in the true seruice of the Lord because he loued the issu of his flesh more theÌ„ the glory of God maintained his childreÌ„ with y â— which was bestowed on the worship of god therfore the Lord seÌ„t a doble embassage vnto him First y e man of God told him plainly after this maner Thus saith the lord did not I plainly appear vnto y â— house of thy father when he was in Egypt in Pharaos house and chose him out of all the tribesâ— of Israell to bee my Preest to offer vpon mine alter and to burne incense and to weare an Ephod before mee and I gaue vnto the house of thy father all the burnt offeringes made to mee by fire of the children of Israell Wherefore haue you kicked against my sacrifice and mine offeringe which I commaunded in my tabernacle and honourest thy children aboue mee to make your selues fatte of the first fruites of all the offeringes of my people Israell Wherefore the Lord God of Israell saith I saide that thine house and the house of thy father should walke before mee for euer But nowe the Lord saieth it shal not bee so for them which honour me them I will honour And they which despise mee shall be dispised Beholde the day shall come that I will cut of thine arme and the arme of thy fathers house and there shall not bee an olde man in thine house and thou shalt see thine enimie in the habitation of the Lord c. And this shall bee a signe vnto thee thy two sonnes Ophney and Phinees shall both die in one daie This was the first Embassage and the second was like vnto it denounced by the childe Samuell in this manner Behold I will doe a thing in Israell that the eares of all which heare it shall tingle In that day I wil bring all the plagues against Elie and against his house which I haue already determined and I will iudge his house for euâ—r and the iniquitie of his house shal not be done away with offeringes and oblations for euer Which when Elie heard he being stricken with greese of hart hee saide it is the Lord let him doe as it seemeth best in his eies Immediatly after these offeÌ„ces of the soÌ„s of Ely against the Lord his holy worship the prophaning of the tabernale which was a figure of the church the Philistnes moued battail against Israel they won the field they tooke the arke of the Lord in the same day Oppney and Phines the sons of Elye were slaine in the battaile At which time Ely sitting vppon a cell trembling for feare of the arke then gone forth into the battaile he beeing blind in the euening he hard a sorowfull noise through out the whole cittie weeping mourning great lamentation euen in such sorte that he sent presently to know the cause thereof In the same instant a messenger came running from the feelde in hast telling him that all Israel was that day discomfited in the battaile great effusion of bloud in the middest of Israell with the death of his two sons Ophney and Phinees also the arke of God was taken by the Philistines But when Elie hearde the arke of God named he fell downe backward froÌ„ his feate brake his necke O the dreadfull iudgement of the Lord against those which take awaie the liuing giueÌ„ to maintaine his holy worship Here we see the truth of Elies speach if man sinne agaist man there may be an attonement made betwixt theÌ„ But if man sin against God if he diminish the glory of the Lords temple to increase his own honour or feed himselfe his wife his children with the goods giuen to the worship of the Iord his holy temple who shall intreate for him those which by weakenes of the flesh sin of infirmity to theÌ„ the Lord wil more easily grant pardoÌ„ But if thou lift thine hand against the mighty God of heauen earth willingly diminish the worship of his holy name theÌ„ tremble fear repeÌ„t indeed for not the malefactor only but his father his bretheren his citie his countrie where his wickednes is suffred shal be grieuouslie punished by the hand of God in peace vanquished by the enemie in the daie of battail Herein both Clergie Temporaltie are to take example of the punishmeÌ„ts which light on those that diminish or alter the oblations godlie deuotions which true christian Princes other wel disposed people hath freely bestowed on the Church Though their hearts be so hardened that they doe not feare and their conscience so brauned that they cry to those which shew forth the dreadfull iudgements of the Lord in this case Talke on giue me the goods therein take the fat of the Church liuings and leaue the leane for those which minister at the Altar of the Lord Yet let them assure themselues that the Lord wil come wil not defer and till he come he hath laid vp a heauie iudgement for them against the daie of distresse In the battaile they shall be discomforted their sonnes shall perish with the sword themselues shall die the same night they shal know that it is the Lord. He wil be serued first none but he He wil haue the best of our lands goods children none but he He will haue the Kingdome the power the glorie none but he There shall no iniquity remain in his house Neither is he like to sinful man that he wil grant childish dispensations contrarie to his own laws He hath granted no priuiledge of euil life to anie person whatsoeuer If the King offend hee spareth not his goods his lands his childreÌ„ his life his honor If the people sin he raiseth a strong strange people against them in war or sendeth a secret pestilence to destroy them at home in peace If the priest conuert the offerings of the Lords worship vnto the maintenance of his wife children though it be that good old man Elie yet the people for whom he praieth shal flie before their enemies his sons shall die on the edge of the sword he shal break his neck down backward the ark of the Lord shal be taken by the vncircuÌ„cised Philistines that which is the core of this most grieuous plague sore the glory of the Lord shal depart from the land Tunc tuares agitur paries cùm proximus ardet if iudgmeÌ„t begin at the house of God what shall be amongst the estranged sinners if the fier be already so kindled in the greene tree what shall become of the drie If the Lorde thus seuerelie punished his priest whom hee chose vnto himselfe for diminishing the sacrifice the solemnity therof with what sword wil he reuenge the disgraces of his holie Temple amongst the heathen or the greedie Atheists which spoile hir of hir dailie maintenance of hir pretious clothing of hir solemn foundations of hir wel bestowed lands You know that
Christians to the Church which is the spirituall mother of all Christians as well rich as poore the mightie as the simple the king as the begger according vnto the saying of Saint Chrisostome writing on the Gospell of Saint Mathew Ecclesia primorum regum est mater The Church is the mother of the highest Princes Not many pages after giuing his iudgement concerning the goodes of the Church in this sorte those which builde tombes for the Martyrs of Christ and adorne his temples they do a good worke Thereby signifiyng that they which deface the temples of God and pull them downe they commit a great and greeuous sinne in the sight of the almightie Paulus Diaconus in the fourth booke de gestis longo Bardorum recordeth that Theodelinda that vertuous Queene built a faire Cathedrall Church dedicating it to the name of Saint Iohn Baptist adorning it with manye pretious iewells ornamentes and goodlie landes which the aforesaid Authour sayth oughte not to bee alienated According vnto the sentence of Iustinian in his booke Authent Columna secunda of constitutions intituled of not alienating or chaunging ecclesiasticall goods whatsoeuer All good Emperours in their lawes and constitutions had a special care of preseruing increasing and safekeeping the goods of the Church And sith Iustinians lawes were their direction he not onelie made General statutes for the preseruation thereof but also in his law he affirmeth that the holie vessels and garments of the temples ought not to be pawned except it bee for the redeeming of captiues out of the seruitude and tirannie of infidels nay in another place hee chargeth the Bishops that they take not to themselues the treasure of the Church which holesome lawes so mooued the harts of all Christian Emperours that they bestowed verie deuoutlie and bountifully on the church commaunding straightly that all meÌ„ should restore vnto the same whatsoeuer had bid taken therefrom by wicked tyrantes robbers of the Church and spoilers of the dead which Saint Chrisostome in his booke Defato counteth litle lesse than manslaughter Hereupon Theodoricus commaunded Duke Ibba that he should restore vnto the Church of Marbâ—na the possessions therof taken awaie detained from the Church by Alaricus And in an other epistle to Gelericus hee commaundeth him to restore a fielde which was alienated from the Church of Constance and to punish the possessor thereof in that hee presumed to take to his owne priuate vse the possessions of the Church This censure was giuen without exception of anie person according to that which Turonensis writeth in the fourth booke of his Historie certaine kinges saith hee haue presumed most irreligiouslie to take the goods of the church into their treasure as did Clotharius which made an edict that all the Churches of his realme should paie the third part of their fruits into his treasurie but beeing rebuked by that holie Bishop Iniuriosus he retracted his irreligious opinion and that wicked fact Let no man beare so irreligious a minde or so hard a hart within his breast to thinke otherwise than that it is a most grieuous sinne to take any thing from the holie Church sith first it is giuen to maintaine the holie worshippe of God there Secondlie to feed the poore and to bee bestowed on such like holie and vrgent necessitie according to the which our ancient Beda writeth in the first booke of his historie concerning this Iland Bonorum ecclesiasticorum saith hee of church goods the first part is due to the Bishop for the maintenance of hospitality the second to the inferiour clergie the third to the poore the fourth to the repairing of the church but to other or to those which haue sufficient of themselues the goods of the church are not to be imployed as that learned Prosper in his treatie De vita contemplatiua witnesseth in these wordes ecclesia nihil eis erogare debet c. The church ought not to bestow any thing on those which haue sufficient of their owne Otherwise though some of the Church giue it yet it is plaine sacriledge for them which take it as saint Ierom in his epistle to Damasus sheweth in these wordes qui autem parentum bonis c. Those which haue sufficient left them by their parents to maintaine them if they take anie of those goods which are giuen to maintaine the poore it is sacriledge Caluin writing on the seuenth of Amos calleth the diminishing of the immunities or commodities of the church sacriledge sounding the same with good Saint Barnard writing on the Canticles according to this tenor Proditores dei ecclesiae c. They which take from the temples they are betraiers of God and his church These learned fathers they expresse the true sentence of their mother the holye church pronouncing the true fauour of God and his louing countenance turned clerely vnto them which fauour nourish his holie church with his poore belonging to the same and the seuere wrath of the Lord God kindled against all those which spoile his louing spouse here on earth bereauing her of her beautiful children her costlie garmentes made of needle worke all glorious within concerning whom the Lord hath sayd hee which harmeth you he toucheth the apple of mine eie Bullinger on the fift of the first epistle of saint Paul to Tymothie concerning the reformation of Church goods writeth thus the goods of the Church are the gold of Tolossan which breedeth his distruction that possesseth it Therefore though the churches their goods landes were abused by Monkes and Friers yet there is no cause why Christian Princes should thinke that reformation good and religious which pulleth down the churches and turneth the church goods to the vse and possessions of laie men for they were not first giuen to this end kinges and princes and magistrates haue their reuenewes their tributes their fines their customes their publique treasures appointed for their vses but as for the goods of the church they were first giuen for the maintenance of students in humanitie and diuinitie for the maintaining of Bishops and hospitalitie for the relieuing of the poore widowes stangers and captiues and those which are in necessitie and a certaine portion was appointed for the repairing of Churches Let them restore such sufficiencie of goods to the Church as will fullie suffice for the maintaining of all the premisses before they take one halfe pennie from the Church or else let them surelie looke for the grieuous vengeance of God on them and their house That learned Peter Martir concerning the goods of the church vniustlie required by Magistrates writeth thus in eo quaesto difficilis est in qua dissoluenda c. In that case it is a doubtfull question in answering the which I had rather incline to that point that if the prince or magistrate should take awaie the goods of the church no man ought violentlie to resist them But if
cause why for if the Lord promise long life and happie daies to them which dutifullie honor their father and their mother shall hee not pull out his flaming sworde of indignation and cutte of the line of their posteritie which dishonor their spirituall mother the holie church pilling and powling her of her iewels ornamentes auncient liberties large possessions making her loathsome euen in in the sight of the heathen If thy louing mother tooke thee vp out of the wildernesse from the mouthes of manie wilde beastes if shee brought thee in her louing armes into her house and lapped thee warme in her owne clothes if she suckled thee with her tender brestes if she sustained many great losses harde aduentures in bringing thee vp if she suffered many troubles daungers in defending thee nay if shee haue beene most greeuously persecuted once twise thrise nay more than tenne times for thy sake is it not barbarous crueltie for thee when thy mother is olde to take her iewels from her necke her clothes from hir backe her house ouer her head her meate out of hir hande Wilt thou scratch the teate that gaue thee sucke or diminish the liuing of the Church which giueth the spirituall foode for the soule though the holy scripture had not once mentioned it yet the law of nature dooth threaten a dreadfull doome to all those which destroy their owne parents God the Creator of nature it selfe dooth neuer leaue it vnpunished Let vs propound vnto our selues the life the honour the dignitie the blessed memorie and immortall glorie of those worthie princes already mentioned And on the contrary the sinister beginnings the euill successe the miserable endes of all those which neglected the glorie of God and the prosperous estate of his Church which of all Christians especially of all true nobilitie ought most to bee abhorred Doe but lift vp your eie and looke at tbose which haue shaked their head at Sion by shaking of Sion her selfe haue meant to strengthen themselues on all sides Fixe your eies stedfastly yea but a little on those gracelesse ympes after many great plagues and destructions sent on them ye shall see the clowde cleane vanished and in the house of the wicked no man lefte His habitation shalbe voide and there shall no man remaine to saie with the olde Prophet alas my brother alas my vnckle alas my loouing father Nowe hauing bent our eyes vnto the viewe of sundrie examples let vs looke into the ages past and see if euer the Godly were vtterlie destitute or that the enemies of the Church of God euer continued long in honour or if those which anie waie impared the Church prospered afterwardes in their generations Come and see nay I pray you reede and vnderstand that the Lord hath alwaies beene most ielous ouer his beloued spouse Tell mee if you bee so olde or your memorie so good can you name anie what so euer which at anie time in anie nation diminished the state the liuing the honour the safetie of the church of Christ and scaped the handes of the almightie Dauids eating of the shewe breade in the dayes of Abiather the high Preest is aunswered by the Lord of truth extreame necessitie droue him therevnto and yet as the learned write hee might more safely doe it because he was both a Prophet and a king herein prefiguring the person of a sauiour Christ who was a king a preest and a Prophet But let vs proceede plainly saying the sooth of our conclusion The Lord in executing his iudgementes hath no respecte of persons neither pardoneth he this greeuous voluntarie sinne of detracting from the Church so easilie as hee dooth other sinnes of infirmitie But rather hee sheweth his most seuere iudgement against those which take the liuing of the leuit from the Church and impropriate the same vnto themselues their wiues and their children Ely was a goodlie old Priest aud verie learned He was so beloued of the Lord that by the mouth of God hee and his seede were appointed to minister in the house of God hee had the freedome and prerogatiue of the Priests and he onelie had the disposing of the Arke the house the sacrifice of God in his daies Till at the length together with the vse of holie rites thorough the hope of small gaine hee suffered great abuse to enter into the house of God in that the sonnes of Ely forgetting God the due reuerence which they ought vnto his holy sacrifice applied the vse thereof more to the feeding of their owne selues then to the solemne and reuerend pacifying of the Lord for the sinnes of the people They seldome offered themselues whē any of the people came to offer vp vnto the Lord whilest the meat was boiling the Priests boy came hauing a fleshhook in his hād he thrust it deep into the caudron what piece soeuer came vp that the Priest tooke to himself This did they vnto all the people of Israel which came to sacrifice in the house of God at Silo. Yea before they burnt the fat the priestes boy came to him which offered saying giue me a portiō that I may rost for the priest I will not stay to take boiled flesh at thine hands but I must haue it rawe To whom when he which offred vnto the Lorde answered not so but according to the custome let the fat be burnt first take then at your pleasure To whome the boy replied nay but if thou wilt not giue it me presentlie I will take it whether thou wilt or no. Herevpon the sins of the sonnes of Elie was grieuous in the sight of God because they being sinfull flesh tooke to their owne vse that which was bestowed on the sacrifice of the God of heauen Elie heard all those things of his sonnes and more then that and he said vnto them verie mildlie howe is it my sonnes that I heare of such wickednes committed by you against the Lord doe so no more my sonnes doe so no more Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati They sinned still by dailie custome without regard they offended the Lord without remorse the old father spake to his sonnes sometimes but so louing lie that hee hated his children that hee fed their humour and nourished them in their wanton wickednes forgetting that truth which he spake with his lips If one man sinne against another God may be pacified for them both but if man sin against God who shal intreat for him or make sufficient satisfactiō This mild old man waxed towards his end As is the vse of natural fathers he loued his sons too much too vehementlie too childishlie in that he was loather to loose their fauning looks then the fauor of the Lord. Alas say some you must beare with nature he was verie old and his greatest ioy was his sons Was his ioy here vpō earth And did he reioice more in his fleshly childrē then
secrete polling and vndermining the Church of Iesu Christ. And if it be a great punishment sent from God vpon thee thy wife thy children thy house or family thy countrie or people though thou haue not sinned lately notoriouslie yet remember what thou hast done long since thinke that long since thou inclosedst such a fielde from thy poore neighbours that that thou tookest the goodes lands and priuiledges from such a Church there giuen to maintaine the worshippe of the Lorde therewith remember that though it were long since yet with the Lord a thousand yeares is but as one day and therefore now hee punisheth thee euen with as perfect iustice as if the deede were nowe in dooing before his face Would to God that men woulde hereby learne to feare the Lord and to tremble at his secrete iudgement that they woulde cast off the loue of this wicked worlde which corrupteth their consciences and poisoneth their owne soules that they woulde leaue this fained kinde of repenting in worde onelie and repent in deede which is restoring with Zacheus foure folde and vndooing that which they haue done to the vttermost of their power If the loue of the Lords blessinges will not incite them to good life yet let the fcare of his heauie iudgementes deterre them from sinne Let vs not looke on those great and grieuous examples which I haue nowe rehearsed thinking those were long since in times past and that in forraine nations beyond the seas for if we looke well we shall see that as many plagues pestilences and other contagious diseases of the bodie haue beene brought ouer sea into this fortunate Iland so also this most contagious and deadly maladie of bodie and soule came ouer and rooted it selfe in this lande long since Wee haue store of examples at home and one shall serue for the perfecting of this period William Rufus the third sonne of the Conquerour after hee had ouercome his enemies and their resistance diuers times beeing returned out of Fraunce and quietly enioying the Scepter of this land afterward hee liued in ioy and triumph and for the more suppliance of his pleasure and pastime he to inlarge his Forrest pulled downe foure Abbeies seauenteene parish Churches and all the Townes belonging to the same Quo quisque peccat eodem saepe plectitur modo Oft times a man is punished the same way by which hee offendeth and so was hee for in the same Forrest where these Churches stood which hee pulled downe and in the same disport or pastime for which he dissolued them he was slaine by the glauncing of an arrow shot at a Deare by a Knight so that hee fell downe therewith on the grounde giuing onelie one grone Some write that in the same place where he fell downe and died in olde time there had beene a faire Church which with others in his Fathers time were dissolued for the enlarging of the said Forrest in which Forrest also a litle before the Kings Nephew was slaine by the like chaunce This Kings Father and he both minded to haue made this a fâ—ire goodly Forrest fit for the disport and hunting of a king but the Churche of Christe and the houses of his poore Subiects stood in his waie His officers and sycophants considering what would come rouling into their purses that way said it was very meete it should be so so it was But alas it proued a small pleasure of the father which ended with the deadlie groning of his sonne a simple pastime for the king to haue his bodie wounded with the piercing arrow to the death Pleasure bought with griefe is seldome kindly and gaine procured with the displeasure of the Almighty doth neuer profite The hearts of the wicked lust after their owne bane and wanton pleasure poisoneth hir owne Nurse The flower of flesh florisheth not an houre and the fall thereof is griefe to the eie The wisedome of this world compoundeth cares and the height of their deuises want successe Most mens fancie wearieth the spirite and their welthiest wish is perfect disquietnes He which magnifieth himself seeketh his owne decaie because the chaire of pride is placed on slipperie ice Hee which gathereth vnrighteous goodes for his children pierceth the heart of his owne flesh and who so taketh away his neigbours possession he diggeth vp the roote of his owne posteritie Hee which neglecteth his maker choketh his soule and hee which taketh from the Church shall not prosper vppon earth his bodie shall decaâ—e without his bloud shall drie vp within his marowe shall consume within his bones his musicke shall bee groning daie and night his feeding shall be loathsomnes of meate his wish shal be O that I were as yonder poore man his comfort that his good daies bee past his recreation one pang vpon an other his glad tidings the death of his children his consolation the loathing of his friends his hope the feare of death and vnlesse hee repent his ende shall bee despairre of eternall life Who so mindeth to liue with Iesus Christ eternally in heauen aboue and in this life mindeth to see good daies let him walke the way of the righteous and marke the fruitlesse paths of the wicked Frst of all let him keepe his hands from violating holie things and behold the miserable ende of those which doe the contrarie Let him reade the holie Gospell of Saint Mathewe and in reading let him marke diligentlie in marking diligentlie let him vnderstand truelie what our Sauiour Christ meaneth when hee saith yee fooles whether is the golde holie or the Temple which sanctifieth the golde and whether is the gift holie or the Altar which sanctifieth the gift If the Temple make the ornaments holie then the walles the woode the stone of the which the Temple doth consist is holie if the Altar doe sanctifie the gift then that which belongeth to the maintaining of the Altar is sanctified they which minister ther at are to be reputed holy If by our sauior Christ his speach those things be true then they be holie men which build vp the Lords house and they be wicked which pull downe the same according to that old verse Ecclesias Christi quas fundauêrâ— parentes Heu malè diripiunt gnati pietate carentes The godlie Fathers builded vp the Churches of Christ and the vngodlie children haue pulled them downe But marke the end of all those which walked this way and learne to keepe thy conscience cleare from this gracelesse fact The Lord inflicted manie plagues on them whilest they liued here and when they were once deade their honour vanished like smoake and was buried with them in the graue As their bodies consumed in the earth euen so their infamie did spring vp out of the ground their goods wasted like waxe in the fire and like snow before the Sunne their posteritie became like the grasse growing on the house top which withereth before it â—ee ripe Nether was this only the
of a Christian. With which warres he persecuteth vexeth and cruelly tormenteth the Christians with which hee striueth day and night to root out the auncient Catholique faith In which thing we see plainely that he hath preuailed so long and so strongly that hee hath leuied such strength of soldiers both by sea and by land that hee hath so furnished himselfe with warlike power and to conclude that he hath prepared as great an armie against the Christians nay Italie it selfe as euer Zerxes that great Potentate brought against the Grecians whose armie as it is recorded almost couered the Seas with ships and the land with footmen wherefore the hugenes of such great preparation incredible power must needes be great terrour to vs all Many such like matters passed and ouerpassed whilest we were talking At length our speach drew to that conclusion how great how lamentable and how sorrowfull was the losse of your Iland Euboea not to bee named without teares then the which there coulde not haue chaunced a greater a more sorrowfull a more lamentable losse either to you or to the state of all Christendome For thereby most cruell warre and extreame daunger is threatned not onely to you and to your dominions bordering on the seas but likewise to Italie it selfe and to our Catholique faith a most grieuous euersion and vtter destruction is attempted Wherefore wee haue great cause to feare lest the name of Christendome be now in daunger to be vtterly extinguished together with the Catholique faith confirmed with so many labours with so much bloud with such and so many agonies of Iesus Christ. For nowe the axe is laide to the roote of the tree our cruell enemies are before the dore now the shores resound againe with the great force of warres which approch them by Seas Nowe vnlesse it please God to helpe vs from heauen death and destruction doe come vppon vs. Who is able to represse the cruell force of this deuouring beast who shall disanull his deadly attempt who is able to terrifie him from his purpose alreadie puffed vp with the hope of victorie Through the multitude of his people and the greatnes of his victories he counteth his dominions to litle for desire of rule and Empire hath no meane But howe much the larger the dominion is so much more the desire of rule encreaseth Wherefore hee will easily be persuaded that in time hee may also obtaine the whole dominion of Italie In truth this is the full height of his wish he euen gapeth after this most greedily to this purpose he frameth all his studie all his cogitations all his counsell all his deuise and pollicie The same occasion which mooued Alexander of Macedonie or Iulius Cesar whome hee propoundeth to follow before all others in higher sort then is the lot of mortall man to seeke the conquest of the whole worlde mooueth this man also most earnestly thus to seeke the inlarging of his dominions through his victorious acts to become famous with al posterity which hath been no small prouokement to the most ingenuous excellent mindes to attempt the greatest hardest aduentures Now theÌ„ by emulatioÌ„ of their glorie he indeuoureth to shew himselfe like vnto theÌ„ through the example of their renoume desire of praise he seemeth daily more more to be inflamed which hee so much the more earnestly desireth how much the waie is broader and the entrance easier through this his last victorie In which respect as it seemeth to many this death calamity of your Euripus is the greatest most to be lameÌ„ted of all others the which many thinke and affirme that God of his righteous and iust iudgement hath brought vpon you for your insolent taxing and pouling of holy thinges belonging to the Church and your iniurious troubling of the state of religion It likewise hapned not long since to that most famous citie Constantinople renoumed through the whole world which in time past was the sea of the Romain â—mpire but as I remember for a greater crime For although without great grief we cannot wel remember that vnfortunate slaughter yet all men can well witnes that their lamentable calamity miserable destruction came vpon them by the iust iudgement of almighty God for the long obstinate discord departing of the Grecians from the true faith What signifieth the destructioÌ„ of the Pisans which in times past gloried that they were of so great power and dominion did not all things prosper well with theÌ„ was not their kingdome safe sure both by sea land so long as they imbraced religioÌ„ with great reuerence but afterwards wheÌ„ they laied wicked violent haÌ„ds on the Church and the Ministers of the high God then they were brought into many aduersities many great losses many miserable calamities so that they did not only lose their dominion rule but they became bondslaues to their enimies Where let no maÌ„ maruel if of late it hath hapned in like miserable sort to your IlaÌ„d Euboâ—a for it is the saying of all people nations that your expeditioÌ„ of Achaia had so lameÌ„table so vnhappy a conclusioÌ„ for your diminishing and taxing of the liuinges belonging to the Church And in like sort all men account that the death of your Euripus was the iust iudgement of God for your iniuries and polling of the Church Wherefore if we will waie this matter wiselie if with iudgement wee will looke into our owne doings we haue great cause I say wee haue great cause to feare that if you remaine in this minde and disposition still the rest of your Ilands and Cities shall be subiect to the same calamities and destruction Neither can we hope that our afflicted state shall bee repaired so long as the iust cause of our ruine still remaineth amongest vs. These thinges and such like are often heard in euery place which were too long to repeat at this present Now this one thing is sufficient to be heere mentioned that many thinges are reported abroade not vncertainly nor obscurely to the great discredit and disgrace of your most famous Senate by reason of your great compilation and pilling of holy things Wherefore to say the truth in regard of that singuler good will obseruance which I beare vnto your honorable Senate I doe not a litle lament your estate in that I am desirous to hear those things of you and your happie estate which belong to high praise to great glory and renoume I cannot but bee greatly grieued when I consider how low that great honour and worthy fame of you is fallen which and that worthily thorough out the whole world and amongst the furthest nations was thought incredible For euen as in times past this most famous Citie excelled all others in abundance of wealth in plenty of all thinges in high glory in great dignitie so also in honestie of maners in holines of life in iustice faith pietie religion and other vertues it far