doe nowe almost in Scotland If this be not the way to bring the ministery into contempt the Sacraments and word of God into hatred and religion into detestacion Say if this be not the way to bring in playne Atheisme and consequētly confusion and ouerthrow of all things I knowe not what is For take away reward frō learning who will set his sonne to learning who I say will set his child to the Vniuersitie and bestowe almost all hee hath vppon hym to get him learning wheras afterwards he shall liue but as a begger all dayes of his life But as I would wish that they who be good able and sufficient preachers indeede should haue liuing enough so would I wish that those who haue too much should part with some of their superfluitie to others that eyther haue too little or iust none at all For you shall haue some that can speake but little congrue latine much lesse preach the word of God nay would God they could reade english well and yet they haue some of them two some of them three and it is well if not four benefices a peece you shal haue othersome fine schollers and famous preachers indeed want euen competent mayntenance And therefore could I wish if it might possibly be brought to passe that a more equall distribution of liuings were had amongst vs. But it may sooner I feare me be wished for than hastely effected Now as this is a great plague to our Church so I doubt least in time these impropriacions will be the bane of the same I pray God to moue her Maiesties royall heart and the heartes of her honorable Councell to redresse this great calamitie if it be his blessed will But whether am I caryed It is a good worke in a Bishop to preache the worde of God truely to minister the Sacraments sincerely to execute ecclesiasticall discipline and other censures of the Churche seuearely to rule and gouerne the Churche of God vprightly according to the word of God to constitute and place in euery seuerall Church and congregation as neere as is possible a good and sufficient preacher and to see that euery one in hys perticular charge and calling doe hys duety diligently He must bee an example to his flocke as well in life as in doctrine else what hee buildeth with one hand hee pulleth downe with the other Yea hee must bee of that holy conuersation and integritie of life that euen they that are without as the Apostle speaketh may bee wonne and reclaymed thereby Briefely hee must be in all poynts such a one as Paule describeth to Timothy and to such a one is all honor due as the same Apostle sayth in an other place those Elders that gouerne well are worthye of double honour It is also a principall good worke in a King or Prince fyrst and aboue all things to establish the true religion and worship of God to abolish all superstition idolatrie and Popery to roote out all vayne tradicions ordenances and constitutions of men eyther not grounded vppon the word of God or else repugnant to the same euer taking the worde of God for hys tutchstone and square rule to leuile all hys actions by It is also a good worke in a King of Prince and his very duty to publish enact good lawes and wholesome Statutes tending to the aduancement of vertue and godlynes and to the suppressing and ouerthrowing of all sinne and wickednes to see iustice ministred to all men alike without parcialitie fauour or affection to restrayne and inhibite all gnawing vsury extortion and exaction to suppresse all robbing murthering slaying and killing one of an other to defend the pore from the iniury and violence of the mighty to punish sin in all men according to the nature and quality therof as well in the nobility gentry and yeomanry as in them of the lowest degree knowing that the iudgement is the Lords that they be the Lords ministers and that they carry not the sword for naught as Paule witnesseth being also assured of this that the Lord respecteth no mans person neyther hath he graunted any greater charter to the mightie than to the poore to sinne No no they haue neyther commission nor priuiledge eyther of immunitie or impunitie no more than the poorest swayne or meanest peasant that lyueth vppon the face of the earth hath But the soule that sinneth shall dye sayth the Apostle of what condicion estate or degree soeuer they be Yea the greater honor or dignitie that the Lord bestoweth vppon any one in this life the greater innocency and perfection he requireth at his hands so farre off is hee from dispensing with any to sinne Princes therefore Noble men and Gentlemen should be examples of godlynes and holynes to those that bee theyr inferiors for it is an olde prouerbe and verie true Quales Principes Nobiles Gubernatores tales populi subditi Such as the Prince Nobles and Gentlemen are such are commonly the people and subiects also It is also an excellent good worke in a Prince to see that euery one man woman and childe be Cathechised and taught the true Religion of God and to compell them to heare reade meditate conferre and talke of the same contrarie to that blasphemous opinion of the Papists who teach that the knowledge of the word of God amongst the Layty as they call them doth make them Heretiques But our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs another lesson Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures for in them yee hope to haue eternall life And in an other place agayne Search the scriptures for they are they which testifye of me Also in the Acts we reade that the Byrreans searched the Scriptures dayly to see whether those things preached by the Apostles were so or not and they are wonderfully commended therefore by the holy Ghost in the same place Agayne when the Pharises came to Christ tempting him concerning the faith of the resurrection he answered them yee erre not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God So that whereas the Papists contrary to all truth do hould that the knowledge of the scriptures is cause of heresy we finde heere by our Sauiours owne words that the ignorance of them is cause of all errors heresy and supersticion Dauid in his first Psalme verse 1.2 accoumpted hym blessed that was conuersant dayly in the word of God saying Blessed is the man that doth not walke in the councell of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seate of the scornefull but his delight is in the lawe of the Lord and in this lawe doth hee exercise himselfe day and night Agayne in the syxt of Deuteronomie wee are commaunded by expresse wordes that the word of God shall neuer goe out of our heartes that wee shall teache it to our children that wee shall talke of it when wee are in our houses when wee goe by the waye when wee
A MOTIVE TO GOOD WORKES Or rather To true Christianitie indeede WHEREIN BY THE waie is shewed how farre wee are behinde not onely our fore-fathers in good workes but also many other creatures in the endes of our creation with the difference betwixt the pretenced good workes of the Antichristian Papist and the good workes of the Christian Protestant By Phillip Stubbes Gentleman MATHEW .5 verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your workes and glorifie your father which is in heauen LONDON Printed for Thomas Man dwelling in Pater Noster rowe at the signe of the Talbot 1593. To the Right Honorable Cutbert Buckle Lord Maior of the Citie of London P. S. wisheth all prosperity in this life and in the life to come euerlasting saluation by Iesus Christ. HAuing a desire right Honorable to see the state of this our noble Ilande in the bowels wherof as in the womb of my mother I was both bread and borne and wherein I haue liued euen to this present day I tooke my gelding about the Annunciation of S. Mary last past and so trauayling from place to place within one quarter of a yere or a little more I performed by Gods good prouidence and his blessed protection as much as I purposed compassing the whole realme in effect round about Which long and wearysome iorney albeit to my great charges and paynes I vndertooke partly for my priuate pleasure and recreation partly for the auoydance if it might please God of this generall infection of the plague which now raigneth and rageth not only in this honorable City but also almost throughout the whole realme vniuersally and partly to acquaint my selfe with the maners and dispositions of the people and finally to see and viewe all such monuments edifices and memorable deedes as our good Ancestors haue left behinde them In all which my progresse right honorable obseruing euery little circumstance as neerely as I could I found if not all yet very many things out of order and farre from that perfection which I hoped and loked for For as concerning the people I founde them in most places dissolute prowde enuious malicious disdaynefull couetous ambicious carelesse of good workes and almost altogether irreligious For the Cuntreys themselues I found them both pleasant and delectable and abounding with all kinde of commodities and store so as nothing seemed to be wanting that mans hart could desire vnder the sunne saue only good people and the same thankfull to God for his so great so inestimable and so infinite blessings bestowed vppon them And as for the ancient monuments which our good forefathers lefte vs as namely Hospitalls Spittles Almes houses Churches Chappels Schooles of learning Bridges high wayes pauements causies and the lyke I founde them some quite dissolued so as scarse any small remembrance thereof is in many places to bee seene and othersome so ruinate and decayed as if the first founders thereof were nowe liuing and shoulde see them they would not take them for their owne but rather for some disproportioned miscreants foysted in in their places Which generall decay of all good workes or rather playne defection and falling away from God right honorable when I considered returning to London from my long and paynefull iourney and hauing reposed my selfe there a little I was moued I protest before God euen in conscience to write this little treatise to the end that eyther by example exhortation or one meanes or other I might stirre vp the mindes of men at least of those whose hearts God hath touched if not to doe good workes themselues yet to maynteyne those which our predecessors haue left behinde them The want whereof as it is a blemish to our profession so is it a cause that maketh the enemy to barke against vs as if our Religion were nothing else but playne talking and not walking nay playne Atheisme and Libertinisme for so they falsely beare the world in hand And therefore I pray God we may if not for conscience sake yet for feare or if not for feare yet for very shame now at the last indeuour our selues to do good works and to leaue some monuments and testimonies of our christian zeale and charitie behinde vs. For else I am afrayde least not onely our good forefathers but also those which we accoumpt prophane and wicked persons as Christ speaketh shall goe before vs into the kingdome of heauen But of these matters we shall haue occasion to say more in the further discourse of this booke and therefore to bend my stile towards your honor After that I had in some sort penned this little treatise I considered with my selfe to whome I might dedicate the same and so after many ratiocinations pro contra I was at the last resolued to consecrate the same rather to your Honor than to any other and that for two causes First for that it hath pleased God to call you and that most worthely to the regiment of this so famous and populous a City to this end no doubt that by the sword of authoritye you might suppresse vice and by the scepter of wise gouernment you might commaund and enioyne men to the practising of good workes And secondly for that the same God hath made you not onely zealous of religion but also of good workes all which heereafter Christ willing shall be registred in theyr due tyme and place to your immortall fame honor and renowne Accept therefore my very good Lord according to your pristine affabilitie this little Treatise published in your Honors name and admit both it and the Author thereof into your patronage and protection so shall I thinke my selfe sufficiently remunerate and the Church of God being edified thereby shall prayse God for you to the end And thus I most humbly take my leaue From my lodging by Cheape side this 8. of Nouember 1593. Your Honors in all duty Phillip Stubbes Gentleman To the curteous Reader COnsidering with my selfe gentle Reader the great decaie or rather the plain abolition and extermination of good workes in these our vnhappie daies I was perswaded to publish this little Treatise to the ende I might stirre vp if it bee possible the mindes of men to the exercising and practising of the same The Argument I appeale to thy conscience in the feare of God is good the end and purpose of the Author also commendable and therefore I doubt not but it will be both well liked also no lesse esteemed of al those that feare God and then for the liking or disliking of the other I am so farre off from caring for it that I pray God I may neuer neither say doe nor write anie thing that may be liked or applauded of them For the manner of the handling heereof I haue not desired to be curious neither to affect filed phrases culled or picked sentences nor yet loftie haughtie or farre fetched epithites but a plaine bare and naked stile for I seeke not
also doth a good worke but yet against his will and by deuine impulsion is it therefore euill because he doth it hee confessed that Iesus was the sonne of God is it euill therefore to confesse Christ because he did so is good seed the worse though an euill mā sow it so a Papist may do good works and to a good end is it therefore euill because he doth it but if he do them to this end to be iustified to purchase heauen and to merite euerlasting life by them then in respect of the doers and in regard of the ends whereto they are done they are altogether vnlawfull and no good workes indeede but rather pledges seales of cōdemnation against the doers Yet notwithstanding in as much as the most of these works although they were afterwards horribly abused by others tended to the glory of God and benefite of the common wealth they were therefore good works and notable testimonies and demonstrations as wel of their great loue and zeale as also of their godlines For example Is not this a good worke to build Churches Chappels and other oratories and houses of religion wherin the preaching of the word of God and other exercises of true religion might bee practised amongst all posterities to the end of the world yea it is such a worke that I pray God sende vs moe of them For it is lamentable in some parishes the people are forced to goe three or foure nay fiue or sixe in some peraduenture eyght or ten miles to the Church for want of Churches neerer them Shall wee thinke to build Churches was no good worke because they were afterwards prophaned by Idolatrie and polluted by superstition What thing is there in this world but it hath beene is or may be abused And shall wee take away the thing it selfe because of the abuse Then farewell meate and drinke farewell apparrell yea farewell word of God and all for euery one of them hath beene is and will be continually abused to the end But in as much as the abuse is not of the substance of the thing but meerely accidentall take away the abuse and let the thyng remayne still There are in deede neotericall and phantasticall spirits start vp of late that would haue all Churches pulled downe and defaced to the ende that theyr priuate conuenticles and Iewish Synagogues myght take place And truely the world is nowe almost come to theyr humor for nowe euery one seeketh to pull from the Church to raze and deface it by all meanes possible accoumpting that well gotten what soeuer is extorted or purloyned from it quo iure quaue iniuria eyther by hooke or crooke as they vse to say And the same to be true in deede doth the present state of the most of our Churches in England verify For where I haue trauayled as I haue trauayled the whole realme ouer I haue found in most places nay almost in all the Churches to lye like barnes some thatched with strawe and which is worser some with broome bent loope reede and I cannot tell what rubbish els the windowes all to torne the wals cleft and rent asunder the roofes rayning in without measure and the chauncels as they call them eyther pulled quite downe I will not saye begged of some greedie puttocke or insaciable cormorant or other to build his owne house withall or else ready to fall vppon their heads euery day with euery little puffe of winde And as for the pues and seates they are such as would make a man to loath to come in them Their flowres or pauements are so farre from being tiled or paued that there is nothing to be seene but sand and dust a foote or two thicke so that if you stirre your feete neuer so little all the Church is full of dust enough to stifle or choke a man Agayne in othersome places I haue seene the Churches strawed ouer either with hay grasse strawe sedges bent loope or such other trash worser than I haue knowen many swyne to lye in Yea truly I haue seene some Churches as I haue sayde to lye farre worser than eyther barnes or stables God be mercifull to vs. For the one they will keepe well and repaire for the safegard of their corne the other for their beasts and cattell And is it not a lamentable case that the Church and house of prayer for so Christ calleth it My house shall be called the house of prayer but you haue made it a denne of the eues should lye so beastly our owne houses in the meane time being most stately sumptuous and gay Good King Dauid was of an other minde when hee sayde Shall my house be of Cedar and Cipres wood and the Arke of God to lye in Tents and therefore made he infinite prouision to build a Temple for it Is it nowe tyme to build your owne houses and is it not tyme to build the Lordes house sayth the Prophet Well I wyll say no more heereof but I pray God that the reuerend Byshops to whome God hath committed the dispensacion of his word and the scepter and rule of hys spouse vppon earth may looke better to the building repairing keeping of the Church of God and house of prayer Now to goe forward Is it not a good worke to build bridges to make causies pauements and high wayes that trauellers may paste safely frō one place to an other There are some not a few no doubt that think it no good deede whatsoeuer it be if a penny of money must goe from them therfore they care not if al good workes were buryed in the graue of obliuion that they might neuer see the light but as abortiues to be vtterly smothered for euer Hereof is it that we cānot so much as finde in our harts not only not to build but not so much as to maynteyne and repaire those bridges high wayes causies pauemēts and other ancient monuments of good works which our Ancestors haue left behind thē as to their inestimable charges so to their perpetuall praise renowne so far off are we frō doing any of our owne I my selfe hauing trauayled ouer and about the whole realme haue found diuerse Bridges yea and that ouer mighty waters eyther cleane broken downe without any great hope of building againe in haste or else so shaken rent and torne that it would feare a man eyther to goe or ryde ouer them I could name aboue an hundred such in Englande but for that I will offend no man by name I will ouerpasse them beseeching God to put into the harts of our Magistrates and Rulers that they may be amended For I am sure there are not a fewe both men and women in England drowned in a yeare by reason these Bridges are not maynteyned Our good Auncestors not onely built them but also left for the most of them both landes and rents to vphould them I pray God they be not imbezeled and purloyned from them and bestowed an
other way Good Lord I can not but wonder at the bountifull liberalitie of our predecessors they built all these edifices and buildings from the ground of theyr owne proper costs and charges without all contribucions or collections that we reade of and yet we can not so much as maynteyne and repayre them except we haue contributions collections and gatherings throughout the realme for euery little Bridge And if there be but a small Bridge to be built from the grounde Iesus what a peece of worke wee make of it yea wee must haue a licence to begge all ouer the land for it or else it will neuer be built So that I verely belieue if we should haue but euen one such a building to make as we haue some in England built by our ancestors Oh it would shake the verie foundations of the common wealth nay I thinke assuredly they would neuer be able to performe it not for that we are not able but for that we are wretched miserable for there is greater riches welth in Englād now Gods holy name be praysed for it than euer there was since the beginning of the world by many degrees and yet we will part with nothing to any good worke so couetous are we and so voyd of that holy zeale and burning charitie which our forefathers had To goe forward Is it not a good work to build Colledges and Vniuersities to erect free Schooles and houses of learning being indeede the very seminaries of all wisdome learning and knowledge for the better education of youth in good letters wheras otherwise ignorance and barbarisme would ouerflow vs And yet notwithstanding all this you shall haue some giddy heads that would haue all Vniuersities Colledges Schooles of learning to be vtterly supprest and ouerthrowne which were euen to pluck the Sunne out of the elemēt the starres out of the skye the Moone out of the heauens for as the world without the one would seeme as it were a confuse chaos palpable darknes so without the other should we be all as dizarts sots and peasants yea very buzzards blockheads little or nothing differing from bruite beasts Nay to wish the ouerthrow of them is to wish the subuersion of the word of God and of religion with a vniuersall confusion of all things For are not Vniuersities and Schooles the way to learning and knowledge Is not learning the way to wisedome and is not wisedome as it were the very fynewes and tendons that hold together the whole body both of the Churche and common-wealth Nay to say more is not wisedome the very life of them both and therefore they that desire the decay of the one doe wish the destruction of the other But yet to wade in this matter a little further Is it not a good worke to erect Hospitalls Spittles and Almes houses wherein all such as be eyther olde aged impotent blind lame halt or otherwise decrepite might be relieued yea I hould it to be one of the chiefest good workes that a man can doe in thys life For doth not Christ accoumpt it done to himselfe whatsoeuer is done to his poore members vpon earth And therefore I pray GOD to rayse vp more such men as may erect mo such houses yea if it were in euery Citie towne and village Then should we haue eyther none or at lest fewer beggers as we cal them amongst vs than we haue according to the cōmandement of God who sayth Let there bee no beggers in Israel that is amongest those that professe the Gospell and religion of GOD whilest those that were olde halt blind or lame should be there harboured and other lustie vagabonds who were able to worke and would not shuld be compelled to worke by seuerity of law And to this end as I would wish moe hospitalls for the reliefe of those that are not able to worke as I haue sayd so woulde I wishe that there were mo houses of correction in euerie shiere one at the least to punish and chase such lusty knaues and queans as goe roagueing about the Countries not laboring at all but liuing vpon filching stealing purloining and pilfering frō others I remember there were certaine motions of late for the erectiō of such houses in euery shire but there is nothing effected as yet Parturiunt montes nascitur ridiculus mus It was too good a work to take place with vs we haue many good motions but few good effects follow God be mercifull vnto vs. But here a question may be asked whether the building of monasteries priories other religious houses were good workes or no I aunswere that in deed they had a zeale in them but not as the Apostle saith secundum scientiam and they built thē to a good intēt as namely that the seruice and religion of God might bee maintained and continued in them for euer And therefore if they were afterwardes abused as they were in deed as is before remembred and peruerted to another end than was intendended by the first founders of them by a sorte of caterpillers and idolatrous locustes that conuersed in them and poisoned the whole world with the filthie dregges of theyr fornication the fault was in the abusers not in the founders And yet I will not iustifie the founders for their good intents sake neither For a good intent is no good intent excepte it haue his ground and warrant out of the worde of God It is not inough for a man to doo euill and then to saie hee dyd it to a good intent Saul for a good intent as he pretēded as namely to sacrifice to the Lorde kept aliue the best of the cattel cōtrarie to Gods cōmandement but notwithstanding his good intent God cast him of for it and deposed him from his royall dignity telling him that he delighted more in obedience than in sacrifice But howeuer they were built or to what end or purpose so euer sure I am they were pulled downe to a better purpose as beeing in deede the dens of theeues the neasts cels of vipers the dungeōs of dragons the harborows of cocatrices the cages of vncleane beasts And yet as I thank God for the ouerthrowe of them for that they had almost drowned and in short time would not almost but altogether haue drowned the whole world with the filthy puddle of superstition idolatry infidelitie buggerie and sodometrie so could I haue wished that the lands and reuenues of them had ben better imployed as namely to the mainteuaunce of Colledges and schooles of learning to the maintenance of preachers throghout the land to the reliefe and sustentation of the poore and defence of the common wealth and such other good purposes then shoulde not our land haue beene pestered with so many vpstart single-soled Gentlemen as it is But it was the will of God that those thinges which were the bane of his Church and the poison of his children and therefore stood as anathema and accursed before him shoulde
wee neuer fast and that our preachers doe preach against it as against a thing altogether vnlawfull But as they speake truth in this so let them be beleeued in euery thing else Indeede wee holde and that truely that all meates may bee eaten at all times and at all seasons of him that hath faith for so the Apostle teacheth saying Nowe the spirite speaketh euidently that in the later daies some shall depart from the faith and shall giue heede to spirites of error doctrine of deuils which speak lies thorough hypocrisie and haue theyr consciences burned with a hot yron forbidding to marry and commaunding to abstaine from meates which GOD hath created to be receiued wyth thankes-giuing of them which beleeue and knowe the truth And in another place hee sayeth Euerie creature of God is good and nothing ought to bee refused if it bee receiued with faith and thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the worde of God and by praier So that wee holde it a matter meerely indifferent to eat or not to eate at all times Wee repose no religion in eating or drinking but hold it rather for a matter of pollicie than of diuinitie Our Sauiour Christ sayth there is nothing that entereth into man that defile the man but those things which come out of a man those defile a man It is sayd also in another place All things are cleane to those that be cleane And further we reade in the history of the Acts how the Apostle Paule himselfe was commanded in a vision as it were by oracle from heauen to eate of all meates conteyned in the sheete being also forbid to call that vncleane which God had sanctified made cleane And therefore I say we hould it lawfull by the word of God to eate all meates at all times yea though it were in Lent it selfe But yet if it please the Prince for pollicy sake and for a common wealth for that at that time of the yeare all creatures do breede and ingender together and therefore besides that they are not so wholesome as at other times of the yeare if they should then be killed and eaten as they are at other times there must needes growe great dearth scarsity of them to commaund vs to absteine from eating of flesh that time of the yeare only we willingly obey it as a matter of pollicy and not of diuinitie religion or conscience And albeit it be obiected that Christ fasted 40. dayes and 40. nightes yet it followeth not that of necessity we should absteyne from flesh only for so long no more than it followeth that we must absteyne from all other meates because Christ did so Wee haue no one sillable in the word of God for our warrant to do so Nay if we would imitate Christs example in this we are not able For can wee absteyne from all kind of sustenance whatsoeuer 40. dayes and 40. nights as Christ did And yet if wee wyll follow strictly hys example we must doe so Therefore it is true omnis Christi actio nostra est instructio non imitatio euery action of Christ is our instruction but not a president to follow in euery thing And doubtlesse if he would that we should haue absteyned from the eating of flesh in Lent only he would haue geuen vs some precept or other or at least some one word or other sounding that way To conclude therefore we hould that fasting from meates and drinkes is both good and godly and many times very necessary to tame the wanton affections of the flesh and to subdue them to the spirit And yet we looke not to merite by our fasts neyther yet doe wee fast in honor or worship to any dead Saints as the Papists most blasphemously doe And thus much of fasting Now to go forward It is a good worke in euery one to preuent and as much as lyeth in hys power to hynder and stay euery euill action or vngodlye deede which eyther hee knoweth of hys owne knowledge or else is informed and aduertised of by others is like to come to passe if he do not he is as guilty of the mischife whatsoeuer it be that hapneth as he that committed it And therefore it standeth euery one in hand to take heed to himselfe that he be not partaker of other mens sinnes for euery one hath inough and too many of his owne to answere for God be mercifull to vs. It is a good worke in euery one to practise sobrietie temperancie and frugalitie as well in his meates as also in his drinks to eschew all gluttony drunknes ryot excesse to vse such apparell and attyre as is decent and comely rather obeying necessity than seruing curious phantesie knowing that our apparell was geuen vs to couer our nakednes withall to hide our shamefull parts and not to puffe vs vp into a prowde humor or vayne conceipt of our selues And trust me truly I see no greater reason that we haue to be prowde of our apparell than the poore Lazar hath to be prowd of his rags clouts that wrap his sores It is a good worke in euery one to moderate his affections so as he neyther thinke meditate nor practise any euil against any man that he refrayne his tongue from all maner of swearing and blaspheming of Gods most holy name that he fall out with no man curse nor ban not any finally that he keepe his eyes from beholding of vanitie his eares from hearing of filthines or ribaldry and his hands feet from committing of euill Now if these be good works as they are indeede then most vnhappy are they that be so farre from doing any of them that they dayly and hourely practise the contrary and will iustifie themselues too by the word of God For sayth one is not swearing tollerable doth not God say thou shalt honor me and sweare by my name and therefore they conclude that God is rather honored than dishonored by swearing Othersome when a man reprooues them for it will aske hym why Is it not lawfull for a man to haue God in hys minde and to name hym often yea the oftner the betters Thus these reprobate miscreants iustifye themselues in theyr sinne and abuse the word of God to their owne destruction For answere to the first I graunt indeede that God is honored by swearing by his name in this sence when a matter or controuersie falleth out which can not otherwise be determined than by an oth then are we being called by the Magistrates and those that are in authority to depose the truth by the inuocation and calling to witnesse of the name of God or else in a priuate action betwixt party and party to end a controuersy we may lawfully take an oth for so the Apostle sayth let an oth make an end of all controuersies In these two respects it is lawfull to sweare as I haue sayd and God is honored thereby if we depose the truth as he is truth But as he