A47584:1504
The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland
The history of the reformation of the Church of Scotland containing five books : together with some treatises conducing to the history.The historie of the reformation of the Church of Scotland containing five books : together with some treatises conducing to the history.
London: printed by John Raworth for George Thomason and Octavian Pullen, 1644
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
This, no doubt, is the beginning of the dolorous complaint in the which he complaineth of the unjust tyranny that the poor afflicted Israelites sustained, during the time of their Captivity. True it is, That the Prophet was gathered to his fathers in peace, before that this apprehended the people: For a hundred years after his decease, was not the people led away captive: Yet he fore-seeing the assurance of the calamity, did beforehand indict and dictate unto them the complaint that after they should make. But at the first sight it appeareth, That the complaint hath but small weight: For what new thing was it, that other lords then God in his own person ruled them, seeing that such had been their Regiment from the beginning? For who knoweth not that Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, and other godly Rulers, were men, and not God; And so other lords then God, ruled them in their greatest prosperity.
This, no doubt, is the beginning of the dolorous complaint in the which he complaineth of the unjust tyranny that the poor afflicted Israelites sustained, during the time of their Captivity. True it is, That the Prophet was gathered to his fathers in peace, before that this apprehended the people: For a hundred yeers after his decease, was not the people led away captive: Yet he fore-seeing the assurance of the calamity, did beforehand endite and dictate unto them the complaint that after they should make. But at the first sight it appeareth, That the complaint hath but small weight: For what new thing was it, that other lords then God in his own person ruled them, seeing that such had been their Regiment from the beginning? For who knoweth not that Moses, Aaron, and Ioshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, and other godly Rulers, were men, and not God; And so other lords then God, ruled them in their greatest prosperity.
For the better understanding of this complaint,1 and of the mind of the Prophet, we must first observe from whence all Authority floweth; and secondly, To what end Powers are appointed by God: The which two points being discussed, we shall the better understand, what lords, and what authority rules beside God; and who they are in whom God and his merciful presence rules.