either for that hee hath vertues more then humane or that hee is so contemptible and meane in respect of Man that he is vnworthy to approach neere him But let him know which doth affect solitarinesse because he doth surpasse all men in vnderstanding and vertue that he ought to repell that humour and to condescend by humilitie and meekenesse to the imperfections of others labouring for the good of the Church or Common Wealth either by word or worke For what are all those perfections more then shaddowes and obscure traces of those perfections that are in Iesus Christ notwithstanding he tooke vpon him our shape and conuersion among men that thereby he might saue them and winne soules to heauen Therefore to conclude this point If to flie from the World bee a vanity how much more to follow it If vices and torments do harbour in the desart how much more in presses and throngs of people Truely if vanity bee in euery place let vs say that all is torment and affliction of Spirit CHAP. XI Of old and decrepit age BVt in the meane time that man is busied about al these vaine conceits while he is pushing time with his shoulder endeauouring nothing all dayes of his life but to rise and to goe to bed to apparell himselfe and to make himselfe vnready to fill his belly and to euacuate his stomacke which is no more then a circle of the selfe same importuning occupations much like vnto a Millers horse that alwaies treads one compasse While he is thus busied with such occasions behold old age stealingly arriueth to which few doe attaine and all desire But if any doe peraduenture gaine that time they desire to haue it prolonged to the vtmost this age being as Grapes which haue lost their iuyce and as the sincke of mans life is without question the most vnhappy for those men that are worldly as no the contrary it is most blessed for such as are godly For worldly men in this age are doubly possest with way wardnes their feare and distrust doth increase their iudgement waxeth weake begins to diminish Wherefore we do wrongfully call a melancholy humor wisedome a dis-abilitie sobriety because old age leaueth not pleasure but pleasure leaueth it And therefore he doth vndeseruedly complaine that the time and manners of men are changed into worse while nothing is changed but himselfe for in his youth all things pleased him if they were neuer so bad in his old age all things dislike him if they were neuer so good Like vnto those which being in a Ship thinke that the banks moue when it is onely themselues It is also a vice incident to this Age to speake much because they are no more able to performe any thing and that they also thinke themselues most fit to propose precepts to youth and to declare things of time long since Like vnto a declining State as that of the Romane Empire where there are many talkers but few valiant not much different from the aged time of the world where are many curious disputers but few of the true Religion In this Age also doth increase the loue of wealth and earthly cares doe summon new forces against man he waxeth all gray and euery thing in him beginneth to wither onely his vices excepted That auncient man of whom the Apostle maketh often mention beeing ready to dote waxeth not old in worldly age but then he is in full vigour He therefore feareth approching death and holdeth his life like vnto an Eele which slideth away In the meane time he determineth of tedious designes and heapeth vp riches as if death stood a farre off and durst not appeare But now that age is come and the time that he ought to rest his griefes and dolours are renewed the heart afflicted the braine troubled the face withered the body crooked the sight dimmed the hayres falne and the teeth rotten and to be short the body is as it were asimilitude of death yet doth he prepare himselfe least to gaine the future blisse and though many times death takes for a gage one part or other of his body as an arme an eye or a legge to serue for an aduertisement that he will shortly fetch the rest yet he is so affianced to the earth that he is vnwilling to goe to it when nothing remaineth in him but euill CHAP. XIII Of DEATH THus after Man hath sorrowed all his dayes vnder the heauy burthen of his sinnes and in conclusion of all this vnprofitable wearisome trauell behold the approch of death before he hath learned to liue much lesse to dye The most part beeing taken out of this world before they know to what end they entred in they would willingly prolong the date of their life but death admits no composition for it hath feet of wooll but armes of iron it cōmeth vnsensibly but hauing taken once hold it neuer looseth her prize To this pace or step man commeth so slowly as possibly he can For if a Ship should sinke among the waues two hundred leagues from Land notwithstanding euery Passenger would striue to swim not with an intent to saue his life but to repell death for some minutes and to render nature her last ineuitable tribute Euery man trembleth at this passage and laboureth to settle himselfe here yet is forced at last to yeeld vnto Death and yet by no meanes may bee knowne after what manner hee shall end his life Some there bee that are forced to dye by hunger others by thirst others by fire others by water others by poison others are smothered others are torne in pieces by wilde beasts others deuoured of the Fowles of the aire others are made meat for Fishes and others for Worms yet for all this Man knoweth not his end when hee thinketh himselfe most at rest hee sodainly perisheth What a dreadfull sight is it to see him lying in his bed that is oppressed with the paines of Death What shaking and changing of all the bonds of nature will he make the feete will become cold the face pale the eyes hollow the lips and mouth to retire the hands diminish the tongue waxeth blacke the teeth doe cloze the breath faileth the cold sweat appeareth by the violence of sicknes All which is a certaine token that nature is ouercome But now when it commeth to the last gaspe or at the sorrowfull departure that the soule maketh from his habitation all the bands of Nature are broken Besides when the Diuell or wicked spirit is assured of our end what furious assaults will hee make against our soules to make vs despaire of Gods mercy It is the houre when as Satan doth his power to striue against GOD for to hinder the saluation of mankind and he is more boisterous in these latter dayes for that he knoweth that his time is but short and that the end of his kingdome is at hand and therefore he is the more enflamed for he neuer
death for death is the path of life a Gaole-deliuery of the soule a perfect health the hauen of heauen the finall victory of terrestriall troubles an eternall sleepe a dissolution of the body a terrour to the rich a desire of the poore a pilgrimage vncertaine a thiefe of men a shadow of life a rest from trauell an Epilogue to vaine delight a consumption of idle desires a scourge for euill a guerdon for good it dis-burdens vs of all care vnmanacles and frees vs from vexation solicitude and sorrow Of all those numberlesse numbers that are dead neuer any one returned to complaine of death but of those few that liue most complaine of life On earth euery man grumbles at his best estate The very elements whereby our subsistence or being as the secondarie cause is preserued conspire against vs the fire burnes vs the water drownes vs the earth annoyes vs and the aire infects vs our dayes are laborious our nights comfortlesse the heat scorcheth vs the cold benummes vs health swels vs with pride sicknesse empaleth our beauties friends turne Swallowes they will sing with vs in the Summer of prosperitie but in the winter of tryall they will take wings and be gone Enemies brand our reputations with deprauing imputations and the enuious man hurleth abroad his gins to ensnare our liues who would then desire to liue where there is nothing that begets content for this world is a Theater of vanities a Chaos of confusions an Embassador of mischiefe a Tyrant to vertue a breaker of Peace a Fauorite of Warre a friend of Vices a coyner of Lies an Anuile of Nouelties a table of Epicurisme a furnace of Lust a pit-fall to the rich a burthen to the poore a Cell of Pilgrims a den of Theeues a calumniator of the good a renowner of the wicked a cunning Impostor and a deceiuer of all How is the progresse of poore proud mans life violently agitated like the riuer Euripus with contrarious motions The pleasure of the wyly world thus inueigles him Come vnto mee and I will drowne thee in delight The corruption of the luxurious flesh thus ingles him Come vnto me and I will infect thee the Diuell he whispers this in his eare Come vnto mee and I will cheate and deceiue thee But our sweet and sacred Sauiour Iesus Christ with perswasiue inducements thus intreates him Come vnto me I pray thee that art heauy laden and I will receiue and exonerate thee and with the mighty arme of my mercy and compassion lift off that vnsupportable loade which crusheth downe to Hell thy groaning soule Study then to liue as dead to the world that thou maist liue with God for the iust man is said neuer to liue till after death Endeuor thy selfe to march faire through this worlds Labyrinth not to squander and looke asquint vpon the Circean allurements thereof But without turning either to the right or left hand runne straight on in that Eclipticke line which will conduct thee to that celestiall Ierusalem where with that immaculate Lambe Iesus Christ thou shalt enioy pleasure without pain wealth without want rest without labour ioy without griefe and immensiue felicitie without end Moreouer the contempt of the world born of the loue of God shall at length grow to hatred of the world when that besides the vanity and misery of it he shall contemplate the mischiefe and enmitie against the Almighty vvhich there raigneth when besides that vanity which some doe lay open to the view of all hee will represent to himselfe the iniquities which are closely kept and the Treasons Adulteries Murthers which are priuately and lurkingly committed when he shall consider the vials of Gods wrath and displeasure powred generally vpon all man-kinde for in the consideration of this world it behooueth vs to leaue out no part of it but to obserue all manner of nations and people amongst which there are many Pagans which not onely by a consequent but also by expresse profession adore the deuill The East Indies dedicate their temples to him and reuerence him with all respect The West Indies are afflicted and tormented ordinarily with euill spirits In most part of the North lurking deceits and assuming strange shapes are very common among the Inhabitants Sorcery is there an ordinary profession and the Diuell reigneth without contradiction In that Countrey which did once flourish where the Apostles had planted so happily the holy Ghost the Churches are now changed into Mosques and Temples of Idolatry In the West the head of the visible Church is become an earthly Monarch and banks are erected in those places where in times past was the House of God Amongst those erroneous and enuious people are scattered the Iewes which blasphemed against Iesus Christ and hauing persecuted him in his life doe iniuriously wrong him after his death The Countrey from whence came Decrees and Orders for Religion hath in it publike Brothel-houses and Sodomy is there an vsuall custome Here it is also where doubts in Religion that concerne a mans faith are decided in the middest of corruption There onely remaineth in the world a handfull of people which serue Iesus Christ in truth and verity and they can scarce receiue breath in this ayre which is so contrary to them beeing here as fishes without water as the remainders of great Massacres as pieces of boords scattered after the breaking of a great vessell and yet neuerthelesse among these few that are substracted out of the rest of the world corruption doth increase as a Canker or Vlcer Quarrels Vanity Superfluity in Apparell Auarice Ambition Sumptuousnesse which spendeth foolishly doth infect the one part of this small troupe for GOD is ill serued in priuate families their almes are cold they pray seldome and reade neuer IN briefe a contagion of vices by conuersing with our aduersaries doth infect vs which is the first steppe to superstition for errour creeps in to vs by vice and spirituall fornication by corporall If therefore where God is most purely knowne hee bee there ill serued how much more amongst the rest of the world If vices doe harbour in the Sanctuary how much more in the body of the church and habitation of the wicked Therefore Christ doth rightly call Satan The prince of the world and Peter doth iustly write in the second of the Acts Saue your selues from that peruerse generation for Satan lieth in ambush for vs all This age is infectious vices are like vnto glue temptations strong our enemies mighty our selues feeble and ignorant and the way of saluation narrow and full of thornes And few there bee saith Christ that finde it And those which finde it doe not alwayes keepe it but many hauing knowne the trueth doe leaue it and returne to their vomit Let vs know then a place so dangerous that wee may passe by as strangers which doe not onely passe but also runne from it flying from the world to come vnto God for wee shall neuer haue repose vnlesse wee rest
other mortall creatures Kings are most liberally prouided for for what maketh man appeare more happy in this world then Goods Honors Dignities and Rule licence to doe good or euill without controulement power to exercise liberalitie and all kinde of pleasure as well of the body as of the minde all that may be wished for to the contentation of Man either in varietie of meates magnificence in seruice or in vestures to raise at their pleasure the meanest man to high place and with a frowne disgrace the mightiest All which is continually at a Princes command there is nothing that may please the memory or flatter the desires of the flesh but is prepared for them euen from their cradles onely to make their liues more happy and full of felicitie But now if wee iudge of their liues vprightly and weigh them in a true ballance wee shall finde that the selfe-same things that make them happy in this world are the very instruments of vice and the cause of greater sorrowes for what auaile their costly ornaments honorable seruices and delicate meates when that they are in continuall feare to bee poisoned wrong seduced and often beguiled by their seruitors Haue wee not had experience thereof many times Doe not Histories report that some men haue beene poisoned with Pages and with the smoake of Torches Wee may reade likewise of certaine Emperours that durst not lye downe to rest in the night before they had caused their beds to be lyen in and all the corners of their chambers to bee searched lest they should bee strangled or murthered in their sleepes Others that would not permit any Barbers to touch their faces for feare that in trimming of their heads or beards they would cut their throats and yet to this day they are in such feare that they dare not put meat into their mouthes before their taster haue tasted thereof What felicity can a Prince or King haue that hath many thousands of men vnder their gouernment when he must watch for all heare the complaints and cryes of euery one procure euery mans saufeguard prouoke some â—o doe well by liberall gifts and others by terrour feare He must nourish peace amongst his Subiects and defend his Realme against the inuasion of forraine enemies besides many other calamities that are depending vpon a Regall Crowne But now touching the vnhappy states of wicked Princes vnto whom three kindes of people are most agreeable and familiar The first are flatterers which be the chiefe enemies to all vertue and they that impoison their soules with a poison so pestiferous that it is contagious to all the world their Princes folly they call Prudence their crueltie Iustice their wantonnesse Loue their fornications Pleasures and pastimes if they be couetous they call it good husbandry if they be prodigall they call it liberalitie So that there is no vice in a Prince but they cloake it vnder the shadow of some vertue The second sort are such who neuer rest night but in the morning they bring in some new inuention or other how to taxe and draw money from the poore people and generally all their study is imployed to bee wastefull and prodigall in the exactions and misery of the poore Commons The third and last sort are such that vnder the cloake of kindnesse and honestie counterfetting good men haue alwaies their eyes fixed vpon other mens liuings and make themselues reformers of Vices They inuent wicked false deuices not only how to get other mens goods but oftentimes their liues who before God are most innocent Behold heere you may well see the manifold miseries that compasse Scepters and States of Princes Heere are the thornes that they receiue in recompence of their brightnesse and royall dignity which ought like a Lampe to giue light to all the world but when it is eclipsed or darkened with any vice it is more reproachfull in them then in any other priuate person whatsoeuer for they sinne not onely in the fault which they commit but also by the example which they giue The aboundance of honours pleasures that Princes enioy serueth as a bait to induce them to euill and are the very matches to giue fire to vice What was Saul before hee was made King whose life is shewed in the holy Scriptures whom God did elect Yet hee made a sudden eclipse or changing How wonderfull was the beginning of the raigne of King Salomon the which being ouercome with royall pleasures gaue himselfe as a prey to women Of two and twenty Kings of Iudah there is found but fiue or sixe that haue continued in their vertue If we consider the estate of the Assyrians Persians Grecians Egyptians we shall finde more of them wicked then good If we consider what the Romane Emperours were which hath been the most flourishing CoÌ„mon-wealth in the vvorld vvee shall finde them so ouercome with vices and all kinde of cruelties that I doe almost abhortre to speake of their corrupt and defiled liues What was the estate of their Common-wealth before that Scilla and Marius did murmure against it before that Cataline and Catulla did perturbe it before that Caesar and Pompey did slander it before that Augustus and Marcus Antonius did destroy it before that Tiberius and Caligula did defame it before that Domitian and Nero did depraue it For although they made it rich vvith many Kingdomes yet were the vices they brought with them greater then the Kingdomes they gained For their goods and riches are consumed yet their vices remaine vnto this day What memory remaineth of Romulus that founded the Citie of Rome Of Numa Pompilius that erected the Capitoll Of Aurus Marius that compassed it with walles Did not they shew what felicity remaineth in high estates who are more subiect to the assaults of Fortune then any other earthly creature For many times the thred of life breaketh when they thinke least of death and then the infamy of those that bee wicked remaineth written in Histories for a perpetuall memorie thereof The which thing all estates ought more to regard a thousand times then the tongue that speaketh euill which can but shame the liuing but booke record a perpetuall infamie for euer which thing beeing duely considered of by many Emperours Kings in times past forsooke their Scepters and Royall Empires and betooke them to an obscure life resting better contented with a little in quiet then to enioy with full saile the crooked honors of the world CHAP. IIII. The life of Courtiers BVt aboue other vanities and miseries which corruption doth continually attend there doth appeare in Princes Courts a certaine Noble captiuitie where vnder the colour of Greatnesse is the highest Seruitude and those gilded chaines that fetter mens minds He which will liue heere must alwayes be masked and prepared in one houre to conuert himselfe into twenty seuerall shapes to entertaine many seruants but no friends Their innocency is accounted meere simplicitie and to affirme
any thing is to disproue the same There are two sorts of people in the Court which hate one the other each knowing of it notwithstanding there is alwayes an emulation betwixt them which should first attempt any point of Honour to doe the other seruice and bee the last that should end it But such ridiculous complements are like vnto Anticke actions Enuy which doth supplant and deceiue his neighbour or that doth snarle in secret is there perpetually and to appease it there is no way but by miserie Vices and degenerate actions are esteemed among Courtiers as precepts and part of their composition Not to bee corrupted by them there requireth more faith then a graine of Mustard-seed As Crowes build their nest among the highest boughes so doth the diuell among the highest of men where spreading his wings he clocketh for his little ones which are his Vices because there they remaine more exposed to the sight and neuer appeare but vvith authoritie There also shall you see Caualiers who out of their gallant disposition will kill one the other vpon the interpretation of a word a manifest confession that their life is not much worth sith they will sell it so good cheape Notwithstanding these kinde of men that are in these occasions so valiant do fly away when they should suffer the least thing for Gods cause Surely many such are required to make one good Martyr for the holy Gospell There be some kinde of Courtiers so subtill and crafty that they doe play as the Fisherman who as soone as he hath gotten any thing in his Net giueth ouer the Court and goeth his way Other some there be that play all out and other that remaine vntill they become wondrous rich and in the end they are made to restore all backe againe There are also others that doe nothing but inuent meanes to inlarge their owne treasures and become vvealthy with spoiling poore people Princes doe by them many times as wee doe by our hogges wee let them fatten to the end we may eate them afterwards so likewise are they suffered many times to enrich themselues to be disposed afterwards when they are fat and one that is new come oftentimes is preferred in their places By this you may see that Courtiers oftentimes doe sell their liberty to become rich for they must obey all commandements they must frame themselues to laugh when the Prince laugheth to weepe when hee weepeth approue that which hee approueth and condemne that which he condemneth They must alter and change their natures to bee seuere with those that are seuere sorrowfull with those that are sorrowfull and in a manner transforme themselues according to the nature of him whom they will please or else they shall get nothing To bee briefe they must frame themselues according to his manners nature and yet many times one little offence stayneth all the seruice they haue done in the life before Many in Princes Courts put off their caps to them whom they would gladly see cut shorter by the head and often bow their knees to do them reuerence whom they wish had broken their neckes Here you may see the life of a great number of vicious Courtiers which is no life but rather a lingring death heere you may see wherein their Youth is imployed which is no youth but a transitory death for when they come to age they bring nothing from thence but gray heads their feet full of Gouts their backes full of paine their hearts full of sorrow and their soules filled with sinne CHAP. V. The life of Magistrates and wicked Iudges NOw our discourse of Courtiers being past it is requisite we speake of things done in the ciuill life and to how many miseries it is subiect For although it be at this day a degree most noble necessary for the peace of mans life yet shall we finde that it deserues to haue his part in this Pilgrimage as well as others and if there be any delectation pleasure or Honour depending thereon yet it is transitory and inconstant First knowing that all the actions of Magistrates passe before the eyes of the common people whose iudgements in matters of State be but simple yet haue they a certaine smell or sauour to know the good from euill Wherefore those that be Iudges and Magistrates be subiect as in a Play to bee hissed at and chased away with shame and confusion For the haire-brain'd people vvhich is compared to a Monster with many heads are mutable vncertaine fraudulent apt to wrath and mutinie ready to praise or dispraise without wisedome or discretion variable in their talke vnlearned and obstinate Therefore it behooueth that the life of a Iudge or Magistrate bee sincere and vertuous For as he iudgeth openly so shall hee be iudged of the people seuerally not onely in matters of waight and importance but in those of small consequence For alwayes the rude people will find somewhat to reforme as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at their Law-maker Licurgus for that he went alwayes holding downe his head The Venecians defamed wise Cato in his eating and accounted Pompeius vnciuill for that he would scratch with one finger onely yet these are but few in comparison of other good men that the common sort haue persecuted banished and in the end put to death If that great Oratour Demosthenes were aliue hee could say some-what who after he had a long time been a iust and faithfull Gouernour of the Common-wealth of Athens was in the end without cause vniustly banished Moses and many other holy men haue so many times tasted the fury of the common people that if they were this day liuing they would powre out most grieuous complaints against them Now wee haue shewed and set forth the miseries that proceede from common people so must wee in like sort put into the ballance the errours and corruptions that are found in wicked Iudges of the which sort some are corrupted with feare for such feare they haue that rather then they will displease a Prince or a great Lord will violate Iustice like Pilate that condemned Christ for feare that hee had to displease the Emperour Tiberius Other Magistrates are corrupted by loue as was Herod who for to please the foolish loue of a Damsell that danced condemned Saint Iohn Baptist although that hee knew that hee was iust and innocent Some are many times corrupted by hatred as was the chiefe Priest that condemned Saint Paul to bee stoned to death though he deserued it not Some Magistrates are corrupted by siluer and gold and other gifts presents as were the children of the Prophet Samuel and this disease is so contagious that I feare at this day many are infected with it They all loue rewards saith the Prophet they all looke for gifts they doe not right to the Orphane and the Widdowes complaint commeth not before them And in another place Woe be to you that are corrupted by money by hatred
an Apple To entice with Siluer the Sonne of the King of Heauen to offend his Father and after the example of Esau to sell my birth-right for a messe of pottage Such perswasions shall not by any meanes possesse mee God will not afflict me vvith so great a blindnesse We are vnworthy to be followers of CHRIST if wee doe not esteeme our selues to be better then the world Was it not for the loue of the faithfull that the world was framed Will not God ruinate it againe for to reedifie for them a faire house in Heauen where shall bee the fulnesse of glory For this Heauen or climate is inferiour to the worth and dignity of the children of God You that feare God and trust in his Sonne know that it is you that vnderprop the world and that nourish the wicked in it Therefore the enemies of God are bound in obligation to you For hee doth conserue the world out of a respect which he hath towards his chosen and elect whereof some are mixed among the euill and others are yet vnborne It is written in the sixt of the Apocalypse That GOD doth attend vntill our fellow-seruants be accomplished And therefore this is one of the reasons why that Christ doth call the faithfull The salt of the earth which is as much as a little part amongst men which conserueth the rest and delayeth their destruction For God conserueth the sinfull because of the good to the end that they should serue as medicines to them and that the might and power of our Aduersaries might serue to compell vs to the feare of God and to trust in his promises Such being the excellency of Gods elect aboue the rest it behooueth vs to respect the pleasures riches and greatnesse of the world as things that are most ridiculous and as the painted kingdomes which the Diuell shewed vnto Christ Like those which from the highest part of the Alpes doe looke into Campania where the greatest Cities seeme like vnto little Cottages how much lesse and base will they seeme then if they were discerned from Heauen From thence therefore it behooueth that the faithfull contemplate humane things and that hee transport instantly his heart to Heauen since that there is his treasure And considering from thence the Palaces of Princes hee will esteeme them as habitations of Ants and the turbulent murmuring of men as the buzzing of an angry swarme of Bees and contemplating from thence vvhat things are most great and apparant in the earth he wil say The vanity of vanities all is vanity That holy glory will not hinder Christian humilitie For wee knowing the worthinesse of our selues doe finde our dignity in Iesus Christ If Repentance doth humble vs Faith doth exalt vs. If we are nothing before God wee are somewhat in God in his fatherly affections And therefore in this the faithfull are contrary to worldly men for they doe lift their eyes to heauen by too much pride but presse downe their heart on the earth with Auarice and Incontinency whereas the godly on the contrarie hath his eyes vpon the earth by humilitie as the Publican which durst not lift his eyes to Heauen but hath his heart in Heauen by faith and hope The contempt of this world proceeds not out of a loue to himselfe but out of a true affection to God THE MISERY OF MANS FRAILE AND NATVRALL INCLINATION AND Of the Wickednesse and Peruersenesse that now raigneth in this wretched AGE COnsidering to my selfe the miseries of Humane condition my minde and spirit is so confounded with diuersitie of thoughts that I enter as it were into a Labyrinth of confusion whose issue is most difficult For if I settle my considerations vpon Nature humane qualities or effects those three obiects do so obfuscate my powers that all the knowledge that I can gather is impossibilitie neuer to attaine to the perfect knowledge of the numberlesse number of those miseries mis-haps and vanities affected as inseparable to humane kinde and to that end doe chalenge all the most profound and serious sences of the wisest and most learned men to effect the definition therof Let them consider from its source originall yea euen from the Cradle where humane nature shall bee found senselesse depriued from the vsage of all the noblest faculties of the Soule and so weake wretched and capable onely of teares and weepings expressing thereby in complaining her miseries which doe increase faster then she growes in yeeres She hath no sooner giuen ouer the Milke of her Nurse but she begins to goe or rather to fall sith her going is in danger of sore hurts by a continuall experience in falling Can shee goe She knowes not whither to goe but must haue a conduct during the time of her second Infancy what forme of bringing vp soeuer shee takes vpon her the first impressions thereof are most costly in respect of the time and their labour and trouble which haue the care thereof which is incredible For as shee receiues some document of worldly science and discipline which if it be a true doctrine will instruct her that whatsoeuer qualities sciences and learning she possesseth yet she is still ignorant and knowes in a manner nothing and all that she knowes not can neuer bee by her learned or conceiued although she haue so many liues as this world abounds with creatures And which is more she hath not so soone escaped and passed ouer the perils of her Youth but she commeth and entreth into those infinite dangers of her ripe age and that which is most deplorable and lamentable is that in that fiery and burning age shee vtterly consumes wasts her selfe Or if she escape moderates the fury violence of the heat of that age it is but for a time for what way so euer she treads Nature shee still approaches neere vnto death being alwayes in the ready way to her graue where by degree time hunts her vnder the conduct of old age not without many crosses sorrowes and tribulations for she must passe through cruell and tedious straights of anguish and miseries no lesse innumerable then infinite which astonisheth and weares out euen the most constant who are in a manner not able to indure them with patience If we will see the body of this Tree we must breake the barke of our condition for it is the true portraiture of our selues and so wee may cleerely apprehend it with the very same reason considering what an infinite number of mis-haps miseries and mischiefes wee are subiect vnto in this transitorie world that the infinitie of them is impossible to be related for if examples be vaine to manifest it vnto vs by comparison our imbecilitie in expressing it alone may be in some fashion eloquent for to treate some part thereof and that wherewith the afflicted are most comforted is through the assurance they haue that all men together are subiect to the like miseries and ill fortunes except
that minute for hee will come like a thiefe in the night suddenly before with a winke thou canst locke vp thine eye or in thy braine create the nimblest thought Canst thou then hope to stand iustified in thy Makers presence when thou hast cramd the deuill with thy sappe of strength and full gorg'd him with the purest Acorne Mast of thy siowy virility if at last thou come limping on Times tottering crutches to present vnto him the off all huskes and morosity of thy doting decrepit age What thanke is it to pardon our enemies when wee cannot hurt them to giue away our goods when wee can enioy them no longer to abandon our pleasures when wee cannot vse them to forsake sinne when it biddes farewell to vs and at last onely to surcease to offend when ability of offending is taken from vs No no hee will then paralell thee with the sluggard that neuer would acquire foode till hee was first starn'd and ranke thee with the sottish ideot that could not know a fish till hee was already stung with a Scorpion thy palsie-shaken prayers will bee like Cains oblation vnacceptable to the Lord and noisome to his nostrils Thinkest thou to expiate Gods Iustice when thou hast prodigally swealed out the blazing lampe of thy brightest day in the Deuils chappell if at last thou come creeping when thy breath lies twinkling in the socket of thy nostrils to set it vp in Gods Sanctuary hoping then and there to haue it replenish't with his all-sauing grace and mercie O mocke not thy soule with these deluding phantasma's for as Alexander seeing one of his souldiers whetting his dart when others of his fellowes went foorth to fight casheer'd him saying Hee 's vnfit to beare armes that hath them to make ready when hee should skirmish So will God send thee packing as hee did the foolish Virgins with this retorsion Thou comest disfurnish't with no oyle in thy lampe and thou deseruest no mercie that neuer desiredst it till now in miserie Gather thy selfe betimes then within the weapons of Faith Hope Charity Repentance and Perseuerance and let Prayer stand perpetuall Sentinell for if the Diuell once get footing within thee he will hardly bee eiected so wily is he in peruerting thee that thou canst not bee too wary in preuenting him For as Iphicrates answered his Generall who asked him why hee surrounded his souldiers with a Wall when there was no feare of foe-mens approach A man cannot be too prouident in preuenting obuious and occurrent dangers So canst thou not bee too cautelous in repelling the perillous stratagems of the Diuels assaults therefore may I cloze vp the precedencie with that worthy saying of a more worthy Epigrammatist No man needes feare that feares before hee needes O cleanse and purifie thy heart then by earnest prayer and powerfull ciaculations which is made the loathsome cage of sinne the silent receptacle of diabolicall cogitations and the dismall dungeon of malignant motions that the Spirit of grace may there finde harbour and take delight to bee thy inmate Remember O thou mighty man that swelling titles of Honour are but the leaues of vanity Remember O thou rich man that terrene and transitorie pleasures are like the Bee though they yeeld honey yet carry they a sting and are but as the Lillies of the earth more delectable in show then durable in continuance Remember O thou extortioner thou cruell man thou Murtherer thou Adulterer thou deceitfull man thou vnconscionably deteinest the hirelings wages and thou that actest inexorable villanies secretly in the darke imprisoned from the worlds dull eye that if the Eagle can discerne as one hath it the Hare vnder the Bush and the Fish vnder the Waues much more can God who is the Creator of creatures penetrate the closet of thy heart with his all-seeing eye and discerne thy clandestine sinful practices before and in their very conception and for them hee will bring thee to iudgement Remember O thou that swayest the Sword of Iustice to strike or saue as thou art suggested by thine owne ends profits or affections that though thy couert proiects be not envulgard to the worlds generall eye yet a day of Reuelation will come when all thy partiall and priuate practices shall bee stript euiscerate and laid as apparantly open as the sheepe vpon the Gambrell But now with reuerence and Doue-like humilitie to you which are Iehouahs Embassadors the light of the world and salt of the earth doe I addresse my speech mustered vp in the meanest and mildest ranke of words O I could wish that all of you stood without the list of that reprehension of Vices which once an ancient and honest Historian twitted the Monkes of Canterbury with Some rise early in the morning to see their hounds pursue the prey but not to pray some delight to catch Fowles but not Soules some take pleasure to cast a Dye well but not cast to die well Doth the wilde Asse bray saith Iob when he hath grasse or loweth the Oxe when he hath fodder But I dare not say No more doe some of you preach when you haue once got a Benefice If there bee any that entertaine Religion with their Lord preach the praise of their Patrons preaching in the Pulpit chatter in their Chambers suiting their Linsie Wolsey professions with their seuerall ends O let those remember how God met with a mischiefe that notorious Nestorius who for his temporizing inconstancie set wormes a worke to eate out his tongue O let them looke into the Story of one Hecebolus a Sophister who accommodating his profession to the fashions of the Emperours fained himselfe in the dayes of Constantius to be a most feruent Christian But when Iulian the Apostata was Ruler presently he turned Paynim and in his Orations proclaimed Iulian a god And when Iulian was dead in Iouinians time hee would haue turned backe to Christianitie Wherevpon for his mutabilitie and lightnesse in his Religion his horrid conscience draue him to the Church gates and there hurling himselfe flat cryed and bellowed with a lowd voice Trample me vnder your feete vnsauoury salt that I am entirely wishing out of his soules agony that he had neuer seene the light or at his conception his tongue had been riuetted to the roofe of his mouth Lastly and indefinitely to all Remember so to liue as you still may bee prepared for the stroke of Death then will you desire to be dissolued and to sleep in peace reclusiuely frō the turbulent sea of earthy carefull miseries discerning cleerely by the spirituall eye of vnderstanding that mans life is a wayfare because it is short and a warfare for that it is sharpe and that worldly delights are deceitfull and of no durabilitie like the water-Serpent no sooner bred but dead Collecting likewise out of humane experience that the best life is but a weary and tedious pilgrimage feeles no touch of true solace till at the euening of his dayes he lodge at the Inne of