subdue his cruell affectiōs not yoke himself to the foule liberty of vicious motiō In sūme h turne again euery mā frō his euil way frō his wicked imaginations i Submit your selues to God and resist the Diuell and hee will flie from you draw nigh vnto God and he will draw nigh vnto you Cleanse your hearts you sinners purge your hearts you wauering minded That a man must not delay to become vertuous chap. 10. THere bee many of our worldlings which seek to shrowd their vices vnder this cloake that they mean to amend al in time and this time is driuē from day to day vntil God in whose hands the moments of time are doth shut them out of all time and doth send them to paines eternall without time Little do they thinke that their vices are by wicked custome fortified and as it were with a beetle more strongly rammed into their harts midriffes It is an vsuall prouerbe that whatsoeuer is bred in the bone will neuer out of the flesh so likewise a wound being for a time deferred becōmeth infectious and past cure Why then O mortal men doo yee builde on such a weake foundation why doo yee not at this instant without any further procrastinations prostrate your selues before the most highest ere the darke night of death steale vpon you and ere yee stumble at that foule black hillock Oh imitate not those foolish virgines who because they gaue not good attendaunce were shut out of doores by the bridegrome We see by common experience that if a man deliuer a reasonable petition vnto an earthly King he may perhaps attend a yeere or two before he be fully satisfied What then shall yee expect of the heauenly King whom yee haue a thousand times most wilfully displeased Is it possible for you after you haue obstinatly resisted him all the dayes of your liues to sue vnto him at the period of your yeeres and to obtaine remission No no it is not presumptuous delay that worketh vnfaigned repentaunce You must beginne to day if you will heare his voice and speed of your suites God will not be limited and restrained according to your willes His wrath will come vpon you at the sodaine and you shall be thrust into hell like sheep Like as the Poetes say of Titius so shall you being as it were food vnto death confume in hell and yet reuiue againe so that still ye may be euer dying Then shall yee crie vnto the mountaines and say O you mountaines fall vpon vs you hilles couer vs. Then shall you repent to your paine but your repentaunce shall not at all auaile you If an husband-man for lazinesse deferre to sow in the winter he is like in summer to starue or begge Sow therefore O ye that are Christians while you haue time to sow euen this day conuert vnto the Lord and yee shall reap perpetuall happinesse for your reward Repentaunce that is done at the last day most cōmonly is done vpon feare of future tormentes Besides the Aethiopian can assoone chaunge his blacke skinne as you do well hauing learned all the dayes of your liues to do euill My selfe haue knowen a young Gentleman that sometime hauing bene disobedient to his parents and also misdemeaned himselfe diuers other waies besides was vrged to repentaunce by some of his well willers To whome he aunswered that now this was his full intent and by the grace of God quoth he assoone as I come home to my Father hee being as then about forty miles off I will vtterly renounce my former maner of liuing and will become a new man But see the ineuitable will of God He was scarce seuen miles on his way homeward when as it was his wofull chaunce to encounter with some of his enemies and by them to be slaine For which cause I say cut off all delayes least in a matter of such importaunce yee be sodainly surprized Yee haue not two soules that yee may aduenture one The night is past and the day is come the day of the Lord is come as a snare on all them that dwel vpon the face of the earth in which the heauens must passe away with a noyse and the elements must melt with heat and the earth with the workes therein must bee burnt vp Bee yee therefore sober watchfull in prayer for in the houre that ye thinke not will the Sonne of Man surely come to iudge the world Remedies against vice Chap. 11. THe roote of vice is the originall corruption wherewith mankind hath bene ouerwhelmed euer since the fall of Adam Which corruption in processe of time beyng growne by continuall custome into a sinfull habite becommeth damnable three maner of waies First by thoughts next by wordes as swearing lies lastly by deedes as murther adulterie Now for the curing of this Hydra-like malady sixe things are to be obserued First we must oft consider that the actes of vertues themselues cannot bee of any value with God except we continually exercise our selues therein For the longer wee delay the more is the kingdome and power of the Diuell established and confirmed in vs. Secondly wee must once or twice a day at least call to remembrance our vices with a contrite heart aske God forgiuenes Thirdly we must waigh with our selues how that we are wandring pilgrimes in this world and like vnto them that vpon their iourneys abide not in those Innes where they are well lodged but after their baite do depart homeward vttering these words of the Prophet * Woe is me that I remaine in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar The fourth remedy against vice is that we thinke on the manifold miseries of this life on the end thereof The fift wee must oftentimes repeat that fearful saying of the Apostle * If the iust shall scarce be saued where shal the wicked man and sinner appeare The sixt we must muse vpō the day of iudgemēt at which time euery one must beare his owne burthen and sinners must giue an account of euery idle word about them shall be their Iudge offended with them for their wickednes beneath them hell open and the cruell fornace ready boyling to receyue them on the right hand shall be their sinnes accusing thē on the left hand the Diuels ready to execute Gods eternal sentence vpon them within them their consciences gnawing them without them all damned soules bewayling on euery side the world burning Of Iustice. Chap. 12. JVstice is a thing belonging to policy sith the order of a ciuill society is the law iudgemēt is nothing els but the decision of that which is iust This vertue as the Diuine Philosopher writeth is the chiefest gift which God gaue vnto men For if she were not amongst vs what would our commonwealth be but a receptacle for theeues From whence the sect of Democritus
power brused with a rod of iron and broken in peeces like a potters vessell yea himselfe shall be consumed with the spirit of Gods mouth and be abolished with the brightnes of his comming Of Iesuites Chap. 24. IGnatius a maimed souldier not for any feruency or zeale that he bare vnto a new austerity of life but feeling himselfe weake any longer to souldierize follow the warres communicated with diuers persons and among the rest with one Pasquier Brouet a man altogether vnlettered ignorāt of Diuinity These two together with their enchaunted cōplices to apply their title vnto their zeale named thēselues deuout persons of the society of Iesus And thereupon presented themselues vnto Pope Paul the 3. about the yere of our Lord 1540. This Pope permitted them to be called Iesuites but with this coūtermaund that they should not surpasse the number of threescore persons Thus for a time they satisfied themselues But within a while after they obtained greater priuiledges of Pope Paul the fourth which made their troublesome order like ill weedes to multiply a-pace and attempt many horrible things yea euen most wicked treason against the liues of high potentates and Princes as against our soueraigne Queene against the French king and diuers others In Portingal and India they termed themselues Apostles but in the yeere 1562. sundry of them were drowned by the iust iudgement of GOD. Who is so simple but hee vnderstandeth that they in naming themselues Iesuites do goe about to degrade the auncient Christians and blaspheme against GOD rather they should call themselues Ignatians and not bring in newfound orders This the Sorbonistes of Paris knew very wel when they doubted not about sixe yeers agoe to exhibite a bill in the Parliament against them What shall I write how they giue themselues altogether to be Machiauellians and vngodly Politicians how they hoord vp wealth how they possesse Earledoms and Lordships in Italy and Spaine and yet for all this they presume to entitle themselues of the society of Iesus O wretched caitifes O hellish heretiques◠the time will come when this outragious profession of yours shall be extinguished by the Sunne-shine of the true and Apostolicall doctrine as the Sorcerers rod was eaten vp by Aarons rod in the presence of Pharao The fift part Of Magnanimity Chap. 25. MAgnanimity is a vertue that consisteth in atchieuing of great exploits and is touched chiefly vpon eight occasions First a magnanimous man is he that wil neuer be induced to enterprise any dishonest point against any man no not against his vtter enemy Secondly he will chuse the meane rather then the extreame Thirdly he will tell his minde plainly without dissimulation Fourthly he will not respect what the common people speake of him nor will hee measure his actiōs according to their applauses Fiftly a magnanimous man though he should see all the world eagerly bent to fight and though hee should see euery thing round about him set on fire and almost consumed yet he notwithstanding through an assured confidence will remaine constant Sixtly a magnanimous man will withdraw his mind from worldly affaires lift it vp to the contemplation of great matters and in Gods law will he exercise himselfe day and night Seuenthly a magnanimous man wil scorne vices and forget iniuries Eightly he will speake nothing but wise and premeditated words according to that old saying A barking dog wil neuer proue good biter and the deepest riuers runne with least noise The auncient Christians of the primitiue Church were right examples of this vertue Magnanimity as they who had all the properties thereof imprinted in thē They I say who cheerefully gaue themselues to be massacred and tormented Like vnto these were our late English martyrs in Queene Maries daies who gladly in defence of the true religion yeelded themselues to fire and fagot For the vndoubted beleefe of triumph in heauen both diminished and tooke away the corporall griefe and replenished the mind with cheerfulnesse and ioy They knew mans lyfe to be but a bubble on the face of the earth They considered with themselues our miserable estate for assoone as wee are borne wee seeme to flourish for a small moment but straightway wee die and there is litle memorial left behind They knew Magnanimity to be the ornament of all the vertues Briefly they perswaded thēselues to see their sauiour Christ in heauen and euermore to dwell with him These these be the duties of magnanimous men which whosoeuer do couet to embrace shall at last attaine to euerlasting happines Obiection All scornefull men are wicked magnanimous men are scornefull therfore they are wicked Aunswere There bee two sortes of scornefull men That scorne mens persons and they are wicked That scorne vices they are good after which maner magnanimous or great-minded men do scorne insolent men dastardes by reason of their pride and cowardize Of Ambition Chap. 26. IN ambition there be fiue mischiefes The first is that causeth a man neither to abide a superiour nor an equall The secōd an ambitious man by attributing honour vnto himselfe goeth about to defraud God of his due The 3. plague in ambition is that it considereth not what hath chaunced to such as exercised it Lodowicke Sforcia vncle to Iohn Galeaze Duke of Millan whom he poysoned was one of the most ambitious men in the world but yet for all his Italian trickes he was at last in the yeere 1510. taken captiue by the French King and put in prison where he continued till hee died Cardinall Wolsey likewise here in England may serue for a patterne of ambition who beyng preferred by King Henry the eight her maiesties Father would notwithstanding haue exalted himselfe aboue the King for which his intolerable ambition his goods were cōfiscated and himselfe apprehended The fourth mischiefe in ambition is that hee hunteth after false and deceitfull glory and thinkes it a faire thing to be pointed at with the finger and to be talked of This is he The fift an ambitious man waigheth not his owne frayelty and weaknesse Remedies against ambition Chap. 27. THe forward horse is not holden back without foaming and shewing his fury The streame that rūneth is not staied contrary to the course thereof without making a noise the ambitious man is not reclaimed frō his aspiring thoughts without good and wholesome admonitions I will neuerthelesse as well as I can endeuour to cure him of his cankered malady First let the ambitious man consider whereof he is made namely of dust ashes Secondly he must diligently goe to heare Sermons and read the holy Bible Thirdly he must thinke vpon the wauering actions of fortune how she taketh frō one that which she trāsferreth on another and how she respecteth not the equity of causes nor y ◠merits of persons but maketh her fancy the measure of her affections Fourthly let the ambitious haue a regard whether hee be commēded of wise men
taken away learning must of necessitie fall to ruine Of Liberalitie Chap. 39. LIberalitie is a vertue placed between prodigalitie and auarice Conuersant most commonly in giuing sometimes in receiuing whereby not onely the participation of gifts money are meant but also the communication of good counsels and duties are vnderstood All they which exercise this vertue doe purchase vnto themselues loue and good will which be of great momēt either to liue quietly or to rule without trouble Their fame shall neuer fall from the earth and they themselues shall bee highly fauoured of the highest landlord For oftentimes when God meanes to send his thunderbolts against the wicked hee stayeth his hand by reason of their sacrifices almes Now to come to the anatomizing of liberalitie I putte downe eight circumstances whereby a Gentleman may become liberal so vphold his reputatiō The first lawe of liberalitie is to distribute vnto them who are most worthie Otherwise he is like a blinde man when he knoweth not to whō he giueth namely he must obserue the order of nature in preferring his brethren before his cosens his cosens before strangers in rewarding of wise men before sycophāts pickthanks The second circumstance is that a man giue not more then his abilitie wil afford but rather he must cut out his coate in proportion according to his cloth because repentance followeth hastie liberalitie The third hee must not giue to thē which haue inough alreadie The fourth he must not after he hath bestowed his gifts cast and hitte men in the teeth with them or by his prating cause the remembraunce of his gifts to perish The fift rule of liberalitie a man must not hurt one that he may be liberal to another for they that do this are neither to bee accounted beneficall nor liberall but pernicious The sixt he must giue willingly without requesting for nothing is more deere then that which is bought by praiers Hitherto appertayneth the Apostles saying As euerie man wisheth in his heart so lette him giue not grudgingly nor of necessitie for GOD loueth a cheerefull Giuer The seuenth lette him respect the place where hee giueth that is whether in an honest house or in an infamous The last law of liberalitie is that it be without shipwracke or losse of the giuers good name But why doe I decipher that which nowe a dayes men haue vtterly abandoned Where in England nay where in the world can I poynt with my finger say There is a liberall man Alas al men are become misers there are none that are liberall no not one O vngrateful wretcheslis not God your Landlord and doth not hee suffer you to enioye his lands without in comes or fines Onely this is his conditiō that ye vse the poore well and cherish the needie why then are yee couetous why doe yee not performe his condition and bee liberall It behooues you rather to lay vp riches in heauen and not to beleeue that this fickle and doating worlde is a perpetuall paradise that the drossie excrements therof are hallowed Communicat therfore your goods one vnto another for treasure remaineth prepared for the godly in heauē Let not the hellish vsurer haue dominion ouer you he is Plutus as the Poets faigne the God of your riches Beware of his fawnings take heede of his motiues and illusions hee commeth disguised in the forme of an Angell of light perswading you by sophistrie that liberalitie is a vice that golden duckets are demie Gods But what followeth after all these fallacies death and the vengeance of the highest To be short as many as are well disposed to be liberall let them giue in their liues time whilst they haue space to giue It is foolishnesse for any man to defer his liberalitie till after his death for executors will part stakes and besides almes at that time will do the giuers no good Of Prodigalitie Chap. 40. PRodigalitie is a foolish and vndiscreete wasting and lauishing of goods for the which pouertie and late repentance doe ensue The rare follower of this vice careth not for circumstances but spendeth his money vpon such things wherof hee leaueth little remembrance or none at all behind him he neuer thinks on the variable blasts of fortune but ignominiously cōsumeth his patrimony in a baudy or infamous house and if there were giuen him as much money as the sea turneth vp sand when it is tossed with the raging winds yet for all that a prodigall mā will deuour al at last will be forced to pill poll his poore tenāts supplying his wāts ambitiously by vnlawful means Into the listes of this vice many of our English Caualeers souldiers do enter who bestow al that they haue on gorgeous raiments in visiting of queanes Wheras rather they should cōsider with thēselues what they are how they meane to liue hereafter of what vocation they are what profit they may reape by sauing their money It becommeth them not to follow crowes abroad through thicke thinne but to respect whither they go It becōmeth thē I say not to imitate Bedlems who iourney still that way where the staffe falleth God hath appointed euery man to be of some calling or other To cōclude they deceiue thēselues in thinking that prodigality doth ingraffe in thē a kind of liberality for many know how to spend but not how to giue The properties of a couetous man Chapt. 40. THe properties of a couetous mā are infinit but principally these First a couetous man is an Infidel for he loueth not his brethren and he that loueth not knoweth not God for God is loue Secondly he is a theefe for the goods that hee possesseth are none of his owne but Gods Man is only constituted as a steward and must one day to his perpetuall destruction yeeld an account thereof Further it is knowen that theft and sundry other vices spring chiefly from couetousnesse Thirdly a couetous man is a slaue for he attendeth wayteth on his money Fourthly he is in continuall feare and suspition least theeues robbe him of his treasure least his ewes haue no good yeaning least the flouds cary away his milles and least there happen a wette yeere Fiftly a couetous man is alway vexed and agrieued in minde for if his wife asketh for two shillinges to buy silke sixe pence for spice or salte then hee frets and fumes yelles and bannes swearing that she seekes his vtter vndooing Sixtly hee hath most commonly three keyes or more to his chest and which is worse threescore in his heart to keepe them from spending Lastly a couetous man offendeth against the second commandement for hee worships Idols in reposing so much confidence in his money Remedies against couetousnesse Chap. 42. ALbeit that nature is little inough to satisfie a niggards mind because hee is insatiable yet notwithstanding I will endeuor to bring him into the
authority and maiestie of a Prince cōsisteth in the opiniō of prudence for euen as the sicke man obeyeth the wise Physician and the passenger hearkeneth vnto the skilfull pilot so in like maner subiectes are obedient vnto their prudent Prince will gladly follow whatsoeuer he prescribeth vnto them O peerelesse paragon O noble Prudence thou rairest downe knowledge and vnderstanding and bringest to honor thē that possesse thee Thou defendest our commonwealth from the Spanish yoke Thou holdest the supremacie in felicity and sauest vs from aduersity Take away this Iewell our liues will be filled with folly wickednesse and barbarisme This politiciās do very wel know for how is it possible that a common-wealth should be well ruled vnlesse the gouernours thereof do perfectly prudently vnderstand the nūber of souldiers the loue of the leaguers the scituation of the countrey the nature of the inhabitaunts King Henry the seuenth therefore her Maiesties Graundfather deserueth great commendations in that hee kept a priuate booke for that purpose therein registred the force of his realme the treasure which yeerely his officers receiued into the Excheker As concerning the nature of people I find that windy places do make men sauage and inconstant and that in calme countreys they become ciuill courteous Also we see that they which dwell neere the sea and farre from London are for the most part more fierce and hardy then those which liue in the midst of England Moreouer it behoueth a prudent man to consider that some kind of people be angry by nature some be impudent some fearefull and othersome be giuen to newfangled fashions to drunkenesse and lechery In like maner the nature of Englishmen is to be couragious to neglect death to abide no torment and therfore in no place shall you see malefactours go more constantly more assuredly and with lesse lamentation to their death then in England The nature of Welshmen is kind haughty and prodigall of life and bloud The Irish are accounted rude and couragious which doubtlesse proceeds of their countries cold climate for as the Philosopher saith they that liue in the North and in a cold countrey are commonly called treacherous To end this chapter of prudence I thinke it expedient that a prudent man yeeld vnto the necessity of the time and take heed that anciēt lawes customes be not altered because they are the foūdations of a cōmonwealth whereof if any be changed the whole building must consequently fall to wrack and destruction Of Sapience or Wisedome Chap. 68. WIsedome among the auncient heathen was no other thing but a certaine kind of prudence to manage and handle great causes matters of policy which profession beginning in Solon did cōtinue and was taken vp from man to man as a sect of Philosophy But wisedome among Christians hath obtained a higher title to wit a knowledge to expound the word of GOD concerning our saluation redeemed through his Sonne Iesus Christ. This is that Diuine vertue which was ordayned from euerlasting before any thing was made before the earth the seas the hilles and the riuers were she was conceyued and brought forth When GOD prepared the heauens shee was present when hee enuironed the sea with her bankes and layd the foundations of the earth shee was with him making all things and shee delights to be with the children of men The Chymistes write that one dragme of their power of proiection will turne a thousand dragmes of any mettall into gold What then shall the least grayne of the celestiall powder of wisedome be able to effect Verily it will lift whole milliōs of soules out o◠Sathans net and will transport them vp into the highest spheare where for euer residen◠they shall enioy vnspeakeable pleasures For this cause the Emperour Charles the fourth went on a time to a colledge in Prage to heare Diuinity disputations there and remained standing aboue foure howres And when his Courtiers to whome that kind of exercise seemed irksome told him that his supper was ready hee aunswered that the hearing of those disputations was more pleasant vnto him then all the suppers in the world What greater testimonies of fauour towards wisedome can we wish thē those of the Princes of England who frankly and freely granted such large charters priuileges vnto the 2. Vniuersities of this Realme Surely I should be too ingrateful if I do not remēber in this place Elizabeth our gracious Soueraigne who so spareth neither care nor means to preferre scholers that shee meriteth the name of the Nurse of Wisdome Next the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury that now is deserueth to be had in remembrāce in that hee daily purgeth the Church of spots and Schismes and aduaunceth all students euery man according to his desertes Likewise Sir Thomas Egerton Lord Keeper so tendereth fostereth the professours of true wisedome that he is worthily named the Reuiuer and restorer of wisedome yea I haue heard it sundry times blazed that Englād neuer had the like zealous patron of scholers There be also other furtherers of wisedome whome I leaue to name by reason that our bookes which continually are published do royalize and eternize their heroical names God continue them in their noble minds To finish this discourse I aduise al mē both high and low which haue an entraunce in them towards God to coūtenaunce the followers of wisedome and to strike an euerlasting league of amity with them As for worldly wisedome I wish them not so pretiously to esteeme it as they doe for what else are the wise men of this world saue gay politicians Machiauellians and niggards falsely vnder the colour of wisemen purloyning the poore and preparing their owne selues to be scourged of the Diuell and to bee scorched in the fierie flames of hell Of the Ignorance of our times Chap. 69. ALas what ignorance leadeth wretches astray and bringeth them into a wrong way cleane contrarie from happinesse and knowledge The Egyptians accounted it a most grieuous calamitie to endure the Darknesse which God sent them by Moyses but three dayes Howe much more ought wee to bee afraide when wee remaine all our liues time in the night of Ignorance Manie there bee that wish our Colledges to be vtterly suppressed and our schooles of learning to bee made barnes or wooll-houses which were euen to wish vs peasaunts and witals like themselues But God forbid that any such ignorant wishes should be fulfilled Sooner shall the earth bring foorth starres and the heauens be eared with plowes then that barbarisme and ignorance should in such sort ouerflow vs. Take the Sunne out of the firmament and the light from the skie what else would the world seeme saue a massie Chaos or a rude and confused lumpe In like maner if learning bee extinguished would not wee become dizarts or cuckoes Nay to seeke the decay and abolishing of learning is to prepare a way for Atheisme
reasons First that they might remember th◠creation of the world for in sixe daies the Lord made heauen and earth and all that therein is and rested the seuenth day Secondly that they might assemble together gratefully thanke his diuine maiesty for his daily blessing powred down vpon them Thirdly that they might recreat refresh and repose themselues to th' end they might labour the next week more aptly Fourthly the Sabaoth is to be obserued by reason it is the seuenth day which number containeth great and hidden mysteries The skie is gouerned by seuen Planets The reuolutiō of time is accomplished in seuen dayes which wee call weekes God commaunded Noah to take into his arke cleane beasts fowle by seuens Pharaoh dreamed that he saw seuen fat kine and seuen leane Dauid deliuered seuen of Sauls sonnes to the Gibeonites to be hanged Christ being termed the first stone of God hath seuē eyes Seuen thousand men did God reserue that neuer bowed their knees to Baal Zachariah in a vision saw a candlesticke of gold with a bowle vpon the top of it and seuen lampes therein and seuen pipes to the lampes Iob had seuen sonnes Seuen Angels go forth before God Neither were the seuen brethren whom Antiochus put to death voyd of a mystery S. Iohn in the Reuelation sawe seuen golden Candlestickes and in the middest of them the Sonne of man hauing in his right hand seuen starres Moreouer he saw the opening of the seuenth seale and the seuen Angels which stood before the Lord to whome were giuen seuen trumpets The Antichrist is prophesied to sit vpon a scarlet coloured beast which hath◠seuen heads By which as all true Christians be perswaded the Pope and his Cardinals attired in Scarlet his seuen hilled city of Rome are meant What more shall I write of the worthinesse of this seuēfold number mans life goeth by seuens named climactericall yeers which Macrobius hath well obserued Sith therefore it hath pleased God so to esteeme of this number let vs Christians honour the same as fearing the scourage of the commaunder It was ordained by a good and godly act made in y e parliament of Scotlād in the yeere of our Lord 1512. being the one and twentieth yeere of the raigne of Iames the fourth that no markets nor fayres should be holden on the Sabaoth day Which act King Iames the sixt that nowe is by the consent of his three estates ratified and approoued in the Parliament holden in the yeere 1579. cōdemning the breakers of the Sabaoth to forfeit all their moueables to the vse of the poore within that parish where they dwelt It was likewise there enacted that no handy-work should be vsed on y t Sabaoth nor any gaming playing passing to Tauernes nor wilfull remaining from prayer and Sermons should bee in any case exercised vnder the penalties following to wit of euerie man for his labouring as often as he was taken in the fact ten shillings and of euerie person for gaming playing passing to Tauernes and wilfull remaining from praier and Sermons on the sunday twentie shillings to bee presently payed and imployed to the releefe of the poore in their parish I could wish that some speedy good order were taken here in Englād for the breakers of the Sabaoth For many now a-dayes hauing beene idle all the weeke before doe of set contumacie labour that day in despight of the Lord his Sabaoth Some frō morning to euening do nothing els but play at dice or tables swearing staring at the least crosse of fortune Others againe be delighted with reading of pāphlets louebooks ballads such like neuer once so deuout as to name God vnlesse shamefully abusing him Oh how oftē do they vse on that day vnseemly speeches the very Turks I feare me go beyond them in deuotion For they duly on their festiual daies resort to their Churches neuer once gazing or looking aside as long as seruice lasteth The seruice being ended they go home each mā to his house inuiting humbly beseeching the priests to beare them cōpany with whō they questiō touching diuine matters not by carping nicking nipping but with pure simplicity feruent care wheras many of vs Christians contrariwise do openly prophane not only holidaies but also the Lords day yet they terme themselues Christians Christiās O coūterfeit Christiās worse thē Painims Me thinks if nothing else could moue you yet the daily myraculous punishments inflicted on such prophane persons as you bee should bee a terrible warning for you At Kinstat a towne in France dwelled a certain couetous woman about fortie yeres ago who was so eager in gathering together worldly pelfe that shee would neither frequent the church to heare the word of God on sunday her selfe nor yet permit any of her familie to do it but alway toyled about pilling and drying of flaxe neither would shee bee disswaded by her neighbours frō such an vnseasonable work One sunday as she was thus busied fire seemed to fall downe among the flaxe without doing any hurt The next sunday it tooke fire indeed but was soone quenched For all this shee continued forwarde in her worke euen the third Sunday when the flaxe againe taking fire could not be extinguished till it had burnt her two of her childrē to death for though they were recouered out of the fire aliue yet y e next day they all 3. died that which was most to be wondred at a yong infant in the Cradle was taken out of the midst of the flame without any hurt Thus God punisheth the breakers of y e sabaoth Famous is that example which chanced neere London in the yeere of our Lord 1583. on the thirteenth day of Ianuarie being Sunday at Paris garden where there met together as they were wont an infinite number of people to see the beare-baiting without any regard of that high day But in the middest of their sports all the scaffolds and galleries sodainely fell downe in such wise that two hundred persons were crushed well nigh to death besides eight that were killed forthwith In the yeere of our Lord 1589. I being as then but a boy do remember that an Alewife making no exception of dayes would needes brue vpon Saint Markes day but loe the maruailous worke of God whiles she was thus laboring the top of the chimney tooke fire and before it could bee quenched her house was quite burnt Surely a gentle warning to them that violate and prophane forbidden dayes Notwithstanding I am not so straight laced that I would not haue any labour done on Sundayes and holy dayes For I confesse It is lawfull to fight in our countries defence on any daie It is lawfull to enter into the bath and it is lawfull for Phisicians and Apothecaries to temper and prepare medicines for the sicke and for cookes to dresse meate for our sustenance It is lawfull for vs
only vnto his frieÌ„ds but also vnto straungers wayfaring men For which cause he that keepeth a good house and entertaineth straungers is said to receiue Christ himself Which likewise another holy father confirmeth saying We must teÌ„der hospitality without discretion lest that the person whom we exclude and shut out of doores be God himselfe This Abraham knew very well when hee accustomed to sit in his tent doore of purpose to call in trauellers and to relieue them Among whom he entertayned on a time three Angels This also was not vnknowen to Lot when as he vsed to harbour ghestes and compell Angels beyng vnder the shape of pilgrimes to come into his house Wee read that the harlot Rahab for her hospitality was saued with all her household from death at the winning of Iericho Wherefore O yee that be rich see that yee keepe good hospitalitie and relieue the impotent and distressed To conclude if we consider more narrowly and pierce more deepely with a sharpe eye into the benefits of hospitality though no other cause could perswade vs yet the monumeÌ„ts of the new testament might exhort vs thereunto Wherein good hospitality consisteth Chap. 25. THey are greatly deceyued who thinke that hospitality doth consist in slibber-sauces in spiced meates or in diuersities For these are nought els saue fooleries and fond wasting of goods whereby the flesh is prouoked to lechery becommeth altogether inflamed massy and diseased Further experience teacheth that none are more subiect to sicknesses then they that gurmaundize and feed on sundry kindes of dishes The reason is because that those diuersities which they eat be repugnant and contrary the one to the other and breed putrifaction and corrupt humours within their bodies Whereas contrariwise they that liue on one sort of meat and hardly do looke faire lusty well complexioned and most commonly attaine vnto very old age Good hospitality therefore consâ—steth not in gluttonous diuersities but rather in one kind of meat in clothing the naked and in giuing almes vnto the poore Why houskeeping now-adaies is decayed Chap. 26. THe causes why hospitality is nowadaies brought to so low a saile are fiue The first is ambition which moueth Gentlemen that are of large reuenewes to weare gorgeous attires to traile a costly port after them to caualiere it abroad and giuing vp house-keping at home to take a chamber in London where they consume their time in viewing of stage playes in carousing of healths perhaps in visiting of courtizans The second is hatred which pricketh GentlemeÌ„ to fall out with their neighbors and to enrich the lawiers by commencing of suites and coÌ„trouersies The third is couetousnesse which perswadeth landlords to hoord vp substaÌ„ce for the Diuell to enhaunce incomes to rayse rents for feare least yeomen keep better hospitality then themselues and to conuert tillage into pastures In consideration of which abominable abuse it was most prudently enacted in the last Parliament that all landes which were conuerted into sheepe pastures or to the fatting or grazing of cattell the same hauing beene tillage lands should be before the first of May in the yeere of our Lord 1599. last past restored to tillage by the possessours thereof and so should continue for euer It was further enacted in the said Parliament that euery person offending against the premisses aforesaid should forfeit for euery acre not restored the summe of twenty shillings yeerely as long as the offence continued The fourth reason why hospitality is caried to so lowe an ebbe proceedeth of building for sooner shall wee see a Gentleman build a stately house then giue almes and cherish the needy The fift and last cause of the decay of hospitality is gluttony which enduceth men to prepare artificiall cookeries diuers sorts of meate wheras one large and wholesome messe of meat could peraduenture counteruaile yea and go beyond all their iunkets and dainty delicacies Of Almes and the forgetfulnesse therof in these dayes Chap. 27. THe poore being an inferiour family in Gods church are recommended by him to our charge namely that wee should relieue them in their distresse consider that whatsoeuer wee do vnto them we do vnto Christ himselfe who for our sakes left a glorious habitation and became poore Besides we must remeÌ„ber to giue almes vnto the poore in respect of that holy mans saying The poore crieth and the Lord heareth him yea and deliuereth him out of all his troubles Alasse let vs ponder with our selues wherefore did the Lord giue vnto many of vs such great aboundaunce of wealth in this life aboue our brethren if it were not to vse them well and to furnish the needy The simplest idiot of vs al doth very wel know that wealth was not giuen vs to hoord vp no nor to consume the same in superfluous vanities Why then do we keep our clothes in our presses our money in our coffers Why do wee misspend our goods in gaudy rayments in caualiering shewes in feeding of houndes in banqueting in reuelling and in a thousand trumperies besides oh why do we not waigh in our minds that whatsoeuer wee spend more then wee need is none of ours but the poores to detaine from them is to pill and poll yea and perforce to spoyle them What shall we say when God will demaund an account of our stewardships Doubtles except wee do out of hand repent and giue almes wee shall bee cast as a pray vnto the Deuill and with him bee tormented in hell for euermore O fearfull doome The misbeleeuing Turkes are woont secretly to send their seruaunts abroad purposely to hearkeÌ„ amongst their neighbours which of them hath most need of victuals money and apparell Yea more then that in their Musaph or Alcoran they haue these words If men knew how heauenly a thing it were to distribute almes they would not spare their owne flesh but would euen teare the same and slice it into carbonadoes to giue it vnto the poore The Papists that are ouerwhelmed in superstition and idolatry do hope although sacrilegiously to be saued by their almes-giuing Oh what a shamefull thing will this be against vs at the dreadfull day of iudgement Verily I feare me it will be easier for them then for vs to enter into the kingdome of heauen if speedily we amend not be bouÌ„tiful vnto the poore For whosoeuer stoppeth his eares at the crie of the poore shal also cry himselfe and not be heard Where now-adayes shall we find the woman of Sarepta to entertaine Elias where are Abraham and Lot to feast the holy Angels If Eliza were now liuing surely he should want his hostesse the Sunamite Nay which is more if Christ himselfe were here he should neither find Martha to welcome him no nor Mary to powre any sweet oyntments vpon his head The members of Christ make supplication and pray meekely but the rich giueth a rough aunswere Lazarus beggeth still without