on high first kéepeth it lowe and holdeth it downe with the force of a van and the gathering togither of much winde Euen so our God presseth vs downe and kéepeth vs lowe that he may lift vs vp and exalt vs on high he throweth vs downe héere in earth that he may exalt vs in heauen and laieth many times disgrace vpon vs in this world among men that we may be gracious in the world to come with himselfe his angels and his saints On the other side AS a wrastler imbracing him with whom he striueth in the wrastling place for victorie lifteth him vp the higher that with the greater force he may hurle him against the ground So this world doth extoll vs that with throwing vs downe headlong it may hurt vs and that we may fall from the top of deceitfull and transitorie glorie downe to the bottome of most certaine and perpetuall ignominie Cyprian saith The world smileth vpon a man with a cruell purpose it flattereth to deceiue it calleth a man to it to kill him it extolleth him to vndo him AS men mad and frantike are woont to teare and rent themselues So wicked and vngodly men inflict vpon themselues most deadly and incurable wounds yea they be most wilfull murtherers of their owne soules and bodies For that is true in the booke of Wisedome Man through his owne naughtines killeth his owne soule And what greater madnes can there be than a man to run headlong vpon euerlasting destruction Iob hauing a desire to describe the ignorance of such men and to declare that euen in matters most euident and plaine they be vtterly void and destitute of wisedome he saith In the day light they run into darknes and as in the night so stumble they at noone daies And whereas the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome as Dauid and Salomon his sonne do both affirme and vngodly men loden with all maner of naughtines to the feare of God are méere strangers it is plainly and truly concluded that they be not onely without wisedome but also that they haue not so much as the beginning of the same AS the filthie swine regard not but thrust from them roses that are most beautifull and swéete and séeme to contemne most fragrant and pleasant flowers and do rather séeke after foule puddles and stinking mire and forsaking dainty dishes and costly iuncates do franke themselues most gréedily with wilde mast and vncleane things So vngodly men haue no taste of the word of God but hunting after vncertaine riches which are in continuall hazard and at the length will deceiue them they are as it were fettered in the inchanting pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world From the which the Lord preserue and deliuer vs. Amen AS in a fruitfull and fertile ground among many wholsome and very medicinable herbes some that be dangerous and full of poyson do grow So the wits and wisedome of men togither with some profitable and wholsome counsels and admonitions do bring foorth perilous and pestilent errors and are therfore with wisedome and great discretion to be regarded euen as herbes are to be gathered and vsed But this wisedome and discretion is to be sought for and had onely in the word of God which is a lanterne to our féete and a most perfect light vnto our pathes It is onely acceptable to the soules of Gods saints and nothing but it doth féede them to eternall life It is swéeter vnto them than hony and the hony combe In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in the Lords we cannot Thy iudgements O Lord saith Dauid are iust and more to be desired than fine golde or pretious stones and they are swéeter than hony and the hony combe It is the power of saluation to all that beléeue it it is able to saue our soules if it be throughly rooted in vs. The word of the Lord laid vp in our harts doth preserue vs from sinne it clenseth our harts and by the working of the holy Ghost with it it createth right spirits within vs. By the meanes of it the saints and seruants of God attaine to that puritie and cleannes of hart and minde that they wish for and desire nothing but that which is good godly and holy The author of the word is God himselfe who can neither deceiue nor be deceiued and therefore whatsoeuer is written in it is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines whatsoeuer it promiseth after death is eternitie and endlesse ioy to the children of God when this life is ended Whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his good pleasure AS that man that will giue an onset and encounter with an enimie or wil defend and kéepe himselfe vnwounded at his hands hath néede of a sword in his hand to smite the enimie withall and to repell his violence So whosoeuer will triumph and carry away the victorie ouer this world flesh and diuell must hold fast in his hand that is in his maners conuersation and the whole course of his life the worde of God which is called the sword of the spirit is sharper than any two edged sword This the Lord commandeth to be closed and safely laid vp in the cofer of our harts and to be worne as a signe vpon our hands and to be had for a remembrance alway before our eies Salomon doth counsell vs to binde it fast to our harts and to vse it as a chaine about our necks and to take it with vs when we walke abroad And Christ himselfe saith If any man loue me he will kéepe my saying Againe Blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The apostle also Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God but the doers of the lawe shall be iustified And Iames saith Be ye doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiuing your owne selues The Lord giue grace and his holy spirit vnto vs that we may loue to heare his word and to do his will EVen as doues do loue and delight in houses that be faire whited and do willingly frequent swéete and pleasant places but contemne and flie from blacke foule and vnsauorie cottages So faithles and vntrustie friends do hunt and séeke after the friendship of those men by whose wealth and riches they may be holpen reléeued and enriched But men in pouertie and distressed persons vnable to fill their bellies to clothe their backs or otherwise to pleasure them with some worldly things they vtterly despise they care not for their companie their loue nor friendship feare they God neuer so much Yea if some blustering storme and terrible tempest of aduersitie shall blowe away thy wealth and shall separate thy riches and thy selfe thy greatest friends as thou thoughtest will hide them from thée and no where be found but a faithfull friend loueth at al times
and do rent and corrupt the words and doctrine of the holy prophets of God euen as it were a belly and bowels that they may créepe out and escape from a liuely perfect and a sauing faith and they may be confirmed in their errors heresies and infidelitie Yea as the Iewes haue from time to time slain the gracious and wise prophets of God euen so the Papists now where they beare any sway of rule and authoritie do most cruelly torment and murther the saints of God EVen as the delicate ballance of a goldsmith is mooued with euery little weight so that with one graine laid vpon it it falleth downward So with euery thing whether it bée luckie or vnfortunate we are woont to be greatly mooued and do suddenly change our purposes somtime we excéede in mirth by and by we are ouerwhelmed with sorrow we are euen now praising men to the skies and presently we hurle them downe from heauen with our toongs and thrust them into hell We loue men and hate them we saue men and kill them all with one breth now we choose vertue and by and by vice Thus doth mans will obey his vnbrideled lust The Lorde redresse and amend it FOr euen as the Chameleon changeth his colour according to the thing whereupon he sitteth So we at euery tentation do change our mindes and are driuen from our purposes and determinations and our wicked lusts and the vngracious thoughts of our harts do force and driue vs euen whither they will ANd as the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white So are we most apt and prone to all kinde of vice but to no vertue AS he that falleth into a riuer if he neither mooue hands armes nor legs is quickly drowned and sinketh downe dead to the bottome but if he swim escapeth aliue So he that trusteth to that faith which the apostle Iames calleth a dead faith bicause it hath no good effects and bringeth foorth no liuely fruits as an holy loue to God and man pietie patience pitie mercie compassion and such like vertues he must néedes be drowned in vtter destruction and sinke downe into the bottomlesse gulfe and pit of hell but he that mooueth his hands and his féete to do the déedes of a true and right faith which as the Apostle Paule saith worketh by loue and shall be a doer of the word and not an hearer onely he shall escape safe out of all dangers and shall arriue at the happie hauen of eternall happines and euerlasting life through Christ Iesus whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his will Amen EVen as the riuer Hypanis which is very famous and much spoken of bicause of the cléerenes and swéetnes of the water of the same after that it receiueth into it the bitter and troubled waters of the fountaine Exampes is poisoned and made vnprofitable So many men of great and excellent wits which did flow with the pure and pleasant waters of vertues when they haue fallen into the societie and familiaritie of vngracious and godlesse men haue béene poysoned with the lewdnes of their liues and the loosenes of their conditions And conceiuing their inexpiable fraudes haue béene fouly disgraced with their most detestable vices FOr as rotten apples do corrupt those sound ones that do touch them and lie close to them So the euill manners had conditions of the vngodly do infect those that kéepe theÌ„ companie Therefore Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly nor stand in the way of sinners and hath not sit in the seate of scorners c. And I haue not sitten in the counsell of vanitie and will kéepe no companie with the wicked c. Go out of Babylon saith the Lord and flie from the Chaldeans Depart out of the middest of Babylon and go from the land of the Chaldeans Peter denied Christ when he came into Cayphas his hall c. And Paule saith Euill words corrupt good maners AS it profiteth nothing to graffe a plant if with a whirlewinde or storme it be pulled vp by the rootes before it beare fruit So the word of God being heard and laid vp in our minds shall do vs no good if before it bring foorth fruit with some blustering blasts and sturdie stormes of temptations it shall be rooted out of our harts Therefore saith the kingly prophet Dauid Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of God and in that law doth meditate day and night He saith not that that man is happie and blessed which heareth and readeth the word but he pronounceth him to be happie which doth practise the same in the course of his life and doth digest it in the stomacke of his vnderstanding and endeuoreth himselfe with all diligence to obey it and shal spend daies and nights in the meditation thereof And the Lord by Ezechiel saith Thou sonne of man eate this booke And againe Thy belly and thy bowels shall be filled with this booke Very many do eat the word of God and yet remaine emptie many do take it whose bowels that is their harts and minds are not filled with it bicause in very short time either they do forget it or else they apply it rather to a vaine curiositie than to the profit and good of their soules neither do they obserue those things which they know in their consciences by the instruction of the word ought to be obserued Such a thing did the Lord obiect against the vnthankfull Iewes by Aggeus the prophet Ye haue soweâ— much but ye haue inued little you haue eaten but you are not satisfied They eate much and are not satisfied which heare and reade much and leade euill and wicked liues so far staining and polluting themselues with foule sinne and filthie vices that their life and profession do woonderfully â—ar and vtterly disagrée EVen as that man which goeth about to cut downe a tall and mighty Cypres being barren vnprofitable and an idle trée that other fruitfull plants which are letted and hindered through the noisome shadow of it may increase and prosper doth not despaire though at the first or second blowe he fell it not but by little and little he striketh with the axe vntill at the length he lay it along Euen so a preacher of the worde of God although he sée no profite follow his preaching no faults amended no sinnes abated yet for all that he ought not to despaire to faint and to hide his talent in the ground let him preach againe againe and neuer giue ouer that at the length with the two edged sword of the pure word of God he may hew and fell downe the huge and monstrous trée of sinne and all abhomination and that the new plants of vertue holines and righteousnes may grow prosper and increase AS he that would haue a little flame of fire to mount and rise vp
and slaie all good works and all godly purposes yea he laboureth by all his meanes and instruments to strangle and to smother the very first motions of them in the harts and minds of men least they should increase and multiply he is that dragon with seauen heads which as Iohn saith in the Reuelation stoode before the woman when shée was to be deliuered of hir sonne that euen in the birth he might deuoure hir childe We may very fitly vnderstand by the woman the soule of man which when it thinketh and purposeth to do good works is said to conceiue and when it bringeth foorth and perfourmeth the same in deed is said to be deliuered as a woman of a childe but then sathan is foorthwith most eager and busie to stop the kindlie birth of vertue and godlines and to smother it so that it neuer come to light The Lord strengthen vs against his force and make vs wise against subtiltie that in all his sleights and craftie conueyances he may bée disappointed and we deliuered from him and that we may do the will and walke in the waies of our God mauger sathan and all his meanes EVen as the Ostrige being a great and mightie foule hath wings but doth not flie neither is lifted vp frō the ground with them so very many men in the world do séeme to bée caried vp to heauen vpon the wings of their ceremonies but are in déede in hart mind and desire fast nailed to the earth As the Ostrige hath wings and flieth not so they haue calling but they answere it not they haue knowledge but they practise it not they haue words but they worke not THe Kite being a most gréedie and rauening foule mounteth exceeding high so that you would thinke shee toucheth the gliding clouds and as shee flieth doth spred her wings and yet when shee is at the highest shee hath hir eies fast set and fixed below in the earth pryeng and spieng to catch if shée can some poore chicken or other praie within hir talons indéed shée flieth high but neuer looketh vp towards heauen but altogither downe towards the earth euen so thou shalt sée a number of men faining a certaine sanctymonie and counterfeiting much holines who although they are thought with the contemplation of heauenly things to be rauished and taken vp into the clouds yet they minde nothing lesse then true godlines neither any thing more then earth and earthly things Their studie is for worldly honor their greatest carking and care is for rich and large reuenues for dignities princes fauours and worldlie wealth Such men turne their backs to heauen and flie from God and so being disappointed of that light which they séemed to séeke for they are wrapped in palpable and most dangerous darknes but they that truely séeke after God do by the helpe and assistance of his holie spirite translate and conuey their minds from earth to heauen and so are illuminated with the brightnes of God his grace and loue for so saith Christ himselfe He that foloweth me walketh not in darknes but shall haue the light of life But we shall neuer follow Christ as we ought vnlesse we shall first vtterly denie our selues for he saith If anie man will folow me let him denie himself and take vp his crosse and folow me and then and so often do we denie our selues as treading vnder féete our old and former sins we leaue to be that we haue béene and begin to be that we haue not béene and follow the counsell of the apostle saying Layeng aside our old conuersation and putting off the old man which is corrupted after the lusts of the flesh let vs be renued in the spirit of our minds But alas I speake it with gréefe of hart the most part of the world despising and forsaking God do take for their guide and do folow as their captaine the violent lusts and foule appetites of their owne corrupted and cankered harts But if we woulde consider what that is that driueth vs whither we are going in such great haste what we do whom we folow what woe wée worke our selues and what will be the end we would surelie forsake those waies of our owne and turne our féete into the waies that is into the statutes and lawes of our God Dauid tooke this course and so the Lord graunt we may Amen EVen as a Bird doth not flie with one wing alone but with twaine So it is not enough that we know much of the Lords worde and will but we must do it also It will not suffice vs at the latter daie that we haue béene great professors of the Gospell and are deepely learned if also we haue not béene inflamed with a loue to God aboue all things and haue not loued our brethren as our selues if our knowledge our faith and profession do not mooue vs to praie to God for to visite and to comfort our poore brethren being sicke in prison or otherwise distressed if I say our faith and knowledge yéeld not fruits that we féede the hungrie cloath the naked call into our houses the harborlesse and shall not do to all men as we would be done vnto we shall be beaten with many stripes bicause we knowe the will of God and do it not Blessed onely are they that feare the Lord and walk in his waies And blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The greatest the highest the best and onely seruice that man can do and bring vnto the Lorde is his obedience to Gods word and the dooing of his will AS hée that maketh tooles and instruments of iron or other mettle maketh not rustines and canker neither is to be blamed if those things which he hath made by reason of too much moisture dust or other corruption shal afterward gather canker or rustines euen so that heauenly workeman our God did not bring in sinne and iniquitie neither can he iustly be blamed if his creatures do staine and blemish themselues with the foulenes of sinne and wickednes for he made them good God saw all things that he had made saith the holie Scripture and they were excéeding good Augustine in his 14. Booke of the Citie of God saith Good things may he without euill things but euill things cannot be without good things bicause the natures in which euill things are in as much as they be natures they are good For they be of God and in some measure they lead vs to the knowledge of him Dauid vnderstāding so much saith Howe excellent are thy works O Lorde thy thoughts are excéeding déepe An vnwise man doth not knowe these things and the foole doth not vnderstande them That man perisheth is damned and goeth to hell is not the Lords fault but mans owne EVen as plants and trées do spread abroad their rootes in the earth from whence they haue their nourishment So christian men bicause they
in the defence of his truth The Lorde roote out all hypocrisie and conuert or subuert all hypocrites AS great flouds and swelling riuers when they ouerflowe their chanels and do breake through their bankes by reason of their raging and violent streames and so spread and run abroad can not fill and couer the fieldes with water but they hurt corne or grasse or what so else is in their waie So great riches mightie powers and high dignities when they growe and increase in wicked and vngodly men do not spread abroade and run ouer the fieldes and limites of common wealthes but they do much harme to wit they polle and pill away the riches and substance of the séely weake and poore men they fill their diches I meane their purses with the blood of innocents they build their honors and establish their dignities vpon the disgrace and the oppression of the saints and seruants of God And whatsoeuer is in their waie and to their liking they carrie it with them by hooke or crooke by right or wronge they care not who wéepe so they laugh who be emptie so they be full who be vndone so they be aduanced Héere hence come slaughters and murthers Thus are many brought into great calamities and miseries But they that do these things to others do hurt themselues most For whiles they hurt others in their bodies goods or names they kill their owne soules AS a man much mooued with anger and far out of frame through indignation and wrath intending to kill his brother should throw at him precious stones goodly pearles and rich iewels should not damnifie nor hurt his brother bicause he woulde gather them vp kéepe them and inrich himselfe with them Euen so tyrants disposed to kill and with fire and sword to put to death the saints and true seruants of God which do excell in true piety and vnfained loue to God and man do torment them with diuers sorts and sundrie kinds of most cruell martyrdome of which things the children of God are glad and do reioice and grow stronger and richer in Christ being throughly armed with a godly patience they do take and beare them most quietly for God his sake without murmuring or grudging euen as their crosse wherewith most willingly they follow their Lord and sauiour Christ and do account such tortures inestimable riches and themselues happie that they be thought woorthie to suffer such things for the truth sake and in the Lords quarell Such euer haue béene all the martyrs of Christ that when they haue béene haled and dragged to most cruell torments and tyrannicall executions they haue taken and imbraced them most cheerefully as though they were rich and delicate banquets AS precious iewels made of most pure gold wrought cunningly curiouslie with great workmanship the néerer thou shalt come vnto them and the more stedfastly and cléerely thou shalt behold them the finer the brauer and more excellent thou wilt iudge them Euen so as thou shalt come néerer in vnderstanding and knowledge vnto the secrets and mysteries of God conteined in his written word and with the greater puritie of minde the more strength of faith and the brighter light of the grace of God thou shalt looke into them the profounder the déeper the more diuine and heauenly yea and the more comfortable to thy soule will they séeme and appéere vnto thée euery day Insomuch that thou wilt iudge thy selfe to haue béen little better then blinde and to haue séene nothing as thou ought in the mysteries of the diuine word And thou wilt make haste to crie vnto the Lorde with the prophet Open mine eies O Lord and I shall sée and consider the woonderfull things of thy lawe But that man that trusting to his owne gifts wit and learning and hath his hart and minde bewitched with this worlde and poysoned with sinne taking pleasure in those things which the Lord hath forbidden will go about to pearce into the most holie worde and to search out the secrets of the great and most highe God he shall lose his labour open his vanitie misse the marke he shot at and die in the blindnes wherein he liued and so passe hence to his owne destruction the iust reward of his presumption be he neuer so wittie skilfull and learned Through thy commandements saith the Lords prophet I am wiser then all my enimies learneder then my teachers and better experienced then the ancient men of the worlde Therefore true wisedome the best learning and heauenly experience is gotten and had out of the lawe of God by the inward working of the holie Ghost in our harts and minds The Almightie vouchsafe to write his lawes and statutes in all our harts that therby we may be wise against flesh this inchaunting world sin and sathan AS the hauke is then lost when trusting to hir wings shée riseth and mounteth too high So then do vaine men fall far from God when with their owne wit reason and wisedome onely and alone they will vnderstande the déepe misteries of God as though the counsels and wisedome of Gods eternal maiestie might and could be comprehended with the reason wit of man The Apostle his counsell is holie and good be not too high minded but feare AS they that haue cléere and sound eies do easilie indure the bright light of the sunne wherewith eies that be sore and diseased are greatly offended So vertuous and godly men are illuminated and woonderfully cléered in their vnderstanding and the eies of their minds with the diuine and heauenly light of the word of him that saith I am the light of the world wherwith the wicked and vngodly are highly offended in so much that they hate the light and loue darknes more then it And so growing blinder and blinder euery day at the length they fall and tumble downe headlong into the insaciable pit of eternall destruction AS a pot full of swéete liquor if it be made hote and boyled vpon the fire will driue away flies that they will not come néere it but if it be cold the flies will by and by go into it and it will receiue them and they will corrupt and consume it Euen so the hart of man if it be inflamed with a true and sincere loue of God will not receiue into it those dangerous temptations which are continually flying about it but wil remooue and driue them far off and giue no place vnto them but if by reason of slothfull idlenes in heauenly things and for want of a godly courage it grow cold in the loue of the Lord then is it obuious and wide open to all temptations it barreth out none it receiueth all none are reiected be they neuer so wicked all are imbraced intertained and welcome Then is it a receptacle of all abominations as idolatrie blasphemie murther adulterie and whatsoeuer is wicked mischeeuous and damnable The Lord therefore vouchsafe to take from vs
to attende vpon his pleasure and to waite on his will he would haue vs not in part but wholy to giue them vnto him and without the hart he will receiue and take in good part at our hands and lips nothing But we on the otherside giue nothing lesse to God then our harts What is it that cannot and may not command our harts and haue them at pleasure sooner then Christ Iesus that with the death of his owne hart gaue life to our bodies and soules If the worlde do but a little smile vpon vs and giue vs but an alluring looke and a faire though a false word we will by and by follow it and bestow vpon it all our attendance If the diuell himselfe can make vs beléeue that we shall either haue profite or pleasure by doing his wil our harts mindes wils and all are readier for him then for Iesus Christ O matchles yea monstrous madnes they that séeke our destruction can sooner with a pleasant looke then Christ with the giuing of his life for vs haue vs at commandement Christ would haue vs to mortifie our earthly members as fornication vncleannes inordinate affections euill concupiscence and couetousnes which is idolatrie But who doth not nourish pamper and cherish all these The Lord woulde haue our conuersation in heauen but we are altogither earthly and carnally minded The Lord would haue our féete to stand within the gates of Ierusalem but we loue rather to be trampling the stréetes of Egypt Babylon and Sodom The holie ghost would haue vs to fight a good fight to finish our course after the will of God and to kéepe the faith not onely in words but also in life and déedes Indéed we are apt and ready to fight for worldly promotion honor dignitie reuenues and riches but for heauen and heauenly things we will neuer striue take no paines nor once trouble our selues we will haue i◠with ease and all maner of pleasure or else not at all farewell it The courses we take héere in this life are very bad and the end vnlesse we repent is like to be woorst of all And whiles we haue no care to kéepe good consciences it is vnpossible for vs to kéepe faith Let stande before vs Christ and sathan the one pointing vs to heauen and eternall felicitie but the way to it ful of troubles gréefes and sorrowes the other pointing to hell but the way to it ful of delicates pleasures and daintie delights and let God call and the diuell call and I speake it with gréefe of hart the diuell is like to haue the greater number to follow him for those short pleasures and Christ but a fewe to follow him bicause they must go loden with crosses Daily experience doth teach vs no lesse when all our actions are carnall haue onely but a little outward shew and no taste at all of true godlines nor so much as any rellish of the spirit and loue of Christ Some will abstaine from the committing of many grosse sins now and then and yet not that I feare greatly in any true and sincere loue to God but either for feare of shame and punishment in this worlde or else feare of vengeance in the world to come which both are vnprofitable for the Lord hath no pleasure in forced seruice he will haue it voluntarie with the hart and procéeding of loue not of a seruile feare otherwise it shall be numbred with the rest of our sinnes This doth greatly condemne vs that though we do not such things our selues yet we can without trouble of conscience gréefe of hart or vexation of minde sée and heare the Lords name blasphemed his saboth vnhalowed idolatrie committed parents dishonored whooredome theft murder and couetousnes commonly vsed and all the lawes of God vtterly contemned and it shall neuer offend the greatest number so much as a thorne in a foote or a blaine vpon a finger What other thing is this but to forsake God in the plaine field and to be afeard to serue him in truth and sinceritie least we should thereby purchase mans displeasure Vnlesse therefore we learne to serue him better in more truth with greater zeale and singlenes of hart we haue nothing else to looke for but that he will forsake vs both in this worlde leauing vs destitute of his assistance that our enimies may pray vpon vs and also in the world to come in giuing out against vs his malediction curse wo and sentence of death The Lord make vs new creatures and giue an vnfained loue of himselfe déepe roote in our harts drawing after it a chéerefull obedience to his sacred word and the selfe same to our brethren wherwith we loue our selues so that all be in God that we may escape dangers in both the worlds that when death that inexorable executioner shall do his office we may arriue at the safe and happy hauen of Gods euerlasting kingdome purchased and paide for by Christ and kept in store for all those that beléeue aright and shall liue and die in him But alas the most part of vs as yet vntill it shall please the almightie to inrich vs be like proud beggers which not being woorth one farthing will boast of great wealth So many brag of great holines but haue none and of great faith as though they could remooue mountaines out of their places and yet know not what true faith is How fearful a saieng is that of Christ When the sonne of man shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead do you thinke that he shal finde any faith vpon the earth As if he should saie he shall finde very little howsoeuer now all perswade themselues that they be faithfull inough The Lorde amende vs for we haue receiued great and infinite good things from the Lords hand both for our bodies and soules but in giuing thanks we are like to the nine leapers mentioned in the Gospell which neuer turned backe to thanke God for their healing The Lord hath poured vpon vs infinite dewes of his swéet and blessed word and yet still we continue to be those drie trées to whom his curse cutting down and casting into the fire belongeth The Lord grant that with all spéede we may turne from our sinnes to righteousnes and holynes of life that God may turne his anger from vs and his fauor towards vs Amen MArcus Antoninus with an oration that he made vpon the death of Caesar is said to haue greatly delighted the people of Rome and that he mooued very many of them to shed great store of bitter teares when he put them in remembrance of the great benefits which they had frō time to time receiued of Caesar withal did shew them Caesars garment wherin his enimies Cassius Brutus had slaine him all full of blood whereat they were so mightily mooued that they expulsed the homicides out of the citie so that they durst not if they woulde liue any
Lord is hard at hande to them that are of a troubled hart and will saue the humble and lowly in spirit And the Lords words by Ose the prophet are these In their tribulation they will rise vp earely and call vpon me For the Lord his maner and custom is to helpe and succour the afflicted which call and crie for his heauenly comfort Héerehence is that of the Euangelist Iohn Your sorrow shall be turned into ioy And that of the apostle As you are companions of the passions and sufferings so shall yée be of the consolation and comfort And that also in the Actes We must enter into the kingdome of God through many tribulations And holy Iohn in the reuelation speaking of the saints which haue and shall haue the fruition of God in heauen saith Those are they that came from great tribulation Héereupon Augustine saith excéeding well That the Lord hath appointed thée to suffer it is a scourge of him that chastiseth thée and not a punishment of him that condemneth thée Who woulde not then be well contented with troubles and afflictions Who would not willingly vndergo the indignation malediction and persecution of wicked men Who would be afeard of the spite malice and whatsoeuer this wicked world can say or do Séeing the sequell vnto the sons and daughters of God is to be exalted and extolled into heauen and to be placed there at the right hand of the almighty through and with the Lord Iesu world without end The forenamed saints of God and other holy men from age to age in the midst of their calamities did still remember themselues to be men borne vnder that condition that their liues should euer be open and subiect to all the ineuitable darts of infinite troubles and that there was no refusing to liue and leade their liues in that condition whereunder they were borne And whiles they called to minde the euents of other men they knew right well that no new thing had happened vnto them And indéede the remembrance of mans condition and estate and of a common law and lot as it were incident to al doth mitigate the paine of troubles and doth make their burden the easier to bear And this is a thing euer obserued and noted in the children of God that they are so far from impatience and from repining at their afflictions that euen in the depth of their miseries they thinke themselues happy that they are counted woorthy to suffer any thing for Christs sake It were a great booke matter to remember all those that are mentioned in the holy scriptures which euen shrinking and falling away from God haue béene recouered reclaimed and healed by afflictions and tribulations as it were with physicke and medicine from heauen O how great is thy goodnes how incomparable is thy clemencie how infinite and endles is thy mercy O heauenly and most holie father Which dost therefore afflict vs that tho◠maist chéere vs vp againe Thou dost therefore hold vs downe that thou maist comfort vs and dost suffer vs to fall into diuers and sundry calamities that we may learn to know thy righteousnes and mercies All these things thou dost not of hatred to vs warde but of loue not to destroy vs but to bring vs to thy glorie AS the aire is cléered with the brightnes and shine of the sun and when the sun is downe and set the aire is couered with darknes Euen so the minde of man when it is purged cleared with heauenly wisedome sought and drawne out of the word of God doth shine most excellently and sendeth foorth a pure and perfect light of christianitie which may most easily be decerned to procéed and to come from God himselfe But being without that true light it is ouerwhelmed with an horrible and fearfull darknes and giueth out nothing but filthy mists and stinking vapors which do spring and rise out of the corruption and rotten nature of man and euen from hel and sathan himselfe How can it be that darknes and blindnes should remaine and rest in that hart of man which the holie Ghost the authour of all light and the onely light it selfe hath chosen to be his owne seat and holy habitation Can error flowe out of the most pure fountaine of wisedome It is not possible that from the onely centre of all goodnes a line of wickednes should be drawne And can the fruits of death grow out of the trée of life These are vnpossible things And on the otherside where the holie spirit of grace and might hath not place and possession there is nothing to be found but blindnes error sin iniquitie and all abhomination yea and all the fruits of eternall death it selfe EVen as a bitter potion is not saide to be vnprofitable nor without hope when health and soundnes doth follow although it be excéeding bitter to him that taketh it So sharp and pinching calamities wherewith the Lord doth exercise now and then his children are not to be counted idle and in vaine when some peace of conscience and comfort vnto our soules do follow that when the iustice of God is séene many may be amended and the faith and patience of many may be tried For nothing is more auaileable for the aduauncing of the praise and commendation of true vertue then calamitie it selfe taken and borne patiently for Christs sake AS yoong chickins are in safetie from the hauke and puttocke so long as they straie not from about the wings of their dams and when they do straie far from them they are easilie taken of euery vermine Euen so they that depart not from God but kéeping themselues neere vnto him do walke and lead their liues within the compasse and limits of his laws and ordinances are most safely kept by him from the force inchantments engins and all the subtle deuises of sathan and his instruments but if they forsake God and not regarding his word diuide themselues from him by their sins and iniquities they must néedes fall into the tallons and iawes of that tyrannicall hawke and hound of hell from whence there is no deliuerie Whose whole indeuor and labor is like a roaring lion to séeke whom he may deuoure EVen as it is a thing very commendable and worthy praise that a soldier do euer beare about him the signes and badges of his captaine that it may appéere to whom he belongeth So is it no little honor to a true christian man to passe through manie dangers and to be experienced in many troubles and to indure many affliction◠for his captaine Christs sake For sorrowes vexations and tribulations are the armor and badges of Christ And therefore the apostle which for Christs sake suffered many things saith I do beare about in my body the marks of the Lord Iesu EVen as the sun which vnto eies being sound and without disease was very pleasant and wholsome vnto the same eies when they are féeble
and poison the aire and they should kill men euen being dead as they vsed to do when they liued if they were censured now a daies as they were then we should haue fewer vsurers and mâ— rich men And yet these men are called of some the golden ones of the worlde Indéede they haue golden purses but brasen faces they haue soft words but bloodie minds and harts harder then the adamant These are the caterpillers not of Egypt but of England that discomfort not Pharao that tyrant and enimie of God but the Lords seruants and déere children These flie not abroad at the commandement of God to plague his enimies but at the pleasure of the diuell to annoy Gods friends These are not contented to eate vp and to destroy corne grasse blossomes leaues and all fruit besides neither will the flesh of beasts and foules and birds of all sorts serue them to eate but they must and wil eat mans flesh whiles he is aliue For to consume a man in goodes and credit with vsurie what is it else but to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood and with sorrow to pricke and wound his hart what is it but to kill him Of all the murtherers in this world except those which with false hereticall and diuellish doctrine do murther soules there is none more cruell mercilesse nor more bloodie than the vsurer For he is not satisfied with the blood of men and women but he will haue the blood of yoong children and infants also For he that cutteth downe a trée by the rootes doth he not withall cut downe the boughes twigs and branches and he that consumeth vtterly vndooeth and with sorrow drieth vp the marow in the bones of parents to the shortening of their daies doth he not euen destroy their poore swéete infants also Praise and commend them who will they are barred and shut out of heauen They are those vngodly ones spoken of by Iob whose praise is short and quickly ended The caterpillers of Egypt were surely tethered and harmed no place where themselues were not but these caterpillers wil sit at home in their chaires like a boare that is a franking in his stie and will consume a man one two or thrée hundred miles from them These caterpillers by their brokers do flie ouer and view all the lands lordships mannors parks woods groues fields medowes pastures and whatsoeuer farmes leases or other commodities of the noble men lords knights esquiers gentlemen yeomen and husbandmen of England and héere they gobble vp a whole towne and there a goodly parke héere a lordship or mannor and there a most pleasant wood The Lord kéepe all men out of their hands for where they light and pitch their tents they waste consume and make hauocke of all and do call the places after their owne names as though they had neuer belonged to the ancient and right owners of them The God of mercie take from them couetousnes of the vaine and transitorie things of this world and worke in them if it be his will a coueting and most earnest desire of the saluation of their owne soules and an vnfained loue to their brethren in Christ Iesu Amen Amen Amen EVen as that man which with a painted oxe doth fowle for partridges is not an oxe but vnder the shape and likenes of that simple creature lieth in waite for the pretie fine birds that he may take them and kill them So he that with a counterfeited and fained holines will colour and couer impietie wicked purposes or whatsoeuer is against the word and will of God is not a iust man but vnder the colour and shape of godlines honestie seeking the praise and glorie of the world he casteth in his head and worketh by degrées the ruine decay and vndoing of his neighbors that he may compasse their goods lands and possessions and gaine some honour and dignitie among men Such men haue a shew of godlines as the apostle saith but they denie the power therof And although som hypocrites will now then séeme to forsake their riches and lend some to their neighbours and bestowe some vpon the poore yet still the marke they leuell and shoote at is to augment and to increase them more more For euen as the swiftest of all haukes going about to sease vpon and to take the bird that flieth as it were in the top of the aire doth not by and by when she first séeth hir flie directly towards hir but rather at the first with fetching of a compas doth séeme to forsake and to despise hir and to drawe and to flie from hir but at the second or thirde flight she goeth towards hir with a woonderful â—orce and incredible swiftnes to take hir in the aire and to rend hir in péeces Right so do hypocrites he haue themselues for at the first to sée to they will séeme to thée not to regarde but to contemne the riches and promotions of the world but then they coine and counterfeit a simplicitie fouling for a greater matter than yet they see present and reaching at some higher aduauncement and greater dignitie than that present time and occasion doth offer but at the second or third flight when euery thing doth answer their expectation thou shalt perceiue that with all spéede and gréedines they will lay hold vpon those things which thou thoughtest they had contemned They do not wish or desire any thing more neither can any thing more highly please them than the very selfesame things which they once made the world beléeue they detested and could not abide them These are double harted men they haue wicked lips and hands that worke iniquitie they be those sinners that go two maner of waies and euerlasting woe is their reward The hypocrite goeth two maner of waies when he laieth one thing vp close in his hart and sheweth another in his actions speaketh one thing and doth another Touching such men and matter it is commanded in Deuteronomie that a man should not weare a garment made of wooll and flaxe commonly called linsie wolsie as if it should be said that kinde of vesture doth couer the subtletie of malice and mischéefe signified by the flaxe and doth outwardly shew the simplicitie of honestie and innocencie signified by the wooll Such an hypocrite was Herod when he pretended a great deuotion towards Christ and that he would worship him and all the while was whetting his sword intending his death if he could catch him Such were the inhabitants of Ierusalem in the time of Sedechias they boasted greatly of the law but they would in no wise obserue it True vertue among Christians is that a man leade a life equall and like vnto his words and as the apostle Iames saith so to say and so to do All hypocrites whatsoeuer they would seeme do so far differ from true christianitie as the froth or fome of golde doth differ from gold it selfe EVen as an archer doth
stéedily looke vpon the bright sphere of the sunne he should become blinde bicause the weake sight of his eies is not able to abide so great a brightnes So whosoeuer trusting to his owne wit shall cast the eies of his minde vpon the woonderfull and vnspeakable brightnes of the secrets of God he shall be ouerthrowen of the same and the sight of his minde being blinded and put out he shall neuer attaine to that which he would bicause the great and hidden mysteries of the most high God cannot be comprehended by mans wit being puffed vp with pride or else there should be no difference betwéene God and man if man of himselfe could attaine vnto the secrets of Gods eternall maiestie sealed vp in his blessed word and not to be opened but by the mightie power of his most holy spirit So much did those things signifie which were in sanctis sanctorum hid and couered Paule perhaps leaning trusting to his owne wit before he receiued the faith of Christ would pearce into Gods mysteries but comming far short of his purpose he wandred in a great and dangerous error and would néeds being inflamed with hatred euen kil those Christians with the sword whom he ought not to haue wounded or vexed with a word But a light from heauen compassed him about and falling to the ground he saw nothing yet his eies open as before wherby his former disposition was signified but afterward when he did cast downe and truly humble himselfe and all his pride laid apart came to Ananias he receiued his sight And in that his humilitie he said I am the least of the apostles which am not woorthie to be called an apostle bicause I persecuted the Church of God Dauid saith The Lord openeth his secrets inclosed in his word to those that feare him In which words our God promiseth that he will vnfold and reueale to godly and humble men of hart the secrets and priuities of his holy oracles Vpon whom shall I looke saith the Lord but vpon the sillie poore man that is contrite in hart and trembleth at my words Héerehence commeth that saying of the blessed virgin He hath beholden the lowlines of his handmaidē THou shalt sée somtimes in the aire a cloud hauing the figure and likenes of a tall and mightie man which by and by is spred abroad and representeth huge and high towers but in the turning of an hand being taken with a blast of winde it is dissolued and vanisheth away Euen such is the trust that we put in this transitorie world This world doth set before vs in the conceit of our imagination that we shall be great men and that we shall be very famous and attaine to great dignitie it doth promise vnto vs mountaines of golde and huge and lofti◠towers of honor and renowme but all these things are towers builded in the aire and castles made of winde and grounded vpon vanitie which are dissolued and dispersed most suddenly Iohn the seruant of God did well consider of this when he gaue this counsell Loue not the world nor those things that be in the world the world passeth away and the lust of the same And Paule saith The shape of this world passeth away he saith not the substance of this world but the shape passeth away If then this world must néedes passe away and returne to it nothing againe if that we take to be a substance be but a shape thinke we then that our life our hope our riches our pleasures shall continue no surely For Iames saith Our life is as a vapour appéering for a very short time and our life is dissolued as a cloud in the aire AS our eies which do behold heauen and earth and other innumerable creatures of God do not sée themselues but looking in a glasse by that meane they perfectly sée themselues So we do not sée and consider our owne frailtie and brickle estate but if we will set before our eies the glasse of the remembrance of death and the true knowledge of our selues beholding diligently I say that cléere glasse we cannot choose but very plainly sée our selues and what we be Iames the apostle doth point vs to the law of our God and willeth vs to vse that glasse to behold our selues in Indéed it is a true glasse it wil not flatter nor deceiue vs it will tel vs that we be but dust and that we shall againe returne to dust Iames séemeth to say plainly to vs thus Know your selues and least ye be deceiued behold your selues in the glasse of truth which is the perfect law of libertie Sée what thou art and what thou shalt be Remember that thou art a man and consequently dust and ashes O that we would remember this O that we would be content to imbrace this most certaine truth O that this glasse might neuer depart out of our hands and harts Augustine that learned teacher saith well Before thou wast man thou wast earth and before thou wast earth thou wast nothing Héere thou maist easily sée thy progenie thy nobilitie and the woorthinesse and excellencie of thy stocke and linage Be not proud therefore for thou art but dust and ashes EVen as a little bird shut vp in a cage although it be very pretious and costly and be made of Cedar Iuorie or gold yet she desireth to go out and striueth to haue hir libertie and in hir eager and earnest desire to be gone she doth oftentimes thrust hir bill through the loupes of the cage So the soule of a vertuous man inflamed with an vnfained loue of God being shut vp and holden in the coupe of his bodie although he abound with all necessaries fit for the preseruation of this temporall life yet most earnestly desireth to depart hence and to go to his countrie which is heauen And in token that he would faine go thither he fetcheth many a déepe sigh and many a gréeuous grone and doth full often craue of his creator with his chéekes all to bedewed and smeared with the teares of his eies that this exilement being finished he might rest for euer in that happie and holy house of blessed soules where he may haue the fruition of his God and euerlasting life through Iesus Christ his onely sauiour and redéemer Euery Christian man although he haue wealth at will and haue stately and roiall houses glittering and florishing with Iuorie and golde yet ought he to aspire towards heauen and in hart and desire to flie towards his best countrie saying with the Apostle I would faine remooue hence and go to dwell with the Lord. And againe I do séeke or desire to be dissolued and to be with the Lord Iesu EVen as vipers do eate out and teare in péeces the bellies of their bréeders that themselues may get out So not the Iewes onely but the Papists also do mangle and teare in péeces the law of God