteth For you shall see their houses like pallaces aduanced vp to heauen pompous and specious to behold euerie smokey chimney ouertopping and ouerpeering the Lords temple which happily obscurely stands stooping and drooping beceath like a rude heape of stones being made the receptacles of Owles and Ostritches Zim Ohim dancing Satyres Or if they would look vpon the vain maskes and shews and frantik pleasures vpon which thousands are imployed to driue away the darknesse and teadiousnesse of winter they might easily conceiue that this woful world is directly opposed to God and al holy goodnesse This is contrarie to Dauids affection for it was his heart greefe that hee might not dwell in the Courtes of the Lords house and it was his especiall wish That he might beholde the beauty of the Temple of the Lord. And this is also far different from the deuotion of the christian Emperors and estates of the primatiue Church who erected Churches built Colleges Schooles endowed them with maintenance and left them to posteritie and they like cormorants haue deuoured the church reuenues and left the children thereof to liue like Gideans souldiers in the lapping cold water Furthermore as concerning Iudg. 7. 6 the endowments of the Church this world holdes it as a granted proposition that non oportet christum ditescâ—re Contrarie to the practise of the first church which was founded and framed by the finger of God whether you respect it in the tabernacle or in the temple In time of the tabernacle being yet in the desert the ordinarie treasure of the Church was 2400. shekels of siluer and 120. shekels of golde euerie shekell weighing halfe an ounce Yea the treasurie was euen then a Nemo scit as may be gathered out of the booke of Numbers The treasury of the temple was valued to be at one time laid vp in store 8000. Cichars of golde and seuenteene thousand Cichars of siluer euerie Cichar weighing 1800. shekels beside the oblations and gifts at the building againe of the temple in the time of Nehemias Yea eueÌ„ in the time of Sanhedrim Mithridates had at one time 800. talents Cic. orat pro L. Flac Ioseph antiq l. 14. c. 12 of treasure of the temple as Cicero in his Oration for Flacous recordeth And Crassus a Roman Captaine had at another time of Eleazar the Priest a beame of treasure weighing 700. talents and more as Iosephus testifieth But what do I insist vpon the Iewish Churches treasurie seeing the Christian Church affordeth so pregnaÌ„t testimonie how diuelish this deuice of the world is that the end therof as of the possessed is worse then the beginning But I may not longer detaine you with looking far backe Recount but from the time of King Edward the first when the world was inforced to enact the statute of Mortmaine whereby it was prouided that none should giue to the church without an especial licence from the king which statute is yet vnrepealed but I thinke it may bee repealed without preiudice to the Kings Crowne or dignity or disparagement to the state seeing the affections dispositions of this world are not toward the Church vnlesse it bee in some good words from some certaine specious word-mongers But what may be the cause that many of the houses of the Nobilitie and gentrie of this Land prosper not nor beare the part honour that their forefathers did seeing some haue attempted al meanes both direct vndirect to aduaÌ„ce their fortunes to the vtmost as namely First by improuements and racking of Tenants that Iesuiticall deuice popish practise saluing it with this hypocriticall plaister It is lawful for euery man to make the most of his owne Whereby they endeuour to shadow al their vnconscionable and vnchristian dealings Secondly by the fauours of their prince which hath not a little lifted vp the conditions of some Thirdly by all forfeitures morgages perpetuall suites turmoiles in the law wresting it out of the handes and hearts of the lawfullie possessed And lastly by their practise in claiming from the Church by impropriations concealements fraudes and other infinite strange deuices and practises And yet all this will not serue but they are yet more greedie then before and farre more needy then their ancientâ—ie Surely beloued and blessed in the Lord Iesus I know no other cause but this your fore-fathers were neuer wel but when they were bethinking themselues what they should giue vnto the Church and maintenance of the Gospell of Christ Iesus and therefore GOD blessed all that they possessed but you as directly contrarie seek by all meanes to haue from the Church you care not how wherof it commeth that all you haue is thereby accursed neither can you enioy it Doe you see a Representatiue Church vpon the earth who founded it did not your progenitors If the same minde had beene in them which is in you what face or fashion of a Church had there beene at this day in the Christian world Nay furthermore because couetousnes and Prodigalitie cannot sweepe stake with the Churches goods in that poore remainder which is left after which the world yet most greedily gapeth and vnsatiablie lusteth the Sonnes of religion stand vp like the agents and aduocates of desperation and plead that the fulnesse of bread hath made the Church to wantonize therefore they must be so bold as to take it from them for feare they should surfeit And further that Endowments hath poisoned religion and therefore they haue prepared an Antidote And lastly that our hearts and affections we may bestow vpon God but as for our goods wee may imploy them otherwise yea any waies they think well but to the Church and Gods word So that you see now beloued the worldlings themselues feare not to surfet and die with fulnesse nor to be poisoned with these Endowments but such is their charitie and care of Gods Church that they would not it should thus miscarrie and therefore they will carry what they may from it Hence is it that your faith is so little that were our Sauiour liuing on earth hee might truely say vnto you O yee of little Faith For what tokens remaine of your being Christians in this world but euen as the cursed complaine their life is like a ship that passeth through the water maketh a noise with the violence of winde carrying her sailes but when shee is past no token remaines of her passage or as a
bird that flieth parteth indeed the aire with her wings and swift flying and as an arrow which is shot at a marke leaueth no token or note of their going through so your life is spent in a dreame and you leaue no print or signification that you haue liued thankfully to your God Hence is it that your hope is lesse either being like the vaine hope of Absolon who reared vp a pillar in the kings dale so you some pompous Pyramis or gay tabernacle of clay in the earth or like the hope of the Hypocrite which is resembled to the flowre of the poppie which euery blast scattereth so all your hopefull proiects in this world are prostrated by euery blast and tempest of aduerse casualtie Hence is it that your charitie is lesse then little either toward God or toward your Brethren Frst toward God Heretofore the King of the earth came to Cottages of the men of God and called them Fathers Oh 2. King 13. 14. my Father my Father the Chariots of Aegypt and the horse-men of the same But now the seruants of Christ must bee suters to the vassailes of Princes to bee admitted vnto theÌ„ Secondly towards your brethren nothing but enuie malice and all vncharitablenesse against which we may truely pray as the Church doth Good Lord deliuer vs. The conclusion then if you wil be pleased attentiuely to hearken yea but a very little shall instantly follow in this one illatiue That whatsoeuer is in this world if it be not enioyed in Christ Iesus is anathematized and accursed A view heereof we may behold in Iericho at the sacking of which citie Ioshua is enioyned to beware of the execrable thing for the whole citie and all therein was accursed sauing that onely which was consecrated to the Lord and the thing was not onely execrable in it selfe but it made them also accursed that touched it Semblably are all the thinges of this world which are possessed without Christ execrable both in their possession vse imployment and end and the owners also thereby anathematized What then beloued in the Lord 1 Cor. 10. 11. shall we doe vpon whom the ends of the world are fallen The spirit of God hath not left vs either 1. Cor. 7. 8 comfortles or councellesse Pauls counsell and exhortation is Vse the world as if you vsed it not and that both in action and affection not in action no not so much as Rom. 12. 2. in fashion Fashion not your selues like vnto this world for you see the fashioÌ„s of this world hath vndone many and caused them to forget God their Creator their countrie and comely fashion yea themselues and their posteritie so sicke and frantike haue many beene of the fashions of this world which are accursed as it is apparant by their witlesse and wicked ends who haue turned themselues into all fashions like the Camelian saue the good and honest fashion Neither in your affection cleaue vnto the world For the beloued Disciple forbids you to loue the 1. Ioh. 2. 15 world or any thing therein vnlesse your loue be in God and for his sake The reason he yeeldeth is a map or view of the world which hee capitulateth in a Hypothesis 1. Io. 2. 16 If any loue the world this loue of the father is not in him For all that is in the world as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eies and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And lest either fashion which now is accounted the forme of the world as if it gaue that being for many thinke they are not vnlesse they bee in the formall fashion of the world or lust which is esteemed the frame of the world should annihilate or vilepend this diuine Councell the spirit of God vrgeth further First to the fanaticall fashionable That the 1. Cor. 7. 3 fashion of this world vanisheth Secondly 1. Joh. 2. 17 to the lustfull That the world it selfe passeth away and the lust thereof Will any obiect that this is but hearesay Why then attend to an eie witnesse I haue seene the wicked saith Dauid flourish like a greene Bay tree there is one in the fashion and I passed by loe he was gone his place knew him no more ther 's the fall of the fashion The life of these being a very dreame euen like vnto a hungrie Esa 29. 8. man dreaming for lo he eareth and when he awaketh his soule is â—â—â—ptie or like as a thirstie maÌ„ dreameth loe he drinketh but when he awaketh his soule is faintie Euen so is the issue of fashion and lust vanitie of state and Imbecillitie of strength Al the followers fauorites wherof put their gaines as the vnthriftie seruant did his earnings Hag. 1. 6. euen into sacculum pertusum a bottomlesse bag no sooner in but out Fitly therfore is the state and coÌ„dition of this world resembled to Ionas gourde quae statim statim perijt And Saint Paul concludeth That while we are in the bodie that is attending the bodie onely as if wee had no soules we wander 2. Cor. 5. 4 a Pilgrimage from the Lord. We must therefore pray that wee may goe out of the bodie and so rest with the Lord eternallie But if Paul were in the flesh did preach this doctrine 2. Tim. 4. 10. yet Demas will forsake him and Christ to embrace this present world as his deare darling and sole delight Many and manifolde are the multitudes which make such account of this world that they can by no meanes be wooed from it let the melanchollie schollers say what they will And therefore is it that so many haue turned religion into pollicy wherby that prouerb is verified The Daughter hath deuoured the Mother Religion hath bred peace and peace praies and tires vpon religion Hence is it that so many church-robbers tyrannize vpon the reuenues and goods of the â— Danaeuâ—â—n Aphorism Politic lib. 1. Church being indeede no better flatter themselues how they lust but Pyrats by land mother murtherers and vsurpers of others goods Pyrats by land more inhumane and tyrannicall vnto the Christian Church then the Pyrats by â—ea Ward and Dansker to the Report of â—o â—ota â—le pâ—râ—ts Christian common-wealth Those taking by open violence these encroching and entring by cunning practise sinister pretence Mother murtherers they are also for if the church bee our mother and they take away the bread and liuely-hood from her wherby she fainteth sickneth dieth What are they but mother murtherers and of the generation of Vipers Lastly they are vsurpers of others goods for he is a Vsurper that appropriateth others goods vnto himselfe But these Church robbers do claime not onely interest but also lawfull possession and vse of Christs goods in that they rob him in tythes and offerings which he calleth his what are they then but Vsurpers encrochers vpon others tenures and interest
But their precedent generation hath denounced a woe against saying Woe be vnto them that either wash or clippe the coine whereon the Lord hath set his stampe Yea your ancestours commonly vsed these words in their donations Let their Ex aribiuis â—alleg Gland accouÌ„t be without fauor in the day of the Lord whether they be our heires or successors who shall dare to diminish or alter the lands reuenues and inheritance that we haue consecrated to the Lord. If the iudgement of your elders be required this impious and iniurious surprising of Church estates hath beene condemned both by Christian bishops and also by Christian Emperors who euer were willing rather to lay downe their liues then that the prosperity of the church should bee impeached or the goods thereof wickedly imbeazeled or diuerted from the godly intendments of her well disposed benefactors But you see beloued that Christs Church hath bene surprised and dispoyled of her possessions that whereas the Psalmist saith The earth is the Lords The men of the earth with their earthly mindes haue left our Lord as the Iewes no place to rest his head so they no land to set his foot vppon Hence are your lacklatines your lacklearnings which you fondly and furiouslie obiect vnto the reuerent Beaupeers of the church the Bishops whereas you your selues haue made such priests by robbing the Church as church-Pyrats by famishing the Church-men in taking away their bread and liuelihood by vsurping the possession of others For who should serue your foure pound fiue pound twentie nobles cures if such were not ordained to holde your plough your Church and parish would lie fallow yea that poor pittance which is left to maintaine a few better qualified persons is so caught and dailie vndermined by bare weather beaten desperate courtiers forlorne Gentlemen Cyclopâ—cal scatizers that al wisdom godlie policie of the reuerend Bishops and faithfull councellers of state vsing their best endeuors vtmost fidelitie is little enough to retaine it so far are they from any hope of a succession or godlie deuoted generation who would studie to promote the wealth of the Church But let this generation know that the world is giuen vp to a reprobate sense and if they follow it they also are in no better estate Good Lord where is the blessing and fruite of the ancient time Happie is he that preacheth to an attentiue eare and to an intelligent heart and an obedient soule Worthy Ridley in one sermon to that famous renowned Christian Prince Edward the sixt preuailed that Christ-Church hospitall the Hospitall of Saint Bartholomews in Southwarke and Bridewell were at once erected But now in an hundred Sermons the ministers of Christ must become like to the Friars Mendicants and yet not so far preuaile euen in this place with this Hono. citie us to purchase entertainement I hope I shall be the last that euer shall mention it And to conclude my blessed brethren seeing that al the things of this world are accursed without Christ seâ— before your eies Paul and Dauid as presidents and motiues to exhort you to resolution Paul was crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. and the world to him and accounted all things as losse and dung for the lucre Phil. 9. 8 of Christ And Dauid wondred That any man should desire ought in heauen but the Lord or esteeme any thing in earth in respect of his God Let vs not then bee like sucking babes who rather cleaue to their nurse then to their owne naturall mother This world is our drie nurse the Church is our true mother Let vs then that are able to receiue strong meat learne to distinguish But if for al this you despise this counsell set at naught these aduertisments and addict your selues wholly to the world listen and heare how the world will deale with you in the end Serue it neuer so long yet as Churlish Laban dealt with Iacob in bringing foule Leah to his mariage bed insteed of faire Rachel so the world wil promise you gladsomnes but will performe loathsomnesse will promise you the finest and gaiest speciousnes but will performe with you in deceitfull spitefulnes Let the experienced say if by the world they found any thing but worldly care in gaining the world wordly fear in retaining it worldly sorrow in losing it Yea this is the meede of their life and in their death insteed of Tumulus giue them cumulus an heape of stones as had Achan who touched the execrable thing so these haue some painted Sepulcher or some specious or pompous funerall and there is Catastrophe the guerdeÌ„ that the world affords them But you beloued and blessed in the Lord lift vp your hearts to him that praieth for you in whome you are the Sonnes the saints the Princes and Priests the Beloued and the Baptized the Illuminates and Associates of the highest by whose sufferings you are seperated and distinguished with works of saluation from the residue of the world through whom God dwelleth in you by the liuerie and seison of his gratious spirit in this life and will after this life is ended be in full possession of you both in soule and bodie eternallie in the glorious rest of heauen To moue you now therfore to are solution to leaue this world all worldly fleshly and diuelish practises of the worldlings and such as are ex diametâ—o contrariant to all heartie and vnfained Christians to cleaue vnto the Lord that doth thus pitie you in praing for you honour you in making choice of you froÌ„ among others and in gracing you by vouchsafeing to receiue you as pledges of his fathers loue and accounting you as his own I cannot propone a more forcible motiue to stir vp and quicken your hearts to a sad serious thankfulnes then to put you in minde that you certainely are the people that Christ hath praied for euen you I meane the faithfull of this Land and state who haue sought the Lord in sinceritie and hearty deuotion And that I may not now in the Epilogue of this my weake endeuour send you farre backe I shal desire you to looke and with open and displaied eies beholde the louing kindenes of the Lord toward our kingdome and countrie euen in the memory view of our whole nation and all Christendome How escaped we the furious and mischeeuous complotments of manie weightie and malitious deadly enemies in all the peaceable raigne most happie and neuer enough admired gouernment of that deere Lady our late soueraine Qu. Elizabeth of pretious memorie Did not Christ pray for vs when all those secret designements popish thunder Cardinal conspiracies Iesuiticall proiects and domesticall treacheries were discouered set vpon the stage Did not Christ pray for vs when our state tottered at the decease of our late Soueraigne and to the wonder of al the Christian world did as an earthquake shake settle in a moment when all nations about vs stood looking at the things likely to ensue What frustrated the Popish prophecie of Worthing toÌ„ the Iesuit when forespeaking as he hispaniolized traitor wished That the fall of one Ladie would be the raising of an other Meaning that the death of Ladie Elizabeth would bee the Diadem of Izabella Infanta Eugenia Clara who brought to scorne also the surmise of Weston the Iesuite another false prophet who seeing his fellow WorthingtoÌ„s spel take no effect went on and tooke longer time as the manner of bankrupts is and said That the sinnes of England were not ripe at the death of Weston de tripl offic Queen Elizabeth But when England had fulfilled the measure of her sinnes as the Ammorites did then would the Lord vtterly destroy vs. Which Gen. 15. 16 prophecie of his doubtlâ—s intended the powder Treason which if it had beene effected then had Weston deserued to haue been notified with a red letter in the list of Anabaptisticall prophets But then euen then also Christ Iesus praied for vs and Worthington with his coopse-mate Weston are found lyars and we our prince and people are maruellously and miraculously deliuered from the sulphurous blast complotted at Rome proiected at Rhemes fortified at Doway practised in England yea and that which was some certain yeeres in intendment and purpose was frustrated in a moment Oh then seeing not onely the whole land but euen the very particular person here present can capitulat in specie what great things the Lord hath done for them where in we now reioice let it be sufficient for me to commemorate in generall and for euerie one of vs in indiuiduo to commune with his owne heart and write this lesson there with the pen of a Diamond that neither day nor night tide nor time weale nor woe may obliterate or blot out the character of his diuine lesson and angelicall consolation but resolue that our whole life bee a deuoted sacrifice of thankfulnes seruice to the liuing God of eternal maiestie through Iesus Christ our faithful intercessor to whom with God the father God the sanctifying spirit be rendred al power praise might and maiestie this day and euermore Amen The very God of peace sanctifie you 1. Thes 5. 23. throughout and I pray God that your spirits soules and bodies may bee kept blameles vnto saluation through Christ Iesus this day and euermore FINIS