thousand Plagues Him as a timerous milke-soppe we deride that takes any antidote against it Vpon the poynt of Gods sword wee will runne as he is in stryking rush into houses that are infected as it were to out-face him My sonne sayth the Apostle dispise not the chastisement of the Lord. The Lords chastising we thinke to escape by despysing it Quod in communi possidetur ab omnibus negligitur That which is disperst of all is despised Est tentatio adducens peccatum et tentatio probans fidem There is a temptation leading to sinne and a temptation trying our fayth The temptation of this our visitation hath both ledde vs to sinne and tryed our fayth It hath ledde vs to sinne in that it hath hardned our harts we haue not humbled our selues vnder it as wee should It hath tryed our fayth to be a presumptuous and rash fayth and that it is built on no firme foundation Blessed is the man saith Iob whom God correcteth Cursed are we for God correcteth vs and we regard it not As the holy Ghost willeth vs not to despise the chastising of God so he would haue vs not to faint when we are rebuked of him and therefore hee giueth a reason For whom the Lord loueth he chastiseth and hee scourgeth euery sonne he receiueth As there be drunken despysers of Gods present chastisement so are there them that faint too much vnder it that thinke it lyes not in the Lordes power to restore them that no prayers or repentance may repriue them that imagine since GOD in this world hath forsooke them he wil for euer forsake them Thus they argument against themselues He that denieth vs a small request of the prolongment of a few earthly dayes he will surely stoppe his eares when in a greater sute for the life eternall we shall importune him O no foolish men you erre though long life on earth be a blessing yet it followes not by contradiction that GOD curseth all those whose daies hee shortens Many except their dayes were shortned would neuer be saued Many in their prime and best yeares are raught hence because the world is vnworthy of them and they are more worthy of heauen then the world The good King Iosias was taken away in his youth Our Sauiour was taken vp in his best youthly age Others fortheir sins the Lord by vntimely death punishethin this world that they may bee absolued in the world to come A large account of them shall he demaund to whom he lendeth long life Whome God chastiseth or cutteth off he loueth halfe his account he cutts off Euery son he scourgeth that he receiueth Hath GOD chastised or scourged such a man by the sicknes he is not a greater sinner then thou whō he hath not chastised but he loueth him better then thee for in his chastising he hath shewed more care ouer him then he hath ouer thee Few men defamed with any notorious vice can I heare of that haue dyed of this sicknesse God chastiseth his Sonnes and not bastards No Sonnes of God are we but bastards vntill we be chastned The Fathers of our earthly bodies for a few daies chastise vs at their pleasure but God chastiseth vs for our profite that we may be partakers of his holines The Fathers of our earthly bodies though they beate vs and chastise vs yet cannot for all the paine they put vs to enfeofe vs in glory perpetuall for how shoulde they doe that for vs which they cannot doe for them-selues Onely because they are to benefite vs with a litle transitory chaffe they tyrannise and raigne ouer vs and therefore more austere are they to keepe vs in obedience for we should not after their death lauishly mispende the labours of their parsimony The guerdon they giue vs for all their inflicted sorrow and smart is that which they must leaue in spite of their harts and cannot themselues keepe any longer They giue vs place that in selfe-same sort wee may giue place to others But God our Redeemer Chastiser and Father corrects vs that wee may receiue no corruptiue inheritance such as in this life we receiue by the wayning of our earthly Fathers but a neuer fayling inheritaunce where wee shall haue our Father himselfe for our inheritance O what a blessed thing is it to bee chastised of the Lord Is it not better O London that God correct thee and loue thee then forbeare thee and forsake thee He is a iust God and must punish either in this life or in the life to come Though thou considerest onely the things before thee yet he being a louing fore-seeing father for thee and knowing the intollerablenesse of the neuer-quenched Fornace which for sinne he hath prepared will not consent to thine owne childish wishes of winking at thee heere on earth where though he did spare thee thou shouldst haue no perfect tranquillity but with a short light punishment acquitteth thee from the punishment eternall eternally incomprehensible tortorors When Preachers threaten vs for sinne with this adiunct eternall as paynes eternall eternall damnation eternall horror and vexation we heare them as words of course but neuer diue right downe into the bottomlesse sence A confused modell and misty figure of Hell haue wee conglomorate in our braynes drowsily dreaming that it is a place vnder earth vncessantly vomiting flames like Aetna or Mongibell and fraughtfull of fire Brimstone but we neuer follow the meditation of it so farre were it nothing els as to thinke what a thing it is to lyue in it perpetually It is a thousand thousand times worser then to be staked on the toppe of Aetna or Mongibell A hundred thousand thousand times more then thought can attract or supposition apprehend But eternally to liue in it that makes it the hell though the torment were but trifling Signified this word eternall but some sixe thousand yeeres which is about the distance from Adam in our comprehension it were a thing beyond mind inso much as wee deeme it an impatient spectacle to see a Traytour but halfe an houre groning vnder the Hangmans hands What then is it to liue in threescore times more grinding discruciamēt of dying a yere a hundred yeere a thousand yeere sixe thousand yeere sixty thousand yeere more thousands then can bee numbred in a thousand yeares so much importeth this word eternall or for euer Though all the men that euer God made were hundred handed like Briareus and should all at once take pennes in their hundred handes and doe nothing in a whole age together but sette downe in figures characters as many myllions or thousands as they could so many millions or thousands could they neuer set down as this worde of three sillables Eternall includeth an Ocoan of yncke would it draw dry to describe it Hell is a circle which hath no breakings of or discontinuing Hence blasphemous Witches and Coniurers when they raise vp the deuill draw a ringed circle all-about him that hee
and eares they liâ—…e when they haue told me what they haue seene heard of thy treasons I wisht that I might be as wretched as the damned so my sences therein were deceiued I am not deceiued t is thou that deceiuest thy Sauiour and deceiuest thy selfe to cleaue vnto Sathan Sathan refraine thine odious embraces the bosome of Ierusalem is mine touch not the body contracted to me Improbe tolle manus quam tangis nostra futura est she will touch him he stretcheth not out his hand to her but she breaketh violently from mee to run rauishtly into his rugged armes Alas the one halfe of my soule why wilt thou back-slide thus I loue and can haue no loue againe I loue thee for thy good thou lou'st him that flatters thee for thy hurt What lesse thing then to beleeue and be saued How canst thou beleeue wilt not heare Thy prayers are friuolous vnto God if thou deniest to heare God He must first heare God that will be heard of God I haue heard quietly all thy vpbraidings reproofes and derisions as when thou saydst I was a drunkard and possessed with a diuell that I cast out diuels by the power of Beelzebub the Prince of the diuels that I blasphemed was mad and knew not what I spake Nor was I any more offended with these contumelies then when thou calledst me the son of a Carpenter If I giue eare to all your bitternesse will not you vouchsafe me a little audience when I blesse you O Ierusalem Ierusalem that stonest and astoniest thy Prophets with thy peruersnesse that lendest stonie eares to thy Teachers and with thine yron breast dravvest vnto thee nothing but the Adamant of Gods anger what shall I doe to mollifie thee The raine mollifieth hard stones O that the stormy tempest of my Teares raight soften thy stony heart Were it not harder then stone sure ere this I had broken and brused it with the often beating of my exhortations vpon it Moses strooke the Rocke and water gusht out of it I that am greater then Moses haue strooken you with threats and you haue not mourned O ye heauens be amazed at this be afraide and vtterly confounded my people haue drunke out of a Rocke in the Wildernesse and euer since had Rockie hearts Yet will the Rockes tremble when my Thunder falls vpon them The Mason with his Axe hewes and carues them at his pleasure All the thunder of iudgements which I spend on this stony Ierusalem cannot make her to tremble or refraine from stoning my Prophets Should I raine stones vpon her with them shee would arme her selfe against my holy ones Little doth she consider that all my Prophets are Embassadours and the wronging of an Embassadour amongst mortall men is the breaking of the law of Nations which breach or wrong no King or Monarch but at his corronation is sworne to reuenge If earthly Kings reuenge any little wrong done to their Embassadours how much more shall the King of all kings reuenge the death and slaughterdom of his Embassadors The Angels in heauen as they are the Lords Embassadors in regard of their owne safety would prosecute it though he should ouer-slip it The diuell that vseth daily to sollicite the Murtherers owne conscience for vengeance against himselfe will hee spare to put the Lord in minde of his auncient decree A murtherer shall not liue God said vnto Cain The voice of thy brother Abels blood cryeth to me out of the earth that is not only Abels owne blood but the blood of all the sonnes that were to issue from his loynes cry vnto me out of the earth It is sayd in the 6. of Genesis whosoeuer shall shedde humaine blood his blood shall be shed likewise Eye for eye and tooth for tooth much more life for life shall be repayd and this equity or amends the veriest Begger or contemptiblest creature on the earth cutte off before his time shall be sure to haue If I doe them right that in their owne enmities lauish their liues shall I let their blood bee troden to durte vnder foote and bee blowne backe by the windes into the crannies of the earth when it offers to sprinkle vp to heauen who in my seruice spende their liues At my head Ierusalem threw stones when she stoned my Heralds Who stabbeth or defaceth the picture of a King but would doe the like to the King himselfe if he might doe it as conueniently Euery Prophet or messenger from the Lord representeth the person of the Lord as a Herald representeth his Kings person and is the right picture of his royalty O Ierusalem Ierusalem what thou hast doone to the least of my Prophets thou hast done vnto mee likewise My Prophets thou hast stoned me likewise thou hast stoned and with-stood The very stones in the streete shall ryse vp in iudgement against thee By the old Law he that had blasphemed reuiled his Parents or commited adultery was stoned to death by the Prophets and Elders Thou hast blasphemed reuiled thy spirituall Parents committed adultery with thine owne abhominations and loe contrariwise thine Elders and Prophets thou stonest to death Can I see this and not rise vp in wrath against thee For this shalt thou grinde the stones in the Myll with Sampson and whet thy teeth vpon the stones for hunger and if thou askest any man bread he shall giue thee stones to eate The dogges shall licke thy blood on the stones like Iezabels not a stone be found to couer thee when thou art dead One stone of thy Temple shall not be left vppon another that shall not bee throwne downe The stone which thy foolish Builders refused shall be made the head stone of the corner Your harts which are Temples of stone I will for-sweare for euer to dwell in There shall be no Dauid any more amongst you that with a stone sent out of a sling shall strike the chiefe Champion of the Philistines in the for-head And finally you shall worship stockes and stones for I will be no longer your God O Ierusalem Ierusalem all this shall be-tide thee because thou stonest the Prophets and killest them that are sent vnto thee The Fathers haue eaten sower-Grapes and the Chyldrens teeth are set on edge your Fathers tooke hard courses against the Prophets killed those I sent vnto them And if you had no other crime but that you are the sonnes of them that killed the Prophets it were too to sufficient for your subuersion but you yourselues haue stoned the Prophets and killed those I sent vnto you not onely you your selues but your sonnes for this shall be put to the edge of the Sword The blood-thirsty deceitfull man shall not liue out halfe his daies Who strikes with the sword shall perrish with the sword He that but hateth his brother is a homicide What is he then that slayeth his Brother Nay more what is he that slayeth Gods Brother Not one that beleeueth in me and doth my wil but is
wee put our selues to in purchasing earthly wealth we may purchase Heauen Welth many times flyes from them that with greatest soilicitude greedines seek after it For Heauen it is no more but seeke and it is yours knocke and it shall be opened With lesse sure I assure you is the kingdome of Heauen obtained then a sute for a Pension or office to an earthly King which though a man hath 20. yeares followed and hath better then three parts and a halfe of a promise to haue confirmed yet if hee haue but a quarter of an enemy in the court it is casheird and non-suted God will not be corrupted he is not partiall as man is he hath no Parasites about him hee seeth with his owne eyes and not with the eyes of those that spake for bribes Hee is not angry or commands vs to bee driuen backe when we are importunate but hee commands vs to bee importunate and is angry if we be not importunate In the Parable of the godlesse Iudge and the importunate Widdow hee teacheth that importunity may get any thing of him So in the similitude of the man that came to his friend at midnight to desire him to lend him three loaues and his friend aunswered him His doore was shut his children and seruants in bedde and hee could not rise himselfe to giue them him at length hee still continuing in knocking that for him neither he not his might rest to be rid of his importunity not for he was his friend he rose vp and gaue him as many as hee needed How much more shall our GOD giue vs what wee aske that asketh no other treuage at our handes for giuing but asking and thanksgiuing We must hunger and thirst after righteousnes and we shall be satis-fied Hunger and thirst makes the Lyon to rore the Wolues to howle Oxen and Kine to bellough and bray and Sheepe of all Beastes the most selie and timorous to bleate and complaine Can man then that in spyrite and audacitie exceedeth all the beasts of the field hungering thirsting after righteousnesse hold his peace Would God euer haue encouraged him with a blessing to hunger and thirst but that the extremity of hunger and thirst might driue him to the extreamity of importunity and prayer I cryed vnto the Lord saith Dauid and he heard me Hee did not coldly bashfully or formally onely cry to the Lord as not caring whether hee were heard or no but hee cryed vnto him with his whole hart euen to the Lord he cryed and he heard him Ezekias cryed vnto the Lord and he heard him The blood of the Saints vnder the Altar as all blood is sayd to cry vnto the Lord for vengeance Thy brother Abels blood hath cried vnto me sayd God to Caine. The prayer of the fatherless and Widdow which God heareth aboue al things is called a cry Vsurers you are none of these cryers vnto God but those that hourely vnto God are most cryde out against God hath cryde out vnto you by his Preachers GOD hath cride out vnto you by the poore Prysoners on their death-beds haue cride out of you and when they haue had but one houre to intercessionate for their soules and sue out the pardon of their numberlesse sins the whole part of that howre sauing one minute when in two words they cryde for mercy haue they spent in crying for vengeance against you After they were dead their Coffins haue beene brought to your doores in the open face of Cheapside and ignominious Ballads made of you which euery Boy would chaunt vnder your nose yet will not you repent nor with all this crying be awaked out of your dreame of the Diuell and Diues Therefore looke that when on your death-beddes you shall lye and crye out of the Stone the Strangullion the Gout you shall not be heard your paine shall be so wrastling tearing and intollerable that you shall haue no leisure to repent or pray no nor so much as lift vppe your hands or think one good thought Euen as others haue curst you so shall you be ready to curse God desire to be swallowed quick to excorse the agony you are in As the deuill in the second of Iob being asked from whence he came answered From compassing the earth so you being askd at the day of iudgement from whence you come shall answer From compassing the Earth For Heauen you haue not compast or purchast therfore shall Hell-fire be your portion Euery man shall receiue of God according to that in his body he hath wrought If in your bodies you haue done no good works of God you shall receiue no good words The words of God are deedes he spake but the word and Heauen Earth were made He shall speake but the word and to hell shal you be had Good deedes deriued from faith are Rampiers or Bulwarkes raised vp against the deuill he that hath no such Bulwarke of good deedes to resist the deuills battery cannot chuse but haue his soules-citty soone raced Good deeds are a tribute which we pay vnto God for defending vs from al our ghostly enemies planting his peace in our consciences In stead of the ceremoniall Lawe burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices which are ceased God hath giuen vs a new Law To loue one another that is to shew the fruites of loue which are good deedes to one another The Widdowes Oyle was increased in her Cruse and her Meale in in her tubbe only for doing good deeds to the prophet of the Lord. Few be there now-a-dayes that will doe good deedes but for good deedes that is for rewardes If seates of iustice were to be sould for money wee haue them amongst vs that would buy them vp by the whole sale and make them away againe by retaile Hee that buyes must sell shrewd Alcumists there are risen vp that will pick a merchandise out of euery thing and not spare to set vp their shops of buying and selling euen in the Temple I wold to God they had not sould and pluckt downe Church Temple to build them houses of stone God shall cutte them off that enritch themselues with the fatte of the Altar Oues pastorem non iudicent saith an antient writer quia non est Discapulus supra Magistrū multo minus deglubent Let not the Sheepe iudge their shepheard because the scholler is not aboue his maister much lesse are they to pluck from their maister the Shepheard to shaue or to pelt him to the bare bones to whom for feeding them they should offer vp their fleeces Diis parentibus et Magistris sayth Aristotle non potest reddi equiualens To the Gods our Fathers and our Schoolemaisters can neuer bee giuen as they deserue Hee was an Ethnick that spoke thus wee Christians onely because he hath spoke it will do any thing against it From God our Parents and our Schoole-maisters which are our Preachers say we can neuer bee pluckt sufficient To make our selues
occasioneth a number of young hypocrites who else had neuer knowne any such sinne as dissimulation and had beene more knowne to the Common-wealth It is only ridiculous dull Preachers who leape out of a Library of Catechismes into the loftiest pulpits that haue reuiued this scornefull Sect of Atheists What Kings embassage would be made account of if it should be deliuered by a meacock and an ignorant Or if percase he send variety of Embassadors and not two of them agree in one tale but be deuided amongst themselues who will harken to them Such is the deuision of Gods Embassadors here amongst vs so many cow-baby-bawlers and heauy-gated luâ—…berers into the Ministry are stumbled vnder this Colledge or that Halls commendation that a great number had rather heare a iarring blacke-sant then one of their balde Sermons They boldly will vsurpe Moses chaire without anie studie or preparation They would haue their mouthes reuerenced as the mouthes of the Sybils who spoke nothing but was registred Yet nothing comes from their mouthes but grosse full-stomackt tautologie They sweat they blunder they bounce and plunge in the Pulpit but all is voyce but no substance they deafe mens eares but not edifie Scripture peradventure they come off thicke and three-folde with but it is so vgly daubed plaistred and patcht on so peeuishly speckt and applied as if a Botcher with a number of Satten Veluet shreds should clout and mend leather doublets and Clothbreeches Gette you some witte in your great heades my hottespurd Deuines discredit not the Gospel if you haue none damme vp the Ouen of your vtterance make not such a bigge sound with your empty vessells At least loue men of witte and not hate them so as you doe for they haue what you want By louing them and accompanying with them you shall both doe them good and your selues good They of you shall learne sobriety and good life you of them shall learne to vtter your learning and speak moouingly If you count it prophane to arte-enamel your speech to empeirce and make a conscience to sweeten your tunes to catch soules Religion through you shall reap infamy Men are men and with those thinges must be mooued that men wont to be mooued They must haue a little Sugar mixt with their soure Pills of reproofe the hookes must be pleasantly baited that they bite at Those that hang forth their hookes and no bayte may well enough entangle them in the weedes enwrap themselues in contentions but neuer winne one soule Turne ouer the auncient Fathers and mark how sweet and honisome they are in the mouth and how musicall and melodious in the eare No Orator was euer more pleasingly perswâ—…siue then humble Saint Augustine These Athists with whom you are to encounter are speciall men of witte The Romish Seminaries haue not allured vnto them so mâ—…ny good wittes as Athisâ—… It is the superaboundance of witte that makes Atheists will you then hope to beat them downe with fusâ—…y brown-bread dorbellisme No no either you must straine your wits an Ela aboue theirs and so entice them to your preachings and ouer-turne them or else with disordered hayleshotte of Scriptures shall you neuer scarre them Skirmishing with Atheists you must behaue your selues as you were conuerting the Gentiles All antique histories you must haue at your fingers-end No Phylosophers confession or opinion of God that you are to be ignorant in Ethnicks with their owne Ethnick weapons you must assayle Infinite laborinths of bookes he must runne thorough that wil be a compleat Champion in Christs Church Let not sloth-fauoring innouation abuse you Christ when hee sayd you must forsake all and follow him meant not you should forsake all artes and follow him Luke was a Phisitian and followed him Phisitians are the only vpholders of humane Artes. Paul was a Pharisie and brought vp in all the knowledge of the Gentiles and yet he was an Apostle of Iesus Christ. Though it pleased our louing crucified Lord during his residence heere vppon earth miraculously to inspire poore Fishermen and disgregate his gifts from the ordinary meanes yet since his ascention into heauen meanlesse miracles are ceased Certaine meanes he hath assigned vs which he hath promised to blesse but without meanes no blessing hath he warantized When the deuill would haue had him of stones to make bread he would in no kind consent no more will he consent of blocks and stones in these dayes to make distributers of the bread of life What are Asses that will take vpon them to preach without giftes but bread made of stones Euen as God sayd vnto Adam Hee should gette or earne his bread with the sweat of his browes so they that will haue heauenly bread enough to feed themselues and a family which is a congregation or flocke must earne it and get it with the sweat of their browes with long labour study and industry toyle and search after it No one Art is there that hath not some dependance vppon another or to whose top or perfection we may climbe without steppes or degrees of the other Humaine artes are the steppes and degrees Christ hath prescribed and assigned vs to climbe vp to heauen of Artes by which is Diuinity Hee can neuer climbe to the toppe of it which refuseth to climbe by these steppes No knowledge but is of God Vnworthy are wee of heauenly knowledge if we keepe from her any one of her hand-maydes Logique Rhethorique History Philosophy Musicke Poetry all are the handmaydes of Diuinity She can neuer be curiously drest or exquisitely accomplisht if any one of these be wanting God delighteth to be magnified in all his Creatures especially in al the excellentest of his creatures Artes are the excellentest of his creatures not one of them but descended from his Throne What saith Dauid Praise the Lord Sunne Moone praise him ye bright starrs praise him heauen of heauens waters that be aboue the heauens That is praise the Lord Metaphusicall Philosophy which art conuersant in all these matters Into the maiesty and glory of the Sunne and Moone thou seest the bright Starres predominance and moouing thou knowest the heauen of heauens and waters that be aboue the heauens in part though not at large thou comprehendest therefore praise him in all these Take occasion preachers in your sermons from the wonders and secrets these to include to extoll his magnificent name and by humaine artes abstracts to glorifie him Prayse yee the Lord thus Dauid proceeds yee Dragons and all deepes Fyre Hayle Snow and vapours stormy winds and tempests execute his word Mountaines hilles fruitfull trees and all Cedars Beasts and Cattell creeping thinges and fethered foules Princes and Iudges of the world young men and Maidens old men and Children prayse yee the name of the Lord. So that it is lawfull to execute his word that is in preaching of his word by similitudes and comparisons drawne from the nature property of all these to laud and amplifie the
and rent my heart in twaine with the extreamity of ruth I hate in thy name to speake coldly to a quick-witted generation Ratlier let my braines melt all to inke and the floods of affliction driue out mine eyes before them then I should be dull and leaden in describing the dolour of thy loue Farre be from me any ambitious hope of the vain merite of Art may that liuing vehemence I vse in lament onely proceed from a heauen-bred hatred of vncleannesse and corruption Mine owne wit I cleane disinherit the fiery Clouen-tongued inspiration bee my Muse. Lend my words the forcible wings of the Lightnings that they may pierce vnawares into the marrow reynes of my Readers New mint my mind to the likenesse of thy lowliness file away the superfluous affectation of my profane puft vp phrase that I may bee thy pure simple Orator I am a child as thy holy Ieremy sayd and know not how to speake yet On nia possum in eo qui me comfortat I can doe all things through the helpe of him that strengtheneth me The tongues of Infants it is thou that makest eloqnent and teachest the heart vnderstanding Grant me that am a Babe and an Infant in the misteries of Diuinity the gracious fauour to suck at the breasts of thy sacred Reuelation to vtter some-thing that may moue secure England to true sorrow and contrition All the pours of my soule assembled in their perfectest array shall stand waiting on thy incomprehensible Wisdome for Arguments as poore young Birds stand attending on their Dams bill for sustenance Now helpe now direct for now I transform my selfe from my selfe to be thy vnworthy Speaker to the World IT is not vnknowen by how many and sundry waies God spake by Visions Dreames Prophecies and Wonders to his chosen Ierusalem onely to moue his chosen Ierusalem wholly to cleaue vnto him Visions Dreames Prophecies and Wonders were in vaine This gorgious strumpet Ierusalem too to-much presuming of the promises of old went a whoring after her own inuentions She thought the Lord vnseparately tide to his Temple and that he could neuer be diuorced from the Arke of his Couenant that hauing bound himselfe with an oath to Abraham he could not though he would remoue the Law out of Iude or his Iudgement-seat from Mount Silo. They erred most temptingly contemptuously for God euen of stones as Christ told them afterward was able to raise vp children to Abraham But what course tooke the high Father of Heauen Earth after he had vnfruitfully practiced all these meanes of Visions Dreams Wonders and Prophecies There is a Parable in the 21. of Mathew of a certaine Housholder that planted a Vineyard hedged it round about made a Wine-presse therein and built a Tower and let it out to Husband-men and went into a strange Country When the time of fruite drew neere he sent his seruants to the Husband-men to receiue the increase therof The Husband-men made no more a do but his Seruants comming beate one killed another and stoned the third Againe he sent other Seruants more then the first and they did the like vnto them Last of all he sent his owne Sonne saying They will reuerence my Sonne but they handled him far worse then the former The Hous-holder that planted the Vineyarde and hedg'd it round about was Israels merciful Iâ—…houâ—…h who in Israel planted his Church or his Winepresse made it a people of no people and a Nation beyond expectation Long did he blesse them and multiply their seed on the face of the earth as the sand of the Sea or the starres of heauen from al their enemies he deliuered them and brought their name to bee a by-word of terror to the Kingdomes round about them Their Riuers ouerflowed with Milke and Honie their Garners were filled to the brim euery man had wel-springs of Oyle and Wine in his house and finally there was no complaint heard in their streets The time of fruite drew neere wherein much was to be required of them to whom much was giuen hee sent his seruants the Prophets to demand his rent or tribute of thansgiuing at their hands Some of them they beat others they killed others they stoned and this was all the thanksgiuing they returned And then he sent other Prophets or Seruants more then the first and they did the like vnto them yet could not all this cause him proceed rashly vnto reuenge The Lord is a God of long patience and suffering nor will he draw out his sword vnaduisedly in his indignation Stil did he loue them because once he had loued them and the more their ingratitude was the more his grace abounded hee neglected the death of his seruants in comparison of the saluation of them he accounted his Sons He excused them himselfe vnto himselfe and sayd Peraduenture they tooke not these my seruants I sent for my Seruants but for seducers and deceiuers and therupon entreated them so vncurteously I will send my only naturall Sonne to them whom they being my adopted Sonnes cannot chuse but reuerence and listen to This his naturall Sonne was Christ Iesus whom hee sent from Heauen to perswade with these Husband-men Hee sent him not with a strong power of Angels to punish their pride and ingratitude as he might He sent him not roially trained and accompanied like an Embassador of his greatnes nor gaue he him any Commission to expostulate proudly of iniuries but to deale humbly and meekly with them and not to constraine but to entreat them He sent his owne only Sonne alone like a sheepe to the slaughter or as a Lambe should be made a Legate to the Wolues When he came on earth what was his behauiour Did he first shew himselfe to the chiefe of these Husband-men the Scribes Pharisies Did he take vp any stately lodging according to his degree Was he sumptuous in his attire prodigal in his fare or haughty in his looks as Embassadors wont to be None of these Instead of the Scribes and Pharisies he first disclosed himselfe to poore Fishermen for his stately lodging he tooke vp a Cribbe or a Manger and afterward the house of a Carpenter His attire was as mean as might be his fare ordinary his looks lowly He kept company with Publicans and sinners the very out-cast of the people yet in their company was he not idle but made all he spake or did preparatiues to his Embassie If any Noble-man though neuer so highly discended should come alone to a King or Queene in Embassage without pompe without followers or the apparell of his state who would receiue him who would credite him who would not scorne him It was necessary that Christ comming thus alone from the High-commaunder of all Soueraignties the controller of all Principalities and Powers should haue some apparant testimony of his excellencie According to the vanity of man he thought it not meete to place his magnificence in earthly boast as in the pride of
my Brother and Sister In slaying them that are sent to declare the wil of God you resist the will of God and are guilty of all their damnations which are yet vnconuerted whom liuing their preaching might haue reduced The violating of any of the Cömmandements is death Thou shalt not kill is one of the principall Commaundements your fault at the first sight deserueth Hell-fire What doe you but proclaime open warre against heauen when you destroy or ouer-throwe any of the Temples of the holy Ghost which are mens bodies They are the Tabernacles which the Lord hath chosen by his Spirit to dwell in But the bodies of my Saints and Prophets vvhich you slay and stone are no triuiall ordinary Tabernacles such as Peter my Disciple would haue had me to make in the Wildernesse for Moses Elias and my selfe but Tabernacles like the Tabernacle at Ierusalem where I haue ordained my name to be worshipped Their words as my words I will haue worshipped Their heads are the Mounts from whence I speake to you in a holy flame as to your fore-fathers wandring in the desert I haue tolde you here-to-fore they are the Salt of the Earth with whose Prayers and Supplications if this masse of sinne were not seasoned it would sauour so detestably in Gods nostrils hee were neuer able to endure it They are the eyes and the light of the world if the eye lose his light all the whole body is blind and hence it came that they were surnamed Seers for they only foresaw praied and prouided for the people I tell you plainly if it were possible for you to plucke the Sunne out of Heauen and you should do it so consequently leaue all the world in darknesse you should not be liable to so much blame as you now are in killing them I send vnto you They are your Seers your Prophets your chiefe Eyes which you haue slaine destroied and put out Was Caine a Vagabond on the face of the earth for killing but one Abel tenne thousand iust Abels haue you slaine that were more neere and ought to haue beene more deere to you then Brothers and shall I not destitute your habitation for it scatter you as vagabonds through-out the Empires of the world As you haue made no conscience to stone my Prophets and slay them I sent vnto you so shall the strange Lords that leade you captiue and they amongst whom many hundred yeers you shal soiurne make no coÌ„science to cut your throats for your treasure and giue a hundred of you together to their Fencers and Executioners to try their weapons on for a wager and winne maisteries with deepe wounding you O Ierusalem Ierusalem deepe woes and calamities hast thou incurd in stoning my Prophets and slaying them I sent vnto thee How often would I haue gathered thy children together when they went astray How often would I haue brought them home into the true sheep-fold when I met them straying I came into the World to no other end but to gather together the lost Sheepe of Israell You are the flock and Sheepe of my pasture when I would haue gathered you together you would not heare my voice but hardned your harts You gather your selues in counsaile against me euery time I seeke to call you or to gather you Deny if you can that I sent not my Prophets in all ages to gather you That with my Rodde and my staffe of correction I haue not sought from time to time to gather you that by benefits and manifold good turnes I haue not tryde all I might to tye you or gather you vnto me Lastly that in mine own person I haue not practised a thousand waies to gather you to repentance and amendment of life If you should deny it and I not contradict it the diuell my vttrest enemy would confirme it Let me speake truely and not vauntingly although it be lawfull to boast in goodnes such hath alwaies bin my care to gather you that I thought it not enough to gather my selfe but I haue prayed to my Father to ioyne more Labours and Gatherers with me to reape and gather in his Haruest How often haue I gathered the multitude together and spoke vnto them When the people were flocked or gathered vnto mee out of all Citties and had nothing to eate I fed them myraculously with fiue Barlie-loues two fishes I would not haue shewd the wonders of my God-head but to gather you together The first gathering that I made was of poore Sea-faring men whome I haue preferd to be myne Apostles Would you haue beene gathered together when I would haue had you you had gathered to your selues the Kingdome of Heauen and all the riches thereof Now what haue you gathered to your selues but ten thousand testimonies in the Sonne of Gods testimony that he desired and besought you to suffer your selues to be gathered by him and you would not Souldiours that fight scatteringly and doe not gather themselues in ranke or battaile array shall neuer winne the day If you knew how strong and full of stratagems the diuell were with how many Legions of lustfull desires he commeth embattailed against you that secret ambushes of temptations he hath layde to intrappe you then would you gather your selues into one body to resist him then would you gather your selues to gather in prayer to with-stand him then would you gather for the poore which is to gather for Souldiers to fight against him Eâ—…eemosyna a morte liberat et non patitur hominemire in tenebras Almes deedes deliuer a man from death and keepeth his soule from seeing confusion As water quencheth fire saith the Wise-man so almes giuing resisteth sinne And if it resisteth sinne it resisteth the Diuel which is the father of sinne All my Fathers Angels stand gathered together about his Throne No bread is made but of graines of Corne gathered together no building is raysed but of a number of stones glued and gathered together There is no perfect society or Citty but of a number of men gathered together Geese which are the simplest of all foules gather themselues together goe together flie together Bees in one Hiue hold their consistory together The starres in Heauen do shine together What is a man if the parts of his body bee disparted and not incorporated and essentiate together What is the Sea but an assembly or gathering together of waters and so the Earth a congestion or heaping vp of grosse matter together A Wood or Forrest but an host of Trees encampt together A generall Counsaile or Parliament but a congregation or gathering together of special wise men to consult about Religion or lawes O what a good thing is it sayth Dauid for Bretheren to liue or be gathered together in vnity If there were no other thing to ratifie the excellence of it but the euill of his diameter opposite which is diuision or distraction it were infinitely ample to establish the title of his dignity Nor Dauid nor all
Mountaines by the Sunne is resolued to water the Sonne of GOD hath sought to resolue thy snow-colde hart into water but he could not for thou wouldst not Ouer thy principall gates and the doores of thy Temple let therefore this for an Emprese be ingrauen A kind compassionate man who grieuing to see a serpentine Salamander fry in the fire so pitteously as it seemd cast water on the raging flames to quench them and was by him stung to death for his labour The most or word thereto ATNOLVISTI but thou wouldest not As who should say thank thy selfe though thou still burnest I would haue ridde thee out of the fire but thou wouldst not By stinging mee mortally thou disturbest me On thee Salamander-like Ierusalem haue I cast the coole water of my teares to keepe Hell fire if it might be from seeding on thee and inwrapping thee but thou delighting like that chilly Worme to liue in the midst of the fornace or as the foolish Candle-flie to blow the fire with the beating of thy winges neere vnto it that must burne thee hast spit thy poyson at me when I sought to preserue thee More agreeing is it to thy nature to fry in the flames of thy fleshly desires which is but a short blazd straw-fire to tinde or inkindle Hell-fire then to liue temperately qualefied midst Insulae fortunatae the fortunate Ilands of Gods fauour For this shalt thou be consumed with fire Thy house shall be left desolate vnto thee Hetherto with Ieschaciabus thou hast had nought but a plaister of drye-figges layd to thy byle thou hast beene chastised but with wanton whips but loe shortly the time comes thou must be scourged with Scorpions a hooke shall be cast into thy iawes and a chaine come through thy nostrils I now but foretell a storme in a calme but when the Leuiathan shall approach that with his neesings chaseth Cloudes and you shall see lightening and thunder in the mouthes of all the foure Windes When Heauen in stead of starres shall bee made an Artillery-house of Haile-stones and no Plannet reuolue any thing but prostitution and vastity then shall you know what it is by saying you would not to make your house vnto you be left desolate With the foolish builder you haue founded your Pallaces on the sands of your own shallow conceits had you rested them on the true Rock they had been ruine-proof but now the raine will rough-enter through the crannies of their wauering the Windes will blow and batter ope wide passages for the pashing shoures With roring and buffetting lullabies instead of singing and dandling by-os they will rock them cleane ouer and ouer The onely commodity they shall tithe to their owners will be by their ouer-turning to afford them Toombes vnaskt Great shall be the fall of thy foolish building O Ierusalem like a Tower ouer-topt it shall fall flatte and be laid low and desolate In the Hauen of Ioppa shall ariue as many shippes as would make a Marine-cittie in bignesse no lesse then thy selfe The Helle-spont by Xerxes was neuer so surchargd as it shall bee All Galile from the land of Nepthali vpwards shall bee but a quarter for their Pioners and a couch for their baggage From Ierusalem to the plaine of Gibeon which is fifty miles distance the infinite enemy will depopulate and pitch his Pauillions Man woman child he shall vnmortalize and mangle Oxen Sheepe Cammels idely engore and leaue to putrifie in the open Fieldes onely to raise vp seed to Snakes Adders and Serpents The Mount Tabor whose height is thirty furlongs and on whose toppe is a playne twenty-three furlongs broade shall haue all the starre-gazing Townes on it scituate iustled head-long downe from the heigth of his fore-head and breaking their backes with their stumbling rebutment tumble in the ayre like Lucifer falling out of heauen into Hell Yea their Firmament-propping foundation shall be adequated with the Valley of Iehosaphat whose sublimity whiles it is in beheading the Skye shall resigne all his Clowdes to the Earth and light-wing'd dust dignifie it selfe by the name of a meteor From that blind-dispersed night of dust shall many lesser Mountaines receiue their lofty mounting and part of it being wind-wafted into the Sea insert floating Ilands midst the Ocean None shall there bee left to fight the battailes of the Lord but those that fight the battailes of their owne ambition By none shall the Sanctuary be defended but those that wold haue none destitute it or defloure it but themselues The feast of Tabernacles the feast of sweet Bread and the feast of Weekes shall quite bee discalendred Your Sabaothes and New-moones shall want a Remembrancer Your Peace-offerings and continuall Sacrifice a thousand two hundred and ninety dayes as Daniel prophecied shall be put to silence The abhomination of desolation shall aduaunce it selfe in your Sanctum sanctorum Vpon your Altars in stead of oblations your Priests shall be slaughtered Not so much as the High-prieste the vnder-god of your Citty but shal be hanged vp es a signe at the doore of your Temple The particularity of your generall fore-spoken woes would worke in me a Tympany of Teares if I should portrayture it I haue pronounst it and your House vnrepriueable vnto you shall bee left desolate The resplendent eye-out brauing buildings of your Temple like a Drum shall be vngirt vnbraced the soule of it which is the fore-named Sanctum Sanctorum cleane shall bee strypt and vnclothed God shall haue nere a Tabernacle or retyring place in your City which he shall not be vndermined and desolated out of The Sunne and Moone perplexed with the spectacle shall flie farther vpward into heauen and bee afraid least when the besiegers haue ended below they next sacke them out of their sieges and circuits since they haue had God their common-Creator so long in chase Ierusalem euer after thy bloudy hecatombe or buriall the Sun rising and setting shall enrobe himselfe in scarlet and the mayden-Moone in the ascension of her perfection shall haue her crimson cheeks as they wold burst round balled out with bloud Those ruddy inuesturings and scarlet habilements from the clowde-climing slaughter-stack of thy dead carkases shall they exhalingly quintessence to the end thou maist not onely bee culpable of gorging the Earth but of goring the Heauens with bloud and in witnes against thee weare them they shall to the worlds end as the liueries of thy wayning Not Abrahams sonnes are you but the sonnes of bloud for in nothing you imitate Abraham but that he hauing no more saue one onely sonne would haue sacrific'd him so GOD hauing no more but one onely Sonne you lyein waite to crucifie and sacrifice him For thine owne destruction disgraded daughter of Syon thou lyest in waite in laying waite for mee that which I hunger and thirst after is thy saluation in my destruction I am enamoured of my Crosse because it is all ages blessing not a nayle in it but is a necessary
such as fitteth farre-spent languorment manifest as it were in a dead-march her vntimely interment Forty yeares were expired after our Lords lifting vp into Heauen when the Temple-boasting Iewes elate in their owne strength began to pretend a wearines of the Romane regiment and coueted to raigne entire Lords ouer the Lords that raign'd ouer them Eleazer the Sonne of Anani the High-priest was the first that seminariz'd this hope of signiorizing and freedome amongst them Proudly he controlled Agrippa all the other Lieftenants droue them from their dignities to Rome to seeke succour and rescue and swayed ouer the multitude as the King and Father of their liues In the meane-while the Element was ouer-hung with prodigies GOD thought it not enough to haue threatned them by his Son but he emblazond the aire with the tokens of his terror No Starre that appeared but seemd to sparkle fire The Sun did shine all day as it is wont at his Euening going downe The Moone had her pale-siluer face iron spotted with freckle-imitating bloud-sprinklings and for her dim frosty circle a blacke inky-hood embayling her bright-head Ouer the Temple at the solemne feast of the Passeouer was seene a Commet most coruscant streamed tayled forth with glistering naked swords which in his mouth as a man in his hand all at once he made semblance as if hee shaked and vambrasht Seauen daies it continued all which time the Temple was as cleare light in the night as it had beene noone-day In the Sanctum sanctorum was heard clashing and hewing of Armour Whole flockes of Rauens with a fearefull croking cry beate fluttred and clasht against the windowes A hideous dismall Owle exceeding all her kind in deformity and quantity in the Temple-porch built her nest From vnder the Altar there issued penetrating plangorus-howlings and gastly dead-mens grones A goodly young Heyfer hal'd thither for a burnt offering being knockt downe and ready to be drest miraculously calued a Lambe The sacrificing kniues that diu'd into her entrailes wold afterwards by no meanes be cleansed but from her bloud as from mans bloud tooke vnto them an vnremoueable rust In the feast of Weekes in the inner receite of the Temple was heard one stately stalking vp and downe and exclaiming with a terrible base hollow voice Migremus hinc Migremus hinc è Templo emigremus Let vs go hence Let vs go hence out of this Temple let vs hie vs. What should I ouer-blacke mine Inke perplex pale Paper rumatize my Readers eyes with the sad tedious recitall of all the prognosticating signes of their ruine Stories haue lost and tyred themselues in this Story Should I but make an Index to any one Writer of them it would aske a Booke alone Some few abreuiated alleagements I will content my selfe with and so passe on-ward to more necessary matter Aboue and besides the Propheticall apparitions in ouer about the Temple in the Citty there happened no lesse note-worthy praedictions The East gate thereof which was all yron and neuer wont to be opened vnder twenty men together the dry rusty creeking of whose hookes and gymmes as it was in the opening might be heard a mile off now of the owne accord burst wide ope and being ope was twise more hard then before to be shut A base mechanicall fellow there was sprung out of the mud of the Communalty who for foure yeares together before the warres begunne went crying vp and downe Woe to Ierusalem and the Sanctuary thereof Woe to euery liuing thing that breatheth therein The wars once entred he got him on the wals and often re-iterating his stale-worne note adde thereunto Woe and thrice woe to my selfe and with that start a stone out of an Engine in the Campe and stopt his throate Many monstrous birthes at this instant were brought foorth in diuers places of the Citty sprung vp founts of bloud The Element euery night was embattailed with Armed men skirmishing and conflicting amongst themselues the Emperiall Eagles of Rome were plainly there displayed to all mens sight A burning sword also was set forth visibly bent against the Citty The strangest and horriblest tempests of thunder and lightning had they that euer was heard of The Earth left to be so friutfull as it wont No season but it exceeded his stinted temperature Euery thing rebelled against kind as thinking scorne to accommodate themselues to their vses that had so rebelled against the Lord. For all this there was no man that would gather himselfe no man that would depart from the ill worke he had in hand Ambulabant vt caeci quia Domino peccauerunt Their eies were ouer-filmed or blinded because they obeyed not their Maker NOw is the time that all Riuers must runne into the Sea that whatsoeuer I haue in wit or eloquence must be drayned to the delineament of wretchednesse The Romanes like a droue of Wild bores roote vp and forrage fruitfull Palestine That which was called the Holy Land is now vnhallowed with their Heathen swords Wherefore you Pilgrims that spend the one halfe of your daies in visiting the Land of Promise and weare the plants of your feete to the likenesse of withered rootes by bare-legd processioning from a farre to the Sepulchre vngainefully you consume good houres for no longer was Iudea a Land of Promise then her Temple stood Vespasians inuasion hath prophaned it a Mount of dead bodies ouer that Sepulchre is raised which you perigrinate to adore that Sepulchre you see is but a thing built vp by Saracens to get mony with and beguile votiue Christians They delude your superstition and make it their tributary slaue No Hog-sty is now so pollutionate as the earth of Palestine and Ierusalem Our Sauiours steps are quite vnsanctified in them and trodden out of sent by the irruptiue ouer-trampling of the Romanes A new story of flesh-manured earth haue they cast vpon it and made it no more the walke of Saints and Prophets but a poysonous nurcery of Beasts of pray and Serpents O God enlarge mine inuention and my memory sincerely and feelingly to rehearse the disornamenting of this mother of Citties Vnderstand that before the arriuall of Vespasian there were in Ierusalem three factions Eleazers which was the fundamentiue and first Iehochanans next and Schimeons the last Eleazer and Iehochanan the vngodliest that euer God made Schimeon except and hee might well haue beene Schoole-maister to Cain or Iudas hee was such a grand Keysar of cut-throtes From the noblest of the Iewes discended but his Nobility ere he came to it by his degenerate conditions he forfeited A man hee was that made a mockery of all Lawes and Religion and any thing which Authority forbad most greedily would embrace thinking as the best Pastures are hedged in the best Orchards wald about the best Mettals hutcht vp so there was nothing excellent but was forbidden and whatsoeuer was forbidden was excellent For malice or hatred he would not stab or murder men so much as against
a thousand foure hundred Store-houses filled vp to the top with victuall Corne Wine and Oile sufficient to maintaine two hundred thousand men for twenty yeares all which by the Seditious was set on fire and consumed in one day Diuers gorgeous buildings they enflamed to smoke out their rich owners many goodly streets end-longs to the very earth they encindred for nothing but to haue more roome to bicker in Euery corner of Ierusalem had a voyce heard in it as in Ramah of weeping mourning great lamentation Scarce could one friend in commoning heare another for the howling wringing of hands sobbing and yelling of men women and children Heere lay they halfe dead bayting and bathing in their wounds and roaring and eare-rentingly exclaiming for some melting-hearted man to come and rid them out of their lingring liuing death and slay them out-right The sons daughters and seruants of the Elders thus vniustly massacred went crying vp and downe the Citty like mad-men with eies and hands to heauen extended Iustice Lord Iustice Lord Iustice against the vniust depriuers of our friends and maintainers This was the Seditious order that if there were any man noted to be of more wealth then other him they pickt a quarrell against and accused of treason to their Sanctuary and sending letters to the Romanes False witnesses they had in pay a Campe royal Schimeon wold not see them vnproudied in that case Not onely he that mourned but he that did not seeme to reioyce at the Martyrdom of those iust men was dismist the same way Not a few in their mindes benummed with the massacrous monstrousnesse of this quicke Marshal-law made themselues graues and went into them aliue The channell of Iordan was so ouer-burdened and charged with dead carkasses that the waters contended to wash their hands of them and lightly leapt ouer their bankes as shunning to mixe themselues with so many millions of murders but after many daies abstinence from their proper entercourse obseruing they must liue for euer banisht from their bounds except they made some riddance of them they recollected their liquid forces and putting all their wauy shoulders together bare the whole shole of them before them as farre as the Sea of Sodom Had there beene at that time a Red-sea new to be created the bloud that like a Riuer from a Mountaine foote flowed forth of Ierusalem would haue made it rich in surges and sufficient to wracke many ships Euen as Iordan so the Brooke Cedron and the waters of Schiloim in like sort were choked As dead Cats and Dogs into Buts of Sacke and Muscadine are throwne for their fiery strength to feed on so into Wels and Cesternes were dead Corses innumerable throwne for their blacke waters to feede on From the fury of the Sword let me discend to Famine and the Pestilence the two latter plagues of Ierusalem In giuing them sutable phrase had I the command of a thousand singular wits I should bankroute them all in description Plucke vp a good courage mine infant pen and wearily struggle as well as thou maist through this huge word-dearthing taske The Store-houses burnt the siege hard plyed the waste of victuals great the husbanding of them none at all there fell such an infestuous vnsaciable famine amongst them that if all the stones of Ierusalem had ben bread and they should haue tyred on them yet would they haue bene behind hand with their appetite Their watry wesands were like to leape out of their mouthes for meate and in their crawling vp to seeke passage ready to haue bene seaz'd on by their iawes for sustenance Like an ouer-hanging Rocke eaten in with the tide or Death that is nere picturd but with an vpper chap only so did their propendant breast-bones imminent-ouer-canopy their bellies So many men as were in Ierusalem so many pale raw-bone ghosts you would haue thought you had seene Euen through their garments their rake-leane ribbes appeared Their sharpe embossed Anckle bones turnd vp the earth like a Plow-share when in going their feete swarued The empty Aire they would catch at in steed of meate like as a Spaniell catcheth at a flie the very dust they gnasht at as it slew and their owne armes and their legs they hardly for-bare Their teeth they would grinde one against another to a white powder like meale The durty mosse on the pentisses of their houses they gnawde off most greedily Not a weede sprung vp but ere it aspired halfe to his growth by them it was weeded and rauenously rauncht vp All the bushes and boughes within or round about Ierusalem were hewed downe and feld for men like briute beasts to brouze on Within twelue mile compasse of the Citty where there were wont to be the most Elizian-like gardens and flower-gilded fields vnder heauen what for the Romanes and them was there not now left a crop of any Gourde or greene thing The Sedetious the Souldiers would come running into the Cittizens houses and taking them by the bosomes cry aloud Giue vs meate Giue vs meate by the Lord we will haue meate rob steale runne into the Tents of our enemies for meat for vs or wee will make meate of you and your children Mens Cellars and Garrets for meat they searcht If there were but the bloud of any thing spilt on the ground like hungry dogs they would licke it vp Rats Mise Weafels Scorpions were no common mens iunckets In the beginning of this scarcity had any but a dish full of Corne left to send to the Mil they were afraid to send it for feare they should set all Ierusalem together by the cares for it Wherefore in their low vnder earth Vaults they digd lower Caues which couering with bordes and formally pauing ouer there they eate their Corne vnground closely because they would not be circumuented Exceeding rich Magnificos stole victuall one from another and would lie in waite a whole weeke together to intercept but a chypping The Father stole from the Sonne and oftentimes tore the meate out of his mouth the Sonne could scarce refraine from biting out his Fathers throate-boule when he saw him swallow downe a bit that he died for The Mother lurcht from them both her yong weaned Children famisht for want of nourishment sastned their sharpe edged gums on her fingers and would not let them go till she pluckt the morsell out of her owne maw to put into theirs Hee that then had had a Kingdome would haue giuen it for a crust of bread Not a Butterflie Grashopper Worme Neuet or Canker but was persecuted and sought out to satisfie emptinesse You should haue seene a hundred together fighting scrambling about a dead Horse Sometimes they would send their children farre out of the Citty to gather rootes and hearbes thinking that the Romans carried more honourable mindes then to execute their vtmost on them but all was one for they spared neither yong nor old Many Noble-men eate the Leather of their Chariots as
but they are no Sheep but Sheep-byters their wooll or their wealth they make no othervse of but to snarle and enwrap men with The law which was instituted to redresse wrongs and oppressions they wrest contrarily to oppresse and to wrong with And yet that 's not so much wonder for Law Logique and the Swizers may be hir'd to fight for any body and so may an Vsurer for a halfepeny gaine bee hyred to bite any body For as the Beare cannot drinke but he must byte the water so cannot hee coole his auaritious thirst but hee must plucke and bite out his Neighbours throate Bursa Auaâ—…os est diaboli the Vsurers purse is Hell mouth Hee hath Hydropem conscientiam as Augustine sayth a dropsie conscience that euer drinkes and euer is dry Like the Foxe he vseth his witte and his teeth together he neuer smyles but he seazeth he neuer talkes but he takes aduantage He cryes with the ill Husbandman to whom the Vineyard was put out in the Gospell This is the heyre come let vs kil him and we shal haue his inheritance Other men are sayd to goe to Hell hee shall ryde to Hell on the deuills backe as it is in the old Morrall and if hee did not ryde hee would swim thether in innocents blood whom hee hath circumuented No men so much as Vsurers coueteth the deuill to bee great with He is called Mammon the God or Prince of this World that is The God and Prince of Vsurers and Penny-fathers Nay more euery Vsurer of himselfe is a deuill since this word Daemon signifieth nought but Sypiens a subtile worldly Wise-man When a Legion of deuils in the Land of the Gargisens were cast forth of two men that came out of graues they desired they might goe into hogs or swine which are Vsurers many of those Hogges or Swine they tumbled into the Sea many of our hoggish Vsurers the deuill tumbles for gaine into the Sea Vsurers with the draffe of this world so feede and fatten the deuils that now they almost passe not of possessing any man else The Iewes were all Hogges that is Vsurers and therefore if there had beene no diuine restraint for it yet nature it selfe would haue dissawded them from eating Swines-flesh that is from feeding on one another The Prodigall-childe in the Gospell is reported to haue fed Hogges that is Vsurers by letting them beguile him of his substance As the Hogge is still grunting digging wrooting in the mucke so is the Vsurer still turning tossing digging and wrooting in the muck of this world like the Hog he carries his snoute euer-more down-ward and nere looks vp to Heauen Christ sayd It was not meete the childrens bread should be taken from them and giuen vnto dogges no more is it meete that the childrens lyuing and substance should be taken from them and giuen vnto Hogges Paul sayth We must not doe euill that good may come of it there is no euill which a hoggish Vsurer will not doe so that goods or profit may come of it They will bee sure to verifie our Sauiours words The poore haue you alwaies with you for they will make all poore that they deale with Suchvnnaturall dealing they vse towards their poore bretheren as though they came not naturally into the world but like those that were called Caesares quasi caesi ex matris vtero they were also cutte out of their Mothers wombe when they came into the world For this O London if like Zaccheus thou repentest not and restorst ten fold Thy house shall be left desolate vnto thee The cryes of the fatherlesse and widdowe shall breake of the Angels Hosannas and Alleuiahs and plucke the sterne of the world out of Gods hand till he hath acquited them Oppression is the price of bloud into your Treasuries you put the price of blood which the Iewes that kild Christ feared to doe You hauing many flockes of sheepe of your owne and your poore Neighbour but one sely Lambe which he nurst in his owne bosome that Lambe haue you taken away from him and spared farre better Fatlings of your owne By your swearing and forswearing in bargayning you haue confiscated your soules long agoe There is no religion in you but loue of mony Any doctrine is welcome to you but that which beates on good workes The charity and duty that GOD exacts of you you thinke discharged if in speech you neither meddle nor make with him the charity to your Neighbour you coniecture onely consisteth in bidding good-euen and goodmorrowe Beguile not your selues for as there is no Prince but will haue his Lawes as well not broken as not spoken against so will God reuenge himselfe as well against the breakers of his Lawes as against those that speake against them It is not your abrupt Graces God bee praysed Much good doe it you or saying we are naught God amend vs Sir I drinke to you that shall stop Gods mouth but he will come and not hold his peace He will seatter your treasure and your store and leaue you nothing of that you haue layd vp saue the Kingdome of heauen the righteousnes therfore Rich Vsurers be counsailed betimes surcease to inritch your selues with other mens losse Hold it not enough to fall downe and worship Christ except with the Wise-men of the East you open your treasures and present him with Golde Mirhe and Frankinsence Bring forth some fruits of good workes in this life that we may not altogether dispaire of you as barrayne Trees good for nothing but to be hewne downe and cast into Hell-fire Palce fame morientem quisquis pascendo seruare poteris si non paun is fame accidisti Feede him that dies for hunger Whatsoeuer thou art that canst perserue and dost not thou art guilty of famishing him Christ at the latter day in his behalfe shall vp bray de thee When I was hungry thou gauest me no meate when I was thirsty thou deniedst mee drinke Depart from me thou accursed Erogando pecuniam auges iustitsam by laying out thy money thou increasest thy righteousnesse Againe Nil diues habet de diuitiis nisi quod ab illo postulat pauper A ritch man treasures vp no more of his ritches then he giueth in almes My Maisters I will not disswade but giue you counsaile to be Vsurers Put out your money to vsury to the poore heere on Earth that you may haue it a hundred fold repayd you in Heauen As it is in the Psalmes A good man is mercifull and leandeth he giueth he disperseth he distributeth to the poore and his righteousnes remaineth for euer So that wee see by that which wee giue we gaine and not loose and yet what doe wee giue but that wee cannot keepe For giuing but backe againe what was first giuen vs and which if wee should not giue Death would take from vs wee shall purchase an immortall inheritance that can neere be pluckt from vs. With halfe the paines
thorns and the thornes crept aloft and choked it To those thornes I compare these thorny Contentioners that choake the Word of God with foolish controuersies and friuolous questions Euen as the spirit led our Sauiour aside into the Wildernesse to be tempted so are there wicked spirits of Contention amongst vs that leade men aside into the woods and solitary places to be tempted Let any be he the veriest block-head vnder heauen raise vp a faction and he shall be followed and supported Englishmen are all for innouation they are cleane spoiled if once in twenty yeers they haue not a new fashion of religion Somtimes Vitia sunt ad virtutem occasio Contention is the occasion of seeking out the truth but our Contentions for the most part are the seeking to prooue truth no truth after she is once found out and preferring probability before manifest verity We will not try her by her Peeres which are the best expositors and auncient Fathers but by the literall Law either not expounded or new expounded without any Quest of Church decretals or Cannons Were it not that in reprouing Contention I might hapely seeme contentious I would wade a little farther in this subiect Yet it were to no end since fire the more it is stirred vp the more it burneth and heresy the more it is stird stroue with the more vntoward it is Nought but sharp discipline is a fit disputant with snarling Scismatiques The Israelites for they rooted not out the remnant of the Gen◅ile Nations from amongst them they were as goades in their sides and thornes in their nostrils so if we root not out these remnants of Scismatiques from amongst vs they will be as goades in our sides and thornes in our nostrils Melius est vt pereat vnus quam vt pereat vnitas It is better that some few perish then vnity perish London beware of Contention thou art counted the nursing-mother of Contention No Sect or Schism but thou affordest Disciples to If thou beest too greedie of innouation and contention the sword of inuasion and ciuill debate shall leaue thy house desolate vnto thee Now come I to the Daughters of Pride whereof Disdaine is the eldest Disdain is a vice in comparison of which Ambition is a vertue It is the extream of Ambition It is a kind of scorne that scorneth to be cōpared to any other thing None are more subiect vnto it then faire women for they disdaine any one should bee held as faire as they They disdaine any should go before them or sit aboue them They disdaine any should be brauer then they or haue more absolute pennes entertained in their praises then they This woman disdains any but she should carry the credit of wit another that any should sing so sweet as shee a third that any should set forth the port and maiesty in gate and behauiour like vnto her Onely for disdaine and preheminence their Husbands and their Loues they draw sundry times into neuer-dated quarrels Such disdaine and scorne was betwixt the wiues of Iacob Rachel and Leah because the one had children and the other none Such disdaine was betwixt Sarah and Hagar There was a disdain of shouldring amongst the Disciples who should be greatest Iosephs Brethren disdained their Father should loue him better then he did them Diues disdained Lazarus In London the rich disdaine the poore The Courtier the Citizen The Citizen the Countriman One Occupation disdaineth another The Merchant the Retayler The Retayler the Craftsman The better sort of Craftsmen the baser The Shoomaker the Cobler The Cobler the Carman One nyce Dame disdaines her next neighbour should haue that furniture to her house or dainty dish or deuise which she wants Shee will not goe to Church because shee disdains to mixe her selfe with base companie and cannot haue her close Pue by her selfe She disdaines to weare that euery one weares to heare that Preacher which euery one heares So did Ierusalem disdain Gods Prophets because they came in the likenesse of poore men Shee disdained Amos because he was a keeper of Oxen as also the rest for they were of the dregges of the people But their disdaine prosperd not with them their house for their disdaine was left desolate vnto them London thy house except thou repents for thy disdaine shall be left desolate vnto thee The second Daughter of Pride is Gorgeous attire Both the Sonnes and Daughters of Pride delight to go gorgeously As Democritus set vp his brasen shield against the Sunne to the intent that continually gazing on it he might with the bright reflection of his beamy radiation feare out his eyes and see no more vanities so set they their rich embroidered sutes against the Sun to dazle daunt and spoile poore mens eyes that looke vpon them Like Idols not men they apparrell themselues Blocks and stones by the Panims and Infidels are ouer-gilded to be honored and worshipped so ouer-gilde they themselues to bee more honored and worshipped The women would seeme Angels here vpon earth for which it is to be feared they will scarce liue with the Angels in heauen The end of Gorgeous attyre both in men and women is but more fully to enkindle fleshly concupiscence to assist the diuel in lustful temptations Men thinke that women seeing them so sumptuously pearled bespangled cannot chuse but offer to tender their tender soules at their feete The women they thinke that hauing naturally cleere beauty scorchingly blazing which enkindles any soule that comes neere it adding more Bauines vnto it of lasciuious embolstrings men should euen flash their harts at first sight into the purified flames of their faire faces Euer since Euah was tempted and the Serpent preuailed with her women haue tooke vpon them both the person of the tempted and the tempter They tempt to be tempted not one of them except she be tempted but thinkes her selfe contemptible Vnto the greatnesse of their great Grand-mother Euah they seek to aspire in being tempted and tempting If not to tempt and be thought worthy to be tempted why dy they and diet they their face with so many drugs as they do as it were to correct Gods work-manship and reprooue him as a bungler one that is not his crafts Maister Why ensparkle they their eyes with spiritualiz'd distillations Why tip they their tongues with Aurum potabile Why fill they vp ages frets with fresh colours Euen as Roses and flowers in Winter are preserued in close houses vnder earth so preserue they their beauties by continuall lying in bed Iust to Dinner they will arise and after Dinner goe to bedde againe and lie vntill Supper Yea sometimes by no sicknes occasioned they will ly in bedde three dayes together prouided euery morning before foure a clock they haue their broths and their cullises with Pearle and Gold sodden in them If hapely they breake their houres and rise more early to goe a banquetting they stand practising halfe a day with their
it Thou hast contended to be a more beautifull Creator and repolisher of thy selfe then he His owne workmanship thou hast made him out of loue with by altering and deforming it at thy pleasure There is no workman that regardeth or esteemeth his owne workmanship after it is translated and transposed by others Except thou quickly vndoest and with-drawest all thy ouer-working he will in wreakfull recompence that thou hast so disgrac't him alter thee deforme thee translate thee transpose thee and leaue thy house desolate vnto thee The last Daughter of Pride is Delicacy vnder which is contained Gluttony Luxury Sloth Security But properly Delicacy is the sinne of our London Dames So delicate are they in their dyet so dainty and puling fine in their speech so tiptoe-nice in treading on the earth as though they walkt vpon Snakes and fear'd to treade hard least they should turne againe Their houses so pickedly and neately must be trickt vp and tapistred as if like Abraham or Lot they were to receiue Angels The floare vnder foote glisteringly rubbed and glased that a Iew if he should behold it would suspect it for Holy ground Nothing about them but is wealth-boastingly and elaborately beautified onely their soules they keepe poore beggerly Iob scrapt his sores with a potshard if they haue any sore or noisome malady about them they will ouer-gilde it and make it seem more amiable then any other part of the body Their habitations they make so resplendent and pleasurable on earth that they haue no mind to goe to heauen Into heauens pleasures they cannot see for their eyes are dazled with terrestiall delights Those that will haue their harts thorowly enflamed with the ioies of the world to come must place no ioy in this world nor frame to themselues any obiect that may too much content They must haue somthing euermore to amate and check their felicity and with Macedon Philip to remember them of mortalitie Delicacy is nought but the art of security and forgetting mortality It is a kind of Alchimical quintessensing a heauen out of earth It is the exchanging of an eternall heauen for a short momentary imperfect heauen Blessed are they that by pining and excruciating their bodies liue in hell here on earth to auoid the hell neuer ending Many of the Saints and Martyrs of the Primitiue Church when they might haue spent their daies in all affluence and delicacy and liu'd out of gunshot of misery haue notwithstanding tooke vnto them the contemptiblest pouerty that might be They haue abandoned all their goods and possessions and in the Wildernesse conuersed with penurie and scarcity to beate downe and keepe vnder their rebellious flesh Some of them haue drunk puddle water fed on the lothsomest things that might be to bring their affection out of loue with this transitory infelicity Some of them haue grated rawed their smooth tender skinnes with haire shirts and rough garments that they might liue in vncessant smart take no ease or rest in this life where no rest or ease is to be taken vp but only a watch-mans lodge to soiourne in for a night or such a house as the Moath buildeth in a garment Others all naked on sharpe shreds of broken flint and fragments of of potsheards haue spred their weary limbs that lust in their sleepe might not assaile them Holy S. Ierome in the Desert thou builts thee a Cell to liue out of the haunts of concupiscence where parched and broiled in Sommer with the raging beames of the Sun and quiuering and quaking in Winter all riueld and weather-beaten with the sharp driuing shours and freezing Northern-winde thou drunkest no kind of liquor but the Ice-chilled water from the cold Fountain nor eats any meate but tough dried roots On the bare ground thou lodgedst and with abstinence and want of sleepe lookedst pale and wan This didst thou to mortifie thy insurrectiue masse of corruption This didst thou to teach mortification and sobriety to these licentious times of ours No course doe wee take to mortifie the Lawe of our members all mortification we censure by the name of superstition our fasts are no fasts but preparatiues to Euening feasts our mourning is like the mourning of an Heyre who then laughes inward when hee weepes most outward It is not prayer alone may kill the olde man in vs either it must be sanctified and assisted with fasting abstinence or it cannot cast out a spirit of such might It is heauenly policy as well as humane policie to weaken our enemy before we fight with him Wee must weaken our enemy Gods enemy the flesh with abstinence and fasting before we fight with him or els he will be too strong for vs. Physitions minister Purgations before they apply any Medicine Surgions lay Corsiues to any wound to eate out the dead-flesh ere they can cure it Abstinence and fasting are as Corasiues to eate out the dead-flesh of gluttony drunkennes concupiscence in our loins which so proiected and eaten out Christ is that kind Samaritan that will come and bind vp our wounds carrie vs home with him to his house or Kingdome euerlasting Thus much of Delecacy in generall now more particularly of his first branch Gluttony which if any Country vnder heauen be culpable of England is All our friendship curtesie is nothing but gluttony Great men shew their state magnificence in nothing so much as gluttony The birth day of our Sauiour his Resurrection and Ascension wee honour onely with gluttony How many Cookes Apothecaries Confectioners and Vintners in London grow pursie by gluttonie Vnder Gluttony I shrowde not onely excesse in meate but in drink also Our full platters and our plentifull cups vnapt vs to any exercise of Christianitie or prayer We do nothing but fatten our soules to Hell-fire Our bodies we bumbast and balist with engorging diseases Diseases shorten our daies therfore whosoeuer englutteth himselfe is guilty of his owne death and damnation Qui diligit epulas sayth Salomon in egestate erit Hee that loueth dainty fare shall feele scarcity Venter maero aestuans dispumat libidinem The belly abounding with wine and good cheere vomiteth forth lust Gluttony were no sinne or not so heynous as it is did it not pluck on a number of other heynous sinnes with it or that wee so engorging our selues infinite of our poore brethren hungerd staru'd not in the streets for want of the least dish on our Tables Very largely haue I inueighed against this vice elsewhere wherefore heere I will trusse it vp more succinct Text vpon Text I could heape to shew the inconuenience of it In London I could exemplify it by many note-worthy specialties but in so doing I should but lay downe what euery one knowes and purchase no thank for my labour To my iourneys end I haste discend to the second continent of Delicacy which is Lust or Luxury In complaining of it I am afraid I shal defile
thousand pounds together in a hutch will not part with a penny fares miserably dies suddainly and leaues those the fruites of niggardize to them that neuer thank him He that bestoweth any thing on a Colledge or Hospital to the worlds end shal haue his name remembred in daily thanksgiuing to God for him otherwise he perrisheth as the Pellitory on the wall or the weede on the house top that groweth only to wither Of all his wealth no good man reaping any benefit none but Canckers prisons and bard Chestes liue to report he was rich Those great bard Chestes hee carryes on his backe to Heauen gates and none so burdened is permitted to enter There is no Male of any kinde hath apparance of breasts but man and hee hauing them giues no sucke with them at all Such dry-nurses are our English Cormogeons they haue breasts but giue no suck with them They haue treasure innumerable but do no good with it All the Abbey-lands that were the abstracts from impertinent almes now scarce affoord a meales meate of almes A penny bestowed on the poore is abridged out of house-keeping All must bee for their children that spend more then all More prosperous children should they haue were they more open handed The Plague of God threatens to shorten both them and their children because they shorten their hands from the poore To no cause referre I this present mortality but to couetise Let couetise be enlarged out of durance the infected ayre will vncongeale and the wombes of the contagious Clowdes will bee clensed Pray and distribute you gorbellied Mammonists without prayer and distribution or almost thinking of God haue you congested those refulgent masses of substance With the destribution of them if you looke for saluation your soules must you ransome from Belial And fortunate are you if with long intercessions and prayers you may get your ransome accepted of Nothing of all your drosse going downe into the earth shall you take with you you shall cary no more hence Nisi parua quod vrna capit but a Coffyn and a winding-sheete They haue slept their sleepe saith Dauid and all the men of riches haue found none of their treasure in their owne handes after their sleepe was ended Poore men to you I speake for ritch men haue their Country Granges to flye to from contagion humble your soules with fasting and prayer Elias and Moyses by their fasting and prayer were filled with the familiarity of God Entreate the Lord that he would passe ouer your houses as in Egypt hee past ouer the houses of the Israelites first-borne Beseech him with the Gergazens into whose Heardes of Swine the deuills were sent to depart with his heauy iudgements out of your quarters Though he seemeth a little to sleepe as when hee was on the Sea with his Disciples and the tempest arose yet if you awake him with your out crying prayers as the Apostles did saying Lord saue vs. Lord saue vs or wee perrish hee will commaund the windes and the Sea controule the contagion the sicknes and make a calme ensue heale euery disease and languor amongst you In the day of my trouble saith the forenamed propheticall King I sought vnto the Lord my sore ran ceased not in the night my soule refused comfort I did thinke vpon God and was troubled I prayed and my spirit was full of anguish Let vs seeke vnto the Lord in like sorte let our soules refuse comfort let vs thinke vpon him be troubled let vs pray and fil our spirits full of anguish til such time as he turneth our affliction from vs. If wee be not thus troubled if our spirits bee not possessed with anguish but we make a sport and flea-biting of his fearefull visitation and thinke without our prayers the season of the yeere will cease it hee will send a rougher stringed scourge amongst vs a desolation that shall furrow deeper in our sides and roote out the memoriall of vs. If saith the Apostle to the Hebrues they escaped not which refused him that spake on earth much more shall they not escape that turne away from him that speaketh to them from heauen Now it is that God speaketh to vs from heauen now if we turne away from him or will not turne to him there shall not one of vs escape In the time of Gregory Nasianzene if wee may credite Ecclesiasticall records there sprung vp the direfullest mortality in Rome that man-kinde hath beene acquainted with scarce able were the liuing to bury the dead and not so much but their streets were digged vp for graues Which this holy Father with no little cōmiserate hart-bleeding beholding commanded all the Clergie for he was at that time their chiefe Bishop to assemble in praier supplications and deale forcingly beseeching with God to intermit his fury and forgiue them For all this not any whit is abated hee tooke no pitty on them There-with that reuerend Pastor entranced to hell in his thoughts for the distresse of his people caused al the Citizens young and old to be called foorth their houses and attende him in a howling procession Vp and downe the streetes from one end of the Citty to the other hee led them and Preachers as Captains ouer multitudes were set to direct and encourage them in their Inuocations and Orizons Foure daies together in this feruent exercise he detained them In those places where the mortality raged most a stande would hee make halfe a day and with reiterated solicitings and prostrate voyce-crazing vehemencie breake ope a broade clowde-dispersing passage to the throne of mercy The foure dayes concluded and that with their bellowing clamors and breast-embolning sighes they had enforced a sufficient breache in the Firmament there appeared a bright sunne-arraied Angell standing with a reaking bloody sword in his hand in the chiefe gate of their Citty which they comming neere in all their sights on his arme hee wiped and put vp and in that very instant throughout the Citty the plague ceased Some peraduenture may take exceptions against the certainty hereof but if we will authorize any thing in the Romaine or Ecclesiasticall histories we must ascribe truth as well vnto this I would see him that could giue me any other reason but this of the building of the yet extant gate and Castle of S. Angelos on both which the Angell with his sworde drawne is artificially engrauen True or not true the example can doe no harme Wee will not be too hasty to imitate it In stead of humbling our selues after this manner and wearying God with our cryes and lamentations wee fall a drinking and bousing making iestes of his frowning castigation As Babes smyle and laugh in their sleepe so wee surprised with a lethargy of sinne do nothing but laugh and iest in the midst of our sleepie security Wee scoffe and are iocund when the sworde is ready to goe through vs. On our wine-benches we bidde a Fico for tenne