lost both valour and greatnesse together as is noted by good authors and they were no better then other men When they fell to gathering and heaping once equality was gone and the strength of the Comminaltie was dissolued with anguish and care For like as the streame of a riuer goes quietly away without noyse and seekes the leuell without murmure if it haue no shelues to trouble it vnderneath nor narrownesse of the bankes to stoppe the course of it euen soe it is with the streame of a common-wealth The channell are the commons or vulgar sort who are easily mooued and runne not euen towards their happinesse if the bankes on both sides which are lawes and magistrates stand not firme to them and haue not care to keepe them in their ancient boundes with paring and sewing them as they ought where golden sandes lye clottering in heapes to gull them vp Equality I must say had beene good amongst vs if it were possible to holde But it is indeede so like to heauen that earth cannot holde it long It hath such affinity with Angelicall perfection that it will not well relish with humane corruption And therefore in vaine they sought to establish it in any worldly Estate Saint Austine beganne a course of equality or community with some of his companions before hee was a perfect Christian but it helde not long his designe was dissolued Euen so those Law-makers they began well but it would not continue The sequell of subsequent ages tels vs that they consumed themselues the most part of those great wise men with vnprofitable labour If mindes bee contrary how can possessions bee agreeable If affections bee opposite how can effects conspire in equall tearmes And yet I holde well with their ground and most certaine it is equality there must be one way or other else no common-wealth can stand And this equality I seeke for which heathens could not and we must finde that are Christians or no people in the world A thing which our great master of conscience Saint Paul exhorted and directed the Corinthians vnto 2. Cor. 8. for disposing their abilities to them that were in neede vt sit equalitas that there may bee equality saith hee as vpon occasion I shall tell you anon when I shall speake of Superfluum For there is a rule of conscience which among the vertuous is instead of a law and in liew of equality and that is this to cut away Superfluum in all men Keepe your lands keepe your possessions to yee bee they neuer so great or more then others haue yet put your Superfluum out of your handes and others are euen with yee that haue lesse Put not away what yee neede but what yee neede not Doe but imploy it well what yee may nôt holde and all will be well This way and no other will soone make equality euen that which our Law-makers haue sought for and could not attaine The Spartans would haue all men bring in there money Plut. in Lycurgus and to deuide it amongst many But when rich men liked not that they banished money quite gold and siluer made no payment but lumpes of yron in liew of them fiue pound of ours in their new coyne was a horse load And as long as this held there was equalitie but when siluer came in againe equalitie went out and could tarrie no longer The Romanes to auoide inequalitie and extraordinary greatnesse in some ouer other some which they saw was by incroaching and buying vp all that others would sell Liuie lib. 6. whereby some grewe mightie and the greater part in misery they made this law that none should haue more then fiue hundred acres at once For so much was thought enough for the best man in Rome to spend in his house by the yeare The law was good but it held not And Licinius Stolo that made it brake it lib. 7. and was in premunire for hauing a thousand Their leges agrariae also were without number but their couetousnesse brake them By Caesars law a will was not good where nothing was giuen in common but this beeing forced and inuoluntarie it came to little purpose and the Emperour Antoninus was driuen to abolish it and left it altogether to mens good willes Other countries haue other lawes to fetch it away againe what others draw to them and hold so fast when they haue And those be to rate mens possessions for contribution to the poore and other publike charge as they did also in Rome Yet this doth but little good neither in most places Rich men fauour one another and conceale there estates and so hardly comes any thing from them and with so euill a will that it can haue no blessing and the poore especially haue little certaintie of it but chuse rather to trie their fortunes abroad with begging then like to attend an vncertaine curtesie at home Many lawes might be reckoned in this kind but none like the law of conscience for true working and benefite both to ones selfe and others and to conscience it must be left when all is done Which law because it cānot be done before it be knowne and is most necessarie to bee alwaies in vse and fresh in your memorie I will open it briefely vnto you and exhort you to it in the end crauing nothing of yee for it in liew of my paines but your best attention Diuines whom we ought to follow in matter of conscience Heb. 13. ipsi enim peruigilant these be they that watch for vs and haue charge of our soules that we may doe the best or not the worst for want of instruction they tell vs many things that are good for vs to know if we desire to bee secure of our safety and profitable to others They tell vs first we must loue God aboue all things and this not with loue composed of words but inward reall and effectuall breaking out per actum elicitum as they call it as fire out of a flint by expresse word or thought that may testifie to our selues our inward feeling Some such touch had the Heathen Philosopher Plato when he cryed out in a sweet admiration saying O ens entium miserere mei Haue mercy vpon mee ô thou maker of all things as if hee had seene what hee in in the Canticles saw Cant 4. when he said All faire art thou my loue there is no spotte in thee Or what King Dauid saw in Ionathas which is by interpretation the gift of God saying he was to be loued more then the loue of women 2. Reg. 1. Psal 6. Or when he saide in the Psalmes How admirable is thy name ouer all the earth And in another place 2. King 1. Psal 6. Psal 83. How inticing thy tabernacles ô my Lord my heart doth leape to thinke on thee and my flesh exults after my liuing God When shall J come and appeare before the face of my God and such like Some writers
nine shillings eleuen pence And if it come in halfe yearely or quarterly it is more But this is his rate and rule or no bargaine with him Hee is not in neede himselfe and to'ther is and must haue it at any rate bee it neuer so vnconscionable Banish therefore this monster or common-wealths worme and twenty pound land wil be worth twenty years puchase I doubt not Where vice reigneth vertue sits without dores and land beares no price nor fishing to the sea shortly where vsury domineers The sellers fault is to take double for it if he can thinking euery thing so much worth as a man will giue for it Which is not so The price of land is certaine within a little ouer or vnder as I said before though it bee not so of stone and pearle But the iniustice of this is when I make a man pay for his commodity ouer and besides the highest price It is worth but twenty at the most and I make him pay thirty or fiue and twenty for it because it lyes handsomely within him or is so necessary for him that hee cannot bee without it all that I take aboue the highest ordinary they tell vs is vniust and subiect to restitution For I make him pay twice for it Once for the full value another for his commodity As if I should make a sicke body pay double for a partridge one for the value another for the wholesomnesse of it This must needes bee extorting and vicious proceeding alwaies of couetice or malice and yet is growne so common that men will not heare the contrary To this may bee added Monopolies or ingrocing of needefull commodities into one or a few mens hands to make them dearer Likewise to buy or sell with simple or vnexperienced persons who know not what they buy or sell yet are no fooles The rule is this They may buy for the least of the three and they may sell againe presently for the best of the three and make gaine of it but more then this will not bee warranted with good conscience The fault of both buyer and seller is this that they ioy and glory in their doings It is their daily study and they take a pride in it And what doe they glory in Euen that which will worke them a great deale of woe Happy is that man that buyes as hee will sell and sels as he will buy This is the glory a good body should take and not in pinching and pulling from his brother Psal 61. Mendaces filij hominum in statêris There is complaint made to God of vs what ill measure wee keepe to our brother King Dauid calles vs lyars in our weights We buy with one weight and sell with another Is this meant by none but bakers and butterwiues thinke yee and not much more by other matters that sinke mens estates and make them groane Why should the poore bee defrauded a penny of the full worth when if a rich man sell hee will haue more then hee by tenne or twenty in the hundred Aristides who for his singular iustnesse was called the Iust defined iustice thus not to desire any thing that was another mans So farre was hee from taking or seeking that he would not so much as couet another mans And how farre are wee from this who are coueting still euen when wee cannot haue Biblius was so afraide of this coueting humour that hee would not stoope at a purse or any thing else hee found for feare of beeing tempted In generall it is good in buying and selling to keepe euen betweene the pious or least price and the rigorous or highest price as your Aristides will aduise you if yee will aske I will not perswade you to do as Hermes Aegyptius did a great wise man both learned and rich Some thinke it was hee that apologied for Christians to the Emperour Adrian It is written of him that hee would neuer buy but he would giue too much rather and would not sell but hee would take somewhat vnder The like wee reade of Quintus Mutius long before him who although hee were heathen yet in compassion of the sellers neede hee gaue them more for their houses or lands which hee bought then they would aske If wee that professe Christianity were all of his minde wee would busie our heads no doubt with better matters and more worthy of our selues then how to make gaine still by anothers harme neither doe I speake this to put scruples in your heads which I am farre from and I omit them of purpose They be matters of great moment which I minde you of and as much as your soules are worth no lesse I say then the breach of one whole commandement the last of the ten Exod. 20.17 Thou shalt not so much as couet thy neighbours goods and this doth binde vs as much as the other nine Howbeit wee passe it ouer lightly as if it were nothing being in very deede the summe and ground of all Iustice betweene man and man In other precepts the act here the desire onely is forbidden as either to desire an other mans who is not willing to depart with it as Naboth was not 3 Reg. 21. or to haue it for lesse then it is worth as the Common case is at this day And both these are directly against the Commandement Thou shalt not couet And therefore he that drawes from his neighbour in this manner sinneth doubly that is to say in coueting which is a sinne alone by it selfe and also in acting which is against the eighth Commandement It is also against the generall precept of louing our neighbour as our selfe which euery man is bound vnto For Qui non diligit manet in morte It is damnation I say 1 Ioh. 3. not to loue our neighbour as our selues And who is he that thinkes he loues a man and doth what he can to pull him on his knees The learned tell vs there bee foure degrees of loue which if wee haue not or haue none of them it is a signe that wee haue no loue The first they say is liquefaction that is to say Aquinas 1. 2 ae q. 28.5 a melting or a relenting heart towards our brother The second is a delight we haue to be where we loue The third is a heauinesse to bee from our loue The fourth is feruour or a burning loue And although it be not giuen to euery man to haue these three last which are delight longing and feruency yet none can loue without the first or least degree which is a relenting or compassion ouer our brother when wee see him in distresse and sell for neede Surely if this bee loue it is a congealed or frozen loue which is contrary to melting loue It is a colde loue which is contrary to feruent loue Yea it is no loue at all or if it bee it is the diuels loue who loues vs to deuoure vs and swallow vs downe his throat What we giue
these things that I haue reckoned bee they neuer so fitte for vs yet are they all without vs. Cloathing is for the out-side weapons wings ladder almes or whatsoeuer els are all on the outside of vs and come not so neere our life as bread doth all other things doe no good without vnlesse we haue bread within Those things indeede doe furnish vs but bread doth nourish vs and therefore though other things be necessary yet bread is most necessary or necessary of necessaries and the word is vsed by the Prophet in a supereminent signification as a man would say this is locke and key this is all in all this the sinewes this the marrow of all our good and therefore all that intrinsically serueth to our euerlasting weale bee aptly called by this word euen this supereminent word Bread And as all our outward operations and actions are nothing without bread and inward sustentation of man whereby he hath strength and comfort in his doing and can doe nothing without it So if wee should deuise one word to call all things by that we need either in respect of the greatnesse of our neede or the multiplicity of them wee can finde no one word or name so fitte or so significant as this word Bread and for such is vsed and made choice of in our Pater noster by God himselfe where whatsoeuer we neede or pray for almost wee are bidden to aske it by the name of Bread giue vs this day our daily bread that is to say as holy fathers expound it giue vs whatsoeuer will nourish vs either body or soule Are wee to pray for patience we aske it heere by the name of Bread Aske we sorrow for sinne heere it is called bread Aske wee feruor and deuotion God vnderstands vs by the name of Bread Aske we chastity and mortification he giues it vs heere by the word bread Aske we comfort aske wee charity aske we grace constancy or perseuerance to the end all is included in this word Bread All is bread all is foode of soule all makes it fatte rich faire comely and beautifull worthy of saluation worthy of heauen worthy of God And therefore no maruell if the Prophet call these things Bread since God so vnderstands them in our daily forme of prayer which hee gaue vs from his blessed mouth giue vs this day our daily bread Now let no man aske me how is patience bread how are deuotion charity or any other vertue bread this reason shall serue for all reasons that Christ in effect hath called them so Let vs goe buy and bestowe our money freely on it Let vs be profuse and prodigall vpon it the more we spend this way the more we haue the more we wast the greater our store the more we wrestle and exercise the lesse weary the faster we runne the more in breath as all they that prooue shall assuredly finde And yet if wee shall seeke a reason also why these things or how or in what sence they are called bread we shall not goe far for a reason to satisfie them that be curious and it will not be vnfruitfull to vs neither when we vnderstand it Wee will go no further I say for a reason then to the very nature of bread and the properties thereof as I will declare now vnto yee We touched in the beginning some properties of bread and some others there are besides which are also found in this heauenly bread yea and much more in this then in that First bread feeds vs and keepes vs from perishing so doth our heauenly bread feed vs and preserue vs from perishing eternally I need not prooue it to you it is well enough knowne for as bread hath many alterations before it come to make flesh euen so it is with our ghostly bread The first alteration of bread is in the mouth by eating and chewing the mouth of the soule is hearing and reading The second alteration is in the stomacke where the meate is turned into a white substance called Chylus the stomacke of the soule is deepe consideration all pale and astonished to thinke of the horrible danger it was in a little before The third alteration is in the liuer where our foode turnes to blood and lookes redde the liuer of the soule is shame and confusion blushing redde as fire for that wee haue done wickedly The last alteration is into flesh and the flesh of our soule is our good estate to God-ward which hearing and reading consulted vpon consideration resolued vpon shame kindled and sends the blood of grace from part to part to consolidate Grace clarifies our reason giues life to our will blowes courage into our heart which is the seat of vertues The second qualitie of bread is to make purest blood Other meates haue more mixture in them of choller or melancholy that the blood is the worse for it other studies sciences and high questions of learning though they feede the soule also yet are they mixed lightly with elation or emulation as it is written Scientia inflat 1. Cor. 8 and therefore goe not so cleerely to the good of our soule as our ghostly food doth This bread our Prophet speakes of here hath no such mixture in it the word of God is wholy void of it like a christall fountaine of a most fluent streame Vertue were not vertue if it endeauoured not the same and the sacraments are the purest pipes from the side of our Sauiour and cannot make other then purest nourishment Will ye know what blood these make behold Gods Saints from Enoch to the Apostles and so downeward wee may know their food by their complexions that were so white and redde in Gods sight according to his owne heart the very pictures of vertue and grace looke vpon the blood of Martyrs how pretious it is in the sight of God from Abel hitherto and all ouer the world The seede of man is made of the purest blood said Pythagoras and God made choice of that blood to sowe the field his Church withall in due season The 3. property of bread is to be loued of al euery one loues not euery meat yet few or none loues not bread and so it is with our spiritual bread euery body loues it the very wicked loues it in a sort though they seek it not witnes themselues if we aske thē But there are 2. sorts of loue the one fruitful which sinners haue not but may haue the other vnfruitfull which sinners haue will do them no good imperfect loue it is I grant yet loue it is so much our Sauiour may seem to imply when he said loue God withall thy heart Mat 22.37 as who should say it is loue and they may loue God though they loue him not withall their whole heart Premium virtutis honor it is vertues due to be loued and honoured though it be not alwaies imbraced Our loue to vertue is commonly as childrens loue to bread or I would it
were but so in some better to be but one step vp then none at all Children will call and cry for bread but if any thing else comes they hide it or cast it away But what doe I speake of children and those that bee sicke or make strange of good life they that bee whole and sound or haue not lost all feeling must loue the meanes of their health and will not refuse it altogether or if they doe I holde their estate to be damnable There is yet a fourth quality or property of bread which is easinesse to come by and this accords also with our spirituall bread It is easie to bee had both in respect of the meanes which euery one may haue that will as also in respect of it selfe that is euery where to be sold our meanes is our money and our money as I said before is our will and thirsty desire after it God asketh no other price of vs. Let no man complaine that he hath not where withall our good God hath prouided enough for the poorest that is to buy a kingdom though not enough alwayes to buy a cow If the businesse were a money matter the poore could not bee vertuous nor haue share in our heauenly foode The Gospell tels vs that where our treasure is Mat. 6. there is our heart but I thinke it is true both waies where our mind loue is there is our money our loue is the best treasure and wee may furnish our selues richly with it if wee list out of our owne Treasury Haue wee no money let vs coyne it out of our owne hearts and wee shall finde plenty Hee that hath least hath a selfe to giue and hee that hath most can giue no more and if wee would know who sells it vs it is God that sells S. Aug. and God is euery where to take our price hee is at euery occasion and at euery neede of ours to take our moeny Come occasion of sicknesse or mischance to vs hee is at hand to sell vs patience Come occasion of misery or want in our poore neighbour hee is ready to sell vs the Bread of pitty Come occasion of quarrell or falling out he proffers vs charity so wee drawe our purse wide enough Bee wee fallen into temptation hee tenders vs strength enough to ouercome it Are wee in sinne hee meetes vs presently with remorse if wee giue him but reason for it These and a great deale more are the holy Bread hee giues vs at all needes and all assayes and hee meetes vs mercifully at our owne doore with all wee neede not send so farre for it as to the next market towne and thus much for the fourth property Now to these I could adde a fift and that is such a one as a man would thinke were ill yet is not ill but onely with euill vsing it There is no surfet so hurtfull to our body as that of Bread Omnis Saturatio mala panis autem pessima If the stomacke bee charged with any thing else but bread it will recoyle and put it vp Bread not so but lyes clumping together like lead neither digesting it selfe nor suffering other thing to digest And this is also manifest in our Bread of life where pride or wearinesse beares downe our heart and plunges it in time into the pit of Apostacy Begins with zeale and ends with coldenesse begins with too much and ends with too little begins hotly and hath not grace to holde out Was incrassatus dilectus Deut. 32. and at length recalcitrauit presumes in owne strength and turnes vp the heele against God and all goodnesse Physitians say the finer the bread is the more dangerous is the surfet And euen so it is with heauenly foode by our owne peruersenesse And therefore this made Angels Diuels when they fell once this lost Saul a kingdome ouerthrewe Salomon and a multitude since to our very dayes without all remedy and cure How many doe we know in the world that knew Gods will and were in good practise of it yet now are giuen ouer and left to themselues They left off first one good exercise then another and by little and little all or very neere all time and temptation brought them to it and wearinesse of well doing And this exceeds all other kinde of sinne that happily may finde remedy when the passion is once ouer This passion is neuer ouer lyes heauy on the stomacke like dough will neither voide vpward at the mouth since they cannot forget what they haue heard and read nor concoct in the liuer since shame is gone that should giue it colour and entertainment Set all the Aqua-vitae before them that is in the Gospell they tooke a surfet of it once and now will doe them no good Set Rosa-solis before them or waters of hottest spirit all is in vaine these were so lately their common drinke that now at a neede it will not warme their heart They are growne to very insensibility by their owne pertinacity and if God touch them not extraordinarily they are past all recouery But by all these properties of bread yee see now by reason as before by authority how fitly our heauenly foode is here called Bread by our holy Prophet And our speech hath not bin onely of words and tearmes but also of effects and substance and true woorth of it indeede For first it nourisheth our soule as Bread doth our body Secondly it makes the purest blood euen the blood of Martyrs and Saints Thirdly how it is loued of all that loue themselues as they should do and giues honour to the possessours of it Fourthly Esay 55. how good cheape we come to it venite emite absque argento saith our Prophet in the same place come and buy without money all ye that will buy almost euery occasiō we meet withall sels it vs. Lastly wee see how dangerous it is and how ill fauoured wee looke in Gods sight if wee leaue this dyet and content our selues with worse Wee grewe fatte and fedde daintily at his table and if a fatte man fall hee hath much adoe to rise againe By all which wee may see as in a glasse what manner of thing this heauenly foode is wee flye from daily and list not buy Foode I say in a word foode in worth a worth not to bee valued by the worthiest things in the world not by diamonds nor yet by a diadem and a whole diadem were well giuen for it if it could not bee had without All the world is so base and vile to it that all together will not buy the least peece of true vertue And therefore amongst other our spirituall breads aforesaid that nourish feede and beautifie our soule I may not omit to commend vnto you heere most especially and particularly our Sacramentall bread Ioh. 6. the body and blood of Christ which hee gaue and spilt on the crosse for the life of the world and which it may
knowe and no more I leaue greater misteries to them that are better learned Our reward in heauen sure is admirably great but what it is or in what fashion that we may say it is thus and thus no man can deliuer Two things I knowe and am assured of touching heauen and heauenly ioyes that is to say the greatnesse of them when we come there and the neerenesse of them while we bee heere which may bee also no small comfort vnto vs and of these two I will speake a little after my wonted breuity leauing the rest to your good thoughts when I haue done If your faith were like to his that said iustus ex fide viuit Abac. 2. Rom. 2. wee should feele this greatnes we speake of before we come at it our very soule would reioyce and triumph in it before it could expresse why If our faith I say were so liuely and springing as it might be our tongues would not list to speake but our very deedes actions and behauiours would shew heauen in our faces Our very countenance would bewray heauen in vs. There is nothing would disturbe vs no anger disquiet vs no passion distemper vs no ill fortune beare vs downe but as we shall bee when wee come there so shall we begin to bee while we be heere constant stout resolute in all good purposes like Elias or Elizeus or Saint Iohn Baptist and a multitude of others after the new testament But I shall speake more of this anon Our faith and spirit is not of that viuacity that theirs was of nor haue we apprehensions of heauens delights but by such similies and resemblances as we can make by visible things by which we haue a ghesse or estimate at the greatnesse we speake of and yet come short of it by infinite degrees I cannot tell how to expresse this greatnesse better then by one word a long word full of matter and makes vp a verse alone Incomprehensibility the summe of our felicity For we must know for a certainety that the greatnesse of our reward that is to say of heauen is incomprehensible of any mortall vnderstanding But why so doe wee not reade of some that haue seene heauen or paradise in a traunce or extasie and comming to themselues againe haue told what they saw there delicate green meddowes with siluer streams and golden sands in the bottome running through the midst of them the bankes beset with violets and primroses that neuer partch with heate nor perish with treading on the weather temperate alwayes Aprill with them Coole without cold day without night Sunne full of shade shade full of light Is not this comprehensible gardens full of all sweeteflowers daintily drest without mans labour the rose without thornes neuer fading pinckes and lillies of all fresh colours neuer decaying spring and haruest comming alwayes together blooming and bearing all at a time nothing there but wish and haue it from the chirping bird of rarest feature to the lowde organ or musicke of the best harmony these and such like haue beene reuealed to some good folk Are not these also comprehensible and yet we said that heauen is incomprehensible We shall there behold the humanity of Christ his blessed mother the glorious Virgin whom to see in flesh wee could trauell the world round if they were liuing such comfort wee should finde of it For if that notable Law-maker of Megapolis thought long to dye Circidas and tooke pleasure to thinke he should then see Pythagoras Euclid and other famous men deceased how much more pleasure will it be to vs to see Iesus whom we all serue and honour whose name alone makes hearts to leape and diuells to tremble in power so triumphant so sweet andamiable in aspect and so alluring to all beholders that we shall not off on him after wee come once to see him And is not this comprehensible This heauen we speake of was reuealed to S. Apoc. 21. Iohn in forme of a city twelue thousand furlongs in length as many in breadth and as many in height all the twelue gates of it were entire pearle the streetes paued with gold and the walles of the same pure gold and smoothe like christall on the bottome whereof grewe all kinde of pretious stones whereof twelue are named It had no temple for the temple was God himselfe Hee sawe a Riuer also of liuing water cleere as christall springing out of the seate of God and the lambe This and a great deale more he sawe in spirit and is not all this comprehensible I gaue you the other day fiue properties of bread Wherin I tolde you nothing aboue your reach but yee might plainly vnderstand them to bee in our bread of Trauellers And I can make it as plaine to you how they bee also as euident and farre more certaine in our bread of Angels The substance of our trauelling bread was the grace of God in word and workes The substance of our Angelicall bread is his grace also not in faith but in fruite not in workes but in reward His grace is with vs heere but in hope there in certaine knowledge heere in trembling there in true possessing Heere wee may fall againe there neuer This grace of God in heauen shall bee his eye of glory vpon vs alwaies The masters eye makes a fat beast and the eye of God vpon vs incessantly makes faire creatures and not inferiour to Angels And this was the first propertie to feede vs and nourish vs Quipascit inter lillia He shall feede vs amongst Lillies and Angels The second property was to make purest blood in vs. We shall not looke like our earthly complexions No grosse humours or drosse shall approch vs. How pure shall wee be As pure as Angels Our bodies like glasse transpârent Sine macula aut ruga All manner of spots will bee taken out of vs and euery wrinckle made plaine A third quality of bread was to be loued of all And who shall behold that sparkling eye of God and shall not be enamoured with it Vulnerasti cor meum in vno oculorum tuorum Cant. 4. Our hearts will bee wounded with that alluring eye It shall not bee like our loues heere which are more in clayming then in obtaining and after a while wee care not for them Beleeue me not so in heauen And all this is comprehensible Now what should I speake how common this bread is in heauen which was the fourth property This bread of Seraphins ô how easily it is gotten and without asking Common I say for euery one shall haue enough Neither shall the commonnesse or hauing without asking make the reward more vile For euery one shall reioyce that another hath the same or more then he The fore-finger is graced with that the little finger weares I keepe still within compasse of your capacity And to omit the fift property which is not in heauen where none can euer be at losse or fall from good estate I
2. I said before the iust man liues by faith So doe you Stirre vp your faith that it lye not idle in you without fruit Let vs liue by faith as louers liue by loue Their loue is life to their thoughts and fire to their affections They will doe nothing against lawes of loue they ply her with all the seruice and good offices they can the ground of their hopes is but a word or a good looke or halfe a promise from her Can we not doe thus to God It is but changing the subiect and it is done Keepe your loue still be enamored still That which was to a creature Let now bee to the creator then yee are right hold your selues there so it be to God If nothing can please you but riches and splendour make vse of your faith and ye shall haue all contentment in him that ye can desire If beauty delight you reflect vpon your faith and ye will neuer seeke other then what yee finde in him Your hope shall not be so weake as louers hopes vpon a word or halfe promise Euery leafe in the Bible is fraught with promises She is your owne what seeke you more and if ye haue faith she bringes all that is good with her Doe as louers doe Serue God and obserue him whatsoeuer ye haue in hand Let your loue be t 'one end of your thought Marke what God loues in you and doe it note what he hates in you auoide it Let him be alwaies master of your heart to gouerne it mistresse of your loue to command it a most bountifull rewarder ye shall finde him and a most beautifull mistresse yet none so meane in the world but may haue her none so great in the world but may goe without her How can a man be idle and haue so sweet a mistresse to serue night and day hee cannot sinne in thinking on her But I leaue all to your good practise ye haue heard worthy friends all that one body can say in so short a time in words so fewe and in a businesse so aboue all measure necessarie and I may not spoyle with tediousnesse a matter so repleate with all pleasantnesse Shall I aske you a question to make an end withall yee shall not need answer me in words but in thoughts Is there any vnbeleeuer in this place Can any man perswade himselfe he shall liue long or that heauen wil be had without much care or that worldly cares do not hinder it and hazzard it exceedingly Doe they thinke they haue no such inheritance in heauen as I speake off Locum nominatum dabit eis pater meus My father will giue them a place by name or thinke they that the least flower in heauen is not much more worth then the fairest bower on earth that one glimps at Gods brightnesse if we might see it would not dimme and damne the worldes greatest happinesse that one peepe into heauen would not make our gold shew like leade faire fields like a desert the bright sunne like a sparkle beauty like the white skull of adead body if any such be heere asbeleeue nothing but what they see delight in nothing but what the basest dullest and most vulgar delight in I shall most humbly intreate them for the passion of Christ and for the true loue they owe themselues to informe themselues better by them that be better learned Let them not be sicke so dangerously and seeke after no remedy But if it be so as I haue no doubt but ye all beleeue mee then tell me I pray whether yee neede a spurre thither that haue so faire a baite of it whether yee neede a whippe that haue so faire allurements to it whether yee neede inuiting to your owne house any bidding to your owne banquet any inforcing to your owne possession or proper inheritance which if yee neede I doe not maruell much in this great opposition of flesh and blood which keepes you from seeing your inward marke and which vntill yeesee more perfectly minde more readily and aime at more feruently as you doe at outward things sure it is not with you as it should bee and your present remedy is to make a patterne of outward things whereby to guide you to the inward Who stumbles at money-bagge and needes be bidden take it vp who hath a a good legacy giuen him and needes perswading to goe fetch it who is a hungred and needes inforcing to fill his belly hauing good meate before him Sence furthers him in all this And shall our faith be weaker then sence to further vs to the contrary Sence telles vs money is better then Gods mercy itching pleasure better then Paradice present momentaries better then future euerlastingnesse And shall our faith lye dead the whilest Take courage in God and let not sence so preuaile against it Let not idlenesse drowne it passion ouerthrowe it and filthy custome cut the throate of it Let faith rather goe before and other things come after When we follow one by night our eye is neuer off him for feare we misse our way euen so let vs looke to our faith-ward alwayes that our sence seduce vs not in the darke of our vnderstanding If at any time ye be feasting or sporting turne your eye now and then inward and remember the grand-feast preparing for yee aboue Are yee in sorrow or heauinesse stirre vp your faith a little remember heauen and sorrow will vanish like a bubble Are ye at a royall maske or other great entertainement Thinke it all nothing to that is ready for yee in heauen against ye come there Haue ye lost a friend or deare companion Take the glasse of faith in your hand and ye find an hundred for one more deare to you then any can be vpon earth Haue ye sweetes at your nose or dainties in your taste Dwell not on them too long but reflect them higher Are ye tempted with disloyaltie or other disobedience Raise an heauenly thought and it will vntempt you Are yee in delight of harmony the Waites perhaps at your windowe to giue you the time of the day Let this make worke for your faith and quicken it and make it eager after her heauenly harmony Are ye melancholy at misfortune discontent with distresse dazeled with gloomy weather afflicted with reproach or obliquie Repaire to your liuely faith and it will banish all discomfort Your field musicke and trumpets that make you couch your lances and your horses stampe vnder you let these be your alarums against your triple enemie that baricado the way betweene you and heauen Let your inward trumpet sound with your outward to spend your spirits and animate your soules against any proffer to beate you from heauen Doe ye know what heauen is that noble heauen that golden heauen that glorious and delightfull heauen that euerlasting heauen where Angels becken you and looke euery day for you and will yee bee beaten from it Doe yee know your right to it the
out of the pulpit But because it was not honourable they would none of it So say I. Is there sinne in it then not honourable Is there no way to quit our selues but to strike God almighty Remember in your assaults of anger what Philip of Macedon said to Demochares the Athenian Oratour when hee tolde the king it would please the Athenians well if hee would goe hang himselfe Seneca saith the king was not mooued with it nor touched him for it as hee might but willed him goe aske his masters that sent him which was more honourable to giue those words or to take them An answer most worthy the father of Alexander But let vs ende where wee began My deare louers and friends let vs neuer be so hotte as to forget to be Christians And let vs bee also Christianlike And whatsoeuer fault wee haue as who hath not yet let vs hate no man no not our enemy but pitty him and inwardly loue him for his loue and Pitties sake who gaue his hearts blood for his mortall enemies His loue brought him from heauen to earth and your loue must bring you from earth to heauen Our learned say and I beleeue it well There is no vertue such as this to indeere vs to God nor any thing the diuell bestirs him more in then to breake in sunder the linkes that chaine vs together Let vs be wise in this or in nothing Say we be suddenly mooued to breake amity or peace Yet let it not bee much or if much Eph. 4. yet Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram Let not the sunne goe downe in your wrath It will not ill become a redde scarfe and a plume of feathers to heare the trumpet of God speake Let not the sunne go downe in your anger saith Saint Paul As who should say when ye lye downe lay downe What must ye lay downe Lay downe your weapon lay downe all malice and hatred More then that Lay downe anger and all thoughts of reuenge So farre be it from yee to thinke of challenge or answer in that kind Vanquish your selues ouercome your selues shewe your selues Gods men and conquer your selues If ye were hotte in the day bee coole at night If yee were hasty when time was yee haue respite to thinke on it double not your folly with a new daies sinne The sunne is downe yee must thinke no more of it Haue yee vowed reuenge Haue yee tenne times vowed it The sunne is downe yee are bound to breake your vowe Aske your learned if it be not so Euery time you goe to pray they will tell you yee must lay aside quarrels Forget and forgiue if yee will bee heard of God Especially at two times and then it is sacriledge they say or sinne against the holy Ghost to keepe a quarrell in your breast The one is when yee goe to receiue the Sacrament The other in any likeli-hood of death be it by seruice or sicknesse as yee may learne also by the heathen aforesaid Phocion Let Duellors looke to this at their perill that goe to dye or may dye and carry so bloody a mind with them in steade of a winding sheete Let vs not be harder hearted then Pagans in the new Orbe where the Lords or Naires would stab their seruants dayly vpon their least miscarriage towards their Masters Mat 9. They leaue it now rather then loose the Church-rites Euen so must we do by rancour and reuenge We may not carry such baggage to Church with vs. If yee bee wronged I denie ye not to right your selues by law or other meanes lawfull and if lawes releeue you not I wish they might But this I must tell you Ye may not looke to haue all that is wrong to be righted heere in this world or not so suddenly as your heat and hastinesse many times expects If all things were right heere there were no matter of patience in this life 2. Cor. 6. Saint Paul was content with good fame and badde The testimony of a good conscience was to him sufficient And ye are no better then Scipio and Coriolanus that died in banishment by malice of their enemies Some are kept from lands some from goods or good name and shall not be righted till Doomse-day And yet if a man haue patience the case is very rare but he may bee righted heere But it may bee yee are in haste ye cannot stay the Magistrates leisure nor your friendes And what will ye do if ye be sore hurt must ye be whole in haste or not at all will ye giue time to your Surgeon for your curing and none to the Magistrate for your satisfying Bee not to earnest and hotte in your parly Be not furious as some be nor giue euill words A lauish tongue was neuer graft on a noble hart I haue noted that the worthier the persons be the sooner they be at one And Caesar when he perceiued his mortall enemy Caluus but a little inclining to peace he preuented him streight and wrot vnto him first But I make an end Set God before yee I beseech yee Let it not be nobis vtile that is turpe deo And yee may know the foulnesse of your fault alwaies by your vnwillingnesse to be aduised in it by any reuerend man I haue beene long but it may be for your profite if ye escape a scourge by mee Haply yee will one day say with King Dauid Psal 34. Congregata sunt super me flagella et ignorabam When ye shall see your fault and seeke to amend it God will drawe the vaile from before your eyes and shewe you the whippes that were readie for yee if yee had continued in this errour But yee haue time now to consider of it Once againe remember S. Paul Sol non occidat Is the Sunne downe Cry truce to anger truce to reuenge Free your soules from passion and vnquietnesse True honour bee your ground Weare no colours but of God and your Prince and relye vpon them boldely So shall yee bee as truely honourable as yee bee duely obsequious Iacta super dominum curam tuam Cast your care vpon God and your countrey Psal 54. and they will protect your honour and defend your fame and will not suffer yee to goe to your graues with the least disgrace FINIS TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR FRANCIS BACON KNIGHT BARON OF VERVLAM LORD HIGH Chancellour of England SIR you are the highest Iusticer in this land or next the highest And therefore this peece of my labour if it be worth so much I thinke fit to dedicate to your Honor. In this garden of English iustice you are a principall gardiner where euery subiect should be a weeder to pull vp that by the roote which makes you endlesse worke This roote of Auarice is not so great but the compasse of a heart containes it The biggest man hath no bigger plat to weed in and yet your Lordsh findes to your paines that it is not
and left themselues little else but what they wore on therr belts and buckles and rings on their fingers An other time they of Marseiles did the like vnasked Iust 43. to aide the Romanes at a need and left not themselues a peece of golde either in publike or priuate Neither is it fit for vs to iudge the State at our pleasure when matter of burthen is propounded our Soueraigne being wise and bearing conscience towards vs. They sitte neere the Sunne and know what must bee better then wee They are wise and more experienced then wee and their part is in the burthen as well as ours It belongs to vs to listen willingly and performe gladly 2. Cor. 9. Hilarem datorem diligit deus God loues a cheerefull giuer and blesses him no doubt accordingly And the reason why our ancestours thriued better then wee and liued more plentifully Saint Augustine imputeth to this Quia deo decimas Hom. 48. de Sanctis regi censum dabant Because tithes they paid to God and tribute to the king Others pay also at this day but they doe it not willingly and God regards more what the heart doth then what the hand doth And therefore whosoeuer bee Iustices or Assessours on the bench our loue and conscience must bee of the quorum Let mutiny and turbulency finde no place with ingenuous spirits Christ himvelfe made meanes to contribute to superiours for our example hauing himselfe neither lands nor goods And so would wee if we had but loue in vs. A dead horse is no horse no more is dead loue any loue And where should wee shewe it more then to our Prince in whom all causes of loue concurre together most commonly Some weare their kings in their hat some in a iewell about their necke and wee set vp his picture in our eye where we eate and drinke we praise him and set out his vertues and run out to see him and bidde God saue him as if wee had neuer seene him before Wee pray for him in priuate and publike and hee is all our glory till wee come to part with any thing and then the king knowes not mê say they I shall neuer haue thankes of him I haue children and charge the king had more neede giue mee Some say it some thinke it and wee see not who lookes on the whilest Euen he that iudgeth both subiect and Soueraigne and will not suffer his annointed vnreuenged of any indignity But I will goe forward I come now to your Superfluum I spake of A thing that is not ill in it selfe if men doe not loue it too much and seeke it not so eagerly as they doe I will tell you in a word what your Pastours thinke of it and then conclude The scripture bids you Tobit 4. If ye haue much giue much Abundanter tribue If yee haue little giue little but let it bee volenter willingly Christ saith Mat. 25. we shall be damned for not doing some things Which all the fathers vnderstand to be the workes of mercy both spirituall and temporall The spirituall are comprehended in these verses Aduize reprooue good comfort giue Beare with him pray for him and forgiue All which sixe as well temporall persons as spirituail are bound to doe especially the second which is brotherly correction No man may forbeare to admonish his neighbour of his offence if yee bee not more likely to doe hurt by it or bee likely enough to doe him good and no body else will Which rule alone I must tell you when I well considered it made mee the bolder to aduenture on this daies charge though better becomming other manner of persons then my selfe if they were at hand But beeing so that my happe aboue others hath beene heere to speake about such businesse although I haue no cause to admonish or touch in particular any one for the enormities aforesaide yet by the way of praemonition I giue a brotherly warning to all as by this rule I thinke my selfe bound that they fall not into the same For according to this rule I finde it written in another place vnicuique mandauit Deus de proximo suo Eccl. 17. euery man hath charge in charity ouer his neighbour That is to say either by preuenting euill before it come as I doe now or by correcting euill if it bee past which I haue no cause in any of you And this I holde to bee the chiefe or onely spirituall worke that all persons alike are bound vnto But as for temporall workes which was the other part of my diuision wee are bound to more And therefore for our better memory they are put into verse thus Feede visit sicke redeeme out of thrall cloath harbour harbourlesse giue buriall All set downe by our Sauiour himselfe but the last Mat. 25. which is buriall and all these or most of them wee must doe vpon paine of hell fire Ite in ignem eternum saith hee Goe yee into euerlasting fire For yee visited me not ye cloathed me not c. Of spirituall workes more then I haue said I say nothing they belong to Diuines and Preachers who are the best instruments with learning and spirit to mannage our soules Of corporall workes also I haue not much to say more then of the instrument and meanes for them which is gold and siluer and which we either haue or lay for more then they and therefore are bound to doe them more then they For there is not a corporall worke except that of visiting but requireth some charge and outward ability Euery body cannot redeeme prisoners yea who make prisoners but rich folke An hundred dye in a yeare sometimes out of one prison as many ready to starue without shirt to their backe or bread to eate Many are ashamed to begge or to complaine and bring in their winding sheet when they come in vnable to buy necessaries and much lesse to pay debts But this is their manner of redeeming prisoners to lay them faster if they can or to abridge them any comfort that a prison may affoord Let rich men and prison-keeprs take heede of this if euer they looke to prosper with that they haue For if any should perish thus through their wilfullnesse it is murther before God and if they want maintenance they are bound by this precept to maintaine them The rich men I say for deteining the vnable if they think them so Prison keepers for looking no better to their hospitalls for euery Iaile is an hospitall as well as a prison And if begging will not serue they must finde them bread and drinke at least or giue vp their office God will charge vs one day that wee did not some of these things which wee were able to doe and had good meanes for Vnicuique mandauit Deus as I said before And mandauit implies a duty It is not as we will but wee are bound to it as it appeares by the penaltie which is laid vpon it
to ease me of a burthen as I said before who am born for burthens Psal 65. for as Dauid saith God hath laide his people vpon our necks and yet if such a one as you can doe more with a word then wee with ten pardon mee Sir I beseech you I know not how you will bee excused But I say no more your will shall be done Well Sir saide my Assistant since you bee in good earnest you shall not take offence at me but what if I deceiue your expectation and shall not performe so well as the matter importeth Surely Sir saide my Comptroler that was not wont to bee your fault and for my owne part I must say what I thinke I had rather heare but halfe from my Lord and you concerning these matters then the whole matter from another for both in the one case my Lord being a man of Sword and honour it is not like but hee will respect what hee may the honour of gentlemen vpon falling out so on the other side your selfe beeing also noble and of great expence who must haue much comming in to beare your charge there is none will feare or doubt partiality in you to speake against coueting or keeping more then you must needes but rather will extend your selfe as farre as you may and your learning will giue leaue Spirituall men speake learnedly of their matters and whatsoeuer yee bring vs I suppose yee fetch it from their groundes but if the temporall also and men of action concurre with the same as I know not well yet whether they doe or no and I would gladly learne surely this will make a double barre against all impugners that the euill disposed will not haue a word to say wee haue a ghesse sufficient what our Prelates will say But since the motion hath beene made and to my seeming very fitly I should bee a petitioner to you both and many more yee shall haue if neede bee that it may bee so Wee are true Jsraelites Exod. 20.19 that had rather heare Moses speake then God almighty whereat when wee had laughed a little while It is not vnusuall with mee said I to speake to my fellowes and followers and yet it is more then I dare promise you neither will vnlesse my Assistant doe as much I will take a pawsing time and if I can thinke of any thing worth your hearing you shall know and my Assistant vndertooke in like manner And so beeing ready to depart I tolde them that for teaching I would not intermeddle but leaue them wholly to their Pastours whom I would exhort what I could to beleeue and follow in all such matters as I should giue them in charge and but a charge I would make of it No more shall I said my Assistant And my charge my Lord said my Comptroler shall be to put your Excellency to charge for the time and to bidde them all welcome with the best cheere wee can make them This was the end of our Parlance and when the times came we performed accordingly whereof I haue heere set downe the dead letters but whosoeuer had heard my Chaplaine would haue loued the world the worse as long as they liued My Assistant likewise deliuered it with much grace and grauity and my selfe did my good will My Chaplaine began as followeth THE CHAPLAINE vpon Panis Viatorum THE FIRST ORATION RIght honourable worshipfull and well beloued yee are come hither I perceiue to heare somewhat for your edification but I feare mee you shall finde a souldier of mee rather then a diuine for so my many years employment in the campe hath made me beeing a place of all others vnfit for study and a mortall enemy to Muses My scarres ye see make mention of some wounds and my blood hath testified my loue to you that haue seldome failed to beare you company in your thickest perills with target in one hand and my booke in the other I haue assisted many a gasping spirit in their agony to heauen-ward where I doubt not now but they see and sit with God for euer and euer and you whom his heauenly prouidence hath reserued from slaughter hee hath preserued ye must thinke for his further seruice if your sword rust yet your action may not which must euermore bee doing and working of your weale ye haue peace now and ye haue put vp your weapons what then peace giues rest to temporall and not to spirituall fight we may neuer stand still in our way to heauen and thither I was wished to exhort you to day by one whose authority I may in no wise decline I will do my best God willing to set you in your way and in your way I will leaue you it will be no new matter I shall tell you but what ye haue euery day cause to thinke of and are able to teach others Your yeares and daies haue beene long time neere death as neere as Canon shotte and daily death before your eies hath beene enough to mortifie you and hasten you to another world I shall not therefore be ouer tedious to you that are so well prepared already neither will I dazell your vnderstanding with darke matters nor weary your wittes with points of learning but onely admonish you what encounters ye are like to haue and what glory will attend you if ye be conquerours This will be the last time wee shall all meete thus and if I shall any thing say worth your hearing I beseeh you also let it be worth your following Quare appenditis argentum non in panibus et laborem vestrum non insaturitate Esay 55. Intending therefore to exhort you or rather to hasten you in your way to heauen I thought it fitte to lay before you the saying of Esay the Prophet Why spend ye siluer saith he and not in breads your labour and not in saturity A short speach but full of mistery why spend yee siluer and not in bread your labour and not in saturity or fulnesse we will speake first of the first part and afterwards of the second as touching the first part it is well enough known there is nothing more needful for the sustentatiō of man thē bread It is that we pray for in our Pater noster as the needfullest foode and most vniuersall that is kings themselues cannot be without it and the poorest haue it though they haue nothing else euery body loueth it no one dish that euery body loueth yet euery one loues bread And besides the loue we all haue to it God hath giuen it this prerogatiue that as it is most necessary so is it best cheape and easiest to come by And therefore most iustly the Prophet cries out saying why spend yee siluer and not in bread as who should say why spend ye money vpon trifles your patrimony vpon pastimes and all the meanes you haue vpon merriments and are content to sit a hungred for them But what I pray you is this siluer that men
these three loaues but the foode of heauenly misteries Hom. 26. in Ioh. Saint Augustine also calles these heauenly things bread and telles vs the sweetnesse of it such as is able to intice and force a mans heart to the loue of it how little soeuer the world doth esteeme it But to our purpose All these three may bee rightly called the bread of Proposition as I saide beeing shewne and propounded for all to buy of and feede on that bee yet as Trauellers before they come to their iournies ende The word of God feedes vs with instruction Vertues feede vs with imitation Sacraments feede vs with grace and consolation The word of God giues life and motion to our soules Vertues digestion and Sacraments augmentation The word of God with what reuerence it must bee handled Vertues with what resolution they must bee imbraced a Sacrament with what puritie it must bee receiued I vndertake not now to teach yee know or may know by your learned Prelates to whom I remit you onely of vertues I say thus much to you because they are more within the compasse of your vnderstanding and yee haue daily vse of them that as they be many and very nourishing to your soules so are they like flowers in your garden oyle in your lampes and corne to your Mill. A Mill will bee fired and the stones fret out one another without corne in it euen so doe our passions they chafe vs and fret vs to nothing if Vertues come not betweene The flowers of vertue refresh and comfort the soule and make it admirably sweete The oyle of vertue makes the soule so bright and smoothe that God may see his owne face in it and acknowledge vs thereby to bee his true Image In particular haue wee taken away ones good name or any thing else that is his Let vs make a vertue of it by submission and restitution Are we angry at a disgrace done vs Let vs not bee hasty of reuenge but let vs bee glad if wee can of such a tryall sent vs. Temperance of body and chastity of minde are great vertues and indeere vs to God I may not omit humility and mildenesse gentlenesse and affability Mat. 18. that makes vs the very childe that God tooke vp in his armes and shewed him for a patterne for all the world to beholde Fortitude or valour is likewise a singular vertue without which almost there can bee no vertue not humilitie nor obedience can want it not the least passion vanquished without it my purpose is not to reckon vp all vertues but onely to giue instance of a fewe In one word yee know all of yee when yee doe ill shunne it and amend it yee know what is vertue also and when ye doe well imbrace it and feede on it it is your soules bread and to feede on it hard makes a fat soule These bee the bread you should buy these the things you should spend your siluer on make a houshold booke and keepe account with your selues of your laying out and expences euery day which if they bee not in a good conscience of some of these vertues or bee in a bad conscience of the contrary yee will grow behind hand quickly and your soules will be so poore that ye will rid no way in your poast to Heauen-ward I haue read of a noble Romane called Sextius who neuer missed night Senec. lib. 3 de ira but would call to minde what hee had done amisse that day and if any day were that he amended nothing in he accoūted it vtterly lost he learnt it I thinke of some seruant of God and so may you looke on your compting booke euery night and see what Items yee haue there what chast thoughts and how the contraries resisted what patience and how anger was resisted how iust your bargaines and contracts how yee pray and haue God in your minde first and last how pittifull to the poore how heedy for swearing how for cursing how for ouermuch eating and drinking idle talke and ribaldry Phil. 4. all which yee may doe in him that comforts you as S. Paul saith if you put your good wills to it The horse that carries you must bee your good will if your will bee ardent and zealous hee neuer tyers if it bee colde hee holdes not out a day The winde that launcheth you through the Ocean must be your good will the winde will bee alwaies as great as your will and your will should bee euer as great as your hunger Oh that wee might feele our soules hunger as sensibly as our bodies hunger wee should then buy this heauenly bread much faster and plye our soules oftner with these heauenly prouisions then wee doe Behold the woorth of this bread our holy Prophet offers vs to buy But it may be yee would gladly know why the Prophet calles these things bread and not by some other name aswell that may be as signifying for his purpose as this word Bread Surely wee shall finde in Scriptures if wee marke it that what we eate to sustaine our bodies with is called sometimes by the name of Bread as if there were nothing else before vs to eate but Bread Exod 3.2 Kings cap. 9. and other like places where to dine or suppe is called to eate Bread and yet had they other things to eate besides bread As wee see where Abraham intreated his three guests to come in and eate bread with him Gen. 18. and yet there was not onely bread but hony milke and veale And in the first of Kings where Saul accursed them that should eate bread that day cap. 14. wee read what punishment came vpon them for Ionathans sake for tasting onely of a hony-combe in his way and touched no Bread Loe heere where hony also is vnderstood by Bread as euery thing else may bee which wee eate both for the generality and likewise for the necessity of the foode of bread since euery one must haue it and nothing can bee eaten without it All things therefore wee see that are foode is called Antonomastice by the name of Bread as by the worthiest name and so of our spirituall food if a man should aske why our Prophet calleth it bread and not by some other name as why doth he not call it Clothing since we cannot come there without a wedding garment Mat. 22. why doth he not call it armour or weapons arma nostra spiritualia 2. Cor. 10. we come not to heauen without fight neither fight wee without weapons why doth he not call it wings Psal 54.7 since we cannot fly without wings why doth hee not call it a ladder as it is called in Genesis cap. 28.12 to clime to heauen by why doth he not call it Almes-deedes a thing so much commended in Scriptures why calls hee it not I say by none of these since all these be so necessary for vs truely the reason is plaine if we marke it All
bee fat thus nor haue Saturity It will liue though it be wan and pale it will breath though it be sallowe and greene it will goe forward though faintly it will thriue a little but not much Sophocles Labor labori laborem imponit as they say One labour begets another in this world one labour must follow and perfect other or else all is imperfect There is labour in tilling labour in sowing labour in weeding labour in reaping inning and thrashing it out after this it must be grounde and set on our board If any of these labours be missing there comes no fulnesse or saturity of it It will be labour without saturity What security haue husband men to mowe their grasse and neuer make it to reape their wheate and to leaue it in the field to weather and birds What security finde merchants in loading fraighting launching and putting into hauen if they leaue all on ship board when they haue done for euery body to steale and bring them not into their warehouse And this is that our Prophet speakes of here our labour must bee contimando he inueighes not here against notorious sinners or damned crewes Such as the world is full of and the Scriptures are full against them in other places But the Prophecies here against them that are in their way to heauen and make no more haste in it will be put by with euery toy goe forward one day backward another doe well one day ill another amend one day fall to it againe an other haue good meate before them and eate no better of it eate well perhaps but heede not what they swallow with it They forbeare sinne what they can but watch not their bad inclinations are good to the poore but reuengefull to their enemy are giuen to fasting and prayer yet are wayward and testy to their liues ende Others bee milde but negligent withall stout but stiffe withall wise but opinatiue forward but inflexible obedient but against their wils praise worthy but glorying in it It will prooue inutilis labor I feare me in the end And their worke may turne to froth for all their labour in a great many or else so full of trash as the bloud of Christ can doe no more then wash it away There can be no vertue or goodnes in vs without labor no patience or perseuerance without labor no withstanding temptations or praier fruitfull without labor if we labor in none of these it is asigne that we hauenone of these Now what should I speake of zeale and feruour of deuotion which ought to be our wings to heauen-ward whether be these fledde What wicked fiend or accursed fortune of ours hath blowne them away What coast or forraine countrey hath rauished them from vs that wee may goe seeke them and fetch them home againe and make much of them when we haue them and will this be done without labour also I would to God we saw what is yet to bee seene and daily comes to our eares by merchants and trauellers of the furthest parts of the earth What loue and zeale those Paynims beare both young and old of both sexes to their gods that are no gods It would make vs ashamed of our extreame coldnes and indeuotion to our true God if we saw it Yea what will they be and how zealous when they come to be conuerted as it may be since they are now so deuout to Idols or Pago-des as they call them the handy workes of men There were to be seene in the old testament Psal 105. that offered their children to sacrifice in their blind zeale There bee now in the Jndies that sacrifice themselues daily to please their god and they thinke it no labour because we speake of labour nor sticke at any paines that can bee in their wicked seruice Haply yee will not beleeue what I shall tell you but there bee thousands liuing to testifie it neither doe I speake it as fit for vs to follow yet not vnfit to make vse of that we may learne to labour the good we may by them that labour in euill which they may not Of certain they are there so full of deuotion the people of all sorts are so obsequious to their Pago-des Hist Alex. that the king of Cochine not long since holden for a prudent prince and a man of notable gouernment left his gouernment wholly and in habit of a poore man went a fiue yeares pilgrimage to visit all the pago-des of India al alone vnknown where hee indured much misery and sorrow before his returne and yet such comfort he tooke in it belike that he began such another voyage afterward but died in it His successour likewise that followed him tooke after him vnfortunately For being but of weake constitution yet vsing great austerity to himselfe many houres in a day in his closet alone with superstitious meditations which were most hurtfull to his health hee died within the yeare Yet see his feruour Vpon a day the gouernour of Cochine aduised him and besought him to haue more care of his health alleadging the Phisitions opinions that the long ceremonies and much solitarinesse which he vsed for prayer would quickly hazzard him or cost him his life Howbeit the king set light by any thing hee could say and told him further that he made more reckoning of the least of his deuotions to the Pago-des then of an hundred thousand liues all which if he had them he would spend in their seruice There be some kings and great Lords in the countrey that for the reuerence they beare to their Pago-des they haue little ones of gold hanging at their forehead and doe their deuotions to them at their times with great humiliation And to the end they may not forget it they haue their pages of purpose that haue nothing else to doe but to put them in mind of their houres and to name but the name of the pago-des whereat the King will bowe himselfe with great reuerence In the night time also these pages awake their masters for the same cause But that which exceedeth all admiration is a terrible feast which they hold at Garcopa a little from Onor on a certaine day And this is such a dreadfull thing that Christians are forbidden to goe thither vpon paine of excommunication On this festiuall day there is an infinite concourse of people to attend it The Pago-de with certaine of the Brachmans comes forth in a chariot very richly set out the wheeles whereof are tyred with Iron as piercing and sharpe as a razor And as the chariot marches there comes a number to offer their liues to the Pago-de and cast themselues on their knees in the lowliest manner they can vntill by little and little they lye flat on the earth iust where the wheele must come ouer them and cuttes them all to peeces and these bee holden for Saints as our Martyrs are with vs. In the other parts of India about the borders of
of it I haue not beene troublesome some to you to inueigh against vanities or loue of the world Ye haue store of bookes concerning that matter I haue not declaimed of worldly contentments how far they bee from true contentments yea rather thornes Mat. 13. Eccl. 1. as our Sauiour calles them or affliction of spirit as Salomon tearmes them Euery sermon yee heare is full of this Argument whereunto I referre you And therefore if yee should like to loue them or set your heart on them beeing so base as they bee in vaine yee hasten forward that goe so cleane backward In vaine yee flye vpward with so heauy a clogge at your heele and in vain do I perswade you to make haste that will not doe a way first what will hinder you of your iourney Haue ye riches loue thē loosely part with them willingly if neede bee Haue yee pleasures vse them moderately in godly feare Haue ye honour and preheminence keepe watch with your selues ouer pride and disdaine and let all that know you make account of you that yee bee as humble as honourable And so if yee can carry your contentments in this sort as God bee the practicall ground in whom alone is our true Satis or contentment then are yee vndoubtedly in your true and perfect way to heauen and nothing remaineth now but that yee make haste and take comfort in it Howbeit for that in our best actions and endeauours that we haue in our way to God our spirits bee often times dull and haue neede of quickening Sap. 9. for as it is written our body corruptible weigheth downe our soule and hindreth haste exceedingly It shall be our next and last point that I will entreate of to say somewhat of the ioyes in heauen that may waken vs when wee slumber remember vs when wee forget and spurre vs forward to amend our pace when wee begin to stand still But this I will reserue vntill our next meeting I will trouble you no further now FINIS THE SECOND Oration vpon Panis Angelorum I Began the other day with Bread and now I will end with Bread I began with Bread of Trauellers I will end with Bread of Angels The best dish I haue reserued for last the bread the Angels feede on for euer The other bread which wee haue spoken of was a preparatiue for this bread and this thereward of that to set at board with angels to eate angels meate Psal 77. Not the meate that was brought the Israelites by the ministery of angels and perished but that which angels themselues doe feede on in sight of their maker And how farre better is this then to sit with Princes or to be fellowes with Potentates This is it must bee the reward of our Labours this the Saturity which nothing can be added vnto The very reward that holy Moses looked after and now hath to his fill As it is written Moses beheld his reward Heb. 11. His eye was still vpon this reward and so ouercame with ease the hardnes he sustained vpon mountaines and rocks for forty yeares together and what he endured in all his timethere the tongue of man cannot expresse Hee was one that walked perfectly in the wayes of God alwayes and therefore was wortthy to talke with God face to face Mitissimus super terram not a milder or an humbler that euer liued vpon earth And yet the better to hold out through all afflictions to the end aspiciebat remunerationem hee was glad to looke at his reward and to remember often what he should haue for his paines in the end S. Paul likewise had his eye that way Rom. 8. that he said that all wee can suffer in this world cannot deserue the glory that attends vs in the world to come But how did Saint Paul or how did Moses know this were they euer to see it certaine it is they had some illustrations more then other because their loue of God was greater and their paines in Gods seruice much more then others 2. Cor. 12. Exod. 33. The one was rauished into the third heauens the other saw the back-parts of God as the Scriptures make mention By which I inferre if such noble sparkes as these had neede of these comforts and to reflect sometimes vpon their reward How much more wee that are of the latter brood borne as it were in the wayne of the world and comming short a great deale of their spirit and feruour had we neede I say to thinke one it often and to beare continually the ioyes of heauen in our minde yea to keepe if it might be a true picture of them alwaies before our eyes for feare of forgetting For thus it is with vs. If we forget them we are like to hazzard them if we remember them they are like to be our owne There be foure last things that we are taught to beare in minde Deut. 32. and wee shall neuer sinne whereof heauen is the principall Death iudgement and hell are very needefull also to be thought of because it is good for vs to feare aswell as loue These indeede doe fill vs with feare and terror but heauen filles vs with loue and ardent desire Hell driues to God heauen drawes to God Hell whips vs with horror heauen hales vs with beauty Loue feare are both of them profitable I say but loueis more acceptable to God because it is his owne prime and originall quality who dreadeth nothing and all things dread him It seemeth my deare louers and friends yee looke that I should somewhat say of the ioyes of heanen what they bee and so it were fit if I were able to performe it But mee think when I enter into so great a matter I am stricken on a suddaine with barrennesse and know not how to expresse my selfe or where to begin For I must speake of that which I doe but wincke at a farre off neither can I well tell what credit I shall haue with you to philosophate vnto you of most excellent colours which I neuer sawe but darkeling For if S. Paul could not tell vs that little which he saw nor yet Moses nor if any other Saint haue beene there and come againe to life as S. Gregory writes of one Felix in Dial. much lesse shall I be able that neuer came neere that place to delineate vnto yee any thing with my rude pensill 2. Cor. 12. that shall bee worth your expectation Saint Paul cals them Arcana hidden misteries that are kept vnder seale from vs and such as we may not aspire to knowe vntill we come there and much lesse to tell no not with the tongue of an angell The best that I can bring you will bee but a reflexion of a reflexion or a peece of the Sunnes glory by night in the body of the Moone And yet since ye are come to heare and I haue vndertaken to say somewhat I will bee bold to say what I
Ancientie of your title and the price was giuen for it and will yee bee beaten from it with any fire or sword or haply with a lewd looke of an intemperate eye Oh farre be these from your Christian manhood farre be it from your own selfe loue far be it from your baptisme and grace of God in you But mee thinkes I see heroicall signes in you your faith leapes in your faces your heart is in flames and your spirit replenished with resolution which giues great hope that the gates of hell will neuer preuaile against against you nor stop you of your way your way to heauen-ward I say which I haue painted pointed you vnto Haste yee thither and runne a pace put wings to your willes and out-strippe all impediments I conclude with Saint Paul Sic currite vt comprehendatis 1. Cor. 9. So runne as yee may catch So run as ye may obtaine what ye runne for Let no man say he is fatte Esa 35. and pursie and growne past running For God hath promised him the feete of a Stagge if he doe but his good will Abac 3. Let no man say he is old feeble and weake and cannot breake ill custome for he must know that Virtus in infirmitate perficitur 2. Cor. 12. Luc. 15. The weaker a man is the greater is Gods glory in the combate Christ will take ye vp vpon his shoulders and runne away with you if you will but take the paines to get vp Sic currite so runne saith he Almost all the world runnes backward and yet they runne But this is not Sic currite Run yee forward I beseech you There be some also that runne about Psal 11. yet runne In circuitu impij ambulant The wicked walke in a circuit will yee knowe what this is They that walke the way of ambition and emulation They that walke the way of pleasure and delight They that walke the way of riches and ease it is a great aduenture they will neuer arriue at the happinesse we speake of not that rich folke cannot come to heauen but they that seeke riches and lay to heape riches Not that men cannot winne heauen that haue pleasure but they that seeke pleasure and poure themselues out vpon it Not that kings and princes and honorable persons Bishops Archbishops and such like haue no part in our heauenly kingdome but they that aspire after greatnesse aspire after kingdomes and labour after Prelacye and Sublimitie in the world all these I say runne round in a circle and waxe giddie withall They are drowned in their owne desires and cannot breath for it They are borne so downe with their burthen on their backs that it is impossible to make way The word is ambulant they doe but walke not runne and to runne thus is not Sic currite Runne yee the next way be sure and loose no ground Some againe there be that runne with the Hare as they say and holde with the hound They flye vice and yet incline to vice flye one temptation and entertaine another flye the act and delight in thought Oh this is not Sic currite Long shall they so runne and neuer catch Wee are bidden so runne as wee may obtaine This word runne excludes all daliance and delay Wee must not stand at a stay nor looke behind vs. This word obtaine includes perseuerance to holde it out to the ende To runne therefore without wearinesse to goe forward still without repentance this is indeede Sic currite this is to runne so as the Apostle will haue vs. The onely enemy to perseuerance is idle vncertaine and vnsettled life Make your selues businesse alwaies that may bee good and then let no alteration of time or place hinder you no hard fortune disarme you no fawning of any friends vnstrengthen you Let your word bee Semper idem Hee that knowes yee now and sees you not againe of twenty yeares together let him finde you the same or better Let all your neighbours report of your sweetnesse all your acquaintance take example by you of much goodnes and fetch fire at your feruour FINIS TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD EDWARD EARLE OF Worcester SIR the place you haue for honour and armes with my bounden duty together haue mooued mee to dedicate to your Honor this part of my labours wherein I bring you not a grape of mine owne planting or a Pome-deroy or a Musk-million but a posie of mine owne picking out of other mens gardens My hope is you will not looke into the meanenesse of my performance but the merit of the subiect wherein your selfe haue also laboured right nobly and much more profitably would if gentlemen as they bee true gentlemen would become your true followers To them I speake in this little treatise and not to you but learne of you And so with all humility wishing you health and longer yeares I take my leaue of your Lordship All your good Lordships to command W. Wiseman THE FIRST CHARGE BY THE DVKE against Duellum RIght noble audience and fellowes at armes I haue inuited you hither to day for your good company which I can neuer be weary of and partly also out of the aboundance of my heart to impart vnto you somewhat that may stead you hereafter wheresoeuer yee become Yee haue beene pleased ere now to heare your Generalls voyce halfe an hower together And it hath beene I thinke for your good My words concluded then with commanding but now with intreating and mutuall imbracing Men of peace may bee to seeke in time of warres So you that come newly from the warres may bee to seeke of your carriage in time of peace Yee were men of sort and noble the most of yee before yee came hither And yee haue lost no reputation by your comming but shall returne into your countries I doubt not with much increase of honour Honour in regard of your owne approoued valour Honour in respect of the cause and quarrell yee haue spent your time in and much of your blood For what more Honourable then to fight against the great deuourer of Christianity the vpbraider of Jsraell and blasphemer of the Sonne of God Christ Iesus Yea how much more honourable this then to waste our Jrascible part vpon one another at home Not onely to fight and kill if we can but when we haue done our worst to beare malice and deadly feud still and sometimes as long as we liue A very bad vse in our countrey Euen family against family and man against man without all moderation Those whom God gaue his life for we will take life from Those whom he suffered paine for we would put to paine if we could or to shame if we cannot Those who by generation or regeneration should be our brothers and all one with vs all selected children of one God and parteners of one blessing we seeke to dishonour by word or deede vpon euery light occasion We that should beare one
of it thus There is honour without courage and that is harmelesse there is courage without iustice and that is honourlesse or honours ape and there is honour and courage together and that is true valiantnesse as I haue said sufficiently before and well becomes an honourable person They that haue breeding will choose the best of these I doubt not And as for righting verily in the law of armes and chiualry wee acknowledge no such lawes as your Duellors talke of but onely one which is to doe no creature wrong An other law we haue like to this neuer to be our owne Iudge For this we hold to bee childish and base Neither is it for a mans honour to bee so ill neighboured or ill friended that hee will not bee iudged by any but by himselfe Let these two lawes be well obserued and men will quickly doe right or be righted For it is not vnmanly for a man to aske pardon where hee hath wronged so it bee not for feare neither is it honourable for a man on the other side to aske vnreasonable satisfaction or to aske satisfaction where there needes none as if a blowe were but proffered onely and not giuen as Astyochus did by Hermocrates What is fit satisfaction for the lye giuen or what for other disgraces what is a iust repulse of a wrong and when the burthen of honour is truely cast vpon the iniurer your Marshals can tell best who are best acquainted with this new disease New maladies haue new medicines If a man haue the lye put vpon him and he strike him for it I thinke hee should bee satisfied If he take a blow and giue another what would hee haue more for this was Moses law Leuit. 24. Oculus pro oculo dens pro dente An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth And must wee haue two for one No wee may not for what sayes the law more Qualem inflixerit maculam Vers 20. talem sustinere cogetur What contumely hee hath giuen the like hee shall bee made to vndergoe A disgrace for a disgrace a blowe for a blowe or an humble submission for an vnworthy aspersion And yet with vs these be no satisfactions We will haue more then the law we will haue his blood rather And where the law saies cogetur whereby the magistrate is appointed to right vs wee say no wee will right our selues What a presumption is this to teach God almighty what is iust Againe there is much quarrelling about women If two fall out about a corruptible mistresse they must goe fight for her loue and know not why Were it not much more honour to doe as Lester and Liques did of late The more they loued the selfe same mistresse the more they loued one an other Yea when Liques had obtained her and married her one morning and was taken by Lester the same day in a skirmish neere Saint Omers and shee sent vnto him to send him to her againe out of hand hee obeyed her voice as the voice of his generall and sent him away the same night with honour And why should not all men doe the like but snarle at one another like a couple of mungrels more for lust then for loue In a word If yee will haue of me any remedy I must speake out of Gods law or no law And then I say if one haue done me a despite that the law will not remedy yet by Gods law I may not bee his executioner Neither neede I salute him or speake to him or mooue cap to him vntill hee haue satisfied mee I may deny him all points of friendship though no point of charity Hee hath lost my good opinion of him which otherwise I owed him He hath lost my loue and good will and the loue of all that loue me Is not this reuenge enough thinke yee but yee will laugh at mee now all you that know not the worth of loue and good will I protest vnto you if I had wronged one in word or deede it would be to me the greatest paine that could be For both must I make him amends and also I am bound to seeke him if I haue any Christian blood in mee If thy Brother haue ought against thee that is to say be wronged or thinke him wronged by thee Mat. 5. goe thou and be reconciled to him Loe heere I must goe seeke him where hee is But I leaue this to preachers who tell vs and agree in this that the wrong doer is bound to seeke the wronged for his loue and that with all the good tearmes hee possibly can And wee haue many examples of Princes that haue done the like A Prince will not wilfully loose a subiects good will for a peece of his kingdome As we reade of Alcibiades the Athenian Duke who gaue to Hypponicus a Senatour a blowe on the eare in publique place But being come to himselfe he grieued at it much and went to seeke him next day at his house offered himselfe to be whipt beginning to strip and so insinuated into his fauour againe with due satisfaction that Hypponicus soone after made him his sonne in law King Agrippa likewise hearing of one that thought ill of him for somewhat was not quiet in minde vntill he had spoken with him and wonne him made him sit downe by him argued sweetely with him reconciled himselfe to him and so sent him away Who will holde these men for base or not truly honourable and not true esteemers of loue or good will Onely thus much I will adde Hee that is so rude or vnsociable as to wrong one and neither seekes reconcilement nor cares what any man thinkes of him like Mounsieur Orguiles whom we heard maintaine that hee had rather haue his neighbour to be his enemy then his friend such as these saith Morus haue more neede of pitty then reuenge they are halfe way poore soules in hell already Neither doe I weigh the common obiection that our enemy will set light by vs and double vpon vs iniuries in these maleuolus times if he feare no more but losse of our loue Whereunto I answer I will prouide my selfe against wrong as well as I can And yet if he feares me not it shall be to me no dishonour or harme no more then if a Beare doe not feare mee I will see to it that he shall not bite me But must I challenge or answere the fielde to euery one that baites mee or scornes mee So I might set vp a bulring and play the Bull my selfe when I haue done In a word I dare approoue no sauing of honour by fighting nor any remedy that way And as touching challenge I can allowe of none at all but to summon him to the court of honour if they be gentlemen and beare armes to answer it at their perill And the sentence there may be as great satisfaction to the wronged and disgrace to the iniurer as that of the Censour of Rome was Which
agrees Salustius in catelinario and Ammianus Marcellinus in his fourteenth booke And the contrary of this was base and odious in those daies especially in great persons who should bee others examples as that one instance may serue instead of many Where Valerius Ruffinus was put from the senate by the Censour Fabritius for buying eight score ounces of plate to his priuate vse And thus it held saith Saint Augustine vntill corruption came in and brought in with it the contrary publice egestatem priuatim opulentiam Aug. lib 5. de ciuit dei cap. 12. Weakenesse of common treasury and greatnesse of priuate estates Heere began forgetfulnesse of God and of his blessed imitation forgetfulnesse of honour and of all good order which will not haue the head to stand at curtesie of the hand or foote or the common to bee at the mercy of the priuate vpon euery neede or occasion but rather the contrary as they that will reade and marke shall see that the richer the common was the richer were euer the commons vnlesse it were vnder Tyrants and the richer that Princes were out of their prouidence without cause of exacting the richer were the subiects or at the least lesse wanting It is for euery ones good that the common good thriue and for this good wee bee all borne officers No reasonable creature is exempted from this bond His sword in time of warre his purse or other abilitie in time of peace The poorest can haue no excuse as farre as in them doth lye much lesse they that be of meanes Who although they be not so wholly for the common neither is it required as the Romanes were yet most pittifull it is if not sinnefull how hardly any thing comes from them either for towne charge at home or for the Church or King Touching all which as it were our part to bee so forward of our selues as wee should neede no rating so they that be learned holde that when it comes to rating wee may not hide our estates to lessen our charge or to lay the more vpon others which is a common sinne amongst vs. And when it comes to paying it is done so vnwillingly and vnreadily as if they had mighty wrong in it I knew a merchant of late whose ability was inferiour to none his good will was lesse then most mens I haue heard officers complaine of him how much they had to doe and how often they haue attended him for a marke charge and could neuer get it of him till they were ready to distraine a fatte oxe for it and then hee turned to his man and bid him pay the knaues It is a shame to tell what shifts we make to put of taxes and subsidies when they come bee they neuer so needfull Diuines tell vs two things about them One is on the subiects part a readinesse to performe The other on the Taxers part that it bee not out of couetousnesse but of neede And if of neede yet it must bee regarded that the burthen light not vpon the poorer sort as the taxe of salt did which Philip de Valoys imposed making euery man pay as much as the rich Or to lay tribute vpon country necessaries which wee cannot bee without or vpon seruants wages or labourers earnings and such like And if a taxe be doubtfull whether it bee iust or no or not certaine wee are bound to pay it and the publike is to bee preferred some say though other say no that melior est conditio possidentis as it is in other cases of doubt betweene party and party But my purpose is not to trouble you with doubts and questions Lysten I beseech you to knowne truths which learned men of the best doe all agree vpon and will resolue you in And because wee speake of publike estates and priuate it is to bee deduced out of the grounds aforesaid that both common and priuate are to attend their Soueraignes estate beeing a thing the whole good of a kingdome dependeth on as much as may bee And therefore where they holde it dangerous to our soules to haue much lying by vs as I will shewe you anon Yet otherwise in kings to bee rich and well stor'd with treasure it is both honourable and necessary they can hardly haue too much Nauar. Pom. Let They must multa possidere that must multa impendere as one aduised Cōstantine So manifold be the charges that presse them daily so infinite the pipes that sucke still and drawe from their cesterne to make it dry especially in this age and these times when all things are at the higest and the wisest that are and that liue most prouidently haue somewhat to doe to keepe out of debt Kings much more in their Chaos of occasions which the subiect neuer feeles nor thinkes of vntill the Soueraigne bee in debt and their aide bee required for contribution It hath beene an old prayer amongst vs that wee may liue out of debt and deadly sinne But a vaine prayer if our selues put not to it our helping hand and the best indeauour wee can Wee are bound to pray it for our selues wee are bound to pray it for the common And particularly for the head of the comon For soule businesse as I saide before wee must preferre our selues before all men And therefore my rule was in all temporall good wee must preferre the common Peace and prosperity which are temporall blessings wee must wish to the common before our selues Pouertie and debt are temporall euills in all but in Princes most intolerable And therefore a kings estate herrein must bee preferred before our owne whensoeuer it happens There must euery mans hand and heart worke together there must duty and loue contend which shall out-strippe the other there must we apply our wittes their our abilities euen for Gods loue if wee owed our Prince none How much more if he bee mild and clement and one according to our harts good to all hurtfull to none And in so doing wee doe good to ourselues the King of heauen will reward vs though kings of earth neuer heare of our names And I speake it the rather to informe your consciences against this eating euill of the west For it is hardly matched all ouer the world besides That which heathen princes compell and commaund we haue much a doe to be intreated That which out of Christian knowledge wee are bound to offer we make dificultie to be drawne to That which our tenants doe for vs most readily though it cost them their best cowe in their yard to vphold their Landlord at a neede we thinke much to do to him that is Landlord to vs all We should teach heathens obedience and they teach vs. It is absurd to see how we bee haled to common good We were yesterday rich and made our brags To day when we come to be assest we are poore and make beleeue we haue nothing or not a foote of free-hold as one of the richest subiects in
Else why should wee be damned for not doing if we were not bound to performe I would haue you to vnderstand these matters rightly beeing the maine point of my this daies charge which I haue and am to deliuer you Ye haue one notable errour amongst you that if yee haue hundreds or thousands lying by you you thinke all is your owne that is left at the yeares ende and if the world doe follow you a little yee thinke God loues you streight and ye beginne to follow it Then comes in hourding and heaping and loathnesse to depart with it And this because it is not vsury or theeuery and we come well by it wee thinke it all our owne when it is not Remember that saying Qui festinat ditari non erit innocens Hee that hasteneth to bee rich Prou. 28. can hardly bee innocent For eyther hee comes not well by it as hee should or vseth it not well when hee hath it or thinkes all to bee his owne and forgettes his Stewardship We thinke all to bee our owne I say and so it is against all men but God and the poore If the poore want it is none of ours Howbeit such be the times and so far be we growne from the true conceipt of this duty that wee commonly make but a tush at it They knew it better in the primitiue Church then now we doe as appeared by the voluntary contributions and often gatherings for the afflicted and them that wanted They were called Collectae and were paid most readily without long asking But afterward as deuotion grew slacke Bishops were driuen to send out their warrants to compell them to charity And in these latter times there be temporall lawes to inforce vs to so needfull a worke Wee are driuen to pay by the acre and yet it comes full hardly from vs for want of true knowledge of our bond on this behalfe Which necessary knowledge euen so necessary as any can be I would resuscitate as it were and raise againe in our soules and spirits that wee may not perish for want of this loue and pious affection Which God himselfe not counselleth but commandeth not requireth but exacteth not aduiseth but strictly chargeth vs that it doe not decay in vs but bee alwayes burning Saint John saith there is no loue in vs 1. Ioh. 3. if we haue the substance of the world and will see our brother want Beholde heere a flat iudgement against vs and yet wee thinke our selues secure hauing store by vs and will not part with it We cân helpe and will not wee haue the substance of the world and yet wee will see him want Yee haue heard already that whatsoeuer our profession be wee must not be ashamed of the Gospell our Glory must be in Gods holy word We are biddē to loue one another Saint Iohn the diuine of diuines saith plainely Wee loue not if wee haue the substance and powre it not forth And what followes then but losse of our soules It is not I that giues the censure but the written word giues it and it will not be auoided If wee keepe our substance to our soules we loue not 1. Ioh. 2.1 if we loue not we shall not liue And this S. Iohn himselfe saith he writes vnto them to the ende they may not sin What glory now in your superfluum what glory in your abundance what glory in your substance if it be prouided you to damne you Let vs come now to our deuines and best expositers And see whether thêy will helpe vs No. They sing all one song The word of God is eternall sooths no man is subiect to no mutation It was so in the beginning and must be so to the ending They tell vs first out of the prophecy of Scripture Mat. 25. that the poore we shall haue alwayes with vs. And there be reasons for it besides authority The first reason is naturall For the poore come neerest the nature and fashion of the first age when all were in equality all cladde alike all in like businesse of husbandry and bodily labour without distinction of nobility and popularity riches and pouerty as was most congruent to the law of nature and so haue continued from age to age to this very day the truest patterne of our primitiue estate or golden world And therefore we may not contemne them Thucid. 2. or thinke their estate shamefull For it is no shame to be poore said Pericles but to be idle and doe nothing whereby to liue An other reason is the corrupt nature of man who striues to drawe all to him and would leaue his fellowes little if he could Like them that play at dice where one gettes all with his fortune or falshood and leaues the rest pennilesse A third reason is morall or politicall For the poore are profitable and were it not for them wee should doe our worke our selues Also many of these be weake lame blind aged or sickely and cannot worke A fourth reason is supernaturall For if there were no poore there would not be such matter of charity or such store of it as there is dayly amongst vs. And charity is one of the Theologicall vertues commended to vs often in Scriptures and without which we know not whether we loue God or no. For it is a notable signe that we loue God when we loue the poore for God In which respect not to deny the poore also their due commendation and to acknowledge the good wee receiue by their meanes there needs no other testimony of it then the promised blessings belonging thereunto out of holy writ Psal 40. Beatus homo Blessed is he that lookes vpon the poore and needy God will deliuer him in the euill day God will keepe him from his enemies and will help him at his houre of death These be high benefits And in another place Pro. 11. Qui diuidunt propria ditiores fient Loe here a temporall blessing also They that distribute of their owne shall be richer by it And in another place he that giues to the poore Prou. 28. shall neuer want Besides this which is greatly for the glory of pouerty Mat. 25. God makes himselfe free of their company when hee names himselfe among little ones saying what yee haue done to these little ones ye haue done to me And what yee haue nôt done to these little ones whom hee called needie before ye haue not done to me Verily the poore in some sort may bee compared to a Merchants ship that is kept most part vnder water And the more ye put into it at your launching the more profite yee make at your landing Psal 112. They are like a fatte soyle about a citty called in the scripture soyle and manure the more siluer yee sowe in it the thicker it comes vp againe 2. Cor. 9. Esay 48. They that sowe in blessings shall reape in blessings The Prophet Esay compareth pouerty to a furnace of
intrabunt How hardly shall they enter the kingdome of God that haue store of mony for hee sayth not pecuniam but pecunias not money which wee cannot bee without but monyes or store of mony which keepes vs out This is it that makes it hard or impossible It is our selues that make it hard Heauen is hard enough of it selfe to come by yet wee forsooth must make it harder Our vnfortunate coueting hath giuen vs such a law that it is almost impossible to come there Halfe our wittes are imployed in this world to make all things else easie Our shooe must be easie for pinching vs our saddle easie our horse easie our garment our armour easie that we may bestir vs our staire easie to get vp Arts and sciences also we make easie with compendiums the study of the law with abridgments If we be to run we throw off we lay not on more Onely in our way to heauen still where we should goe lightest of all we clogge on most of all and for want of a Camels bunch on our backe we tye vs on one as like it as we can that wee may passe through the streights with more difficulty Naked wee were borne into the world that wee may runne the lighter yet wee heape impediments vpon vs to make vs heauier Hearken you that bee rich and delight so in gathering Listen to your iudgement Quia diues erat ibidem Because hee had much and store of Superfluum by him and imployed it not therefore it was impossible that hee should bee saued Now who would hourd after this or who would not bee afraide of it This is the gnawing worme of our soules the bane of all good workes the damme of deadly omissions the very diuell in a hutch Is there any man here that would be rich with these conditions Let not the rich man tell vs that hee is not rich Let him tell God soe Let him not tell mee that hee keepes it for good purposes this or that or what it will bee Let him tell God and his friend so and deceiue not himselfe Euill keeping is almost as dangerous as euill getting and if yee halte with God in your pretences looke for no better then fire and brimstrone I speake my deare friends to them that bee rich and holding and not to you but by the way of preuention and to driue into your soules this holy feare before hand which I see but very few haue Shew your grace and courage in withstanding this euill I loue you all deerely and I haue done you the vttermost of my loue My selfe yee see am decaying and growing out of the world Yôu haue a long time to liue yet and to giue good example After a few dayes haply wee shall neuer see one another more Yet if wee may meete in Heauen that onely is my desire and my heart is inflamed with it FINIS THE FIRST HOMAGE OF A SOVLE TRVELY CONVERTED WITH SIGNES THEREOF LOrd it grieued thee no doubt to see our sinnefull estate and not so much our acts of sinne as our miserable corrupted will from whence they came This drewe thee from thy heauenly throane to an earthly habitacle not only to pay our debts but also for our example and imitation of life But woe be vnto vs we endeauour night and day to shame thee our louing master if wee could by doing and willing the cleane contrary By how much the more I vnworthy wretch of all others am bound to thy greatnesse for that yet at length before all hope be past with me thou hast giuen mee in part to know my selfe That is to say where I was and whether thou hast now led me and out of what darknesse I see it now thy selfe mercifully shewing it vnto me Heretofore I haue not seene my owne will blinding me Blessed Lord since my conuersion vnto the I know my fault and see the cause of it I haue thought my selfe conuerted vnto thee before I was indeed True conuersion is to turne to thee and from sinne and the same so to detest as to desire any thing to suffer then to commit againe Secondly to haue a watchfull eye ouer our temptations and euill motions Thirdly to call to thee effectually for grace and strength And fourthly in that strength not to doubt but to resist them manfully as fast as they come Wee practise commonly the contrary and giue the bucklers to our enemies as thinking our selues too weake for so many assaults and so we be without thee But in thee and in a perfect resolution to serue thee and to renounce sinne my Lord I finde mine enemies euery day weaker and weaker not in my owne strength but thine in me I know thou canst not abide a coward or that casteth difficulties in thy seruice but if our hearty endeauours be with thee thou suppliest with strength and neuer sufferest vs to take the foyle Blessed Lord thou hast let me see now what hindered my sight before my conuersion euen that which blindeth others yea multitudes that are not yet conuerted vnto thee That is to say things seeming good and faire that tended to perdition And beeing no more gracious then others I haue vsed my selfe-loue to command and selfe-will to iudge so long that I could not take their masterie from them without much rebellion and haue beene therefore contented to thinke thât good or ill that my humor said was good or ill And this by ill custome hath made a law in me so far forth that I haue not only thought as they informed me but also I haue verily beleeued whatsoeuer they suggested Which notwithstanding it hath pleased thy goodnes to shew me their tyrāny very palpably And that first in others whom I haue seene in wretched bondage vnto them and to their owne appetites Not but that my selfe was in the like or greater but because we spie a fault sooner in another then in our selues and they were a glasse to see my selfe in how monstrously I haue blinded that light of reason ere now which thou hast giuen me and I had almost lost and became like a beast vntill thy grace restored me when it was a thousand to one against me My reason instructeth me that no creature well ordered is gouerned by it selfe The soule much lesse among so many hidden enemies since in heauen where is no enemy no soule is guided by it selfe My reason telleth me that none is ouerthrown but by self-rule And we confesse it in reater crimes wilfull murther incests robbery the like because they be more notably punished in sight In lesse we cannot see it so well because they are more qualified mingled by the deuil il custome that they may poison the more cunningly My reason experience teach me that the deuill hath nothing to work vpon but our will is a most subtill perswader And therfore if I haue no more wil or wit but my own it is impossible to stand against him And very likely
infinite labour For thy benefits haue no end nor am I able to expresse the greatnesse of the least of them Howbeit for so much as the commemoration of benefits receiued is both a thankfullnesse to a benefactour and a stirrer of duty and deuotion in the receiuer I cannot but often remember to thy glory and my poore comfort how I haue beene lost and how thou hast found me being found I was slacke and thou diddest put me forward vsing first my selfe-loue to pricke mee inwardly with feare of eternall damnation and after a while vsing my feare to fly sinne and to seeke thee by seeking thee to know thee and by knowing thee to bee acquainted with thee in some sort by acquaintance with thee to fall in loue with thee and with loue of thee to contemne all but thee first a litle then more euen according to my grace with thee and my poore endeauours And these bee the degrees or staires that a good will hath made in my soule Feare first draue mee till I came at loue and when loue had the mastery it draue away feare Feare frighted me for doing sinne thy loue vrged me to loathing of sinne For who seeth thee and knoweth thee that art truly brightnesse and detesteth not sinne that is true deformity fowlenesse and dishonour Happy the feare that feareth to offend thee but how much happier the loue that delighteth in pleasing thee for both I humbly thank thee and for continuing in both I thanke thee more Many haue both for a time and are at losse againe at an other time rising and falling with the tide of their passions and faring like those that hazzard all vpon the vncertaine dice and haue mony in their purses at one time and none at an other With mee likewise it hath beene so ere now But now I hope in thy grace not so Yea though my frailties and many imperfections doe daily humble me in my owne eyes yet thy grace makes mee bold to say that thy feare and loue hath now gotten some strength and taken roote in me The which thou hast shewne vnto mee as to other thy seruants by some signes and tokens that thou giuest vs to encourage vs the more in thy seruice And these are daily amendment or care of amendment and all those graces strength that follow thereof Which are ioy and quiet of mind in thy seruice obeying thee without repining losse without grudging hauing chaste thoughts without corruption patience without murmuring humility without affecting feare without scruple or dispaire truth without doublenesse and such like But in particular I haue noted these things following which I account not onely signes but also exceeding great benefits of thine And which it behooueth euery soule that hath them as well to be mindfull of to be thankfull as of his sinnes to be penitent and sorrowfull for them The first and greatest is a great good liking I haue to be rather subiect and vnder in a meane sort if it pleased thee so then to be ouer others in the best sort that can be in the world Knowing well my owne exceeding weakenes and insufficiencie to gouerne others that haue spoyled my selfe well-neere with gouerning but one and also seeing that gouernment hath alwayes multiplicity of busines Eccli 28. busines cannot be without many negligēces which vnles thy grace be maruellous great doe turne thy face from vs daily more and more and put vs quite from our by as to heauen-ward An other benefite it hath pleased thee to bestow on mee which is a desire and loue I haue to bee alwaies reading or hearing talke of thee either in sermons or otherwise if my spare time and vocation doe permit me which if it doe not it contents me yet to thinke of thee often And this thy benefite hath in mee also two more with it which I should not misse for any thing The first is that I regard not the stile or eloquence of one or other but the sence and spirit of the writer or preacher thinking it euer an argument of great imperfection in me to heare him for the stile or tongue and to bee left to nouices rather that know not yet what thy seruice meaneth or rather to Jndians and Ethiopians that are drawne to know thee first with trifling things as rings bels looking-glasses that pleased them and made them first to loue thy seruants and by little and little to listen to them and afterward to beleeue them and to acknowledge thy truth Neither doe thy seruants and preachers though greatly and diuersly indued by thee with nature and art vse to affect eloquence in their preaching Or if they doe it is but toserue our vicious and curious eares that will not be drawne to thee without many words and deuices and much perswasion All messengers are alike to me that come with tydings from thee let them stut or speake plaine all is one to mee so they tell mee true My loue doth easily supply all defects that may be The second is that when I heare a vertue commended I thinke not streight that I come neere the perfection of it Or when I heare a vice or notorious sinne inueighed against thy mercy is such towards me that I thinke not streight of such or such a one to be touched but onely my selfe either in act or will if thy grace had not letted me or else I am mooued therby to compunction for my former life past or for others in generall that are yet intangled in the same sinne It is also another great benefit of thine that of thy goodnes thou puttest me often in mind of my owne weaknes for perseuerance or constancy in resisting sinne or temptation as of my selfe but only by thee And to that end I often pray to thee still for more grace and further supply of thy gentlenes towards me And in receiuing any grace of thee I am alwaies humbled by it in respect of thy free bounty liberality and my owne vnworthines that can no waies deserue it O my Sauidur I cannot think of these thy benefits so great without blushing that euer thou shouldest bestow them so freely vpon so poore a worme of the earth so vngratefull a creature as I haue beene and am And yet not heere an end of thy benefits Which the further I wade into the further me thinke I am from an end Yet two or three more with thy leaue I can not but speake of because they are comforts also and tokens to me that I am in thy grace Grant I beseech thee that I may be thankefull I hâue beene soon angry ere now and long in pleasing And that either through strength of my passion and little heede how thou frownedst vpon me all the while or els for that I thought it vnworthy of a high mind to be soone pleased with out much mediation first And so as the deuil would haue it I haue made two or three sinnes of one But now
holde that if a child doe dye after vse of reason and neuer raised to God-ward any act of loue either little or much he can hardly be saued And their breeders are infinitely to blame that put them not to it For if nothing on our part do bring vs to heauen but loue and this loue be so cold in a capable creature as neither inward eie of faith can mooue him nor howerly benfites can stirre him to loue the bestower how can such a spirit aspire where God hath to doe They tell vs next we must loue our selues next And in our selfe are two things conteined Our soule and our body Our soule we must esteeme aboue all creatures and we must not aduenture the losse of it for ten thousand soules Our third loue is to our neighbour both body and soule His soule I must loue more then my life and goods especially if I be his pastour and haue charge of him ex officio His life also I mây preferre before my owne out of friendship if not out of charity And so I may loose my life for him or in defence of the weake or innocentbody and this is a great vertue but we are not alwaies bound to it Wee are taught also how to loue our parents wife children which more if it come to be shewne as in case of necessitie There is a loue and care due to seruants that they want no necessaries to masters that wee faile them not in our duty or charge They teach vs to loue our benefactours both bodily and ghostly and which more if it may not be done to both alike There is a iustice and truth in all these And it is not idle to aske and know our duty in all And yet these latter may seeme more curious then necessary but I come to greater matters and more neere to our purpose They shew vs further our duty to the publique and where the common good is to bee preferred before priuate and where it is in our wils to preferre it or not And first for life or member if twenty doe assault mee I may kill them all rather then be killed so it be in my iust defence and not against lawfull authority And yet if a man be so charitable they doe not deny but he may suffer himselfe to bee killed rather then kill Whereof there haue beene noble examples though very few now adaies And therefore men are deceiued when they thinke they are bound to kill rather then be killed It is not so They may kill but they are not bound Yea on the other side if he that assaults mee vniustly bee a publique person as the king or any of his children I am bound to flye him as Dauid did Saul but if he follow me so hard that I must kill or be killed I am bound to loose my life and it lyes not in my choise So of a Bishop or some other eminent person whom the Common-wealth cannot spare if one boate will not holde both I am bound to slippe out and leaue my selfe to God Yea they say further if my life be sought maliciously in France and I flye into England for succour and there is like to be warres for mee or breach of amity betweene Princes although the State may not deliuer mee for that were tradere iustum sanguinem Yet am I bound to render my selfe to my enemies before publique peace should be broken or any league in hazzard for mee Such high regard must be had of publique good that a mans priuate is almost nothing to it And with this we see how the law of nature concurres Hesione was commended for it and so was Curtius the Romane for exposing themselues as they did the one to bee deuoured of a monster the other to be swallowed horse and man in a gashfull pit to stoppe the plague that was then in their citty They teach vs also touching goods and possessions or any worldly thing we haue that tendeth to our being or well being they be all either necessary or superfluous Necessaries a man must not be negligent to prouide And it is lawfull for vs to loue them so farre forth as we cannot bee without them no more then without life And these be in two sorts as either necessaries of life meate drinke warme cloathes which euery one must haue the poorest that is or necessaries of estate that a man was borne to or liueth in As if he be a yeoman thus if a knight or gentleman thus if a nobleman thus and the greater the persons are the more things are necessary which to the inferiour are excesse And all these may haue a proportion in our loues We loue a new hatte or garment a faire gowne or handsome cloake or what else is fitting for vs to weare within our compasse or degree Wee loue a good dish and competent fare proportionable to our meanes And euery man knowes what is meetest for him and best suting to his ability euen that the ciuilest sort of his ranke doth vse with decency and without ostentation or incroaching vpon the rankes aboue him eyther man or woman A great many delight yea too too many in excesse but such loue is naught and vicious The backe and belly haue made much worke for Parliaments and Lawyers euery where It is an old fault and the Lacedemonians so preuailed against it both for diet and wearing that the subiect neuer exceeded The Romanes likewise had many lawes about expences called sumptuarie as the Aemilian and Licinian lawes what they should spend ordinarily and what vpon Calends and festiuall dayes By the lawes fannia and didia principall men were bound to spend but so much in meate and no more besides hearbes bread and wine and that must be of the same country and no other To say nothing of the Anthian lawe that was made to barre suppers and other lawes without number which their outrage of excesse gaue occasion of There was also the law Oppia for apparrell especially for women that they might not exceede in their settings out nor be carried in litters Yet Solon would not haue them walke the streetes in solemnitie out of coach neither might they weare in their eare aboue seauenty graines Their excesse ye must thinke was very strange and monstrous that caused these lawes and there be many statutes in our daies for wearing but no reformation I know no good comes of them saue that they argue vs of our pride and giue vs a learning what is fitte for euery one to weare Other fruite I see none of them neither force I much I speake onely of the law that should be within vs the law of a good conscience which is to know and doe and to cutte off excesse in all It shewes a weakenesse of minde and poorenesse of soule that powres it selfe out so excessiuely vpon outward vanities and pride For what is it els they would be great and are not great they would bee Queenes and are not Queenes yet