apples of the mouth young and foolish boyes will aduenture all hassardes for the apples of the eyes and the apples of the purse this whole foolishe age of ours is most aduenturous Where aduauntage is there they are If there be aduauÌ„tage in corruptyng of the holy Bible there they are And therfore in the common translation they haue so corrupted it It was profitable that some thyng should be writteÌ„ in commendation of the fragments of Christes body and therfore they haue deuised that Clement should write suche a treatise MoÌ„keries Abbeyes were profitable therfore they haue brought to passe that Dionisius Ariopagita shoulde speake of moÌ„kes in his dayes To coÌ„clud they haue sought out profite vnder the name of Ignatius in certaine Epistles And vnder the name of Gayus in certain Decretal Epistles they haue abused the name of S. CypriaÌ„ to write of the Reuelation of the head of Iohn Baptist because Reliques were profitable They haue sought profite by thrustyng in a booke called Farrago Sermonum into S. Austens workes And iiij false quyers of paper into the Councell of Constantinople Turnebus reporteth that for profite a couple of Gentlemen in hys countrey sayde they were in hande with writyng of such bookes as in déede they neuer went about to write and that was for profite And to conclud where soeuer it bee or howe daungerous so euer it be how foolish soeuer it be if there bee hope of profite there they will bee and there they wil séeke for aduauntage as by cardyng dising tablyng poppet playing stage playing walkyng on rops flying in the ayre eatyng of poysons diuyng in the sea deluyng in the bowels of the earth alcumistrie lottaries and such like but specially at the Court and about the Court For that from thence drope the rich golden apples there they thrust in and crowde in There they créepe in and burst in there is the world there is all in all there is the greatest wealth of apples and therefore there they are Let neuer princes thinke it otherwise Those that flocke about Courtes they do it for apples many for loue but most for coÌ„moditie If the apples be in the South there they will be if they be in the North there they will be if the apples be gone they will all forsake the trée if the apples be there they will clynge watch ward about it And therfore watch couÌ„cellors preach preachers pray people That God will loÌ„g mainteine support our good naturall Prince Quéene Elizabeth in all her Royalties proprieties wealthes and coÌ„modities for if they can dispoyle her of these if they can plucke and pilâ—ere away the apples they will soone brynge disdaine vnto the trée Though the trée be neuer so beautifull and good and though the roote therof be neuer so stedy and certaine yet the eye of this wretched world alwayes gapeth after apples ancreth onely vpon gaine Worldly men are moued by worldly baytes Eagles are alwayes houeryng about carryes Beares about honny Crowes about wormes Bees about oyle Wolues about shéepe Foxes aboute pullyne Kytes about garbage the world about aduauntage Beleue not good Christen people that bee of wealth the most of them that séeme to loue you they loue you but for apples specially you noble meÌ„ trust not these fawning flering flattering parasites what soeuer they say vnto you If the dayes of heauen go froÌ„ you if your soules be brought low it shall theÌ„ to late appeare that they came to gayne and gather to plucke and deplume you and when your apples are gone your fruites missyng if by strikyng downe of your bodies pluckyng vp of your rootes they may but warme them They will do the best to strike you downe by the rootes to plucke vp your families My second wordes in this case are vnto my brethren of the ministery we are simple and not so thoroughly trayned vp in the worlde as other be our greatest dread is not from the Papistes because we trust them lest but there bee other apple gatherers who myndyng couetous intentes apples and commodities yet professyng holynes godlines and Angelicall nature they will persuade you that your woordes are very spirite that the holy ghost speaketh in you that they are edified onely by you that ye haue the gift but if they can once come by flatteryng and glosyng to abuse you and when they haue so done they will clappe their doores vppon you as Ammon did to Thamar They will wryng you and trayne you to their purpose and soone after their will despise you If you haue apples they will loue you if you haue no apples they will lothe you My nexte spéech is to you Gentlemen of the Innes of Court and elles where your good wittes and good byrthes wyll not suffer me to leaue you vnadmonished you haue also apples for you are borne to landes and lyue odes your Delicta iuuentutis call for expenses so that you are brought into the vsurers handes they as a spung will clense you and wryng you Vsurye is called in the Hebrew tounge Tocke and Tarbethe Tocke signifieth losse for there is none that meddeleth with it but hee loseth either bodely or ghostly It is also called Tarbethe that is deceite for the greatest cosinage couin and collusion that can be is in vsury and in vsurers vsury is sayd to bite in the Scriptures in déede it biteth for it bryngeth you out of the Court into the Counter from silkes to sacke cloth from plenty to penury If you wil be wise in tyme beleue not their money lent at a pinche their great dynners and their swete enterteinementes for in the ende they will but bite you No beast by biting doth hurt almost except it be angry but these men smilyng and smerkyng will bite you and vndoe you The bityng of a snacke may be cured with the herbe Dittanye The bityng of a madde Dogge may be cured with a Crabfish but the bityng of an vsurer is so chargeable that it is almost vncurable The styngyng of a Scorpion is healed with the body of a Scorpion broosed into triacle and surely me thinke the Magistrates should doe right well if they woulde satisfie all those that haue bene bite by vsurers either with their goods if they haue them or els with the punishment of their bodyes if they haue theÌ„ not God molifie their hartes or breake their téeth and direct men so in a temperaunce of lyfe that they light not into the mouthes of these Wolues For surely they shal be daungerously biten whilest you haue apples landes they will flocke about you and cherish you But when your apples and wealth is gone they will cast you of and abrenounce you And now to the very last part of this Sermon wherin I thinke it worthy the notyng that God styrreth vp the liberalitie of men by cloudes and trées There nedeth me thinketh no remembraunce to be kepte by house pictures or Churche
made vnto the sonne of god The third Councell of Nice knewe not the truth therfore they set vp Images and caÌ„dles and dissanulled the writynges of Epiphanius Peter Martyr semeth to some not to haue vnderstode what Sinus Abrill ment Beza saw some thynges that Caluine sawe not And Mollineus would seme to sée further then Beza Musculus confesseth he knoweth not that saying of S. Iohn That you may be one as I and my father am one Bucer is thought not to haue determined well of vsury Castalio sayth that he vnderstandeth not the x. part of the Apocalipse Mans knowledge fayleth in all thynges Vesalius is reproued by Columbus in the Anatomi Fuxius by Matheolus in the Herball And Matheolus by others Galene the great Phisitian is reproued by many Paracelsus hath controled them all and is controled him selfe In Arithmeticke they cannot hit the rule of Algebra In Geometri Cardanus saith but Euclide hath not handled the matter with dexteritie inough In Astronomy Ptolome and all his assistauÌ„ce are called backe by Copernicus In Logicke they are called backe by Ramus In morall Philosophie they know not what the chief good of man is In the Gréeke toung the phrase of all men is controled by Dionisius Halicarnasseus In the Latine toung there is no mans stile but it hath some blemish except the stile of Iulius Caesar If in toungs and Artes where nature endoctrineth and our booke doth helpe we know not and are deceaued then in thynges to come the knowledge whereof is most hidden it is no maruell though our fore sight bee nought worth if these easier thynges be so hard to attaine vnto then those harder thinges are most hardly discussed and specially the knowledge of thyngs to come is in truth it selfe a thing of great difficultie And here appeareth vnto me a déepe matter a wide controuersie and a large fielde to speake with or agaynst the Astologers And the matter is somwhat doubtful For if I speake with them my text speaketh agaynst theÌ„ If I speake agaynst them The greater part of men who laugheth all learning to scorne will haue better will to be rude lesse loue to be learned If I speake with them Picus Mirandula speaketh against them If I speake agaynst them Ieronymus Cardanus Iouianus Pontanus Marsilius Ficinus speaketh with theÌ„ Speakyng with them Caluine of a great iudgement speaketh agaynst me if I speake agaynst them Phillip MelancthoÌ„ a man of much learnyng will not speake with me And to conclude I say as our Sauiour Christ some tyme sayd who beyng called to bee a Iudge and â—â—â—per in matters of law about partyng of inheritaunce he sayd who hath appointed me a iudge amongst you Christ would be no iudge in such basse matters But I dare not iudge in these learned matters Neither will I seme to ouer rule the iudgements of such woorthy excellent fathers yet what I mistake I will say And that I say semeth to me to be voyde neither of reason nor of conscience First therefore I mislike the pyuâ—â— holynes of some Who either to reserve as they thinke the more power to God do take away all the vertue and worthynesse of the creatures or els to please M. Caluin the more do take away all Comercia coeli that is all the influences of heauen But as Iob said Go to the beasts of the field and they will teach thee So I will theÌ„ to resort but to the contemplation of nature and they cannot be ignoraunt The herbe called Orphan liueth without any roote The Mallow and the Marigold the herbe called Holitropium apply theÌ„ selues to the presence or absence of the sunne The Bittell accordyng to the forme of the moone commeth out and goeth in with one course The Pise myre in the full moone worketh day night Cucubers in the full moone be more full in the wayning of the moone more emptie Shel Fishes follow the course of the moone The fallyng sickenes and the sicknes of eyes Mens sicknesses and womens infirmities are increased and decreased by the semblaunce of the Moone Yea and the great huge Sea also foloweth the proportioÌ„ of the Moone likewise This grauÌ„teth also Caluine him selfe that mellancolly coller other humors are moued and wrought by the Planettes and touchyng maÌ„s bodyes somewhat more may be graunted Howbeit he that denyeth that the heaueÌ„ly bodyes haue no doings towardes or vpon the inferiour bodyes for my parte I thinke them not onely to be witles but also to be myndeles But here I doe specially mislike that the Astrologians will not onely geue out their gessinges in generall matters But also in particular countreys and cases They will forspeake of warre and of peace and of dearth and of chepth and as they call them particular matters of fortune it yrketh me farther more to remember the vanitie of these men For as the Saracens will seeme to deriue their antiquitie from Sara And the HaggereÌ„s from Haggar and that whiche would make a sober man to laugh The Heroldes also will fetch their antiquitie of their imblasenyng from Cain and Abel The Papistes their ReligioÌ„ from Peter So these Astrologians will defende their fact and proue their Arte good by the examples of Adam of Abraham Isaac Iacob As who would saye Astrologie were a thing of great primacie We read in déede that AdaÌ„ gaue very proper Hebrew names to foules fishes herbes But that hee had any knowledge in the Starres that we read not Gene .xv. It is sayd to Abraham NuÌ„ber the Starres of heaueÌ„ if thou canst Austen in his booke De Ciuitate Der. xvi chap. sayth thus That those are to bee contemned which say they haue fouÌ„d out the nomber of the Starres For it is onely the propertie of God to know the Starres their names And surely if that any of theÌ„ should at any tyme haue had any knowledge in that scieÌ„ce My thinke that the Patriarke Isaac should séeme to be instructed therin For of him it is writen Isaac went into the fieldes to study But of the other it is not writteÌ„ that they went to study or dye study Of the same Isaac we doe read that hee dyd not know the day of his death Therfore we may thus conclude Isaac the studient did not knowe the chief parte of Astrologie that is his fatall houre Therefore AdaÌ„ Abraham and Iacob whiche in Scripture haue no name of studâ—enâ—es dyd not study Astrologie or at leaâ—â— were ignoraunt in those thynges which the Astrologers do challenge vnto them selues I wil not vrge here the textes of Esay or S. Austen or of Tertulian in his booke De habitu Mulicrum Let them by me enioy their Arte whether it bee much or little νόμος or λόâ—â—Ï‚ Rule or Iudgement Howbeit I meruell if that cleare iudgement may be rendred in their science Why theÌ„ do they alwayes write darkely or falsly darkly like Appollo the deuil of Delphos Such a profound impostor or
well nigh euery liuyng thyng vpon the earth But thou wilt say there is a raynebow I say the raynebow is the worldes raynebow not thy raynebow In the raynebow it is couenaunted that the worlde shall not all be destroyed Yet thou mayst be destroyed This euill therfore may chaunce to thee vpō the earth There is a thyng they call snow Iob calleth it the treasures of Gods snowes God hath whole treasures storehouses of snow to destroy the wicked That ill also may be tyde vpō the earth There is an other thyng called Hayle which in Egypt destroyed all the cattell trées and fruites So likewise in Fraūce the yeare of our Lord viij hundred xxv And though there be a Raynebow which promiseth saftie to the world from rayne yet there is no haylebow This therfore ill may chaūce vpon the earth Blondus in his ix booke writeth that after the death of Adeotatus there were so great stormes of lightnynges and thunders that it destroyed all thynges saue onely a few Pulsis and rootes These illes also may betide vpō the earth There is also blustring and furious wyndes whiche as Cuspinianus writeth in the tyme of Comnenus the Emperour blew downe an huge brasen Image And in the tyme of Iob blewe down Iobs house his progeny This ill also may betide vpon the earth There is also the ayre it selfe which may engender frogges to trouble thée as in Egypt and Grashoppers as in Fraunce and Italie and as Cromerus reporteth in Polonia the yeare of our Lorde 1473. This ayre if it be very whote may bring the plagues of pestilēce and of the sweatynges sicknes wherewith we are well acquaynted if it be very cold it may destroy all the foules of the ayre as some times in the dayes of the Emperour Iustinian it may frees the Sea and kill fishes as in the tyme of the Emperour Phocas which is testified by Nicephorus Paulus Diaconus These illes also may betide vpon the earth There is also an other thyng most dredfull and violēt called fire And though all other plagues fayle that plague wilt not faile Mallachi iiij it is sayd that the day of Iudgement will burne like an ouen Esay lxvj it is sayd Behold the day of the Lord shal be in fire The fires that be in your Cities you cā helpe thē with clāpes buckettes if it be wilde fire you can quēch it with milke vinager But this fire as Esay sayth cā not bee quenched It is sayd in Luke xvij That in the dayes of the sonne of man it shal be as in the dayes of Noe. In the dayes of Noe a litle doue could not set her foote on the grounde for the aboūdaunce of water In the dayes of the sonne of man a litle doue shall not sette downe her foote but it shal be singed with fire This euill wil be a generall euill and this euill shal betyde vpon the earth But let me come neare vnto thée And demaunde a fresh of thée Doest thou beleue that no mischief can betyde vpon the earth vppon what part of the earth doest thou dwell In an Ilād Thou must remember the Isles called Maiorica and Minorica were destroyed with connyes As also the Isle Anaphe as Eustachius writeth if it be an Iland the sea may eate it vp as it hath done diuers Ilandes There is also great daunger by the nature of the place of the arriuall of enemies This ill also may betyde vpō this kynde of earth But what profession is thy Iland of Of a Christian profession Therefore the Turke is the great and sworne enemy What is the Turke One that hath most large and wyde Signiories one that vseth seuere discipline and policie One that wynneth much and loseth litle One that hath a good affectiō to Ilandes and this last yeare hath wonne the fine wealthy Iland of Cyprus And no dout is set on by God to go forward The Turke they wil say is farre of But God whistelleth to those that are farre of that they come lyke bees to light where hee wil haue them Thou laughest at me peraduenture to sée me so carefull I morne for thée without peraduēture to sée thée so careles Thou laughest at me and God at thée Thou carest not but care thou laughest but wéepe And do good whilest thou mayst thou cāst not tell what ill will betyde vpon the earth What is the name of the Iland Englād what neighbours hast thou Fraūce and Flaunders The one thou canst not reteyne in frendshyp but as men The other is thyne enemy most subtill experienced willyng and able to doe the hurt Do good therfore to all men and cast thy bread vppon the face of the water For thou canst not tell what ill will betyde vpon the earth Is England an whole Iland No but halfe an Iland how is the other halfe Scotland affected Some well and many ill as you haue vnderstanded They haue bene oftens in minde to put out the candle of Englād To take away our Iosias the breath of our nostrels and to set vp hipocrites vpon vs O Englād what if thou be sodenly ouer taken as the woman with her child panges Then wilt thou wish that thou haddest bene mercyfull delt thy bread Whē thou shalt sée féele what ill wil betyde vpon the face of the earth But beyng but halfe an Iland art thou firme and trustie within thy selfe Nay art not thou a snacke with young thyne owne broode beyng ready to bight out thy belly Englande hath swordes drawen out agaynst her but prouideth no buckler The state of England is lyke to children sittyng rechlesse in the Market stede We playe and pype to thē but they relent not our Sermōs are like vnto the musike which Aristotle speaketh of Which when it is once done there is no more remembraunce of it They beleue Lawyers in law matters and folow them Phisitians and follow them Coūcellors and follow them they here preachers but they do not follow them I am very sory for I doe verely thinke that some ill wil betyde vpon this earth But admitte thou feare no generall punishmentes by warres by plagues by famine Yet much ill may fall vpon the earth What particular mā art thou but some ill may chaunce to thee vpon the earth Art thou a Magistrate if thou be a good one thou mayst be tost wrong like Dauid If thou bee an ill one thou mayest breake thy necke like Hely If thou be a noble mā thou mayst be sodēly dabte to the hart with a dagger like Abner or lyke Amasias If thou be an old Courtier thou mayst be put to death at the commyng in of a new kyng like Ioab If thou lackest example read the bookes of the kynges what hath chaunced vnto kings Truth it is tyme doth tell that kynges thē selues and Courtiers of great estate haue their florishyng and their fallyng their Regno and their Regnaui their Sursum