Truth Maintained 2, Discourse · Second commentary 8 – First commentary 9
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 Paragraſſe 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 makesa… perpetua… Eccleſia…um obſervation… ab ipſis iam Apostolis v…d mus, viſnm & h…c eſſe spiritus Sancto ut inter Presbite… quibus Eccleſiarum precuratis potiſſimum eſt comm…ſſ… unus Eccleſia… rum, & let us Sac… Minis… rii …aram … ſingularem eaque enra & ſolicttudina cauctis prec…at alus, qua de ca…ſa Ep…ſcopi nomen huiuſm…di 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.
V 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 inbM. 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 ruine in a Kingdome. The margin preſents the Reader with thecQ…am horrenaum illi faciunt divina Maiestati contumeliam qni Templa Domini habent pro De Ambulaer…is luciſque tam prophanis ut in illis quaevis impura & prophana cum ſimilibus ſuia garriant & per…ractent.—Haec certa tanta est divini numinis Contemptio ut ea vel ſola prid…m meriti ſumus o…n no de Terra exterminari & quidem ſuppliciis graviſſimus multari Bucerus de r…gno Christi lib. 1. cap. 10. latin which I here tranſlate, though the former part thereof 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 walk… in, and for places ſo prophane, that in them with their fellowes 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 be 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.
SERMON Paragraſſe 13. 14.
Such who are to be the true and proper Reformers, they muſt have a lawfull calling thereunto; duties which God hath impaled for ſome particular perſons, amongſt theſe Actions Reformation of a Church is chiefe. Now the ſupreame Power alone hath a lawfull calling to reforme a Church, as it plainely appeares by the Kings of Judah in their Kingdome.
EXAMINER.
I had not knowne your meaning by the lawfull calling you name, but that you expound it in the lines that follow, to be the calling of the ſupreame Magistrate; as if no calling were warrantable at firſt to X promove a Reformation but that. But you muſt take notice there is an inward and an outward Call. The inward Call is a Y ſpeciall excitation from the Spirit of God, and ſuch a Call is warrantable by God to be active; I am ſure it hath beene ſufficient alwayes to ſet holy men on worke: Another Call is outward, and that is either of Place and Magistracy, or publike Relation. Now though Magiſtracy be of publike Relation, yet when I ſpeake ſpecifically of publike Relation. I meane that in which every man ſtands bound in to God and his Country; now all theſe Callings are commiſſions enough either to meddle as Chriſtianly inſpired, or Chriſtianly ingaged. In ordinary tranſactions, I know the ordinary diſpenſation is to be reſorted to; but the buſineſſe of Reformation as it is extraordinary, ſo God giveth extraordinary Conjunctures of times and circumſtances, and extraordinary concurrences, and extraordinary incitations. In the building of the Temple you ſhall ſee in Ezra and Nehemiah ſuch workings of God,Nehem. 8. 1. when the people were gathered together as one man, they ſpake to Ezra the Scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moſes. Here the people put on even Ezra to his duty.