man can fully and thorowly vnderstand it nor that he can clerely comprehende it vnlesse perchaunce that is perfectly knowne that nothinge is perfectly knowne Although euen thereby also doth rise an indissoluble argument But surely the body that is corrupted dothe aggreuate and ouercharge the Sowle and mynde and this earthly habitacion doth oppresse a thought that pondereth many thinges Harken what Salomons opinion was vpon that point All things sayth he are â—…ard and difficult No man can expresse them by wordes Some man doth neyther geue rest vnto his eyes by daye nor by night and yet can he neither fynde the causâ—… nor the reason of Gods workes yea the more he laboreth to seeke it so much the lesse shall he fynde it therefore they faile in the searching how narrowly so euer they search because man may waxe proude but God shal be exalted For be which searcheth the Maiestie of God shall be oppressed with his glory the more he vnderstaÌ„deth that more he doubteth yea and he séemeth to know most which in déede know eth least Therefore it is one part of knowledge and wysedome to know that he is ignorant sithence God first made man and he hath wrapped him selfe in sundry and infinite questions Men roue and roame about by high waies and by pathes they clyme the hilles and passe ouer the mountaynes they flye ouer the rockes and cowrce ouer the Alpes go thorough caues and enter into dreadfull dennes They rifle vp the bowels of the earth and the bottome of the sea They mark the tydes of the floodes and wander in the woodes and wildernesse They put their bodies to the wyndes tempestes thunders lightenings raynes waters waues seas fluds whirlpooles They melt staÌ„pe mettalls they graue and pol lish stones cut and carue woodes weaue and warpe webbs make and weare garments buyld houses plant orchardes till feildes dresse viniards heat fornaces and set milles on worke They hunt they fyshe and they fowle They thinck and mâ—…se they councell and ordaine they stryue and complayne they take away and steale they buy and beguyle they frowne smyle With innumerable other such things to heape vp riches and multiply gaynes To gett estimacion to extoll theyr dignitie and to inlarge theyr aucthoritie beholde all these are but labour vexacion of the mynde If you beleue not me yet beleue Salomon I haue sayde he magnified my workes I haue buylded houses planted viniardes made gardeyns and orchardes replenished them with all manner of fruites and trées I made sumptuous fishepondes from whence I might water the beds of my swete blossomes I kept seruants and handmaydes and had a great household with great heardes of cattell and flockes of shepe aboue all others that had bene before me in Hierusalem I heaped vp golde and siluer and the substaunces of kingdomes and prouinces I had singing men and musitioÌ„nes the delightes of the sonnes of men I had great pottes and pichers to powre oute wine abundantly at the table I excéeded all man in welth which had bene before in Hierusalem And when I turned vnto all that my handes had made and vnto the labors and paynes where in I had toyled sweat in vayne I sawe in all things vanitie vexsation of the mynde and the nothing was permaneÌ„t vnder the Sunne What and how many are the cares which torment men the thoughts which afflict theÌ„ the gréefes which molest them the dreads which afflight them the tremblinge which tosseth them the horrour which amaseth them the sorowe which consumeth them the heauinesse which ouerchargeth theÌ„ and the troubles which vex them poore and rich maister and seruaunt wedded man and bachelor to conclude good badd all of them are disquieted with worldly tribulations and troubled with worldly disquietnesse Beleue him that hath had experyence For if I be sayth he wicked then of right maye I say woe be vnto mée yea thoughe I be iust yet will I not hold vp my head being continually toyled with affliction and misery The poore are pressed with penury tormented with trouble thyrst honger colde and nakednesse They séeme vile they are dispised they crowch and are ouerthrowne O miserable estate of the begger If they craue they are confounded with shame but if the craue not they are consumed with néede And are compelled by necessitie to begge The worst sorte of them accuse God as vnequall because he hath not rightly deuyded the welth of the world they blame their neighbor as vnequall also because he doth not minister vnto them lardgly they disdayn murmur and curse Compare and marke the sentence of the wyse man vpon this It were better sayth he to die then to néede Yea the poore shal be also odious vnto his neighbour All the dayes of the poore are euell for his owne brethren hate him Furthermore his frends went farre from him As is said Cum fueris felix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris Fye for shame the person is estemed accordinge to his fortune whereas fortune shold rather be estemed according to the person A man is reputed as good as he is riche and as euell as he is poore Whereas he rather ought to be reputed as riche as he is good and as poore as he is wicked But the ritch man becommeth dissolute by superfluitie and is vnbrydeled through boast vayne glorie He runneth vnto all that is delightfull and falleth into all that is vnlawful yea those thinges that were the attonements of faults are become instrumentes of more punishment and correction Since labour in getting feare in possessing and gréefe in losing therof doe alwayes afflict and werie the mynde of man For where thy treasure is there is thy hart also but hereof we will intreat and speake more at lardge hereafter The seruaunt wayteth is wearied with charge and office is afflicted with stripes and despoyled of his riches For if he haue nothing he is compelled to haue and if he haue any thinge he is then constrained not to haue The masters fault is the seruaunts paye but the seruauntes fault is the masters paye Quicquid deliraâ—…t Regeâ—… plectuntur Achiui The wild Asse is fayne to be the Lyons chase in the dâ—…rt So the poore are the pastures of the ritch men O extreme bondage nature made vs frée but fortune appoynteth serâ—…tude the seruaunt is coâ—…strayned to suffer and no man is suffered to haue compassion he is compelled vnto lamentation and no man is suffered to take any 〈◊〉 on him So that neyther is he his owne neyther hath any other pertayninge vnto him They are in a 〈◊〉 case which folow cowrts for it is miserable to liue vpon an other mans pray and spoyle If the Lord or master be crewill he must he feared For the wickednesse of his subiects and vassalls If he be méeke it happeneth ofte that he is contempned through the insolence and pryde of his 〈◊〉 So that
is formed and made of Dust Clay Asshes and a matter much vyler which for modestie I doe not name coÌ„â—…eiued in concupisence of the fleshe in the feruent heate oâ—… lust in the loathsome stinck of desyre and that worse is in the blot and blemish of sinne borne vnto payne sorow and fearâ—… yea and that which is most miserable vnto death He doth lewd thinges wherby he offendeth God his neighbor and him selfe He doeth filthy facts whereby he defileth his good name his conscience and his person and he doth vayne thinges wherby he neglecteth serious profitable necessary things He shal become the fewel for fier which alwayes burneth and can not be quenched the foode of worms which euer gnaw and féede vpon him the continewall masse of corruption which alwayes stincketh is filthie odious and horrible Then our Lord God hath formed man of the â—…ime of the Earth which is more vile then the rest of the Elements as it appeareth in the second of Genesis He made the Planets and Starres of the Fyer the blastes and wyndes of the Ayre the Fisshes and Fowles of the Water and Man and beast he made of Earth Then if he consider of the creatures created in the water he shall perceiue him selfe to be vile Considering the creatures made of Ayre he shall finde himself more vile coÌ„sidering the creatures of fyer he shal fynd himself most vyle Neither shal he make him self equal with the heaueÌ„ly creatures nor dareth prefer himselfe before the creatures of the Earth for he shal finde him selfe equal vnto beastes and shall acknowledge himselfe lyke vnto cattell sithence th end of man and cattel of the feild is all one and their condicion and estate are equall neither can man doe any more then a beast From the Earth they sprang and rose and to the Earth they shal retorne together These are not the wordes of any worldly man but of the wysest euen Salomon What is man then but slyme and dust and thervpon he sayth vnto God Remember I besech thée that thou hast made me lyke vnto Earth and shalt bring me into dust againe and thervpon also God sayth vnto man Thou art dust and shalt retorne into dust I am compared sayth Iob vnto Clay and am lykened vnto Imbers and Asshes Clay is made of Water and dust and both the substaunces doe remaine therein and Asshes are made of Fyer woode and bothe the substances doe fayle An expresse mistery but to be expounded in an other place Then what is Clay to be prowde on or whereof doest thou extoll thy selfe O dust O Asshes whereof doest thou glory Peraduenture thou wylt answere that Adam him selfe was fashioned and formed of clay and that thou art procreate of the séede of man But he was formed out of virgin clay and thou art procreate of séede which is vncleaue for who can make that cleane which is conceiued of vncleane séede What is man that he may seme vndefiled or that which is borne of man may seme iust For behold I was begotten in iniquitie and my mother conceiued me in sin Not onely in one iniquitie nor in one onely transgression but in many iniquities and in many transgressions yea euen in strange iniquities and transgressions for there are two kinde of conceptions one of séede an other of nature The first is made in such factes as are committed The second in such thinges as are purchased and gotten for the parents commit in the first and their issue doe purchase in the second For who is ignorant that the act of generation yea euen betwene maried folkes is neuer committed without prouocation of the fleshe without heate of lâ—…st or of concupisence wherevpon the séedes which are conceiued be vncleane be blotted and made corrupt and the sowle beinge therewith ouer flowed dothe purchase the spot of sinne the blot of gilt and transgression and the blemish of iniquitie euen as liquor is corrupted beinge thrust into an vâ—…cleane vessell and beinge once poluted is defiled euen by the first touch therof For the sowle hath thrée natural powers or three natural forces that is to say a reasonable power to deserne betwene good and euill a passionate power to reiect the euill and a power of appetite to desier that which is good These three powers are originally corrupted with three opposite and contrary vices the reasonable power â—…y ignoraunce that it may not deserne betwene good and euill the passionat power by wrath and anger that it may reiect the good the power of appetite by the concupisence that it may desier that which is euill The first of these vices begetteth transgression the last bringeth forth sinne the midlemost ingeÌ„dereth both sinne traÌ„sgression for it is traÌ„sgression to doe that which is not to be done it is sinne to indeuor that which is not to be indeuored These thrée vi â—…es are purchased and gotten out of corrupted flesh by thrée allurements for in carnall copulation the vnderstanding is lulled on slepe to th ende that ignorance may be sowed the prouocation of lust is styrred vp to th ende that anger and motion of mynde may be spred a broade and the affection of voluptuousnesse is satisfied to thend that concupicence may be obtayned This is that Tyran fleshe the lawe and ruler of the members of man the norishment of sinne the languishment of nature and the fodder of death without the which no man is borne and without the which no man dyeth the which although it passe ouer at any tyme in state of accusation yet it remayneth alwayes in acte For if we say that we haue no sinne we beguyle our selues the trueth is not in vs Oh greuous misery and vnhappy estate condition before we sinne we are bound and wrapped in sinne and before we transgresse we are caught in transgression By one man sinne entered into the worlde by sinne death tooke hold of all men for dyd not the forefathers eate a sower Grape and their childrens téeth are set on edge Wherfore theÌ„ was light geuen to him that is in wretched nesse lyfe lent to such as are in bitternes of the sowle Oh happie they are which dye before they are borne which tast of death before they know what lyfe is for soure are borne so deformed and prodigious that they seme not men but rather abhominations vnto whom nature perhappes should much better haue foresene if she had neuer suffered them to be sene for they are demonstrate and set to shew as monsters and shewes and some againe lacking some of theyr members sences are borne vnperfect to the grefe of their freindes the infamy of their parents and the abashinge of their neighbors But what nede I speake perticularly of these imperfections sithence all men generally are borne without knowledge without speach without vertue without power wéeping wayling weake féeble and but little deâ—…eringe from brute beastes or
the lord They went about in shéepes felles in goates skynnes néedy afflicted miserable For whome the worlde was not yet worthy Straying in solitarie places in mountaynes in dennes and in caues of the carth in daunger of floods in daunger of théeues in daunger of the Iewes in 〈◊〉 of the Gentylles and in daunger of faulse brethren In labour calamitie in much watching in hunger and thirst in many necessities and in cold and nakednesse For the 〈◊〉 doth deny himselfe and 〈◊〉 his members together with all vices and coâ—…pisences that the world may be 〈◊〉 vnto him And he to the worlde He hath héere no place of aboade but séeketh diligently for the heauenly habitation to come He susteyneth the world as an exile beinge 〈◊〉 vp in his bodie as in a pryson sayinge I am an inhabitour and a stranger in the earthe as all my forefathers haue bene Forgeue me that I may be cooled before I depart I will abyde no longer Alas that my dwelling place is prolonged I haue euer dwelled with the inhabitaÌ„ts of cedar my sowle hath remayned with them Who is weakened and I am not weake Who is weakened and I am not vexed For the sinnes of the neighbors are the refreshinges of the iust This is that watering place which Caleph gaue vnto his daughter Axa in dowry The lyfe of man vpon earth is a warfare Yea is it not 〈◊〉 right warfare when manyfold enemies doe on euery syde assayle it that they may take man and persecute him and kyll him the deuill and man the world and the flesh The deuill with vices and concupisences man with beastes the world with Elements and the flesh with the sences For the flesh doth couet against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh But we must not wrastle against flesh and bloud but against the lyuely breathinges of wickednesse in heauenly thinges and against the captaines of these darcknesses For your aduersary the deuill goeth about lyke a roaring Lion séeking whome he may deuowâ—…r The fyry dartes of the most wicked are kindled Death commeth in by the wyndowes the eye doth robbe the Sowle the whole world doth fight against the sences that is nacion against nacion kingedome against kingdome great Earthquakes in many places pestilences and hongers tempestes and terrors from heauen The Earth bringeth forth thornes and thissells the water flooddes and raging tempestes the Ayre thunder and great wyndes the Fyer lightninges and flashâ—…nges Saying cursed be the Earth in thy works it shall bring forth thornes and thissells vnto thée With the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread vntill thou retourne to the Earth For Earth thou art and to the Earth thou shalt goe The Bore out of the woode doth lye in waight and the best fruites are destroyed The Woulfe and the Beare the Leopard and the Lyon the Tyger and the wylde Asse the Crocodyle and the Gryffen the Serpent the Snake the Adder and the Bassâ—…liske the Dragon and the Ceracte the Scorpion the Uyper yea Nittes Lyse Fleas and Ants Flyes and Gnats Waspes and Hornets Fyshe and Fowles For whereas we are created to beare rule ouer the Fyshes of the Sea and the fowles of the Ayre and all lyuing creatures which moue vpon the Earth Now we are geuen as a praye for them and are made foode for their mouthes For it is wrytten I will send the téeth of wylde beastes against them with the fury of Serpents and things which glyde vppon the Earth Unhappy man that I am who shall deliuer me out of the body of this death Surely man would be brought out of pryson and would depart out of his body For the body is the prison of the Sowle Wherevpon the Psalmist saith Bring my sowle out of pryson No rest nor quietnesse no peace nor securitie at any tyme On all sydes feare and trembling and on all sides labour and payne Flesh shall be sorowful euen whylest it lyueth and the sowle shal morne and lament ouer it selfe Who had euer yet a whole day pleasant in his delight who in some part thereof the guiltinesse of consience the feare of anger and feircenesse or the motion of concupisence hath not troubled whome the swelling of enuie the earnest desyer of couetousnesse or the puffing vp of pryde hath not vexed Whome some losse or offence or passion hath not disquieted and to conclude whom neither sight nor hearing or some thing that touched dyd not offend Rara auis in terris 〈◊〉 simillima Signo Herken herevpon vnto the saying of the wise man Betwene morning sayth he and night the tyme shal be changed Uayne thoughts and cogitacions doo one succede another the mynde is wrapped into sundry conceytes They houlde the Tymbrell and Lute in theyr handes and they reioyce at the sounde of the Organnes they leade theyr life in iollytie and at the twincke of an eye they goe downe into hell Alwayes some sodeyne sorrowes doo succede and fâ—…low after worldly ioye And he which beginneth in ioye endeth in griefe For the worldly felicitie is mingled with many sorrowes and sharpe mishappes as he well knewâ—… which sayd They laughter shall be mingled with sorrow lameÌ„tacioÌ„ comes in th end of reioycing This did the sonns children of Iobe wel trye who whiles they did eat draÌ„k wine in the house of their eldest brother sodeynly a vehement wynde brake in from the desart country strake the foure corners of the house which fell downe and oppressed theÌ„ all Whereby their father sayed not without iust cause My harp is tourned into lamentacion myne organe pypâ—… into the voyce of wéepers mourners But it is better to goe vnto the house of weping lamentacion then to the houses of banqueting Geue eare and marke a holsome admonicioÌ„ In the day of reioycing good fortune be not vnmidfull of mishaps Remâ—…ber the latter daies thou shalt neuer sin Alwayes the last day is the first and yet the first daye is neuer reputed for the last yet we should so liue as though we were euer ready to dye For it is written Be myndeful and remember that death will not long tarry from thée time passeth away death approcheth A thousand yeares before the eyes of him the dyeth are as yesterday which passed away For all thinges to come doo grow and renew and alwaies thinges present doo dye and fade And whatsoeuer is past is altogether dead Then we dye alwaies as long as we lyue then at length we leaue dying when we leaue to lyue any longer Therefore it is better to dye vnto lyfe then to lyue vnto death Wherevpon Salomon saide I haue more praysed the dead then the liuinge and haue accounted him more then bothe which was neuer borne Life flieth swiftly away and cannot be
go to the darkesome land which is couered with the cloudes of death the land of misery darkenesse where the shadow of death and no order but perpetuall horror doe inhabitt Yet there shal be order in the quantitie of paynes For with what measâ—…re you meat it shal be measured to you agayne That theâ—… which â—…inned most gréeueously may be moste gréeuously punnished For they which are mightie shall suffer tormentes mightilye But ther shal be no order in the quality of thinges For froÌ„ the snowe and water they shal be put into hoâ—…e skalding fier That the sodeyne change of the contraries may make their gréefes the greater I haue séene by experience that if one which is burned doo straight waies put his hurt into the water he shall féele afterwards the greater skalding Men are put into hell like shéepe death shall féede vpon them This is spoken by the similytude of beastes and cattell which doo not pluck vp grasse herbes by the rootes but crope of the toppes that the grasse may growe againe for their foode So also the wicked as if they were fedd vpoÌ„ by death shall reuiue vnto death that we may dye euerlaâ—…ingly as Ouid saith Sic inconsumptum Titij semperque 〈◊〉 sic perit vt possit sapè perire Iecur TheÌ„ shall death be immortall then shall the dead lyue which be dead vnto life They shall séeke death shall not finde it bicause they had lief lost it Harken vnto Iohn in the reuelation which sayth In those dayes men shall séeke death shall not finde it They shall desâ—…or to dye death shall flye from them O death how swéet shouldest thou nowe séeme vnto them which heretofore thought thée so bitter they shall desire thée wish for thée only which did vehemeÌ„tly abhorre thée onely TheÌ„ let no maÌ„ flatter himself say that god will not be alwayes angry nor be offended for euer but his mercyes are ouer all his workes Since when he is angrye he will not forget to be mercifull Neither doth he hate any of the thinges which he hath made Taking as an argument of error that which the Lorde sayth by the Prophet They shal be gathered together into one buÌ„del into the lake ther they shal be shut vp in prisoÌ„n And after many dayes they shal be visited For man sinned but for a tyme and then god will not punishe for euer O vayne hope O false presumption Let not man beleue being vaynely deceyued by error that he is to be redéemed for any price For in hell ther is no redeÌ„ption Therfore sinners shal be gathered together into the lake shal be shut into prison But in hell In the which they shal be tormeÌ„ted without bodyes vntill the daye of iudgement And then after many dayes that is after they are rysen againe with their bodies at the latter day they shal be vysited Not vnto saluatioÌ„ but for reuenge Bicause after the day of iudgement they shal be the more gréeuously puÌ„ished But it is said in an other text I wil visit their iniquities with a rodd their sinnes with stripes Therfore God is offended with the predestinate tempoally bicause god doth scourge euery soÌ„ne whoÌ„ he loueth By which words that is gathered he will not be angry vntill the end But with the reprobate god is offended eternally By cause it is méet right that as the wicked hath vsed fraud and dissimulatioÌ„ in his euerlasting so god may vse reuenge and punishment in his euerlasting also For although the facultie and power to sinne doe leaue him yet doth hée not leaue wil desire to sinne For it is written the pride of them the were hatefull doth alwayes assende The reprobate which are alreadie in dispaire of forgeuenesse shall not be humbled but their mallice and hatred shal be growne and increase as though they would haue him not to be at all by whome they knowe that they be so vnhappily They will curse the highest and blaspheme the almighty Complaning that he is wicked bicause he hath created them vnto punishâ—…nt and is neuer inclined to forgeuenesse Geue â—…are vnto John in the reuelation saying A great hayle came downe from heauen vpon men and men blasphemed God For the plague of hayle bicause it was excedinge great So that the will of the damned although he haue lost theffect of his power hath alwayes an intent and affection of mallice mischefe and that of it selfe shal be a punishment in hel which was sinne and offence in the world Although peraduenture it is there also a sinne but not to the deseruing of punishment â–ª Therefore the wicked bicause he shall alwaies haâ—…e in him selfe the gyltinesse of his sinne he shal likewise féele in himselfe the torment of his payne for that which he himselfe did not take away by repentance God dyd not forgeue by pardâ—…ne And so it serueth as a great point of righteousnesse to them which are to be iudged that they neuer lack punishment in hell which neuer wanted will to sinne and offend in theyr life tâ—…me They would if they could haue lyued without end that they might also without ende haue sinned For they which neuer cease to sinne whiles they lyue doo shew that they desyer alwaies to lyue in sinne Which of you sayth Esay can dwel with the euerlasting Preists These men shal be a smoke in my fury a burninge fyer all the day by night it shal not be quenched But the smoke thereof shall ascend for euer And Hieremy sayth I wil geue you ouer vnto euerlasting shame and reproch and vnto perpetuall ignomynie which shall neuer be taken away with obliuion Then Daniell they which haue slept sayth he in the dust of the earth shal awake sâ—…me vnto eternall lyfe and some vnto reproch which they shall alwaies abide Salomon the wicked man beinge once dead there shall be no hope of him his destruction shall come vppon him for an example And sodeynly hée shal be striken and shall haue no medecyne to cure it Iohn the Appostle sayeth also If anye man worshippe the beaste and hys Image He shal drinck of the wyne of gods wrath shal be tormented with fyer brimstone the smoke of his torments shall ascend for euer euer Neither shal he haue rest day nor night which hath worshipped the beast his image The very truth it self doth coÌ„â—…rme all these which shal reproue the damned sentencially in iudgement When he shal say Go you cursed into euerlasting fyer which is prepared for the deâ—…ill his angells Now if according to the diuine opinion all tryall of truth doth stande in the mouthes of two or thrée witnesses how much more shall it stand by these testimonies of so many and so notable men Behold therefore the day of the Lord shall come cruell ful of indignation wrath