follow me, let him forsake himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." For he that looketh daily for the cross, and counteth that day won when it cometh not, is not dismayed nor out of comfort when it come, because it cometh not unlooked for. For less hurteth that which is aforeseen, than that which oppresseth a man suddenly and without his expectation. Rom. xiv. The patient and thankful bearing of the cross, when it cometh, declareth evidently who is a true member of the church of Christ, and who is a rotten member and an hypocrite. The true Christian gladly and willingly suffereth the cross, whensoever God sendeth it. He murmureth not, nor yet grudgeth against God, but knoweth that "all things chance for the best unto him that loveth God;" so that whether he liveth Rom. viii. or dieth he is the Lord's. And therefore he starteth not back, neither fleeth he from his Lord, but standeth by his Captain stoutly, and fighteth valiantly against the enemies, under the standard of his Emperor, come life, come death. As tofore in the time of prosperity he swelled not, neither waxed proud; so likewise now in adversity he casteth not away his courage, but sheweth himself always one, knowing that, if death come, it is unto him avantage, forasmuch as he is assured of a better life to come. Phil. i. But the hypocrite and false Christian in the time of prosperity seemeth to rejoice in the truth of Christ's gospel, and greatly to favour the doctrine of the same: notwithstanding, when adversity cometh, when the cross approacheth, when trouble brasteth in, then fleeth he back, then forsaketh he his Lord and Master, then runneth he out of the field like a coward; yea, then doth he not only deny his Master, but also blasphemeth the truth and doctrine of his Master, as schismatical, seditious, heretical, slanderous, blasphemous, &c., openly protesting that in his heart he never favoured that kind of religion, although he obeyed the time, and outwardly followed public orders. Such hypocrites are like to the ungodly Jews, which, when they saw Christ to be in estimation with the people, and few or none against him, cleaved unto Christ, honoured and magnified Christ, became Christ's disciples, followed Christ, set forth Christ's praises to the uttermost, with Osanna Filio David: "Good luck be to the Matt. xxi. Son of David: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" and many good Luke xix. morrows. But when bishop Annas frowned upon Christ, my lord Pilate scowled upon Christ, king Herod grinned and gnashed his teeth at Christ, the bishops, the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the lawyers, the rulers of the people, &c., wagged their heads at Christ, and the whole world began to despise and forsake Christ; then turned they their backs, went away from Christ, joined amity with Christ's adversaries, crying out with a loud voice: Crucifigatur, crucifigatur: "To Matt. xxvii. the gallows with him, to the gallows with him." Si hunc dimittis, non es amicus Cæsaris: "If thou let him go, thou art not the emperor's friend." "If he were not a naughty pack, we would never have delivered him unto thee." All this do the hypocrites for to avoid the cross, that they may live after the flesh, all in pleasure, all in joy, and be "hail-fellow, well met," with the wealthy worldlings. Mark xi. John xix. But it is far otherwise with the true Christians, which rejoice in trouble, and are Matt. v. glad when they suffer any rebuke for the name of the Lord Jesu, knowing that "by Acts v. many tribulations they must enter into the kingdom of God;" comforting themselves Acts xiv. also with this, that if they suffer with Christ, they shall reign with Christ; if they 2 Tim. ii. die with Christ, they shall live with Christ; if they confess Christ, Christ will con- Matt. x. fess them before his heavenly Father; but, contrariwise, if they be ashamed of Christ Mark viii. and of Christ's gospel before this sinful and whorish generation, Christ will also be ashamed of them when he shall come in the glory of his Father, accompanied with heavenly angels and blessed spirits. Therefore do they prepare themselves at all times unto the cross, not weighing the afflictions of this life, which are short and of no Rom. viii. continuance; but having an eye unto the joys of the life to come, which joys are continual and everlasting. in England word. This cross, whereof we have hitherto spoken, was laid upon the true Christians of Persecution this our realm not many years past, insomuch that divers of our countrymen were for God's most grievously persecuted, most cruelly apprehended, imprisoned, stocked, chained, manacled, brought forth, accused, condemned, burnt unto ashes; divers were secretly famished and murdered in prison; divers spoiled of all their goods; divers exiled and banished into strange countries: in whose number your honour was, which for the confession of God's truth suffered not only banishment, but also loss of all your goods and Psal. Ixxxiv. promotions, wishing "rather to be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the gorgeous and glorious palaces of the ungodly," and to bear the cross with Christ, than in glory and riches to reign for a season with antichrist; by this means declaring to the world that your faith was pure, your conscience clear, your doctrine uncorrupt, and all your travails in the gospel of Christ true, godly, and commendable. I, at that time being partaker of that exile and banishment, after long and that most miserable imprisonment (as I may let pass my other afflictions wherewith I was daily accumbered, besides the deceitful assaults of Satan and of his ministers, wherewith I was without ceasing troubled and disquieted, not only outwardly, but also inwardly), oftentimes called unto remembrance the most wretched and pitiful state of England, sometime flowing with the knowledge of God's word as the sea with waters, but then wrapped full of blind ignorance and ignorant blindness. I considered with myself what I might do to help the miseries of my poor countrymen, specially such as were afflicted for the gospel's sake. Not knowing how otherwise to gratify them, I wrote an epistle and sent it to certain godly brethren, declaring in it the causes of all the miseries and calamities that were fallen upon England; again, how they might be redressed; and, finally, what a merciful Lord our God is to all faithful penitent sinners that unfeignedly turn unto him. This epistle was not read of the brethren without fruit. I added to this epistle an humble supplication unto God for the restoring of his holy word to the church of England; wherein the devout Christian complaineth his grief and sorrow to the Lord for taking away the light of Christ's gospel, and, most humbly knowledging his fault and worthy punishment, most heartily wisheth the subversion of antichrist's kingdom, and the restitution of Christ's most glorious kingdom to this realm of England. These two treatises I thought good to publish with my other works, and, in publishing them, to dedicate them to your lordship, partly that they may be a testimony of my thankful heart to your honour for the benefits heretofore bestowed upon me in the time of my misery and poverty; partly that the godly readers may have the more affection to read them, when they shall see them offered to your lordship's name, which with all the true Christians of this our realm is had in great reverence and singular estimation, both for the purity of your doctrine, and for the godliness of your conversa tion; most humbly beseeching your honour, according to your accustomed goodness, to take in good part whatsoever this little gift is, as the present of him which wish eth to your lordship all good and prosper ous things. Christ, that high and everlasting Bishop, preserve your good lord- nour, unto the glory of God, and unto the profit of his holy and christian congregation. Amen. From Cantorbury, October 6, in the year of our Lord 1563. THE EPISTLE. The First Chapter. To the faithful Christians, wheresoever they be dispersed throughout the realm of England, Thomas Beacon wisheth grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, with perfect knowledge of his dearly-beloved Son Jesu Christ our Lord and alone Saviour, through the hallowing of the Holy Ghost, unto the true and unfeigned obedience of God's most blessed will, with an earnest faith in the merciful promises of God, and assured hope of obtaining the same unto everlasting life. Amen. God's truth It greatly rejoiceth me, most dear brethren, to hear of this your constancy and Constancy in stedfastness in believing and confessing the glorious gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ, commended. which, as the apostle saith, "is the power of God to save so many as believe;" Rom. i. namely in these perilous and troublesome days, wherein we see so many start back and run away from the confession of God's truth (which, when the weather was calm, they seemed constantly to profess), and follow the fond fantasies of men that speak not God's word, but their own drowsy dreams and idle imaginations, brought into the church of Christ by subtile Satan and his marked merchants, unto the great disturbance of the christian commonwealth, so that, if it were possible, the Matt. xxiv. very elect and chosen people of God, through their juggling, might be seduced and led from the way of truth. As ye have godly begun, so manfully go forth unto the end, that ye may receive a full joy and a perfect reward of the Lord your God "in that day, when he gloriously shall appear and render to every one according to Rom. ii. his deeds, that is to say, praise, honour, and immortality to them which continue in good doing and seek eternal life; but unto them that are rebellious, and disobey the truth, and follow iniquity, shall come indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish." true religion in England. But be it known unto you, dear brethren, that this thing that hath happened unto us in this realm of England (I mean the taking away of God's true religion, and the thrusting in of papistry in the stead thereof, unto the great and unspeakable Signs tofore sorrow of all true christian hearts) ought not to seem unto you new, strange, and destruction of declaring the unlooked for; but rather such a thing as hath hitherto many times been declared to be at hand unto you by the preachers, and ye yourselves, godly considering the corrupt manners and unlucky chances of this realm, did right well the same aforesee and greatly lament. For divers signs had we long before, besides the godly admonitions of the faithful preachers, which plainly declared unto us an utter subversion of the true christian religion to be at hand, except it were prevented by hasty and hearty repentance. What shall I speak of that godly and mighty prince Edward, duke of Somerset, The duke of which in the time of his protectorship did so banish idolatry out of this our realm, and bring in again God's true religion, that it was wonder so weighty a matter to be brought to pass in so short a time? Was not the ungentle handling of him, and the unrighteous thrusting him out of office, and afterward the cruel murdering of him, a man, yea, a mirror of true innocency and christian patience, an evident token of God's anger against us? The sudden taking away of those most goodly and virtuous young imps, the duke of Suffolk and his brother', by the sweating sickness, was The duke of it not also a manifest token of God's heavy displeasure toward us? The death of his brother. those two most worthy and godly-learned men, I speak of M. Paulus Fagius, and M. Paulus of D. Martin Bucer', was it not a sure prognostication some great mishap concerning D. Martin christian religion to be at hand? But, as I may pass over many other, and at the [1 See Strype, Eccles. Memor. Vol. II. Book 1. chap. xxix. 11. iv. and Burnet, Hist. Ref. Part II. Book 1.] Somerset. Suffolk and Fagius. the sixth. last come unto that which is most lamentable, and can never be remembered of any true English heart without large tears, I mean the death of our most godly prince King Edward and christian king, Edward the VI., that true Josias, that earnest destroyer of false religion, that fervent setter up of God's true honour, that most bounteous patron of the godly-learned, that most worthy maintainer of good letters and virtue, and that perfect and lively mirror of true nobility and sincere godliness; was not the taking away of him (alas for sorrow!) a sure sign and an evident token that some great evil hanged over this realm of England? Gross gospellers. Psal. cix. Who, considering these things (as I may speak nothing of the wickedness of those men which made the word of God a cloak of their naughtiness, of their insatiable covetousness, of their intolerable pride, of their voluptuous and wanton living, &c.), perceived not a shipwreck of the christian religion to be at hand, as it is (alas for pity!) come to pass at this day? All good men feared the decay of God's true honour in this realm: that we feared, that hath chanced; how could it otherwise come to pass? God's blessing was offered unto us; but we through our wicked and unthankful life refused it. Shall not therefore blessing be taken away, and cursing come in the place thereof? as it is written: "He would not have the blessing; it shall therefore be far from him." England blessed sometime. James iv. Matt. xxi. Isai. v. Examples of Gen. vii. 2 Pet. ii. The people of the old world. Gen. xix. 2 Pet. ii. The Sodomites. Exod. xvii. The Israelites. The Jews. The Second Chapter. Ir the kingdom of God be proffered unto us, and we set not by it, are we not worthy to lose it? What realm since the apostles' time was ever so abundantly replenished with the knowledge of Christ's gospel, yea, and that in so few years, as this realm of England was? But, alas! how was it regarded? Who repented? Who knowledged his sin from the very heart? Who called on the name of God in spirit and truth? Who framed his life according to his knowledge? It is therefore come to pass, as our Saviour Christ long before threatened: "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation that bringeth forth the fruits thereof." God planted in this realm of England a pleasant and goodly vineyard, dressing and trimming it after the best manner, looking continually to have some worthy fruit thereof; but when in the stead of natural grapes it brought forth wild berries, unwholesome and unnatural, was it not worthy to be laid waste, to be trodden under foot, and to be devoured of wild beasts? Were not the people of the old world worthy to be overwhelmed with waters, which, being of righteous Noe so oft afore admonished, would not repent and make provision for the avoiding of that plague? Were not the filthy Sodomites worthy to be consumed with fire and brimstone from heaven, which, being afore told of their destruction, would not cease through their abominable living to provoke the heavy wrath and fierce vengeance of God against them? Were not the Israelites worthy to be plagued even unto the death, when they, despising, loathing, and abhorring manna, which came down from heaven, lusted after the vile flesh of the earth? Were not 2 Kings xxv. the Jews worthy to be led away miserable captives and wretched prisoners, to serve strange princes in foreign countries, which would not serve their Lord God in their own country, "a land that floweth with milk and honey?" Was it not convenient that the people of Juda should be oppressed, yea, destroyed, both they and their cities, of their enemies the Romans, which refused Jesus Christ, their true liege and soveMatt. xxiii. reign Lord, to reign over them, and most cruelly put him to death? Were they not worthy to be seduced of a sort of false rabbins, as they are at this day, which would never give ear to the true prophets of God, but miserably killed them? Was it not also meet that they like vagabonds should wander throughout the world, without priesthood, kingdom, or commonweal, that would never truly serve him which before all other nations did choose them to be his peculiar people, giving them a land that floweth with the abundance of all things? Matt. xxi. Mark xii. Luke xx. Acts vii. Plagues following the God's word. Are they not worthy to walk in darkness, which willingly despise the light? to contempt of taste sour things, which abhor the sweet? to wander out of the way, which refuse the plain path? Even so is it come to pass likewise with us at this day. We abhorred the light of God's word; therefore are we now justly overwhelmed with the darkness of men's trifling traditions and devilish decrees. We lightly esteemed the godly prayers and thanksgivings in our English tongue, whereby we might have been greatly edified; therefore are we now fed with Latin service, which we know not whether Latin service. it be blessing or cursing. Certain are we that it is altogether without edifying, and clean contrary to the commandment of God, and the doctrine of the holy apostle, which would nothing in the congregation, but in such a tongue as all the people understand, 1 Cor. xiv. that all may be edified. We set nought by the ministration of the holy and blessed communion of the body and blood of Christ: therefore this plague is worthily come upon us, that in the stead of the Lord's supper we have most wicked and abominable masses set up, invented by the devil, brought in by antichrist, practised by his shorn Masses. shavelings, maintained by such as have received the beast's mark, full of superstition, idolatry, blasphemy, spiritual whoredom, and of all that displeaseth God, and is horrible in the judgment and sight of all good men. We regarded not the godly-learned and fatherly bishops, nor the faithful and virtuous ministers of God's word, which fed us with the pure wheat of Christ's gospel, and taught us the holy ordinances of God, repentance, faith, love, invocation of the name of God, mortification of the old man, brotherly charity, patience, long-suffering, obedience, joy in the Holy Ghost, the true and christian good works, and such other fruits of the Spirit, whereby we might learn to serve the Lord our God "in holiness and righteousness all the days Luke i. of our life" therefore, all those men of God being put to silence, some out of office, some in exile, some in prison, abiding the good pleasure of God, and "even as sheep Psal. xliv. appointed to be slain," we are compelled daily to hear such antichristian trumpetblowers, such cankered cormorants, such Caim-like caterpillars, such idle idols, such loitering lordennes', such lecherous lubbers, and such devilish destroyers of christian men's souls, as the ears of a good Christian abhor for to hear, the eyes to behold, the feet to go unto. Rom. viii. O misery passing all miseries! That flock, which the high Bishop Christ purchased Acts xx. with his most precious blood, to be scattered, rent, torn, and devoured of those cruel lions and ravening wolves, who lamenteth not? those people, whom God hath chosen. for his inheritance, to be seduced and led out of the way by such ministers of Satan, as clothe themselves outwardly with sheep's apparel, and inwardly are ravening wolves, Matt. vii. full of hypocrisy, ravine, deceit, and of all filthiness, whose heart distilleth not drops of blood to consider? O too much lamentable case! Matt. xxiii. The Third Chapter. of the pa draff, meeter than for FOR what other thing do the lying and bloody papists teach at this day, than The doctrine the very lies, dreams, and fantasies of antichrist the bishop of Rome and his adhe- pists. rents? as setting up of altars, tabernacles, images, and rood-lofts, hanging up of the pix, setting up of candles before idols and mawmets, hallowing of bread, salt, water, palms, fire, ashes, oil, chrism, rings, candles, &c., lady's psalters, St Katherine's knots, intercessions and merits of saints, purgatory, praying for the dead, trentals, diriges, com- Dregs and mendations, masses of Requiem, masses of Scala cœli, masses of Recordare, masses of Si for swine iniquitates, masses for all diseases, masses for all things, good or bad, auricular con- men. fession, creeping to the cross with candles, eggs, money, &c., justification of works, free-will, popish fasting, prayers without understanding, faith without knowledge, devotion without the spirit, satisfactory masses, propitiatory sacrifices done by sodomitical priests, transubstantiation, adoration of the sacramental bread, the real, corporal, substantial, carnal, and natural presence of Christ in the sacrament, so that we break him on pieces with our hands, tear him with our teeth, and swallow him into the maw, and so digest him, and send him I cannot tell whither; with an whole sea of like errors and heresies, which the pilled, peevish, prattling papists teach without the authority of God's word, even of their own brain and fantasy, unto the great dishonour of [Lordennes, or lourdanes: a term of reproach from lord Danes.] |