wide but narrowe and pinching when one comes there especially when they come to their bodies againe Most woefull it is to thinke on how they will lye thronging and crowding together for want of roome like bricks or tyles in a burning kill not able or not allowed to stirre hand or foote if they would neuer so faine men and women fatte and leane little and great hudling one vpon another confusedly without respect of age or sexe or any bodies ranke or place which they had in this world with Heauen all contrary The way thither narrow and streight and hard to passe it but when one is there and hath crowded through the little wicket he findes a large field and goes freely where hee will without end or wearinesse The nature of contraries is in cōtrary qualities hell is litle in ease because there is no ease little in pleasure because it is all in displeasure little in roome because it hath no roome for any repose Heauen therefore must needs be great faire goodly bright beautifull full of ease full of repose euery body would haue few will take paines for and therefore thousands to one shall not haue it as I said before I doubt not but all men beleeue as much as I or any man can say of this Angelicall subiect And I doubt as little but they thinke it well worthy of their studie and care and of their paines and cost if cost bee needfull for the obtaining of it But what is the paines that belongs to it that men and women so shrinke at and pull in their necks Is it losse of life or limme Not so but in case of Martyrdome Is it to giue all to the poore Mat. 19. Not so though Christ aduise it one that sought to be perfect Is it to suffer burning or paines of hell for it before wee come there Not so and yet Saint Augustine wisheth it with all his heart Medit. that hee might feelehell torments a good while together to bee sure to come thither and so doth venerable Bede See what apprehension these had of Heauens greatnesse What is then the let that stoppes them What the paine that terrifies Prou. 26. What Lyon in the way that puttes men out of the way What spirit or hobgoblin skares them so that they runne quite contrary and scarce looke backe againe Surely nothing else in the world but a loathing or wearinesse of well doing They thinke the paine nothing if it were short but to perseuere long in good courses they hold it a cruell thing They say in their hearts they could endure much for a day or an hower so Heauen would come presently without tarrying too long for it But to liue a long life and all the while in Battell all the while in withstanding temptations and allurements and denying their owne willes all the while expecting reward and none comming it is more then flesh and blood can beare and they will not endure it But how Dastardly a thought is this How erronious and wide from the matter That which they thinke so hard is with practise easie And that which they thinke is far off is rather neere as I shall prooue vnto you now I haue spoken hitherto of Reward how great it will bee when wee shall haue it Now hearken I beseech you for the Neerenesse also a word or two according to my promise and then I shall conclude Our Sauiour well foresaw this weakenesse of ours how weary wee would bee of well doing if hee were not at hand to vs with Reward he knew our pronenesse to euill and how soone wee were like to distast and forgoe this Bread of Trauellers if wee should stay too long for our Bread of Angels And therefore before hee manifested himselfe to the world he sent vs word by his fore-runner and the first words his Baptist spake next to Penetentiam agite were these Mat. 3. appropinquauit enim regnum caelorum The kingdome of Heauen is at hand A noble comfort if wee haue faith to beleeue Abac. 2. Veniens veniet non tardabit saith another Prophet Comming hee will come and make no delay And in another place Ecce venio citò merces mea mecum est Beholde I come quickly and my reward in my hand Hee doth as mothers doe by their children promise them to come quickly that they may not thinke long so heere venio citò Apoc. 3. ibid. 22. mothers speake it sometimes in pollicy but God saith it truely as wee shall finde it venio citò I come presently Non tardat Deus promissionem suam saith Saint Peter 2. Pet. 3. God is not slowe in rewarding vs how can wee say then that hee tarrieth long hee is farre off from vs and scarcely thinkes on vs It is a sinne against the Holy Ghost not to beleeue the Holy Ghost And if wee will beleeue nothing but reason very sence and reason will tell vs as much For it cannot be very farre off that wee feare rather is too neere Who is there that thinkes not or feares not that death is too neere for so said the Epicure Cras moriemur Esay 22. Wee shall dye to morrow And thus say they that would liue still and take their pleasure they are alwayes physicking and guarding themselues against death which they feare still is too neere If death then bee neere how is it that Heauen is not neere which wee cannot haue vntill wee dye Why complaine wee that Heauen is farre off when the doore of Heauen is too neere Some answer againe that death is too neere indeede but it is alwaies in respect of our vnreadinesse to dye onely Well then death and Heauen are neere But it is wee that are farre off Why say we then that Heauen is farre off when it is our selues are farre off with our vnreadinesse not Heauen farre off with our happinesse Indeede it is true if Heauen bee neere and we runne from it wee shall neuer come at it and then no fault in Heauens neerenesse but in our farrenesse Where otherwise if death bee neere Heauen must needes bee neere to them that shall haue it Mee thinkes this reason should conuince them For if death bee neere in our feare why should it not bee as neere in our hope Wee confesse the one therefore wee must confesse the other And yet I cannot deny but the Saints also in some sence doe thinke it farre off and shew some tokens of wearinesse But this is doubtlesse out of a true longing after heauen not out of a feare that they shall staye too long for it out of wearinesse they haue of the world not out of wearinesse of waiting and attending Gods pleasure out of their humility and vnworthinesse to come thither yet not out of floath or presumption that it is time enough yet out of a thirst they haue after God whose face the Angels feede on not out of temptation and weakenesse as we doe who if our
Choromandell of Saint Thomas and in other places likewise the Pago-de is carried vpon mens shoulders where the Brachmans that carry it make as though the god will goe no further and they not able to carry it further And it may bee that the Diuell doth presse them so hard that they cannot stirre indeede Then come there many that are neuer wanting at such a time who stabbe themselues to death and there fall downe before it And yet the Pago-de will not stirre vntill the number be full as the deuill or Brachmans would haue it And then they goe forward to the temple againe well loaden with the spoyle of those damned creatures both body and soule Yet this they do and thinke they doe their god seruice in it And shall arise no doubt in iudgment against vs. Who know the true God and yet are so spiritlesse and dull in his true seruice as we be There is no neede of sliceing and wounding our selues as they doe yet it will not hurt vs to leape out of a warme bedde sometimes for a Pater noster while either to encounter an ill thought assayling vs or to pray for them that haue no where to lye or for them that be in danger that night by sea or land or if we chance to heare a passing bell God forbid we should kill or misdiet our selues with ouer much care and yet to pinch our selues a little for the poore or for abating our flesh that it rebell not are testimonies to our conscience that we feare and loue God Wee will not leaue our needefull businesse at randon and yet we will take our times to talke with God in secret or at publique praier and thinke long to be at it If wee haue a charge wee may not neglect it yet well may we thinke that any act of deuotion is more noble in it selfe then the mannaging of a kingdome Wee will not lye groueling a whole Sabboth till sunne sette Psal 6. Psal 118. as many Iewes doe yet let vs not thinke much to labour in our prayer with groaning as king Dauid did And if we cannot doe it seauen times a day as hee did yet once a day or a weeke it were noble and would profit vs much to pray so as if wee should then dye It may bee yee thinke I impose too much vpon yee now when I thrust these things into matter of saluation But mistake mee not I beseech you I know yee bee stout men and valiant and yee stand vpon your gentry but if yee be not good men also as I thinke ye are all your stoutnesse is nothing He is a stout man that is a good man and I shew you but some tokens how to know when yee are as you should be It is true Christ is our saluation and redemption But how Fac hoc viues Luk. 10. somewhat there is must bee done on our part And it will not be done without Labour We must decline from euill and doe good and both these will cost labour And if yee thinke these little things that I haue spoken of yee must remember with all what the Holy Ghost doth teach vs Qui spernit modica paulatim decidet Eccl. 9.19 they that set light by litle things by litle shall decay Neither are they so little as they can be done without labour If wee repent vs of our sinnes is this all Saint Ambrose tels vs that hee knewe many repenters but fewe that did the workes that belongs to it If we fast is this enough our Prophet tels vs in another place that our willes are founde in our fastings We labour not to weede out our owne willes Esay 58. 1. Cor. 5. 1. Reg. 16. nor to seuer our sowre leauen from that which is pure God lookes not on the stoutnesse of our person or highnesse of our worke but on our lowlinesse and meekenes withall and loues vs more for one act of Mortification then if wee gained him thousands yea although it were the whole kingdome of Turkie One temptation well encountred or passion ouercome is more glorious in his sight then all the conquests of Julius Caesar or the triumph of Aemilius And this is the labour God requires of vs and I exhort yee to This the labour our Prophet speaketh of and hath Saturity And the want of this Labour brings that heauy sentence vpon vs which fewe doe marke or take note of I beseech you marke what our Sauiour saith to this purpose Luk. 13.24 Multi querunt intrare saith he non poterunt Many shall seeke to enter heauen and cannot What a saying is this that many shall seeke to enter and cannot enter whom will not such a sentence terrifie or not make him or compell him to stirre about this businesse although he were halfe dead but what is the reason of this sentence No other but this They seeke and sit still They goe forward but mend no pace the bridegroome is come and gone the whilest They cannot abide to sweate at it or take paines They cry Domine Domine and will not put out their hand The Labour is not hard yea the burthen light and yet they will not lye vnder it It is little more paines then to see a play and yet they will not doe the one when they doe the other daily The Play-house doore is lowe and narrow and yet they sticke not to stoope and rend their cloathes with crowding It is beset with bils and halberds and they may haue a knocke and yet they feare nothing They may loose their purses or somewhat else and yet they will aduenture It will cost them money when they enter and a great many sit vneasie for their money or in danger of infection and yet they weigh it not Who labours for heauen thus who seekes heauen so laboriously feares no difficulty scornes no disgrace sets light by losse or a blowe biddes for the best place and will haue no nay vntill they bee in it They that seeke heauen thus shall bee sure to enter And they that seeke it not thus the sentence is ginen non poterunt they doe but goe by and looke at the place but they cannot goe in as our Sauiour saith And this may suffice for the second point which was Labour and Saturity whereby to stirre you and hasten you in your way to heauen There be two things belong to haste The one is to know the readiest way the next to loose no time in our speede if the matter bee of importance There is nothing imports vs more then our heauenly inheritance And I haue shewne the next way thither out of the Prophet Esay by holy vertuous life hearing reading and often receiuing which I prooued to be vnderstood by this word Bread in respect of all the properties of Bread that are found therein The worth of which bread hath beene declared vnto yee as also what Saturity and true contentment is and who they bee that labour and come short
What a horrible law is this How inhumane And yet there bee other as ill as these but they agree not all in a tale I omitte to speake of their satisfactions as what is due for the lie giuen what for a blow with a fist what with a cudgell The satisfaction must be greater then the wrong alwaies else no satisfaction or rather no satisfaction will serue vnlesse the party thinke it so And it comes to this in the end that he must be his owne iudge For if he thinke it not satisfaction enough all his friends must not quiet him These matters I shall desire you to examine with the lawe of God and with the professours of the same And let no man make a puffe at it if hee bee a man indeede and not a very Canniball There is an eternall lawe which to aime at is all our duties and to swerue from is frailty but to make lawes against it is plaine Apostacie or as I saide before meere blindnesse of heart For what should I call it else when they forget God so much forget nature forget all ciuility and humanity A gentleman is so called of gentlenes and sweetnes to all The opposite of rudenes surlines morositie and hard to please And as they be towards man so are they to God-ward that is to say contemptuous and base If the king commaund a man that hee fight not or if a man bee bound with his friend to the good behauiour and be challenged he will refuse for feare of forfeiture or offending man and they hold it no cowardice But when the king of kings forbiddeth Heb. 1. Psal 90.11 and his angels are our sureties as it is written God hath giuen them charge of vs wee neither listen to God nor Angell but turne our backes to them most rudely and therefore they turne their backs to vs and we speed ill fauouredly with it in the end Neither doth it helpe the iustice of our cause to fly our countrey for tryall as many doe Coelum non mores mutat qui trans mare currit It saues them a penaltie but helpes no fault beeing both of one allegeance which if it were seuerall the sinne were only to God As it hapned in the time of King Edward the third betweene a gentleman of Cyprus and the bastard of France both hired souldiers to the king of Armenia One of these had charged the other for taking money of the turkish enemy And beeing to try it by combate before some competent Iudge that were indifferent to them both They both agreed to goe ouer in to England Edward 3. and to bee iudged by the king there They would not bee their owne iudges as our Duellors are nor steale reuenge as we doe nor wrong their Soueraignes as they had done if they had beene of one allegiance But the matter being great betweene them they prepared themselues for all tryals of chiualry on horsebacke and on foote and submitted themselues to the honourable censure of the worthiest Prince in those dayes who iudged it for the Frenchman after a long combate Yee talke of daring and what a trouble it is to a man of spirit to be dared to his face in any thing And why should it trouble you so hee cannot out dare you in true honour Neither is hee the best man that dareth most Fortis non est qui nihil timet saith Aristotle Most valour goes not by least fearing Yea a man must feare as well as dare if he be a true souldier or professour of armes Vulneribus didicit miles habere metum And yet is not this to bee rightly called feare in him but a necessary care of himselfe as farre as may stand with honour The truth is hee is most valiant that can and will and will what ere hee can due circumstances considered If your enemy will dare you to the diuell must yee dare to goe with him And I haue prooued it to bee little better If your enemy can clime a tree like a squirrell or swimme like a dogge or haue other actiuities that you haue not as to ride a wilde bull or cloze with a Beare or bee so desperate as to runne vpon his swords point or leape into a well will yee answer his challenge in any of these for your life though hee dare you and dare you againe And yet I cannot deny it to bee a great deale of courage if a man were not drunke to dare so I knew two gentlemen fell out on an euening and they must try it presently by starre-light with either of them a knife in their hand and had almost killed one another if they had not beene found in the fact and parted Did any man commend them for it or not rather laugh at them I heard of Sir John Wallop an hardy knight of England who when hee was olde was challenged into the field by his enemy And it was no dishonour to refuse it and our Duellors will not deny it but will blame the challenger rather But the olde knight did challenge him againe to bee bound in a chaire against him as hee should bee also with a case of Pistols in their hands and so to try it But the other refused our Duellors will say with honour enough For may not and can not are both in a ranke of things that are not to bee done Why should a man dare then to doe that he may not without defence more then that hee cannot without knowledge or ablenesse to performe It is pittifull that men dare so and haue God against them I know well wee dare euery day against God when soeuer wee sinne wilfully Wee presume vpon long life and therefore wee dare But to dare him so neere death and in an act that tendes to death I holde it most desperate or like vnto one that pickt a pocket as hee was going to the gallowes But whether goes hee hee goes where he may dye though man good enough and his other sinners may deserue it though this were none What more He goes where none that feares God will goe with him to giue him countenance No spirituall man will associate him to giue comfort at his death or dare bidde him God speede in so speedy a way to hell Hee shall haue many no doubt of his owne spirit that will accompany him and animate him in naughtinesse but no man of God to pray for him or God to take his prayer Let his cause bee what it will bee right or wrong If it bee right hee spoyles it with ill handling if it bee wrong hee sinneth doubly It is base to wrong any but more base to stand in it Yee aske mee then what remedy for gentlemen to right themselues if they bee wronged or dishonoured I answer my purpose is not to giue remedy to remedilesse humors but to shewe vnto yee that what yee thinke is remedy is no remedy and what yee thinke is honour is no more but courage For yee must distinguish
Romane gentlemen stood in more awe of then of fire or sword And this is all I can allowe you and no more My reason is this For eyther the wrong is prooued or not If prooued then no combate as all agree because there is meanes for ciuill satisfaction If not prooued as to say the lye was giuen you but you cannot prooue it conquest cannot prooue it except it speake true alwayes which no man will say Howbeit for a perfect remedy or preuenting rather of the cause I would wish that we were so wise as to withstand beginnings and to temper our heate that there might bee no brawles at all For it is a rule in armes that he who forbeares ill words can neuer haue the lye giuen him iustly nor the burthen put vpon him to challenge Detraction behinde ones backe and contumely to ones face are principal bellowes to these combustions Or to speake more inwardly to the busines I find most commonly mens thoughts in Duell before their bodies are Enuy and pride in them fill their heads with comparisons I as good as he I more wise or worthy I more valiant or hardy or of better desert then hee And this is mentall Duell which breakes out into act vpon small occasion They say comparisons are odious and yet they vse them as though they were gracious and that is childish For it beganne with childe-hood and should ende at manhood Quanto maior es tanto te geras submissius the greater we be the more kinde and humble we ought to bee And we that bee Christians haue great helpes for it ouer that heathens haue And yet haue heathens also giuen vs excellent examples heerein and it is good for vs to learne of them if wee will not learne of Christ Wee may learne of Fabius Maximus as I said before not to regard what men say of vs so we deserue it not Wee may learne of noble Antigonus who ouerhearing some of his followers talking their pleasure of him in the next roome came out suddainely vpon them with a staffe in his hand and badde them get them further out of his hearing and then talke what they list Why tooke he not reuenge We may learne of Philip of Macedon who contrariwise would not part with Nicanor although he were tolde that hee was ill tongued and spake not well of him I must looke to my selfe said he that I haue no fault and he will haue little to talke of So saide Tiberius before hee fell to tyranny When complaint was made of certaine libels cast out against him Wee must haue patience said hee tongues and thoughts are free I will doe nothing heereafter but what I can account for and if they shall hate me notwithstanding I can but hate them againe And like to these was our Lewis the twelfth who was so quallified in this kinde that he renued the old custome in plaies and enterludes to point at mens faults with quippes and ieastes before their faces which is death in Venice and would not himselfe be spared no more then others And to this effect said Phocion that noble Duke of Athens that he had no enemy nor could hate any man For if a man should wrong him vndeseruedly he was his owne enemy and not his and if deseruedly it was a warning to him to amend I would to God wee had the minde to learne of him for he was full of wisedome and manly fortitude He helde it base to keepe reuenge in his breast to any priuate person In so much as going to dye one asking him what he would haue to his sonne nothing said hee but that hee reuenge not my death And of the same minde was Vespatian the Emperour as great a souldier as hee was hee would take no reuenge of priuate enmity For beeing thrust out rudely before he was Emperour out of Neroes presence by an vsher of the chamber with these words get you out get you out with a vengeance what doe you heere This vsher comming afterward to him when hee was Emperour to craue pardon of him to late hee gaue him no more but his owne words againe saying get you out with a vengeance what doe you heere This is base to our young masters now a daies that must beare no coales in no sort And what doe we reade of Lycurgus long before these when Alcandar had maliciously put out his eye with a cudgell did hee thinke of reuenge no contrary he tooke him into his seruice and hee became his louingest seruant that euer he had A strange thing that heathens should practise the Gospell before they heard of the Gospell Yea more strange that God requires no more of vs but what our light of nature shewes vs the way to And most strange of all that we who know the Gospell set so light by it will not heare of turning to ' ther cheeke or of rendring good for euill Mat. 5. neither doe Ivrge them to it now and yet these Pagans ledde them to it by their owne practise and example Was it want of courage thinke yee that Caesar would put vp a wrong in an instant As when he gaue his voice for Memmius to be Consull that called him all to naught but a little before was pleased with Catullus in an instant and badde him to supper who had defamed him with libels and who could take more temperately those biting speeches of Cecinna then he Where was courage where was reuenge Where letters of defiance What reuenge tooke our Constantine when one was brought before him that had stabbed his picture on the face This was all he did He called for a looking-glasse and finding there that his face was neuer the worse for it hee let him goe without punishment These vertues in those great Princes were admirable And although I doe not commend them in all these things in regard they were publique persons and might lye open to contempt by it if they should vse it yet are they of great example to priuate persons not to thinke so loftily of themselues as they doe when such as these and so farre aboue them in honour and worth could forget their greatnesse and policie for loue of these vertues and in hatred of reuenge It is commended in Cotys king of Thracia that finding himselfe so weake as he was in resisting anger hee shunned occasions of it though it were but to a seruant For which cause hee brake once a number of costly drinking-glasses that were giuen him for a present saying hee had rather be without them all then be angry with his man for breaking but of one Yet much more commendable it had beene if hee had spared the glasses and watched his anger better which wee that be Christians may more easily doe then he by helpe of grace which he had not Gentlemen should bestow some time their idle time I meane vpon morality and laudable histories that they may see and make choise of the worthiest actions and imitate Princes
first of it now last past we must looke for a generall reuolt from God and all goodnes 2. Thes 2. our sinnes deseruing it and our contempt of his lawes I pray God my feare prooue greater then the euents I haue read an old prophecy that Europe shall burne and it hath prooued true in this last age The rather through difference of opinions and those both great and many in matter of Religion By reason whereof so many haue beene slaine in a few daies space as would haue driuen the Turke out of Hungary Walachia Transiluania and out of all Germany home to Constantinople and in a few yeares so many of our Christian brethren haue beene slaine by our fire and sword as would haue wholly vncrowned him and cast him out of all commerce with vs beyond the Caspian sea from whence he came Ispeake not of older times then this last hundreth wherin it bad beene better if it were Gods will that Flanders and Netherland had beene vnder water Milan swallowed of the earth Naples flat with the ground then so many liues had beene lost about them and so many soules either damned or indangered by them the turke looking on the while and laughing at vs giuing praise to his Mahomet and crying blessed be our confusion The day is now come I thinke which Christ foretold vs that malice shall abound and charity waxe cold Mat. 24. It could not else be that wee should bee so ready to strike our brother or neighbour as we doe vpon so slight occasions most commonly or not so great as Beniamins was and dye vnrepentant for it It is no new saying but begotten of long obseruation in most countryes and ages especially in former times and for this onely sinne Ad cereris generum sine caede et sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges aut sicca morte tyranni Few kings or tyrants dye faire death But some misfortune stops their breath I list not illustrate it with examples what vntimely deaths haue followed Princes for it Or if not death yet cruell rending of their kingdomes or translating them out of their lyne to some worthier then themselues and sometimes to their enemy Psal 67. Dissipa gentes quae bella volunt saith king Dauid Let them be confounded that seeke warres And the Emperour Martianus who had beene a warriour all his dayes yet this was his saying let no man haue warre that may liue in peace Pax vna triumphis innumeris potior saith an other And yet I would not haue them loose what they be truely Lords of nor put vp incroachments and vnworthy disgraces for which they may honourably right themselues if some things concurre For first the cause must be iust and so resolued by reuerend men Secondly if long out of posession that it cost not more then it is worth And thirdly how like they be to holde it when they haue gotten what they would lib. 1. c. 16. Our Phillip de Comines who was in the bosomes of many great Princes addes this also that where there are many Princes of equall degree and cannot agree if they will be sure to doe well they must alwayes haue some superiour amongst them to aduise them and ouerrule them in matter of quarrel and anger between them What a thing is it that two Princes both of them wise should leade their armies into the field Lib. 3. cap. 3 and inuade one another so boldely and bloodily as they did and knew no cause why but the cunning of contriuers and make-bates as the same author affirmeth of his owne knowledge Who sheweth also what deceits they haue vsed and striuen who should deceiue the other most in their accords with more then Punicke fraudes murthers and paricides when they gaue scope to their humours and would be ruled by none The danger whereof is so great to them and to their posterity cap. 28. that hee exhorts them in his first booke more like a Diuine then a Statist to thinke of hell often and of the torments there I say no more but humbly wish them to reade it out of the booke it selfe and marke it well as the Emperour Charles the fift I thinke did for the booke was neuer out of his hands And yet it is no more then Ecclesiasticus aduises them Memento nouissimorum cap. 18. desine inimicari Remember the last things and thou wilt haue no minde to make warre Lastly touching this point of warres if wee beleeue Diuines a demand of recompence must precede for sauing of blood-shedde before the enterprise be vndertaken Against Turkes and heathens wee neede not bee so scrupulous so touch bee kept with them and the law of armes If a king goe personally against infidels it is impious to trouble him at home before he returne though some haue practised it and defeated good enterprises by it to the sorrow of Christendome and the enemies great aduantage I cannot but wish and pray that God would touch the hearts of Princes with zeale of propagating the name of Christ and if they loue wars to shew their valerous minds where they may shew it and not broyle in ciuill discord and aduance broken titles and vengeance at home while the bounds of Christendome in Europe grow narrower and narrower But what hope of making Christians if they haue no scruple of killing Christians I will returne to my matter againe As Princes haue care of many liues that they be not lost or cast away so ought Subiects not to be prodigall as I said of their owne life or their neighbours though neuer so enemy to them God hath made vs little lesse then Angels Psal 8. as wee reade in the psalme and the world hath beene in trauell with vs fiue or sixe thousand yeares to bring vs forth for Gods seruice and our countries And what seruice haue I done to kill or hurt my brother or but to aduenture my selfe for a shaddow What honour gotten by mayming him or drawing blood of him which euery beast can doe better then I Yea what if he deserued ill of mee What if he deserued death by wronging mee and that hee fall into the hands of iustice for it The sentence which graue Iudges pronounce not without heauinesse shall I goe and preuent with triumph That which Gods people behold not without teares shall I execute with vaunting and therefore as my case is the Psalme is changed in me and I haue made my selfe so farre off from Angelicall that I am little better then a diuell if I dye in that estate O how great wee be in our owne sights and yet how pleased to aduenture our selues abiectly and to deserue ignominiously in the last act we doe This one life which God bestowed on vs at length before the world were quite ended is it not a dreadfull thing we should waste so idlely spend so carelesly and end so desperately That which our worthy friends had care to leaue vnspotted to vs vntouched