Laurentius Lutherizans. OR THE PROTESTATION OF GEORGE LAURENCE, Master of Arts, late Commoner in Oxford, and late Lecturer in the Parish-Church of George Buttolph-Lane, by Little Eastcheap in LONDON. Against certain Calumniations Asperged on him by the Corrupt Clergy, and their Lay-Proselytes, for some Particulars, Delivered in two Sermons, at Michael's Church in Cornhill, and elsewhere, concerning our Nationall Protestation. As it was declared, by way of Digression, in a Third Sermon at the same Church, the 23th. Day of Januarie, in the Morning Lecture, Anno, 1642. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrysost. ad Scandalizatos. Innocens inter ipsa Tormenta Fruitur Securitate, & cum poenam. metuat, de Innocentiâ gloriatur. Hieronymus ad Demetriadem. The mouth of the Wicked, and the mouth of the Deceitful are against me: They have spoken against me, with lying Tongues. David, Psal. 109.2. London, Printed for R Harford, in Queenes-head All●● Pater-noster-Row. 1641. Courteous Reader, I Am to certify thee, that I was constrained, for the present, to commit this Paper to the Press, for the Vindication of myself, and true Religion; having not as yet (according to the Desires and Expectations of many Godly Divines, Worshipful Citizens, and Sincere Professors) fully Digested, for the Press, my Sermons upon our English Protestation. LAURENTIUS LUTHERIZANS. MArtin Luther being infested with many Adversaries, and amongst the rest, especially with one Jacobus Hostraten, termed by him, Haereticorum ominium Haereticissimus, The most Heretical of all Heretics, who had falsely charged him with many Errors, and scandalous Accusations, was necessitated to vindicate himself with this public Protestation to be known of all. Protestatio Lutheri Brevis, julii 13. Anno, 1518. I Martin Luther, Publicly Protest, that I have published certain Propositions, against Pontifical Indulgences, although hitherto, neither this our Famous, and Renowned School of Witenberge, neither any Civil, or Ecclesiastical Power, hath as yet condemned me: yet notwithstanding, Some certain men there are, as I do hear, of a rash and bold Ingeny, who as if they saw alone, as it were into a Millstone, presume to pronounce me an Heretic. Ego Martinus Lutherus, publice Testatum volo, Propositiones aliquot, contra Pontificales, ut vocant, Indulgentias a me esse editas, etsi autem me hactenus, neque celeberrima haec, & laudatissima Schola nosti a Vitebergae neque Civilis, aut Ecclesiastica Potestas condemnaverit, sunt tamen, ut audio, quidam praecipitis, atque au facis ingenii homines, choir quasi benè cognitâ, & perspectâ, Haereticum me pronunciare audent. I therefore, as oftentimes before, so also, now by the Faith of a Christian, beseech others, either to Indigitate and point out unto me a better way, if a better be divinely revealed unto them, or else to submit their opinion, both to the judgement of God, and his Church. For as I am neither ready to prefer mine own opinion, before the judgement of all others, So neither am I so doltish, as to place the Word of God, either below, or behind the Tables invented by the brains of men. Ego verò ut antè saepe, ita nunc quoque per fidem Christianam obtestor singulos, vel ut meliorem mihi monstrent viam, si quibus haec divini●us esset revelata, vel certè suam sententiam De●, & Ecclesiae iudicio submittunt. Non enim adeò temetarius sum, ut meam solius opinionem caeteris anteferri, neque cam stupidu●etiam ut verbum Dei, fabulis human● ratione excogitatis postponi ●●l●m. ●om 1. Folly, 195. In like manner, your Orator, who speaks to you this Day, being encircled with many Adversaries, (as David was with Bees) who have charged him with many falsehoods, upon the preaching of the two former Sermons in this place, touching the Nationall Protestation, am now enforced to be Protestator Lutherizans, clearing myself of those assperged imputations, in the presence of God, his Angels, and this Congregation, by this short, and serious Protestation. 1. I Protest against all Vainglory. For whereas the Bishop's Factions, and their adherents say, that in my Sermons, I looked here for applause from men, but I did lose it, Let them First know, and tell it to their Fellows, that I met with that, which the Lord knows, I neither did gasp after, nor expect, you yourselves in some part being judges. Secondly, That they measure other men's actions, by the ragged staff of their own crooked Rule. Thirdly, That it is the constant toil and labour of a sincere Minister of jesus Christ, to stifle the Bubbling and Boiling Surges of his swelling heart, and with Paul alone to glory in his infirmities, 2 Cor. 12.9. Lest otherwise, with Herod, taking the Glory to himself, and not giving it to God, with him, (according to the Syriack) become a Dunghill or a Stable for the Worms, Acts 12.23. 2. I Protest against Seditition, and Seduction. For whereas the Bishop's Faction, and Carnal Gospelers do say, That I, and others are Seditious, and Seduce the People, Let such First know, That the Nature of Sedition, is the drawing of a People, out of a right path, into a wrong, from good to evil, and not from evil to good, and that the Nature of Sedition, is to sow Tares amongst the Wheat, and not sowing of Wheat amongst the Tares. Secondly, That the House of Ahab, and jezabel, that is, the Bishops faction, the whore of Rome, the jesuites and Papists are, and have been the seditious Seducers, and Troublers of our English Israel: for these are they, who have misguided the people, leading them blind fold to the brow of the hill, to tumble them headlong down to Hell, and to crush both themselves, and them to pieces, to all Eternity. Thirdly, that it is their Policy to call seditious, and Seducer; first, like a crafty courtesan, who will call whore first, that she might not be suspected. Whence in the New Testament, the Scribes and Pharisees are observed to stigmatize, and agnominize, Christ and his Disciples, with the reproachful Terms of Deceivers and Seducers, while they themselves seduce, and lead about silly creatures, creeping into their houses, loving the uppermost rooms, and desiring to be called Rabbi, Rabbi, which is as much, as to say, Doctor, Doctor. 3. I protest against Frenzy; for as the Corrupt Clergy, and their Lay Adherents belch out, and say, that such as myself are of a Frantic Spirit, and have Laesa principia, because we dare not Symbolise with them, either in their Doctrines, or their practice; Let them again. 1. Know, that Shemajah, the Nehelamite, which is as much, as Shemajah the lying Dreamer, called jeremiah a mad man; jer. 29.26. as being more fit for a prison, and the stocks, than the Pulpit: though good Jeremiah was approved to be the conscientious Preacher. 2. Know, that Festus, though a great, yet a Carnal man with a loud voice told Paul, that he was beside himself, and mad, whereas indeed, he spoke forth the words of truth, and soberness. 3. Know, that they and their Adherents, are the mad fellows, as they are Catachrestically called the good, and Kuriologically the bad fellows, and not they, who by them are called the Puritan-Preachers, and the Puritans, and preciser people, for if you read, Act●. 26.25. That Paul being converted, and out of his Natural condition, he doth profess against the term of mad fellow, whereas in the 11. Verse, when he was in a Carnal state, he doth avouch, that he was mad, yea exceedingly mad against the Saints, persecuting them even unto strange Cities: And therefore, if you believe the Scripture, and not, as the Popish Church believes, they themselves are mad and frantic. Mad upon their Idols, Ier, 50.38. The Prophet is a fool, and the Spiritual man is mad; Hos. 9.7. Mad after Popish Bishops, yea mad to be Bishops, though the Bishops themselves were never more mad, than in these times: as in their late Towring-Swelling, ●ower-Aspiring, Protestation, and therefore, if they do not sail to Rome, yet they may, as in our Proverb, take shipping and sail unto Anticyras, yea further, so insensibly entoxicated, by a strange, and an hideous Metamorphosis, that as Pope Sergius the second, (as I remember) was called Os porci, Swines-snout, or Hogges-face, because of his uncleanness; So, the corrupt Clergies may be called Dens Diaboli, yea Deus Caninus Diaboli, The great Dogge-tooth of the Devil; as Parisiensis terms, all dogged and currish Persecuters and Backbiters. For as a mad dog rolling himself, like the Icneumon, or Must Indicus, in a sheet of mud, and rising up upon his legs, sets a black, and a dirty patch on every post in the street, biting every one he meets: So the corrupt Clergy tumbling themselves in the mire of rottenness and superstition, fasten one beastly mark or other; yea many dirty spots where they are seated, snarling, showing their teeth like so many mad dogs, and biting, yea tearing in pieces, were they able every one, who thwarts them in their way, and contradicts them in their unwarrantable insolences, and illegal proceed whatsoever. And here, Let not any discerning or discreet Reader, adjudge me to be too immoderate in my expressions, since the Devil, Pope, Bishops, Corrupt Clergy, and their Adherents, have neither been moderate in their blasphemies, Modum autem tenere, in co difficile est, quod honum esse credideris; Senec. Epist. 23. nor in their tyrannising persecutions, and since according to the Dialect even of Seneca an heathen man; In that thing, or that cause, which thou believest in thy conscience, (yea undoubtedly dost know) to be good, it is a great difficulty, (yea a great sin) to use a moderation. 4. Lastly, I protest against all Popery, according to our Nationall Protestation: For whereas some have bruited abroad, that I and others have extended our discourses, further than the Determinaton of the covenant admits, Let them. 1. Know, that the Term, All popery, hath a large Periphery and circumference, which as it doth reach out to that Popery, which was discovered at the time when the Protestation was composed, so also, (yet with submission be it spoken) may it be extended to all those several grains, which lay under the Turf, and should hereafter bud forth, and appear to be superstition, and Idolatry in after times. 2. Know, that I, and my fellow-brethrens are of the resolution of Martin Luther, who although like him, may be termed Heretics, or Schismatics, because we speak against the Pope and Popish Hierarchy, yet by the creditable faith of Christians, beseech others to indigitate, and point out unto us a better way, if a better be Divinely revealed unto them, or else to submit their opinion, both to the judgement of God, and the reformed Churches, for as we are neither ready to prefer our own opinions, before the judgement of all others, so neither are we so doltish, as to place the word of God, either below, or behind the fables invented by the brains of Brainsick, and cloud-pated Lycophrons', and the conceptions, or rather deceptions of Superstitious Temporizers, 3. Know, that whatsoever I have delivered in the two former Sermons in this place, or what is, or shall be further delivered in this third Sermon, or whatsoever I have delivered elsewhere, and especially in those Sermons concerning the solemnisation of our great deliverance from the Gunpowder Traitors, and the Papists Conspiracy, Upon the words of Ezekiel c. 24. v. 2. in the last November. in comparing N●buchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and the whore of Babylon together, who did set themselves against Jerusalem, (for which I was unsettled from my place of preaching, as john Hus was inhibited, and forbade the Pulpit by the Pope, when he began to preach the Doctrine of Wickliff against the Pope, and his Attendants;) I shall God willing, Martyrolog. and God assisting be ready like john Hus, to seal the Doctrine, and every branch of that Doctrine which I have published elsewhere or, in this place, with the loss of my dearest blood, comforting myself with the Cordial of an Ancient father saying: Gaude, O Innocentia, & exulta, Gaude inquam, quia ubique illaesa es, ubique secura: Si tenta●is, proficis: Si humiliaris, erigeris: Si pugnas, vincis: Si occideris, cor●naris. Constantinopolitanus. Be glad O Innocence, and rejoice: Be glad I say, for no where art thou hurt, and every where thou art secure. If thou art tempted, thou dost profit, if thou art humbled, thou shalt be exalted, if thou fightest, thou dost overcome, and if thou art killed, thou mayst lose thy head, but thou shalt not lose thy Crown. And thus being necessitated hereunto, have I like Martin Luther vindicated the truth, Myself, and my Fellow-labourers by this Protestation: and have read it to you distinctly, that you might avoid mistakes, and that the corrupt Clergy, and their Lay Adherents, might not say with any just ground against me, as Erasmus of Hierom when he writ against Vigilantius, Conviciis debacchatur Hieronymus, what I did, I did in hot blood, In Argumento Epistolae adversus Vigilantium. and instead, of a vindicating Protestation, I brought a vicious, and convicious debacchation. To conclude with an History, suiting with our purpose, it is reported of Emme, the mother of Edward the Confessor, who being falsely accused, was constrained to go for herself 4. steps upon 4. sharp ploughshares, burning hot from the scalding fire, and having past them over without any hurt, was adjudged innocent. In like manner, being maliciously oppugned, have I been enforced to run over 4. Particulars, as 4. burning ploughshares,, which were laid not only to scorch & sing my reputation, but also to burn up like so much stubble, the very cause of God, and his Gospel: & am now confident, that, that God, whose cause I agitate, and his despised people in this congregation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Septuag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Homer. Od. L. 17. (though the Prelatical faction, and their Lay-Proselites, may, or do gather into a cloud and thicken into a blustering storm) will acquit me as guiltless of all unjust, black, and opprobrious imputations. For I know with David, Psalm 140.13. That the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of him, that is distressed, and Psalm 18.47.48. That it is God who giveth Avengements for me, and delivereth me from all mine Enemies. The Lord in mercy sanctify to me the Calumniation, and those, whom it doth concern, the Protestation. FINIS.