IHÌ„S R V SOLE FRA LE STELLE Tenet Angelus Deam A new yeeres guift whose good well seene May please the wisdome of a Queene True vse whereof well weide in deede May stand the gracious in good steed HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE THE RIGHT WAY TO HEAVEN And the true testimonie of a faithfull and loyall subiect Compiled by Richard Vennard of Lincolnes Inne MATH 6. First seeke the kingdome of Heauen and all things shal be giuen AT LONDON Printed by Thomas Este 1601. R. V. SALVATOR MVNDI I IN this thy Name my soule great comfort findes H Heald from hir leprous sinne by thy deere bloud E Eschewing that molests disturbed mindes S Seeking for that may doe my conscience good V Vouchsafe thy Nature as thou giuest thy Name S Sweet Iesus that a blessed Sauiour came C Come comforter behold my soule is sad H Helpe with thy Mercie that thy Hand hath made R Regard mee so with hope I may be glad I In thy deere grace let all my deedes be staid S Sonne of thy Father such true lightning send T That in thy fauour Christ our liues may end AMEN TO THE HIGH AND mightie Princis Elizabeth by the grace of God Queene of England France and Ireland defendor of the Faith c. Richard Vennard of Lincolnes Inne Gent Wisheth all happinesse in this life And in the world to come Celestiall Eternitie MOST Renowned Soueraigne pleaseth it your Sacred Maiestie at the humble hands of your loiall subiect to accept this little handfull of my harts labour wherein my feeling of Gods mercies my knowledge of your gracious goodnesse and my care of my countries well doeing haue made me take such paines as if it may be pleasing in your sight shall breed no little ioy to my Soule Who kneeling at your Royall feete doe besech the God of all Glory to indew your Highnesse with his infinite blessings and long to preserue your sacred Maiestie in all ioyfull health and prosperous life Your Maiesties most faithfull and loyall subiect Richard Vennard Laudetur Dominus in aeternum OH Heauenly Spirit of especiall power That in thy hand thy praise of praises holdest And from the top of Truthes triumphant tower The hidden sence of fairest thoughts vnfoldest Inspire this hart and humble soule of mine With some sweet sparkle of thy power deuine Teach me to thinck but on that onely thought Wherein doth liue the grace of vertues glory And learne no more then what thy truth hath taught To those best wits that write thy worthie storie Wherein is seene in heauen and earths preseruing The highest point of praises praise deseruing Let not compare come neere vnto none such Heauen bee my thought and let the world go by And say withall that say I nere so much All are but trifles to thy treasurie For all no more then what thy mercie giueth Who can behold wherein thy glory liueth No I can see the shining of the Sunne But cannot sound the Essence of the light Then of thy face in whom that faire begunne How can my soule presume to haue a sight No my deere God thy glory hath a beeing Where Eie nor Heart nor Soule may haue a seeing And therefore Lord since such thy glory is As cannot bee but of thy selfe conceiued And heauen nor earth conteines that sparke of blisse But from thy hand of Mercy is receiued What spirit can hir sweetest passion raise Neere to the due of thy deserued praise Yet since all glory doth belong to thee Thy name in all things must bee magnified And by thy Mercie thou hast made mee see How in my soule thou maist be glorified In that sweet Mercy make my Soule to know How best I may thy blessed glory show Oh glorious God what creature can there bee That moues or Breathes or growes but shewes thy glory What art or science but doth speake of thee And writes the wonder of thy wisedome story What sound or sence can reasons Soule refine But speakes in glory of thy grace deuine The Sunne in brightnesse glorifies the light That in the beames but of thy beauty liueth The Moone and Starres amid the darkest night Shew what a light thy louing Mercy giueth So Sunne and Moone and all those shining creatures Doe shew thy glory in their lightsome natures Is not the daye a figure of perfection Wherin thy creatures were created first And Night of sinne that with a fowle infection Shewes how the Soule is for hir sinnes accurst But night once past the Glorious daie appeering Shewes sinnes forgiuen the ioy of mercies cheering So Sunne and Moone and Starres and daie and night Speakes of thy glorie in their cause of beeing And how they serue but in obedience right Vnto the grace but of thy will agreeing While wisdome shewes in state of reasons storie They giue vs light that wee may giue thee glory The Azure Skie more cleere then Chrystalline Wherin the Sunne doth cast his beames abroad How doth it figure that faire hand of thine Wherein thy Mercie makes hir most aboade While to the humble soules beleeuing eye Thy glory shines farre brighter then the Skie The Clowds that shed those dropps of blessed dewes That water the drie places of the Earth What droppe so small but it thy glory shewes To bring a plenty where was earst a dearth How doe they figure faithfull sorrowes teares Whence sin-burnt soules the fruit of mercie beares The Aier that giues each liuing creature breath Speakes of thy glorie in that breathing power And when it leaues the creature vnto death It shewes thy glory in that parting hower To leaue the flesh so in corruption wounded Till grace renue that was in sinne confounded The earth that yeelds such choice of fruits and flowers How doth it shew that glorious power of thine When all vnseene doe hidden lie those powers That Arte or Nature neuer can define How sweetes and formes and colours so should grow But that thy glorious will would haue it so And as the spring brings forth the budding greene With beauties dies for to adorne the field So in the winter few or none are seene That can the eye contentiue pleasure yeeld So that the earth that neuer silence breaketh In hir dumb speech yet of thy glory speaketh The Sea wherein those worlds of fishes liue That floate and tomble in the tossing waues What Notice doe they of thy glory giue That from the Whale the little Herring saues And makes the Dolphin wound the Whale so sore As driues him from the Sea to die on shore What beast so great or creeping worme so small what bird so high or of so low a flight But that thy name is glorified in-all who hauing made them by thy heauenly might Preseruest them so that all the world may see They haue their beeing onely but in thee The beast his heare the feather of the bird The fishes scale and euery tree his barke These for defence doth Nature all aforde As of thy
euen hand and cutting downe with the sharp sword of preuencion the children of rebellion at home the enuious intencion of the Enemie abroad For causes in common triall I call heauen to witnes I speake but what I know as he was Iudicial wary circūspect so was he vpright discreet and pittifull not leaning to any side either for fauour or gift but with an impartiall eye iudging all things according to the equitie of the cause Would many brāches like to that tree from whence it sprang might from that stocke spread their vertue in this hir Maiesties garden of happie gouernment In which ranke of true Nobilitie diligent watch-men and graue Councellers I may not omit that Right Honorable and milde condicioned Lord the Earle of Nottingham whose true loyaltie to hir Maiestie neuer spotted with the least mistrust may keepe euen wing with the rest of that Honorable societie whose true shew of a vertuous and noble minde is daily made apparant by his exceeding bountie towards the poore and needie The fruit whereof is Eternall saluacion And that Reuerent and carefull Gentleman Sir Iohn Popham Knight Lord chiefe Iustice of England being another of the body of the Counsell whose Honorable forwardnesse with great discreation hath ben often proued in your Maiesties serious affaires as in calming the Realme with quiet that hath ben hertofore tempestuously troubled with blody murtherers felonious robbers but now God be thanked by his diligent wise gouernment well reformed whose exceeding loue to his Prince country hath ben often made apparant by his laborious indeuours To conclude I beeseech God in his infinite mercy stirre vp in you deere affecting loue to hir Maiestie who for the comfort of his chosen and maintenance of his truth hath defended hir highnes this 44 yeers our most merciful gouernes Mercie hath alwaies sitten at hir Maiesties right hand houered about hir like a continual handmaid Mercie is the wedding ring that like an vnspotted Virgin hath married hir to our Sauiour Christ setled hir Highnes the faithful president of his true Church wherin long may hir Maiestie continue many happie peacefull daies to the great glory of God to the exceeding comfort of all vs hir faithfull louing subiects Amen What a faithfull subiect is A Good Subiect next to the Diademe that adornes a Princes head is the chiefest ornamēt that decores his dignity He is as the preciòus Balme that anoints his browes and is neerer to his hart then his Scepter to his right hand as sweet in his nosthrills as the groues of Gylead and more precious in his sight then Solomons Iuorie throne couered with purest gold His hart is clothed with peace like Mount Oliuet and his eyes as harmelesse as the sight of a Doue His tongue sounds like the Harp of Dauid and his lips deliuer the happinesse of loyaltie his eares are the portalls that receiue vnderstanding all perfection from thence is conducted to the hart His hands are readie to fight the battailes of the Lord his feete shunning the steps of blod are bent alwaies to walke in the pathes of innocencie Thus excellent in the sight of his Prince shines a faithfull subiect more gorgeous then the Ephod of Aron and more sumptuous then Solomon in all his Royaltie Who so is this to his Prince countrie the Lord will prosper him and hee shal be blessed in an euerlasting generacion And for one of these benefits hee receiues on earth he shall haue a million in Heauen For one of those perfections he pertakes off in this world nombers aboue nomber shall attend him in the world to come And his Prince shall thus pray for him and blesse him as Solomon did his subiects And the King turned his face and blessed all the Congregacion of Israell and said Blessed bee the Lord God of Israell who spake with his mouth to Dauid my Father and hath with his hand fulfilled it And though my selfe may say with Isaie I am a worme and no man yet I speake it in despite of vaineglorie I would with all my hart as an Isaac in the hands of Abraham serue as a sacrifice to doe my Prince country good For surely hee cannot bee a true seruitour of God that is not a faithfull subiect to his Prince Neither would I iudge any felicitie in this world answerable to that if once my soule might bee imployed to please my Prince and benefit my countrie For all the offices of humanity depend onely vpon those principall performances for I know by that meanes ther comes a blessing from a far a reward full of ioy which none els are worthy to obtaine which reward I hartely pray the great rewarder of all to send to the true loyall and faithfull subiect and so with one voice proceeding from one vnitie of hart let vs all say faithfully God saue the Queene Amen E E EXceedings made the Miracle of Nature L Loue ioin'd with life to frame a blessed creature I Ioie in each part where wisdome hath expressed Z Zeale in the hart to make the spirit blessed A A work of worth well worthie admiration B Beyond the Mount of Mans imagination E Esteem'd more worth then any worldly wonder T That by desert puts all earths praises vnder H Heau'ns blesse the work wherin such wonder dwelleth A As all worlds wonder in such worth excelleth R R RAre is the substance of this worthie sence E Expressing all in onely Excellence G Giu'ne by the heauens vnto the world a blessing I In Fames reporting and in Truthes confessing N Neere are such notes vnto an Angells Nature A As makes a Queene a Goddesse of a creature The Miracle of Nature AMong the wonders of this Age of ours That Eare hath heard or Eie hath euerseene Vpon the toppe of Honours highest towers The glorious notes of our most gracious Queene Through all the world all worthely confessed Shew neuer Kingdome in a Queene so blessed First for hir Birth the daughter of a King And such a King as peerelesse in his praise A blessed sprig from such a stocke to spring As doth increase the honour of his daies And in hir selfe in more then worlds perfection The Art of Nature by the heauens direction For Beautie but behold hir blessed Eie Where faire DIANA puts foule VENVS downe For Wisedome in true sacred Maiestie The worthie head of an Imperiall Crowne For Mercy who so perfectlie diuine For Grace who doth not to hir Grace resigne For bountie note hir Liberalitie To maintaine Right and to relieue the wrong For Vertue what true vertuous Qualitie But may bee sung in hir true praises song For Learning where more in a Princesse seene For Language there was neuer such a QVEENE For Constancy who so immutable Whose loue to God no Diuell can remoue For gracious speach what Prince so affable To winne the hart of euery worthy loue For Zeale the tryall of religious truth For Patience read the troubles of hir
gather more then is commanded in mistrust of Gods benefits infect the whole land with the vice of Auarice You ought rather to be like Pellicans in the wildernesse who in tender loue peck the blood from their breast to feed their yong ones You see with your visible eies how wonderfull almightie God hath alwaies preserued the Queenes Maiestie from the snares of hir manifold enemies And in you prâ—ncipally lies the sacrifice of thancks giuing it is you that ought to daunce before the tabernacle to goe with the people to the Arke Num. 17. 8 of couenant that your righteousnesse may bud like Arons rod. It is you that ought to flie foorth from this tossed Arke like the Doue bring the Oliue braunch of peace in your mouthes tell Gen. 8. 11. the people that if they returne God wil be their God and send a truce to their distressed soules by you his ambassadors Flie not to Tharsis when you are sent to Niniue least deuouring distruction attend you nor with the Man of God goe not out of the way least a Lion teare you in peeces But still be conuersant with the Lord that your saces may shine with Exo. 34. 30 Moses when he came from the Mount and bring the image of Gods glory to the people in your foreheads you must beare with Aron the brest-plate of iudgement vpon your harts There must Exo. 38. 30 be grauen vpon your forefronts Holinesse to the Exo. 35 36 Lord and your soundes must be heard when you goe into the holy places before him So shall yee stand like mount Synay neuer to be remoued and your golden candlesticke shine in the Temple of the Lord. Remember the charge your maister Christ gaue to his seruant Peter binding him three times aboue all things by his feruent loue and the deere affection he bare to his Maister to feede his sheep to bee with Paul the faithfull Ambassadors of Iesus Christ as though God did beseech you through vs we pray you in Christs steed that ye be reconciled to God With Paul like 2. Cor. 5. 2. wife to be an example of life doctrine as in these words And follow hard toward the mark for the Phil. 3. 14. price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Let vs therefore as many as be perfect be thus mindded if ye be otherwise God shall reueale euen the same vnto you Yee are most Reuerent the salt of the earth Mat 15. 13 which wanting sauour is to be troden vnder foot ye are the light of the world a citie that is set on a hill cannot bee hid let your light therefore shine that they that see your good workes may glorifie your father which is in Heauen Thus vnworthie to counsaile so graue aduisements as if the body should instruct the Soule I onely like a trauailer in his pilgrimage seeing a King goe out of his way tell him there is a better a more perfect and a straighter So referring you to your Masters reward who hates a hidden talent I beseech that God who guideth Israell by day Exo. 13 21 in a piller of clowde by night in a piller of fire to direct your earthly bodies spirituall soules to his seruice Amen To the true Nobilitie of this Realme TO ye Right Honorable that are the props supporters of a kingdome that like Atlas should beare the waight of Heauen on your shoulders giue me leaue to stretch forth the Artires of my hart as in a tempestious time in peace vnite you together like one body obedient to one principall head In that worthie member the Hart the monarch seate of our Microcosmos should be your residence with in whose center as in a Princes Court are diuers receptacles for you to inhabit in Then as branches extending from the lofty Ceder being fed by one roote doe notwithstanding cherish one another with their naturall sap So like the true stocke of Nobilitie discended from your worthie ancestors be you combined in a coniunction of vnseperable aide that the body of the tree may be comforted in so happy an issue in the proudest blast of conspiracy keepe you stil vnremouable Be ye like faithfull Mardocheus spotles in your waies when Esser traitors like proud Haman shall perish in their own complets For if yee please to peruse our Histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane yee shall finde that neuer traitor to his natiue Prince but had his reward threefold return'd into his wicked bosom And though it hath pleased God sometime to suffer them the cause best knowne to his sacred pleasure to bring to passe their hatefull purposes yet as a woe pronounced to them by whom such euils come their mischiefe hath not past without greater mischiefe reguerdond There is none of your Honorable societie but knowes that treason is the deuider and seperater of all good things a fatall disioyner of perfection bringing with it ruine and the mercilesse substitutes of war where on the contrary obedience is the sinowes of the state glewes the harts of Nobilitie together like one indiuisible substance And as the seauen leane Kine in Pharaohs dreame deuoured the seauen fat Gene. 41. 4 yet themselues not the fatter so stands it with treason like a cormerant it deuoures all yet is it felfe the better by nothing What greater paterne of miserie can ther be then a kingdome deuided in it selfe it is like the dangerous Eclipse of the Sun nay like the vnnaturall seperation of Heauen that brings all danger and distruction No plague of Egipt comparable to that miserie for ciuile discention is the gate to let in ruine and forraine inuasioÌ„ it is like a wedge of iron that entring into an Oke disseuers both sides in seuerall peeces makes them both fit for the fire The florishing state of Rome was deuoured by that Monster and all tranquilitie swallowed at a bit by that hedius Leuiathan It is like the blinde Mole that louing still to bee mischieuously labouring tosseth vp hir owne destruction Let then Right Honorable that acceptable sacrifice of your harts be offred to our gratious Soueraigne which far exceeds the externall offices of fained affection who with an eye of vigilance will no doubt regard your vertues and like the cheerefull comfort of the Sunne with hir blessed countenance make your yong blossomes come to pleasant fruit and bring the fruit by comfortable warmth to full maturetie By this meanes shall your Phenix liue still you be made most happie in hir fresh renuing God so direct your harts to worke in you vnfained loyaltie to hir sacred Maiestie and deadly hatred to selfe deuouring treason Amen To the Ciuile Maiestrates the Lord Maior and the Shrifes of London and other inferiour offâ—cers THe naturall care that your loyalties haue euer borne to your Soueraigne since your first florishing time both in peace and war hath in ages past as deedes worth registring beene
glory euery one a marke wherein thy hand of Mercy is beheld That doth such comfort to each creature yeeld Is not the Fire a figure of thy wrath That soone consumes the proude assault of sinne The aire the pacience that thy mercie hath When true contrition doth remission winne The water teares that thou for sinne hast shed The Earth thy death for to redeeme the dead Since then aboue and in the Elements Sunne Moone Stars Skie Fire water Earth and Aier And what may be beneath the Firmament Beasts Birds Fish worme scale fether hide nor haier Nor Tree nor Flower nor Herbe nor Grasse doth grow But someway doth thy glorious mercie show Shall wreched Man whom God did onely make To his owne Image in his Mercies loue So far himselfe and all his good forsake As to forget so sweet a Turtle Doue As his deere God that so of nothing wrought him And his deere Sonne that hath so deerely bought him Shall Man I say that onely speciall Creature VVhom God hath made to serue his Maiestie In lacke of Grace reueale so vile a Nature As not to seeke his Name to glorifie No heauens forbid though sinne be neuer such In Man should liue ingratitude so much No hee whom God hath made to monarch so Aboue all Creatures that doe grow or breath And by his wisedome makes his will to know The good aboue and euill from beneath And how hee helps the spirit in distresse His glorious goodnesse cannot but confesse And when hee sees with those inseeing eies That in the soule doe giue the spirit light In what the height of heauenly glory lies To whom all glory doth beelong of right His hart will write in his worths worthy storie To him alone bee giuen all onely Glory Oh hee that sits aboue the starry Skie In holy seate of heauenly residence And at the twinckling of his glorious eie Commaunds the world to his obedience Leaue that fowle soule in sorrow euer friendlesse That doth not sound thy name in glory endlesse All grace all goodnesse wisedome power and peace All truth true life all bountie mercy loue These all together sing and neuer cease Vnto the glory of this God aboue And can it bee that Man who sees all this Will not giue glory to this God of his No heauens forbid that hell should haue the power To spit hir poison vpon Man so much To make him liue to that vnhappie hower wherein to shew his wicked Nature such As to forget Gods gratious goodnesse so As not some way his glorious Mercie shew Then set my hart among that world of soules That seele his blessings euery day and hower While truth records in hir eternall rowles The gracious goodnesse of his glorious power Sing in my Soule and neuer cease to sing An Halleluiah to my heauenly King Laus Gloria Deo The high way to Heauen Cap. I. He that in Heauen will tast the fruits of Diuinitie must first learne to know himselfe in the schole of Humilitie HVmilitie is a vertue springing from the feare of GOD the mother of meekenesse and sister of Deuotion without which no man can attaine to the knowledge and feeling of his owne miserie in Adam felicitie in Christ A Bird except hir wings be moued downwards cannot flye vp to the top of an hill nor man except the affectiōs of his heart be humbled downwards mount vp to the Tower of diuine vnderstanding And therefore that godly father Saint Augustine compareth Heauen to a faire stately Pal lace with a little dore wherat no man can enter except he stoupe very low As who should saye God reiecteth the proud but giueth grace to the humble and lowly The true wisdome of a Christian consisteth especially In his booke against the Pelag. in the knowledge of his owne imperfectiōs Then are we said to be righteous saith saint Ierome when we acknowledge our selues to be wicked transgressors He hath much profited in this life saith Saint Augustine that hath learned August how far he is from perfection of righteousnesse For the lesse opinion a man hath of himselfe the more trust he hath in God the more he meditateth on the horrour of Hell the neerer is he to the ioyes of Heauen None more neere then the Psal 51. 17 humble penitent whose heart is most deepely wounded with the grieuousnesse of sinnes nor none so farre from true Religion as he who thinketh himselfe most perfect and very religius The ioyes of Heauen are prepared not for Luke 18. proude presumptuous Pharases which seeme in their owne eyes to bee most iust pure and perfect but for poore humble Publicans that iustly condemne themselues as most vyle miserable wretched The sonne of man came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance to seeke none but those that acknowledge themselues to bee lost to comfort and raise vp none with his Gospell but those that are discomforted and cast downe by the law nor to annoint or heale any with his oile of gladnesse but such broken contrite hearts as for griefe of sinnes are sick and mourne in Syon Cap. II. Of our lothsome deformetie through Adams fall A Naturall man consisteth of three parts the Spirit or immortall Soule indued with reason will and deuine vnderstanding 1. Thes 5. 23. 1. Co. 2. 11 the naturall affections or powres of the Soule as indifferent spurs to Ro. 8. 5. 17 7. 13. 1. Pc. 2. 11 prouoke stirre vp and pricke forward vnto vertue or vice and the terrestriall Body wherein Sathan by tempting of Adam hath Gal. 5. 1 5 written the law of Sinne. All which parts of Man at the first were in such perfect order and concord framed together as neither the immortall Spirit did conceaue any thing the natural powers of the soule desire any thing nor the terrestiall body execute any thing contrary to the will of God All creatures vnder Heauen beeing obedient to the body of man as the subiect to the Prince the naturall body obedient to the reasonable soule as the seruant to the Maister the reasonable soule with his affections obedient to God the creator as the childe to the father till that cutsed Serpent our mortall enemy found meanes to set them at variance discord Since which time the nature of Man became so frayle and weake the occasions vnto euill so many and the illusion of Sathan so prompt ready that except Gods especiall grace preuent him he is apt prone vpon euery light occasion to yeeld vnto sin and wickednesse being more easely brought to conceaue an errour by one little word then the truth by a long tale sooner seduced to consent vnto vice by one small example then conuerted vnto vertue by many vehement perswasions Cap. III. Of the miserie of Adams posteritie and vanitie of the world FOr-asmuch as of all other vices that old rooted infection of Pride Vaineglory and Presumption is most vniuersally grafted in man there
is nothing more necessary to suppresse and subdue his haughty affections then continuall remembraunce what he is from whence he came Eccle. 7. and whether hee shall That in calling to minde his base mettle his wretched condition and mortall generation he may the rather bee moued more humbly and lowly to conceiue and esteeme of himselfe What is Man Telluris invtile pondus an vnprofitable Man what lump of earth like as one might say to a peece of yee thou wast water thou art water and to water shalt thou bee turned againe So Man was earth hee is earth and to earth hee shall bee turned againe Thou hast fashioned mee of mould and earth sayth Iob and I am become like dust ashes O homo saith Chrisostome Iob. Chrisost si consider as quid per os quid per nares quid per ceteros meatus egrediatur numquam vilius sterquilium inuenisti What is Man his matter is base slime clay his nature weake feeble his birth paine sorrow his life vayne and miserable his state slippery vncertaine his time short tedious his sins horrible filthy his end grieuous lothsome What is Man A mirrour of misery a play of fortune and a pray of death he is borne wee ping and wayling to shew his wretchednesse hee liueth laughing and toying to beewray his folly and dyeth sighing and sobbing to declare his weake infirmitie What is Man Apuleius a Philosopher and scholler to Plato describeth him in this wise Men Apulcius sayth hee are liuing creatures dwelling vpon the earth hauing soules immortall brutish seruile bodies subiect to death light carefull mindes apt to errour vaine in labours diuers in conditions long ere they be wise their time but short and during life neuer content What is the state of Man Saint Barnard describeth Barnard it in this manner There commeth before thine eyes faith he a man poore naked miserable mourning that hee is a man blushing that he is naked weeping for that he is a wretch replenished with misery and fearefull for that his time is but short A great part of his life passeth away in doing that is euill a greater part in doing nothing and the greatest part in doing thinges to small purpose And as the life of man is vaine transitory and miserable euen so is the world with all things else wherein humaine nature taketh pleasure and delight as health wealth honour wisedome strength beautie or whatsoeuer What is the World A vale of misery a sincke of sinne a mould of mischiefe a denne of theeues a World Court of Sathan a purgatory of payne a mother to the wicked and a stepdame to the good where the proude and vitious are daily aduanced without desert and the humble and vertuous oppressed without cause the way ward and seditious befriended and the quiet and obedient molested the ignorant and foolish permitted to speake and the wise and discreet put to silence crafty dissemblers extolled and simple innocents despised What is the world hir mirth is but sorrow hir pleasure but payne hir wisedome but folishnesse and hir wealth but misery where nothing is to bee looked for but euen a rancke of troubles one following in anothers necke A great trauaile is created for all men sayth Iesus the sonne of Sirach Eccle. and a heauie yoke vpon all mens children some so pinched with pouertie and oppressed with miserie some tossed and tormented with strife and contention some tormented with sicknesse sores and contagious diseases that if an old man would set downe the tragedie of his life from the day of his brith till his departure to his graue a man would wonder that the body could suffer and the heatt could beare so painefull and dolorous a pilgrimage All the godly from the beeginning haue tasted the troubles of their time Adam when his children did one kill another Abraham when he wandred into a strāge coūtry Iob when he saw the spoile and hauocke of his goods the destruction of his children and his owne body tormented with botches and sores Ioseph felt his part of miserie beeing sould by his brethren and imprisoned without cause Noah felt his part of miserie beeing persecuted by the wicked Lazarus was both sicke sore hungry thirsty Father Iacob complayned that his daies were few and euill Dauid said hee was a worme and no man Solomon was weary of his life beecause all hee saw vnder the Sunne was nothing but vanitie miserie and vexation of minde Father Ierome complayned that Sathan sought to ouer throw him and that his weake flesh was ready to consent The prophet Ieremy cursed the day of his birth Ionas said it was better for him to dye then to liue Chrisostome called the daies of his life the daies of his sorrow Nazianzen wept that his mother had brought him forth to see such miserable daies Such trauayle hath God giuen vnto men vnder the Sunne to be exercised therein Cap. IIII. Of the race of mans life And certenty of death AND as the daies of this our painefull pilgrimage are vaine and miserable so are they short and tedious The one foote no sooner on the ground but the other is ready to step into the graue Man that is borne of a woman saith Iob hath but a short time to liue and is full of miserie hee springeth as a flower vadeth like a shadow and neuer continueth in one state The life of man is aptly compared to a vapour to the trace of a cloude to a ship passing ouer the waues of the Sea tossed beaten with tempest to a bird that flieth in the Aire or a shaft that is shot at a marke and neuer staieth till it light on the ground Euen so man as soone as hee is borne doth begin immediatly to draw to his end The godly Patriarks who liued in the first age Certainety of death of the world saw many yeeres yet at last they dyed Death was alwaies the end of their song Adam liued 930. yeeres Seth 912. Enoch 905. Kenan 910. Mahelael 895. Iarard 962. Methuselah 969. Lameth 777. Noah 950. and they dyed saith the text Abraham the Father of the faithfull Dauid a man according to Gods owne heart Iohn Baptist of whom our Sauiour Christ saith there hath not risen a greater among the children of women yet they dyed All the Prophets Apostles godly Martirs wer greatly in Gods fauour yet they dyed Rich and poore wise men fooles learned and vnlearned godly and vngodly all must follow the daunce of death Many are gone before the rest must follow after Wyse Solomon Rich Iob Strong Sampson faire Absolon haue trode the path of al flesh Great Alexander cōquered the whole world yet could finde no weapon to conquere death The stiffest steele yeldeth to the hammer the strongest Oke to the Axe and the stoutest hart vnto nature And as death is a thing of all other most certaine and sure so is the
remembred And as we are now clothed with the image of Adams corruptible body subiect to death misery so shall we then bee clothed with the image of Christs glorious body changed into perfection and sinceritie When Christ shall appeare saith the Apostle we shal be like vnto him see him as he is though wee shall not then as now bee maintained with earthly or elementall foode but as the Angells of Heauen yet our bodies of the same humane nature shape and fashion of flesh bones with all parts and members of a man as in this lise not altered in substance but changed in property Behold my hands and my feete saith our sauiour to his disciples for it is euen I my selfe handle mee and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see mee haue And as we shal be new men so shall we haue new sences to vnderstand things not as they seeme but as they are in deed behold the diuine Maiestie of God face to face the fruition of whose glorious presence as the originall fountaine from whence all wisedome gladnesse ioy vertue and true felicitie proceede shall so rauish content and satisfie euery member power and sence of both bodie and minde with such full perfection of pleasure and delight as neither eye hath seene eare hath heard tongue can expresse nor any hart of man imagine in comparison wherof all the desired and gladsome pleasures of this world are but fayned shewes and darke shadowes And as our sauiour Christ laid aside part of the Maiestie tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant hauing performed due obedience subiectioÌ„ vnto his father is now aduanced to the highest dominion and crowned with honor glory so that all knees shall bow vnto him So after the last day when he hath performed the office of a Meditor he shall yeeld vp into the hands of his Father both the kingdome name and crowne of glory that God may bee all in all to whose heauenly mansion the God of all glory bring vs for his Sonne Christ his sake AMEN A most godly and comfortable Praier in time of Aduersitie O Eternall and most louing Father thou GOD of mercie iudgement to whom all things in Heauen earth doe bow obey at the continuance of whose glorious Maiestie the wohle world doth tremble quake who hath fashioned Man of slime and earth couered him in his mothers womb and deliuered him from death and hell To thee our heauenly Father I humbly bow the knees of myne heart beseeching thy Fatherly goodnesse in Iesus Christ to heare mee poore wretched childe of Adam begotten and borne in sinne disquieted with troubles wrapt in aduersitie and oppressed with miserie yet by thy secret purpose pertaine to thy kingdome A Sheep of thy fold by election and calling though vnrulie A seruant of thy household by obedience dutie though vnprofitable A sonne of thy famely by adoption and grace though vnworthie I will call mine owne waies to remembrance confesse mine iniquities against my selfe powre out my complaint beefore thee Giue eare to my praier O Lord consider my distresse and pardon the voice of my humble desires let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my hart be alwaies acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my reedemer I haue sinned grieuously O mercifull God against heauen and before thee now Ioh. 13 17. in the vexation of my â—pirit the anguish of my soule remembring thy fatherly kindnesse toward penitent sinners I appeale to thy eternall mercie acknowâ—edge my wickednesse and lament my grieuous offences My hart is broken with sorrowes my life waxen olde with heauinesse my yeeres with mourning How long wilt thou be angry with thy seruant O Lord how long shall I seeke counsaile in my soule and be so vexed in my spirit how long shall I poore sorrowfull wretch bee tossed with these troublesome floods of mortaletie bewailing the tediousnesse of this my irkesome pilgrimage The infant ouercommeth his mother with crying the childe his father with weeping and the seruant his maister with submission and wilt thou be no more intreated o Lord wher are thy tender mercies which haue beene euer of old our father 's hoped in thee and were deliuered they put their trust in thee an I were not confounded Thou art the Father of the fatherlesse and the helper of the friendles thou hast alwaies hard the humble desires of the poore and thou preparest their hartes to call vpon thee and thine eares harken therevnto thou deliuerest them from wrong and right deere is their blood in thy sight Why art thou so full of heauinesse then O my soule and why art thou so disquieted within me O put thy trust in God for I will yet giue him thanks which is the helpe of my countenaunce and my God yea though hee kill mee yet will I trust in him I will sing vnto the Lord so long as I liue and will praise my God so long as I haue any being He hath chastened and corrected mee but not giuen me ouer vnto death and therefore my hart daunceth sor ioy my flesh shall rest in hope and in my song will I praise him I will honor him with due obedience serue him with feare and reioyce vnto him with reuerence Rebuke me not in thine anger O Lord neither doe thou chasten mee in thy heauie displeasure forsake me not in mine old age when my strength faileth me but comfort my heauinesse pittie my misery and relieue my necessitie Clense mee from my secret faults and pardon the sinnes of my youth Graunt mee a new hart a new minde a new spirit and a new life and I wil offer vnto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiuing and reioyce in my saluation O thou most highest An Exhortacion to continew all Subiects in their dew obedience together with the reward of a faithful subiect to his Prince To the Reuerend Lo. Bishops and the Clergie FOR-asmuch as your ecclesiasticall office is giuen you from God as the next principall members vnder the head to gouerne the Common wealth of this misticall bodie and that there is required at your hands an extraordinarie dutie touching the function of the Soule Let mee entreate you to be as vigilant as the fiue wise Virgins hauing Oyle alwaies in your Lamps against the Bridegrome comes forth of his chamber Your office is the Soule of the Laitie the heart of gouernement the verie Epitome of all obedience From you as the Moone boroweth hir light of the Sunne all inferiour Ministers take their order of perfection Let then your doctrine be pure stedfast like Moyses bush that alwaies burned but neuer cousumed your preaching in season and out of season and your conuersation as spotlesse as the sacrifice of Turtles You best know what plentie of Manna hath rained in Israel how many Homers ful euery man ought to gather Be not any of you the first that
youth Whose minde of truer Magnanimitie In daungers to disdaine the thought of feare whose hart more necre vnto Diuinitie with Patience Care all discontents to beare whose Soule more full infused with Gods Spirit Through all the world that doth such wonder merit With all these blessings from the highest Blisse Hir Care to keepe hir kingdome still in peace Shewes that hir minde is hardly led amisse That doth such glory to hir Crowne encrease That Fame doth sound in hir best pleasing breath But onely Englands QVEENE ELIZABETH Since then that God doth with that Grace inspire hir That shewes hir blessed in the heauens aboue And all the Princes of the world admire hir For all the wonders worthy honors loue Why should this Earth liue euer to forget hir But in the Soule of loues Remembraunce set hir They that haue liu'd could say while they did liue Subiects are blest in such a Souereigne They that now liue may well like witnesse giue A gratious QVEENE doth make a glorious Reigne They that heereafter liue hir Grace to see May say on Earth not such a Queene as shee How hath shee kept hir Court in comlinesse Hir State in state of gracious Maiestie Hir Peeres in loue hir Church in Godlinesse Hir lawes in strength hir Lords in vnitie Hir Peoples awe in Loues perswasion Hir Land in Peace without Inuasion Doth shee giue hearing vnto graue aduise Great is hir wisedome so to guide hir will Sounds shee the depth of good or ill deuise Blest bee the Care of such a Princely skill Leaues shee the worst and onely takes the best Blest bee hir choice so bee shee euer Blest How hath shee sought to beate offences downe With kinde Corrections not with Crueltie How hath shee kept the honour of hir Crowne With Loue and Mercy not with Tiranny How hath shee liude that all the world may know Was neuer Queene whose loue did gouerue so VVhat Neighbour people hath hir land relieued Who driuen from home make heere their safe aboad And with hir will what people haue ben grieued Except they be the Enemies of God Within hir Lande how soone all tumults cease VVhile loue and Mercy breede continuall peace To speake of such particularities As in exceedings doe set downe hir name Which all and some are singularities That make true Nusique for the Trompe of fame Is meete for some heaues Muses to endite While Angels pens are fittest for to wtite But as an Eie that all farre of beholdeth An Excellence it can not comprehend Yet what Conceit in secret sence vnfoldeth It hath a Will in wonder to Commend Yet when it speakes it wincketh at the light As though to weake to speake of such a sight So my poore Spirit whose harts humble Eie Sees by the light that it hath power to see A world of worth in wonder all so high As shewes what worth aboue worlds vvonders bee In hir due praises can set downe so little As to hir Title all is but a tittle Yet though mine Eie can touch nor Sunne nor Moone Shall I not praise the cleerenesse of the Skie And though my Morning bee an after Noone Shall I still sleepe as though I had no Eie No giue mee leaue to say the Sunne is bright Although mine Eies but dimly see the light And though my knowledge be but Ignorance Compard to that hir praise should Comprehend And such a Muse as would hir pen aduance To write hir worth should but hir will attend Yet let mee say to them that can say more England had neuer such a QVEENE before Who would but note this foure and forty yeeres how Mercies Iustice hath hir Scepter swayed Of which no Prince nor Emperour that heares But is with wonder of hir worth dismaide Woul say in Soule on earth was neuer seene Kingdome so gouernd by a VIRGIN QVEENE Now for hir Counsaile all admire those wits That with such wisedome doe aduise hir will And in hir will thinck what true wisedome sits That is the ground worke of their gratious skill And say that God that Land a blessing giues Where such a Queene and such a Counsaile liues Some Male-contented Malecondition'd mindes Where priuate grudge regards no publique good Mistaking Reason in malitious kindes Like Serpents hatcht of an vnkindely brood In hate may blot that better loue commends But such ill Spirits God send speedy ends I pray for few I hope for none at all Indifference speakes so truely in hir praise That while cold feares vnchristian harts apall Faith findes in hir the Phaenix of our daies While humble loue in loyall harts doth pray That shee may liue vntill the latter day Now for hir Treasure how shee doth bestow hir blessed Talent in hir Crownes behoue May witnesse well that God himselfe doth show Shee is the faire deere daughter of his loue Whom his high hand hath ouer men so placed And so aboue both men and women graced What Noble spirit hath true honour proued But hir sweet Eie hath graciously regarded What vertuous spirit but hir hart hath loued And to the due of best desart Rewarded For Princely kindnesse to hir humble friends Fame sounds hir point in praise that neuer ends What should I need to walke my wits about A world of wonder where there is no truth When Truth it selfe doth bring these wonders out Both in hir Princely Peereles Age and Youth Where olde and young may all and onely see How blest a Kingdome in a Queene may be I make no Care of fictions nor of fables Minerua faire and Pallas were but fained But Truth may write in hir memoriall table That such a Queene in England neuer raigned As makes all Poets idlie spend their breath That name a Queene but in ELIZABETH I cannot chuse but wonder at those wits That haue imployed their pennes in Poetrie In whose deepe braines that best inuention sits That lookes at honour with a heauenly eie That some or all in all their songs and laies Haue not Contended for Elizas praise But it may bee they found their wits to weake To equall will in writing of their wonder Yet such as could of Earths chiefe praises speake Might say hir praise puts all Earths praises vnder And say no more then all the world may see If Angell woman on the Earth t is shee Some out of French Italian Dutch or Spanish Doe draw discourses of most worthie Creatures But let those Fictions all like fables vanish To shew the notes of all those gratious natures I goe no further then our Soueraigne Queene Where all in one and one in all is seene For Vertues Grace beeholde hir Virgin traine Where faire demeanours put foule humours downe For Maiestie what Monarch doth retaine So graue a Counsaile to a Gratious Crowne And for attendaunce let loues Muses sing A Virgin Queene deserues a seruant King For truely sound each point of such perfection As makes a Kingdome blessed in a Queene And let but Truth confesse without exception The sacred worth in hir true wisedome seene And Englands hart may haue iust cause to say Blest bee hir Birth and Coronation day A louely Day faire may it euer last A Sunne-shine Day whose beames are heauenly bright Cleere may they shine and neuer ouercast With any Clowde that may obscure the light That in hir height of Brigtnesse not declining England may ioy to see hir euer shining Oh could I flie with such an Eagles vvings As could be soaring in the Sunnie light Or could I heere but what that Angell sings That neuer Poet had the power to vvrite Then should my spirit and my penne not cease To vvrite hir praise that now must hold my peace And onely praie that hee that sits on high And holds the hand of mercies maiestie Our gracious God that shee maie neuer die But in the life of loues eternitie Liue from the blot of fowle obliuions penne All faithfull harts in England saie Amen FINIS A faithfull Subiects prayer O Glorious God and onely King of Kings Whose holie eie both heauen earth beholdeth And from whose Mercie all and onely springs The fayrest life that faithfull loue vnfoldeth Mine humble spirit I beseech thee raise To giue thy glory all eternall praise O gratious God among the many graces Wherein thy Mercie hath this Iland blest In whom the height of all our happie cases Vnder thine onely holy hand doth rest For our sweet gratious vertuous Soueraigne Queene Let our harts humble thanckfulnesse be seene Blesse hir O Lord with Nestors happie daies Health wealth and peace and euerlasting pleasure Let Vertues loue resound hir worthie praise And thy true wisedome be hir spirits treasure Hir greatest hopes vpon thy graces grounded Hir state preserued and hir foes confounded Preserue oh Lord hir faithfull Counsellors Hir Loyall subiects and hir true attendants Hir vertuous Lawiers valiant Souldiers And let thine Angels be hir loues defendants Hir state of blisse bee Englands blessed storie And giue hir Soule a Crowne of endlesse glorie Amen R. V.