bée a Tailor a weauer a Cobler or of some such like occupation then to learne the duety of a Christian Autoph I cannot tell but I haue knowne one bound Apprentice to one of these occupations seuen yeares and yet in the ende hath carried away no more cunning then he hath néede off Philox. Oh good Lorde what blockishnes is this We will binde our children Apprentises to base trades and occupations seuen or eight nine or tenne yeares and estéeme it litle inough yea and all we wil contend with our trades to haue a good report and to be famous but to attain to the perfection of a Christian life to walke worthy of Gods seruants fructifying in euery good worke to become creatures of Christ to do good workes wherein he hath prepared that we shoulde worke to learne to die vnto sinne and liue vnto righteousnesse to learne to decline from euil and doe good to leaue to doe peruersly learne to doe well how lumpishly and drowsily wée goe about either as though we supposed the duety of a Christian not worthy the learning or the rewarde not worth the trauell If one man in a Country should pay his seruants greater wages by a thousand degrées then the rest who woulde not count himselfe a happy seruant if he might come into fauour and seruice with so good a Master surely either must we count Christ a lyar or else praise him for the best pay Master which promiseth such infinite rewardes to those which serue him as namely that they shoulde eate with him and drinke with him yea at his owne table raigne with him and possesse his kingdome and such like Oh hearts made of hard mettall which so great rewardes cannot mooue Autoph Who is it that sayth he doth not serue him Philox. I knowe they will say so they serue him a trust indéede if a man had such seruauntes hée woulde sende them packing Is it good seruice for a seruaunt to say to his Master Sir your worke shall be done and doe it neuer a whitte No no good pay Masters must haue good seruauntes God must be serued with all our hearts all our mindes and with all our strength the loose man cannot yéelde to concupiscence and serue God the couetous man cannot lay vp treasure in earth and in heauen Let vs then deare brethren for Christ his sake practise that same good counsaile of the Apostle Let euery man prooue and examine his owne workes whilest yet there is time and place of repentance least that we tumble headlong into the bottomlesse pitte of perdition and come with a tardé peccauimus It is to late to locke and make fast the dore when the Stéede is stollen as the mercy of God if we vse it in time may serue for our Saluation so if we vse delaye and make no account of the same but refuse it when it is offered it will turne to our bitter curse and damnation The night will come when no man can worke any longer let vs not refuse so precious a iewell as time is A good husband will sowe his séede while it is faire weather and a prudent Merchant will lay out his money whilest the market endureth there is none but will consider these thinges vnlesse he be wilfully blinde and giuen ouer to the mischiefe of Sathan vnlesse as it is faide by the Prophet Hee hath made a league with death and a couenant with hell it selfe Vnlesse he will count it but a gamball play to cast himselfe headlong to destruction and damnation both of body and soule I cannot deny but the diuel hath blinded the eies of many miserable wretches that herein they are not different from your opinion that if they can say the ten Commandements they thinke they can doe as much as is requisite but I would to God they would learne one lesson more which Moses taught the children of Israell namely That these wordes must remaine in their hearts that they should meditate vpon them both at home and abroade when they goe to bedde and when they rise in the morning Oh that this lesson were learned all our life long then should we not haue so many nickenamed Christians and then should not securitie sende so many thousand soules to hell fire Not euerie one that sayth Lorde Lorde shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but hee that doth the will of my father which is in heauen It is not inough to professe the faith with our mouth to say Lord haue mercy vpon vs good Lord forgiue vs and all the rest But a good conscience is required and the spirite of renouation Why doe ye call me Lord and doe not those thinges which I commaund you sayth Christ Luke 6. It is not inough to say the temple of the Lorde the temple of the Lorde It is not inough to say I hope to be assoone in heauen as the best I beléeue as well as the best The diuell deludeth thée whosoeuer thou art that so think Not euery one that saith Lord Lord but hee that doth the will of the Lord shall be saued Autoph Then shall none be saued for who is able to do his wil or kéepe his commandements Philox. I knowe Autophilus that none is able to doe his will or fulfill his commaundements but to doe the will of the Lorde is to indeuour our selues with our whole minde and strength to fulfill that which he commaundeth although we doe the best we can we are vnable to performe the same For if we say we haue no sinne wee deceaue our selues there is no truth in vs. And yet the same Iohn sayth Euery man that is borne of God sinneth not That is he is not willingly giuen to sinne as are the wicked which haue no care of his commandements neither to kéepe them nor to meditate vpon them Saint Paul penning the perfect duety of a Prelate to Timothy saith Meditate ponder consider vpon this I did runne the way of thy commaundements which I haue loued Sayth the Prophet Dauid Oh Lorde howe haue I loued thy lawe it is my meditation all the day long It is not without good cause that the Prophet annexeth the louing of the commaundementes and the meditation of them for that which wee loue most dearely commonly that we most thinke vpon yea we ioy to thinke of that which we loue which if it be so surely I doubt many Christians of vs carrie a colde loue either towardes God or his commaundementes vnlesse we will séeme to loue him as he that beate his owne father and saide it was for loue so no doubt we loue him indéede that is to say we will not sticke to giue him a blowe on the face For who so sinneth and offendeth against the Maiestie of God doth as it were strike God on the face and crucifie Christ againe But alasse if euery man woulde enter into some streight examination of himselfe who is there
gréedie cormorant with his long nailes would scrape scratch all the skin of the poore mans shoulders yea as it were grate the very guttes out of his belly if he thought it such an offence to murther a man as is pronounced against him I would you could perswade him so Philox. S. Paul saith that neither whooremongers adulterers fornicators vncleane persons shall enter into the kingdome of heauen Which thing if they will not beléeue in earth when they shal dwel with the deuil in paines torments for euer he will suade and persuade them making thē either paie the price of presumption or infidelitie Notwithstanding true faith is quicke of sight and will straight haue an eie to the worde of God touching which word our sauior Christ hath said in the Gospell Heauen and earth shall passe but my word saith he shall not passe Héere the word is coupled to two most excellent elementes Aire and Water are feble and vnstable but the heauens though they turne and moue yet kéepe they a wonderfull constancie in theyr course the earth also is most stable and immoueable yet is it much more easier for these elementes to be loosed than that one iot of the word of God shoulde passe vnperformed Yea the worde of God is most stable and immoueable as all the world if they should lay all their strength power together are not able to make it day when once it is night or cause the day to break out sooner than the course of the heauens doth command so not al worldlings though they neuer carry so great a pomp power pride with them séeme litle Gods in their owne conceits shall be once able to infringe weaken to break abolish so much as one title of the worde of God who is God euerlasting chiefly good wise iust mightie true of word as such miscreantes vnbeléeuers shall throughly féele vnderstande when it shal please him to powre his wrath and vengeance vpō thē for their hypocrisie Autoph You threaten vs Ex nō concessis As though we do not confesse the same faith professe the same religion say y e same praiers Pater noster yea come to the church when we haue nothing to do wherin vnles we be deceiued we satisfie the dutie of Christians Philox. You come in déed by leasure profit a little I do not doubt but you can speak as sanctishly as the best beléeuers and holiest men of God you can allow of vertue and reproue vice Autoph And is not that well I am glad you like of vs in some regard Philox. Well no no most wicked hypocrites could saie so much Such as we haue read to haue ben in the Church in the time of Christ and his Apostles as namely Iudas Ananias Saphira Symon Magus Demas Himeneus and Alexander they could hide their knauery vnder the painted colour of hypocrisie notwithstanding I hope you will not call them good Christians Autoph Would you proue vs suche to our Sauiour as Iudas or such rebels against the word as Demas Himeneus and Alexander It is euident that these were out of the Church But wée will saie and stand to it that we are of the church Philox. Such hypocrites as you are onely in the outward communion and fellowshippe of the church although they boast and bragge of the titles of the same they are not all Israelites sayth Saint Paul which come of Israel neyther are they all children straight waie because they are of y e séed of Abraham But in Israel shall thy feede be called The faithfull therefore are onelie the true and liuelie members of Christ whereas hypocrites hauing not put off the vizardes of false pretended holines cannot lawfully be cut away frō the Church vntill such time as like runnagates they flie to the Tentes of Sathan and ioyne hande and hande in déede with the deuill whome they haue serued vntill such time I say they are taken for the true inhabitauntes of the Church liuely members of Christs his bodie although God himselfe who séeth their heartes and searcheth euerie corner of their conscience doth wel inough discerne what false knaues they are Albeit they can sende out fayre woordes from their filthie harts Autoph I can scarsely vnderstand this for me thinkes you speake contradictions namely that wee are of the Church and that wee are not of the Church Phelox I say you are of the outward visible Church because like painted hypocrits yee séeme godly Christians when as you are nothing lesse although for companie you come to heare Gods word say your Pater Noster partake of the Sacraments and vse publike confession of your faith But God séeth what you are whether you beléeue faithfully or fainedly truely or hypocritically you shall not play bo péepe before him This may bee explaned by that Arche-hypocrite Iudas the betrayer of his Maister who as long as hee set not abroch his deceiptfull or rather most deuillish seruice neyther by worde nor déede but as professing no small friendshippe accompanied Christe béeing the Steward of his familie al this whyle was accompted for a member of Christe hys Church and yet for all this Christ called the selfe same Iudas a Deuill and when hée spake of his chosen and lyuelie members hée was shut out So that Iudas was not a member of the inwarde and Holie Church neyther had any fellowship in the Gospell of Christ although hée were a member of the outwarde Church numbred amongest the godlie societie of holie men In which Church those which carrye so godly showes of Christianitie are conteined as the proud ambitious couetous enuious gluttonous lasciuious lecherous cursed speakers the like who neither are the sons of God by the grace of adoption nor members of Christ by sanctification of the spirit but as rotten members in the body For excellently saith S. Austen that euill men or hypocrits are that in the Church that chaffe is amōgst Wheat Cockle in standing corne Traytors in a Citie and runnagats amongest Souldiers But it is plaine that wheate is the cleaner standing corne the lustier Citizens the safer souldiers the stronger when runnagats traitors cockle chaffe are seperated from them Autoph If we bee so badde as you would make vs so stincking carrions putrified members it were pitie but we were cut off Philox. You shall bee knowne what you are in the end of the world when the godly shall be seperated frō the vngodly for as the darnel is bound together cast into the fire and the wheate is gathered and laide vp in the barnes to bee kepte so shall it come to passe that the wicked and vngodlie shall bee giuen ouer to bee punished in paine and torments for euer and the godlie shall haue eternall ioyes and life euerlasting according to that sentence pronounced in the 25. of Matthewe namely go yee cursed into euerlasting fire and
Autophilus Balaam being gréedie of money for the which he was about to curse Gods people might haue excused himself saying it is a point of good husbandrie But if Achans stealing of gold and precious clothes against Gods commandement for the which hée was stoned if Gehezias selling of Naamans health which came by the grace of God if Iudas his treacherie against his Lord and Maister selling him for thirtie pence if Ananias and Saphyra theyr lying to the holy Ghost were good husbaÌ„dry then may these chambred fellowes kéeping themselues close in their counting houses laying their bagges vnder their elbowes dreaming of their ruddocks then may they well say that they play the good husbaÌ„ds in their filthy gréedines and sparing of euery od halfpeny But this good husbandry is nothing els but a net of the diuel in the which whosoeuer is taken loseth life euerlasting as the séely bird goeth downe into a pitfall for a worme loseth her life or the mouse for a piece of Bacon is taken in the trap euen so it is with them which you call good husbands which cast themselues to euerlasting destructioÌ„ both body soule for trifles not worth y e traueling for according to that of the prophet Barucke Where are they nowe which heaped together gold siluer which made no end of their scraping together And immediatly he answered Exterminati sunt descenderunt ad inferos They are rooted out they are gone downe into hell Like vnto that of S. Iames. Now goe to ye rich men weepe and howle in your miseries that come vpon you your riches are rotten and your gold siluer is rusty the rust thereof shall be a testimony against you it shall feede on your fleshe as fire you haue hoarded vp wrath for your selues in the last day Autoph Woulde you haue vs giue all away and goe a begging by the faith of an honest man I neuer meant it get more when I can I am determined to kéepe that which I haue Philox. This is a rude spéeche sauering neither of Christ nor Christianity Take héede sayth Christ beware of Couetousnes for no mans life standeth in the aboundance of things which he possesseth shewing the same by the similitude of a certaine rich man who hauing not roomth where to bestow his fruites saide I will pull downe my barnes and build greater and therein I will gather all my fruits and my goods and I wil say vnto my soule thou hast much goodes laide vp in store for many yeares take thine ease eate drinke and bee merrie But God said vnto him Thou foole this night doe they require thy soule againe froÌ„ thee theÌ„ whose shall all these things be And so is euery one that gathereth riches to himselfe and not riches towards god Had not this rich maÌ„ better to haue purchased a place in heaueÌ„ where to liue eternally then to haue hurded vp heaps of the greedie golde laide house to house and lande to lande What auaileth all his treasures possessions al reuenewes all faire buildinges what auaileth his barnes full of Corne to what purpose shall they serue when our most iust and terrible God to the wicked and couetous shall say Redde rationem villicationis Come giue accompt of thy Bayliwicke May it not please the Lorde so to deale with Autophilus Hearken therefore to that of the wise man Qui diligit aurum non iustificabitur Hee that loueth golde shall not be iustified Woe bee vnto you rich men for you haue receyued your consolation in this life What a sore saying is that of Christ when he pronounceth That it is as easie a matter for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle as for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen Autoph That is an hard saying in déede but you shall not make me beléeue that these wordes haue a literall signification for I knowe riches are good neither will I learne the contrarie Philox. It is most certeinly true that riches are not ill of them selues neither of their owne nature bring impedimentes vnto vs whereby wee may bee hindered from gods seruice but the impediment coÌ„meth of our corrupt nature otherwise wee might blame the author For as the suffering of the Father doth oftentimes bring corruptions to the Childe euen so it can not almost bee auoided but that the more abundance is giuen to some the more they ingourge themselues and take a surfet as it were of the same such is the wickednesse of maÌ„s nature So that they to whoÌ„ wealth and substance riches and reuenewes do increase are tyed with the chaines and bands of the Diuell least they should aspire into heauen and are so bewitched with Sathans iugling that they account nothing commodious but the flowing vanities of this wretched worlde reiecting that holsome counsaile of the Prophet Dauid Nolite cor apponere That is set not your hearts vppon the loue of riches Such miserable caytiues as are thus fettred with the chaines of SathaÌ„ kept in bondage flauery of their owne riches we may iustly compare vnto cur Dogs which when they haue fed vpon the carrioÌ„ filled their bellies lye down by it kéepe away the séely birdes that they may rather die for hunger then eat of that whereof the Curs haue too much So likewise the wretched man couetously scraping and scratching from the poore withholding that which is none of his owne although he haue too much had rather sée his poore brother goe naked in the stréetes and faint euen vnto the death through famine then depart from that which he may wel spare to the reléeuing of his extremity So is he kept in priâ—â— of his goods so is he kept in subiection of the diuell so is he continually tormented I say tormented in getting more tormented in kéeping most of all in losing For which cause it is no maruel if our sauior Christ calleth them the riches of iniquity in regard of the effect Autoph You may say your pleasure against riches and rich men notwithstanding you shall not perswade me but that a rich man may be an honest man Philox. It is a vaine collection of you to infer such a conclusioÌ„ vpoÌ„ my former words as though such were my intent Autoph Why then doe you compare vs to Dogs Philox. Indéede Autoph I compare couetous cormorants to cur Dogs not without iust cause Yet I say not but that a rich man may be an honest man Abraham Isaac Iacob Dauid and Iob were very rich meÌ„ also very good men Ioseph of Arimathea was very rich So likewise Zacheus was a rich man Neither is it said of the Apostle none are called being rich but hee saith Not many rich are called nether in an other place y t they which are rich but which séek to be rich fall into many temptations And again y e loue of mony is y e root of al euil
this subtlety he preuaileth not he will séeke to assault thée with drunkennesse whoredome and lechery ambition and vaine glory Lastly he besiegeth thée with hypocrisie and idolatry so that if thou féele no fight betwixt the flesh and the spirite I say it is a great signe that thy estate is more desperate Fili accedens ad seruitutem dei saith Ecclesiasticus Stato in iustitia c. That is my son if thou wilt come into the seruice of God stand fast in righteousnes and arme thy soule to temptation For which cause it is that Gregory sayth Hostis noster quantò magis sibi contrabellare conspicit tantò magis impugnare intendit Which thing also might séeme to bée figured in Holophernes which assaulted the Israelites resisting saying thus Iudith I haue not hurt the man which woulde bee captiue and in bondage to the King of Babylon as for the people if they had not despised me I shoulde not haue lift vp my speare against them Autoph You Philoxenus may speake what your pleasure is neuerthelesse I alwaies carrie with mee a quiet conscience frée from any care or calamity for what thing shoulde tempt mée I haue the worlde at will my bagges bée well bumbasted and my Barnes well filled with corne I haue Coyne in my Coffers and carry a countenance in my Country and I haue wealth at will To bragge of my woorshippe were small wisedome and yet I am a Gentleman I haue had as litle aduersitie I thinke as any hath had Philox. If Gregory shoulde bée your Iudge in this case hée woulde pronounce a very harde sentence against you which is after this manner Continuus successus rerum temporalium certum futurae calamitatis indicium which is to say the continuall successe of worldly matters is an assured shewe of calamity to come Againe the same Iter electis suis Deus asperum facit ne dum delectantur in via obliuiscantur eorum quae sunt in patria That is God hath made an harde trauelling for his chosen lest while they are delighted with any thing in their waye they forget those ioyes in that Country whereunto they direct their iourney If a man had a iourney to make to the furthest part in the worlde who woulde not thinke and also count him a madde man if by the way hée beholding diuers delights and pleasures shoulde one while gaze vppon this toy sometimes vpon that and in the end shoulde forget whither he was going Christians are compared to wayfaring men amongest whom I doubt if we shoulde examine many wée shoulde finde a number of foolish trauellers which neither weigh how farre they haue to goe nor which way but wander aside for euery vaine pleasure yea although they propounde to themselues heauen as the least marke they shoote at yet they goe the broade way iocundly and voyde of all care which leades them in the end to the pit of eternall perdition Autoph You may preach till you be weary and cry out against sinne till you be hoarse you shall neuer make a number beléeue this or at the least to consider of it Philox. True it is and yet this is the path to godlinesse and eternall felicitie Whereas on the other side security and inconsideration is the dore to vtter destruction and damnation For what maketh the couetous so litle to regarde the curse of God thundring against them but lacke of consideration What maketh the proude and hauty heart to runne headlong into the fiery wrath of his Creator but inconsideration what maketh the lasciuious Lecherer to liue so loosely to make his body a loathsome sinke of sinne the receptacle of the diuel himselfe either by lusting after or retayning his neighbours wife or daughter but inconsideration what maketh swash-bucklers to delight so much in Ruffanisme to stampe and stare like helhoundes to sweare and forsweare themselues so diuellishly and desperately but inconsideration In fine what driueth so many Théeues to the gallowes so many wretched soules to hell but want of consideratiō Alas if we be about any bargaining as buying or selling of Land or Lease we will both consider and consult nay for feare we shoulde light on the lash we will haue counsaile I warrant you although we pay well and truely for it we will ride and runne and be well aduertised yea we will vse consideration in matters not woorth two strawes But in this businesse howe to attaine the Kingdome of Heauen howe to make a purchase which shall last for euer without the which obteining it had béene better wée had neuer béene borne good Lorde it is woonderfull howe slackely and howe drousily men goe about it Nay he that will goe to Westminster againe and againe and craue counsell with Cappe and curtesie will scarcely goe a furlong from home to learne the duety of a Christian what is his duety towardes God and what he ought to performe towardes his brethren héerein wanteth consideration and héerein Autophilus if such as your selfe woulde vncloake and lay open the closet of their owne consciences to searche and examine euery corner of them I feare you should finde more staines and blemishes then can easily bée either washed or wiped away Autoph If this bée true Philoxenus many thousandes deceiue themselues for who had not rather ryde forty miles to a learned Lawyer to knowe his aduice and counsell in worldly affayres and giue him twenty shillings for twenty wordes then goe to the Church where he may haue as you say the glad tydinges of the Gospell preached and teached to his owne edyfying and soules health and surely me thinkes not without some iust cause for it is as easie a matter for any man to bée a Christian as it is to bée a learned Lawyer and more easier too Why it is no more but to say the Lordes prayer the tenne Commaundementes and the Creede as I saide before or els there be in the Lande too many Christians nickenamed Philox. You are nickenamed Christians indéede no better then Atheists and Infidels you cloake your hypocrisie with the visarde of falsely challenged Christianitie and bragge of the name reiecting the thing it selfe you couet to be called by the name and account it an excellent ornament yet you neither desire to learn the dutie nor to liue according to the same vocation But that which is spoken by the Prophet shall light vppon your pates and not misse Quia tu repulisti scientiam ego te repellam sayth the Lord after you haue boasted of your praying in excusing of the which howe aptlie you played the parte of an Asse who if he be not starke blinde cannot plainlie sée The Asse is a slouthfull creature which will do nothing without whipping euen so Autophilus according to your owne confession when as the scourge of any worldly and temporall calamitie is like to touch you then your Pater noster is in your mouth and the diuell in your mind You name God with your
our most gratious God who hath made vs that according to his owne image ransomed vs from the slauery of Sathan when we were lost not onelie redéemed vs but is also well pleased to bestowe a kingdome vppon vs to liue and raigne with himselfe for euer Autoph Who is he but will confesse it Philox. And who is he y t is thankfull for it who wil shew thēselues so thankfull for this benefite so vnspeakable as commonly some will for a slender good turne receaued at their friends hands He that will not go to the dore to heare Gods worde preached will much lesse deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow Christ Autoph I must néedes confesse that I account it an harde saying to forsake and deny my selfe and to followe him Philox. But I can tell you an harder saying then that Autoph What is that Philox. Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell And his Angels Autoph I beshrew me if I thought of that Philox. Oh Autophilus remember the ende and thou shalt not doe amisse They that beare the Crosse for Christs sake shall neuer feare that sentence which otherwise is fearefull to a crazie conscience Autoph It is said indéede that the seruaunts of the Crosse which liue after the example of him which was crucified shall approch and come nigh vnto Christ with great boldnes Philox. Why then are we so madde as to feare that which is the way vnto heauen for herein is ioy of minde celestiall comfort aide against enemies perfection of holinesse Then die with Christ and liue with Christ suffer with Christ and raigne with Christ Autoph It may be so I would and yet me thinkes I am loth to forsake this world Philox. But if thou wilt carry the Crosse willingly and chearefully it wil carry thée to an happy ende namely where there is no miserie But if you carry it with a grudging minde it will be heauy to beare and yet shall you beare it perforce but it is necessarie that euery one suffer crosse and calamity for Christs sake Philox. Yea verily Who so euer will liue godly in Christ Iesu must suffer persecution yea and we must of necessitie enter into heauen through many tribulations where the Apostle vseth this worde Oportet againe he whippeth euery childe whom he receiueth if euery one then none excepted which thing is vrged so farre of the Apostle that he séemeth to sette it downe in the same place as an axiom or plaine assertion Autoph Me thinkes I coulde be content to fauour and to follow Christ notwithstanding I would not drink of this cuppe Philox. Christe may haue suche friendes inough which will fauour him and loue his kingdome but fewe that will suffer with him many that will beare him company in comfortable things but relent in aduersitie many that will sitte at meate with him but fewe partakers of his continencie many play the good fellowes at an inch in the breaking of bread but fewe willing to drinke of his cuppe many that wil admire at his miracles which notwithstanding count his Crosse a reproach Autoph Yet cannot I be perswaded but that it is a Paradoxe that all men must drinke of the cup of affliction and for mine owne part I estéeme vertue a most precious gem and could be content to do much if it might be with quietnes of minde but to beare this which you call the Crosse is vnwoonted to me and more then I can well away with and I coulde name some which counte it an vnreasonable demaunde to be touched in this point Philox. You builde vppon a false ground if you thinke it possible to serue God with worldly ease for albeit tribulations and persecutions are not in all ages and all places alike yet is there none of Gods children but at sometimes féele affliction both internall and externall Multae tribulationes iustorum sayth the Prophet Dauid The iust doe suffer many tribulations they that faile in the same shippe with Christe must be tossed with the same tempestious windes and raging waues of the sea He that is of Christ his church must suffer crosses for Christs sake Autoph I thank God I neuer tasted of the cup of affliction so that I knowe not how sower it is neither shal I as I hope Philox. How can that be since the life of man is a warrefare vppon earth replenished with miserie by the iust iudgment of GOD after the fall of Adam What greater warre than continuallie to combat against the concupistence of the flesh to bid battaile against the worlde and the deuill which haue to many gynnes wherewith to beguile vs so many trappes to ensnare vs so many sleightes to supplant vs so many trippes to ouerthrowe vs sometimes to make vs proude by erecting to dignitie sometimes to make vs desperate by detecting vs to pouertie somtimes by flattery to make vs vaineglorious somtimes by threatning to make vs impatient yea verily this olde serpent plusquam mille habet nocendi artes Going about as sayth saint Peter Like a roaring Lion seeking whom hee may deuoure Wheresoeuer God hath a Church the diuell will commonly séeke to haue a Chappell next adioyning where there is a righteous Abell there is commonly a cursed Caine to persecute him where soeuer there is some of Israels séede there is some of Ismaels broode ready to annoy him where there is a Iacob there is an Esau where there is a Dauid there is a Saul where there is Christ there is a Iudas at hand to be tray him where there is a Paul there is a Nero readie like a bloudsucker to persecute him And such affliction hath béene allotted to the Church from the beginning to the time of Noe from Noe to Abraham from Abraham to Moses from Moses to Christ and so shall it be to the worldes ende which indéede is méete and necessarie for hereby we are humbled purged and instructed yea it is as it were a schooling to the children of God The Lorde doth trie by laying his Crosse vppon our neckes and purifieth vs in the Furnace of affliction euen as golde is tried in the fire and as the husbandmen which when their Corne is somewhat too ranke do mow it downe and prune their trées not to destroy them but to make them beare more aboundantly so likewise the flesh of ours in time of peace is luskish lumpish lasie and drowsie slowe to godly and Christian exercises but wedded to earthly dung and giuen to vaine delightes Nowe therefore it is not onely expedient but also verie necessarie that miserie trouble and afflliction should come to stirre vp this dull sluggish lumpe for which cause the Saintes are compared to iron which by vse is somewhat worne and diminished but lying vnused is eaten with ruste more and more Dearely beloued sayth Saint Peter Thinke it not straunge that yee are tried with
fire which thing is to trie you as though some straunge thing happened vnto you But reioyce rather in that yee are partakers in the afflictions of Christ that when his glorie is reuealed yee may be merrie and glad For if we be deade with him wee shall also liue with him if wee be patient we shall also raigne with him if wee denie him he shall also denie vs. Those which he knewe before hee had also predestinate sayth the Apostle to the Romanes that they shoulde bee like fashioned to the shape of his Sonne that hee might bee the first begotten amongest many bretheren It is good for mee sayth the Prophet Dauid that thou hast humbled mee Psalme 119. And héere is iust occasion offered to touch the examples of the Saintes Did not the Lorde himselfe tempt Abraham after he had chosen him by making him yéelde to the slaughter of his tender childe Did not Isaac féele Famine and one mischiefe as it were iumping and falling vpon the necke of another to vexe and grieue him withall Was not Iacob compassed about with many troubles whilest he was yet in his mothers wombe and sawe nothing began to striue with his brother whose bloudy hands he had much adoe to escape in his stripling age exiling himselfe from his fathers house into Syria where he was roughly racked in the schoole of affliction at his returne ready to be swallowed vp of sorrowes whose childrens vntoward behauiour had béene inough to haue killed him in his latter daies Also being enforced for want of foode to goe into a forraigne Country Furthermore was not Moses gréeuously afflicted first by Pharao and his Princes afterwardes by his owne housholde and Country men Was not Dauid the Lordes annointed grieuously molested of his Master Saul who was euen madde against him to bring him to destruction what iniurie suffered he of his sonne Absolon to be briefe the rodde of affliction was alwaies striking vppon his pate Here might at large be spoken of the sense of the olde Testament of whose tribulation the Apostle séemeth to make a briefe and compendious Epitomie Hebrewes 11. That some were racked some reproched some chained some imprisoned some cutte in pieces some stoned some slaine with the sworde some went about in hairie cloth in skinnes of Goates in great extremitie pressed and tormented wandring and hiding themselues in deserts hilles caues and holes vnder the grounde Paul speaking of himselfe sayth If any other be the Ministers of Christ I am more in labours more aboundantly in stripes aboue measure in imprisonment more plenteously in death more often of the Iewes I receiued fiue times fortie stripes saue one thrise was I beaten with roddes once stoned thrise I suffered shippewracke a day and a night haue I beene in the deapth in iourneying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine owne Nations in perils among the Heathen in perils in the Cittie in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils amongest false bretheren in labour and trauaile in watchinges often in hunger and thirst and fastinges often in colde and nakednesse besides those thinges which outwardly come vnto mee The trouble which dailie lieth vppon mee is the care of al churches to come nerer If Christ whose whole life was nothing else but crosses and afflictions coulde not enter his glorie but by suffering is it reason that the seruaunt shoulde bée priuiledged aboue his maister What shoulde I héere speak of the Apostolike Church which euen to this daie is most bloudilie persecuted of Antichrist his hellhoundes What cruell persecutions were there in the space of thrée hundred and eightéene yéeres when the Church Apostolike was as it were in the infancie First by Nero that bloud sucker secondlie by Domitian who banished Iohn into the Ile of Pathmos thirdly by Traiane who published most terrible Edicts against the Christians vnder whome that most notable preacher and martyr Ignatius with many excellent seruaunts of Christ were cast vnto wilde beastes to bée torne and deuoured fourthly by Verus vnder whō Polycarpus was burnt in fire and Iraeneus Bishop of Lions beheaded with the swoord Fiftly by Septimius Seuerus who crowned many a Saint with the garlande of martyrdome amongst whom is reckoned Leonidas y e Father of Origene Sixtly by Iulius Maximinus who plaide the bloudie tyrant against the Church Seuenthly by Decius who proclaimed most horrible Edictes against the faithfull in whose time was Saint Laurence broiled vppon a gridyron Eightly by Licinius Valerianus who plaide the tyrant against Christ and the members of his bodie in which bloudie broyle were slaine Cornelius and Cyprian two most excellent men Ninthlie by Valerius Aurelianus who rather intended than ended his wicked vngodly practises Lastlie by Dioclesian Maximinian and the rest whose horrible persecutions agaynst the Churche of Christe are verie perfectlie depainted of Eusebius who was a spectator and eie witnes of so bloudie a pageant But to come to our selues What lions abroade what foxes at home haue conspired to murther y e members of Christ had not the Lorde in mercie discouered their conspiracies and preuented their treacheries putting a hooke in the nosethrils and a snaffle in the mouthes of mercilesse tyrantes What mercie hath he shewed in shielding and sheltering vs from the tyrannie of the bloudie Spaniardes who intended the ouerthrowe of our Countrie the sacking of our cities the murthering of men and women to dash the braines of tender babes against the stones These are Sathans impes Antichristian helhounds which thinke to swallowe vp all things an hundred furlonges before them which lie in wait to stop the passage of the Gospell and to extinguishe the light of Gods holy word gaping after those blacke daies of darknes But he whose dwelling is aboue the clouds holdeth the stearne and gouerneth all things both in heauen and in earth is able euen with one blast of his breath to ouerthrow all their wicked deuices although the heathen rage imagine vaine things The kings of the earth stand vp assemble themselues together against the Lorde and against his annointed Although they take wicked counsaile and deuise deuillish meanes to banish out of the worlde the godlie professours of his Gospell although they trauaile with wickednesse and conceiue and bring forth mischiefe lurke in secrete with their garrisons like lions stretch their gréedie throates open their deuouring mouthes to swalowe vp the Lordes flocke yet can the Lorde destroy them and such fruites of theirs as heretofore of his infinite mercie he hath done He hath from the beginning and will also protect this boate and little barke of his tossed amongest so many perils and miserable surges in the raging sea of this troublesome worlde that it perishe not being ouerwhelmed for which cause wee praie the good Lorde to visite this little vine of Englande with thy right hande hemme thy flocke within thy hurdles that either by