similitude the Prophets threatnings did not afflict him the offence done against his God did only vexe him I haue sinned against the Lord. And in an other place In te solum peccaui Against thee onely haue I sinned and done this euill in thy sight Holcoth maketh mention of a certaine bird that hath the face and visage of a man and yet is most fierce and cruell against man and doth only feede vpon mans flesh when it hath killed a man being dry goeth to the brooke to quench his thirst but looking down into the cleare water and beholding his owne countenance considering what it hath done that it hath destroied one of his owne likenesse and image returning presently from the water neither eates nor drinkes afterward but goeth into the wildernesse and their consumes himselfe in displeasure and so endes his daies in sorrow this is the behauiour of euery good and godly Christian considering that by sinne he hath destroied the image of God in him he doth consume away in displeasure what heart is so hardned considering how the sinne of man hath procured the death of the sonne of God would not end his daies in sorrow and lamentation The second cause of their weeping is for that woâ—dly punishment inflicted that now they are sent into banishment When the Lord cannot winne man by his mercies he will turne to his iustice to trie if by affliction hee can bring him to acknowledge his sâ—nne they being in prosperitie at home would neither hearken nor obey but being now in banishment and vnder captiuitie they are drawne to lament for their offences The heauie hand of Gods instice is able to breake and bruise the hardest heart and crush it in peeces nay bring the most wicked and impious man to acknowledgement of his sinne Kames heart is ouerqueld herewith wherefore he mournes grieuously and cries out my sinne is greater then can be forgiuen it was not his hypocrisie the murdering of his brother nor any other sinne that he had committed but onely the great punishment inflicted vpon him that did prouoke him hereunto Pharaoh tooke on greiuously and confessed his sinne it was not for a detestation thereof but because of the plagues that were sent vpon him and vpon his land Saul is very sorrowfull but it is because of Samuelâ— threatning Sunt quos peccasse paenâ—tet propter 〈…〉 displicet euim latroni peccatum quâ—…â—…t vindictareuertitur ad crimma saith Sâ—… Augustine There be many saith he that are greiued for their sinne because of the present affliction vpon them A theife is soâ—â—ie for his offence when he feeles the punishment but it being once ouer he fals to stealing againe This no doubt is the second cause of their weeping because of the heauie crosse laid vpon them The third cause of their weeping is the want of grace both in that they could not preuent the danger before it did assault as also that now they cannot performe those duties which they ought vnto others in distresse for the former Peter doth weepe exceedingly being so forward a little before and so peremptory to stand to his owne strength that now should falter in the performance and become so weake he mournes abundantly Misit legatos pro suis doloribus lachrymas dolorem probantes commissi criminis dolorem Like Rachel that wept for her children because they were not euen so the children of God they weepe for their graces because they are not Dauid doth protest that teares were his meat and drink night and day because he knew the want in him that without his grace he could not stand And the Apostle Saint Peter doth crie out of this want in him The good that I would do that I do not but the euill that I would not do that I do Againe the defect of the duties which in performance they owe to their brethren in distresse is a great cause of their weeping for they seeing the citie spoiled the temple ransacked the people carried into captiuitie and they no waies able to help them they cannot remember these things without great greife flerâ—oportet of necessitie they weepe it is the greatest greife that can come to a kinde soule to see another man in miserie and not able to helpe him this was Iobs greife did not I weepe with those that were in trouble was not my soule in heauinesse for the poore This was Ieremies sorrow for the people being by the iudgement of God destroyed that I might weepe for the slaine of the daughters of Sion Whether it be for their sinnes committed their punishment inflicted or their graces ecclipsed weeping I finde them where I leaue them vntill I enquire after the place of their abiding and I finde it to be Babel The place is ominous for if they had been banished into some priuate place where they might haue had libertie to exercise the duties of Religion and to serue their God although they had been detained for a long space their exile had been the easier but being exposed to Babel that barbarous place their estate is more miserable Babel here doth signifie the prouince of Babilon or countrey of Caldea for the City of Babel stood vpon one riuer Euphrates onely but here there is mention of more then one By the riuers of Babilon The country was idolatrous the people sauage so that to dwell in such a place was dangerouse In this place was Bel and Dragon the two Idols of the Caldeans worshipped and the cheife metropolitan Citie Babel accursed His foundation was laide in pride Come let vs builde a tower whose top may reach vnto heauen to get vs a name It was finished by Nabucâ—…zzar that proud puissant in ambition Is not this great Babel which I haue built to the gloris of my maiestie by the might of my power And the end thereof was confusion for afterward it came to be an habitation of vncleane Diuels as before was prophesied of it To dwell in such a place is greiuous to the children of God Dauid â—â—ies out of this miserie Woe is me that dwell â—n Mesech or haue my habitation so long among the tents of Kedar A couetous worldling cares not where he dwelles omne solum est ills patria Euery dominion is a dwelling for him to serue the Market is all he lookes for in any place that he may gaine by his commodity although it bee to another mans great losse but of all greiâ—es it is the greatest to a godly man to dwell in a lewd place where there is no practice of religion no goodnesse exercised but altogether prophanesse and abhomination This doth much vexe the Prophets spirit being constrained hereunto Wo's mee that I dwell amongst a people of pollutea lippes for the Prouerbe most commonly comes to passe in this aliquid mali propter vicinum malum some euill doth happen by reason of a wicked neighbor either they are subiect
to those plagues which the Lord doth threaten vpon the disobedient being alwaies hanging ouer the wicked as wee see by Lot that dwelling amongst the wicked Sodomites was taken prisoner with them in the ouerthrow Or else they are likely to be tainted with them dumspectant laesos oculilaeduntur ipsi they can hardly escape the wicked without receiuing some blemish of them Righteous Ioseph being amongst the prophaneseruants in Pharaohs court learning to sweare 〈◊〉 of Pharaoh if we then obserue the prophanesse of the place or the impâ—eâ—ie of the people of that place we shall finde their case miserable by reason of their habitation and so I come to the fourth circumstance of their commiseration that they did dwell by the bankesides if they had been receiued into their Cities or townes where they might had sâ—…er for their safegard then had they receiued some comfort but being expelled from their Cities and from thence to the Riuersides to remaine without shadow is a great miserie vnto them super slumina sedent they remaine by the riuer side in the countrey of Caldea there were sundry râ—…rs such as Euphrates Neâ—…rdâ—a Ahaua and Tigris which doth shew the place to bevery fruitfull to encrease their greife because they cannot be receiued into the Cities with them The Caldeans darenot receiue them into their fellowshippe Inimicis fidere cum illis habitare non tutum sentiunt to trust their enemies and to dwell with them they thinke it not safe enough therefore are they exposed into the Riuerside when the woman of Samaria came to lacobs well shee retained some comfort of her lourney for shee found the Messias the Sauiour of the world that was able to deliuer and did deliuer her from all her fornications but here they come to the riuers of Babâ—l where they haue no hope of deliuerer nor comforter to help them for the space of seuenty yeares Although Agar sit sorrowfull for a while by the Well in the wildernesse yet at last the Angell came to comfort her but here they sit a long space and haue no hope of Angell nor man to comfort nor releiue them These waters may be well called Massah or Meribah of strife or tentation Naturae enim repugnat for it is against their nature to be tied into such a barren place hauing had such goodly aspects of their owne before Their goodly Orchards gallant gardens delicate fine walkes beset with fruitfull trees and sweete bushes is now conuerted into a barren bankeside ouergrowne with willowes their pleasant parlors braue â—â—ls and costly hung chambers are now translated into a poore tent not able to defend them from the raine nor tempest hoc miseria plenum the more I do discend into their miserie the greater I findetheir greife to be aggrauated and so much of their affliction In their affection wee haue first set downe the cause of their conceiued sorrow which was the remembrance of their former happinesse Dura satis miseris memoratio prisca bonorâ—… Of all miseries it is the greatest to remember the ioâ—litie of our former life this torment doth father Abraham adde vnto the rich glutton lying in hell forments Râ—cardaremâ— sili remember my senne that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasure which no doubt did afflict him more then all his former torments Whileman is in prosperitie hee neuer thinke of his future miserie which when it doth assault of all afflictions it is the greatest to remember his former happinesse inâ—…cissimum est in fortuny genus meminisse fuisse foelicem of all things it is the most vnhappie to remember that we were once happie King Cresus doth affirme this by that often repetition of Solon when he was going to the place of torment who did on a time bragge of his happinesse vnto Solon a Sage of Greece and said that hee thought himselfe the happiest man that liued vnto whom Solon replying said no man can be said to be happie before his death and being afterward taken in battell of King Cyrus did vtter nothing but Solon Solon shewing that the remembrance thereof did onely vexe and afflict him surely the greatest punishment that the damned shall receiue in hell torments wil be the remembrance of their former pleasure Plungent quia mundum dilexerunt plangent quia vitam non correxerunt plangent quia paenam incurserunt They shall weepe because they haue loued the world they shall mourne because they did not amend their life while they liued in the world They shall lament because they did deserue by their wickednesse to come to that place of torment when they departed out of the world the remembrance of their former losse will be their greatest griefe But to come to the height of their vnhappinesse and to take a veiw of the depth of their miserie it is no earthly thing that doth greiue them only the comfort which they wanted of Sâ—on is all that vexe them When we remembred Sion Mary sits very sorrowfull in a mournefull habite as long as Christ was absent from her but when her sister Martha came and told her that the Master was come and called for her O how speedily did she arise and embrace him ioyfully the want of the comfort of the word of God is the greatest griefe that can come to a godly soule Dauid accounts in his banishment this his greatest losse and the people there in captiuitie lament for the defect here of while they were in their owne countrey they did not account of it they dispised the Prophets quid nobiscuÌ„cum illis what haue we to do with such as prophesie euill vnto vs but now being depriued of it ô how they weepe for their want of it Demosthenes being banished Athens ô how he did weepe when he looked towards Athens the Israclites being banished into Babilon ô how they do weepe when they remember Sion Sion was an eminent place in Ierusalem where the Lord had set his name to be worshipped and where onely they did receiue comfort in the word Agar she weepes because she is thrust out of her Masters house they weepe because they are put out of Sion and debarred from their Masters presence in his house Diues being in prosperitie did not regard the word of God nor take any delight therein but in aduersity lying in hell torments he lamented his carelessenesse thereof wherefore he wished Abraham to send Lazarus to his fathers house to giue his brethren notice of their neglect herein least they should come into that place of torment Hauing spoken of the historicall sense according as it happened vnto these Israelites really may it please you right honorable right worshipfull and welbeloued that I speake of the my sticall meaning It is no allegorie which I handle but onely a moralitie drawne from the true historie according to the opinion of all the auncient as S. Augustine lerome Chrysostome Hugo Cardinalis Lyra and others as
cause them wrong their conscience neither do I hope to heare of such confusion wrought by men that feare God Neuerthelesse looke into the intricate endlesse enrolling of their proceedings in law and you shal finde a great confusion in making such demurres and delaies in their proceeding that oftentimes it comes to passe when the matter long depending is brought to an issue that then the summe of expenses shall weigh downe the worth of the sentence is not this confusion If the time would permit I might take a view of all estates that by their fashion I should finde a fit frame to make vp a Babel Sycophants and flatteres are daily preferred but Tom-teltroth little regarded Dionisius was often wont to bewaile the state of Princes and especially in this that men would not speake freely before them whereby the truth was hidden from them and Lewes the eleuenth the French King was wont to say that he had plenty of all things in his court but of one and being demanded what it was answered it was truth if truth be wanting in King courts what confusion is this to the common wealth Sigâ—… the Emperor was wont to account those Princes onely happie 〈◊〉 it would banish proud men out of their Courts and being â—n courteous and humble men in their places hee did not speake of the expelling of Sicophants â—…vers dissâ—… and tale-bearers for I thinke he thought then that many of their Courts should remaine vnfurnished if you runne thorough courts citties and countries to obserue them you shall hardly finde any thing but confusion The seruant rides on horse-backe the Master walkes on foote the body is onely had in estimation for they wil be sure to looke to the gilding of their goodly carkasses Pluris opes nunc sunt quam prisci temporis annis the body neuer more regarded but for the soule it may starue before it be restored of them The Kings daughter is all glorious within saith the Psalmist but Satans children are all gorgeous without like painted sepulchers that within are full of rotten bones thus yee see that Babel may be well compared to the world for the world is Babel and nothing in it almost but confusion which if it be not redressed in this life will bring a subuersion vpon both body and soule in the world to come and so I proceede with my comparison As the world may very well be compared to Babel euen so all the things therein may be well compared into the Riuers of Babel although Babel be a pleasant place yet it hath riuers in it which carries all away all things in the world are vaine momentarie and subiect to mutabilitie like vnto the riuers of Babel both ebbe and flow It is written of Sesostris a King of the Aegiptians that he had his coach drawne with foure Kings whom before he had conquered and one time perceiuing one of them to looke often backe did demaund the cause thereof I doe saith he behold and obserue that part of the wheele which was lowest becomes by and by highest and the highest lowest cogito de mutatione fortunae I note the vnstabilitie of things in this world such surely is the estate of all things in this world that there is nothing stable vnder thâ—…e Consider but the life of man and you shall perceiue iâ—… passe away like to the waters in the riuer as Gregorie Nazianzene doth well obserue it quae velut à fontis sui origine nascendo surgit sed ad ima defluens moriendo pertransit which from our birth as from a fountaine we arise to the height of our yeares but by passing away our daies in vanitie in the end we fall into the gulfe of death as the riuers runne into the sea which the woman of Tekoah very well noteth vnto Dauid omnes morimur sicut aquae dilabimur in terram quae non reuertuntur we all die and like water wee are powred out vpon the ground which doth not returne Not only our liues but also all things in this world which we do possesse Honor preferment riches strength all are momentanie and subiect to alteration they are of no continuance for either wee are taken from them or they depart from vs what profit had the rich wretch in the Gospell of his great substance when his soule was snatcht away that very night from him in the midst of his wealth and what gaine get many couetous worldlings of their goods when in the midst of their yeares they forsake them to passe away from vs they hauemany euasions The Prophet Ieremy saith that as a partridge doth hatch her yoong ones and by her helpe in relieuing of them they come to som groth then they forsake her euen so when a rich man hath taken great paines in heaping together riches in the midst of his daies they forsake him and leaue him like a foule It is reported of Saladine the Emperor that mightie Monarch that by his conquests obtained great wealth on a time lying vpon his death bed considering the vanitie and mutabilitie of earthly things he commanded a sheete to be tied to a poule and carried about the Citie and crie behold Saladine that great rich and mighty Prince of Asia for all his abundance in worldly things he carries nothing with him but this ragge Wherefore the Apostle Saint Iohn did diswade all men and women from the loue thereof Loue not the world neither any thing therein for in it there is nâ—â—â—ing but vanitie And the world shall passe away with the lust thereof but he that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for euer And so from the comparison betweene the world and Babel I come to obserue the different behauiour betweene the Citizens of Babel and the Citizens of Sion and that in three things specified in my text 1. The Citizens of Babel they sit in the midst of Babel â—either can they perceiue these things sedent in fluminibus they are so delighted with the pleasures thereof that they cannot see the confusion of them but the children of God sedent inxta flumina vel super flumina sit neere to the riuers or by the bankside and discerne their abhomination neither will they be ouertaken with them A man that walketh in the mist cannot perceiue whence it commeth nor whether it goeth but if he betake him aside vnto some top of a mountaine neere adioyning he shall discerne that it is nothing but a vapor arising from the serines and entrals of the earth thickning in the cloudes and vanishing in the aire so long as the earthly mindes of couetous worldlings are ouershaddowed with the darknesse of ignorance thickned with a greedie desire of worldly things as grosse and palpable as the darke mist of Egypt they cannot see perceiue nor vnderstand a worldly man doth not vnderstand these things that are of the spirit of God as long as they are in the midst of them they
cannot perceiue the vanitie nor frailty of them but if they would take them aside into the consideration of Sion and bee lifted vp in their mindes with an holy meditation they should perceiue that all the thinges of this life proceede from the bowels of the earth and vanish away in the aire The godly man he sees this and therefore sits by them and is not taken in delight with them but the wicked man vnderstands not and therefore like a foole is ouertaken with them O that the rich wretched worldling would but conceiue this that takes such pleasure in his riches and increaseth his wealth by vnlawfull meanes that sets his whole delight vpon the transitory things of this world and sits in the midst of Babel that as long as he dwels in the delight of these things he is subiect to confusion surely I thinke hee would be more liberall to the poore lesse hurtfull and enuious to his neighbors and put his riches to better vse then now he doth when hee puts his money to vsury but because he knowes not nor perceiues he not in what danger he is therefore he cannot shunne it as long as he dwels in a greedie desire things coueting worldly he cannot see but if he would betake him to a liberall distribution and by an heauenly contemplation consider the estate of his present being he should be able to discerne it Mathew sitting at the receipt of custome following his couetous calling with a greedle desire after coine rose vp at Christs call and followed him I would to God that I could finde one soule sitting here in a greedie desire after worldly things that would be mooued with contrition of heart for their couetous behauiour then should I thinke my selfe most happie in discharging my calling and winning one soule vnto God and also that soule saued in Sion euerlastingly 2 The Citizens of Sion spend not their time in mirth melodie as the wicked Babilonians do but rather in sorrow heauinesse the wicked saith Iob that liue in the delights of Babel nihil vlâ—ra sperantes looking for no other felicitie but that which they presently possesse spend their daies in mirth solace and feasting and walke with their kinssolkes friendes wiues and children and suddenly they go downe to hell together but the godly passe ouer their daies in sorrow heauinesse and lamentation and in the end are carried of the good Angels after the ending of their dolefull daies into Abrahams bosome we read in stories of former times how that the holy men in the primitiue Church did passe ouer their daies in solitarinesse praier and fasting as the Apostle to the Hebrewes doth very well obserue it sed tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis the times are altered for men and women delight in these daies to spend their time in dissolutenesse rioting playing and feasting they did consider the miserie of this present Babel wherein they did liue their frailtie to yeeld vnto the wicked allurements of that cursed Countrey But I think men and women in these daies hope for no more ioy nor pleasure hereafter and therefore they make this life a recreation for their misery to come and satisfie themselues herewith while they are here but the wise man Salomon tell vs that it is better to go into the house of mourning then into the house of feasting because saith he where mirth is there are the hearts of fooles but where sorrow is there are the hearts of wise men wherefore our Sauiour pronounceth a blessing vpon those that lament in this life for they shall be comforted Aut continui dolores cruciabuut paenitentem vitam meam aut cruciatus aeterni vexabunt puniendam animam meaÌ„ necesse est peccatorem slerivel hic vel in futuro saith Saint Augustine Either continuall sorrowes must afflict a mans penitent life or else eternall torments shall vexe his damnable soule and of necessitie a sinner must weepe either heere in this life or hereafter The hearts of worldly men are so glutted with excesse of worldly pleasure that to be sorrowfull for their sinnes they haue no leasure Peter denies his Master and Peter weepes bitterly for his trespasse thou deniest thy Master daily and howerly by thy swearing lyingâ— and thy deceitfull actions and yet thou neuer weepest for it ipsi Petre statim demisit quia amarissimè fleuit si tu non sleas Christus non ad terespiciet noc tua culpa recedit Our Sauiour Christ gaue Peter a present pardon vpon his mourning if thou weepe not for thy transgression neither will Christ looke towards thee nor yet remit thy sinne for that sentence of our Sauiour is against euery one that remaines hardened in sinne except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mary Magdalene shee wept for her adulterie and fornication but the Gallants of these times make it only a matter of recreation adolescentem scortari non est vitiuÌ„ to be wanton is but a tricke of youth If a man durst aske many of these young Gentlemen that walke gallantly along the streetes and they would ingeniously answere them they might as Diogenes did being demaunded whether he went going from the Lacedemonians to the Athenians eo à viris ad faeminas I go from men to women for to an harlet to the stewes or to a tobaco shoppe is their furthest iourney But why should I perswade men or women to a solitarie life seeing there is nothing in this world but matter of miserie therefore I should rather counsell them to take their recreation Beloued the wicked are too much giuen to worldly mirth and therefore when any solitary fit ouertakes them they will take them to somelewd company to driue away melancholy but let vs take heede when we are most secure in our merry moode then is Sathan most watchfull to winnow vs like wheat while Iobs children are feasting in their elder brothers house then the Diuell workes their ouerthrow Awake therefore all yee that sleepe in the securitie of sinne and fill vp your measure of mirth beyond all measure rouse vp yourselues ye that reioice in Babilon and weepe for your transgressions Awake ye drunkards and weepe howle all ye drinkers of wine because of the now wine for it shal be pulled from your mouthes Rouse vp your selues you Adulterers and Fornicators that stretch your selues vpon the bed of fornication to fulfill your lusts and lament for your vncleannesse because without yee repent in your pollution ye shall perish Ye Conetous-worldings arise from greedines and from getting of vnlawfull goods least yee be punished with Diues in hell torments And finally let vs all awake arise and rouse vp our selues from sin and weepe and mourne for our transgressions Auicen writeth that the Country of Caldea being full of riuers the Hart being wearied in chase and coming to the riuerside which she cannot passe goeth vnto the first man she seeth