Truth Maintained, Commentary · Part 5
SERMON Paragraffe 12.
But with this Qualification, that by thorow Reformation, we meane ſuch a one whereof we are capable, pro ſtatu viatorum, made with all due and Chriſtian Moderation.
EXAMINER.
You write of the Reformation of a Church like K Bodin, not like Bucer, you make it a worke of Policy L not of Piety, of Reaſon, not Divinity. Such Counſellers had M Jeroboam and Jehu, and they made a Church as unhappy as a Kingdome miſerable. This Moderation and Qualification you ſpeak of, is not ſo conſiſtent with ſpirituall Eſſenſes and N operations: If the Spirit of God ſhould not work in the ſoules of O unregenerate, but expect an anſwerable Compliancy firſt, who ſhould be ſanctified? If God had expected any ſuch Congruity in our buſineſſe of ſalvation, we had been unredeemed. To ſpeak P cloſer, what Qualification did Queen Q Elizabeth expect when ſhee received a Kingdome warm from Popery? What Qualification did R Henry the eight expect in his Attempt againſt the Supremacy, when all his Kingdome was ſo univerſally conjured to Rome? Such Moderation and Qualification is no other but a diſcreet taking ſo much as will ſerve your turne. To the law (ſaith the Scripture) S and to the Testimony; Moſes wrought according to the Patterne, ſo Salomon too; godly Bucer makes it his worke to perſwade King Edward to build up a Bucer in lib. de Regno Christi.perfect Church, and he V propheſies ſadly, that he was afraid Popery would ſucceed, becauſe the Kingdome of England was ſo averſe to the Kingdome of Chriſt. And we know the Marian dayes followed, me-thinkes we are too like his propropheſie, and our W Marian times approach too faſt.
TREATIS.
K You write of a Reformation of a Church like Bodin.) Would I wrote like Bodin, though on the condition that I never wrote Anſwer to your Examinations. Would we had ſome Bodins, ſome ſuch able Stateſ-men, that they might improve their parts to advance an happy Accommodation betwixt our Sovereigne and his Subjects.
L You make it a worke of Policy not of Piety.) I make it as indeed it is, a work both of Moſes and Aaron wherein Piety is to be prefer'd and Policy is not to be excluded.
M. Such Counſellours had Jeroboam and Jehu.) Sir, ſhoot your Arrowes at me till your Quiver be empty, but glance not with the leaſt ſlenting inſinuation at His Majeſty, by conſequence to compare him to Jeroboam or Jehu for their Idolatry; He knoweth how to beſtow his Gold farre better, and to leave the Calves for others.
N This Moderation and Qualification you speake of, is not ſo conſistent with ſpirituall Eſſenſes and Operations.) This your line is not ſo conſiſtent with ſenſe, as to need much leſſe deſerve a Confutation.
O If the Spirit of God ſhould not have wrought in the ſouls of Unregenerate.) I wonder that allotting (as you ſay) but one afternoon for the whole work of your Examination you could ſpend ſo much time (ſome minutes at leaſt) in ſuch impertinencies.
P To ſpeake cloſer.) And truly no more then needs for as yet you are farre enough from the matter: But I will not confute what you confeſſe.
Q What Qualification did Queen Elizabeth expect.) She needed not to expect any, when ſhe had all Requiſites to reforme. Thoſe who have ſuch Qualification are not to expect, but to fall a working; thoſe that want it are not to fall a working but ſtill to expect. Queen Elizabeth as ſupream in her Dominions had a ſufficient calling to reforme, nothing was wanting in her: OnelyOnly her Memory doth ſtill deſervedly expect a more thankfull acknowledgement of her worthy paines then generally ſhe hath received hitherto.
R What Qualification did Henry the eight expect in his attempt againſt ſupremacy?) He likewiſe had Qualification ſufficient (and therefore needed not to expect any) as your following words doe witneſſe, wherein you ſay that All his Kingdome was univerſally conjured to Rome. If it was his Kingdome, then he had a calling; if it was conjured to Rome, then he had a cauſe to reforme: and being the King was bound to be the Exorciſt to un-conjure his Subjects from ſuch ſuperſtition: Yea, had King Henry reformed as ſincerely as he had a lawfull Calling thereunto, his memory had not been conſtantly kept in ſuch a purgatory of mens tongues for his lukewarme Temper, even the moſt moderate counting him too good for to be condemned, and too bad to be commended.
S To the Law (ſaith the Scripture) and to the teſtimony.) I will treaſure up this excellent paſſage till a convenient time, being confident that before the next Paragraffe is examined, I ſhall appeale to theſe Judges, and you decline them.
T Godly Bucer makes it his worke to perſwade King Edward to build up a perfect Church.) The book of godly Bucer which you cite I have ſeene on the ſelfe ſame token; that therein he makes aEx perpetuâ Eccleſiarum obſervatione ab ipſis iam Apostiolis v…d mus, viſnm & hoc eſſe spiritui Sancto ut inter Presbiteros quibus Eccleſiarum procuratio potiſſimum eſt comm…ſſa … nus Eccleſiarum, & totius Sacri Ministerii curam g…ral ſingularem caque cnra & ſolicitudina cunctis preerat aliis, qua de canſa Ep ſcopi nomen huiuſmodi ſummis Eccleſiarum Curatoribus eſt peculiaritur attributum- Bucerus de regno Christi lib. 2. cap. 12.Biſhops to be above Presbyters Jure divino. You know Bucer wrote this worke (as leading the front of his Opera Anglicana) in the very beginning of King Edwards reigne, before the Reformation was generally received in England, and whilſt as yet Popery was practiſed in many places. And next to this his book followeth his gratulation to the Engliſh Church, for their entertaining of the Purity of the Goſpell; ſo that what he doth perſwade in the book you alleadge, was in ſome good meaſure performed in that Ks. reign, and afterwards better compleated by Queen Elizabeth.
And he propheſieth ſadly that he was afraid Popery would ſucceed.) Herein he took ſhrewd aime and it happened he hit right. Such predictions are onelyonly obſerved when afterwards they chance to take effect: otherwiſe, if miſſing the marke, men miſſe to marke them and no notice at all is taken of them: I know a latter Divine (not the loweſt in learning one of the higheſt in bM. Greenham in his grave Counſels in the word Atheiſme, pag. 3.zeale amongſt them) who foretelleth that Atheiſme rather then Popery is likely to overrunne England. Such Preſages may ſerve to admoniſh not to afright us, as not proceeding from a propheticall ſpirit, but reſulting from prudentiall obſervations. But before we take our farewell of this book of Bucers, it will not be amiſſe to remember another paſſage (not to ſay preſage) in the ſame worthy worke; that we may ſee what ſinnes in his opinion were forerunners of mine in a Kingdome. The margin preſents the Reader with the cQuam horrendum illi faciunt divina Maiestati contumeliam qui Templa Domini habent pro De Ambulacris lociſque tam prophanis ut in illis quaevis impura & prophana cum ſimilibus ſuis garriant & pertractent.—Haec certa tanta est divini numinis Contemptio ut ea vel ſola pridem meriti ſumus omnino de Terra exterminari & quidem ſuppliciis graviſſimus multari Bucerus de regno Christi lib. 1. cap. 10.latin which I here tranſlate, though the former part there of be engliſhed already in mens practiſe, and the latter I feare will be engliſhed in Gods judgements.
How horrible an affront doe they doe to the Divine Majeſty who uſe the Temples of the Lord for Galleries to walke in, and for places ſo prophane, that in them with their ſellowes that prattle and treat of any uncleane and prophane buſineſſe. This ſure is ſo great, a contempt of God, that long ſince even for this alone we have deſerved altogether to be baniſhed from the face of the earth, and to be puniſhed with heavieſt judgements.
Such I am afraid will fall on our nation for their abominable abuſing of Churches (beſides other of their ſinnes) and prophaning the places of Gods worſhip. Not to ſpeake of thoſe (and yet what man can hold his tongue when the mouthes of graves are forced open) who in a place to vvhichwhich their guilty conſcience can point vvithout my pens direction, did by breaking up the Sepulchers of our Saxon Chriſtian Kings, erect an everlaſting Monument to their ovvn ſacriledge. Such practiſes muſt needs provoke Gods anger, and now me-thinks I write of the Reformation of a Church like Bucer and not like Bodin.
W Me-thinks we are too like his propheſie, and our Marian times approach too faſt.) I hope otherwiſe; truſting on a good God and a gracious King. But if thoſe times doe come, woe be to ſuch as have been the cauſe or occaſion to bring or haſten them. One day it will he determined whether the peeviſh, perverſe and undiſcreet ſpirit of Sectaries, bringing a generall diſ-repute on the Proteſtant, hath not concurred to the inviting in of ſuperſtition and Popery, may come riding in on the back of Anabaptiſme. If thoſe times doe come, I hope that God who in juſtice layeth on the burthen, will in mercy ſtrengthen our ſhoulders, and what our prayers cannot prevent, our patience muſt undergoe. Nor is it impoſſible with God ſo to enable thoſe whom you tax to have onelyonly a forme of Godlineſſe, to have ſuch Power thereof as to ſeale the Proteſtant Religion with their blood.