on high first kéepeth it lowe and holdeth it downe with the force of a van and the gathering togither of much winde Euen so our God presseth vs downe and kéepeth vs lowe that he may lift vs vp and exalt vs on high he throweth vs downe héere in earth that he may exalt vs in heauen and laieth many times disgrace vpon vs in this world among men that we may be gracious in the world to come with himselfe his angels and his saints On the other side AS a wrastler imbracing him with whom he striueth in the wrastling place for victorie lifteth him vp the higher that with the greater force he may hurle him against the ground So this world doth extoll vs that with throwing vs downe headlong it may hurt vs and that we may fall from the top of deceitfull and transitorie glorie downe to the bottome of most certaine and perpetuall ignominie Cyprian saith The world smileth vpon a man with a cruell purpose it flattereth to deceiue it calleth a man to it to kill him it extolleth him to vndo him AS men mad and frantike are woont to teare and rent themselues So wicked and vngodly men inflict vpon themselues most deadly and incurable wounds yea they be most wilfull murtherers of their owne soules and bodies For that is true in the booke of Wisedome Man through his owne naughtines killeth his owne soule And what greater madnes can there be than a man to run headlong vpon euerlasting destruction Iob hauing a desire to describe the ignorance of such men and to declare that euen in matters most euident and plaine they be vtterly void and destitute of wisedome he saith In the day light they run into darknes and as in the night so stumble they at noone daies And whereas the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome as Dauid and Salomon his sonne do both affirme and vngodly men loden with all maner of naughtines to the feare of God are méere strangers it is plainly and truly concluded that they be not onely without wisedome but also that they haue not so much as the beginning of the same AS the filthie swine regard not but thrust from them roses that are most beautifull and swéete and séeme to contemne most fragrant and pleasant flowers and do rather séeke after foule puddles and stinking mire and forsaking dainty dishes and costly iuncates do franke themselues most gréedily with wilde mast and vncleane things So vngodly men haue no taste of the word of God but hunting after vncertaine riches which are in continuall hazard and at the length will deceiue them they are as it were fettered in the inchanting pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world From the which the Lord preserue and deliuer vs. Amen AS in a fruitfull and fertile ground among many wholsome and very medicinable herbes some that be dangerous and full of poyson do grow So the wits and wisedome of men togither with some profitable and wholsome counsels and admonitions do bring foorth perilous and pestilent errors and are therfore with wisedome and great discretion to be regarded euen as herbes are to be gathered and vsed But this wisedome and discretion is to be sought for and had onely in the word of God which is a lanterne to our féete and a most perfect light vnto our pathes It is onely acceptable to the soules of Gods saints and nothing but it doth féede them to eternall life It is swéeter vnto them than hony and the hony combe In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in the Lords we cannot Thy iudgements O Lord saith Dauid are iust and more to be desired than fine golde or pretious stones and they are swéeter than hony and the hony combe It is the power of saluation to all that beléeue it it is able to saue our soules if it be throughly rooted in vs. The word of the Lord laid vp in our harts doth preserue vs from sinne it clenseth our harts and by the working of the holy Ghost with it it createth right spirits within vs. By the meanes of it the saints and seruants of God attaine to that puritie and cleannes of hart and minde that they wish for and desire nothing but that which is good godly and holy The author of the word is God himselfe who can neither deceiue nor be deceiued and therefore whatsoeuer is written in it is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines whatsoeuer it promiseth after death is eternitie and endlesse ioy to the children of God when this life is ended Whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his good pleasure AS that man that will giue an onset and encounter with an enimie or wil defend and kéepe himselfe vnwounded at his hands hath néede of a sword in his hand to smite the enimie withall and to repell his violence So whosoeuer will triumph and carry away the victorie ouer this world flesh and diuell must hold fast in his hand that is in his maners conuersation and the whole course of his life the worde of God which is called the sword of the spirit is sharper than any two edged sword This the Lord commandeth to be closed and safely laid vp in the cofer of our harts and to be worne as a signe vpon our hands and to be had for a remembrance alway before our eies Salomon doth counsell vs to binde it fast to our harts and to vse it as a chaine about our necks and to take it with vs when we walke abroad And Christ himselfe saith If any man loue me he will kéepe my saying Againe Blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The apostle also Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God but the doers of the lawe shall be iustified And Iames saith Be ye doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiuing your owne selues The Lord giue grace and his holy spirit vnto vs that we may loue to heare his word and to do his will EVen as doues do loue and delight in houses that be faire whited and do willingly frequent swéete and pleasant places but contemne and flie from blacke foule and vnsauorie cottages So faithles and vntrustie friends do hunt and séeke after the friendship of those men by whose wealth and riches they may be holpen reléeued and enriched But men in pouertie and distressed persons vnable to fill their bellies to clothe their backs or otherwise to pleasure them with some worldly things they vtterly despise they care not for their companie their loue nor friendship feare they God neuer so much Yea if some blustering storme and terrible tempest of aduersitie shall blowe away thy wealth and shall separate thy riches and thy selfe thy greatest friends as thou thoughtest will hide them from thée and no where be found but a faithfull friend loueth at al times
be fed with delicates and dainties from heauen and are nourished with the grace fauor of God they holde vp their hands they turne vp their eies they lift vp their harts and mindes to God that is in heauen from whence their soules receiue comfort ioy saluation and euerlasting life Such men are not in loue with this worlde nor with the transitorie things of the same They know and consider that the earth and all that is in it was once nothing and that it shall returne to nothing againe All is vanitie and vanitie of vanities But all their felicitie ioye and comfort is in the worde and will of God to know it that whiles they liue héere below in the earth they may do it That the course of this life being ended they may haue and enioy euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lorde LEarned and famous writers do report that in the vniuersall world there is nothing harder then the adamant stone especially that which is had in the Indians which in firmenes hardnes and valure excéedeth the rest but I am of opinion that the hart of man is harder than it for the adamant though it will giue place to no other thing nor be softened by any other means yet is it said to be subdued and mollified with the warme bloud of a goate But the hart of a man being hardned through the continuance and custome of sinne wil not be mollified brideled nor tamed neither with the bloud of a goat nor yet with the bloud of that immaculate lambe Christ Iesus which gaue himselfe a sacrifice for vs vpon the altar of the crosse and there bestowed his bloud that he might mittigate and appease our wilde mindes and pricke to the quicke our harde and senselesse harts and to open vnto vs the waie to the attaining of eternal life and euerlasting saluation O harde saith Bernard and hardened sonnes of Adam that will not be mollified with so great a force and power of loue With whom the bitter pangs of Christ his death and passion cannot preuaile We are surely that people to whom the Lord speaketh by Esay the prophet sayeng I know that thou art hard harted and that thy necke is a synewe of iron and that thy face is of brasse And Ieremie out of doubt speaketh no lesse of vs than of the Iewes they haue made saith he their faces harder then flint and they will not be conuerted I would to God these sayings did onely touch the Iewes and did not also hit a number of vs that professe the name of Christ looke to be saued by him pat vpon the thumbes Wée are proud hawtie and high minded and we hate to be humbled we are couetous enuious leacherous and we will not be brideled Wée are very rich and religious in words but we are very beggerly and haue no religion in our works Our lips and tongues onely are gilded and tipt with good spéeches but our harts are far from the Lorde The almightie vouchsafe to open the eies of our mindes and to mollifie our harts that we may sée and receiue his grace offered vnto vs and that forsakeing our selues and our sinnes we may be conuerted vnto him Amen AS the sunne doth not leaue shining and sending foorth his bright beames although a cloude will sometimes darken his light Euen so we must not giue ouer to exercise godlines and to do well euen towards them that be our enimies and will hate and persecute vs and the better we do the woorse will deale with vs. Christ commandeth vs to loue our enimies and to do them good and to pray for them that hate vs and persecute vs. AS the nut and oliue trées although they be beaten with rods yet bring foorth most plentifull fruits So we must not be weary of well dooing nor caste the exercise and practise of godlines behinde vs but rather more willingly and feruentlie procéede go on in the same although the friends of this world shall braule and rate at vs shall curse reuile and most vnkindly intreate vs. The lot of vertue is to be enuied and to finde fewe friends and if at all to be but coldly intertained with the most parte and greatest number of the worlde The prophet of God complaineth that for his vertues sake the princes of the earth laid their heads togither against him and yet he shronke not EVen as a quiet calme and pleasant water will shew vnto vs if we looke into it the verie image and likenes of our selues as it were a glasse but mooued stirred and troubled it doth not so euen so our owne harts if they be quiet and not troubled with horrors nor distempered with feares will plainly shew vs what we be so that we may easilie know our selues and not be deceiued but being filled with feares tossed with terrors and ouerwhelmed with troubles they cannot do so It behooueth vs therefore that our harts be not troubled nor ouerladen with feares Christ willeth his disciples that they fears not nor that their harts be troubled and in another place hée saith Feare not my little flocke The prophet was in heauie plight when he cried O Lord my hart is sore troubled And in an other place I was troubled in my sléepe Therefore that we may haue our harts quiet our soules in peace and our consciences vntroubled Let vs beware of sinne flie from all iniquitie and walke vprightly before our God all the daies of our liues God grant we may Then may wée saie The Lorde is the protector of my life of whom shall I be afraid And againe I will feare no ill for thou Lord art with me And if God be with vs who can hurt vs A Scorpion is a venemous creature which hath a pleasant pace but woundeth deadly with hir taile shée stingeth not with hir face but with hir hinder part Such a one is euerie smooth toonged and flattering bodie Which speaketh faire to his neighbours face and killeth him in his hart Honest Cato to see too but cruell Nero in experience AS a Bée doth carie a floure in hir mouth but behinde doth pricke verie sharpely with hir stinge So verie manie in these daies do vse most sweet and pleasant spéeches wil euen stroke as it were thy humor and disposition with soft and sugred communication to the ende that by reason of some malice couched in their harts they may worke thy woe and vtter ouerthrow Of these Dauid speaketh They came about me like bees c. Wicked men therefore must be taken héede of For the Scriptures do painte them out in their colours that we may shun them Mathew and Iohn do call them woolues Luke foxes Mathew and Luke the generation of vipers The Lord deliuer vs from them Amen EVen as a candle that it may giue light vnto others it selfe is burned and consumed And as salt it selfe is brused and molten
hir age hath in it the shape likenes and prints of eies and that thin rynde also wherewith the eies of the snake are couered and yet indéed hath no séeing eies So the wicked vnbeléeuing Iewes did séeme to haue eies but indéede they were blinde and idle and emptie skins and ryndes without sight they were men but not of God they had eies of the flesh but none of the spirit they could sée creatures but they had not one eie to behold the creator And as for Christ they had no more sight noâ— knowledge of him that then â—ad of the sun and moone when they were yet in the wombes of their mothers The diuine miracles of Christ were most pure and cléere looking glasses without blemish spot or deceit wherein they might haue séene both the omnipotencie of him that wrought them and also their owne most miserable and wretched estate howbeit they were so stone blinde that they could not see the glasse much lesse themselues in the glasse So that when they sought after Christ and to sée his miracles this might well haue béen said to them Quid caeco cum speculo What should a blinde man do with a looking glasse The Euangelist saith that they came vnto the Lord that they might despise his mysteries and woonders And they said We know not whence this fellow is But bicause they came vnto him onely vpon their féete and departed far from him in their harts and mindes for they came vainly curiously and deceitfully therefore the Lord did most sharply reprooue them and that which they demanded they neuer obtained The papists no doubt notwithstanding their braue shewes and vauntings of religion holines and deuotion are in the same predicament with the incredulous Iewes Let vs therefore take the counsell of the holy Ghost which saith Thinke of the Lord in goodnes and séeke him in the singlenes of hart for he is â—ound of them that tempt him not and appéereth vnto them that put their trust in him Let vs come vnto Christ with a true hart and in the fulnes of faith Many do come to church to heare the word of God at the mouth of the preacher but all profit not bicause all do not come with humble mindes and lowly harts to that end AS of many men comming into a goldsmithes shop one buieth a chaine of gold another a costly ring some a rich iewell and some buie plate cunningly and curiously wrought and some one among the rest stoupeth downe and taketh vp a blacke cole which he turneth and tumbleth in his hands till it foule and make blacke his fingers Euen so very many do come to the church to heare the word preached and do learne and beare away excéeding good and heauenly lessons and do gather great strength to their faith and much comfort to their scules and peace to their consciences and some againe do come without any such good purpose intending to take some occasion to quarrell with the preacher and to marke if any thing fall from him vnwisely vndiscréetly or barbarously wherewith they may sport themselues and scorne him such as they came with wicked purposes and cauilling mindes so they depart with harts as hard as adamants sâ—ared consciences and brasen faces so bloodles that they cannot blush far woorse than when they came The preaching of the Gospell is in deede a very rich shop fully and throughly furnished and stored with iewels of great valure to wit with most wise holy and heauenly sentences procéeding from the almightie himselfe through the mouth of his seruants though séelie wormes and mortall men And whosoeuer will come woorthily to the preaching of the Lords lawes and ordinances of God and of the Gospell of Christ Iesus he must come with an holy and godly minde desirous to vnderstand and to know the will of God that he may do it They that come thus vnto the Lord do most certainly learne those things which appertaine to the saluation of their soules Such onely doth the holy Ghost instruct teach and comfort and doth inflame them with a woonderfull loue of the holy word and heauenly things But the Lord sendeth emptie away all such hearers as approch and come néere vnto him with their eares and lips and are diuided far from him in their harts and mindes being full of hypocrisie deceit and all abhomination To them speaketh the Lord himselfe by Ezechiel the prophet Shall I make answere vnto them when they aske me any thing as if the Lord should say I will not PLinie reporteth in his 14. booke that myrrhe doth kéepe mens bodies from corrupting and preserueth them from putrifaction and rottennes but howsoeuer that is true or otherwise this is most true in the children of God that calamities and afflictions taken and borne patiently do profit and preuaile much to kéepe out foules from the corruption and â—anker of grieuous euils and heinous sinnes and from being spotted of this wicked world For when we are afflicted then do we flie vnto God in oâ—r dangers and extremities as to our only refuge besides whome there is none can helpe or comfort vs. We craue and beg most earnestly his mercie and do make great haste and euen run as it were to meditate of his omnipotencie and readines to do vs good and to deliuer vs. And although we sée our selues to be as it were banished soules and crossed with a thousand troubles and to be euen abiects among men to be thrust out of the societies and companies of worldlings yet we neuer forget the goodnes and mercies of God nor cast out of our minds the remembrance of his louing kindnes toward his seruants The loue and fauor of God is euer before the eies of his saints and their calamitie doth euen stay and rest it selfe in the swéete remembrance of heauen and heauenly things though they be sore wroong in this life and gréeuously pinched yet they are neuer so oppressed that they be discomforted In the midst of mourning and sorrow they do woonderfully reioice in extreme pouertie they féele no want they séeme daily to be cut off and yet still they increase and florish they are still afflicted and yet continually refreshed Thus doth it come to passe that an admirable greatnes of loue and obedience towards the Lord doth grow very feruent and hote in them For they vnderstand that they be therefore afflicted that they should flie vnto God the heauenly and onely comfort as a most strongly fenced tower and inuincible castle that they may be turned from their sinnes and be saued Tobias knowing so much saide O Lorde when thou art angry thou shewest mercie and in the time of trouble thou forgiuest them their sins that call vpon thée And the Lord saith Iob woundeth and he healeth he smiteth and his hands shall heale againe And the kingly prophet Dauid saith Thou art my refuge in my trouble which compasseth me round about And againe The
very good king and setteth down a very plaine paterne a most liuely picture of his vertue that such a man as walketh in an vndefiled way to wit whose life is vnreprooueable shall serue him and be to him a courtier and a counseller and voweth that no man of pride no vaine person nor speaker of euill things shall dwel in his house nor kéepe within his court As if he should say I will diligently inquire and search who they be which in any land countrie and kingdome are faithfull and do loue righteousnes and by their counsell with I be instructed and the familiaritie of them will I vse but all vngodly proud blasphemous lying deceitfull and wicked persons of all sorts will I vtterly expulse out of my house and driue and thrust them out of my court and will suffer them to finde no rest within my kingdome God grant that all good godly Christian princes may follow the steps and example of king Dauid in this and all other his princely vertues and holy exercises Amen IT is the part and dutie of euery good Christian that whatsoeuer he doth in word or déede he do all in the name of the Lord Iesus that is to the glorie of God and in an affiance and confidence that he hath in the name of God that he wil protect defend blesse prosper and preserue him in doing of the same and so to giue vp his hart minde will worke and all vnto God before he do attempt the doing and performance of the same There be very many that do some dédes which to sée to are very good works but not the lesse they kéepe their harts mindes and wils diuided and separated far from God Those things to wit their harts mindes wils and purposes they steale from the Lord and do bestow them vpon the world they regard not God they séeke onely to please men in the action of vertue they haue no respect vnto vertue it selfe but onely and barely to the shew and shape or likenes of vertue Such men are like vnto painters which haue a greater regarde to the colours and shadowes of images and pictures than vnto the substance of the same and contemning the inward parts they bestow all the wit skill and cunning they haue in expressing and painting out a bare shadow and outside of the thing and the more they deceiue the eies of them that behold it the more excellent men are they iudged But the Lord requireth at our hands first fruits that is our harts mindes wils desires and all that is in vs and that we should euen offer vp and consecrate vnto him our selues euen our bodies a quicke aâ—â—â—iuing sacrifice holy and pleasing God which is our reasonable seruice of God And when the Apostle willeth vs or rather beséecheth vs that we giue our bodies a liuely sacrifice holy and acceptable to God and calleth the same our reasonable seruice of God he meaneth that the offering of dead calues and vnreasonable beasts as in times past the Iewes offered vnto him wil not please God now neither that the Lord will accept and take in good part any seruice or sacrifice that we shall bring and lay before him either in words or works so long as we loue sinne and harbour iniquitie in our harts mindes and members The Lord will receiue no sacrifice nor seruice of those that be strangers vnto him but onely of those which are graffed in Christ Iesu and are now become in him new creatures in whom there is a newnes a righteousnes and holines of life in whom all old foule filthie and vngodly conuersation is past And therefore the Apostle saith to the Ephesians Be ye renewed in the spirit of your minde and put ye on the new man and to the Colossians he giueth counsell that they destroy the olde man with all his trash and put on the new man and most louingly he beseecheth the Romanes saying Let vs walke in newnes of life But bicause this newnes cannot be wrought in vs without the grace and holy spirit of God Dauid the prophet doth mightily crie vnto the Lord and saith O God create a new hart within me and renew a right spirit within my bowels or inward parts The Lord requireth of vs a lambe that is innocencie humilitie and méekenes and he would haue vs to offer vnto him a yoong pigeon or a turtle doue that is true contrition and puritie of hart and minde for those swéete birds do vse mourning in stéed of singing and are pretie and fine paterns of puritie and innocencie The Lord will not take receiue nor accept barking curre dogs that is railing raging cursing lying slandering blaspheming or any such vngodly persons neither their offerings sacrifices nor praiers when they come and bring and lay them before him no more than he did the sacrifice of Caine. The roring and cruell lion the rauening wolfe the foule and dirtie swine the blinde mole or want that is the tyrannicall and mercilesse man the oppressor piller and poller of his brethren the man that is méere naturall and carnall the man that is blinde and ignorant in spirituall and heauenly things they are neither sacrifices nor sacrificers that God will or is woont to take any pleasure in as he doth abhorre the vices so for the vices sake he doth detest the vessels vntill such time as they be purged and clensed of such foule and filthie matter If there were no other but onely Salomon to tell vs that the Lord requireth and calleth for our harts it is great reason that we should beléeue the Lord at one word and at one message when so louingly and fatherly he saith My sonne giue me thy hart The Lord helpe vs and grant that we may giue him our harts and whatsoeuer else of the inward and outward man Amen HEliotropium the herbe of the sunne so called bicause it windeth it selfe about with the sunne in the morning very early it beholdeth the rising thereof and all the day it euen followeth the course of the sunne euer turning the leaues towards the same but the roote it neuer changeth stirreth nor mooueth it hath that still fast fixed within the earth So very many will séeme to follow the sunne of righteousnes Christ Iesus but it is onely in leaues and outward shewes for their rootes that is their harts are far and fast within the earth where indéede their treasure is according to that which Christ himselfe doth say Where thy treasure is there is thy hart also Such men will lift vp their hands eies and voices towards heauen and God and with such goodly gréene leaues will make a faire florish and a beautfull shew but their harts and affections are surely set vpon earthly vaine vile and transitorie things and are as far from God as heauen and earth are distant one from the other They shew vnto the Lord onely bare and fruitlesse leaues
and do rent and corrupt the words and doctrine of the holy prophets of God euen as it were a belly and bowels that they may créepe out and escape from a liuely perfect and a sauing faith and they may be confirmed in their errors heresies and infidelitie Yea as the Iewes haue from time to time slain the gracious and wise prophets of God euen so the Papists now where they beare any sway of rule and authoritie do most cruelly torment and murther the saints of God EVen as the delicate ballance of a goldsmith is mooued with euery little weight so that with one graine laid vpon it it falleth downward So with euery thing whether it bée luckie or vnfortunate we are woont to be greatly mooued and do suddenly change our purposes somtime we excéede in mirth by and by we are ouerwhelmed with sorrow we are euen now praising men to the skies and presently we hurle them downe from heauen with our toongs and thrust them into hell We loue men and hate them we saue men and kill them all with one breth now we choose vertue and by and by vice Thus doth mans will obey his vnbrideled lust The Lorde redresse and amend it FOr euen as the Chameleon changeth his colour according to the thing whereupon he sitteth So we at euery tentation do change our mindes and are driuen from our purposes and determinations and our wicked lusts and the vngracious thoughts of our harts do force and driue vs euen whither they will ANd as the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white So are we most apt and prone to all kinde of vice but to no vertue AS he that falleth into a riuer if he neither mooue hands armes nor legs is quickly drowned and sinketh downe dead to the bottome but if he swim escapeth aliue So he that trusteth to that faith which the apostle Iames calleth a dead faith bicause it hath no good effects and bringeth foorth no liuely fruits as an holy loue to God and man pietie patience pitie mercie compassion and such like vertues he must néedes be drowned in vtter destruction and sinke downe into the bottomlesse gulfe and pit of hell but he that mooueth his hands and his féete to do the déedes of a true and right faith which as the Apostle Paule saith worketh by loue and shall be a doer of the word and not an hearer onely he shall escape safe out of all dangers and shall arriue at the happie hauen of eternall happines and euerlasting life through Christ Iesus whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his will Amen EVen as the riuer Hypanis which is very famous and much spoken of bicause of the cléerenes and swéetnes of the water of the same after that it receiueth into it the bitter and troubled waters of the fountaine Exampes is poisoned and made vnprofitable So many men of great and excellent wits which did flow with the pure and pleasant waters of vertues when they haue fallen into the societie and familiaritie of vngracious and godlesse men haue béene poysoned with the lewdnes of their liues and the loosenes of their conditions And conceiuing their inexpiable fraudes haue béene fouly disgraced with their most detestable vices FOr as rotten apples do corrupt those sound ones that do touch them and lie close to them So the euill manners had conditions of the vngodly do infect those that kéepe theÌ„ companie Therefore Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly nor stand in the way of sinners and hath not sit in the seate of scorners c. And I haue not sitten in the counsell of vanitie and will kéepe no companie with the wicked c. Go out of Babylon saith the Lord and flie from the Chaldeans Depart out of the middest of Babylon and go from the land of the Chaldeans Peter denied Christ when he came into Cayphas his hall c. And Paule saith Euill words corrupt good maners AS it profiteth nothing to graffe a plant if with a whirlewinde or storme it be pulled vp by the rootes before it beare fruit So the word of God being heard and laid vp in our minds shall do vs no good if before it bring foorth fruit with some blustering blasts and sturdie stormes of temptations it shall be rooted out of our harts Therefore saith the kingly prophet Dauid Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of God and in that law doth meditate day and night He saith not that that man is happie and blessed which heareth and readeth the word but he pronounceth him to be happie which doth practise the same in the course of his life and doth digest it in the stomacke of his vnderstanding and endeuoreth himselfe with all diligence to obey it and shal spend daies and nights in the meditation thereof And the Lord by Ezechiel saith Thou sonne of man eate this booke And againe Thy belly and thy bowels shall be filled with this booke Very many do eat the word of God and yet remaine emptie many do take it whose bowels that is their harts and minds are not filled with it bicause in very short time either they do forget it or else they apply it rather to a vaine curiositie than to the profit and good of their soules neither do they obserue those things which they know in their consciences by the instruction of the word ought to be obserued Such a thing did the Lord obiect against the vnthankfull Iewes by Aggeus the prophet Ye haue soweâ— much but ye haue inued little you haue eaten but you are not satisfied They eate much and are not satisfied which heare and reade much and leade euill and wicked liues so far staining and polluting themselues with foule sinne and filthie vices that their life and profession do woonderfully â—ar and vtterly disagrée EVen as that man which goeth about to cut downe a tall and mighty Cypres being barren vnprofitable and an idle trée that other fruitfull plants which are letted and hindered through the noisome shadow of it may increase and prosper doth not despaire though at the first or second blowe he fell it not but by little and little he striketh with the axe vntill at the length he lay it along Euen so a preacher of the worde of God although he sée no profite follow his preaching no faults amended no sinnes abated yet for all that he ought not to despaire to faint and to hide his talent in the ground let him preach againe againe and neuer giue ouer that at the length with the two edged sword of the pure word of God he may hew and fell downe the huge and monstrous trée of sinne and all abhomination and that the new plants of vertue holines and righteousnes may grow prosper and increase AS he that would haue a little flame of fire to mount and rise vp
what are all we that be in it but earthen vessels The Apostle saith We haue this treasure in earthen vessels And saint Iohn saith As an earthen vessell shall they be broken Séeing then that all flesh is grasse and all must sée death but how when and where we cannot tell it standeth vs vpon to haue our mindes fixed in heauen and to be seeking those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God in maiestie and power that liuing in his feare and dying in his faith we may haue a glorious resurrection and méeting him ioyfully in the cloudes we may heare him most cheerefully say to vs Come ye blessed children receiue a kingdome prepared for you before the foundations of the earth were laid The which kingdom God for his sonne and our sauiour his sake grant vs Amen THe moone when she decreaseth doth turne the opening of hir bowe downe towards the earth and hir backe vp towards heauen and so procéedeth to hir defect and the end of hir course by little and little losing hir light vntill at the length she be darke and vtterly void of all hir light And on the other side when she increaseth she turneth hir open side vp towards heauen and hir backe towards the earth and so goeth on growing and increasing by degrees vntill she come to hir â—ul and perfect light Euen so man when he fainteth and faileth in truâ— christianitie anst spirituall graces and so falleth away more and more he turneth the doore of his hart and the opening of his desires altogither to this world and being carried away with the loue of transitorie things he seeketh nothing but the earth and the things of the same turning him from immutable goodnes to things very vncertaine and changing euery day And whiles he thus falleth away and starteth aside like a broken bowe he loseth the light and excellent brightnes of Christian dignitie vntill he remaine not onely depriued of the light of grace but also blinde in his vnderstanding vtterly obscured and cleane couered with a most palpable darknes The Psalmist speaketh of such men saying They are without knowledge they haue no vnderstanding they walke in darknes And the holy Apostle saith Their foolish hart is full of darknes And againe Walke not ye as the gentils walke in the vanitie of their mindes hauing their vnderstanding darkened But when man groweth in diuine exercises and increaseth in a heauenly life and goeth on still in spirituall graces then he turneth his backe to the world and vtterly renounceth the vanities the flickerings the allurements and all the deceits of the same and turneth the opening of his hart and all his desires to God onely and so goeth on continually profiting and euerie day receiuing some brightnes vntill he be filled not onely with the light of grace but of glorie also Therefore by how much the more thou shalt see a man occupied in the vnsaciable desires of this world and busied with the troublesome affaires of vaine and transitorie things and such as be vnprofitable for his soule by so much the more vnderstand thou that he goeth backward and decaieth in Christian perfection And on the other side the more feruently and earnestly thou shalt see him to aspire to heauenly things knowe thou that so much the more he profiteth in the true knowledge loue feare and worshipping of God That we therefore may profite in heauenly things and be illuminated with the bright beames of grace let vs lift vpwarde our harts to God let vs send to him our desires our sighes and grones let vs neuer cease begging but continually craue at his hands that euerlasting life which is onely excellent onely best and kept in store for all that do truly feare God and walke in his waies EVen as a bodie without a soule is dead bicause it vseth not the sinewes ioints nor members So that common welth or that citie may well and truly be said to be dead where good lawes godly statutes and holy ordinances are not vsed and put in practise which are the sure binding bands of mans societie and the principall parts of a common wealth These missing iustice is contemned vertue banished honestie expulsed and all euill vice vilenes and all sinne iniquitie and abhomination cherished vpholden and maintained IF birds of all sorts do desire the aire fishes séeke for water and the fire of the earth mounteth and flameth vp towards the elementall fire and all things séeke their place and centre and do tend towards the same why then will we not seeke our God as we ought our onely rest our centre and onely good If floods and riuers with great force run into the sea bicause as Salomon saith they came out of the sea why will not we loue our God why will we not aspire towards him why will we not in all feruencie of loue drawe néere vnto him which is that immeasurable sea of all goodnes from whence we came for he hath made vs after his owne similitude and likenes As we are bound to kéepe the precepts and commandements of God so are we most straitly bound to loue honor and obey himselfe Euen as the horse is ordained to run the oxe to plough and the dog to hunt so is man borne aboue all things to loue God AS a stone preaseth to his centre So an hard harted man is preasing towards hel It is said of the obstinate Egyptians They went downe into the depth like a stone Their bodies went downe into the bottome of the sea and their soules into the bottome of hell And Ecclesiasticus saith An hard hart shall fare euill at the last God grant therefore that euery one of vs may iustly say as Iob saith of himselfe The Lord hath mollified my hart It is written in the bookes of Exodus Numbers that Moses did smite the rocke with his rod and that abundance of water flowed out Vnto which words the prophet Dauid alludeth saying He smote the rocke and the waters gushed out so that riuers did run thereat The Lord so smite our stonie harts with the rod of the crosse of Christ and of the remembrance of his bitter passion and so breake in péeces the hard rocks of the same that floods of most bitter teares may run from our eies and many déepe sighes and gréeuous grones may fal from our harts to mooue the Lord to wash away all our sinnes and rebellions against the Almightie in and with the blood of Iesus Christ our only sauiour and redéemer Amen AS wilde and fierce horses are woont to be broken with the hardnes of the bridle and sharpnes of the bit So our vntamed lusts and vnbrideled appetites are hampered and brought within the compasse of reason with the bridle of aduersitie troubles sorrowes and afflictions EVen as the grape that it may yéeld wine is brought to the presse that it may be throughly
that it may giue good season and a swéete sauour vnto meates So a true Christian especially one aduaunced to dignitie and placed in authoritie should spare no labor but euen breake himselfe with studie and care and vndergo any paines to do good to profite many and to win some soules to God Such men indeede hath Christ appointed to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth They ought to be full of loue to God and man They should liue as strangers vpon the earth They should haue no acquaintance with pride couetousnes ambition emulation and such other sinnes of the world EVen as the sailers gnomon or rule which is commonly called the marriners néedle doth alwaies looke towards the north pole and will euer turne towards the same howsoeuer thou shalt place it which is maruellous in that instrument and néedle whereby the marriners do know the course of the winds Euenso euery Christian man ought to direct the eies of his minde and the waies of his hart to Christ He is our north pole and that fixed and constant north star whereby we ought all to be gouerned he is our hope and our trust he is all our strength whereupon we must still relie And as the gnomon doth euer behold the north star whether it be closed and shut vp in a cofer of golde siluer or wood neuer losing his nature so a right Christian man whether he abound in wealth or be pinched with pouertie whether he be of high or lowe degrée in this world ought continually to haue his faith and hope surely built and grounded vpon Christ and to haue his hart and minde fast fixed and setled in him and to follow him through thick and thin through fire and water through wars and peace through hunger cold through friends and foes through a thousand perils and dangers through the surges and waues of enuie malice hatred euill spéeches railing sentences contempt of the world flesh and diuell and euen in death it selfe be it neuer so bitter cruell and tyrannical neuer to lose the sight and view of Christ neuer to giue ouer our faith hope and trust in him Let vs followe the counsell of the holy Ghost which saith Put me as a signe vpon thy hart as if he should say Set me in thy hart in stéede of a marke whereat all thy thoughts words and works may be leuelled Put out of thy hart the marke of the world and place me there as the end vnto the which all thy purposes may tend vpon whom all thy cares may be cast and in whom thou maist rest thy soule in all peace A woonderfull gnomon and most excellent sailing néedle was that noble king and famous prophet of God Dauid when he said I set the Lord alwaies before mine eies for he is at my right hand that I shall not be mooued Therefore saith he my hart reioiced my toong was glad and my flesh shall rest in hope And the Apostle saith Let vs run toward the fight that is set before vs looking still vpon Iesus the author and finisher of our faith who hauing ioy set before him indured the crosse God giue vs grace continually to lift vp our harts and mindes our hand and eies to Christ Iesus and as Augustine saith To behold stedfastly our head AS all riuers of waters go into the sea bicause they came out of it and as Salomon saith All riuers and flouds returne to the place whence they came So let vs go and towards our God with all our harts strength and powers bicause we came out from him and were created of him Let vs therefore looke vpon him with the eies of a stedfast and constant faith grounded vpon his word let vs behold his glorie and the blessednes of his saints and let vs conceiue in our harts and soules an vnfained loue to him and let vs not haue two loues one for our selues and another for our neighbors but let vs loue them and our selues both with one and the same loue which may kindle and inflame our harts and mindes throughout with an earnest desire of immortalitie and that heauenly Ierusalem That we may say with the prophet O my soule returne vnto thy rest for the Lord hath done well to thée or as it may be translated bicause the Lord hath restored thée to thy selfe As if he should say O my soule when thou didst serue thy bodie and wast in bondage to it it was no maruell that thou didst séeke the pleasures thereof but now séeing thou art thine owne bicause the Lord hath restored thée to thy selfe séeke not anothers pleasure but thine owne séeke thine owne rest and not the rest of thy bodie of the flesh of the world séeke God delight in him flie vnto him and rest thy selfe in him put all thy cares griefs sorrowes in his loue and swéete comfort thinke of eternall blessednes presse it and print it surely in thy selfe This is thy spirituall rest this is thine own and only delight restored vnto thée by the benefit and bountifulnes of God THere is nothing liker vnto the world than the sea For as it floweth and ebbeth and all the waues thereof at the length fall into the earth So this world is neuer quiet it extolleth some and casteth downe others but all the vanities of it are ended in the graue If the sea lie open to many dangers how perilous then is the world if the sea be troubled with strange stormes with what tempests then is the world tossed If they that serue by sea are neuer without great perils how much more then the seruants of the world They whose heads are vnder the girdle of the world are continually shot at with the darts of enuie hatred and malice and are euer couered as it were with cloudes and stormes of a thousand cares How many are slaues to pride how many are dirtie drudges to couetousnes how many are consumed in substance soules and bodies by foule and filthie lecherie How many are deuoured and swallowed vp quicke of sorrowes and gréefes of hart and minde And doth not too much ioy and reioicing in worldly trifles kill some Many die laughing but mo sorrowing some with eating and drinking too much and many through want of sufficient giue the world adew Some grudge and whine bicause they haue many children and some are malcontent bicause they haue none some grudge not bicause they haue many but bicause they haue bad ones some boast of their beauties and some mourne for their blacknes Many desire to liue long but few to liue well All would be rulers and few will be ruled What then shall we thinke of this world Truly I thinke of it as of a thing most dangerous and most vaine and the going out of it is to me as the shore is to a man that hath trauelled far and long by sea and hath béene dangerously tossed with the surges and waues of
the same somtimes throwen vp as it were into the clouds and somtimes hurled downe as it were into hell And howsoeuer it beareth thée in hand it will serue thée a sluttish tricke in the end It will promise thée health but ere long thou must be sicke it will promise thée friends but if aduersitie ouertake thée thy friends will be to séeke it will promise thée wealth and shortly after thou shalt be in hucksters handling and be faine to crouch to a beastly vsurer that will eate vp thée and all thou hast it will smile on thée and deceiue thée whatsoeuer it shall promise thée Looke thou for quid pro quo Therfore if thou beest well aduised say to it and dissemble not farewell world I desire to be dissolued and to be with the Lord Iesus AS the image of Nabuchadnezzar although it had an head of fine gold yet it fell and was broken all to péeces bicause it had féete of clay which being touched with a stone ouerthrew the whole inuention So iustice many times falleth to the ground bicause although the princes which are rightly called the heads of their countries be very excellent iusticers and made as it were of the purest and finest gold of vertue yet the ministers of iustice are earthen and do bend their harts and mindes to nothing but earth and clay and with gifts and rewards they are carried euery way for gaine they will sell iudgement and breake the necke of iustice If you shall touch their hands with some precious stone some iewell of gold some costly plate some gold or siluer curiously engrauen or with some good round sum of gold or mony though it be in an olde purse they will for thy sake turne vpside downe all the lawes of God and man And yet notwithstanding there be many such ones in the world it is not to be doubted that there be some yea many very good vpright and godly iusticers with vs which hate bribes loue iustice with single harts and framing their whole liues after the rule of reason and equitie do neuer willingly violate the lawe God amend the worse and increase the better EVen as a brooke in winter is caried with great violence and runneth with a mighty force flowing ouer with abundance of waters on euery side when there is no want nor néede of water but in the heate of sommer is dried vp and emptie when water is scant and hard to be had whereto thirstie passengers as they trauell running in hope of water to drinke are vtterly deceiued So a fained and hollow harted friend in the time of thy prosperitie and rich estate will promise thée many things when thou hast néede of nothing but if the wind shall turne and blow the contrarie way and thou shalt be turned and tossed with many sharp brunts and blustering blasts of troubles aduersitie penurie and pouertie thy friends as thou thought will be like a trée withered through want of sap and like a ditch without water dried and parched with the heate of the sunne If thou be troubled in the citie he will be gone into the countrie if in the countrie then his busines is in the citie He will hide himselfe he will stand a far off he will be afeard to méete thée yea he will liue in a continuall feare and dread least God should vse him and make him his instrument to do thée good Iob had great experience of this when he complained saying My friends passed by me or haue deceiued me euen as a brooke that runneth swiftly in the vallies Such men are friends of thy table of thy welth of thy fauour and of thy friendship they will waite of thy honor thy lordship thy worship and authoritie but in pouertie imprisonment or in any other distresse or disgrace they will vtterly forsake thée If thou wilt follow my counsell therefore trie them throughly and knowe them perfectly and forsake thou them before they forsake thée AS a shadow doth follow that man which is lighted with the bright beames of the sunne but if the sunne be hid or couered with a cloud the shadow vanisheth and is cleane gone So a painted and counterfetted friend doth follow and ply that man whom he perceiueth to be rich to be famous honorable and in the princes fauour at whose hands he hopeth that something will be gotten but if he shall fall into calamitie be dispoiled of his riches and shall tumble downe from the top of his honor into the lowe vallie of disgrace he presently forsaketh him and maketh no reckoning nor account of him But a true friend is no changling Salomon saith He that is a friend doth loue thée at all times and a brother is tried in perplexitie and anguish And Ecclesiasticus saith A friend shall not be knowen in prosperitie neither will an enimie be hid in aduersitie Augustine saith in one of his bookes of questions There is nothing so much trieth a friend as the bearing of his friends burden And Isidorus saith Friendship in prosperitie is most doubtfull neither is it easily discerned whether a mans person or his prosperous estate be loued And an experienced man affirmeth that whom prosperitie maketh a friend him aduersitie maketh a foe Time doth shew and trie who it is that loueth thée truly in these our daies friends for the most part are rightly compared vnto the bird called a swallow whose companie thou shalt haue in sommer but not in winter so friends as they go now adaies will swarme about thée so long as thou art able and willing to féede their humors and serue their turnes but that ended they will leaue thée in the middest of a thousand surges and waues of what troubles soeuer shall light vpon thée AS an huge and mightie fire will be asswaged and at the length quite put out if thou wilt withdraw the sticks and other matter that doth cherish and increase it So thy afflictions and troubles will come to an end if thou wilt cease to do euill and giue ouer sinne before it giue ouer thée Our sinnes are those drie sticks and stubble wherewith the fire not onely of the wrath and malice of infidels and heretikes but also of the wrath and indignation of God is kindled increased and most mightily stirred vp against vs. They are our greatest enimies the Lord grant that euer beholding them we may vnfainedly forsake and hate them AS a godly and a wise surgeon purposing to cut the corrupted wounds of a sicke bodie and to take away or to seare with an hot iron the rotten flesh in cutting or searing hath no pitie of the weake man to the end that in curing his sore and healing his wound by cutting and searing he may shew him great pitie Euen so our most wise God that celestiall physition and heauenly surgeon smiteth vs that he may heale vs cutteth and seareth vs that he may cure vs. He smiteth whom he loueth
his hand an angling rod and with a baited hooke fishing in an obscure and troubled riuer although he doth not sée the fish rush vpon the baite yet he perceiueth very well that the fish is taken and hanged vpon the hooke bicause the corke or barke of his fishing line is pulled downe and hid vnder the water So sathan that most subtle and wilte fisher although he séeth not our thoughts being in the secrets and bottomes of our harts yet notwithstanding by outward signes he many times doth know them as by our words For out of the aboundance of the hart the mouth speaketh by our actions and by the gestures of our bodies For Christ himselfe affirmeth That out of our harts do come euill and wicked thoughts And Salomon in his Prouerbes doth number among those things which God hateth An hart that is fraught with euill thoughts Héere hence may most easily be gathered that all our euill thoughts do not come vnto vs from without neither are wrought in vs nor stirred vp altogither by sathan but that they come and créepe out of our owne corruption And so by outward signes and tokens comming to the knowledge of our enimie the deuill he neuer ceaseth with infinite temptations of all sorts to do his greatest indeuour to drawe the same cogitations of our harts into most dangerous and damnable practise if the Lord of his mercie and goodnes shall not giue vs true repentance and the assistance of his spirit wherby we may auoide his snares and escape his traps Which thing the Lorde grant vs. Amen AS the smith doth not make himselfe the hote coles that be in his forge but doth blowe the fire with bellowes and so the coles are kindled and made hot and firie So the diuell doth blowe and inflame those dangerous and wicked cogitations which are conceiued in our harts and minds with the bellowes of great and manifold temptations and so laboring to kindle the fire of all iniquitie he ministreth nourishment to all our wicked and damnable purposes For the hart of man is like vnto a smithes forge his euill and bad cogitations are hote burning coles he that doth blowe the bellowes to make them to burne vp and to consume both our soules and bodies is the diuell that ancient enimie of our happines and saluation It is to be lamented verily and with bitter tearâ—s and blubbering eies to be bewailed that such pestilent cogitations and deadly thoughts should be nouzeled and nourished in our harts and soules which do kill both bodie soule for euer euen as the frie of vipers in comming to light do kill their dams most miserably EVen as a begger doth couer and hide those parts of his body which be whole sound and perfect and doth open and shew abroad those parts or members which be â—ore wounded maimed lame putrified and rotten to mooue the harts and mindes of passers by and of all that shall behold him the rather to pitie him and to minister vnto him some reléefe and comfort Euen so we that be poore and miserable sinners in this world must not bring before the Lord our God our owne merits good déeds or vertues as able and sufficient to win the fauour and loue of God and to cléere vs of our sinnes and transgressions but we must most willingly with harts that be rent and torne with gréefe and sorrow for our misdéedes and heinous offences done and committed against the maiestie of God open bring foorth and lay before him the botches of our soules the corruption of our natures and the putrifaction and rottennes of our sinnes and iniquities that we may obtaine at Gods hand ease and comfort to our soules and consciences his great mercie and frée remission for all our rebellions sinnes and wickednesses through Iesus Christ our Lord. AS they which do dig mettals out of the earth do not contemne nor despise the least gobbets and peeces that they espie but take all but especially if they finde by digging a veine of gold they leaue no way vnsought but with all care and diligence they looke about them and do dig the gold and earth togither and most diligently do saue and kéepe the same Euen so ought we to deale in the holy word of God we must passe ouer nothing therein lightly nor despise one word of all the sacred and diuine scriptures but eagerly and earnestly to do our best and greatest indeuors yea and to call and to crie most mightily to the Lord to aide assist and enable vs to dig out of the same word whatsoeuer is requisite and necessarie for the saluation of our soules and eternall life It is not earth and gold mixt togither it is all most pure and throughly tried yea it is purer by a thousand degrées than any golde that hath béene tried seauen times in the fire The prophet affirmeth that it is better than thousands of gold and siluer AS the sea doth cast to shore shell fishes of al sorts wéedes and many other things and not long after doth sup vp receiue deuoure and cast into the depth the same againe Euen so this world doth now thrust vs out of fauour and by and by receiueth vs againe and when we thinke our selues to be vpon a very safe shore and that we haue leisure and time to rest vs and to meditate vpon some woorthie and excellent things euen then we finde our selues deceiued and are tossed among the waues of infinite troubles and are swallowed vp of innumerable calamities bicause many things that we neuer thought of haue preuented vs and the flickerings and false promises of this cosoning world haue deceiued our hope and disappointed our expectation AS a weake and brittle wal is easily cast downe and ouerthrowen with euery engine but an huge fense a mightie strong wall and a tower that is firme and fensed on euery side doth stand surely and endureth the force that commeth against it without yéelding staggering or falling insomuch that the enimies that seeke to ouerthrow it are driuen and constrained to vse warlike engins and policies yea and to batter and shake it with engins torments and ordinances of wars which will send and throw out stones weapons bullets and pellets of iron and lead Euen so sathan doth most easily ouerthrow with euery light temptation fraile and weake men which are not well setled in vertue nor grounded in godlines nor armed with the holy word and spirit of God but to win and ouercome if he could men that are furnished with a strong and liuely faith and such as are staied and do relie vpon the Lords protection and loue he vseth sundrie subtilties and most dangerous and forcible temptations He that tempted our sauiour Christ will neither spare any man nor meanes to destroie vs if he can bring to passe and effect his purposes The Lord kéepe and defend vs from his craft subtiltie and force and so strengthen vs with the holy
Ghost that we may passe through and breake in péeces all his snares VVE must not thinke that those men are forsaken of God which are much and continually exercised with diuers temptations for euen as a man that hath two sonnes the one an earnest louer of vertue strong in bodie and of a mightie courage the other depraued and of crooked disposition inclined to effeminate pleasures and wanton delights weake in bodie and of little or no courage The first he sendeth out to wars and doth aduenture him in perils and dangers of all sorts that he may exercise and acquaint him with the labours troubles and toiles of the world the other he cockereth and maketh too much of him he suffereth him to haue all things at his wil he is kept at home and as it were dandled vpon his mothers lap But at the last he that in all his affaires and dangerous aduentures did in euerie point quit himselfe like a man of great valure and noble courage receiued togither with great praise and deserued honor a most high and noble reward but he that was pampered and cockered at home had neither praise reward nor honor Euen so our heauenly father doth leade men that are strong and constant in faith through diuers and sundrie perils and dangers and doth drawe them as it were with his owne hande through bitter anguishes great perplexities and very narow streightes of calamities miseries and temptations and doth continuallie exercise them with fearefull cumbats against the enimies of their soules and through many and great labours infinite sturdie storms and bitter blasts doth strengthen and confirm them in vertue and godlines But the frayle and wicked men of the worlde and such as be méere naturall without any delight or comfort in his word and are no whit seasoned nor chéered with the dewes of his grace and his most blessed spirit he permitteth them to be in great prosperitie and to haue all things at their will and pleasure without smarting sighing sobbing and groning for wante or lacke of any thing that their harts can deuise or desire but at the length in the end of the day they that haue striuen harde and fought manfully and haue in battell ouercomed the flesh the world and the deuill shall be receiued into endlesse saluation euerlasting life and eternall glory And they which haue laid downe their heads and slept in the bosoms of worldy pleasures and haue slumbred in foule and filthie idlenes neuer caring nor thinking what will follow nor remembring the dreadful day of iudgment when the wicked shal heare their damnation denounced by Christ they I say shall be vtterly condemned reprobated and cast into euerlasting and endlesse miseries Then shall most plainly be séene and felt the losse that fleshly pleasures bring and the profite of crosses caried and borne for Christs sake AS wheate or other graine laide vp and kept in a garner cellar or chamber if it be not stirred and dressed often with a shouell or van will be full of corruption lose the swéete sauour ware vnholesome for mans body and will be consumed of wéeuels And apparel or garments being laid vp in a presse or other place if they be not much shaken and tossed will be eaten spoyled with mothes Euen so men if they be not tried with temptations and throughly exercised with calamities and miseries will be very quickly monstrously corrupted and will grow to be so rotten in all maner of sin and iniquitie that they will shrinke and fall quite from the Lord. But being well prooued canuased and throughly tried with many crosses afflictions and troubles one following in the necke of an other they become the firmer stronger and more constant in the faith feare and loue of God and so manfully fighting and courageouslie ouercomming the aduersaries and enimies of their soules they shall at the length be crowned with an euerlasting crowne of eternall glory The which crowne they onely shall haue saith the apostle which do striue lawfully And in another place he saith God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that which you are able to beare c. But in this case it is requisite that we be well furnished with the armour of God bicause our enimies do diuers and sundry waies assaile vs and most mightily impugne and fight against vs tryeng vs somtimes with one thing and somtimes with another So that if we be not clothed with the armour of righteousnes on the right hand and on the left we shall neuer be able to quit our selues against them I meane the world flesh and deuill our professed mortall and sworne enimies AS bées when they striue togither and are stirred vp through some vehement motion with throwing of dust are brought into order and appeased euen so men when they are tossed and tormented with troublesome broiles perturbations and passions if they would remember dust whereinto of necessitie they must be turned and neuer forget death which they shal neuer be able to escape they would easily be staied pacified and quieted and woulde represse and kéepe within compasse their stragling lusts and vnrulie appetites which cannot indure to be tamed nor ruled by reason AS a tree the more déepely it is rooted in the earth the taller it groweth and mounteth the higher So a man the more humble and lowly that he is the more and higher doth the Lord exalt him And as a trée set vpon the top of a mountaine is mightily shaken and easily rent vp by the rootes with euery blustering blast and storme of winde Euen so man in this world the more and higher he is exalted the more and greater dangers is he subiect vnto The holie virgine did perceiue and sée these things to be most true He hath saith she put downe the mightie from their seate and hath exalted the humble and méeke And the apostle saith God resisteth the proud and giueth grace vnto the humble lowly Séeing therefore that we be compared to trées by Christ himselfe in his holy Gospell it behooueth vs to haue déepe and strong rootes of true and vnfained humilitie and in consideration of our frailtie and weaknes to set and place our selues in the bottom of the lowe valley of the knowledge of our owne misery That no tempests nor stormes may remooue and roote vs out That no vanitie may destroy vs No ambition trouble vs No gréedie couetousnes torment vs Nor any occasion whatsoeuer may possibly draw vs from the lowlines and humilitie of our harts and minds from the comtempt of the worlde and from a true and sincere loue of honesty and godlines A building is so much the firmer and stronger as the foundation groundworke of the same is laid lower and deeper The groundworke of Christian philosophie is vnfained humilitie and the déeper that the same is laid and setled in our harts the surer and more permanent will the building of our
and poison the aire and they should kill men euen being dead as they vsed to do when they liued if they were censured now a daies as they were then we should haue fewer vsurers and mâ— rich men And yet these men are called of some the golden ones of the worlde Indéede they haue golden purses but brasen faces they haue soft words but bloodie minds and harts harder then the adamant These are the caterpillers not of Egypt but of England that discomfort not Pharao that tyrant and enimie of God but the Lords seruants and déere children These flie not abroad at the commandement of God to plague his enimies but at the pleasure of the diuell to annoy Gods friends These are not contented to eate vp and to destroy corne grasse blossomes leaues and all fruit besides neither will the flesh of beasts and foules and birds of all sorts serue them to eate but they must and wil eat mans flesh whiles he is aliue For to consume a man in goodes and credit with vsurie what is it else but to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood and with sorrow to pricke and wound his hart what is it but to kill him Of all the murtherers in this world except those which with false hereticall and diuellish doctrine do murther soules there is none more cruell mercilesse nor more bloodie than the vsurer For he is not satisfied with the blood of men and women but he will haue the blood of yoong children and infants also For he that cutteth downe a trée by the rootes doth he not withall cut downe the boughes twigs and branches and he that consumeth vtterly vndooeth and with sorrow drieth vp the marow in the bones of parents to the shortening of their daies doth he not euen destroy their poore swéete infants also Praise and commend them who will they are barred and shut out of heauen They are those vngodly ones spoken of by Iob whose praise is short and quickly ended The caterpillers of Egypt were surely tethered and harmed no place where themselues were not but these caterpillers wil sit at home in their chaires like a boare that is a franking in his stie and will consume a man one two or thrée hundred miles from them These caterpillers by their brokers do flie ouer and view all the lands lordships mannors parks woods groues fields medowes pastures and whatsoeuer farmes leases or other commodities of the noble men lords knights esquiers gentlemen yeomen and husbandmen of England and héere they gobble vp a whole towne and there a goodly parke héere a lordship or mannor and there a most pleasant wood The Lord kéepe all men out of their hands for where they light and pitch their tents they waste consume and make hauocke of all and do call the places after their owne names as though they had neuer belonged to the ancient and right owners of them The God of mercie take from them couetousnes of the vaine and transitorie things of this world and worke in them if it be his will a coueting and most earnest desire of the saluation of their owne soules and an vnfained loue to their brethren in Christ Iesu Amen Amen Amen EVen as that man which with a painted oxe doth fowle for partridges is not an oxe but vnder the shape and likenes of that simple creature lieth in waite for the pretie fine birds that he may take them and kill them So he that with a counterfeited and fained holines will colour and couer impietie wicked purposes or whatsoeuer is against the word and will of God is not a iust man but vnder the colour and shape of godlines honestie seeking the praise and glorie of the world he casteth in his head and worketh by degrées the ruine decay and vndoing of his neighbors that he may compasse their goods lands and possessions and gaine some honour and dignitie among men Such men haue a shew of godlines as the apostle saith but they denie the power therof And although som hypocrites will now then séeme to forsake their riches and lend some to their neighbours and bestowe some vpon the poore yet still the marke they leuell and shoote at is to augment and to increase them more more For euen as the swiftest of all haukes going about to sease vpon and to take the bird that flieth as it were in the top of the aire doth not by and by when she first séeth hir flie directly towards hir but rather at the first with fetching of a compas doth séeme to forsake and to despise hir and to drawe and to flie from hir but at the second or thirde flight she goeth towards hir with a woonderful â—orce and incredible swiftnes to take hir in the aire and to rend hir in péeces Right so do hypocrites he haue themselues for at the first to sée to they will séeme to thée not to regarde but to contemne the riches and promotions of the world but then they coine and counterfeit a simplicitie fouling for a greater matter than yet they see present and reaching at some higher aduauncement and greater dignitie than that present time and occasion doth offer but at the second or third flight when euery thing doth answer their expectation thou shalt perceiue that with all spéede and gréedines they will lay hold vpon those things which thou thoughtest they had contemned They do not wish or desire any thing more neither can any thing more highly please them than the very selfesame things which they once made the world beléeue they detested and could not abide them These are double harted men they haue wicked lips and hands that worke iniquitie they be those sinners that go two maner of waies and euerlasting woe is their reward The hypocrite goeth two maner of waies when he laieth one thing vp close in his hart and sheweth another in his actions speaketh one thing and doth another Touching such men and matter it is commanded in Deuteronomie that a man should not weare a garment made of wooll and flaxe commonly called linsie wolsie as if it should be said that kinde of vesture doth couer the subtletie of malice and mischéefe signified by the flaxe and doth outwardly shew the simplicitie of honestie and innocencie signified by the wooll Such an hypocrite was Herod when he pretended a great deuotion towards Christ and that he would worship him and all the while was whetting his sword intending his death if he could catch him Such were the inhabitants of Ierusalem in the time of Sedechias they boasted greatly of the law but they would in no wise obserue it True vertue among Christians is that a man leade a life equall and like vnto his words and as the apostle Iames saith so to say and so to do All hypocrites whatsoeuer they would seeme do so far differ from true christianitie as the froth or fome of golde doth differ from gold it selfe EVen as an archer doth
For in the booke of Wisdome they are produced speaking these words What good hath our pride done vs And what profite hath the pompe of our riches brought vs All these things are gone away like a shadow and as a poste that hasteth by Let vs therefore set our harts and mindes and bend we our whole desires to heauenly things And let vs make no account of earthly transitorie fraile and the deceitfull things of this old withered and ruinous world For if we will déepely consider and carefully thinke of that happines which is laid vp in store in heauen with God the father through Iesus Christ for all them that do beléeue liue and die in Christ we will not giue our selues to the spéeches of rude ignorant and vngodly people neither will we hunt or hauke after the vaine reports and idle praises and commendations of men nor yet put any trust in any thing that man can do But we will aspire and draw néere vnto that God of ours which is for euer whom no processe nor continuance of time wasteth nor consumeth Of whom the prophet speaketh plainly Thou O Lord shalt indure for euer all other things shall waxe old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yéeres shall not faile And the Lorde himselfe saith to Moses I am that I am And he saide Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israell I am hath sent me vnto you As if he should say He that euer hath béene is and euer shall be whose eternitie is not comprehended within any limites or bounds hath sent me vnto you If then worldy things do much mooue vs which are of no such strength but that in processe of time they are weakned and cleane consumed if I saie that which is of no stabilitie in this life but is sodainly broken and perisheth or at the least by little and little decaieth groweth out of remembrance and is quite forgotten is woont to stir vs vp to take great paines and to vndergo almost intollerable toyles through manifold perils and dangers Why then not much rather yea and a great deale more are we not stirred vp and mooued by him that is for euer to vndergo and to indure the like or if néede be greater paines by many degrées whose promise and maner it is to giue to all those that in truth and singlenes of hart do loue him immortall rewards and to bestow and place them in euerlasting blisse in his owne kingdome with his owne and onely most déere sonne euen Christ Iesu our onely sufficient and alone Sauiour and redéemer God giue vs grace and the assistance of his holie spirit that we may withdrawe our harts mindes and affections from all those vaine and transitorie things which are subiect to ruin rottennes and consumption and that we may set them surely vpon our God follow him and obey him according to his owne will in his written word Amen AS the excellent and noble hauke called a faulken vpon the fist of the fouler séeing a pray flieng on high doth by and by spread hir wings and offer to breake the strings wherewith she is holden and to be gone after the praie but if she be hooded she neither séeth the pray nor is any whit mooued Euen so man whose nature far excelleth all other liuing creatures thinking vpon the things that are aboue in heauen with God and with the eies of his minde beholding eternall blisse and endlesse felicitie he is inflamed and pricked with a great and woonderfull desire to attaine vnto the same but if he be hooded with ignorance spirituall blindnes and a loue of this worlde he will neuer be touched with any heauenly motion nor any whit mooued with any right loue to God nor once turne so much as one eie of his minde towards heauen nor God That most noble faulken I meane the most famous and kingly prophet Dauid being rapt and as it were rauished with an vnspeakable loue and desire to heauen and God did sing this song Euen as the Hart desireth the water brookes so doth my soule long after thée O God My soule is a thirst for God yea euen for the liuing God When shall I come to appéere before the presence of God And the holy apostle being very desirous to flie out of the bands of the body and to shake them off said thus Christ is to me life and death is to me aduantage And immediately after he saith that he hath a great desire to depart and to be with Christ And such ought the desire of all good Christians to be God grant it may be such Amen AS they which haue great néede of water do make haste to come to the fountaine or well where water is to be had but hauing drawne the water and filled their vessels do depart and turne their backs to the fountaine which hath supplied their want satisfied their desires So very many when they be compassed round with perils and dangers and are beset on euery side with afflictions and troubles then they flie apace to the fountaine of grace mercy but when they haue obteined the water of comfort then they do despise that flowing spring of liuing water which complaineth of their vnkindnes by the prophet Ieremie saieng They haue forsaken me the fountaine of the water of life There be to too many of all sorts and degrées in the world which when they are in the straightes of calamities and miserie will with all possible spéede flie and run vnto God and will power out before him many deuout and feruent praiers vpon their bare knées with teares trickling and streaming downe their chéekes and will vse the name of Christ in hope for his sake to be the sooner reléeued bicause as the holy Ghost saith He is the propitiatiō and attonement for our sins by faith in his blood and they will implore and beg the mercy and helpe of God with most lamentable shrikes and gréeuous grones but so soone as they perceiue that God is a God of pittie compassion and mercy and do finde and féele themselues to be lightened and eased of their gréefes they by and by forsake God turne their backs vpon him shake off all obedience and returne to their old vomits and practise their former foule sins with greater gréedines them before And when they should be most mindfull of gods benefits bestowed vpon them then do they vtterly forget him But it is the part and dutie of euery good christian if he once dedicate and betake himselfe to the seruice of God to procéed and to go forward from vertue to vertue and from grace to grace and not to turne the Lords precepts and commandements behind him when indéed he ought to be most thankfull for his louing kindnes and fauor which he hath found and receiued So much doth the Lorde signifie by the prophet
Ezechiell where it is commanded that they should not go out of the temple by the same gate that they went in bicause they should not vncomelie turne the holie things that were there behinde them and so the sooner forget them or deal vnreuerently with them And that also in Genesis doth teach vs no lesse where they that went out of Sodom were charged that they should make haste and go foreward without looking backe and there is an heauie iudgement of gods vengeance shewed vpon hir that looked back And Christ affirmeth That he is not méete for his kingdome that putting his hand to the plough looketh backe It behooueth all true and vnfained christians to kéepe a perpetuall constancie in a right course of liuing vertuouslie holilie and godly and as the holie prophet saith to go from strength to strength vntill euerie one of them appéere vnto the God of Gods in Sion IT hath béen vsuall of olde that men would inquire and aske of God by his prophets concerning those things wherof they doubted Saule séeking his asses did go to a séear to wit to a prophet for so called they the prophet then The sonne of Ieroboam being sicke his wife is sent to Ahiam the prophet Dauid being a prophet himselfe did aske Nathan another prophet of God whether he should build a temple vnto the Lord or not When the Gabaonites did speake fraudulently to the children of Israel the scripture saith that they were deceiued and that they did not aske at the mouth of the Lord meaning the Lords prophet by whom he vsed to speake vnto the people This I say was very vsuall and common in that time wherein the prophets liued Howbeit all did not come with one minde for it is to be séene in the prophet Ezechiel that certaine of the elders of Israel came vnto him to inquire of many things whereof they doubted but bicause they came not with a good but a bad minde the Lord would vouchsafe them no answere For they came not as men drawen with the glorie of God but stirred with malice and their owne iniquitie They were contented to haue some knowledge of the Lords will but they had no purpose to frame their liues after the same The number of such at this day is infinite for who sées not how many are very déepely séene in the vnderstanding of Gods word and the knowledge of his will which neuer stretch out one hand nor set one foote before another to practise or to do the same They know and will also acknowledge and confesse that they ought to kéepe their harts their minds their thoughts their hands their hearing their séeing and all their inward and outward parts without the foule and filthie spots of the world and to be carefull to walke in innocencie holines and righteousnes before the Lord vpon paine to be barred and shut out of his kingdome for euer and yet they will euen against that they knowe féede fat and as brawne franke themselues with all maner of sinne and iniquitie So that euen as the sunne at some time of the yéere in some place doth affoord his shine and light vnto the people and yet doth little or nothing warme them So the knowledge and vnderstanding of the word and will of God doth not by and by worke an hungring and thirsting to leade a vertuous and godly life in all those whom it hath instructed and most perfectly taught what they should do and how they ought to liue They receiue knowledge and vnderstanding from it but they refuse the grace and denie the power of it But euen as he is not rightly called a rich man which vnderstandeth and knoweth great riches and can tell how and by what meanes a man may be excéeding rich but he that hath riches of his owne and doth possesse them So he is not a good and right Christian man that can according to knowledge dispute and reason of vertue and godlines and can describe and define the same but he that is indued with vertâ—â—â— and possessed with true godlines and doth most willingly practise the same in the whole course of his life both with his friends and with his foes that man and such a woman is rightly called and is indéede a true Christian in whom the Lord hath great delight The lord vouchsafe to make many such Otherwise knowledge when it is bare and naked without the loue of God and man doth puffe men vp with insolencie and pride so that the more they knowe the woorse they are and must be beaten with the moe stripes bicause they know the will of God and do it not We all are hailed and drawen after an earnest desire of knowledge and vnderstanding but we must do our greatest and best indeuour that our knowledge may be coupled with vertue and true godlines for he that knoweth what he himselfe ought to do and will point and teach others what best becommeth them to do and will shew them their faults that they may shun them and yet will not bend and plie himselfe to do those good things whereunto his knowledge doth direct and point him he is like vnto a cléere and bright looking glasse which sheweth plainly to others their blemishes and foule spots but séeth not it selfe For as the looking glasse doth shew very plainly to them that behold it the likenes of such men or women as are before it that they may dresse and trim themselues and yet doth not sée it selfe So that master or teacher which very copiously and eloquently doth teach others vertue and all good things and yet himselfe giuen to sinne and wickednes he doth in déede teach others but he teacheth not himselfe Against such masters and teachers the holy Apostle inueigheth very sharply saying Thou which teachest another teachest not thy selfe thou saiest a man should not steale and yet thou stealest thou saiest that a man should not commit adulterie and yet thou committest adulterie c. An heathen man by the light of nature and reason could say that not onely an accuser but such a reproouer also is not tolerable in whom is wel knowen and found the same fault which he sharply checketh and reprooueth in another And the same man in an other place doth say that he which is prepared to speake against another man must be without all fault himselfe And another man also no lesse a heathen than he compareth those men which will speake good things and will not do them to a swéete instrument which will sound very swéetly and make a pleasant noise wherewith it will greatly delight others and yet it neither heareth nor vnderstandeth it selfe True it is that good spéeches in men are in danger to be lost and to do little or no good when they be not holpen and in some measure furthered with the good life and honest maners of those that speake them when knowledge hath vertue ioined with
to attende vpon his pleasure and to waite on his will he would haue vs not in part but wholy to giue them vnto him and without the hart he will receiue and take in good part at our hands and lips nothing But we on the otherside giue nothing lesse to God then our harts What is it that cannot and may not command our harts and haue them at pleasure sooner then Christ Iesus that with the death of his owne hart gaue life to our bodies and soules If the worlde do but a little smile vpon vs and giue vs but an alluring looke and a faire though a false word we will by and by follow it and bestow vpon it all our attendance If the diuell himselfe can make vs beléeue that we shall either haue profite or pleasure by doing his wil our harts mindes wils and all are readier for him then for Iesus Christ O matchles yea monstrous madnes they that séeke our destruction can sooner with a pleasant looke then Christ with the giuing of his life for vs haue vs at commandement Christ would haue vs to mortifie our earthly members as fornication vncleannes inordinate affections euill concupiscence and couetousnes which is idolatrie But who doth not nourish pamper and cherish all these The Lord woulde haue our conuersation in heauen but we are altogither earthly and carnally minded The Lord would haue our féete to stand within the gates of Ierusalem but we loue rather to be trampling the stréetes of Egypt Babylon and Sodom The holie ghost would haue vs to fight a good fight to finish our course after the will of God and to kéepe the faith not onely in words but also in life and déedes Indéed we are apt and ready to fight for worldly promotion honor dignitie reuenues and riches but for heauen and heauenly things we will neuer striue take no paines nor once trouble our selues we will haue i◠with ease and all maner of pleasure or else not at all farewell it The courses we take héere in this life are very bad and the end vnlesse we repent is like to be woorst of all And whiles we haue no care to kéepe good consciences it is vnpossible for vs to kéepe faith Let stande before vs Christ and sathan the one pointing vs to heauen and eternall felicitie but the way to it ful of troubles gréefes and sorrowes the other pointing to hell but the way to it ful of delicates pleasures and daintie delights and let God call and the diuell call and I speake it with gréefe of hart the diuell is like to haue the greater number to follow him for those short pleasures and Christ but a fewe to follow him bicause they must go loden with crosses Daily experience doth teach vs no lesse when all our actions are carnall haue onely but a little outward shew and no taste at all of true godlines nor so much as any rellish of the spirit and loue of Christ Some will abstaine from the committing of many grosse sins now and then and yet not that I feare greatly in any true and sincere loue to God but either for feare of shame and punishment in this worlde or else feare of vengeance in the world to come which both are vnprofitable for the Lord hath no pleasure in forced seruice he will haue it voluntarie with the hart and procéeding of loue not of a seruile feare otherwise it shall be numbred with the rest of our sinnes This doth greatly condemne vs that though we do not such things our selues yet we can without trouble of conscience gréefe of hart or vexation of minde sée and heare the Lords name blasphemed his saboth vnhalowed idolatrie committed parents dishonored whooredome theft murder and couetousnes commonly vsed and all the lawes of God vtterly contemned and it shall neuer offend the greatest number so much as a thorne in a foote or a blaine vpon a finger What other thing is this but to forsake God in the plaine field and to be afeard to serue him in truth and sinceritie least we should thereby purchase mans displeasure Vnlesse therefore we learne to serue him better in more truth with greater zeale and singlenes of hart we haue nothing else to looke for but that he will forsake vs both in this worlde leauing vs destitute of his assistance that our enimies may pray vpon vs and also in the world to come in giuing out against vs his malediction curse wo and sentence of death The Lord make vs new creatures and giue an vnfained loue of himselfe déepe roote in our harts drawing after it a chéerefull obedience to his sacred word and the selfe same to our brethren wherwith we loue our selues so that all be in God that we may escape dangers in both the worlds that when death that inexorable executioner shall do his office we may arriue at the safe and happy hauen of Gods euerlasting kingdome purchased and paide for by Christ and kept in store for all those that beléeue aright and shall liue and die in him But alas the most part of vs as yet vntill it shall please the almightie to inrich vs be like proud beggers which not being woorth one farthing will boast of great wealth So many brag of great holines but haue none and of great faith as though they could remooue mountaines out of their places and yet know not what true faith is How fearful a saieng is that of Christ When the sonne of man shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead do you thinke that he shal finde any faith vpon the earth As if he should saie he shall finde very little howsoeuer now all perswade themselues that they be faithfull inough The Lorde amende vs for we haue receiued great and infinite good things from the Lords hand both for our bodies and soules but in giuing thanks we are like to the nine leapers mentioned in the Gospell which neuer turned backe to thanke God for their healing The Lord hath poured vpon vs infinite dewes of his swéet and blessed word and yet still we continue to be those drie trées to whom his curse cutting down and casting into the fire belongeth The Lord grant that with all spéede we may turne from our sinnes to righteousnes and holynes of life that God may turne his anger from vs and his fauor towards vs Amen MArcus Antoninus with an oration that he made vpon the death of Caesar is said to haue greatly delighted the people of Rome and that he mooued very many of them to shed great store of bitter teares when he put them in remembrance of the great benefits which they had frō time to time receiued of Caesar withal did shew them Caesars garment wherin his enimies Cassius Brutus had slaine him all full of blood whereat they were so mightily mooued that they expulsed the homicides out of the citie so that they durst not if they woulde liue any
borne in the world yet they very little or nothing resemble it they rather resemble heauen in some measure from whence they receiue the influeÌ„ce of the grace and fauor of God S. 124. P. 58. Preachers of the word of God must temper and frame themselues to meete with the maners qualities conditions and sinnes of all men S. 125. P. 59. The preacher of the word is to take good heed that none of his hearers for want of discretion in him depart vntouched S. 126. P. 59. A preacher must do his best indeuour to know the maners qualities and dispositions of his auditorie S 127. P. 59. A Christian will shew patience and constancie in all calamities S. 128. P. 59. Whatsoeuer is in the hart of man at the length it will breake out For not onelie the toong will speake but the rest of the members of the bodie wil also be exercised according to the abundance of the hart S. 129. P. 60. That common wealth house or man is very happie that is ruled and gouerned by such counsell as is grounded and built vpon the holy word of God S. 130. P. 60. By our words deedes gestures and moouings our enimie sathan doth knowe the secrets of our harts and so worketh vpon vs S. 131. P. 60. 61. The hart of man is like vnto a smithes forge his bad cogitations are hote coles he that doth blowe the bellowes to make them burne and consume both soules and bodies is the diuell the euill thoughts in mans hart are compared to the frie of vipers which in comming to light do breake the bellies of their breeders and so kill them S. 132. P. 61. The nearest waie for man to obtain Gods fauour and free remission of sinnes is to acknowledge and confesse them with greefe of hart for committing of them and not to doubt through Iesus Christ the forgiuenes of them and not to trust to any merits or righteousnes of his owne S. 133. P. 62. Nothing in the word of God is superfluous it must all be beleeued imbraced and honored with all obedience possible It is not gold and earth togither that a man may take the one and refuse the other it is all most pure and all to be applied to the comfort of man S. 134. P. 62. This world will cosen and deceiue all that put their trust in it S. 135 P. 63. Sathan doth very easily drawe after him euen whither and to what he will men that are not setled in true religion nor armed with the holy word of God yea the best armed and strongest in faith haue much adoe to escape his snares S. 135. P. 63. They that are continually exercised with great troubles and afflictions in this life are not to be iudged reprobates and cast awaies as though God had giuen them ouer but rather we are to thinke that by that meanes the Lord will throughly trie them and finding them faithfull and constant doth make them the fitter for his kingdome neither are we to iudge all to bee the children of God that liue without afflictions S. 136. P. 63. 64. Vnlesse a man be well grounded in true religion and clothed with the armor of righteousnes on the right hand and on the left to wit on euery side and against all brunts and assaults whatsoeuer he shall neuer quit himselfe well against the subtle sleights and forcible tentations of his professed enimies world flesh and diuell S 137. P. 65. If man woulde remember that he was moulded of earth dust and ashes and that he must be tumbled into the earth againe it would bring him to a far better temper than otherwise hee will bee brought vnto S. 138. Pag. 65. The groundworke of Christian philosophie is vnfained humilitie and the deeper that the same is laid and setled in our harts the surer and more permanent will the building of our religion be S. 139. 140. P. 66. The centre from whence the lines of all abhominations do flowe is mans inordinate selfe loue Two loues builded two cities the loue of God Ierusalem and mans selfe loue Babylon S. 141. P. 66. 67. There is no miserie comparable to this that a man knoweth not his owne miserie and of follies none greater than that a man seeth not his owne follie S. 141. P. 67. After great troubles do follow quietnes of hart and minde and peace of soule and conscience S. 142. P. 67. Ouermuch ease and pampering of the bellie are great prouocations to sinne S. 143. P. 67. 68. They which care not to keepe a good conscience do at the length fall into an extreme contempt of faith he that will haue his faith acceptable in the sight of God must keepe a good conscience otherwise his faith is dead S. 144. P. 68. The riches of couetous tyrants increasing the wealth of inferior persons doth decrease and as couetousnes doth increase in men vertues do decrease in them Riches are the gift of God and to be bestowed to his owne glorie and the comfort of our brethren The couetous man in gaining riches loseth himselfe The couetous man if he had more golde and greater riches than was in that ship which came from Ophyre to Salomon yet would he neuer be contented nor any whit neare satisfied S. 145. 146. P. 68. 69. 70. The riches of this world are to verie many poison but godly men possesse their riches and not their riches them Their riches are drudges to them and not they to their riches S. 147. P. 70. As the touch stone trieth golde so golde trieth man A very good huntesman and his hounds S. 148. P 71. Not to giue vnto the poore if a man be able to giue is sacrilege It is a very lamentable thing to see and consider how viâ—ely and wickedly manie men do lauish out and consume the riches wherewith God hath put them in trust to vse them to his owne glorie and the good of his church S. 149. P. 72. Christ suffered and died as he was man but as he is God he neither suffered nor died All that be surely grounded and graffed in Christ Iesu whatsoeuer tribulations and heauie crosses they beare in their bodies yet their faith hope and loue to God will neuer shrinke but they will be constant come what shall S. 150. P. 73. Wicked men are neuer satisfied with committing of any euill they make no ende of their vngodly practises the more euill they do the more still do they desire to do S. 151. P. 73. 74. The vnskilfull and vngodly minister that deliuereth the worde and sacraments to those that are well prepared woorthily to receiue the same hurteth himself only though he perish they may be saued they receiuing it woorthily his vnwoorthines doth not preiudice them S. 152. P. 74. It greeueth our God greatly to see man make so little account of his soule and so lightly to regarde that which he hath loued so deerly he cannot abide to see it beset with wicked
thoughts on euerie side S 153. P. 74. and 75. To dwell among prophane and wicked men and yet still to be constant in thy faith and religion is an euident argument of Gods spirit dwelling in thee and preseruing thee from all the cunning and sleights of sathan for as a looking glasse is made foule with the breth of those that blowe vpon it so oftentimes good men are corrupted with euill companie S. 154. P. 75. 76. Sathan doth spread and lay abroad most dangerous baites and snares in the persons of lewd and vngodly men and all to trap vs and to preiudice our saluation S. 155. P. 76. Wicked and gracelesse men cannot see this world nor the sleights and deceits of the same bicause there is no distance betweene the world and themselues For the eie it selfe cannot see a thing vnlesse there be some distance betweene the eie and the obiect that is to be seene S. 156. P. 76. There is no maner of sinne as it is sinne that can offend the wicked and vngodly sort displease it God neuer so greatly in the middest of Babylon they see it not in the middest of Sodom they feele not the stinch of it As they be in the world so they be of it and the world it selfe and therefore they loue and imbrace it they cannot they wil not spie any faults in the world the stinch of the world is to them a sweete sauour the foulnes of it to them is beautie it selfe S. 157. P. 76. 77. A flatterer is a wilde beast an vncleane diuell a sorcerer a witch a theefe and no theefe in the world vnwoorthier to liue than he He that doth dispraise thee and he that doth flatter thee bee both persecutors of thee but the flatterers tong wil do thee most harm Flatterie is a sweete musicke to a mans â—ares but in deede there is none more pernicious and pestilent than it S. 158. P. 77. The flatterer hath alwaies at his fingers ends and readie vnder his girdle the gestures voices inclinations and dispositions of all persons high and lowe Say what thou wilt and do what thou wilt he will please thy humor in all things S. 159. P. 78. Though the bloodie minded Papists do want power and opportunitie yet they neuer want good will to performe their trecherie and malice against the seruants of God with all tyrannicall crueltie S. 160. P. 79. Where the skin of a lion is not ynough nor will not serue it is woont to be peeced with the skin of a foxe that which a cruell man cannot accomplish by force he wil performe it by fraud S. 161. P. 79. An olde foxe is hardly snared and yet at the length they be either snared for their conuersion or knared for their confusion Hypocrites and arrogant persons do neuer follow Christ S. 161. P. 80. An hypocrite is like an apple that is verie beautifull without and rotten within and like a goodly tall tree that florisheth and is full of leaues but fruitlesse he would seeme to be that he is not and hateth to be that he seemeth S. 162. P. 80. If thou loue to be fed with flatterie then thou wilt feede thy flatterers and they at the length will serue thee as Acteons dogs serued him The flattered shall be deuoured of his dog the flatterer and the flatterer himselfe shal be deuoured of that foule curre and most cruell hell hound sathan S. 163. P. 81. It is a very hard thing for a man to giue ouer his acquaintance with the world A childe will loue his nurse for the dugs sake though she be an whoore and men loue this present world for the vaine pleasures and carnall delights of the same though indeede the world be a very strumpet S. 164 Pag. 81. and 82. If men would euen steale as it were and priuily conuey themselues but one hower in euerie day from the seruice of the worlde flesh and diuell to serue the Lord in truth and sinceritie they woulde at the length by little and little take such pleasure and finde such comfort in the seruice of God that they would giue themselues wholy and most willingly to it and be â—orie and repent them from the bottome of their harts that they had been so long in so bad a seruice S. 164. Pag. 82. Vicious liuing is more oftensiue and doth more harme in old age than in green youth An olde man or woman ought to instruct others as well by good example of godlie life as by counsels and admonitions but when old men or women fall to follie they hurt themselues with their sinnes and infinite others with their euill example S. 165. Pag. 82. The Lord doth not open the mysteries and secrets of his word vnto those whom he perceiueth vainly and curiously to seeke after them but vnto such as will both profite themselues and others by the same He that will profit by hearing or reading the word of God must bring faith and humilitie with him S. 166. P. 82. and 83. Many men in the world are fitly compared to the drie skin which a snake doth cast to renew hir aâ—e the skin hath the shape likenes and prints of eies and the very rinde also wherewith the eie is couered but yet no seeing eies So many men haue eies to see the creatures of God but not one halfe eie to see the creator And manie that beare the name of christians haue no more true knowledge of Christ than they had of the sunne or moone when they were yet in their mothers wombes So that when they read or heare the word of God they profit no more than a blinde man should profit by a looking glasse set before him S. 167. P. 83. and 84. Some do come to church to heare the word of God to the end they may know him and his will to do it and do beare away with them such heauenly lessons as they neuer forget wherewith their faith is strengthened their soules comforted and their consciences greatly quieted some againe do come in hope to heare some thing fall from the preachers mouth vnwisely vndiscrâ—â—tly or barbarously spoken wherewith they may sport themselues and scorne the preacher Such men as they come with wicked purposes and cauilling mindes so they depart with harts so hard as adamants far woorse than when they came S. 168. P. 84. and 85. Afflictions troubles and calamities are great helpes to keepe our soules from the canker and rottennes of sinne and the spots of the world and to put vs in remembrance of the goodnes mercies and loue of God toward vs. Men are borne vnder that condition that their liues should euer be open and subiect to all the ineuitable darts of infinite troubles and that there is no refusing to liue and leade their liues in that condition where vnder they were borne Come what shall the children of God are still patient S. 169 P. 85. 86. and 87. Darknes and blindnes cannot remaine in the hart of that