whatsoeuer ye do else do all to the glorie of God AS a thicke wood and goodly groue giuing great shadowe very pleasant to behold doth delight the eies of the beholders so greatly with the varietie and thicknes of florishing trées and pleasant plants that it séemeth to be ordained onely for pleasures sake and yet within is full of poisonful serpents rauening wolues and other wilde hurtfull and cruell beasts Euen so an hypocrite when outwardly he séemeth holy and to be wel furnished with the ornaments of all sorts of vertues doth please well and delight much the eies of his beholders but within him there lurketh pride couetousnes enuie and all maner wickednesses like wilde and cruell beasts walking and wandring in the wood of his hart So that whiles he séemeth to be that he is not neither will be that he séemeth his exercise is to séeke whose house he may deuoure whose goodes he may gripe whose credit he may cracke whose name he may blemish and whose honest disposition and godly simplicity he may most abuse In the hypocrite this is verified Fained sanctitie is double iniquitie So that I speake with reuerence if any be a knaue the hypocrite is more if some may serue for one he may well stand for two Hypocrisie is a subtill euill a secret poison a lurking venome a painting and counterfetting of vertue a moath of holines In mine opinion there be no woorse men liuing than hypocrites be for when they purpose most to deceiue they handle the matter so and do so paint themselues with counterfet colour that you would thinke them to be very vertuous and godly disposed AS a flint smitten against iron or stéele doth driue out sparks of fire So godly meditations of heauenly things draw out of hard harts some warmnes and as it were fire of the loue of God The prophet Dauid had experience thereof when he said My hart wareth warme within me and in my meditation a fire was kindled That soule which shall be replenished with vertues and shal take pleasure in the contemplation of heauenly things shall no doubt haue most swift and speedie wings and shall be called most woorthily Auis petens alta se à terrae laqueis eripiens A bird that mounteth on high and pearseth the clouds fréeing hir selfe from the traps and snares of the earth Such was the soule of the prophet when he said My soule is euen as a bird escaped out of the snare of the hunter Let vs whiles it is to day and we may flie be lifted vp towards our God and forgetting the vaine things of the earth which are behinde vs and preasing with all our powers to the things aboue and neuer satisfied with the loue of God and the desire of heauen let vs boldly go forward and stretch out our selues to the reward of the high calling of God in Christ Iesu our Lord. For the things of this world haue euer béene false and at the length haue deceiued their louers and déerest friends EVen as he that hath a sonne which is in good and perfect health and a seruant that is excéeding sicke dealeth more roughly and seuerely with his sonne than with his seruant not bicause he loueth his seruant more than his sonne but bicause he would if it might be restore his sicke seruant to his former health but his sonne whom he loueth most déerely he reprooueth checketh taunteth and correcteth Euen so our God somtimes afflicteth his déere children whom he most tenderly loueth and doth suffer them to be exercised with wants with wéepings and wailings with sighes and sorrowfull sobs with hunger and cold with nakednes and want of harbour with heauines of hart and vexation of soule with sicknes of bodie and want of libertie and with a thousand other calamities and cares and in the meane time suffereth the wicked and vngodlie ones of the world to want nothing he giueth them health wealth and libertie worldly honor and dignitie and what not meaning and purposing by these meanes if the fault be not in themselues to bring them to knowe to feare to honor and to serue him by whose prouidence and appointment they haue and enioy all those good blessings and so be cured and healed of the sores and sicknes of their soules The holy men and seruants of God haue euer béene wel experienced in the Lords chastenings Ieremie the prophet saith to God Thou hast chastened me O Lord and I am corrected And the Apostle saith Whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth and he correcteth euery sonne that he receiueth Againe Let vs reioice in tribulations And to the Galathians God forbid that I should reioice but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby the world is crucified vnto me and I to the world by the crosse vnderstand the afflictions of Christ wherewith the Apostle was exercised for Christs sake For this must euer be true All that will liue godly in Christ Iesu shall suffer persecution So that the troubles and afflictions of this life are not reiections maledictions and the curses of God but rather and most truly infallible signes of his grace and true tokens of his loue and mercies toward vs. Blessed are they saith truth it self that suffer persecution for righteousnes sake AS the skilfull pearle seller and cunning lapidarie doth willingly suffer the Indian diamond or adamant to be smitten and stâ—ooken with great and weightie blowes bicause he knoweth well that the hammer and anuill will sooner be bruised than the diamond or adamant will be broken So our most wise God yea onely wisedome it selfe suffereth men of excellent vertues of vnquenchable loue charitie and inuincible constancie to fall into diuers temptations and to be plunged déepe into manifold miseries bicause he will haue their inward graces to breake out and so shine before men that they seeing the constancie of his saints may glorifie God which is in heauen For he is sure that they be constant and that nothing can separate them from the loue of God Ioseph was imprisoned in Egypt Ieremie in Iudea Ezechiel in Chaldea and Iohn Baptist by wicked Herod and yet all these and infinite others did neuer shrinke from God but as they liued in him so they died in him and are exalted vp on high and shall dwell in his tabernacle and rest in the hill of his holines for euer and euer And so shall we do if we will be as they were AS when thou séest a great and goodly citie consisting of many and sundry sorts of men some of great reputation and very many of smal estimation some exceeding rich and infinite others extremely poore some in their fresh and florishing youth and some crooked with old age where all these though among themselues selues they be diuers and sundrie do liue in great concord and agrée well togither and are kept all within the bounds and limits of good and godly discipline thou wilt
he be throughly tried S. 35. P. 13. The best foode for the soule of man S. 36. P. 13. 14. Not proud but humble men do profite by reading and hearing of the worde of God S. 37. 38. P. 14. 15. The riches dignities and honors of this world and the life of man are fitly compared to clouds in the aire which are suddenly dispersed and scattered with the windes S. 39. P. 15. 16. The word of God is a looking glasse that wil deceiue no man If a man behold himselfe well in it he shall see plainly that before he was man he was earth and before he was earth he was nothing S 40 P 16. As a birde thrusteth hir bill through the loopes of hir cage in token of hir great desire to be at libertie So the soule of a true Christian groneth and sigheth in the bodie in desire to be dissolued and to go to dwell with the Lord Iesu S. 41. P. 16. 17. Papists compared to vipers S. 42. P. 17. Man for his inconstancie is compared to a ballance that is mooued with euerie little weight S. 43. P. 17 18. Man is so wauering that he is compared to a Chameleon which changeth his colour according to the thing that is next him and also bicause the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white S. 44. 45. P. 18. Not they that trust to a dead faith but they that haue a liuely and working faith shall be saued S. 46 P. 18. Many men of very good qualities and indewed with sundrie vertues and full of good parts haue been strongly altered and greatly disgraced through their familiaritie with the wicked S. 47. P. 18. 19. When Peter came into Cayphas his hall he denied Christ S. 48. P. 19. What it is not to eat the word of God and not to fill a mans bellie and bowels with it S. 49. P. 19. The harder that the tree of sinne and wickednes is to be cut downe the more earnestly and diligently ought the preachers of the word to strike at it with the sharpe edge of Gods most mightie and most holie worde S. 50. P. 20. The Lord doth humble vs in this world that he may exalt vs in the world to come this world doth smile vpon vs with a purpose to deceiue vs S. 51. 32. P. 20. Wicked men are wilfull murtherers of their owne bodies and soules S. 53. P. 21. Vngodly men finde no comfort nor sweetnes in the word of God S. 54. P. 21. In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in Gods we cannot Whatsoeuer is writteÌ„ in Gods word is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines and whatsoeuer it promiseth in the world to come is eternitie S. 55. P. 22. The onely weapon that we must vse to ouer come the world flesh and diuell is the word of God and the practise of the same S. 56. P. 22. Poore men feare they God neuer so much are little set by in this world S. 57. P. 23. Christ hath his cup and the world his the one is bitter but wholesome the other very pleasant but pestilent and deadly S. 58. P. 23. and 24 and also S 60. P. 24. As a guiltie man whose conscience doth accuse him would neuer see the iudge and a traitor would neuer willingly be espied of his prince nor a disloyall person of one that knoweth him and on the other side a true and faithfull subiect that hath done dutifull seruice desireth the presence of the prince in hope to be well rewarded So the wicked and vngodly ones of the world are greeued to heare of Christs comming to iudge the quicke and the dead but they that haue liued with good consciences do grone for his comming S. 61. P. 24. There be great braggers of religion which make a great noise as thogh none were right professors of the truth but themselues such be not the best men humble minded Christians are better than they S. 62. P. 25. Death commeth suddenly vpon many that neuer thought to die nor cannot tell what shall become of them when they bee dead S. 63. P. 25. 26. All men are alike subiect to death whether they beyoong or olde this world is like a potters warehouse and all men in it are earthen vessels S. 64. P. 26. As the moone decreasing hath hir open side hanging downward but increasing and gathering light hath hir opening vp towards heauen So men meere naturall haue their harts set only vpon earth and earthly things but men regenerate haue the open side of their harts euer towards God heauen and heauenly things S 65. P. 26. 27. A common wealth without good lawes and holy ordinances put in practise is like a bodie without a soule S 66 P 28. As the horse is ordained to run the oxe to plough and the dog to hunt So is man borne to loue God aboue all things S. 67. P. 28. Mans hart is so hard that it must be smitten with the Lords owne hand and bruised with one calamitie or other or else no godo thing will euer issue out of it S. 68. P. 28. and S. 69. P. 29. S. 70. P. 29. The earth is the Lords steward and doth dispose and detaine the increase of it selfe at the Lords appointment when God wil plentie when he will scarciâ—ie S. 71. P. 29. 30. If man cleaue to God God will sticke to him if he will run from God yet can he not escape his hands S. 72. P. 30. A man that is vertuous without hypocrisie is an excellent iewell he is greatly greeued to see any bewitched with the forceries of the world he doth what he can that none may Carnall men are meere strangers to true christianitie S. 73. P. 31. Vaine and carnall men compared to organs S. 74. P. 31. Naturall men will do no good thing vnles they be pricked forward with the praise and commendations of the world S. 75. P. 31. 32. Hypocrites most plainly and truly described by a wood or groue full of goodly trees and pleasant plants to delight men and also full of stinging serpents to poyson and to kill men S. 76. P. 32. Heauenly meditations doe molliâ—ie and warme the hart and do greatly inflame men with a feruent loue of God This world and the things thereof haue euer been false and haue deceiued euen their louers and deerest friends at the length S. 77. P. 32. 33. The Lorde suffereth his owne children whom he loueth most deerely to bee oftentimes in great wants when the wicked haue euen the world at will The afflictions of this are not the maledictions and curses of God but rather most certaine signes of his loue and tokens of his grace S. 78. P. 33. 34. God doth suâ—fer his saints heere vpon the earth to be smitten and sore beaten of the world and to be throughly tried with diuers tentations to the end that their inward graces may breake
midst of his disciples he saide vnto them Vnlesse ye become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen Pride is a very pestilent sicknes and hath this operation in man if it raigne in him it diuideth him from God from himselfe and from his neighbour and doth disperse and distract him into infinite euils and innumerable vices The holy virgin could tell that when in hir most woonderfull canticle she said He hath dispersed the proud in the imagination of their owne harts Let vs therefore beware of pride eschew all insolencie of the minde and auoide cleane the vaine hautines of the hart least whiles we hunt and hauke after the idle praise of men and the vaine glorie of the world we vtterly lose the euerlasting glorie of the saints of God and eternall life for euer Then will repentance come too late when we haue lost all things for nothing and no recouerie doth remaine EVen as a fouler doth lay abroad and spread his net to take the birds where baite is and they may féede So the deuill when he would take Eue spread his net in gluttonie and tempted hir with a beautifull apple till at the length to the harme and wo of all their posteritie both shée and hir husbande were taken and trapt to our woes And with the same baite he went about to intangle Christ when he said If thou be the son of God commaund that these stones be made bread And indéed excesse of meat drinke is the mother of many most dangerous euils The Scripture speaking of them that worshipped the golden calfe saith The people sate down to eate and drink and rose vp to play And in Deuteronomie it is said That when the people had eaten and were full they turned to strange gods And Ose the prophet saith They were full and they did forget God And Christ saith Wo be to you that are full for yée shall be hungrie Rioting excesse and fulnes of meate and drink doth make mens bodies vnapt to all good and holy exercises and very prone and apt to all sinne and wickednes CHrist willeth vs not to lay vp treasure for our selues héere vpon the earth but in heauen c. and affirmeth that it is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heauen then for a cable rope to go through the eie of a néedle In déede such a rope though it cannot be drawne through a néedles eie yet if it be diuided and singled into the seuerall thréedes whereof it was made it may be so drawne through one thréed after another Euen so a rich man whose hart is set vpon his riches more then vpon God so that couetousnes is as it were a most infringeable shell wherein his hart is closed and the same is manicles to his hands and fetters to his féete cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen But if he will deuide his riches into certaine thréeds or portions and bestow one part to further the preaching of the Gospell another vpon the poore man and one vpon the poore widdowe another vpon séely poore orphanes one vpon the stranger that is in want another vpon the poore prisoner one vpon him that is sicke and another vpon the impotent if he will succour them that be in sorrow and miserie and will helpe the néedie and will godly mercifully and discréetly distribute his riches to the comforting and reléeuing of the distressed children and saints of God and all this out of a liuelie and true faith for Christs sake he may notwithstanding his riches be they neuer so great enter into the kingdome of heauen and be saued his riches shall not hinder him But if he be caried away from dooing of any good with a gréedie and damnable couetousnes making his riches his God there is no entrance for him but he shall be taken and bound hande and foote and shall be sent into hell and shall be cast into vtter darknes where shall be houling wailing and gnashing of teeth He that is such a one is euen in this life already dead and is as it were his owne graue Chrysostme saith that the minde of a couetous man is a foule rotten and stinking sepulchre Iosua commanded that no man shuld take any thing from Iericho but couetous Achan tempted with the glittering gold did breake that commandement and was therefore most iustly put to death Yea for his couetousnes and gréedie desire of riches Iosua lost the victorie Iosua with his humble calling vpon the Lord could cause the sun to stand still that it went not forward but he could not staie the couetousnes of man but it would be créeping saie he what he would The sun was staide at his voice but Achan his couetousnes would not be staid All the while that the sun stoode still Iosua had the vpper hand of gods enimies but when Achan his couetousnes was in esse then Iosua lost the victorie It is lawfull for Christian men to possesse riches but it is not lawfull for them to be possessed themselues of vnsatiable couetousnes of the same Thou maist haue goods and riches to serue thée for necessaries but thou must not be a seruant and drudge vnto them For euen as a flie comming to a platter full of swéet and pleasant honie if she thrust not hir selfe altogither into it but onely touch and taste it with hir mouth and take no more than is necessarie and néedfull she may safely go away and flie to an other place but if she wallow and tumble in the hony then is she limed and taken in it and whiles she is not able to flie away she doth there lose hir life Euen so if a man of all his riches take onely so much as may sustaine him honestly maintaine his estate bestowing the rest as I haue said before his riches then cannot holde him backe nor bar him out of the kingdome of heauen But if couetousnes shall bewitch him and still pricke him forewarde to scrape togither more and more and shall make him euen vnsatiable then they take him and holde him and so belime the wings of his minde that he cannot once in all his life haue one flight towards the kingdome of heauen And thus being in thraldome and bondage to wicked Mammon the end of his pleasures in this world is the beginning of his sorrowes in the worlde to come Plutarch saith that the contempt of riches is an instrument of Philosophie And Seneca affirmeth that the néerest way to be truely rich is to despise worldly riches If heathen Philosophers did easilie espie the perils dangers and discommodities of the loue of worldlie and vncertaine riches and the benefit of a meane and poore estate how much more then ought we that be Christians to know these things whose captaine maister and Sauiour loued pouertie and taught the same hauing his birth in a stable with beasts among chaffe and his death
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
wicked cogitations of all sorts and doth allure hale drawe and euen drag him to do those things which are so odious in the sight of God that he must either most earnestly repent that he hath done them or else he must die eternally for doing of them Idlenes therefore doth not become Christians for so doth our God and maker teach vs when he saith to Adam in the labour of thy hands shalt thou eate all the daies of thy life And iust Iob saith that man is borne to labour And the Apostle saith If any man will not labour let him not eate When Dauid continued at home in idlenes then did adulterie and murther créepe into his hart and ceased not vntill it broke out into effects and most dangerous actions Christ did shew a great hatred to idlenes when he said Why stand ye héere all the day idle SOmtimes it falleth out that a hen sitteth vpon ducks eggs and with hir diligent sitting the heat of hir bodie she doth hatch and bring them foorth and when they be able to follow hir she clucks them after hir maner as though they were hir naturall chickens she doth call them about hir but they being not of hir but the ducks kinde though by hir they haue beene hatched and of hir haue receiued life and though she hath a continuall care to bring them vp and to defend them from such enimies as séeke to deuoure them yet neuerthelesse they wil follow and séeke after that whereunto by nature they are inclined and giuen When she is scraping and scratching the earth to finde them foode they will be in the water mire or foule puddle after their kinde she may clucke and walke alone they will not kéepe hir companie vnlesse perhaps in some danger when the kite is readie to catch them for some succour they will â—lie to hir howbeit at the length when she perceiueth them to be vnnaturall and vnkinde to hir she doth forsake them and giue them ouer Euen so our swéete Sauiour Christ Iesus hauing taken great paines for vs and hauing humbled himselfe euen in the lowest degrée of all humilitie that can be named as in comming down out of his fathers bosome being most perfect most holy and omnipotent God being euery way equall and in nothing inferiour to his father to take our weake fraile and féeble nature vpon him and sinne excepted to haue a perfect féeling of all our infirmities as wearisomnes of bodie hunger and thirst and such others and besides the induring of these many yéeres togither hauing suffered a most cruell death and euen at his death vpon the crosse hauing tasted and taken a full cup of his fathers furie and indignation which was in déed filled and prepared for vs as a iust reward for our sinnes and should haue béen our owne cup and our owne portion for euer and euer had he not euen then taken and supt it vp to cléere and to frée vs from it Againe after all these things hauing still continued his humilitie in suffering death to kéepe his bodie thrée daies in the graue and euen as it were to tread and trample vpon him and then mauger death hell diuell and Iewes hauing risen againe and being ascended and gone vp to his father where now vntil his comming again to iudge the quicke and the dead he sitteth at the right hande of maiestie and power He now speaketh and calleth vnto vs by his prophets apostles and ministers and willeth vs to remember what case and estate we were in before he died and suffered all these things for vs and he would haue vs to know to be sure and neuer to forget that if he had not suffered death héere vpon the earth as he did we should neuer haue found any way or entrance into heauen the celestiall ioyes and pleasures of the Lords saints saluation and eternall life should neuer haue belonged vnto vs we should haue had no more to do with them then they that liue without faith and die infidels The horrors of hell and the stincking lakes of vnspeakable shame confusion torments endlesse death and damnation should haue béene our inheritance lot and perpetuall portion Christ therefore doth daily put vs in minde that we be not our owne but his and that we be the greatest and déerest purchase that euer was made in heauen or in earth and that the like price and cost was neuer bestowed vpon any creatures as vpon vs. When the angels which werâ— in heauen in the presence of their creator did once offende they were hurled out and cast into hell Christ woulde not bestow vpon them one peny of all that great price and rich ransome which he paid for vs he would not then become man to shed one drop of blood for them but for our sakes he spared not one drop but shed all The Hen that himselfe speaketh of was neuer so diligent and carefull to gather hir chickins vnder hir wings as he hath euer béene most ready to shroude and to protect vs against all the enimies of our soules and bodies Many mothers shall sooner forget the children of their own wombs and vtterly forsake them before Christ will forsake vs yea he will neuer forget nor forsake vs vnlesse we first forget and forsake him Now therefore we being his so déerely bought and so truely paide for he calleth vpon vs euery day he clucketh vs and looketh for vs that we should follow him and tread in such steps as he hath appointed and that we shuld not range at randon but kéepe our selues within the hearing of his voice and our liues within the limits of obedience vnto the same these things I saie he looketh for at our hands But how deale we with this most kinde most louing and most mercifull redéemer and if the fault be not in our selues the fauiour of our seules and bodies Verily euen so as the vnnaturall and vnkind ducks deale with the hen of whom they haue receiued life they regarde not hir clucking neither we Christs calling when she is séeking and prouiding for them on the faire drie and wholesome earth they will be in some foule water filthie mire or stinking puddle And when the Lord Iesus calleth vs to integritie of life to do the thing that is iust and right in his owne eie and to speake the truth according to the knowledge of our harts then will we with gréedines pollute our soules and bodies with all wickednes and things that be abominable then will we oppresse our brethren not caring who sincke if our selues swim then will we not sticke to speake lies euen to Gods owne face And when the Lord calleth and sendeth vs to seeke heauenly things we presently returne to the foule puddles of the world carnall delightes and vaine yea vile pleasures so that we euer take the contrary wâ—y to that which Christ commandeth Christ calleth for our harts to haue them in truth and sinceritie with all diligence
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
out that men seeing their constancie in the loue of God may glorifie their father which as in heauen S. 79. P. 34. The good agreement and well hanging togither of the in 〈…〉 creatures of God in this world though differing in natures and the apt placing of the whole may very well teach vs that there is a mightie creator a great gouernor and a wise preseruer of all these things S. 80. P. 34. 35. The cause of the sinnes and iniquities which man committeth is in himselfe euen as the tree is in the kernell and the herbe in the seede Self loue is a perilous and common theefe ranging and robbing in euerie place it maketh men fooles and doth put out their eies and yet is welcome to all S. 81. Pag. 35. They that be godly are most easily moued to do good vpon any occasion offered the troubles and afflictions of their brethren are to them as if they were their owne if they do but heare of anie distressed they by and by cast with themselues how to do them good such be good though few S. 82. P. 36. A good christian though he be heere vpon the earth in bodie in affect and desire he is in heauen S. 83. P. 36. Gods children despise those things which vnto the worldlings seeme very precious not earth but heauen hath their harts S. 84. P. 36. As he that walketh vpon coards fastened on high had need to looke to his footing so it behooueth vs to be very carefull where we place our affections For there be two that daily striue for them God calleth and sathan allureth Sathan doth keepe a continual siege against all vertue to kill it if he can euen when it is a hatching in the hart of man S. 85. P. 36. 37. Many men haue calling but they answere it not knowledge but they practise it not words but they worke not such are compared to the ostridge that hath wings and flyeth not S. 86 P. 38. All that be aduanced into places of high dignitie are not the best men though some be very good yet some seeke more their own praise and profit than gods glory but that is not to follow Christ S. 87. P. 38. 39. The greatest highest and best seruice that man can do vnto God for the comfort of his ownesoule and his happines in the world to come is his due obedience vnto the word of God S. 88. P. 39. 40. That man perisheth for euer and goeth to hell is mans owne fault not the Lords the Lord is no more to be blamed for mans destruction then the smith that made for thee som instrument of iron or steele is to be blamed if thou wilt suffer it to growe rustie and cankered the smith made not rustines neither God thee to sinne S. 89. P. 40. The children of God vnderstaÌ„ding by the word that this world and all that is in it is meere vanitie they haue their felicitie ioie and comfort in knowing of the word and doing of the will of God S. 90. P. 40. The Indian adamant which in hardnes doth excell all other stones is said to be mollified with the warme bloud of a goate But the hart of man hardned with continuance and custome of sinne will not be mollified with the bloude of the immaculate lambe Christ Iesus S. 91. P. 41. Though the world intreat vs vnkindly and be daily harming vs yet we must no more giue ouer doing good then the sunne giueth ouer shining though many clouds do continually couer it S. 92. P. 42. Vertues lot is to be enuied to finde very colde intertainment if any at all with the men of this world and yet for all that the seruants of God will neuer be wearie of well doing S 93 P. 42. Mans hart being quiet and not troubled with horrors nor distempered with feares wil plainly shew a man what he is so that he may easily know himselfe but being tossed with terrors and ouerwhelmed with feares it cannot do so S. 94. P. 42. A flatterer to see to is honest Cato but in experience cruell Nero and therefore verie fitly compared to a scorpion S 95. P. 43. There be many dissemblers and smooth tongued flatterers in the world that will euen stroke as it were mens humors and dispositions with words as soft as oyle and so sweet as honie and al to creepe within them that at the length they may worke their wo and destruction S. 96. P. 43. As a candle that it may giue light to others is consumed it selfe and salt that it may draw corruptioÌ„ out of flesh keepe it sweet and wholesome for mans body is all to brused broken and wasted it selfe So euerie christian man and especially teachers of others ought to spare no labour to do good to others and to win some soules to God if it please him to blesse their labours S. 97. P. 43. The saylers gâ—oâ—on called the marâ—iners needle lockt shut vp or kept in a â—offer of gold siluer wood or whatsoeuer will euer stil looke towards the north pole So right christians which are throughly resolued concerning their saluation and euerlasting life will neuer turne from Christ but haue their harts and minds still fixed in him come wealth or want sicknes or health libertie or imprisonment life or death S. 98. P. 43. 44. A christian will not haue two loues one for himselfe and an other for his neighbour but will loue his neighbour with one the same loue wherewith he loueth himselfe S. 99. P. 44. 45. The soule of man so long as it is in bondage vnto the bodie it seeketh onelie the bodies pleasures and delights but hauing once recouered that seruitude and brought the bodie to be subiect vnto it then it seeketh no longer the peace pleasure ease and rest of the bodie but now being freed from that bondage and restored to it selfe it seeketh it owne peace rest health and happines for euer S. 99. P. 44. 45. That man is in a wofull case that hath his head vnder the girdle of this world he shal neuer find any rest peace or quietnes Put no trust in the world if thou dost it will deceaue thee and giue thee quid pro quo that is a mischiefe in stead of a pleasure promised The going out of this world to a christian is like a safe sure haueÌ„ to a man that hath bin very long and dangerously tossed in a most troublesome and perilous sea S. 100. P. 45. 46. A corrupted iusticer or iudge by the vertue of a precious stone or some other rich iewell bestowed vpon him freely will make a bad matter go for good and a very iust cause go for nought Yea for a good round sum of money though it be in an old leather purse he will now and then sell iudgement break the necke of iustice Where this corruption and abuse is it breedeth this slaunderous report of the law which is good Parâ—is cornis
being troubled the brooke is troubled also and the prince disquieted the people finde no peace Herod the king was troubled and all Ierusalem with him Whiles he raigned impietie ruled good lawes were nothing set by iustice and iudgement lay dead ancient and laudable customs were banished there was no rest no peace which is the end of godly gouernment For to that end are gouernors ordained that people may liue in peace The worke of iustice shall be peace Iustice and peace haue kissed ech other There shall arise in his daies iustice and abundance of peace AS the roote of a trée being vtterly rotten the boughes cannot bud and florish nor bring foorth pleasant fruits in their due time So iustice being violated it cannot be that peace can florish and bring foorth so plentifull fruits as she is woont to do THe prosperitie of this world is as the cléerenes of winter weather as the calmnes of the sea and stabilitie of the moone As these do wauer and be suddenly changed So the state of wealth and worldly things hath no firmnes no perpetuitie no constancie for as it is said All these things passe away like a shadowe and are as a messenger running afore Man flieth away like a shadow and neuer continueth in one state For somtime it falleth out that when thou dost thinke thy selfe to haue gotten innumerable riches and great dignitie and that thou art set euen in the top of excellencie and honor then all of a sudden in the twinkling of an eie thou art hurled from that high and mounting glorie of the world downe headlong into a bottomles gulfe of all disgrace For out of that place which thou hadst thought to be full of rest and securitie very often great calamities and most bitter blustring stormes in the turning of an hand suddenly do arise Séeing therfore that these things stand so we ought not to put any confidence in deceiueable dignities nor to be proud of them neither must we trust in the vncertaine riches of this world which are daily changing but we must flie to our redéemer onely sauiour Christ Iesus place our whole hope and settle all our confidence in his infinite and endles mercies God giue vs grace to do so Amen EVen as the eagle is caried vp on high and falleth not vpon the ground but to séeke his necessarie foode and hauing caught his pray by and by flieth vp againe and maketh no abode below on the earth So we ought to haue our mindes occupied in heauen and all superfluous care of worldly things laid apart with the eies of our mindes and faith to behold our God and in the quietnes and staiednes of our soules rest our selues vpon his grace without hauing more to do with this world than in our seuerall callings to séeke lawfully those necessaries onely which may serue for the preseruation of life Which had we should in the meditation of our mindes and the thoughts of our harts with all our powers flie vnto our God The apostle Paule his counsell is excéeding good Hauing meate and drinke and wherewith we may be clothed let vs be therewith contented for they that will be rich do fall into tentation and into the snare of the diuell And Salomon making his praiers vnto God hath these words Giue me O Lord onely necessaries for my life least if I be too full I may be drawen to denie thée And againe Better is a little with the feare of the Lord than great and insaciable treasures Dauid also Better is a little that the righteous man hath than the great riches of the vngodly EVen as thicke and blacke cloudes do obscure and darken the bright and glittering stars So degenerating posterities and such as be polluted and blemished with trecherie and iniquitie do dishonor their ancestors and do extinguish the cléere light of their noble vertues and do put vpon them the vgly darksomnes of their owne vices that although they be noble men by birth and discent yet they fall into obliuion and by little and little are quite forgotten It is better that a man be renowmed and nobled by his owne noble acts and excellent vertues than to depend vpon the nobilitie of his ancestors They ought not to be called the sonnes of noble men which please themselues with vanities and do wallow in ignominie and wickednes but the sonnes of those wicked ones whose kinde of life they do imitate and whose footsteps they follow Christ called the wicked Iewes which said they had Abraham to their father the children of the diuell And speaking of Christians he saith And how many soeuer did receiue him he gaue them power to be made the sonnes of God In Christ Iesu saith the apostle neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but a new creature True nobilitie before God consisteth not in the prowesse of ancestors but in newnes of life by faith in Christ AS the pleasant and swéete riuer of Iordan when it runneth into Asphaltites that bitter poole of Palestina is also made bitter vnwholsome loseth the vertue thereof So that man which ioineth himselfe in friendship and doth couple himselfe in familiaritie with wicked and vngodly men becommeth wicked and vngodly himselfe and is stained and blemished with their vices although héertofore he had béen inclined to vertue and godlines It is therefore pithily said of Ecclesiasticus Depart from the wicked and euill things will depart from thée And the apostle in the fift of the first to the Corinthians also in that to the Galath saith A little leauen doth sower a whole lump of dowe AS of necessitie a shadow doth accompany those that walk in the sunne shine So is enuie a continuall companion to those that in good and honest things do excell others and are aduanced and renowmed with the best There is no felicitie saith Valerius Maximus be it in neuer so good measure and modestie which can eschew the gnarling and gnawing téeth of enuie One demanded of a learned man how he might auoid enuious persons If saith he thou shalt haue no excellent thing in thée and shalt do nothing fortunately Enuie is alway vertues companion and is euer at the héeles of them which in honestie vertue and godlines go beyond others Miserie onely admitteth no enuie EVen as the inferiour planet shadoweth and ecclipseth the planet that is aboue it but the higher not the lower So men without honestie indued with no wisedome not acquainted with vertue and enimies to true godlines do their greatest endeuour to distaine the commendation and deserued honor of notable and very woorthie men Iob calleth him a little one or a man of no valure that is tormented with grudging and repining against the welfare of others An enuious man is as vnprofitable to a citie as darnell is to wheate AS rustinesse consumeth iron so enuie consumeth the enuious man
stéedily looke vpon the bright sphere of the sunne he should become blinde bicause the weake sight of his eies is not able to abide so great a brightnes So whosoeuer trusting to his owne wit shall cast the eies of his minde vpon the woonderfull and vnspeakable brightnes of the secrets of God he shall be ouerthrowen of the same and the sight of his minde being blinded and put out he shall neuer attaine to that which he would bicause the great and hidden mysteries of the most high God cannot be comprehended by mans wit being puffed vp with pride or else there should be no difference betwéene God and man if man of himselfe could attaine vnto the secrets of Gods eternall maiestie sealed vp in his blessed word and not to be opened but by the mightie power of his most holy spirit So much did those things signifie which were in sanctis sanctorum hid and couered Paule perhaps leaning trusting to his owne wit before he receiued the faith of Christ would pearce into Gods mysteries but comming far short of his purpose he wandred in a great and dangerous error and would néeds being inflamed with hatred euen kil those Christians with the sword whom he ought not to haue wounded or vexed with a word But a light from heauen compassed him about and falling to the ground he saw nothing yet his eies open as before wherby his former disposition was signified but afterward when he did cast downe and truly humble himselfe and all his pride laid apart came to Ananias he receiued his sight And in that his humilitie he said I am the least of the apostles which am not woorthie to be called an apostle bicause I persecuted the Church of God Dauid saith The Lord openeth his secrets inclosed in his word to those that feare him In which words our God promiseth that he will vnfold and reueale to godly and humble men of hart the secrets and priuities of his holy oracles Vpon whom shall I looke saith the Lord but vpon the sillie poore man that is contrite in hart and trembleth at my words Héerehence commeth that saying of the blessed virgin He hath beholden the lowlines of his handmaidē THou shalt sée somtimes in the aire a cloud hauing the figure and likenes of a tall and mightie man which by and by is spred abroad and representeth huge and high towers but in the turning of an hand being taken with a blast of winde it is dissolued and vanisheth away Euen such is the trust that we put in this transitorie world This world doth set before vs in the conceit of our imagination that we shall be great men and that we shall be very famous and attaine to great dignitie it doth promise vnto vs mountaines of golde and huge and lofti◠towers of honor and renowme but all these things are towers builded in the aire and castles made of winde and grounded vpon vanitie which are dissolued and dispersed most suddenly Iohn the seruant of God did well consider of this when he gaue this counsell Loue not the world nor those things that be in the world the world passeth away and the lust of the same And Paule saith The shape of this world passeth away he saith not the substance of this world but the shape passeth away If then this world must néedes passe away and returne to it nothing againe if that we take to be a substance be but a shape thinke we then that our life our hope our riches our pleasures shall continue no surely For Iames saith Our life is as a vapour appéering for a very short time and our life is dissolued as a cloud in the aire AS our eies which do behold heauen and earth and other innumerable creatures of God do not sée themselues but looking in a glasse by that meane they perfectly sée themselues So we do not sée and consider our owne frailtie and brickle estate but if we will set before our eies the glasse of the remembrance of death and the true knowledge of our selues beholding diligently I say that cléere glasse we cannot choose but very plainly sée our selues and what we be Iames the apostle doth point vs to the law of our God and willeth vs to vse that glasse to behold our selues in Indéed it is a true glasse it wil not flatter nor deceiue vs it will tel vs that we be but dust and that we shall againe returne to dust Iames séemeth to say plainly to vs thus Know your selues and least ye be deceiued behold your selues in the glasse of truth which is the perfect law of libertie Sée what thou art and what thou shalt be Remember that thou art a man and consequently dust and ashes O that we would remember this O that we would be content to imbrace this most certaine truth O that this glasse might neuer depart out of our hands and harts Augustine that learned teacher saith well Before thou wast man thou wast earth and before thou wast earth thou wast nothing Héere thou maist easily sée thy progenie thy nobilitie and the woorthinesse and excellencie of thy stocke and linage Be not proud therefore for thou art but dust and ashes EVen as a little bird shut vp in a cage although it be very pretious and costly and be made of Cedar Iuorie or gold yet she desireth to go out and striueth to haue hir libertie and in hir eager and earnest desire to be gone she doth oftentimes thrust hir bill through the loupes of the cage So the soule of a vertuous man inflamed with an vnfained loue of God being shut vp and holden in the coupe of his bodie although he abound with all necessaries fit for the preseruation of this temporall life yet most earnestly desireth to depart hence and to go to his countrie which is heauen And in token that he would faine go thither he fetcheth many a déepe sigh and many a gréeuous grone and doth full often craue of his creator with his chéekes all to bedewed and smeared with the teares of his eies that this exilement being finished he might rest for euer in that happie and holy house of blessed soules where he may haue the fruition of his God and euerlasting life through Iesus Christ his onely sauiour and redéemer Euery Christian man although he haue wealth at will and haue stately and roiall houses glittering and florishing with Iuorie and golde yet ought he to aspire towards heauen and in hart and desire to flie towards his best countrie saying with the Apostle I would faine remooue hence and go to dwell with the Lord. And againe I do séeke or desire to be dissolued and to be with the Lord Iesu EVen as vipers do eate out and teare in péeces the bellies of their bréeders that themselues may get out So not the Iewes onely but the Papists also do mangle and teare in péeces the law of God
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
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
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
by and by iudge that the prince or gouernor of the same is iust and very mightie and wise though thou seest him not Euen so in the huge greatnes of this world and the agreement and well hanging togither of the things contained in the same though differing in their natures and the apt and fit placing of the whole it cannot be but that thou wilt presently conceiue in thy minde that there is a great a wise and mightie creator and preseruer of these things For not onely the mighty works of God in this great world but also his incomparable workmanship in the little world that is in man himselfe for so he is called of some do teach vs woonderfull knowledge of God The prophet Dauid speaking to God saith Thy knowledge O Lord is made woonderfull by me As if he should say By the knowledge of my selfe O Lord I am come to a woonderfull knowledge of thée AS the cause of trées and plants of their rootes stocks stems and boughes is in the séede So the cause of our transgressions foule sinnes and most dangerous iniquities is our owne corruption wherewith we are mooued and inclined to all euill and the ignorance and not knowing of our selues wherewith we are greatly hindred in the knowledge of our God and do also most sharply censure those things in others which we do loue and cherish in our selues We must know also that selfe loue is vnto vs a perilous theefe for it doth rob vs of the knowledge of our selues it blindeth our eies and darkeneth our vnderstanding It is a very common théefe so ranging and robbing in euery place so raigning and ruling without controlment yea it is so welcome to high and lowe that that saying of the apostle may séeme to haue beene spoken of these our daies Dangerous times will come saith he and men shal be louers of themselues O how true is it yea it is to too true that we neuer set our selues before our owne eies that is we neuer stay we neuer examine our owne thoughts words and works but let them passe and go on like roages and vagrant persons till by some others they be apprehended they go vntouched of our selues we be lynces that is earnest priers into the liues of others but about our owne liues we are very moles or wants that is starke blinde EVen as whéeles do run most lightly So godly men and vertuous women are most easily mooued to euery good action vpon any occasion offered If they do but heare of the wants miseries calamities pouertie imprisonment and sicknes of their poore brethren they presently begin to care for them and to cast with themselues how they may reléeue them succour helpe and comfort them The troubles and afflictions of their Christian brethren are to them as if they were their owne AS a whéele doth touch the ground onely with one side or a little part and with the other is lifted from the earth So a man that feareth God and loueth righteousnes and is carefull for the saluation of his soule dwelleth héere vpon the earth onely in bodie but in affect and desire he is lifted vp on high and so dwelleth in heauen in his meditations and the thoughts of his hart AS men in a cléere and bright shining night passing or trauelling néere vnto a déepe riuer do plainly sée and behold in a calme the shadowes and beautifull likenesses of the round moone and glistering stars but those stars and moone though they séeme to be in the waters are notwithstanding placed in the skies Euen so men that haue gathered and learned wisedome out of the word of God and do direct the whole course of their liues by the line of the same although they séeme to be in the flood of this life which daily is tending towards the sea of death yet in spirit and in minde they are fixed and placed in heauen and leading an heauenly and godly life they contemne and despise all those things which vnto the wicked and vngodly do séeme great high and precious matters and do draw after them with great force the most part of the world AS it behooueth him that walketh vpon coardes strained and fastened on high diligently to looke to his footing that he may not totter or decline this way or that way bicause he must néeds perish if neuer so little hée misse his way Euen so it standeth vs vpon to be warie and carefully to looke about vs and to take good héede where we set our feete that is our affections and the delights of our harts least we fall downe headlong into the bottomlesse gulphe of Gods displeasure For if we will fire our affections and bende our wils with a deliberate consent to do the thing that is euill vniust and vngodly making no conscience of any thing that we do be it neuer so opposite and contrary to the will of God it cannot be but falling from the state of grace we shall fall most suddenly and shamefully into the infernall pit of hell death and damnation From whence there neuer was there is not neither euer shall be any returne nor deliuerie Our blindnes in heauenly things héere shal be most iustly rewarded with intollerable tortures in most horrible feareful and stinking darknes there where no ease end nor remedie shall euer be found Let vs therefore be very carefull and take good héede that we lose not our eies and indéede our eies are then put out and we do vtterly lose our sight when we giue our selues ouer to carnall delights to fleshly lusts to worldly pleasures and to loue more the things that are below in the earth then those things that are aboue in heauen with God euerlasting life it selfe This was shadowed in Samson for the Palestines pulled not out the eies of that famous man vntill he had slept in Dalilaes bosome neither shall thy enimies blinde thée vnlesse thou wilt resigne thy selfe to foule delights filthy pleasures Whersoeuer soule lustes and forbidden pleasures do beare the sway there is no place for temperance and in the kingdom of dishonest loue vertue is not known And where vertue is wanting there is no wisedome and where wisedome is banished there is no sight but a miserable blindnes of minde and where Sathan the God of this world hath blinded mens mindes there is most certaine death and lamentable destruction The deuill that old serpent our deadly enimie doth so extremely hate vs that he layeth and kéepeth a continuall siege against all vertue and doth what he can to poison and to kill it euen in the hatching We haue great néede therefore of manie eies and many and continuall watchings that we may auoyde and escape his deceits that he trap vs not Pharao would kill the male children of the Israelites in their birth bicause the people of God should not increase this was the commandement of the deuill of Egypt and now Sathan doth what he can to kill
and slaie all good works and all godly purposes yea he laboureth by all his meanes and instruments to strangle and to smother the very first motions of them in the harts and minds of men least they should increase and multiply he is that dragon with seauen heads which as Iohn saith in the Reuelation stoode before the woman when shée was to be deliuered of hir sonne that euen in the birth he might deuoure hir childe We may very fitly vnderstand by the woman the soule of man which when it thinketh and purposeth to do good works is said to conceiue and when it bringeth foorth and perfourmeth the same in deed is said to be deliuered as a woman of a childe but then sathan is foorthwith most eager and busie to stop the kindlie birth of vertue and godlines and to smother it so that it neuer come to light The Lord strengthen vs against his force and make vs wise against subtiltie that in all his sleights and craftie conueyances he may bée disappointed and we deliuered from him and that we may do the will and walke in the waies of our God mauger sathan and all his meanes EVen as the Ostrige being a great and mightie foule hath wings but doth not flie neither is lifted vp frō the ground with them so very many men in the world do séeme to bée caried vp to heauen vpon the wings of their ceremonies but are in déede in hart mind and desire fast nailed to the earth As the Ostrige hath wings and flieth not so they haue calling but they answere it not they haue knowledge but they practise it not they haue words but they worke not THe Kite being a most gréedie and rauening foule mounteth exceeding high so that you would thinke shee toucheth the gliding clouds and as shee flieth doth spred her wings and yet when shee is at the highest shee hath hir eies fast set and fixed below in the earth pryeng and spieng to catch if shée can some poore chicken or other praie within hir talons indéed shée flieth high but neuer looketh vp towards heauen but altogither downe towards the earth euen so thou shalt sée a number of men faining a certaine sanctymonie and counterfeiting much holines who although they are thought with the contemplation of heauenly things to be rauished and taken vp into the clouds yet they minde nothing lesse then true godlines neither any thing more then earth and earthly things Their studie is for worldly honor their greatest carking and care is for rich and large reuenues for dignities princes fauours and worldlie wealth Such men turne their backs to heauen and flie from God and so being disappointed of that light which they séemed to séeke for they are wrapped in palpable and most dangerous darknes but they that truely séeke after God do by the helpe and assistance of his holie spirite translate and conuey their minds from earth to heauen and so are illuminated with the brightnes of God his grace and loue for so saith Christ himselfe He that foloweth me walketh not in darknes but shall haue the light of life But we shall neuer follow Christ as we ought vnlesse we shall first vtterly denie our selues for he saith If anie man will folow me let him denie himself and take vp his crosse and folow me and then and so often do we denie our selues as treading vnder féete our old and former sins we leaue to be that we haue béene and begin to be that we haue not béene and follow the counsell of the apostle saying Layeng aside our old conuersation and putting off the old man which is corrupted after the lusts of the flesh let vs be renued in the spirit of our minds But alas I speake it with gréefe of hart the most part of the world despising and forsaking God do take for their guide and do folow as their captaine the violent lusts and foule appetites of their owne corrupted and cankered harts But if we woulde consider what that is that driueth vs whither we are going in such great haste what we do whom we folow what woe wée worke our selues and what will be the end we would surelie forsake those waies of our owne and turne our féete into the waies that is into the statutes and lawes of our God Dauid tooke this course and so the Lord graunt we may Amen EVen as a Bird doth not flie with one wing alone but with twaine So it is not enough that we know much of the Lords worde and will but we must do it also It will not suffice vs at the latter daie that we haue béene great professors of the Gospell and are deepely learned if also we haue not béene inflamed with a loue to God aboue all things and haue not loued our brethren as our selues if our knowledge our faith and profession do not mooue vs to praie to God for to visite and to comfort our poore brethren being sicke in prison or otherwise distressed if I say our faith and knowledge yéeld not fruits that we féede the hungrie cloath the naked call into our houses the harborlesse and shall not do to all men as we would be done vnto we shall be beaten with many stripes bicause we knowe the will of God and do it not Blessed onely are they that feare the Lord and walk in his waies And blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The greatest the highest the best and onely seruice that man can do and bring vnto the Lorde is his obedience to Gods word and the dooing of his will AS hée that maketh tooles and instruments of iron or other mettle maketh not rustines and canker neither is to be blamed if those things which he hath made by reason of too much moisture dust or other corruption shal afterward gather canker or rustines euen so that heauenly workeman our God did not bring in sinne and iniquitie neither can he iustly be blamed if his creatures do staine and blemish themselues with the foulenes of sinne and wickednes for he made them good God saw all things that he had made saith the holie Scripture and they were excéeding good Augustine in his 14. Booke of the Citie of God saith Good things may he without euill things but euill things cannot be without good things bicause the natures in which euill things are in as much as they be natures they are good For they be of God and in some measure they lead vs to the knowledge of him Dauid vnderstāding so much saith Howe excellent are thy works O Lorde thy thoughts are excéeding déepe An vnwise man doth not knowe these things and the foole doth not vnderstande them That man perisheth is damned and goeth to hell is not the Lords fault but mans owne EVen as plants and trées do spread abroad their rootes in the earth from whence they haue their nourishment So christian men bicause they
religion be That saying of our sauior Christ of necessitie must euer be true and infallible He that exalteth himselfe shall be brought lowe and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted IT behooueth that sinne and iniquitie may greatly displease thée that the loue of thy selfe may be turned into a sincere loue of God For if thou shalt east into an hot burning fornace wood and stickes that be scare and drie and ready to burne there will arise and burne out a most pure and cleare flame of fire But if thou wilt cast into the same fornace gréene sticks wet and stinking rushes or some other such matter they will burne in déede but the fornace and whole house will be filled with smoke and will be euen blacke by reason of the thicke darknes which procéedeth of the foule and stinking smoke So the hart of man is a furnace continually burning if thou wilt nourish it with cogitations and heauenly meditations of the loue of God there will appéere and shine out of it a pure flame and bright light of true and vnfained loue to God and man But if thou wilt cherish and maintaine it with thoughts and deuises of selfe loue then it will be full of vile smoke stinch and darknes They perished saith the apostle in their own imaginations and their foolish hart was darkened The fountaine and originall of all euils and the center from whence the lines of all abhominations do flow is mans inordinate selfe loue Augustine saith that Adam did fall into that ouermuch loue of himselfe before he did eate the forbidden fruit And the same author saith that two loues did build two cities the loue of God Ierusalem and mans selfe loue Babylon It is selfe loue that Christ speaketh of sayeng He that loueth his life shall lose it And Paule saith In the latter daies men shall be louers of themselues couetous hautie high minded proude c. And againe we must not please our selues And Peter calleth the wicked and vngodly bold and pleasers of themselues There is no misery comparable to this that a man knoweth not his owne miserie And of follies there is none greater then not to know a mans owne follie but to haue an ouer well wéening of himselfe It is excéeding great and very laudable wisdome that a man cast downe and condemn himselfe that he may auoid the heauy iudgements of God and condemnation with the wicked world For the more vnperfect that we esteeme and iudge our selues to be the néerer to true perfection do we come For this in some measure is perfection euen to know and to acknowledge our owne imperfection EUen as after great showers and stormes of raine the aire is clensed and cléered So after great troubles sorrowes afflictions and temptations cleannes of hart quietnes of minde and peace of soule and conscience do follow AS with a pile or stacke of seare and dry wood the fire is quickly kindled and caused mightily to flame out Euen so the outragiousnes of carnall and fleshly lust is greatly prouoked mooued and stirred vp through rioting banqueting quaffing gussing swilling and continuall féeding and pampering of the belly and by taking the bodie from good lawfull and honest exercises and giuing it to idlenes slothfulnes and ouermuch ease and rest from labours EVen as of ouermuch fulnes of the stomacke and superfluitie of meats groweth that obstruction which the physitions do call oppilation or stopping whereupon bréedeth a continuall headach and that frensie which bringeth men to a madnes Euen so of a depraued and dishonest loue of this life of the corruption of manners of gluttonie and excesse eating doth spring an vnbridled and vntamed lust whereof ariseth that phrenetical madnes of heretikes and a corruption of their vnderstanding in matters of faith They which care not to kéepe a good conscience do at length fall to an incurable contempt of faith The apostle therfore ioyneth faith and a good conscience togither The which conscience saith he whiles some cast from them they haue made shipwracke of their faith If therefore thou wilt that the almightie shall like and allow of thy faith be sure that thou kéepe a good conscience without the which thy faith is dead and will do thée no good The Emperor Traianus compareth the treasure of rich men with the spleen EVen as when the spleen increaseth the other members ioyntes and parts of the bodie do consume and pine away So the great treasures and riches of couetous tyrants increasing the wealth of subiects and inferior persons is weakened and diminished whiles they pill and poll away their substance and goodes to enrich themselues withall And euen as the spléen increasing the other members do decrease So couetousnes growing greater and greater all vertues do vtterly decay and vanish away Bountifulnes liberalitie charitie truth righteousnes and all such excellent qualities are no more found in those men which are strangled and poisoned with a great and gréedie desire of worldly riches For being drowned in couetousnes they can neuer lift vp their harts to God nor stretch foorth their hands to do good to their brethren God giueth vnto men riches wit industrie knowledge and many other things signified and vnderstood by the name of Talents to the end that they should honor and worship God and bicause they should do him faithfull and true seruice which is the giuer of all good things The Euangelist saith that the Lorde called his seruants togither and gaue vnto them his goods Riches then and all goods whatsoeuer men haue in their possessions are not their owne but the Lords vnto whom they must make an account for the same The Apostle saith What hast thou that thou hast not receiued And the holy prophet his words are plaine The earth is the Lords and all the fulnes of the same the round world and they that dwell therein thou art then a seruant a steward a bailife the things which thou hast are Gods not thine they be his goods which he hath deliuered vnto thée that thou shouldest vse and bestow them not vpon thy foule lusts nor filthie pleasures vaine delights nor to hurt thy brother neither that thou shouldest hide them but to his good liking honor and glorie that his Gospell may be preached his poore seruants and distressed children reléeued that the honest causes of poore widowes and orphanes may be defended and that other such charitable déedes should be done and practised that the Lord finding thée faithfull in thâ—se small things may at the length giue thée greater matters that is the kingdome of heauen and the ioies thereof but if thou be faithlesse in these he will neuer trust thee with those Take héede and beware therefore that thou do not lauish waste and consume the Lords goods in the seruice of the flesh world and diuell It is a lamentable thing to sée how many yea innumerable men in these daies
Lord is hard at hande to them that are of a troubled hart and will saue the humble and lowly in spirit And the Lords words by Ose the prophet are these In their tribulation they will rise vp earely and call vpon me For the Lord his maner and custom is to helpe and succour the afflicted which call and crie for his heauenly comfort Héerehence is that of the Euangelist Iohn Your sorrow shall be turned into ioy And that of the apostle As you are companions of the passions and sufferings so shall yée be of the consolation and comfort And that also in the Actes We must enter into the kingdome of God through many tribulations And holy Iohn in the reuelation speaking of the saints which haue and shall haue the fruition of God in heauen saith Those are they that came from great tribulation Héereupon Augustine saith excéeding well That the Lord hath appointed thée to suffer it is a scourge of him that chastiseth thée and not a punishment of him that condemneth thée Who woulde not then be well contented with troubles and afflictions Who would not willingly vndergo the indignation malediction and persecution of wicked men Who would be afeard of the spite malice and whatsoeuer this wicked world can say or do Séeing the sequell vnto the sons and daughters of God is to be exalted and extolled into heauen and to be placed there at the right hand of the almighty through and with the Lord Iesu world without end The forenamed saints of God and other holy men from age to age in the midst of their calamities did still remember themselues to be men borne vnder that condition that their liues should euer be open and subiect to all the ineuitable darts of infinite troubles and that there was no refusing to liue and leade their liues in that condition whereunder they were borne And whiles they called to minde the euents of other men they knew right well that no new thing had happened vnto them And indéede the remembrance of mans condition and estate and of a common law and lot as it were incident to al doth mitigate the paine of troubles and doth make their burden the easier to bear And this is a thing euer obserued and noted in the children of God that they are so far from impatience and from repining at their afflictions that euen in the depth of their miseries they thinke themselues happy that they are counted woorthy to suffer any thing for Christs sake It were a great booke matter to remember all those that are mentioned in the holy scriptures which euen shrinking and falling away from God haue béene recouered reclaimed and healed by afflictions and tribulations as it were with physicke and medicine from heauen O how great is thy goodnes how incomparable is thy clemencie how infinite and endles is thy mercy O heauenly and most holie father Which dost therefore afflict vs that tho◠maist chéere vs vp againe Thou dost therefore hold vs downe that thou maist comfort vs and dost suffer vs to fall into diuers and sundry calamities that we may learn to know thy righteousnes and mercies All these things thou dost not of hatred to vs warde but of loue not to destroy vs but to bring vs to thy glorie AS the aire is cléered with the brightnes and shine of the sun and when the sun is downe and set the aire is couered with darknes Euen so the minde of man when it is purged cleared with heauenly wisedome sought and drawne out of the word of God doth shine most excellently and sendeth foorth a pure and perfect light of christianitie which may most easily be decerned to procéed and to come from God himselfe But being without that true light it is ouerwhelmed with an horrible and fearfull darknes and giueth out nothing but filthy mists and stinking vapors which do spring and rise out of the corruption and rotten nature of man and euen from hel and sathan himselfe How can it be that darknes and blindnes should remaine and rest in that hart of man which the holie Ghost the authour of all light and the onely light it selfe hath chosen to be his owne seat and holy habitation Can error flowe out of the most pure fountaine of wisedome It is not possible that from the onely centre of all goodnes a line of wickednes should be drawne And can the fruits of death grow out of the trée of life These are vnpossible things And on the otherside where the holie spirit of grace and might hath not place and possession there is nothing to be found but blindnes error sin iniquitie and all abhomination yea and all the fruits of eternall death it selfe EVen as a bitter potion is not saide to be vnprofitable nor without hope when health and soundnes doth follow although it be excéeding bitter to him that taketh it So sharp and pinching calamities wherewith the Lord doth exercise now and then his children are not to be counted idle and in vaine when some peace of conscience and comfort vnto our soules do follow that when the iustice of God is séene many may be amended and the faith and patience of many may be tried For nothing is more auaileable for the aduauncing of the praise and commendation of true vertue then calamitie it selfe taken and borne patiently for Christs sake AS yoong chickins are in safetie from the hauke and puttocke so long as they straie not from about the wings of their dams and when they do straie far from them they are easilie taken of euery vermine Euen so they that depart not from God but kéeping themselues neere vnto him do walke and lead their liues within the compasse and limits of his laws and ordinances are most safely kept by him from the force inchantments engins and all the subtle deuises of sathan and his instruments but if they forsake God and not regarding his word diuide themselues from him by their sins and iniquities they must néedes fall into the tallons and iawes of that tyrannicall hawke and hound of hell from whence there is no deliuerie Whose whole indeuor and labor is like a roaring lion to séeke whom he may deuoure EVen as it is a thing very commendable and worthy praise that a soldier do euer beare about him the signes and badges of his captaine that it may appéere to whom he belongeth So is it no little honor to a true christian man to passe through manie dangers and to be experienced in many troubles and to indure many affliction◠for his captaine Christs sake For sorrowes vexations and tribulations are the armor and badges of Christ And therefore the apostle which for Christs sake suffered many things saith I do beare about in my body the marks of the Lord Iesu EVen as the sun which vnto eies being sound and without disease was very pleasant and wholsome vnto the same eies when they are féeble
and transitorie spirituall things and fleshly matters the things that are aboue with God and the deceiuable trifles that are belowe in the earth may not be mingled togither Thou canst not both sauour of the Lord and of the world thou canst not beare both good and bad fruit it is not possible that thou shouldest both be barren and fruitfull If thou louest God and his doctrine be graffed in thée then art thou fruitfull if not thou art vnfruitfull For the truth it selfe saith He that abideth in me and I in him he bringeth foorth much fruit SAlt is made of sea water but so long as it is in the sea it is not salt it must be taken out of the sea and placed vpon the dry lande that being in salt pits where the sun may shine the aire blow vpon it the water may be thickned and so conuerted into salt This world is a sea so long as we liue in the world being tormoilde in the swelling surges of the pride thereof and tossed with the ebbings flowings of the worlds inconstancie and ouerwhelmed in the bitter waters of the sinnes and wicked practises of the same we are as yet no salt We must go out of the world and enter into the lande to wit into our selues and take a iust view of our owne imbecilitie and haue a due consideration of our owne miserable and wretched estate that the sun of righteousnes may thrust out his beames and the winde of heauenly grace may blow vpon vs and so we may be turned into an admirable and woonderfull salt that being seasoned our selues we may be meanes and the Lords instruments to season others We may be bold to inueigh against all iniquitie when we haue amended our owne amisses Yet must that be done in measure and according to knowledge for so it behooueth al men to do all things that they do It is well saide of one that salt is an excellent sauce and seasoner of all things so that measure be not wanting Otherwise measure and meane missing the salt it selfe is lost and that which should haue béene seasoned is vtterly spoyled For too much doth make very bitter that which measure would haue made ful swéete And yet notwithstanding all men must but especially the ministers of the worde lift vp their voices and crie out against all maner of sinne and wickednes For the Lord saith by Ioel the prophet Sound out the trumpet in Sion crie out vpon my holy mountaine and let all the inhabitants of the earth be troubled and quake And Esaias saith Crie out cease not lift vp thy voice like a trumpet The Scripture doth signifie so much when it saith That God commanded Moses to make two trumpets of siluer wherewith he should call the people togither when their tents were to be remooued For with the sound of those trumpets the people were roused and stirred vp to wars and to celebrate certaine daies wherein sacrifices were offered vp vnto God Euen so euerie preacher of the worde of God ought to call vpon sinners to remooue their tents from this wicked world and the maners and fashions of the same and so much as in him lieth to bring the people that are blinded in their sins and falling from God out of their errors perils and dangers with all their force and skill to mooue and stir them vp to be that in déede which true christianitie doth require That euery one may say with the prophet Esaie Let the vngodly man forsake his owne waie and the wicked man the cogitations of his owne hart and be turned vnto the Lord And with Iohn in the Reuelation My people auoide out of the midst of Babylon be yée not partakers of their sinnes As if he should saie Remooue and separate your selues from the transitory and lieng things of the world forsake the wickednes of it and pitch your tents by godly meditations and holie affections of your harts and minds not in the earth but in heauen For euery preacher of the Gospell ought to prepare his hearers so much as in him lieth and by his owne example to stir them vp against the enimies of their soules And to counsell them with the apostle To put on the armor of God that they may be able to stande against the deceits of the deuill for we wrastle not against the world flesh and blood but against princes powers and the gouernors of the darknes of this world It behooueth vs therefore to be well furnished with the armour of light and that the weapons of our warfare be not carnall but spirituall AS an expert and skilfull husbandman doth first draw out of his fields or lands and pulleth vp by the rootes thistles briers brambles and all other venemous and wilde wéedes and afterward committeth vnto them his good séedes Euen so a wise teacher of the word of God ought first to roote out sinne and vices and to till as it were the minds of his hearers and as much as in him lieth to draw and pull out of them both roote and rinde of all maner of euill and wickednes and to prepare and make them méete to receiue the good séeds of the holie word and to sowe in them those things which being rooted and growne vp may bring foorth both pleasant profitable and plentifull fruites And although vertue and godlines vnto the wicked and vngodly séeme euen horrible and bitter and all vice and naughtines swéete and well sauouring so that they are not willing that the gardens of their harts should be wéeded and trimmed bicause they would haue no vprightnes no integritie of life no truth nor honestie to grow there yet not the lesse the Lords ministers must euer thinke that the same is spoken to them which was deliuered to the prophets long since Make Ierusalem to know hir abhominations And shew my people their wickednes and the house of Iacob their sins Offer vnto them salt wherewith their corruption may be drawne out and they made to sauour swéetely in the nostrilles of God if they be not altogither rotten and consumed in their sinnes Thrust at them with the goade of the holie word and strike at them with the two edged sword of the law of God that if they be not starke dead in their abhominations and be not alreadie swallowed vp of hell if there be any recouery in them at all they may be awaked out of their deadly slumbers and may be so pricked at their harts that they may finde and féele how forlorne they are in the sight of God and flie to him for succour grace and mercy if they belong to his kingdome WHat doth it profite a riuer to flowe from a pure and cléere fountaine if it selfe be foule filthie and vnholesome Euen so the noblenes of fathers and the honours of elders and auncestours what doth it pleasure their sonnes when they themselues degenerate from their
noble and honorable parents bragging onelie of their nobilitie and chalenging their honour but despising their vertues shewe themselues wicked loose and leude of life He that is not nobled for some woorthy acts of his owne nor renowmed by reason of some famous vertues knowne and found to be in himselfe what honour may he looke for séeing there is nothing in himselfe that is good but onely a vaine and proud challenging of the excellencie woorthines of other men Christ calleth the proude bragging Pharisies the generation of vipers And when they boasted that they had Abraham to their father he saide Ye are of your father the deuil And when the Iewes resembled the Amorrheans and Cetheans and imitated their sins and iniquities the Lord saith That Amorrhaeus is their father and Cethaea their mother So that these places last cited do plainly shew that somtimes the holy Ghost doth call sonnes not of nature but of imitation and likenes bicause the Iewes did the déeds of the diuell Christ saith the diuell is their father And when they so followed the steps of the Amorrheans and Cetheans that for the likenes of their iniquities and abhominations they did séeme euen to bée bred and borne of them and had like condemnation with them bicause they had the same sinnes the Lord saith that Amorrhaeus and Cethaea be their parents EVen as Aesops Iay being clad with the faire feathers of other birds did vainly take vnto himselfe a beautie but being discouered and stript of all for a reward was throughly scorned and was turned into his old blacke gowne when euery bird had taken from him hir owne feather So they that make their boast of the noble acts of others and do vaunt themselues of the dignitie of their predecessors and do vsurpe vnto themselues the nobilitie of ancestors themselues being naked of all vertue and vtterly void euen of common honestie temperance and sobrietie are constrained many times with great ignominie shame to put off other mens vestures and with no small disgrace to forgo their vsurped honors It is a thing far more honorable and woorthier commendation that a man florish and be famous with his owne vertues and iust deserts than to borrow his praise and honor of others Men are very fitly though not naturally called the sonnes of them whose déedes they do and whose vices or vertues they imitate If ye be the sonnes of Abraham said Christ to the Iewes boasting and glorying of their originall then do the déedes of Abraham They were indéede by nature the children of Abraham but by imitation they were the brats of Amorrhaeus and Cethaea If thou wilt be counted the sonne or daughter of a noble honest and good man then do noble acts thy selfe lead an honest life and do good works And following the steps of Christ thou shalt be a christian otherwise looke whose maners and waies thou walkest in his sonne or daughter art thou rightly called ECclesiasticus saith that pride is the beginning of all sinne And indéede it is that centre in the sphere of mans life whereout do go lines to the circumference of iniquitie For a proud man hath no righteousnes no equitie he hath no liking of any vertue he scorneth and despiseth all all are his inferiors and he superior to all in his owne conceit Euen as in a thrashing place chaffe is séene aboue the wheate not bicause it is the better but bicause it is the lighter and wheras it is the viler and of the lesse valure yet notwithstanding it getteth the higher and woorthier place Euen so in this life a proud and vaine man is exalted aboue the humble and lowly not for any woorthines iust desert or true vertue that is in him but for his vanitie and a false opinion that he hath conceiued of himselfe And whereas he is of very little or no valure yet he putteth out himselfe before others which are far beyond him in vertue wisedome and nobilitie But the lowly though the woorthier and more excellent man doth euer humble himselfe not bicause he is of lesse valure but bicause he hath in him greater weight of wisedome vnderstanding and true nobilitie Wheat the weightier sounder and better it is the lower place it desireth and séeketh the humble man the wiser and more gratious that he is the more pleasure and delight he hath in christian humilitie and lowlines But the proud man being lighter then the winde lifteth vp and extolleth himselfe aboue all things Whereupon it commeth to passe that he peruerteth all the lawes of God and man for that souerainty sake which he falsely imagineth to belong vnto himselfe Tobias that vertuous charitable and wise man did earnestly disswade his son from all pride and did perswade him to humilitie and lowlines Suffer not pride saith he in any wise to dominéere o◠to beare a swaie in thy vnderstanding nor in the words of thy mouth And Ecclesiasticus counselleth euerie man greatly to humble his spirit And saith That pride is odious before God and men and the holie apostle saith What hast thou that thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it why boastest thou as though thou hadst not receiued it There is an old and true saying almost in all mens mouthes that is Pride will haue a fall and the same is very strongly confirmed by Christ himselfe who saith He that exalteth himselfe shall be brought lowe and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Augustine saith that pride deceiued angels and that much more it will deceiue men and therefore to be shunned And Ambrose saith it made of angels diuels And no doubt it is the originall of all euils and the ruine of all vertues where it is maintained WE sée somtimes two men about to go into some sumptuous and stately hall or house through a very lowe and narrow doore the one stouping and bending himselfe doth passe through and go in without harme the other stout not stouping nor bending at all but preasing in with great force hurteth his head and falleth backward Such a stately and princely place is the kingdome of heauen the habitation of the saints of God whose way is very straight as Christ himselfe doth affirme and the doore thereof is so lowe and narrow that he compareth it with the eie of a néedle That man that humbleth himselfe and stoupeth lowe doth enter into that most stately and princely house of the king of heauen but he that is puffed vp with pride and swelled with insolencie cannot get in at that gate he falleth to the ground his pride doth throw him backward Augustine speaking of heauen saith it is a very high countrie but the way to it lieth very lowe And so much would the Lord and king of the house signifie when he biddeth all learne of him bicause he is méeke and lowly in hart And when he called a little childe vnto him and set him in the
naked vpon the crosse Before Christ did appéere in the flesh pouertie might haue séemed verie bitter and full of ignominie vnto men but after that the Emperour of heauen and earth had taken pouertie vpon himselfe and also touching himselfe said The foxes haue holes and the foules of the aire haue nestes but the sonne of man hath not where to laie his head Who doth not now sée that Christian pouertie in the seruants of God doth well become them and is honorable and that it is a true badge of Christian nobilitie IF a king should haue a certaine house fast lockte and close shut vp full of gold precious stones and costly iewels and would promise all those treasures to one that should open the same and would offer vnto thée two keies one of pure gold hanging at a costly string made of silke and golden threads but that would not open the same locke that thou mightest go into the house and the other of iron rustie and ill fauoured to sée to hanging at a thong of leather or whipcorde the which notwithstanding would open the doore and let thée in that thou mightest choose which of these keies thou wouldest were it not better and more profitable for thée to choose the old rustie iron keie then the keie of gold Yes no doubt The golden one indéed is more precious but what auaileth that when it will not open the doore and bring thee to the treasures The iron one is the viler but yet it is the better Such a king is our God and such an house is that heauenly habitation of his saints wherein are inestimable treasures endlesse ioies and vnspeakable good things which are woorthier and more excellent then man is able to expresse For so saith the holie Ghost No eie hath séene nor eare heard nor hart of man conceiued those thinge which the Lorde hath prepared for them that loue him All which heauenlie treasures God hath promised to all them that shal enter into his holie hill or house of saints The golden keie which the most part of this world do choose and trust to that they may enter into heauen is worldly wealth and aboundance of riches ioyned with couetousnes which will neuer open the Lords house where are kept his celestiall and inestimable treasures But that key doth rather open a foule and vile house of this world which is full of all filthines and abominations The iron keie is spirituall pouertie against the which the kingdome of heauen is neuer shut but standeth euer wide open to all them that bring with them that key so saith Christ himselfe Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of heauen Let vs therefore make no account of the golden key but let vs for Christ and his kingdom forsake and despise the deceitfull riches of this world which are desired and sought for far and neare by sea and land with dangers and losse of the bodies and soules of many thousands as though men could bribe God for their sinnes and purchase heauen with their worldly trifles and let vs without murmuring and grudging with all patience of hart and minde beare and imbrace pouertie and all those crosses and afflictions which vnto the world séeme bitter and intolerable of which kind very many do happen in the life of man Let vs earnestly séeke after the riches of the Lords kingdome and euerlasting life for they be stable and permanent let vs not set our harts and affections on this world for it waxeth olde rotten it staggereth is ruinous and readie to fall Iob speaking of rich men which do deliâ—iously pamper themselues euery day saith They leade their daies in pleasures and in the twinckling of an eie they go down into hel And Dauid saith They shall leaue their riches for others c. And Salomon saith Thy riches shal do thée no good in the day of vengeance And in the booke of Wisedome What hath pride profited thée and what good hath thy bragging of riches brought vnto thée all these things are gone away like a shadow and as a messenger running before EVen as a firebrand drawen from the fire and lying still waxeth cold and by little and little dieth and is extinct but being mooued and put to the fire burneth and flameth Euen so an idle life doth by little and little extinguish vertue but being well exercised it doth kindle and increase the same Therfore is it said in the booke of Iob Man is borne to labour And Ecclesiasticus saith that idlenes hath taught much mischiefe This mooued the Apostle to will Timothie to watch and to labour in all things And the same Apostle saith that euerie one shall receiue his owne hire or reward according to his labour Lawyers do say that inheritance is had with the burden thereof Séeing then that we be Gods heires and the fellow heires of Christ as the Apostle affirmeth it must néedes be that we come not â—â— our inheritance not with idlenes but loden with great and â—â—auie burdens of aduersities and tribulations and with sore â—â—â—our and gréeuous grones vnder the weight of the same If wâ— shall giue our selues to ease and shall séeke after rest in this lâ—â—â— and so slumber in securitie and idlenes our enimie the diuell â—ill surely deceiue vs. For whiles men slept saith the Eâ—…ist the enimie came and did sowe darnell vpon the wheate Christ himselfe doth highly condemne idlenes when he saith Why stand ye héere all the day long idle And a little after Call the workmen saith he to take their hire Idle persons are not called to take hire but they which haue laboured And they are called from their labours to rest from pouertie to heauenly riches and from their calamities to euerlasting pleasures Yea euen when they be dead then are they blessed and rest from their labours the spirit saith so and therefore it is most certaine and true When Tobias slept there fell out of a swallowes nest doong vpon his eies which made him blinde and wâ—iles we do sléepe and slumber in slothfulnes and idle securitie without being vertuously and godly exercised there creepe out of the nests of our harts most wicked and pestilent cogitations which do blinde and numbe our vnderstanding and carrie vs into most dangerous disobedience and rebellion against the Lord. MEn in these our dangerous daies are very close harted merciles towards the poore afflicted members of Christ And though they hear their cries sée their poore bodies readie to die at their doores in stréetes and in prison yet vntill they perceiue that there is no way but present death with themselues they will impart no part of their goodes and wealth vnto them Such men are like vnto beasts which are not eaten vntill they be dead and boiled or rosted For vntill death hath them in his pot and there boile them after his maner the
hell to be tormented in the stinch and abhomination thereof for euer But others which in this life are incumbred tormented and afflicted with diuers and sundrie calamities and euen for their vertues sake are hated of the wicked and contemned of the world when they shall depart out of this life they shall be brought and presented before the Lorde with great honour and placed with the king of heauen in euerlasting glorie that is full of honor and full of vnspeakable ioyes These men the worlde is weary of and therefore doth scorne despise and hate them as men not woorthie to liue whereas indéed they ought to cherish and to honor them bicause they feare the Lord. And on the contrary side The world is in loue with men of sinne and doth onely honor those that abound with all maner of iniquitie and as it hath them in great admiration in their life time so it maketh no end of praysing extolling them when they be dead These the world adorneth with all the feathers it hath and yet in a very moment of time they lose all and then one houre taketh from them all those things honours dignities pleasures and delights which were long a getting with great care and no litle cost then themselues are sent into endlesse woes and euerlasting paines Héerehence is that sayeng of Ecclesiasticus The riches of the vniust shall be dryed vp like water and they shall make a noise like a great thunder-clap in time of raine And man saith the prophet is like a thing of nothing his daies passe away like a shadow Indéede man dieth and all his pompe vainglory and prosperitie with him And good were it for the wicked if they might neuer rise vp againe For as our old sayeng is It were better to lie stil then to rise vp to take a fall especially such a fall as theirs shall be to wit from heauen to hell from God to the diuell and from al blisse and happines into the most bitter curse of God and tortures of damnation EVen as smoke preaseth and flieth vp on high as though it would couer and darken the skie So enuie and calamitie do aime at those especially which are aduanced and placed in high degrée so that many times they are cast downe headlong from their dignitie very suddenly with much ignominie and disgrace especially when their honors haue changed and corrupted their maners Nabucadnezzar that mightie king which is compared to an eagle as though he were péerelesse among men as the eagle among birds yet notwithstanding immediately after his wealth power pride and prosperitie are compared by the prophet to light feathers that are blowen and caried away with euery blast of winde Séeing then that whatsoeuer this worlde doth or can affoord vs is indre subiect to a change then the Moone and more vnconstant then the winde let vs learne to contemne the world with all the trifles and trash of the same and séeke for the kingddme of God and the righteousnes thereof for that indureth for euer EVen as from the sap of a trée doth procéede that strength wherewith the boughes do florish and bring foorth fruit So from a godly prince such iustice vertue and godlines do procéede that thereby all the people are mightily mooued to true religion a right worshipping of God due obedience and honestie of life and conuersation SVbmission and lowlines of minde is as it were a vessell wherin vertues are laid vp and kept as iewels of great valure And as Bernard saith Humilitie of the hart is a receptacle of grace And Chrysostome his opinion is that Humilitie is a great sacrifice Gregory saith that Humble men when they stoupe lowest and prostrate themselues before the Lordes throne then they rise vp saith he to the similitude and likenes of God On the other side proude men whiles they vaunt and exalt themselues they imitate the diuell but such the Lorde is woont to bring lowe and to exalt the humble and méeke EVen as in winter when it is excéeding colde and in sommer when too much heate inflameth all things great thunder and lightenings are seldome heard and séene as Plinie reporteth in his second booke but in the spring time and haruest when the aire is cléere and calme then chéefly they burne and strike where they light So great calamities and bitter troubles do lie in waite for prosperitie they séeke not after them which in a lowe and meane estate do labour and take paines in heate and cold and all storms else but those do they most suddenly wound ouerthrowe and consume as it were with fire which in a calme spring time and haruest of prosperitie are drunken with pride and to too insolent with vaine glorie of the world and are set vpon the top of vanitie it selfe I suppose that in this life there is nothing safer nothing more profitable nothing better nothing fitter to aduance vertue to a due honor and to be short nothing that sooner bringeth tranquillitie and other good things than true humilitie and a Christian lowlines of mans minde Iames the apostle doth say that God resisteth the proud and giueth grace vnto the humble And againe Be ye humbled in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt you And Peter in his first epistle canonicall Be ye humbled saith he vnder the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in the time of visitation And the Lord in the mouth of Abdias the prophet saith to the proude ones of the world If thou shalt be exalted as an eagle and shalt build thy nest among the stars I will pull thée downe from thence And the Psalmist saith I sawe the wicked exalted and lifted vp like the Cedars of Libanus and I passed by and behold he was not I sought him and he was not to be found his place could not be séene Indéede the proud and vainglorious sort of the world although they séeme to be very happie men yet they haue most miserable ends many times and foule fals from the height of their honors dignities and prosperities and that which is woorst of all they are tumbled downe into hell with the mightie hand of Gods indignation EVen as in the midst of the sphere is that centre from which all lines being drawen do tend towards their circumference So a good Christian man hath God for his circumference For whatsoeuer he thinketh speaketh or doeth it tendeth to Christ of whom he is compassed round about for as the Psalmist saith The Lord is round about his people And againe His truth shall compasse thée round about thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night also Mercy shall compasse him about that putteth his trust in the Lord. Indéed our good sauiour Christ is that diuine circumference which compasseth round about his seruants and is at euery hand néere vnto his déere children He is that same celestial trée that couereth
and compasseth about with the shadow thereof all those that flie to him for succour yea all the poore birds of God shall safely builde their nests vnder the shadow of his boughes He that dwelleth saith the prophet in the helpe of the almightie shall rest in the protection of the God of heauen Indéede to be vnder the Lords protection and in his fauour is to be in all safetie against all power of men and diuels and to be from vnder the wings of his grace is to lie open to all dangers and to death and destruction it selfe of our soules and bodies The Lord therefore kéepe vs so néere vnto himselfe in due obedience to his will and word that he may vouchsafe to be our shield and buckler against all the assaults of sathan EVen as lightenings do smite whatsoeuer they finde in the earth except the lawrell trée as Plinie affirmeth in his second booke chapter 55 So great calamitie is able to take away and to ouerthrow whatsoeuer is in man or that he hath saue onely firme and constant vertue for constant vertue is a goodly lawrell trée euer florishing and gréene and will not be consumed burnt vp nor destroied with any fire that breaketh out of the cloudes be it neuer so fierce nor with any violence of torments and troubles whatsoeuer To this vertue doth the apostle exhort vs saying My déere brethren â—e ye constant and vnmooueable alwaies rich in the worke of the Lord and indéed they that are grounded in the loue of Christ and leaue nothing vndone to auoid the dishonoring of God and the offending of their brethren and do their best indeuour to honor and obey the almightie and to edifie his seruantâ— do not onely not feare the firebrands of any sorrow whatsoeuer but also do euen despise all the firie flashings and thunderclaps of the world and do remaine constant and vnchangeable in the seruice of God euen to the losse of their liues if néede be Infidels that knew not Christ but were méere strangers vnto him thought it better to lose their liues than to violate their promises and othes made to their enimies Much more then ought Christians in such cases to be constant The Lord himselfe in the mouth of Ezechiel the prophet affirmeth that he shall neuer thriue nor prosper that maketh no conscience of violating and breaking his oth wherewith he hath bound himselfe though it be to his deadly enimie And Iosua hauing promised vpon his oth that the Gabaonites should liue in the countrie vntouched afterward when their great deceit was discouered and they found most vnwoorthie to liue yet for his oth sake he spared their liues We haue sworne vnto them saith he in the name of the God of Israel and therefore we cannot touch them We learne by this to beware how we binde our selues by othes but if we haue once done it we must not regard to whom but by whom we haue sworne and bound our selues EVen as the lambes with the which the shéepe were conceiued as they beheld Iacobs rod were of the same colour that the rod was of So such as the religion and actions of princes péeres of realmes and countries ministers parents and gouerners be such for the most part is the religion and such be the actions of subiects and inferiour persons For as examples are very dangerous in euill things so be they of great force and vertue in good and holy things When princes will haue godlie vertuous loyall and obedient subiects they must deale with them as Iacob did with his shéepe they must lay before them the rod of true religion iustice holines righteousnes and integritie of life and maners and then no doubt they will conceiue in their harts thoughts that be pure righteous chaste sound and holy and bring foorth great plentie of fruits of the same colour that the rod is of to wit not words onely but works also of â—aith and obedience to God and man Parents with their natural children ministers of the word with their spiritual children and maisters with their seruants must do the like AS most pleasant perfumes do euen then when they be in the fire giue out a most excellent odor and their swéetest sauour Euen so a vertuous and godly man when he is thrust into the midst of the hote scorching fire of calamitie and miserie doth then shew most his vertue faith religion patience and constancie THere be some men which now and then do bestow great cost and much of their riches vpon those that néede them not not drawne therunto with either loue or mercie but caried with vaine glory with vanity it selfe so to do Such men are like fluds which send their waters into the sea and leaue the drie land which is very thirsty vnwatred But such men by the commandement and will of God should helpe the poore féede the hungrie cloth the naked harbor the harborlesse visite and redéeme captiues c. For that is the mercy whereto the Lords blessing and mercy belongeth according to that he saith Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy It is a worlde to sée and consider that man dare be so bold and so shamelesse to make but a tush or a thing of nothing of the Lords commandement when in the mouth of his prophets he saith Breake thy bread vnto the hungrie And Giue thy bread to the hungrie soule and couer the naked with thy garment if thou wilt liue and be saued How thinkest thou O man that God will heare thée séeing thou thinkest him not woorthie the hearing With what hart canst thou beg a kingdome of him to whom thou deniest a péece of bread when he sendeth thine and his owne brother for it dost thou thinke that he will bestow vpon thée an immortall garment of eternall glorie séeing thou refusest to giue to his poore naked seruant that is readie to perish and to die with cold one of thy superfluous and old moth eaten garments The vaine men of the world which do lauish out their riches and substance vpon néedlesse things and méere vanities without regarding the néedie saints of God will neuer be able to answer their dooings before the iudgement seate of Christ Will the Lord of heauen and earth take this in good part that haukes and dogs are kept and fed fat and faire and his séely soules that he died for haue neither coates nor flesh vpon their backs or doth this please him that wals and stones be most curiously and costly adorned and couered and men want to eate and wherewith to couer their nakednes How swéete a sacrifice were it to God and how highly would it please him if many rich and costly suits of apparell that men and women haue more then they néed and many golden chaines care rings and other costlie iewels which serue more for pride then for profit were willingly euen in loue to God translated by the owners of
froth of gold doth differ from gold it selfe S. 215. P. 123. 124. They that with their hypocrisie do steale the praises commendations of men without any iust desert they either lose them before they die or not long after for the truth will out it will not be hid for euer The glorie of this worlde is buried with mens bodies when they be dead and posterities do forget it To be truely glorious is to despise the glory of this world S. 214. P. 125. 126. Singlenes of hart and true christian simplicitie is best seene and made most euident in troubles and afflictions S. 215. P. 126. 127. Sorrow and griefe shut vp and pestered in mans hart and no way vttered is verie dangerous and deadly weeping mourning and sighing doth lighten and ease the hart S. 216. P. 127. The reprobates and castawaies that be tormented in hell do confesse that the pompe and glorie of this world is transitorie and that it is a vaine thing for man to set his hart vpon Let christians therefore whiles it is to day that is whiles they liue heere vpon the earth set their harts and mindes vpon God heauen heauenly things not vpon this world or ought that belongeth to it let them either confesse heere in their life time that all those things be vaine which the world doth affoord vnto man or else they must confesse it in hell where and when it will be too late S. 218. P. 128. All they that with the eies of faith do behold the ioies and pleasures of heauen laid vp and kept in store for the saints of God in the world to come although they sit heere in the princely seates of all dignitie honor delights or whatsoeuer may hee had in this world yet will they vnfainedly desire to bee dissolued to remooue out of this world and to go to dwell with the Lorde Iesus S. 219. Pag. 129. Men being thirstie do earnestly desire water but their thirst being quenched they turne their backs vpon the fountaine where they found water so men distressed will crie and seeke after God but being eased they will forget him and turne their backs to him S. 220. P. 130. 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 a godly life in all those whom it hath instructed and most perfectly taught what they should do and how they ought to liue He that wil speake good things and will not do them is like an instrument that delighteth other men but not it selfe To what end a man should desire knowledge if he will desire to haue it aright S. 221. P. 131. 132. and 133. Mans bodie must not bee pampered but kept in subiection to the spirit otherwise it will be vnrulie and very vnapt to feare and serue the Lord S. 222. P. 134. Manie men when they be poore and in meane estate will be very lowly but once inriched and aduanced they forget both God and man as in such men honors change maners so were it very well if maners might change honors S. 223. P. 135. There be in this world two principall and chiefe fishers the one is Christ the other is the diuell Christ fisheth for men to saue them the diuell fisheth for men to destroie them The diuell catcheth far moe than Christ the reason is bicause his baite is more agreeable to the corrupted nature of man than Christs baite is but happie are they that take Christs baite and not the diuels S. 224. P. 136. 137. 138. Sathan is a subtle fisher and doth not by and by deale very roughlye with those of whom he maketh a sure account but doth suffer them a little to play and to sport them selues with his hooke in their mouthes vntill at the length they cannot escape S. 225. Pag. 139. and 140. They be most dangerous people that can keepe no counsell nor secrets S. 226. P. 140. 141. and 142. Verie manie will make a shew of vertue that haue no delight in vertue it selfe Such men are fitly compared to painters whose delight is more in colours than in the substance S. 227. P. 142. Very manie will follow Christ with their lips whose harts do neuer come neare him in words they will be with God but in deedes with the diuell S. 228. P. 144. Christ is said to make a feast and to eate at the conuersion of a sinner S. 229. Pag. 14â— and 146. Idlenes doth breede and cherish all wickednes and abhomination in man and doth not become a Christian S. 230. P. 147. The iudgements of God that hang ouer our heads for our vnthankfulnes S. 231. Pag. 147. c. When man in troubles seeketh for comfort from the world he seeketh for life in the house of death S. 229. P. 145. The world with a smiling looke and the diuell with a faire word can sooner haue at commandement to follow them and to do their wils the greatest number than Christ can with his death and the promise of his kingdome S. 231. P. 148. Man is the deerest purchase that euer was made in heauen or earth the like price and cost was neuer bestowed vpon any creatures as vpon man S. 231. P. 148. The goodnes of Christ considered there was neuer any creatures dealt so vnkindlie with him as man doth ibidem When Christ calleth vs to do good then we run headlong to do all maner of euill ibidem It will profite man nothing to abstaine from the committing of sinne if he loue it in his hart and doth it rather for feare of shame here or condemnation in the world to come than drawen with the loue of God ibidem Pag. 151. The people of Rome were mightily mooued with an oration made by Marcus Antoninus vpon the death of Caesar and expulsed the homicides out of the citie but when we heare of the death of Christ and knowe the cause of his death to be our sinnes yet we will not expulse sinne out of our selues they shed teares when they heard what Caesar had done for them but we can heare what Christ did for vs without one teare or anie griefe of hart S. 232. P. 152. Caesar was more beholden to the Romans than Christ is to the most part of the world S. 232. P. 153. The cause of the destruction of Sodom Gomorrhe and that the same sinnes be now very rife S. 232 P. 154. Very many will confesse that God in times past did most iustly punish the sinnes of men but the same confessors will do the like without either feare or loue of God S. 232. P. 154. The examples of Gods iudgements vpon others do no whit moue the vngodly in these daies S. 232. P. 155. and 156. Men in these daies are woorse than some of those Iewes which crucified Christ S. 232. P. 156. They that wil not profit any thing by hearing the worde preached nor will suffer no drops nor dewes of grace to
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