Touchstone to Determine the True Catholic Faith, Part 27
Text. Verse. 5.I will therefore put you in remembrance, for as much as yee once knewe this how that the Lord, after that hee had deliuered the people out of Egypt, destroied them afterward which beleeued not. The Angels also which kept not their first estate, but left their owne habitation: he hath reserued in euerlasting chaines, vnderunder darknesse vntounto the iudgment of the great day. As Sodome and Gomorrha, and the cities about thē, which in like maner, as they did, committed fornication and followed strange flesh, are set forth for an example and suffer the vengeance of eternall fire.] Here we maie see, how the Apostle still vrgeth vsus to kéepe the first faith, howe hee not onelyonly teacheth and commandeth it: but goeth about to prooue it, and as it were to enforce it, by manie examples, of the people of Israell, of Angelles, of cities: That all those that kept not their first estate or calling, which left their first house or dwelling, that afterward beléeued not, that committed fornication and went backe againe: God hath seuerely and for our examples apparantly punished. And here first, as it is apparant, that those abominable sins, which I must touch hereafter, of vncleannesse of the flesh, of fornication and worse, of couetousnesse, of pride, and blasphemous inuasions of the honour due to the immortall God, and his son Iesus Christ our most blessed sauiour; raigned in the time of the darkenesse of Poperie. So herein, as the false teachers and wicked seducers, (the Pope and his spiritualty) are iustly to be blamed. So I must néedes confesse, that ye Laitie who like simple shéepe, were through the craftinesse of their teachers misled, and kept from the booke of God, neither were so déepe in these sins, neither are to be thought, through the mercy of God, so déepe in their condemnation. Christ was not only in Iewry,Mat. 2.13. but also in Egypt: to declare, yt his saluation is ouer all the worlde, euen in that same spirituall Egypt. And therefore,Apoc. ca. 11.8. to go forward with these examples S. Iude giueth vsus here to marke, we maie see, (if wee bee not ouermuch blinded with partialitie) thrée chiefe sinnes of false catholiques, and of poperie touched and painted out. Their supremacie vnderunder the example of Lucifer, their vnbeliefe to that great promise of our saluation, by their pardons, dyrges, masses, and such like, added as necessarie thereunto, vnderunder the example of the Israelites: and lastlie, their wicked sinfull liues, vnderunder the example of the Sodomites: whose sinnes were reported to be common among them. Lucifer in the beginning, was created an angell of light; but he was not contented with his estate, hee would be aboue other angelles, he would be like to God himselfe; and therfore he was for his pride throwen downe to hell: So the Bishop of Rome was a chiefe pastor, was like Lucifer among the angelles of God, and ministers of his church: but he was not content with his estate, but he would be aboue them all, so that he would be like the sonne of God: he would be his vicar and vicegerent. Nay aboue him, in dispensing with the written word of God, which Iesus Christ neuer tooke vponupon him, who came to fulfill his fathers will, and not to breake it. And is not he plainlie another Lucifer? EueryEvery one that hath eies maie sée this: let him in the ende, looke for his great pride, for Lucifers fall. The Israelites were mightelie deliuered out of Egypt, frō the bondage of Pharaoh. They had a promise of the land of Canaan; but after this their deliuerance,Num. 13.31. in going to the land, they doubted of this promise, as we maie reade in the booke of Numbers; and so they all perished, and died in the wildernesse: Euen so God hath deliuered vsus from the bondage of that spirituall Pharaoh the diuell, by our baptisme, and hath promised vsus that celestiall Canaan, through faith in his sonne Iesus Christ: If nowe we shall not beleeue his promise; if we shal adde our owne deuises to it, our own reason; as though God were not able to make his worde good, as the Israelites did:Gen. 13.10. shall we not likewise perish? Sodome was like the garden of Eden, euen another paradise; but they followed strange flesh, and they were burnt, with fire and brimstone from heauen. And were not our Monasteries such like? In situation most pleasant, and in sinne (as was suspected) most abominable. So then let vsus knowe and marke that proude Lucifer of Rome, let vsus beléeue assuredlie the promises of God, what gyant soeuer of deuils or huge bulwarks, or walled townes, of sinne be against vsus. Let vsus marke wisely this Sodome. Let not the pleasantnesse thereof beguile vsus, nor the statelie buildinges thereof, nowe on the grounde, pittie our hearts: but let vsus acknowledge their sinnes, and detest those Sodomites, which were the cause of their desolation. Let all these examples warne vsus, and as it were arme vsus, least being taught so plainly by ye Apostle, and warned so plenteously, if we contemn all these, we perish worse then they. This is the summe of these verses. So that then we are to remember, to meditate vponupon, and as it were to raminate or chewe ouer againe these two pointes: That the first faith is the true catholique faith: and that there shal craftely créepe in a second faith: which is false and counterfeit, and which we must all fight and striue against. This is the whole sum of this Epistle. And these two pointes like nailes with manie strokes, the Apostle seemes to fasten in our hearts: and therfore let vsus marke well that we be not deceiued.