Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Appendix · Sermon 3
❧Geue glory to God.
GOd be mercifull to thee O England, & send thee great number of such faythfull Fathers and godly Pastors, as Doctor Taylour was, to guide thee, feede thee, and cō fort thee, after thy great miseries and troubles, that thou hast suffered vnderunder the tyrannous captiuitye and rage of the Romaine Antichrist, and such rauening Wolues, as hauehave without all mercy murdered thy godly and learned preachers, and geue all men grace to consider, that suche horrible plagues and mutations, hauehave iustly fallen vponupon this Realme for sinne, and with vnfayned hartes to turne to GOD, who as he hath scourged vsus with lesse plagues then we deserued: so calleth vsus agayne by his vndeserued and vnspeakeable mercy vntounto repentaunce and amendement of our liuing. It is doubtles now high time to turn vnfaynedly to God, and to correct our sinnefull liuinges, and to remember what S. Iohn Baptist sayd.Math. 3. The Axe is now set to the root of the tree, and eueryevery tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewne downe and caste into the fire. For this may all men assure themselues of, both rich and poore, high and low, olde and yong, that the almighty, zelous, and righteous God, will not suffer the sinnefull and wicked life of the vngodly, vnrepētant, that contemne his mercy nowe profered vntounto them, to be vnpunished, but as he hath from the beginning of the world shewed himselfe a righteous Iudge, and punisher of wickednes, euen so will he do stil now. God expulsed our first parentes, Adam and Heua from Paradise, and layd vponupon them and vponupon vsus all these miseries,Gen. 3. sickenesses, calamities and death, that we dayly feele, and miserably are oppressed withal. God in Noahs dayes drowned the whole world,Gen. 8.9. onelyonly eight persons were preserued. God burnt vp Sodom and Gomor, with fyre and brimstone frō heauen, and destroyed those Cityes and all the Countrey about.Gen. 1…. Luke. 19. God gaue ouer Hierusalem called the holy Citty of God, and deliuered his owne people the Iewes into perpetuall captiuitye. If we seeke the cause of these punishmentes, was it not sinnefull liuing & vnrepentant harts? What should I recite the calamities of other lands, seyng Gods iudgementes hath not bene vnexecuted vponupon this Realme of England for sinnefull liuing?Reade Beda and our Englishe Chronicles. The olde Brytaynes were with Cadwallader theyr king, constrayned to flye, and leaue this land, because of pestilence & famyne, what miseries & destructions brought the Danes in with them? and what troubles susteyned the inhabitauntes of this Realme afore the same were agayne driuē out? What bloudshed was here in king William Conquerors daies? were not the noble men slayne, and gentlemen brought into bondage? were not their matrons defiled, and theyr daughters geuen to be kitchen drudges vnderunder the Normandes proud Ladyes? were not theyr landes, houses & possessions diuided by lote vntounto straungers? Their golde and siluer wherein they trusted, was the bayte that theyr enemyes hunted after, what a plague was the ciuill war betwene the kinges and Barons? what horrible bloudshed was in this Realme, till at the last Gods mercifull prouidence ended those miseries by the happy ioyning of the 2. regall houses together in the mariage of king Henry 7. What miseries hauehave chaunced in our time, we hauehave not onelyonly sene and heard, but we hauehave felt them, and God be praised, had our partes of them. Doubtles this all hath chaunced for the sinnes of the people,Sinne is the cause of plagues. Ierem. 6. as the Prophet Ieremy playnely teacheth, saying: who is a wise man that vnderstandeth this? And to whome shall the word of the Lords mouth come, that he may preach it forth? why hath the land perished, and is burnt like a wildernesse, so that no man may passe through it? And the Lord sayth: because they hauehave forsaken my law, which I hauehave geuen them, & they hauehave not hearde my voyce, and hauehave not walked in them, and hauehave gone after the vanity of theyr owne harts. And after Baalim the Images of Baall, which they hauehave learned of theyr fathers, we see here playnely the contēpt of Gods word, and of the preachers of the same, walking after theyr couetous mindes and leudnesse of theyr hartes, and folowing of their idolatrous inuentions, brought the wrath of God vponupon the people,Eccle. 10. as witnessed also Iesus Syrach, saying: because of vnrighteous dealing, wrong, blasphemies, and diuers deceites, a Realme shalbe translated frō one people to an other. And a litle after he sayth: the Lorde hath brought the congregations of the wicked to dishonour, and destroyd them vntounto the ende. God hath destroyd the seates of proud Princes, and set vp the meek in their stead. God hath withered the root of the proud nations, and planted the lowly amōg them. God hath ouerthrowne the Landes of the Heathen, and destroyed them vntounto the ground. He hath caused them to wither awaye: He hath brought them to nought, and made the memoriall of them to cease from the earth. But what auaileth it to read such threates of God, if we beleue them not? Or, if we beleue them to be Gods threates, and despise thē? Doubtlesse the Lorde is righteous, a ielous God, a Punisher of of sinne, as he sayth himselfe. I punish the sinnes of the fathers vponupon theyr childrē, vntounto the third and fourth generatiō, of them that hate me.Exod. 20. God geue vsus grace to remember this, and with speedye and vnfayned repentaunce to turne vntounto God. I say (vnfayned repentaunce) and not (alas) as we hauehave done in times past like hypocrites to dissemble with God and man, making Gods holy worde nothing els but a cloke to couer our malice, couetousnesse, whoredome, pride, excesse, glotony, wrath, enuy, hatred, murder, with all other wicked liuing most detestable in the sight of God. If men will well consider themselues, they hauehave long enough dissembled and heaped the wrath of God heauy enough vponupon theyr heades. It is now high time to become a new people, to amend in deed,High tyme to turne to God. Ieremie. 3. and to folow the counsell of the holy Ghost, saying vntounto vsus by the Prophet Hieremy. Why do mortal men murmur agaynst God? let them murmur agaynst theyr own sinnes. Let vsus search our owne wayes, and let vsus seek and returne vntounto the Lorde. Let vsus lift vp our hartes and handes vntounto the Lord in heauen, for we hauehave done wickedly and prouoked the Lord to wrath, and therefore wilt thou not be entreated. Doubtles the Lord will not be entreated, except men very earnestly turne vntounto him, we hauehave felt in our selues, and seene before our eyes, that when GOD striketh, no man can be able to abide the heauy stroke of his fist. Hee hath hitherto corrected vsus with mercy, as a father: let vsus thanke him, returne vnfaynedly, so will he not extend his wrath as a Iudge. His will is, that we should returne & liue, & not perish with the wicked.Ezech. 33. I liue (sayth the Lord) and will not the death of a sinner, but that he be conuerted and liue. Here the godly othe certifieth vsus of forgeuenes, & requireth an vnfayned conuersion vntounto God, that ts, that men acknowledge in hart theyr wicked liuing & be sory, that euer they hauehave with wicked lyuyng offended agaynst that so good and louing a father, and truste to hauehave forgeuenes through Christes bloud, and fully and firmely set theyr hartes to serue GOD, and to walke the wayes of his commaundementes all the dayes of theyr life. Then shall we be the true Christians, built vponupon the corner stone Christ, not wauering or chaunging at eueryevery puffe of winde, not seeking an Epicurish life in all voluptuous and vaine vanitie, not rauening extortioning, or with vsury oppressing the poore and nedy, but stedfast, vnmoueable, liuing in the feare of Gods iudgementes, and trust vponupon his mercy, mortifying our brutish and carnall lustes, being mercifull and helpeful to the poore and nedy, wayting for the blessed time when Christ shall call vsus, to be ready & accepted before him. Our merciful Lord & good Father graunt vsus grace so to doe, for the louelove of his deare sonne Iesus Christ, our certayne and most deare Sauior, to whom with the father & the holy ghost, be all honor for euer and euer. Amen.
Psalme. Cxv.
Precious in the sighte of the Lord is the death of his sayntes.
Apocalips. vi.
These are they which are come out of great troubles, and hauehave washed theyr clothes, and made them white in the bloude of the lambe.