Appellation from the Cruel and Unjust Sentence Against Him, Part 3
AN ADMONITION TO ENGLAND AND Scotland to call them to repentance, written by Antoni Gilby.
VVhere as many hauehave writtē many profitable admonitiōs to you twaine, (O England and Scotlād, both makinge one Iland most happie, if you could know your own happines) somme against the regimēt of womē, wherewith ye are bothe plaged, somme against vnlauful obediēce, and the admitting of strangers to be your kinges, somme declaring the vile nature of the Spaniards, whome thou, o Englād, to thy destructiō mainteinest, somme the pryde of the Frenchmen, whome thou, o Scotland, to thy ruine receauest: and many hundrethes with penne, with tonge, with worde, with writing, with ieopardie and losse of landes, goods, and lyues, hauehave admonished you bothe twaine of that cākred poyson of papistrie, that ye foster and pamper to your own perdition, and vtter destruction of soules and bodies, of your selues ād yours for now and euer. I thoght it my duetie (seing your destructiō to mans iudgemēt to draw so neare) how much or litle so euer they hauehave preuailed, yet once againe to admonishe you both, to giuegive testimonie to that trueth, which my brethren hauehave writtē, ād specially to stirre your hearts to repentance, or at the least to offre my selfe a witnesse against you: for the iustice of God and his righteous iudgementes, which doubtles (if your hearts be hardned) against you both are at hand to be vttered. Thus by our writīgs, whome it pleaseth God to styrre vp of your nations, all men, that now liue, and that shall comme after vsus, shall hauehave cause also to praise the merciemercy of God, that so oft admonisheth before he do stryke, and to cōsider his iust punyshment, when he shall pourefurth his vengeance. GiueGive eare therefore betymes, O Britanie (for of that name both reioyseth) whiles the Lord calleth, exhorteth, ād admonisheth, that is the acceptable tyme, when he will be founde. Yf ye refuse the tyme offred, ye can not hauehave it afterward thogh with teares (as did Esau) ye do seme to seke it. Yet once againe in goddes behalfe I do offre you the verie meanes, which if God of his mercies graunte you grace to folow, I doubt nothing but that of al your ennemies spedely ye shallbe deliuered. Ye reioyce at this word, I am sure, if ye hauehave ani hope of the perfourmāce. Thē harkē to the matter, which I do write vntounto you not furth of mennes dreames nor fables, not furth of prophane histories painted with mannes wisdome, vaine eloquence, or subtile reasons, but furth of the infallible trueth of goddes worde, and by such plaine demonstrations, as shall be able to conuince euerie one of your owne consciences, be he neuer so obstinate. I will aske no further iudges. Is not this goddes curse, and threatninge amongest many other pronounced against the sinfull land and disobedient people?
That strangers should deuoure the frute of thy lād,Deu. 28. that the stranger should clyme aboue the, and thou should comme downe and be his inferiour, he shall be the head and thou the taile. The Lord shall bring vponupon the a people farr of, whose tongue thou canste not vnderstand, thy strong wales, wherin thou trusted, shall be destroied &c.
And doth not Esaie reckē this also as the extremitie of all plages for the wickednes of the people to hauehave womē raised vp to rule ouer you?Esa. 3. But what saieth the same ꝓphete in the begynnyng of his prophesie for a remedie against these and all other euilles?
Your handes are full of blood, saieth he, O you princes of Sodom, and you people of Gomorrha, but washe you, make you cleane, take away your wicked thoghts furth of my sight. Cease to do euil, learn to do well, seke iudgemēt, help the oppressed &c. Then will I turn my hand to the, and trie owt all thy drosse, and take away thy tynne, ād I will restore thy iudges, as afore tyme, and counsilours, as of old.
And Moses said before in the place alledged.
That if thou wilt heare the voice of the Lorde thy God,Deut. 28, and do his commaundementes, thou shalt be blessed in the towne, and blessed in the feelde. The Lord shall cause thyne ennemies, that rise vp against the, to fall before the. &c. Lo the way in few wordes, O Britanie, to winne goddes fauour, and therefore to ouercome thyne ennemies. But to prynt this more deeply into your heartes, o ye princes and people of that Iland, whome God hath begōne to punishe, seke I warne you no shifting holes to excuse your faultes, no political practises to resist goddes vengeance. And first I speak to you (ô Rulers and Princes of both the realmes) repēt your treason, and bewaile your vnthankfulnes. For by no other meanes can you escape goddes iudgementes. You stomack I know to be called traitours, but what shall it auaile to spare the name, where the facts are more then euident. You hath God erected amōgest your brethrē, to the end that by your wisdome and godlie regiment your subiectes should be kept aswell from domestical oppression, as from bondage and slauerie of strangers. But ye alas declininge from God are made the instrumētes to betray and sell the libertie of those, for whome ye oght to hauehave spent your liues. For your consent and assistance is the cause, that strangers now oppresse ād deuoure the poore within your realmes: who shortly, if God call you not to repētance, shall recompence you, as ye hauehave deserued. For the cupp, which your brethren do now drink, shall be put in your handes, and you shall drink the dreggs of yt to your destruction. And wōder it is if ye be becōme so foolishe ād so blynd, that ye think your selues able long to continue, and to be safe, when your brethren rounde about you shall perishe: that you can pack your matters well enough with the princes, that ye can make you stronge with mariages, with flateries, and other fonde practises, or that with your multitude or strengthe ye can escape the daies of vengeance, or that you can hide your selues in holes or corners. Nay thoghe you should hyde you in the hels, God can drawe you thence, if you had the egles wynges to flie beyōde the east seas, you cannot auoid goddes presence. Submitt your selues therefore vntounto hym, which holdeth your breath in your nostrels, who with one blast of his mouth cā destroy all his ennemies. Embrase his sō ne Christ, lest ye perishe, ād for your obstinacie agaīst hym ād his worde repent betymes, as we all do admonishe. Repent for your crueltie against his seruants and the contempt of his worde so plainely offred, as it was neuer sence the begynnyng of the world. Repent we cry repent. For repentance is the onlie way of your redresse and deliuerance. Did God euer longe spare any people, whome he hath taught by his Prophetes, without somme euident repentance? or vseth any father to pardon his childe, whome he hathe begonne to chastice, without somme token of repentance? Consider how the Lord hath intreated Israel and Iuda his owne people: how oft they trespassed, and how he gaue them ower into the hand of their ennemies. But whensoeuer they repented and turned againe to God vnfeanedly, he sent them iudges and deliuerers, kinges ād Sauiours. This way then of repentance and vnfeaned turning to God by obedience is the onlie way before God accepted and alowed. Therefore was Noah sent to the old world to bring this doctrine of repentance, and all the old prophetes, as Elias, Elisaeus, Esaias, Ieremias and Malachias, and he, who excelled all the prophetes, Iohn Baptist. Any of whose stiles, and sharpe rebukes of synners if I should now vse, it would be thoght full strange and hardely would be suffered: yet were any of their lessons, wherebie they called to repentance, most mete for our tyme and age, and nothinge disagreinge from this my present purpose. For the same spirit still striueth against the malice of our tymes, thoghe in diuerse instrumētes and sundrie sortes and fashions. Noah pronounceth, that within an hundreth and twentie yeares all fleshe should be destroyed. We hauehave many Nohaes, that so crieth in our tymes, yet no mā repēteth. All the tyme, that Noah was preparing for the arke to auoide goddes vengeance, the multitude derided this holie prophete, as the multitude of you two realmes doth at this day deride all them, that by obedience to goddes worde seke the meanes appointed to auoid gods iudgementes. Then the people would not repent, but as they should liue for euer, they maried, they banketed, they builded, they planted, deriding gods messēger. Do not you the like? I appeale to your own consciences. You marie, but not in God, but to betray your countries, you bāket and builde with the blood of the poore.
The Lorde calleth to fasting (saieth the prophete Esaie) to mortifie thē selues, and to kill their lustes, but they kill shepe and bullockes. Ieremie crieth for teares and lamentation, they laughe and mock. Malachie crieth to the people of his tyme, Turne vntounto me ād I will turne to you, saieth the Lorde of hostes, and they proudly answer, wherein shall we returne? Are ye not suche? Do not ye aske wherein shall we returne, when ye will not know your sinnes? when ye can not confesse, nor acknolledge your faultes, thoghe ye go a hooringe in euerie street, towne and village with your idols? thoghe the blood of the oppressed crie euerie where against you for vengeance? So that seyng no token of repentance I can not crie vntounto you with Iohn Baptist, Qye generatiō of vipers who hath taught you to flie from the wrathe to comme?
O that I might see so good tokens, that ye would fear goddes wrathe and vengeance. But this must I say to you bothe to your confusion, and shame, that ye are such vipers and serpentes, vntil I see better tokens. You do what ye can to destroy your parentes, you cast of God your heauenlie father, ye will not fear hym calling you to repentance, you destroy and banishe your spiritual fathers, which once had begotten you as spiritual children by the worde of trueth, you consume your countree, which hath geuen you corporal life, you stīge with tounges ād tayles all, that would draw you from your wickednes. Finally man, womā, and childe are either venemed with your poysons or stingged with your tayles. In you are fulfilled the wordes of Dauid.
Their throte is an open sepulchre, with theyr toūges they hauehave deceiued, the poyson of aspis is vnderunder their lippes, their mouthes are full of curse ād bitternes, their fete are swift to shedd blood, destruction and wretchednes are in their wayes, and the way of peace they hauehave not knowen, the feare of God is not before there eyes, &c.
I do know your tendre eares, you can not be grated with such sharpe sentēces of condēnation, that thus prick you to the hearts: howbeit thus it behoueth, that ye be taught to iudge your selues, that in the end ye be not dāned with the wicked world. But I will wounde you no more with the words of the Prophetes, with the sayinges of Dauid, or of this holy sainct of God Iohn the Baptist, but with our sauiour Christs two most swete parables of the two sonnes and of the tilme, to whome he set his vineyard, I will labour to set before your eyes your rebellion, hypocrisie, and crueltie, if so I cā bring any of you to repentance. Our sauiour Christe putteth furth this parable,
A certaine man had two sonnes, ād he came to the first, and said sō ne go ād worke to day in my vineyard. Who answered, I will not, but afterward repēted and went. Then came he to the second, and said likewise, and he answered, I will syr, but went not.
Wherein a wonderful comforte first is to be cōsidered, how the Lord our God maker of heauē ād earth doth hūble him selfe not only to be called a mā, a husbād man, a housholder, ād such like, but he abaseth hī selfe of merciemercy to vsus vile earth and asshes, that his sonne becometh mā to make mankynd glorious in his sight, to make all those, that do not refuse his grace offred, of the slaues of Satan his sonnes by adoption. You are his sonnes, you are his vineyard, you are as dear vntounto hym, as the apple of his eye, as Moses speaketh, if you can beleue it: he sweareth that you shall be his inheritāce, and he will be yours, if ye will only receiue his grace and beleue hym, when he sweareth. Will ye call his trueth into doubt? his glorie into shame by your misbelefe? Better it were, that all creatures should perish, heauen, man and angels, then that God should not hauehave credit, or that his glorie in the least iote should be diminished. He hath called you by his worde now many a tyme to worke in his vineyard, I aske what you hauehave answered: your conscience can witnesse and all the world seeth it. Sōme of you hauehave said plaine lyke rebellious childrē, that ye would not do it, that ye would not worke in your fathers vineyarde. Shall I applie this part to Scotland? I may right well do it, and also to a greate parte in England. But Scotland in dede called most plainely and euidently through the mercies of God both by their own faithfull countrie men, and also by earnest trauail of our English nation to comme to the Lords vineyard in the tyme of king Edward, hath to the domage of both cōtinually refused, as the cō science of many this day beareth witnesse. That tyme, as ye know, the vineyarde in Englād by the children of God was not all togither neglected, and thē most earnestly were ye (O Brethren of Scotland) required to ioyne hādes with vsus ī the Lords worke, but Satan alas would not suffer it. His old fostred malice, and Antichrist his sonne could not abyde, that Christ should grow so strong by ioynynge that ile togither in perfect religiō, whome God hath so many waies coupled ād strēgthended by his worke in nature: the papistes practised all theyr fyne craftes in England, Scotland, and in France, that the Ghospellers should not with so strong walles be defensed, lest this one iland should becōme a safe sanctuarie, as it began to be, to all the persecuted in all places. They moue sturdie stomackes, they dispens with periuries, they worke by theyr craftie cōfessions, they raise vp warre in the end, whereby ye (deare Brethren of Scotland) were sore plaged. Of all these traiterouse sleghtes ye can not be ignorant. For yet it is not passed the memorie of man, that your king made promisse to hauehave mett king Hērie the eght att Yorke▪ whose purpose (albeit in other things I do not alow him) in that case was most godlie and praise worthie. For it was to make an end of that vngodlie warre, and cruell murther, which lōge had cōtinued betwixt the two realms. Your king, I say, made promisse to mete him: the breche whereof as it was the occasion of much trouble, so is it euidently knowen, that your Cardinal, and his clergie laboured and procured the same. For it is not vnknowen to somme amongest you, how many thousand crownes the churchmen did promisse for maintenance of the warre,I suppose they payed litle. which king Henrie did denoūce by the reason of that breche. Superfluous it were to me, to recite all the causes mouing your pestilent preestes to solicitat your king to that infidelitie. But this is moste euident, that they feared nothing, but the fall of their glorie, and the trouble of their kingdome, which then in England beganne to be shaken by suppressing of the abbaies. This moued your preestes ernestly to labour, that your kinge should falsly breake his promisse. But what affliction ye sustained by that and other their practises, your selues can witnesse. For your borderrs were destroyed, your nobilitie for the most parte were takē prisoners, and your king for sorowe sodenly died. But these your miseries did nothing moue your preestes to repentance, but rather did inflame them against God, and against the ꝓpfit of their natiue realme. For when againe after the death of your kīge, your frēdship and fauours were soght, first by king Hērie, and after his death by king Edward his sonne, ād by him, who thē was chosen Protectour, how craftely, I say, did thē your preestes vndermine all, ye are not ignorāt. When your Gouernoure with the consent of the most part of the nobilitie had solēnely sworne ī the abbay of Haliroode house, syr Raphe Sadler thē being embassadour for Englād to perfurm the mariage cōtracted betwixt king Edward and your yonge quene, and faithfully to stand to euerie point cōcluded and agreed … perfurmāce of that vniō, when seales were interchanged, and the embassadour dimissed, what sturr, tumult, and sedition raised your Cardinal in that your realme, it is not vnknowen. To witt, how that by his craft and malice the realme was deuided, the Gouernour compelled to seke his fauour, to violate his oth, and so to becomme īfamous for euer. And finally by the pride of the papistes was that leage broken. But what did thereof ensue? Edinburgh, Leith, Dūdie, yea the most part of the realme did fele. Your shippes were stayed, your gooddes were lost, your chefe townes were burned, and at the end the beautie of your real me did fall in the edge of the sworde, the hand of God manifestly feghting against you, because against your solemne oth ye did feght against them, who soght your fauours by that godlie cōiunction, which before was promised. But still proceaded your ennemies the clergie, and theire adherētes in theyr purposed malice. Wōder not that I terme them your ennemies. For albeit they be your countrie men, yet because they seke nothing more, then the maītaināce of their owne kīgdome, which is the power of darckns, ād the king dome of Antichrist, they are becomme cōiured ennemies to euerie citie, nation or man, that labour to comme to the knolledge of the trueth. That pestilent generation, I say, did not cease, till they obteined their purpose, by deliueringe your yonge quene to the handes of the French king, assuredly mindinge by that meanes to cutt for euer the knot of the frendship, that might hauehave ensued betwixte England and Scotland by that godlie coniunction. What the papistes feared is manifest. For then Christe Iesus being more purely preached in England, then at any tyme before, would shortly hauehave suppressed their pride and vaine glorie: and therefore they raged, that he should not reigne aboue them also. But what is like to apprehend you, for because ye did not betymes withstād their most wicked coūsils, wise men do cōsider. How heauie and vnpleasant shall the burthen and yock of a Frenchman be to your shoulders ād necks, God graunt that experience do not teach you. But to returne to my former purpose, by all those means rehersed, by his messēgers, by the blood of his saincts shed amōgest you, by fauours ād frendship, by warre and the sword, yea by famin, ād pestilēce, ād all other meās, hath God your mercifull father called you to labour in his vineyard, but to this day, alas, we heare not of your hūble obedience, but stil ye say with stubburn faces, we will not labour, we will not be boūde to such thraldome, to abide the burthens of the vineyard. Ye think perchāce I am to sharpe, and that I accuse you more then you deserue. For amōgest you many do know the will of your father, and many make profession of his Ghospel, but cōsider, Brethrē, that it is not enoug he to know the cōmaūdemēt, and to ꝓfesse the same in mouthe, but it is necessarie, that ye refuse your selues, your owne pleasures, appetites, and your owne wisdome, if ye shall be iudged faithfull labourers in the Lordes vineyard, ād that ye beare the burthens togiter with your brethren, and suffre heate, and sweate, before ye taste the frutes with them. God will not stand content, that ye loke ouer the hedge, and beholde the labours of your brethrē, but he requireth, that ye put your hādes also to your labours, that ye trauail continually to pluck vpp all vnprofitable wedes, albeit in so doing the thornes pricke you to the hard bones: that ye assist your brethrē in theyr labours, thoghe it be with the icopardie of your lifes, the losse of your substance, and displeasure of the hole earthe. Except that thus ye be minded to labour, the Lord of the vineyarde wil not acknolledge you for his faith full seruantes. And because this matter is of weight and greate importance, I will speake sōwhat more plainely for your instruction. It is bruted (to the greate comfort of all godlie, that heare it) that somme of you (deare Brethren of Scotland) do desire Christ Iesus to be faithfully preached amōgest you, which thing if frō the heart you desyre and with godlie wisdome and stowt courrage folow your purpose and enterprise, ye shall be blessed of the Lord for euer. But in the begynnyng ye must beware that ye folow not the exāple of your brethrē of Englād, in whose handes albeit the worke of the Lord appeared to prosper for a time, yet because the eye was not single, we see to our grief the ouer throw of the same. They began to plante Christ Iesus in the heartes of the people, ād to bānish that Romish Antichrist, they did driue owt the fylthie swyne frō theyr dennes and holes (I mean the monkes and other such papisticall vermin from their cloisters ād abbayes). This was a good be ginning, but alas in the one and the other there was great faulte. For the banishīg of that Romish Antichrist was rather by the feare of the lawes pronoūced against him by actes of parlamēt, thē by the liuelie preachīg of Christ Iesus, ād by the discouerīg of his abominatiōs. And the suppressiō of the abbaies did rather smell of auarice, thē of true religiō. Those venemous locustes, which before were holdē within their cloisters, were then set abrode to destroy all good ād grene herbes. For superstitious freers, ignorāt mōks, ād idle abots were made archbishoppes, bishoppes, persons, vicars, ād such as oght to fede the soules of men▪ who thus set at libertie did cōtinually wrootup the Lords vineyard. And one crafty Gardener, whose name was Stephen, hauīg wolflik cōditiōs, did maītaī many a wolfe, did sow wicked seed in the gardē, ād cherished many weedes to deface the vineyard. And his maid Marie, who after was his mastres, now maried to Philip, wātīg no wil to wickednes whē she was at the weakest norsto make to do euill, when she gatt the mastrie did cherishe many weedes. Those two I say hauehave so broken the hedges of the same vineyarde, (God so punishing the sinnes of those, that oght to hauehave made better prouision for the same) that the husbandmen are hanged vp, the diggars, dressours, and planters are banished, prisoned and burned. Such hauock is made, that al wilde beastes hauehave power to pollute the sanctuarie of the Lorde. O heauens beholde her crueltie, o earthe cry for vengeance, o seas, and deserte mountains witnesses of her wickednes, break furthe against this monster of England. But whether do I runne by the bitternes of my grefe? I must nedes leaue the o Scotland, after that I hauehave aduertised the of this, that thou folow not the example, as I hauehave said, of Englād: but in the bowels of Christ Iesus I exhorte the, that if thou pretēdest any reformatiō in religion, which is the chefe labour of the vineyarde, that thou do it at the first with a single eye, and all simplicitie, that from yeare to yeare thou be not compelled to change, as was England, but let thy reformation be full and plaine, according to goddes holie will and worde without addition. Let all the plātes, which thy heauenly father hath not planted, be rooted owt at once, let not auarice blind the, neither yet wordlie wisdome discourage thy hearte, let none beare the name of a teacher, that is knowen to be a fosterer of superstitiō, or any kynde of wickednes. And thou so doing shalt moue God of his greate merciemercy to send vntounto the faithfull worke men in abundāce, to blesse the worke, that thou pretēdest in the vineyarde, ād to preserue the to the glorie of his own name, and to thy euerlasting comforte. Thus must thou Scotland repent thy former inobedience, if that thou wilt be approued of the Lord. And now do I return to the (O Englād) I do liken the to the secōde sonne in the parable which answered his father with flattering wordes, saying,I go father, but yet he went not at all.For sence the time, that I had any remembrance, our heauēlie father of his great mercies hath not ceased to call the in to his vineyard, and to these late daies thou hast said alwayes, that thou woldest enter and be obedient. In the tyme of king Henrie the eght, when by Tyndale, Frith, Bylnay, and other his faithfull seruantes God called Englād to dresse his vineyard, many promised full faire, whome I could name. But what frute folowed? nothing but bitter grapes, yea breeres and brambles, the wormewood of auarice, the gall of crueltie, the poisō of filthie fornicatiō, flowing from head to foote, the contempt of God and open defense of the Cake Idol by opē proclamatiō to be red in the Churches in the stead of goddes scriptures. Thus was there no reformation, but a deformation in the tyme of that tyrant and lecherous mōster. The bore I grāte was busie wrooting ād digging in the earth, ād all his pigges, that folowed hym. But they soght only for the pleasāt frutes, that they winded with their longe snowtes. And for their own bellies sake they wrooted vp many weeds, but they turned the groūde so, mīgling good ād badd togither,Kinge Henry his boke against Luther is noted. swete and so wre, medecine, ād poyson, they made, Isay, such cōfusiō of religiō and lawes, that no good thing could grow, but by great miracle, vnderunder such Gardners. And no meruail, if it be rightly cōsidered: for this bore raged against God, against Deuill, against Christ and against Antichrist, as the fome that he cast owt against Luther, the racing furth of the name of the Pope, and yet alowīg his laws, ād his murther of many Christian souldiours, and of many papistes, do clearly ād euidētly testifie vntounto vsus. Especially the burnīg of Barnes, Ierome, ād Garrat three faithful preachers of the trueth, & hāgīg the same day for maintaināce of the Pope Powel, Abel, and Fetherstone, doth clearly paynt his beastlynes, that he cared for no maner of religiō. This mōstrous bore for al this must nedes be called the head of the Churche in paine of treason, displacing Christ our onlie head, who oght alone to hauehave this title. Wherefore in this pointe (o England) ye were no better then the Romishe Antichrist, who by the same title maketh hym selfe a God, sitteth in mēnes cōsciences, bānysheth the worde of God, as did your king Hērie, whome ye so magnifie. For in his best time nothing was hard, but the kings booke, ād the kings ꝓcedings, the kinges homelies in the Churches, where goddes word should onelyonly hauehave bene preached. So made you your kīg a God beleuing nothīg, but that the alowed. But how he died, I will not write for shame. I will not name how he turned to his vomet. I will not write your other wickednes of those times, your murthers without measure, adulteries and incestes of your kinge, his Lordes, aud cōmunes. It greueth me to write those euils of my coūtrie, saue onlie that I must nedes declare, what frutes were foūde in the vineyarde after you promised to worke therin, to moue you to repentance, and to iustifie Godds iudgements, how greuously so euer he shall plage you hereafter. Wherefore I desire you to call to remēbrance your best state vnderunder king Edward, when all men with generall cōs̄t promised to worke in the vineyarde, and ye shall hauehave cause I doubte not to lamēt your wickednes, that so contēned the voice of God for your owne lustes, for your crueltie, for your couetousnes, that the name of God was by your vanities euill spoken of in other nations. I will name no particulare thinges, becaus I reuerence those tymes, saue only the killing of both the kinges vncles, and the prisonnement of Hoper for popishe garments.
God graunt you all repentant heartes, for no order nor state did any part of his duetie in those dayes. But to speak of the best, whereof ye vse to boast, your religion was but an English matyns, patched furthe of the popes portesse, many thinges were in your great booke supersticious ād foolishe, all were driuen to a prescripte seruice lyke the papistes, that they should thinke theyr dueties discharged, if the nō bre were said of psalmes and chapters. Finally there could no discipline be broght into the Churche, nor correction of maners. I will touche no further abuses, yet willing and desiering you to consider thē in your heartes, that knowing your negligence ye may bring furth frutes of repentance. For this I admonishe you (o ye people of England) wheresoeuer you be scattered or placed, that onles ye do right spedely repent of your former negligence, it is not the Spanyardes only, that ye hauehave to feare, as roddes of goddes wrath, but all other nations, France, Turkie, and Denmarke, yea all creatures shall be armed against you for the contempt of those tymes, when your heauenlie father so mercifullie called you. To what contempt was goddes worde and the admonition of his prophetes comme in all estates, before God did stryke, somme men are not ignorant. The preachers them selues for the most part could fynd no fault in religion, but that the Churche was poore and lacked liuing. Trueth it is, that the abbay lā des and other such reuenues, as afore appertained to the papistical Churche, were most wickedly and vngodly spent, but yet many thinges would hauehave bene reformed, before that the kitching had bene better ꝓuided for to our prelates in England. It was moste euidēt, that many of you vnderunder the cloke of religion serued your own bellies: somme were so busie to heap benefice vponupon benefice, sōme to labour in parlamēt for purchesing of lands, that the tyme was small, which coulde be founde for the reformation of abuses, and very litle, which was spent vponupon the feeding of your flockes. I nede not now to examine particular crimes of preachers. Only I say, that the Ghospell was so lightly estemed, that the most part of men thoght rather, that God should bow and obey to theyr appetites, then that they should be subiect to his holie commaundementes. For the communes did continew in malice, and rebellion, in craft and subtiltie, notwithstanding all lawes, that could be deuised for reformation of abuses. The merchants had their own soules to sell for gaines, the gentlemen were becomme Nērods and Gyants, and the nobilitie and coūsile would suffer no rebukes of Gods messēgers thogh theyr offenses were neuer so manifest. Let those, that preached in the court, the lent before king Edward deceased, speak theyr conscience, and accuse me, if I lie, yea let a writing written by that miserable man, then duke of Northumberland to master Harlow for that time Byshoppe of Harford, be broght to lighte, and it shall testifie, that he ashamed not to say, that the libertie of the preachers tonges would cause the counsile and nobilitie to ryse vppe against them: for they could not suffer so to be intreated. These were the frutes euen in the tyme of haruest a litle before the winter came. And of the tyme of Marie what should I write? England is now so miserable, that no penne can paynt it. It ceaseth to be in the nomber of children, because it openly dispiteth God the father. It hath cast of the trueth knowen and confessed, and foloweth lies and errours, which once it detested. It buyldeth the buylding, which it once destroyed▪ it raiseth vp the idols, which once were there confounded: it murthereth the sainctes, it mainteineth Baals prophetes by the cō maundement of Iesabel. Such are the euil husbandes, that now haunte the vineyard, so that this is true, that our Sauiour Christ, saieth:
The Lord hym selfe hath planted a faire vineyard, he hedged it round about, and buylded a toure, &c. And when the tyme of the frute drew nere, he sent his seruants to the tilmen to receyue the frutes thereof, but they caught his seruantes, they bett one, they killed an other, and stoned others. Againe he sent other seruantes mo, and they serued them like wise.
What nede any exposition to applie this vntounto England? All is fulfilled, that is spoken in that parable, onles they do waite for the sonne hym selfe, for to comme, that they may handle hym lykewise, as they hauehave done his seruantes. But all is one, saieth our Sauiour Christ.
That, which ye do to one of these litle ons,Mat. 25. the same ye do to me, be it good or bad. Why doest thou persecute me, saieth Christ to Saul, when he was, as he now is, at the right hand of God his father in the heauens. Therefore they persecute, they banishe, they burne Christ the sonne of God in his membres. The iudgement therefore now remaineth, which the wicked then gaue against them selues,
That the Lord of the vineyarde will cruelly destroy those euill persons, and will let furth his vineyarde vntounto other husbandes.
And the confirmation of the same by the sentence of the chefe iudge, that
The kingdome of God shall be taken from such, and geuen to a people, that shall bringe furth the frutes thereof.
The which iudgement is begonne in Englande, and shortly alas will be fully executed and finished without right spedie repentance. Somme hope is in Scotland, which hath not shewed furth any such crueltie, and hath not contemned the knowen treasures: but lyke wanton children hauehave contemned the commaundement of theyr father, partely of frailtie, partely of ignorance. But Englād the seruante, that knew the will of his Lord and maister, which was once lightened with most clere beames, which hath tasted of the swetenes of the worde of God, and of the ioyes of the worlde to comme, which hath abiured Antichrist, and all idolatrie, which hath boasted to professe Christ with greate boldnes before all the worlde, must be beaten with many stripes, it can not be auoided.
But to be shorte this only remaineth for bothe these nations, that they repent and returne into the vineyarde with the fyrst sonne. For neither shall ignorance excuse any land or nation, as is playn in the fyrst to the Romanes, neither can any people be receyued without the frutes of repentance, as Iohn Baptist proclaimeth.
The frutes of repentance I call not only to know your synnes, and to lament them, but to amend your liues, and to make streght the Lordes pathes by resisting Satan and synne, and obeying God in doing the workes of righteousnes, and executing goddes praecepts, and iudgementes, so longe amongest you contemned.
For euen now is the axe put toMat. 3. the roote of the tree, so that euerie tree, that bringeth not furthe goode frute, shalbe hewē downe, and cast into the fier. The Lord hath now his fanne in his hande, and will purge his flore, ād gather the wheate into his garner, but will burne the chaffe with vnquē chable fier.
Repent therefore, whiles ye hauehave tyme, before ye be fanned, hewē downe and fiered. When I do behold both your two realmes, I see the fanne, I see the axe. But this I am suer is the begynnyng of your ruine, that ye do mary with strangers, and giuegive your power to forraine nations, such as feare not God, but are open idolaters, blasphemers, persecuters of the saincts of God, that careth neither for heauen nor hell, God nor deuill, so that they may wynne landes, townes and countries. God shall hew you downe by thē therefore, as he hath done other nations by like meanes and causes, and they shall fanne you furthe of your own huskes and homes, to make you vagaboundes and beggars, and after possesse your landes and goods, as God threatned by Moses, as was before alledged. Trust not to thy strengthe afterwarde, when thy ennemy is setled, if thou hauehave no strengthe to resist his begynnynges, no more thē thou canst ouercome a canker, that hath ouerrunne many membres. That God would not hauehave you to truste to your force of men, townes, or castels, there is enough exāples, that you bothe hauehave felt to your grefe. And I can not write without murnyng. For how litle auayled the multitude, and stowt courrage of you (dear Brethrē of Scotlād) att Musselburgh, or Pinkefield, the carcases alas of many thousands, who that day fell in the edge of the sworde, may teach you. And how vaine be all strengthes, (be they iudged neuer so stronge, or inexpugnable) lett Calice lately taken admonish you.
But I do leaue such exāples to your considerations to teache you to call to the liuinge Lord, who offereth hym selfe, as a mercifull father vntounto you, still calling you to repentance by wordes, by writinges, and most gentle corrections, if ye will not be harde harted.
Yet here hauehave we to lamēt the miserable state of mākynde, which is so seduced by the subtile serpēt, that he can not know his miserie, when he is admonished, nor perceaue his perdition, when it draweth so nere. When the seruantes of God set furthe his trueth, they are charged to trouble realmes, and countries, as was Elias: when they warne men not to ioyne handes with wicked kinges and princes, they are counted traitours, as was Esaias and Ieremias. Such is mannes malice. But if there be a God, that is fyrst of all to be soght, and without whome nothing can be profitable vntounto vsus, but without hym all thinges are vnhappie and accursed: if the kingdome of God and the righteousnes thereof must fyrst be soght, and then all thinges shall be ministred: if our heauenlie kinge must before man be obeyed, then all such doctrine, as calleth vsus from man to God, is easie to be perceaued, and oght not to be resisted. Wherefore I do admonish and exhorte you bothe in the name of the liuinge God, that how so euer you hauehave hitherto shewed your selues the seruants of men to beare and to flatter with the worlde, that now ye learne in goddes cause to despise the faces of men, to bend your selues against this wicked world, neither regarding the visars of honours, vaine titles nor dignities any further, then they seke God his onelie glorie. For his glorie will he not suffer to be contemned for any cause. No he will powre contempt on those princes, that striue against his trueth: but those, that glorifie hym, will he glorifie. And what king dome, realme or nation so euer it be, that will not seke to sanctifie his name, they shall in the day of goddes greuous visitation, which is now at hand, be vtterly cōfounded, theyr strēgth shalbe straw, theyr honours shall be shame, and all their idolatrous preestes, in whose lies they delyte, togither with their idols, with whome they are bewitched, shall be stubble and brymstone to burne togither, whē the wrathe of the Lorde of hostes shall set them on fier. The preestes shall not saue theyr goddes, nor the goddes their worshippers, but both alike accursed shall thē perish for euer. And thoghe our mercifull father hathe longe suffred heretofore in the tyme of ignorāce, yet now in the ende of the world he calleth all people so plainely by his worde to repentance, that he must nedes take spedie vengeance, if his callinge be contemned: especially because the day can not longe be delayed, wherein he hath determined to iudge all people and nations of the whole world, and to put an end to wickednes.
Wherefore to conclude, behold, your onlie remedie remaineth to repent your tyme of ignorāce, of stubburnnes, of crueltie, of idolatrie, wherein ye hauehave so long continued. And now with all diligence to seke for knolledge of the worde of God, and opēly to professe the Ghospell, which is the power of God, whereof ye oght not to be ashamed. Cease at the last from your olde stubburnnes, wherbie ye hauehave deserued vengeance, and labour in the vineyarde with all mekenes, that ye may receaue merciemercy and grace: cease from your crueltie against Christes membres, and learne to suffer for Christes sake, if ye will be true Christians: banishe all idolatrie and popishe superstition from amongest you, els can ye hauehave no parte in Christes kingdome, no more then Christ can be partaker with Antichrist. Pray to the Lorde of hostes and armies to giuegive you the courrage, strengthe, and meanes. The Lords arme is not shortened now, no more then of olde. Be stronge therefore in the Lord for the defence of the trueth, thogh all the worlde ryse agaīst itt. Now when the battaile is fierce against the liuinge God for dead idols, (euen for the vile wafercake, the most vaine idol, that euer was) against the Ghospel of Christe for the inuentions of Antichrist, against Christes mēbres for Popishe ceremonies, can any of you, that wilbe compted gods children, styll halt of bothe handes? If that cake baked in yron tonges, not able to abyde a blast of winde, be the aeternal God, folow it: but if he only be God, that hath created the heauens, abhorre suche vile idols, that hauehave no force to saue thē selues: if Christes Ghospel and doctrine be sufficient to saluation, and by receauing of it ye are called Christians, away with all Antichristes inuentions broght into your Romish churches: if you hope to hauehave any parte with Christ, cherishe his mēbres and maintaine thē against theire ennemies the papistes, ād the bishoppe of Rome the verie Antichriste. What strengthe, what force, what power, what coūsil so euer ye hauehave of God, bende all to this ende and purpose, as ye wyll make answere to your heauēly kīg for the talent receaued. If you hauehave no regarde of those prīcipal pointes, which only, or chiefly should be before your eyes, go to with your forraine mariages, ioyne Frāce to Scotlād, and Spayne to England, if it be possible, yet shall ye all be confounded. The Lord shall plage you one with an other, vntill you be consumed, your strēgth, wherein ye trust, shall be shakē to naught, your courrage shalbe cowardise, your wisdom shall be folie, ād the Lord of hostes by your ruine ād destructiō will be renowmed ād praised, ād his iust iudgemēts through owt the earth shalbe honoured ād feared. Where of the contrarie if you will maintaine Gods trueth in the earthe, he will receaue you as his children into the heauens, if you confesse his Christe before this wicked generation, Christ shall confesse you before his father in the heauens, in the presēce of his angels. But if you persiste stubburnly to banishe goddes worde, and his sonne Christ in his membres furth of your earthlie kyngdomes, how cā ye loke for any parte in his heauēlie king dome? muche more if ye continue to murther his messīgers, what cā ye loke for emōgst your selues, but that ye shoulde digge one ī anothers bellie to be your own murtherers? So that if ye wil stil remaine after all these admonitiōs in your murthers and idolatries, be suer, that in this worlde ye shall hauehave enoghe of your idolatries, and you shalbe filled with blooddy murthers aud in the end ye shall be iudged without the gates of the heuenlie Ierusalem amongest the dogges,Reuel. 21. enchaunters, hooremōgers and murtherers and idolaters with all those, that loueth lies. But he, that ouercommeth all these, shall inherit all thinges, and I will be his God, saieth the Lord, and he shall be my sonne. Where as the fearefull in gods cause, the vnbeleuing, the abominable, the murtherers, hooremongers, sorcerers and idolaters shall hauehave their parte in the lake, that burneth with fier and brymstone.
Lo here is the choise of life and deathe, of miserie and welthe offred vntounto you by gods mercies, and the meanes how yow may winne goddes fauour opened, wherebie onelyonly ye may preuaile against your ennemies. God graūte you heartes to answer as the people did to Iosua offering the lyke choyse.Iosu. 24. God forbyd (say they) that we shoulde forsake God, we will serue the Lorde our God and obey his voice, for he his our God.
And we your banished brethren by the power of God to prouoke you forward, will thus pronounce with Iosua.
That we and our families will serue the Lorde God, thoghe all natiōs runne to Idols, thoghe all people do persecute vsus. We knowe that Satan hathe but a shorte tyme to rage, and that Christe our captaine right spedely will crowne his souldiours, to whome, as he is the eternal God with his father, be all honour and glorie for euer and euer. So be it.