Trueth neuer speake it of vs that wee haue the Booke of the Lord in our Hands not the doctrine in our Consciences That wee haue Gods Seales yet vn-marked Soules That De virtutibus vacui loquimâ—â— Wee speake of the Graces wee haue not It was once spoken of Greece in regard of the ruines â—ea of the vtter extinction for Etiam periere ruinae Grâ—ciam in Graecia quaerimus non inuenimus Wee seeke for Greece in Greece and can not find it Let it neuer be sayd of vs in respect of our recidiuall disobedience Angliam in Anglia quaerimus et non inuenta est Wee seeke that famous Church of England in England and finde it not Many loue to liue within the circumference and reach of the Gospell because it hath brought Peace and that Peace Wealth and that Wealth Promotion But if this Health or Quiet might be vpheld or augmented by that Romane Harlot they would be ready to cry Great is Diana of the Ephesians and Christ might lodge long enough at Bethleem ere they would goe to visite him Our liues too prodigiously begin to pretend this But O faxit Deus vt nullum sit in omine pondus And for our selues Bel. Let vs not like the Priestes direct others to a Sauiour and stay at home our selues nor like the Trumpeter that encourageth others to the Battaile against the enemies of God and our saluation Nihil ipse nec ausus nec potuit our selues being Cowards and giuing neuer a stroke It is not enough to tell the people of a Sauiour in Bethleem Opus est etiam praeitione aut saltem coitione et pari congressu Wee must goe before them or at least goe with them For this cause I commend the Fayth of these Magi Seeing the Priestes doctrine concurres with the Starres dumbe direction though Herod will not leaue his Court nor the Scribes their ease nor the People their trades yet these men will goe alone to Christ. When thou art to imbrace Religion it is good going in company if thou canst get them for the greater blessinges â—alles vpon a multitude but resolue to goe though alone For thou shalt neuer see the Lord Iesus if thou tarry till all Ierusalem goe with thee to Bethleem WEe haue heard their Aduent or Accesse listen to the Euent or Successe They saw the young Child with Mary his Mother God hath answered the desire of their hearts they had vndertooke a long Iourney made a diligent inquirie no doubt their Soules longed with Simeon to see their Sauiour Loe he that neuer frustrates the faythfull affection giues abundant satisfaction to their hopes They saw the young Child with Mary his Mother Obserue Whom With whom Where they saw him Whom The young Child Meditate and wonder The Ancient of dayes is become a young Child The Infinitely great is made Litle The sustainer of all things Suckes Factor terrae factus interra Creator coel creatussub coelo He that made Heauen and Earth is made vnder Heauen vpon Earth The Creator of the world is Created in the world Created Litle in the world they saw the young Child With whom With Mary his Mother Mary was his Daughter is she now become his Mother Yes he is made the Child of Mary who is the Father of Mary Sine quo Pater nunquam fuit sine quo mater nunquam fuisset Without whom his Father in Heauen neuer was without whom his Mother on Earth had neuer beene Where It is euident in S. Lukes Gospell they found him lying in a Cratch He who sits on the right hand of the Maiestie on high was lodged in a stable He that Measures the Waters in his Fist and Heauen with a Spaâ—ne was now Crowned in a Manger and swadled with a few Ragges Here they finde neither Gard to defend him nor tumults of people thronging to see him neither Crowne on his Head nor Scepter in his hand but a young Child in a Cratch hauing so litle externall glory that they might haue saued their paine and seene many in their owne Countrey farre beyond him Our instruction hence is that God doth often strangly and strongly exercise the Fayth of his that their perswasion may not be guided Oculis but Oraâ—ulis by their Sight but his Word The eye of true Fayth is so quicke sighted that it can see through all the Mistes and Fogges of difficulties Hereon these Magi doe confidently beleeue that this poore Child lying in so base a manner is the great King of Heauen and Earth The fayth of man that is grounded on the promises of God must beleeue that in prison there is libertie in trouble peace in affliction comfort in Death life in the Crosse a Crowne and in a Manger the Lord Iesus The vse of this teacheth vs not to be offended at the basenesse of the Gospell lest we neuer come to the Honour to see Iesus It was an argument of the Deuils breaching Haue any of the Rulers or Pharises beleeued on him The great the learned the wise giue him no crâ—dence But this people that knoweth not the Law is Cursed None but a few oâ— the rascall companie follow him 〈◊〉 hereof Simeon resolued his mother Mary 〈…〉 set for the fall as well as the risiâ—g againe of many 〈…〉 for a Signe which shall be spoken against He should 〈…〉 but woe vnto them that so esteemed 〈…〉 to worke his will by 〈…〉 should apply a medicine contrary to 〈…〉 of the patient he would haue litle 〈…〉 the disease But such is Gods mâ—raculous working that he subdues Crownes to a Crosse ouercomes 〈…〉 pouertie ouerthrowes the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 Folishnesse of the Spirit and sets knees a 〈…〉 in a Manger YOu see their Accesse and the Euent or Successe which poynts determine their Direction Let vs come to their Deuotion Herein wee shall find a triplicitie to follow the method of Augustines Glosse Adorant corporibus vencrantur officijs honorant muneribus Christ had bestowed on these Magi three sorts of giftes Goods Corporall Spirituall Temporall And all these in a deuout thankefulnesse they returne to Christ. In Falling downe they did honour him with the Goods of the body In Worshipping him with the gifts of the Minde In Presenting to him guiftes Gold Frankincense Mirrhe with the goods of the World The Body and Minde I will knit togeather They fell downe and worshipped him It is fitte they should be partners in repentance that haue been confederates in sinne It is questioned whether in transgressing the body or the soule be most culpable I am sure either is guiltie It is all one a man that wants Eyes carries a man that wants Feete the lame that cannot goe spies a Bootie and tels his blind Porter of it that cannot see Hee that hath Eyes directes the way hee that hath Feet trauels to it but they both consent to steale it The Bodie without the Soule wants Eyes the Soule without the Body wants
Tents intend not a long dwelling in a place They are mouables euer ready to be transferred at the occasion and will of the Inhabiter Hebr. 11. Abraham dwelt intents with Isaac and Iacob the heires with him of the same Promise The reason is added For hee looked for a Citie which hath foundations whose builder and maker is GOD. These Saints studied not to enlarge their barnes as the rich Cosmopolite Luke 12. or to sing Requiems to their soules in the hoped perpetuity of earthly habitations Soule liue thou hast enough laid vp for many yeares Foole he had not enough for that night They had no thought that their houses should continue for euer and their dwelling places to all generations thereuppon calling their lands after their owne names God conuinceth the foolish security of the Iewes to whom hee had promised by the Messias to be purchased an euerlasting royalty in heauen by the Rechabites who built no houses but dwelt in Tents as if they were strangers ready on a short waâ—ning for remouall The Church esteemes Heauen her home this world but a Tent. A Tent which we must all leaue build we as high as Babel as strong as Babilon When wee haue fortified combined feasted death comes with a Voyder and takes away all Dost thou thinke to raigne securely because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar Friends must part Ionas and his gourd Nebuchadnezzar and his pallace the couetous churle and his barns Arise and depart for this is not your rest Though you depart with griefe from Orchards full of fruits grounds full stocked houses dightly furnished purses richly stuffed from musicke wine iunkets sports yet goe you must goe euery man to his owne home Hee that hath seene heauen with the eye of Fath through the glasse of the Scripture slippes off his coate with Ioseph and springs away They that liued thrice our age yet dwelt in Tents as Pilgrims that did not owne this world The shortnesse and weakenesse of our dayes strengthens our reasons to vilipend it The world is the field thy body the Tent heauen thy free-holde The world is full of troubles windes of persecutions storms of menaces cold of vncharitablenesse heate of malice exhalations of prodigious terrours will annoy thee Loue it not Who can affect his owne vexations It is thy through-fare God loues thee better then to let it be thy home Euery misery on earth should turne our loues to heauen God giues this world bitter teats that wee might not sucke too long on it Satan as some doe with rotten nutmegs guildes it ouer and sends it his friends for a token But when they put that spice into their broth it infects their hearts Set thy affections on heauen where thou shalt abide for euer This life is a Tent that a Mansion In my Fathers house there are many mansions This casuall that firme a kingdome that cannot be shaken This troublesome that full of rest This assuredly short that eternall Happy is he that heere esteemes himselfe a Pilgrim in a Tent that hee may bee heereafter a citisen in a stable kingdome 2. Their frugallitie should not passe vnregarded Heere is no ambition of great buildings a Tent will serue How differ our dayes and hearts from those The fashion is now to build great houses to our lands till wee leaue no lands to our houses and the credite of a good house is made not to consist in inward hospitality but in outward walls These punkish out-sides beguile the needy Traueller hee thinkes there cannot be so many roomes in a house and neuer a one to harbour a poore stranger or that from such a multitude of chimneis no meate should be sent to the gates Such a house is like a painted whoore it hath a faire cheek but rotten lungs no breath of charity comes out of it We say frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora What needes a house more roomes then there is vse for A lesse house and more hospitablenesse would doe a great deale better Are not many of these glorious buildings set vp in the curse of Iericho the foundation laid in the blood of the eldest the poore the walls reared in the blood of the yoongest the ruine of their owne posterity This was one of the Trauellers obserued faults in England camini mali that we had ill clockes and worse chimneis for they smoaked no charity We see the Precedent the application must teach vs to Deale plainely Here is commended to vs Plainesse in Meaning Demeaning Which instructs vs to a double concord and agreement In Meaning betwixt the heart and the tongue In Demeaning betwixt the tongue and the hand In Meaning THere should be a louing and friendly agreement betweene the heart and the tongue This is the minds herald and should onely proclaime the senders message If the tongue be an ill seruant to the heart the heart will be an ill maister to the tongue and Satan to both There are three kindes of dissimulation held tolerable if not commendable and beyond them noâ—e without sinne 1. When a man dissembles to get himselfe out of danger without any preiudice to another So Dauid fained himselfe madde to escape with life So the good Physician may deceiue his patient by stealing vppon him a potion which he abhorreth intending his recouerie 2. When dissimulation is directly aymed to the instruction and benefite of another So Ioseph caused the money to bee put in his brethrens sackes thereby to worke in them a knowledge of themselues So Christ going to Emaus with the two Disciples made as if he would goe further to try their humanity 3. When some common seruice is thereby performed to the good of the Church Such are those stratagems and policies of warre that carry in them a direct intention of honesty and iustice though of hostillity as Iosuah's whereby he discomfited the men of Ai. Further then these limits no true Israelite no Plaine-Dealing man must venture Plato was of opinion that it was lawfull for Magistrates Hosium vel Ciuium causa mentiri to lie eyther to deceiue an enemy or saue a citisen I might against Plato set Aristotle who sayth expresly that a lie in it selfe is euill and wicked And another Philosopher was wont to say That in two things a man was like vnto God in bestowing benefites and telling the truth Nor will we inferre with Lyranus because there is a Title in the Ciuill Law De dolo malo of euill craft that therefore it is graunted there is a craft not euill But let vs know to the terrour of lyers that the deuill is the father of lying and when hee speaketh a lie hee speaketh of his owne And beyond exception they are the words of euerlasting veritie No lie is of the truth Therefore into that heauenly Hierusalem shall enter none that workes abhomination or maketh a lie A lie must needes be contrary
as voluptuous as Esau. Men haue talem dentem qualem mentem Such an Appetite as they haue Affection And Esau may be as great a Glutton in his Pottage as those greedy Dogges Esay 56. that fill themselues wâ—th strong Wines or those fatte Bulles Am 6. that eate the Lambes and Calues out of the Stall Thus the poore may sinne as much in their Throate as the rich and be Epicures tam Latè though not tam lautè in as immoderate though not so daintie Fare Indeede Labour in many bodies requires a more plentifull repast then ease and the sedentarie Gentleman needes not so much Meate as his drudging Hind But in both this Rule should be obserued Quantum naturae sufficiat non quantum gulae placeat Not what will please the Throate but what will content Nature to eate what a man should not what hee would The Poore man that loues delicate Cheare shall not bee Wealthy and the Rich man that loues it shall not be Healthy As cunning as Esau was heere is one instance of his folly An intemperate Appetite 2. His Folly may be argued from his base estimation of the Birthright that he would so lightly part from it and on so easie conditions as Pottage It seemes hee did measure it onely by the pleasures and commodities of this life which were affoorded him by it ver 32. I am ready to die and what profite shall this Birthright doe mâ—e Which words import a limitation of it to this present World as if it could doe him no good afterwards Whereupon the Hebrews gather that he denyed the Resurrection For this cause the Apostle brands him with the marke of Prophanesse Heb. 12. that he changed a Spirituall Blessing for a Temporall Pleasure And what O yee Esauites Worldlings are momentany Delights compared to Eternall What is a messe of Gruell to the Supper of Glory The Belly is pleased the Soule is lost Neuer was any Meate except the forbidden Fruite so dearely bought as this Broth of Iacob A Curse followed both their feedings There is no Temporall thing without the trouble though it be farre more worthy then the Lentile-Pottage Hath a man good things hee feares to forgoe them and when hee must could either wish they had not been so good or a longer possession Hath he euill they bring griefe and hee either wisheth them good or to be rid of them So that good things trouble vs with feare euill with sorrow Those in the future these in the present Those because they shall end these because they doe not end Nothing then can make a man truly-happy but Eternitie Pleasures may last a while in this world but they wil grow old with vs if they doe not die before vs. And the Staffe of Age is no Pole of eternitie Hee then hath too much of the sensuall and Prophane blood of Esau in him that will sell euerlasting Birthrights and Comforts for transient Pleasures 3. Another Argument of his folly was Ingratitude to God who had in mercie vouchsafed him though but by a few minutes the priuiledge of Primogeniture Wherewith Diuines hold that the Priesthood was also conueyed The Father of the Family exercised it during his life and after his decease the first borne succeeded in that with the Inheritance And could Esau be ingratefull to a God so gracious Or could he possibly haue aspired to a higher dignitie Wretched Vnthankfulnesse how iustly art thou branded for a Prodegie in Nature There are too many that in a sullen neglect ouerlooke all Gods fauours for the want of one of their Affections long after Non tam agunt gratias de Tribunatu quam queruntur quod non sunt euecti in Consulatum It is nothing with them to be of the Court except they be also of the Councell 4. His Obstinacie taxeth his Follie that after cold blood leasure to thinke of the Treasure he sold and digestion of his Pottage hee repented not of his Rashnes But ver 34. Hee did eate and drinke and rose vp and went his way Filled his Belly rose vp to his former Customes and went his way without a Quid faeci Therefore it is added Hee despised his Birthright Hee followed his Pleasures without any interception of Sorrow or interruption of Conscience His whole life was a circle of sinfull Customes and not his Birthrights losse can put him out of them A circular thing implies a perpetuitie of motion according to Mathematicians It begins from all parts alike et in seipso definit endes absolutely in it selfe without any poynt or scope obiectuall to moue to Earth was Esaus home hee lookes after no other felicitie therefore goes his way with lesse thought of an heauenly Birthright then if hee had missed the Deare hee hunted It is wicked to sell Heauenly things at a great rate of Worldly but it is most wretched to vilipend them 5. Lastly his Perfidious nature appeareth that though hee had made an absolute Conueâ—ance of his Birthright to Iacob and sealed the Deed with an Oath yet hee seemed to make but aiest of it and purposed in his heart not to performe it Therefore chap. 27. 41. 〈◊〉 said in his heart the dayes of mourning for my Father are â—t hand then will I sâ—ay my brâ—ther Iacob Hee tarryed but 〈◊〉 the Funerall of his Father and then resolued to sende his Brother after him as Cain did Abel because hee was more accepted It is hard to iudge whether he was a worse Sonne or a Brother Hee hopes for his Fathers death and purposeth his Brothers and vowes to shed bloud in stead of Teares Perhappes from his example those desperate Wretches of England drew their instuction They had sold their Birthright and the Blessing which Iesus Christ like old Isac dying bequeathed in his Will to all beleeuers and all the interest in the truth of the Gospell to the Pope for a few Pottage red Pottage dyed in their owne blood for seeking to colour it with the blood of Gods Annoynted and of his Saints And now in a malicious rancour seeing the Children of Truth to enioy as much outward peace as they were conscious of an inward vexation they expected but Diem Luctus the dayes of Mourning when God should translate our late Queene of eternally-blessed memorie from a Kingdome on Earth to a better in Heauen and then hoped like Busterds in a Fallow field to rayse vp their heauy Fortunes â—'â— turbinis by a Whirlewind of Commotion But our Pacator Orbis which was the reall attribute of Constantine beguiled their enuious Hopes And as Patâ—rculus said of the Romane Empire after Augustus death when there was such hope of Enemies feare of Friends expectation of trouble in all Tanta suit vnius viri Maiestas vt nec bonis neque contra malos opus foret armis Such was the maiestie of one man that his very presence tooke away all vse of Armes Our royall Iacob precluded all Stratagems preuented all the Plots of these malicious
they might bee one indeed as they are in number It is made simple let it not be double God hath made vs men we make our selues monsters He hath giuen vs two eyes two eares two hands two feete Of all these we will haue or at lest vse but one We haue one eye to pry into others faults not an other to see our owne Wee haue one eare to heare the Plaintife not the other for the Defendant We haue a foote swift to enter forbidden paths not another to leade vs to Gods holy place We haue one hand to extort and scrape and wound and not another to relieue giue almes heale the wounded But now whereas God hath giuen vs but one tongue and one heart and bidden vs be content with their singularity we will haue two tongues two hearts Thus crosse are wee to God to Nature to Grace monstrous men monoculi monopedes bicordes bilingues one-eyed one-footed double-tongued double-hearted The slaunderer the flatterer the swearer the tale-bearer are monstrous I dare scarce adde men as mis-shapen Stigmatickes as if they had two tongues and but one eye two heades and but one foote 3. This convinceth them of preposterous folly that put all their malice into their tongue as the Serpent all her poyson in her tayle And as it were by a chymicall power attract all vigor thither to the weakening and enervation of the other parts Their hands have chiragram they can not stretch them foorth to the poore nor give reliefe to the needy Their feete podagram they can not goe to the Church Their eyes opthalmiam they can not behold the miserable and pitty-needing Their eares surditatem they can not heare the Gospell preached Oh how defective and sicke all these members are But their Tongues are in health there is blithnesse and volubillity in them If they see a distressed man they can give him talkative comfort enough Bewarmed be filled be satisfied they can fill him with Scripture-sentences but they send him away with an hungry belly Whereas the good mans hand is as ready to give as his tongue to speake But the fooles lips babbleth foolishnesse volat irrevocabile verbum Words runne like Hazael but good workes like the Creeple come lagging after We see the nature of the thing to be tamed the tongue let vs consider the difficulty of this enterprise No man can doe it Which wee shall best finde if wee compare it with other members of the body creatures of the world With other members of the body which are various in their faculties and offices none of them idle 1. The eye sees farre and beholdeth the creatures in coelo solo salo in the heavens sunne and starres on the earth birds beasts plants and mineralls in the sea fishes and serpents That it is an vnruly member let our Grand-mother speake whose roving eye lost vs all Let Dinah speake her wandring eye lost her virginitie caused the effusion of much blood Let the Iewes speak concerning the daughters of Madian what a fearefull apostacie the Eye procured Yea let Dauid acknowledge whose petulant eye robbed Vriah of his wife and life the land of a good souldier his owne heart of much peace Yet this eye as vnruly as it is hath beene tamed Did not Iob make a couenant with his eyes that hee would not looke vpon a maide The eye hath beene tamed but the tongue can no man tame it is an vnruly c. 2. The eare yet heares more then ever the eye saw and by reason of the patulous admission derives that to the vnderstanding whereof the sight never had a glaunce It can listen to the whisperings of a Doeg to the susurrations of a Divell to the Boyse of a Syren to the voyce of a Delilah The Parasite through his windore creepes into the great mans favour hee tunes his warbling notes to an enlarged eare It is a wilde member an Instrument that Sathan delights to play vpon As vnruly as it is yet it hath beene tamed Mary sate at the feete of Christ and heard him preach with glad attention The eare hath beene tamed but the Tongue can no man tame c. 3. The foote is an vnhappy member and carries a man to much wickednesse It is often swift to the shedding of blood and runneth away from God Ionahs pace flying to Tharshish when it is bound for Niniueh There is a foote of pride Psal. 36. a sawcie foote that dares presumptuously enter vpon Gods free-hold There is a foote of rebellion that with an apostate malice kickes at God There is a dauncing foote that paceth the measures of circular wickednesse Yet as vnruly as this foote is it hath beene tamed David got the victory over it I considered my wayes and turned my foote vnto thy testimonies The foote hath beene tamed but the Tongue can no man tame c. 4. The hand rageth and rangeth with violence to take the bread it never sweat for to enclose fields to depopulate Townes to lay waste whole countries They couet fields and houses and vineyards and take them because their Hand hath power There is a hand of extortion as Ahabs was to Naboth the greedy landlords to the poore tenant There is a hand of fraud and full of Liegerdumaine as the vsurers to his distressed borrower There is a hand of bribery as Iudas with his Quantum dabitis what will you giue me to betray the Lord of Life There is a hand of lust as Ammons to an incestuous rape There is a hand of murder as Ioabs to Abner or Absolons to Ammon O how vnruly hath this member beene yet it hath beene tamed not by washing it in Pilates basin but in Davids holy-Water Innocence I will wash my hands in innocencie and then O Lord will I compasse thine altar Heereuppon hee is bolde to say Lord looke if there be any iniquitie in my hands God did repudiate all the Iewes sacrifices because their hands were full of blood Davids hands had beene besmeared with the aspersions of lust and blood but hee had penitently bathed them in his owne teares and because that could not get out the staines he faithfully renseth and cleanseth them in his Sonnes and Saviours fountayne the all-meritorious blood of Christ. This made them look white whiter then Lillies in Gods sight Therefore hath the Lord recompensed mee according to my righteousnesse according to the cleanenesse of my hands in his eye-sight Thus the eye the eare the foote the hand though wilde and vnruly enough have been tamed but the tongue can no man tame it is an vnruly evill c. With other creatures of the world whether we find them in the earth ayre or water 1. On the earth there is the man-hating Tyger yet man hath subdued him and they write a little boy hath led him in a string There is the flocke-devouring wolfe that stands at grinning defiance with the sheepheard madde to have his prey or loose himselfe yet he
to their office let vs set them on worke to speake for themselues 2. Wee must not be idle our selues the difficultie must spurre vs to more earnest contention As thou wouldest keepe thy house from theeues thy garments from mothes thy golde from rust so carefully preserue thy tongue from vnrulinesse As the Lord doth set a watch before thy mouth and keepe the doore of thy lippes Psal. 141 So thou must also be vigilant thy selfe and not turne ouer thy owne heart to securitie How can yee being euill speake good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Looke how farre the heart is good so farre the tongue If the heart beleeue the tongue will confesse if the heart bee meeke the tongue will bee gentle if the heart bee angry the tongue will bee bitter The tongue is but the hand without to shew how the clocke goes within A vaine tongue discouers a vaine heart But some haue words soft as butter when their hearts are keene swords bee they neuer so well traded in the art of Dissembling sometime or other the tongue das-like will betray the Maister it will mistake the hearts errand and with stumbling forgetfulnesse trip at the doore of truth The heart of fooles is in their mouth but the mouth of the wise is in their heart To auoyde ill communication hate ill cogitation a polluted heart makes a fowle mouth Therefore one day Ex ore tuo Out of thine owne mouth will God condemne thee I haue with some prolixity insisted on the Position the reasons shall bee but lightly touched 1. It is an vnruly euill The difficulty of taming the tongue one would thinke were sufficiently expressed in the euill of it but the Apostle seconds it with an other obstacle signifying the wilde nature of it vnruly It is not onely an euill but an vnruly euill I will set the Champion and his Second together in this fight and then shew the hardnesse of the combat Bernard sayth Lingua facile volat ideo facile violat The tongue runnes quickly therefore wrongs quickly Speedy is the pace it goes and therefore speedy is the mischiefe it does When all other members are dull with age the tongue alone is quicke and nimble It is an vnruly euill to our selues to our neighbours to the whole world 1. To our selues Ver. 6. It is so placed among the members that it defileth all Though it were euill as the plague and vnruly as the possessed Gergeseus Math. 8 yet if set off with distance the evill rests within it selfe A Leaper shut vp in a Pesthouse ranckleth to himselfe infects not others A wild Caniball in a prison may onely exercise his savage cruelty vpon the stone wals or yron grates But the tongue is so placed that being euill and vnruly it hurts all the members 2. To our Neighbours There are some sinnes that hurt not the doer onely but many sufferers These are districtly the sinnes of the tongue and the hand There are other sinnes private and domesticall the sting and smart whereof dyes in the oâ—ne soule and without further extent plagues onely the person of the committer So the Lavish is sayde no mans foe but hâ—s own the proud is guilty of his owne vanity the slothfull beares his owne reproch and the malicious wasteth the marrow of his owne bones whiles his envied obiect shines in happinesse Though perhaps these sinnes insensibly wrong the common-wealth yet the principall and immediate blow lights on themselues But some iniquities are swords to the Countrey as oppression rapine circumvention some incendiaries to the whole land as evill and vnrnly tongues 3 To the whole world If the vastate ruines of ancient monuments if the depopulation of Countries if the consuming fires of contention if the land manured with bloud had a tongue to speake they wold all accuse the Tongue for the originall cause of their woe Slaughter is a lampe and bloud the oyle and this is set on fire by the tongue You see the latitude and extention of this vnruly evill nor evnraly then the hand Slaughters massacres oppressions are done by the hand the tongue doth more Parcit manus absenti lingua nâ—mini The hand spares to hurt the absent the tongue hurts all One may avoid the sword by runniâ—g from it not the tongue though he runne to the Indies The hand reacheth but a small compasse the tongue goes through the world If a man wore coate of armour or maile of brasse yet Penetrabunt spicula linguae The darts of the tongue will pierce it It is evill and doth much harme it is vnruly and doth sudden harme You will say many wicked men haue often very silent tongues True they know their times and places when and where to seeme mute But Ieremy compounds the wisedome and folly of the Iewes That they were wise to do evill but to do good they had no vnderstanding So I may say of these they haue tongue enough to speake euill but are dumbe when they should speake well Our Sauiour in the dayes of his flesh on earth was often troubled with dumbe Deuils but now he is as much troubled with roaring Deuils With the fawning Sycophant a pratling Deuill With the malicious slaunderer a brawling Deuill With the vnquiet peace-hater a scolding Deuill With the auarous and ill-conscious Lawyer a wrangling Deuill With the factious Schismaticke a gaping Deuill With the swaggering ruffian a roaring Deuill All whom Christ by his ministers doth coniure as he once did that crying Deuill Hold thy peace and come out These are silent enough to praise God but lowd as the Cataracts of Nilus to applaud vanitie Dauid sayth of himselfe Psalme 32. that when he held his peace yet he rored all the day long Strange be silent and yet roare too at once Gregory answeres hâ—e that daily commits new sinnes and doth not penitently confesse his olde roares much yet holdes his tongue The Father pricked the pleurisie-vaine of our times For wee haue many roarers but dumbe roarers though they can make a hellish noyse in a Tauerne and sweare downe the Deuill himselfe yet to praise God they are as mute as fishes Saint Iames heere calles it fire Now you know fire is an ill maister but this is vnruly fire Nay hee calles it the fire of hell blowne with the bellows of malice kindled with the breath of the deuill Nay Stella hath a conceit that it is worse then the fire of hell for that torments onely the wicked this all both good and bad For it is Flabellum invids and Flagellum iusti Swearers railers scoldes haue hell-fire in their tongues This would seeme incredible but that God sayth it is true Such are hellish people that spet abroad the flames of the deuill It is a cursed mouth that spets fire how should wee auoyde those as men of hell many are afraid of hell fire yet nourish it in their owne tongues By this kinde of