thys golden aunswere she gaue him It were a most wicked thing sayth she to take this temple of God my body once dedicated to his honor to cast it nowe eyther to Idolatry or fleshly lusts Secondly I am condemned to death for my Lorde Christ and louing husbande by your maysters sentence and am preparing my selfe thereto What should I now yeelde to wickednesse and luste But this is farre vnsytting your Lords estate to alure me a poore condemned prisoner to so lasciuious lyfe and by fugred words from tyrannous harte to counterfeyte suche fayre promises And if I could be thus bewitched to damnation yet howe coulde I be perswaded of the softnesse of Maxentius harte that cannot be mollified in the flowing Ryuers of our christian blood which euery daye he so cruelly sheddeth But now this Tyran was more set on fyre by these godly denials and would haue forced her had not she wisely for the tyme perswaded him from whose face as by intermission for a tyme escaped she priuily fledde forsaking her house her riches and all she had and that in the night tyme with her chast body from the face of so fylthie a Prince and corrupted Courte This Matrone had both regarde to her religion and therefore would not offend against it which sayth Thou shalt not kyll and to her chast conuersation also which caused her to flie from that satanicall synke of Venus Court And for the Romish Matrone I say her harte God might enclyne to him by repentance in the twinckling of her death so in her Christ vouchsafe her pardon But I cannot sée her acte to bée soundly warranted when as we may not doe an euill that good may come thereof Rom. 3.8 Deut. 23.25 But surely the violent force to adulterous acte is both by the lawe of God and man layde vpon the oppressor onely and the oppressed is set frée If a man fynde a betrothed mayde in the Féelde and force her In forced extremitie the compelled in thys syn guyltlesse and lye with her then the man that lay with her shall dye alone and vnto the mayde thou shalt doe nothing bicause there is no cause of death in her For as when a man aryseth against his neighbour sayth the Lord and woundeth him to death so is this matter Againe she cryed and there was none to succour her Loe the violator of virginity shal dye and the deflowred being hereto forced shewing her whole and contynuall power to the contrary she is by the lawe of God adiudged innocent Here is then the lawfull remedy against rape and pollucion Not with Lucrece to yéelde and then to kyll or with christian Sophronia to fall into an extreme miserie to auoyde a pestilente mischiefe but with best aduised Dorothe to flée and if you cannot with chaste Susanna to fall into the hands of Gods direction to vse all power ye may to kéepe your bodyes impolluted But in no wise kyll your selues for that is repugnant to the law and will of God which kynde of death whatsoeuer your good intentes bee God hath promised to reuenge vpon the impenitent And to conclude this matter wherein for the dangerous subtyltie of flattering temptation I haue sayde somewhat the more I say as Father Augustine sayde If we shal to auoyde sinne in vs déeme it lawfull to kyll our selues we shoulde not suffer our bodyes to lyue one little whyle after baptisme For what is he that lyueth and synneth not Not lawful to kyll our selues therby to shun synne But he that kylleth himselfe or others with bloudy hande that is without lawful authority from his God and Magistrate let him heare what the almightye sayth thereto Surely I will require your bloude wherein your lyues are at the hande of euery beast will I require it and at the hand of man euen at the hande of a mans brother will I require the lyfe of man that is to say whatsoeuer it be that taketh the lyfe from man whether it bée your selues that kyll your owne lyfe whether it be a beast that flayeth you or if it be thy owne brother that murthereth thee thy selfe that beast this thy brother shal answere his bloud for thine Looke for this ye tyrannous opressors ye Popish murtherers beastly butchers of Gods saints ye blinde guydes and dombe Dogs ye ydle shepeards ye obstinate heretikes ye théeues and murtherers for mens purses ye brawlers and fyghters and you that kyll your selues tremble and feare So then we maye not for anye cause by how much soeuer we should seeme to praise God or to auoyde daunger of the heathen or yet to kéepe oure bodies chaste from sinfull bedde by anye meanes laye violente hands vpon our selues thereby to bereaue our lyfe for that act is damnable We are to hate flee from syn as from a Serpent and to desyre the Lorde to ende the dayes therof Eccle. 21.2 and to delyuer vs from that euil Satan and his bodye of iniquitie yea and that by death but yet so that the same may be to vs in peace estranged from al violence in our selues and alwayes according to his worde To thys our holy Symeon giueth vs instruction to whose succéeding words we will giue eare which giue to vs the cause of his peticion thus For mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation During the dayes of Israels miserie Symeon euer hoped after release whereby he teacheth vs how plunged in Popery we should expect the returne of Gods holy gospel whereof we haue in our childrens daies had eftsoones the experience God make bs thankfull therefore And this is natural that after Winter commeth Sommer after stormy tempest serenious season and after the darknesse of the night the bright shyning day So is it also the spirituall course of God in his Christ from time to time as the testimony therof in the scriptures is most apparante We now are with ioye of heart to imbrace the Halcion dayes our Sommers warmth this quyet raigne the shyning countenance of Gods good fauour to vs mauger the malice of all Romanists at home and abroad and with effect but not in vayne to receyue the light of the gospell yet plentifully casting his blessed beames least we haue greater cause to saye when we see darknesse againe to shadow the sunne beames of righteousnesse Lord that we were with Symeon dead in peace from the miserable deaths we are lyke to féele in the sworde of thy wrath And nowe sayth Symeon that as well my bodily eyes as the inward of my soule haue séene thy sauing health Nowe Lorde for thys cause shall I dye most wyllingly But if so the naturall sight of Christ as yet an infante and subiect to infyrmities whose glorie yet was holden in the bodye of the little Babe wrought such and so great ioy in heart assurance in death to this good Symeon how muche more ought the same Christ to worke in vs quietnesse of conscience nowe that he is glorifyed and the
their whole actions nowe and to the worldes ende in his present eye and skyll They are to him as present as though they were nowe done before our eyes All things are open naked before his Maiestie 1. Cor. 12.2 This knowledge of the Deuill therfore is of an other inferiour sorte and yet not all after one manner To men in earth is giuen by skyll some foreknowledge of things to come As fyrst they consyder the causes and so certainly iudge of the effects to followe Some causes necessarily drawe their effects some by interception of occurrent matter are cut of so that the effect can in no wise followe The causes drawing their effects giue men their warrant to foretell of that to come whose cause cannot but bring the same So the experte Astronomian by his skyll in arte Mathematicall and séeing the coniunctions and oppositions of the celestial partes can and doe many yeares before for mo then many after to come truely and euydently foretell of the Sunne and seuerall Eclypse is of the Moone al which in truth and déede shall follow and come to passe The other are not of lyke certainety and yet doe men not doubt to iudge by them for that the causes contynuing the effect must needes follow but the cause cut off the effect is taken away As for example that man is a contynuall prodigall person a common dronkarde and a great whoremonger If these causes contynue in him it is of necessity that beggery shal be his best end So do the Sea men by the mayden heyres also so they call the little disperpled cloudes whose endes retourne vpwardes much lyke vnto our Gentles frysled heades in these monstruous dayes a token no doubt of sodaine stormes to come presently déeme of a tempest to aryse The Phisition by the prognostication of the pulse doth foresée the euente of his pacient in his weaknesse and such like But if this knowledge be graunted to be in wise and cunning learned men much more is it to be graunted to infernall Spirites which are not dulled by the grosse humors of mens nature Adde to this their ancient experience in matters their causes and effects done and come to passe in the world synce the begynning of the same all which they haue in perfite memorye And if experience of passed things doe cause olde fathers warely to wayte the successe of lyke matters to come are preferred before the gréene heade for wisedome howe shall we not be forced to yéelde as much and more to the Deuill whose dayes are before accountes and yet not without tyme and memory passing rype Moreouer they haue a substance swift as the wynde and before the Swallow Deuilles swift as the wynde can flée the circuite of the earth and what is done this daye in the extremitie of the East can hereby declare it spéedily after in the Weast Further they are placed in the heauenly ayre Ephe. 6.12 as in a most high Turret of watch whence they may beholde the actions of men a farre of and declare the same instantly as it were by prophecy And once to make an end hereof I say they sée the propheticall scriptures by their skyll in them admeasure the actes of the Church thorowe which knowledge they become verye rype runners in things to come Yet notwithstanding The Deuil deceyued they are often deceyued and moste of all deceyue those which rest vpon their answers For the Lorde doth in his change the harts and so the actes of men from that they were by which Satans foreiudgement is preuented of sorowful euent to follow yea oft times in the twinckling of an eye he stoppeth the causes their effectes As who woulde not haue sayd when the thrée children were cast into the burning ouen Dan. 13. that they should haue perished by fyer but euen there and then began firste the best argument of there long lyfe where and when the Angell euen the sonne of God was sent to stop the cause and coole the flames and in the mydst of them to preserue his seruants and their clothes from hurte by flame or smell of smoke But this could not the Deuill foresée Againe God in his deuine wisdome doth suffer and appoynt the bodies of his saintes to be consumed to ashes in the fyre and to death in other extreme persecutions so as Satan by thys meanes is most often blynded and knoweth not what to say They are deceyued also many tymes partly for that they knowe not the wyll of God further then it is made knowne to them partly for that they cannot déepely enter into the harts of men For that is onely proper to God to be the sercher of the hart and raynes Ier. 17. And many times they doe deceyue by ambition their worshyppers in cause they would seeme ignoraunt in nothing But to relye vpon our aunswere to this obiection that the Deuill cannot foreknow Thou séest gentle Reader what hath bene layde before thine eyes herein and thereby mayst perceyue that he is not altogether bereaued of foreknowledge but many wayes enabled too in some sortes and by degrées therein And touching Sauls case Satan knew very well by that was in proofe practised how the matter stood betwéene the Iewes and the Palistins he sawe the Israelits armye weake and halfe discomfited he sawe that Samuell had prophecied Sauls depriuation and that Samuell had anointed Dauid in his succéeding place and therfore he concluded Saule to be with him the morrowe after But Saule he killed himselfe Ioh. 8. and so became the sonne of his father Satan which is a lyer and a murtherer from the beginning and expresseth himselfe herein to be both at once A lyer in that he sayth he is Samuell and is not but the false deceyuer Satanas a murtherer in that kylleth the soule of Saule by feeding his fantasie in that abhomination which is forbidden by the Lorde Deut. 18. namely that anye should aske counsell at the deade And so haue we I truste sufficiently answered that scruple whether the Deuil can predicere foretell of things to come No necessitie therfore that this Spectrum should be Samuel when as so playne proofe is that Satan doth know much and can also in sundry wayes foretell which to the ignorante séemeth prophecie of matters hereafter to be performed This knowne the second prop to say that of necessitie this was Gods Prophet Samuel falleth of himselfe downe to the dust Neyther did the Prophetes of God at anye tyme prophecy tyll they had receyued from the Lorde his good pleasure wherfore they alwayes say Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord. Or is the Lorde so scanted of Prophets or prone to consent to the wickeds desyre that from the dead he will and must call vp his departed seruants Nay both of these is denyed in that story of Diues and Lazarus Luc. 16. Esa 8.19.20 They that lyue are denyed of the appearing of the deade and
miseries of sinne but so as with griefe and anguishe of heart they carry that lumpe of death Yet they in pacient mortification by his holy spirite wayte his tyme set for their delyuerie and earnestly desyre the same Note also the right ende of this peticion which by the wicked and desperate is abused A due respect in the desyre of naturall death The godlesse cumbred with piercing sting of conscience ashamed of their state and looking for his heauye iudgement doe also desyre and cry for death So doe the poore ignorante persons which in pryson in Gallyes or Iayles and pyning in payne The poore oppressed the néedie which cannot haue to satisfie the hungry crye of their children and selues the sick pacient which long hath lyen of an incurable disease These and such lyke desyre death but it is not to the right ende for which it should be desyred They only haue respect to the present paine or shame and to fynish that they do not onely desyre but the wicked desperate persons in despite of God his holy lawe and instinct of Nature doe with the pernicious knyfe of perpetuall paine bereaue for a tyme the sorrowes of thys synfull corps But such desperate death is the purchase of Hel with Iudas Achitophel king Saule and such others Now the true and lyuely ende of this peticion in the elect of God is That least they should by to much acquaintance wyth finne and death become resty in the bed of hir delight and so be slayne Sap. 4.11.12 sléeping with Holophernes in dronken pleasures of the fleshe the same daylie more and more assaulting them they doe pray for death as for the last remedye and perfite victory against sinne and Sathan Yet so as I saye still they doe by fayth in hope suppresse the dolorous griefe of sinne in lyfe with the continual meditation of the inwarde ioyes receyued by grace in Christ and therein solace themselues as with the earnest penny of their Fathers possession which they are assured of when the Lord in mercy shall call them to himselfe by death Till when they punishe this bodie of sinne least it shoulde proue to lustie 1. Tim. 5.23 but they nurrish nature weakned that she may the sooner and the better yéelde the office which their seuerall callings doe require And this is the heauenly ende of our desyre to die that so we may receiue to our selues that life which now is treasured vp for vs with GOD in Christ which is our onely lyfe Col. 3.1.2 And thirdly the loue and longing desyre which in the saintes is apparant for the whole and perfite ioye of the Church the Apostle S. Iohn manifesteth in these wordes O Lorde come quickly Apo. 22.17 which there is approoued by the Lorde who to the comforte of his Church sealeth vp thys prayer with Amen Saying So be it Beholde I come quickly Amen Lorde perfite vs in thée and shortly ende these dayes of sinne for thy holye names sake Lorde Iesu and giue vs that truely call vpon thée thy eternall glorye Amen Last of all when Symeon sayth Lord now let thy seruaunt departe in peace he doth teach vs to abhorre all troublesome and murtherous kinde of death And doth cōuince all those guyltie of this precept Thou shalt not kill which in any maner haue slaine themselues for any cause Symeon abhorreth al troublesome and murdering deaths And doth forewarne the Church of God to flye such damnable enterprises which are no other but the perswasions of Satan and the acte herein is the obsequie of his deadly will Though Symeon desyre to dye and that death is to him comfortable in that he hath séene in bodye and soule the Sauyour of the worlde come now in fleshe to saue his Church by the ransome of his bloud which fayth only maketh death desyred in hart yet will he not shorten his life by sodaine crueltie to be a Felondese But he will dye as hath ordayned the wyll of God And therefore he addeth according to thy worde What shall we then say to them which else haue their great commendation in that to auoyde some the dayes of tyranny some other the sight of Gods church persecuted or to auoyde the purpose of synful persons or the infamy of synne or therby thinking to glorifye God haue from the consistory of the harte giuen commission and commaundement to the violent hande to cut in sunder soule and bodye by murthering stroake of merciles arme Truely I say that neyther Cato Razias Lucretia Curtius or his lyke are sure warrants to thée or yet the Donatists which to bring the Christian Byshops into contempt would offer to kill themselues rather then to prouoke the Emperours sworde against them which they spake to winne more ease when the godly Bishops craued his ayde against their pernitious pollution and yet would they be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cato in kylling himself thought to be ridde of Caesars tyranny by which meanes he offred himselfe to Sathans bondage yea he conuinceth himselfe of folly when he exhorteth hys sonne to obey and séeke the peace of Caesar from whome he ran by murthering death If it were good and a wise parte for his sonne to obteyne the Princes fauour why not for the father also His impacience which could not suffer himself to liue a bearing subiect was a thousande partes worse then the Tyrants crueltie But thou which fearest God hast another rule if the Prince be neuer so cruel thou art commaunded to pray for him that thou mayest liue a quyet godly honest lyfe 1. Tim. 2.12 which thing sayth Paule in that place is good and acceptable What to kyll himselfe from Nero his tyranny being a persecuted christian No but that God will vnder his Regiment giue thée at length a quyet lyfe For the same cause Ieremy sendeth by Baruck Baruk 1.11.12 exhortations to the afflicted Iewes in captiuitie vnder Nabuchadnezar that they should pray for his lyfe Persecuting Princes muste bee prayed for How much more ought wee to call vpon God for such as professe hys Gospell that they might also lyue quyetly vnder him And the Apostles doe arme vs to pacience and vnto forbearing of tyranny with long suffering as well by their owne example as doctrine But in no waies haue they eyther slayne themselues to be ridde of prisons Irons cruell murther or tyranny but haue sought by all meanes rather to maintayne their lyfe to doe more good therein to the Church of God then to hasten their ende by violent stroke For thys cause did Paule exhorte Timothie to pacience willing him to suffer aduersity to do the worke of an Euangelist 2. Tim. 4.5 and to make his ministery knowne He telleth him that he is now ready to be offred to dye for Christ but he feareth it not or will preuente Nero his cruelty by his owne hande but will lyue till the daye of his dissolution which the Lorde hath set
teache hymselfe that he is to the hartes of men When he was at Iacobs Well with the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4.10 he tooke occasion by the Metaphor of water to teache her the lycour of lyfe By the desyre the Iewes had to earthy bread therfore followed him Ioh. 6.15 Luc. 5.3 he began to teach himself to be the bread of lyfe And teaching in the shyp by that myracle of Fishes he taught the Apostles the waye to catch men The same thing he vseth in these wordes I am the lyght c. For teaching in the morning in the Temple the Sunne nowe shyning moste brightly bewtifying the place to the great delight of the beholders he calleth them from the terrestriall to the sonne of righteousnesse affirming in him to finde the true properties of the glorious sonne in déede First as the Sunne is a most pure Planet most bryght and cléere defyled with nothing wheresoeuer it shyneth but maketh the darke and fylthy places more open to the eyes of men So Iesus Christ the brightnesse of his fathers glory Col. 1.15 is of nature most pure and holye and albeit he hath taken oure nature vpon him lyued amongst vs did accompany wyth synners to their good and abhorred not to eate with Publicans yet was he nothing defyled therby but by him these fylthy persons made wholy to know themselues through him were illuminated and fully sanctifyed The Sunne that is to say the light doth so shyne that himselfe may be séene of vs and doth make all other lyuing creatures to sée by him So Iesus Christ our light doth so manifestly in his nature appeare that the insensible heauens and earth do know him he doth so powre by his spirite the beames of his brightnesse into the hartes of hys beloued that they by his spirite and resplendishing Scriptures both perfitly as fleshe may know God the Father and his Christ and all things else which be eyther necessary or expedient to their saluation in him besydes whom there is none other Act. 4.12 Psal 36.9 Thys compelled Dauid to say With thee O Lord is the Well of lyfe and in thy lyght shal we see lyght Through christs light we see God to be our father hym the lord to be our Sauior And as the lyght discouereth darkenesse and refresheth the toyled bodyes in former obscuritie Euen so Christ remouing the former ignorance of God in vs banyshing the terror of cōscience doth most magnificently recreate our sences and refreshe our spirites renouate our conscience quyet oure soule and replenishe vs with ioye And lyke as the lyghte doth not onely in darknesse of night guyde our footesteps but helpeth vs aright to our whole businesse So Christe that eternall worde of God is the Lanterne to our feete and the light to our labours Psal 119. in that the doctrine and preceptes thence shyning to vs doe direct our darke soules into the paths of righteousnesse and that for his owne names sake And as light banyshing darknesse openeth to mans eye many things which in mircke midnight were not onely shadowed The commodities of light but also sheltered and so vnknowne that many adulters théeues murtherers and wicked persons by her were couered Iohn 3.19 and nowe by light disclosed for which cause naturally they loue darknesse hate the lyght So Christ hauing by his worde of most cléerenesse and heauenly power banyshed from Realmes Familyes and persons the darknes of ignorance maketh knowne to them their syns and reproueth their errors accuseth the corruptiō of mans nature and playnely maketh vs sée that all those things which without him we most imbraced are most fylthye and horrible And this is the cause why all such as wallow in wicked lyfe and false Religion doe hate Christ in hys Gospell to this present daye Ioh. 3.19 but to their vtter ruine and selfe condemnation Lastly as one shyning Sunne serueth the vniuersall worlde and is the onely Fountayne of light to all lightes in the same So the bright sonne of God our righteousnesse Christ is the onely author of spirituall light whome the Father of lights hath onely giuen to the whole worlde And he doth lighten euerye man that commeth into the worlde Ioh. 1.9 neyther will he admit any copemate to be ioyned with him What church is not guyded by our lyght Christ onely is eclypsed and bloudy to Christ and his members but kéepeth the whole Regimente in and to himselfe For as the Moone the figure of Gods Church receyueth at the handes of the Sunne her lighte and is so much darkned as she wanteth of his brightnesse So the Churche of God not kept with the countenance of Christs shyning face and Gospell is wrapped in the wayne of darknesse but lightned by his truth she is most gloryous and her naturall spottes shall not deface her yet both Moone and Church remayne to be light by hym else as opposite to him they are eyther darke or bloody or one or bothe Let no man obiect to me Lightened by Christe her spots do not hurt her that the Apostles are called also lightes of the worlde for that hath the true light imported in mercye to them by borrowed spéeche as we may call the Lanterne a light Eph. 5.25.26.27 bicause the light shyneth by and through it vnto the whole housholde And so are the Apostles called lights not bicause they are the light Christ How the Apostles and preachers of the worde are called lighte but bicause they bring vnto vs the true light that dwelleth in them which doth also by them and their labours preaching and wryting shine into the vtmost partes of the earth to the great comforte of all those that loue the same To conclude great is the mercye of our good God séeing the darknesse of the world so greate that no otherwise it could be discouered remoued gaue vnto vs this his owne son whome he hath made to vs the onely light of God to Iew and Gentyle that we should not for wante of safe conduction perishe in our wandring passage Now the vse of thys light and wherto he is giuen vs of God Symeon doth tell vs and sayth it is that he should be reuealed vnto the Gentyls and to be the glory of the people Israel Two things also the good father telleth vs in these words Fyrst that the ages from tyme to tyme should knowe that this one Christ is to all them and people in them the one and onely saluation light guyde and delyuerer Christ is to all ages the the one and onely lyght to lyfe sygnified by the two Nations by him named Iewe Gentyle The lyke doth Esay before naming the Gentyls and addeth and health to the vtmost partes of the world So Christ himselfe concludeth saying as before is saide I am the lighte of the worlde that is to saye of euerye place in the worlde of all sortes of men women and chyldren
flaunte 1. Cor. 10.31 and vaine gloryous shewes giue none offence neyther to the Iewe nor to the Grecians nor to the Church of God Marke this you cannot replye and say Who hath to do with vs who shall comptroll vs we are the maysters of our selues For euen in those things which be lawfull and indifferent the more Noble the greater care you ought by the rule of Gods holy word In indifferent things the help or hurte of our brethren is chiefely to be respected to haue to your actions for the cause of your brethren which be eyther Gods enimies as the Iewes who maye not receyue offence at you or Grecians popish worldlings or wanton Atheists which séeke to be of the fashion though it be against god or that the people of God by your insolency be gréeued the daunger whereof is not smale Whosoeuer sayth our mayster Christ shall offende one of these little ones which beleeueth in mee Mat. 18.6 it were better for him that a Mylstone were hanged about his necke and he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Yea greater care the noble the mightie the ritch the prowde one and other ought to haue of their godly brethren then of their owne members Woe to the worlde sayth our Christ in the place afore coted bicause of offences for it must needs be that offences shal come but woe be to the man by whom they doe come Wherefore if thine hande or thy foote cause thee to offende cut them of from thee it is better for thee to enter into lyfe halt or maymed then hauing two handes or two feete to be cast into euerlasting fyre And if thine eye cause thee to offende pluck it out c. Loe christian thy bodyes desyre muste to her great losse giue place to thy brothers good estate Dauid therefore prayeth the Lord to shut vp his eyes from beholding of vanitie For hence it is Psal 119. that the concupiscence of the heart being produced by the conducte of the eye doth lust after the pryde of thys worlde without regarde of God his people his or oure enimies or our owne deare brethren whom eyther we strayne with their sorrowe to sore after our Courtly guyse Two euils in outragious apparel or else we grieue their consciences to beholde our too to much vanities And thys is monstruous that that which is to vs a signification of our fyrst fathers synne in whom we all are damned to death should be to vs a delighting pleasure and the same which was giuen to couer our shame Gen. 3.21 1. Cor. 15.22 we shoulde abuse to our great confusion For most true it is that apparell whereof we now pride so much was and is the accuser of synne for our fyrst parents were naked before they sinned and were not ashamed bycause nothing gaue cause to blushe they frée from synne and being made to the ymage of God But hauing transgressed his commaundement they sawe their nakednesse and synfull bodies by eating of the apple The cause of apparell is synne and did blushe for shame blushing and confusion are the fruites of synne to whome nowe some couerture was necessary as well to keepe the lesse honorable partes secrete as to defende them from the parching sunne and Winters colde Gen. 3.21 Wherefore our good God gaue to eyther of them a coate of peltes or skyns This symple sufficient attyre cōdemneth two sortes of persons the Adamits which runne naked to counterfeyte Adam and Heuah which thing if God would to haue had in vse he had not giuen these naked creatures these néedy coates The other are our lusty Gallants of eyther sexe that to to much doe glory in their apparell which is and ought to be to them a preacher of their fathers shame In our attyre we ought to kéepe modestie and comlynesse eche man in his degrée as their is great difference the which to excéede is thus to walke in darknesse First they inuerte the vse of aparell that is eyther a bounde beyonde their calling or take pride therein which onely ought to defend their bodyes as is sayde and to put vs in minde of our frayle condition These blynde men are lyke to those fellowes chayned with heauy yrons for some horrible murther and yet doe bragge of them as of matter worthy much glory and therfore set them forth to shew in all brauery Secondly the delight of braue and costly araye doth marueylously encrease the pride of the lurking heart which once enflamed is neuer content but causeth vs to forget our state and condition it enuyeth others more gaye and despiseth all such as to vs be attyred in inferior sorte Euill branches of a naughtie tree Thirdly prowde aparell as it satisficeth fleshly appetite so is it verye offensiue to the moste beholders Adde to this it bewrayeth a lewde harte a light person a vayne mutable man delighting change in vanities and such a one is euer inconstante in all his wayes Neyther did godly Iudith decke her in prowde array Iudi. 10.1 tyll shée purposed to spoyle curssed Holophernes And cruel Iezabel sought to allure Iehu his hart by her sumptuous shewe in brauery Fourthly you breake contemptuouslye this commaundement of Christ Be not carefull what to put on c. If not for necessaries Math. 6. how much lesse for these superfluous vanities which shall bring woes and Gods euerlasting cursse to them which be faulty herein Lastly the iudgement of God aprooueth his hate herevnto which beateth downe iustly so manye to beggerie from former great patrimony by their synfull excesse in costly aparell and doth also often throwe vs into those Country plagues whose fashions we haue most fauoured in the strange guyse of monstruous attyre But perhaps these Courtly Ladyes and Gentils will doe as our Lord Christ sayeth the Pharyseis did They did hate the present teachers and yet they made much of the Monumentes of the Prophetes Mat. 23.29 whome their forefathers murthered And it maye be that these our riche and myghty Gallaunts will say what haue these pratling preachers to doe with vs why should they correct vs let them kéepe them to the Text of Scripture Well then we will in this point pleasure you Marke ye lusty Gallants and to ende withall onely giue you the Scripture Text which would GOD ye would take heede vnto Luc. 1.78 till the day starre Iesus Christ apeared fully in your hearts Thus sayth this scripture then against this darke corruption of pride in the rich practised for want will not permit the hawtie harts of the least able to atchyue hereto Now hearken to you Nobles of eyther sexe ye Gentils riche in lands and possessions for now the Lorde himselfe speaketh vnto you Esa 3.11 Woe be to the wicked sayth the Lorde it shall be euill with him for the rewarde of his hands shall be giuen hym Children are Extortioners of my people women haue rule ouer them as