The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

4 In the case of discipline we have to deal with the Lord of heaven and earth: It is to good purpose to know with whom we have to deal, for it causeth us to bestir our selves in dealing with worldly men: then how much more now must it cause us so to do? This discipline did Christ himself put in practise, who oft taketh the trouble of his members to himself, as appeareth in his speech to Paul; Paul why persecutest thou me? and in the saying of Peter to Ananias, Thou hast lied against the holy Ghost. And surely at the last day, the contempt of the Ministers shall be counted as deep a sin, as if we had contemned God himself: which may appear in Dathan, Corah and Abiram. And surely God thinketh we should honour his Church above all: and yet men say, Come l•t us kill the heir. Wherefore the Lord will come and note out these husbandmen. Howsoever men please themselves in doing thus, yet God that sitteth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn, and vex them with his sore displeasure in the end.

4 In the case of discipline we haue to deale with the Lord of heauen and earth: It is to good purpose to know with whom we haue to deale, for it causeth vs to bestirre our selues in dealing with worldly men: then how much more now must it cause vs so to doe? This discipline did Christ himselfe put in practise, who oft taketh the trouble of his members to himselfe, as appeareth in his speech to Paul; Paul why persecutest thou me? and in the saying of Peter to Ananias, Thou hast lied against the holy Ghost. And surely at the last day, the contempt of the Ministers shall be counted as deepe a sinne, as if we had contemned God himselfe: which may appeare in Dathan, Corah and Abiram. And surely God thinketh wee should honour his Church aboue all: and yet men say, Come l•t vs kill the heire. Wherefore the Lord will come and note out these husbandmen. Howsoeuer men please themselues in doing thus, yet God that sitteth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne, and vexe them with his sore displeasure in the end.

5 The discipline which Christ hath instituted is committed to the Church. Behold, and hear a miracle, heaven placed under the earth: where as in all other things heaven is above earth, God made heaven and earth; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: so now with David we must say, What is man that thou art so mindful of him? not only to give him the rule of earth, but even of heaven, yea of Angels, yea of God himself: so that now God cannot loose them whom the Church hath bound: so that although he doth many things without us, yet when we have done this, he doth not otherwise, &c. Else there are many bound in heaven, which are not bound in earth, especially in these days when the leaves are fallen from the tree, the beauty is gone, and the discipline is taken away: yet the Angels have chains though we cannot see them: so that they watch over the wicked to bind them, and to cast them into hell. Thus we see the high dignity of the Church, and yet this is not given to every one, but to the Church, who though they be base, and contemptible, yet the Lord committed unto them the apple of his eye. In the Epistle to the Hebr. he saith, That the earth the air, & the heaven are not worthy to give them breath, he hath made the Angels to be their servants, to them he hath given such authority. And no marvel, for he hath made them more excellent than the Angels, he hath made them the body of his Son, yea and the friends of his own self. To them he committed his treasures. And what be his treasures? Surely when David cometh to value it, he saith, that it is better than gold, yea than much gold, than much find gold, than all precious stones. Yea and that