receive but also purgeth the heart from all dead workes it doth not only take but it doth also worke by love behold now the joy and peace of this man at what ease doth he now lie If we looke upon him we would set up a Tabernacle by him nay certainly we should continue with him for ever He finds his bed large enough for his wearied body to rest upon the plaister great enough to the wound the covering large enough to wrap himselfe in and now heare him what he saith Lord unto me thou wilt ordaine peace for thou hast wrought all my workes Isai 26. 12. Thou hast commanded deliverance for Iacob In thee I will boast all the day long The righteous shall heare of it and shall wait upon thee for this thing For I declare to the world that they who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies Ionah 2. They shall sinke upon them as a man upon quick-sand The sarrowes of them who offer unto other Gods shall be multiplied their offerings I will not offer nor make mention of their names within my lipps but I will remember thee only and thy name thou art the portion of my inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my let the liues have fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage I will blesse thee O Lord who hast given me this counsell for now my heart is glad my glory reioyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou hast not left my soule in Hell thou hast showen me the path of life in thy presence is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Thou hast heard in this one the Church speaking I have brought hir in upon another occasion and upon more deliberation clearing hir oft ecclipsed light as farre beyond Luther as the rising of the Sunne is from his fall and thence fetching his race as the Sunne in his strength though many times hid under a cloud And this she proves out of the Scripture where is no other spirit then what speakes in the hearts of hir children first from what the Lord hath done for her and then what she hath teturned to the Lord. Secondly from what her enemies in all ages haue done against her and then what she hath done for them Thirdly from those many deliverances past present though they be slaine all the day long and to come Wherein the Lord hath doth will make bare his Arme. Thou hast only the first here but briefly and in another forme of words as be fits the present but hast thou not discerned what a building this is I would ravish thy thoughts if any shall try to pluck a stone from this building it shall be unto him a burdensome stone If any shall march against it the horse shall be smitt with astonishment and his Rider with madnes If any shall attempt to burne it it shall be unto them as a firy torch in a sheaffe If to devoure it it shall be unto them as a cup of trembling the Lord hath said this Zach. 12. He hath he will he doth make it good Come away come away it is much to be under the shadow of it cast off all those dead works which thou dost eye too much and learne what the Lord requyres at thy hands surely not thowsands of Rames nor ten thousand rivers of oyle nor the sonne of thy body for the sinne of thy soule but to feare the Lord and to serue him in sinceritie and truth Iosh 24. 14. not mentioning the names of other gods nor bowing thy selfe unto them Iosh 23. 6. but to breake off thy sinns by repentanceâ— amd that there be an healing of thine errour to do iustly and to loue mercy and to walke humblie with thy God approuing thy selfe as the child of God not by these assumed services which will not hold weight when righteousnes is put to the scale but as the Saints doe by purenes by knowledge by long sufferings by kindnes by the holy Ghost by loue unfained by the word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousnes one the right hand and one the left Oh my bowels doe yearne upon my child my heart is inlarged Thou art not kept straite in me but I am kept straite in thee Thou maiest plainely conclude by what is said see how dearely my mother loues yea and the Lord knoweth too who is truth it selfe that my desire of thy returne hath no lesse loue in it then it hath safetie too for I wish aboue all things that thou maiest prosper as thy soule may prosper Once more if there bee any consolation in Christ if any comfort of loue if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercy fullfill my ioy and come away And that thou maist make hast for a Mothers affection thinks the shortest time long I will quit thy argument which thou thoughtest so fit for my capacity indeed it was so with another as fit for thine for thou art but a child yet and knowest nothing as thou oughtest to doe And I know it shall fall as right as thine did but then with a different effect Thine did but foile the forme of godlinesse that was amongst us the power was not touched the truth remains the truth still and will be justified of hir children mine shall take away the truth and power you seeme to have and shall tell thee plainely there is none indeed harken while this argument smits your holy Mothet this once I will not smite her the second time for I shall labour to drive the naile to the head fasten hir to the ground with it that she rise not againe and all this in a deare affection to thee that so I may get thee out of her Tent and free my selfe from the feare thy selfe from the danger of having that other nayle in thy Temples Nearken then while the wiles and deceits of this Harlot are discovered unto thee these are playne by what hath ben saide by her name by her practise I shall not paralel this holy mother with hers in the 3 Proverbs it would proue her an Harlot but it would be taken in scorne neither will I tell you how shee hath filled forth the Cup of her fornications that wold prove as much but some would deny it Nor will search into the chamber of hir Imagery I cannot see into that I will take hir owne Argument and if I can by that prove hir to be cruell in commanding the Child to be divided I will by helpe of that Scripture turne it like a weapon against hir and sheath it in hir bowells for that Scripture makes cruelty the inseperable marke of an Harlott and when that is done the holy Mother is killed the Harlot is reserved to a longer day hir punishment sleepeth not The holy Mothers Argument against the Church hath beene drawne from the block fire sword persecution interdiction and the like there is
willingly But I will never grant that the Apostles begged or lived a beggars life it is much one yet we will see from what premises Bellarmine concludes it which are these The Apostles had forsaken all The Apostles might provide neither gold nor silver Matth. 10. The Apostles did not worke with their hands therefore they lived vitam mendicantium in my English a beggars life I shall not medle with persons the Cardinall in his booke yet liveth yet speaketh but very ignorantly very unmannerly therefore is he delivered into the hands of a woman who by the help of the Scripture will confute Bellarmine He speaks ignorantly for thou art to know that he who brings his servants into straights knoweth well how to deliver his servants out of the straits he speaks uncivilly too and upon that I will insist a little Their shall be no begger in Israel after the flesh and shall there be beggars in Israel after the spirit It is not probable David had observed much in his youth so had he in his age yet he never saw the Righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread Yea but David was a King you will say the righteous might goe a begging for ought he knew hee was in his Pallace he little saw the distresses of his subiects yes sure his eares were open to the cries of his good people Indeed his countenance expelled the wicked as the Sunne the mist but his delight was with the Saints with them that excelled in vertue he tooke good notice of them and I wil tell you how you may be sure of it David was a King and David followed the Ewes great with young too David run from Cave to cave like a poore hunted Partrialge Saule made him skip like a flea more then this David did water his Coucth with teares too This non ignora mali I was thus afflicted my selfe It draws forth a mans soule to an other miseris succurrere disco it will make a man â—atch at a poore mans petition and teach him not to send the Petitioner away sad Thou shalt respect the stranger Why Thou wast a stranger in Aegypt What then Thou knowest the heart of a stranger Davids affliction board his eare He hard the sighs and groanes of his poore he knew the heart of the afflicted It is certaine Davids experience was much more then a Cardinalls and you have heard what David said You are bound to beleeue him before the whole Conclaue of the Cardinalls Yet heare you the Cardinals Reasons The Apostles work't not with their handes therefore they begged It followes not I know some who worke not with their hands yet think it foule scorne to be called beggers Yea but the Apostles might have no money in their purses therefore they begged It followes not my purse hath often times ben empty yet I thanke God I never begged I would much rather worke with my handes and I will presume so would the Apostles too rather then they would have begged The fowles of the ayre shall teach this great scholler they worke not with their hands I am sure for they sowe not neither doe they reape yet your heavenly Father feedeth them I aske were not the Apostles much better then they They did dispense the Sacred Oracles of God can wee thinke that God would suffer them to begg their bread The prettie Lillies shall teach him too they toyle not yet Solomon then nay which is more the Pope now in all his glory is not arayed like on of them Then the Apostles begged not their cloathing nor their bread O yee of little wit Againe would Paules hearers plucke out their eyes to doe Paul good that is they would part with the dearest things and can we thinke that the Apostles hearers would not draw forth a morsell of bread or a dish of drink to refresh empty soules unlesse they begged it But it will be said though I make the best of it I can yet the Apostles liued upon the liberalitie of others which is vita mendicantium beggar-like Pray you let us see how this followes A man is liberall to me I accept it therefore doe I live beggar-like It is as I have said an uncivill conclusion But let us examine whether the Apostles did live upon others liberality I find not the Scripture saith so let me put in a houswiues similitude I have spun a pound of flaxe I expect sixe pence for my labour I can scarce live on that for you shall find that a poore bodies labour is the cheapest commoditie in the market call you this liberalitie I say my worke is worthy of my wages if it were more Gods Apostles for they be sent doe dispense unto us spirituall things we let them partake of our temporalls what a matter is this not so much as the six pence for flaxe Christs words clearâ— this provide neither gold c. So they may begg No For the worke man is worthy of his meate Math. 10. 10. Then the Apostles will not feare but he that paid the Israelits for their burdens and righted him who served a long siedge will see their wages paide they shall not begg Now if any will yet take his warrant hence that he may part with his possessions and then begg an Almes I have no more to say to him from this text Iubea miserum esse libenter which I English thus let him be in want in ignorance too willingly I come now to Peterâ— converts to whom Christ had made his words good I will make you fishers of men He caught as many men at a Sermon as before he caught Fishes Christs power was plaine in the on and in the other Three thowsand were pricked in their hearts at on sermon Men and brethren what shall we doe Certainely they thought that if the Lord did forgive them hee did forgiue much then they would love much By this meanes here was a sparke of loue kindled A sparke is true fire it will giue a reflexion it will soone kindle a flame This reflects upon the members they shall haue no want For if a man that hath this worlds goods yet releeveth not his brother in want how dwelleth the loue of God in that man It will never be answered Then all sold their possessions and parted to all as there was need It is an indefinit speech thinks Calvine ordinarie in the Scripture under the forme of an vniversall It is like that all did not part with their houses and Lands For of all the 3. thousand only one is named the other a counterfeit as a memorable example of liberalitie Ioses having Land sold it So farr Calvin Ioses might keep his house for ought I know and what was in his house a wiser body then my selfe cannot tell But let it bee granted all sold their possessions yet they cannot make a rule of this a Rule must be fitted to circumstances of persons time and place Here was an extraordinary liberalitie here was an
you that our Saviour payd the price for us whereby we are become heires of God co-heires with Christ and being heires we shall inherit though we suffer nothing For Christ both suffered and satisfied for us but they will not see what followeth For where the Apostle calleth us heires of God c. he addeth immediately if yee suffer together with him signifying that wee are heires with Christ upon condition that we suffer with him to the end wee may bee glorified with him for we are not freed by our Saviours passion from suffering but the more invited or rather obliged thereunto witnesse our Saviour himselfe he that will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow mee But contrary if you will but look into Gods Church you shall not onely find Christ spoken of but truly followed You shall see those whose onely ioy is in afflictions for Christs sake whose song is that of the Apostle God forbid I should reioyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ Who have forsaken all and given their whole estate to maintaine the poore so committed themselues to the providence of God we have not those who barely commend vertues in our Saviour but follow them in deed also they are such that talke little fast hard pray much suffer continually they are in want and that willingly to helpe others Poore they are in meanes but poorer in spirit and theirs onely is the Kingdome of heaven I will adde no more lest I should seeme rather to preach you a sermon then to write you a Letter Deare Mother see and be acquainted with those who both of this faith and life amongst you I am sure their good wayes will better informe you in this kinde then my Letters And that you may be the surer satisfied let the travells of any of my brethren make triall and let them not doubt but that they may be as safe and as well for their calling and travell here as in England I live in Doway a halfe weekes iourney from you trust my brotherly love towards them for their safety at one of the English houses in Doway you shall finde mee I could rather wish to see any of my brethren at Doway but I pray you if you will not take so hard a iourney for my sake at least let mee heare from you Direct your Letters to one M. Wetwoodâ— house in Doway who is an English Gentleman What I have written unto you Deare Mother is likewise written to my poore brethren and sisters whom with your selfe I commend in my most earnest prayers unto the safe protection of God almighty who I hope hath brought me hither to provide for your poore deceived soules In our Lord and Saviour farewell be mindfull of your selves that your soules perish not in that heavie day of the Lord. MOTHER THy letter came to my hands my dear Child like Iosephs party-coloured coate to his father Iacob in many things there holds much proportion This is my Sons coate saith the good old man a wicked beast hath devoured him Ioseph is surely torne in pieces I cannot say so altogether but this is my Sonnes letter doth your poore aged Mother say I know it is the great beast hath set his marke upon him and appointed him for the ptey I shall be robbed of my Son Oh! I shall be robbed of my Son At the best the Ismalites haue carried him into Egypt a place of grosse Idolatry where he is for his lettet tells me it left him at Doway and there must mine find him What there my Son Now let hir who is acquainted with the deare name of a Child say whether there holds not much proportion between Iacobs sorrow mine I go down to the graue mourning I shall lye downe in sorrow Your old Father and as full of griefs as yeares since thou wentest away is not thou art not and I am a poore distressed Mother thus hath the Lord showen mee much bitternesse These things are against me even all these but I am robbed of my Child That that hastens to bring my gray haires with sorrow to the graue oh come againe my deare Child come againe that I may see thy face with comfort once more before I make my bed in the darke it is now almost night with me and I shall be seen no more O returne my Son returne my Sonne my Sonne SONNE My Mother thinks me unmindfull of her now whereas indeed shee is unmindfull of her selfe herein like a blind man who because he sees not himselfe thinkes another sees him not also I discerne my Mother as plainely as Elisha the two Spies quite out of the way to the place shee intends MOTHER O Child he that thinkes he sees another best most commonly discernes himselfe worst There may be a great mistake about this businesse of seeing We find one who in feare tooke shadowes for men Iudg. 9. 36. and it tells thee the very outward sense may be so mistaken We reade of another who sodainly lost ger sight yet could not be perswaded but she could see well the house was darke the windowes shut there was no want in hir eyes sure But this was a foole you will say and indeed she was accounted no better then Seneca's wives foole Epist 50 And yet hir Master could say the foole had many fellowes when hee little suspected himselfe one of the number for do but turne the sense inward and it shall appeare to bee an easie and ordinary thing to bee deceaved therein because a light may bee in a man and that light may be darknesse The Iewes thought they could see well they blind it was not a thing to be questioned And yet they had no more certainty of it then Sisera's mother had of hir sons welfare Iudg. 5. she stai'd not untill a good Ahimaaz brought hir newes nor scarce while hir Ladies could answere hir though they were so wise in their Generation as to flatter hir who would flatter hir selfe yea saith the text shee returned answere to hir selfe therein lay the deceit You may make it the Embleme of the grand Imposture I meane not the Pope or his mistery of Iniquity though our burning and shining light hath call'd it so he must come an Ace lower I meane the Imposture of that which is deceitfull above all things Ier. 17. 9 There is a spirit in a man which will tell him all is well and so carves forth a prey presently and to a mans selfe as good a part as Sisera had And here is the miserie of it all this may be but in conceit as an hungry man dreames he is eating But the Lord weigheth the spiritâ—s saith the wise man Proverbs 16. 2. therefore the counsaile is good which followes Commit thy workes unto the Lord thy thoughts shall be established For as in a mans owne strength no man shall bee strong so nor by his owne testimonie iustified Let a man then looke out and
whose office is to stand betweene the living and the dead Hee thou prayest unto is a Spirit thou must worship him in spirit and in truth Againe doth he put no confidence in the flesh What meanes then his knowing of Christ after the flesh his will worship all his carnall services Doth he renounce his owne righteousnes is it as filthy raggs What meanes then his meritts his satisfaction his worke of supererrogation Doth he forgetting those things which are behind reaching forth unto those things which are before presse toward the marke that he may apprehend that for which hee was apprehended of Christ Iesus What meaneth then his fancy of perfection in this life This man cannot frame to pronunce Christ aright yet scales are before his eyes let him looke to it It will prove as deadly as Sibboleth to the Ephramite then they tooke him slew him at the passage of Iordan Iud. 12. I haue beene long about this yet I know no parent will blame me The Mother hath beene looking into hir Childs Eye and she feares it will be lost now you know the Eye is to this little body as the Sunne to the great the light of the body is the eye if that be darke the body lives in a continued night then if there be any remedie the Mother bestirres hir selfe how much more then if the inward eye bee in danger for when that is darke how great is that darkenesse A man knowes not where hee shall fall O the Mother would fame have that cleare because the loue of an outward sense may be supplied by the strength of another but if the light within a man bee darknesse what can recompence that losse I cannot then leave my Childs eye thus the counsaile is behind so is the eye salue thou shalt find them both if of what hath beene said thou shalt make this use Trust not my sweete Child thine owne eye it will present unto thee shaddowes for substances that is one grosse mistake for what is the shaddow to the substance no more then is the Chaffe to the Wheate It will tell thee it sees clearly when it is not onely dim and darke but quite put out that is another and can there be a greater Goe then my deare Child in the sense of this thy blindnesse for thou art blind also there is no question of it to him that is the Light the effect of whose comming is that they which see not to wit in the conscience of their owne blindnesse might see and that they which see might be made blind Ioh. 9. Go I say unto him it is not my counsell onely and say Son of David have mercie upon me that I may receive my sight and bee instant with him give him no rest till he make darkenesse light before thee and crooked things straight Till he bid the Prisoners come forth and say to the blind receive sight Isai 42. 16. Then and not till then shall thine eyes bee cleared then and not till then shall thy tongue bee loosed then not till then shalt thou frame to pronounce Christ right SONNE God knowes before whome I am our day to giue an accompt of my duty towards you that there passeth not a day or night either when you and yours take your rest wherein there is not intercession made for you MOTHER And dost thou begge vs of the Lord my sweete child Now the Lord unfold thy vnderstanding he cure thy zeale he adde knowledge to it he can doe it But all this while thou hast not fulfilled my ioy I reioyced greatly that I found of my children walkeing in the truth as we haue receiued a commandement of the Father they are Iohns words to to the elect Lady v. 4. Heare what he wâ—â—ts to Gaius I reioyced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the Trueth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the Trueth I haue no greater ioy then to heare that my children walke in the truth Beloued thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren to strangers I restraine this now to the matter in hand prayer though whatsoever a man doth that he doth it faithfully Crownes the worker the worke thou doest pray for thy Mother and her children doe it faithfully my deare child Faithfully in respect of those things that must be requested Faithfully in respect of that heart by which this Sacrifice must be presented Faithfully in respect of him to whom only it must bee directed Psal 65. 2. Faithfully in respect of that mediation through whom only it must bee accepted So pray on and begge vs of the Lord. Behold he prayeth Acts 9. 11 It is the spirits testimony of Paul after hee had left Gamaliels feete and his owne righteousnes and had attained to the knowledge of Christ and to the power of his Resurrection then behold he prayeth it yeldes a notable consideration no question Saul had prayed long and often while he satt at Gamaliels feete yet as if his prayers then had ben rather an houling then praying the spirit giues this testimony of him after the light had shined unto him behold he prayeth then and not till then Pray thus and pray on so begging vs of the Lord. I should haue no greater Ioy then to heare that my child walks in truth Beloved child thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to thy Mother and her children Oh what joy were here doe this and thou fulfillest my joy and thy owne for else thy labour of loue will be lost thy watching lost thy prayers lost thy selfe lost all lost looke to thy selfe then it is Iohns caveat that thou loose not the things that thou hast wrought but that thou receiuest a full reward In the meane time the Mother will pray for the child too that his loue may abound yet more and more how In knowledge and in all iudgement Philip. 1. 9. then shall we loue both in the flesh in the Lord Phil. 16. SONNE What more to doe in this my state I know not when my Mother is misled from the way of truth without knowledge and I must obey her but in the Lord in this thing then I must be excused and she must be plainely told that it stands not with the duty of a sonne to yeeld the least to so uniust demaunds of a Mother yet that she may know how duetifull a Sonne shee hath and how couragious for the witnessing of that which hee professeth were it with his owne blood Oh! that the commands were of the same nature with hers in the Maccabees who did incourage her children to suffer euen to the death surely I should be as ready to obey as shee to command but alas my Mothers commaunds are unreasonable nay unnaturall tending to the forsaking my Religion Gods Church his trueth himselfe MOTHER And is it so my Son an unreasonable request indeed and unnaturall O but hearken my Child and if it bee so let thine owne Mother bee hated O
hearken my Child I beseech thee even by the throwes of thy first birth hearken and the Lord give thee an open eare while the true Mother pleads with the Harlot for hir Sonne and he that is wiser then Salomon bee judge betwixt us even he be judge He ease me of my adversary even he ease me of my adversarie who vexeth me very sore and makes me goe heavily all the day troubling me and breaking my heart The Lord looke on the trouble of his handmaid and remember hir and give hir hir Sonne againe as I have desired and to my power laboured to give him to the Lord againe all the dayes of his life by keeping his Religion his Church his Truth and rather then to forsake these or any of these to lie in the fetters untill the iron enter into his soule and after to give up his breath in the flame to resist even unto blood O my Child consider it is neither the chaine if not Paules nor the prison if not Silaces nor the flame if not Bradford's that makes the Martyr indeed Child it is not But is it Pauls chaine no reason the bearer should be ashamed A Prisoner in the Lord sure there is great cause of rejoycing At the stake for a good cause now there is cause of singing of clapping the hands But the body may bee given to the fire my Child and love may be wanting 1 Cor. 13 the crosse may be taken up yet not Christs nor he followed The body may be strip't and whip't pinc'ht nay almost starv'd and yet who required these things at your hands But let the cause bee such as these Saints were and then let the sufferers glory for to such is it given not onely to beleeve but also to suffer for the name of the Lord Iesus Phillip 1. 29. And now let the Harlot speake for I know shee told thee what thou shouldest say what could I have done unto my Sonne that I have not done for his better keeping of these even all these Yet would I not seeme a proud Iusticiarie for how few are those Hannah's who give their children backe to the Lord who present them first in the Temple who breed their children as they ought as they are bound to doe as the Grandmother Lois and the Mother Eunice bred Timothy I cannot say I did in how many things might I faile I know in many But let the Harlot accuse me Child canst thou speake nothing for thy Mother my good Child speak I know thou canst Wherunto hath the deare affection of thy parents tended whitherto all their care cost their pains their prayers their feares their hopes Their hopes here it was indeed here it was I thinke I know we offended for surely wee doted upon thee Child forgive as that wrong We thought thee our possession the sonne of our right hand the staffe on which our old age might leane But how often do parents hopes deceiue them how soone may a hopefull blossome die in the bud a forward spring be nipped with a coldwind or a sharp frost Doe not parents I pray you doe not doat upon your children or thinke of them above what is meet There are many moneths yet unto your harvest and a little time makes great alteration I tell you parents I tell you weeping our extraordinary expectations on earthly things ordinarily disappoints us sometimes our ordinary but that doth lesse trouble us Marke this I pray you it falls out many times that a beloved Rachel proues barren and hated Lea fruitfull It falls out so with me and I am sure I was not the first neither can I be the last we have so many doters my possession is become â—â—â—ity my Beniamin a Bennons the Lord hath knapt my staffe asunder But why should my adversary boast against me I thinke he will not least his Rachell also prove barren so the Lord can make him or hir when wee bottome our selves upon them or set our affection on them too much but come what would the Harlot say HARLOT Why hee suckt in herisie with his very milke and his stronger meate was mingled with it And when you sent him to the fountaine and as you thought to the spring head you were quite mistaken for they are but bitter waters uncleane and muddie MOTHER Mistaken indeed I was and much deceived for had not the fountaine beene impure or had not the Beasts foote mudded iâ— I had not beene robbed of my Child nor at this time beene pleading for him But there was a bad hearbe in the good pottage a dead flie in the sweet ointment a subtill Serpent in the pleasant garden Thus wee Parents drunke with our owne hopes little foresee our Childrens danger how soone they may fall vpon a shelfe and there make shipwracke of faith and a good conscience and all A Parent art thou when will thy doubts thy feares have an end And now what shall I say to thee my adversary I must not I dare not give thee reviling words but the Lord rebuke thee even hee rebuke thee and be iudge betwixt us whether in that way which thou callest heresie wee doe not worship the God of our fathers beleeving c. HARLOT What and not to submit to our holy Church not come within her armes for instruction What is this but to bee as a Dove without the Arke to be tossed up and downe upon the waues of herefies still ready to suffer shipwracke let your Sonne then have your hand Mothâ—r who so piously reacheth forth his whereby to drawe you into our Arke MOTHER I thanke my good Child knowing his simple heart and tender child like affection for I beare him witnesse that he hath a zeale though not according to knowledge the time of his ignorance O Lord remember not and find out a time to take away the scales and be mercifull to all such as sinne not of malicious wickednes Now my good Child consider with me that there was a Dove which was out of the Arke but found the way to it and rested in it that was a wise Dove sure it had an heart That was a true Arke sure that could keepe from drowning There was a Dove o be not ignorant of it a silly seduced Dove Hos 7. 11 without an heart and that gott into an Arke of its owne framing which held during the calme but when the winds rose and the flouds of great waters came the workman could not defend the worke nor the worke the workeman both perished together This is spoken by an Allegory This wise Dove is every soule that is incorporated into that house whose builder and founder is Christ or which as a spirituall stone is rooted into that building whose foundation is that chiefe corner stone elect and pretious and he that believeth in him shall not be confounded 1. Pet. 2. 6. By this silly seduced Dove wee all know who was meant even Ephraim and by Ephraim that brave stomackfull tribe is meant Israell
thee waking that so discovering thy danger thou maist get forth of thy Iaels Tent and take sanctuarie at the rocks the mightie God of this Salvation I tell you child a thousand stripes on thy body cannot deface the print of one sinne that is write with a pen of a Diamond As many knockeâ— one thy breasts will not soften thy hard heart which is as an adamant All your holy water not sprinckled but powrâ—d till the challice be dry will not wash away one sin Is is as the spot of a Leopard or as â—rimson of deepe dyâ— in the wooll in the cloath The Harlots wiping hir mouth will not serue hir nor Pilats washing his hands nor Elishas staffe a man may be at great coast hee may part with rivers of oyle and yet his countenance looke never a whit more chearefull in the day of the Lord. He may kneele till the strong men are wearie yet may the heart continue still stiffe He may go one pilgrimage to this Saint and the other relique yea and bare foote till he pinch his feete and pricke them too yet may he be never the nearer heaven his heart may remaine untouched still nay it is certaine child that nothing is a greater enemy to true mortification then the counterfeits nothing holds a man off more from the power then loue with the forme nothing more prevalent then these Iaels Tents to rocke thy heart in securitie and to keepe it in it's owne hardnesse till a dart strikes through the liver and a naile the temples the Harlot will never cleanse the heart if shee thinkâ— to mae all cleane by wiping her lips Pilat shall stand gulitie of innocent blod for ever because he thinkes he is cleare of it now that he hath washed his hands the blood stickes neerer then so the Prophet will never be sent for if his staffe will serue the turne but when a man lookes one his sinnes as those that put to death the Lord of glory or as that speare which perced his sides and is so pricked at the heart and receives the sentence of death within himself this man now looks upon the true crucifix his sinnes are alway before him What is this man doing now He troubleth not himselfe with empty questions and vaine genealogies wherein thou didst foolishly busie thy selfe some moneths before thou transgressedst the bounds namely whether Peter was at Rome or the Pope be his successor Peter might be at Rome and Rome never the better but much the worse for then another Apostle was there whose doctrine Rome followes not This man hath other worke in hand he goes upon certainties Peter is in heaven there is no question in that How came he thither Peter confessed with his mouth on that the Church was built Peter beleeved with his heart thereby he was tyed unto it as fast as the branch unto the vine Now marke this mans enquirie Can I confesse with my mouth the Lord Iesus Can I beleeve with my heart that God raised him from the dead Rom. 10. 10. Then I shall be saved but soft he is uppon an hard taske this is not a work of a day or two If he get faith he must know how he got it This man is upon this businesse still And what difficulties doth he meet with by the way amongst which this is not the least that Iael stands at the entry of her tent and the Harlott at her doore beckning to this babe in Christ come in to mee come in to mee these be false Christs and there be many of them within and without But he heares a voyce behind him saying walke in the way turne not aside we will suppose this man now troubled and bowed downe greatly I would aske your Priests what would ye do to him will ye put on him all your Saules Armour Alas it is but combersorne hee must march on in that strength wherein David came against Goliah not by might but by my spirit saith the Lord. Zech. 4. Will yee give him some of your balme your holy water your oyle your daubinges you are phisitians of no vallue All his money is spent upon trifles already and yet the bloody issue remaineth Will your Pope now freely give him his pardon since all his money is spent Alas he knowes he shall go forth from thence ashamed and with his hands upon his head the Lord will reiect those confidences Ier. 2. 36. 37. What would this man have I marvaile what seekes he after A ransome sure a pardon And if he get it he must have it without money or money worth the must bee brought to a kind of beggery in himselfe to a kind of nothing What should a sound man do with a Phisitian An whole man with plaister An uncondemned man a pardon He is now emptied indeed of his treasure of one of his greatest enemies himselfe he leaneth unto nothing within him nor to any earthly thing without him Now compare the pennance of your Capucino Franciscan or Dominican who will not part with his hole for as much land as the little bird flyeth over nay he hopes that his contendednesse in so little a place on earth shall procure him a large mantion in heaven I say compare his voluntary religion his humblenesse of mind his not sparing the body all his bodily exercise Coloss 2. 18. 23. with this mans pennance if I may call it so and it will be no more like unto it then the Harlots wipinge the mouth is to the clensiing the heart thâ—n Pilats washing his hands to the purging his conscience I say no more like it then Elishaes staffe is to Elisha himselfe then Solomons needle worke to the little Lilly I meane then art unto nature There is but imitation in the one art is but natures ape there is life in the other all the power in the world cannot produce it And observe it the effects of that mans pennance this mans sorrow are as different the one seeks after trifles and bables such as never pleased any but children and fooles empty things lies and vanities for as the wound is such is the remedy the heart was never touched The other labours after the one thing which is necessary which that he may obtaine he goeth downe by stepps of the flockes into the garden of spices and there he feedes on greene and cleane pasture regarding no more the stepps of Popes and Cardinalls Friars and Monkes then the crawling of a louse or the skipp of a flea he hangs upon the mouth of his beloved and observeth what they say who testify of him he waiteth upon God in his ordinance and he hath long patience nothing shall content him till his mouth be filled as with marrow and fatnes till the Lord hath reached forth his hand of mercy unto him and thereby inabled him to reach back his to the Lord whereby he receiveth blood to justify him and water to sanctify him for the hand of faith doth not only