bee granted I am sure Gods law giues tythes to his Church but say they that Law is abolished repealed by a new Act of Parliament Paul in his Epistle frees vs from the olde Law Indeed Paul speaking of our Sanctification and Saluation notes our deliuerance from the Lusts of the Flesh and from the lists of the Law From the Ceremoniall Law wholly from the Morall onely so farre as it shall not condemne those in Christ. But who saue an Aduocate of Mammon will limit Tenths to Ceremony God requires a portion of our Time of our Goods the Seuenth of our time the Tenth of our goods and wee haue those that turne both into Ceremony Such make the Sabbath it selfe a meere Ceremony But bee not deceiued God is not mocked This same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all good things is of some latitude Many will allow some of their goods but they snarle at Pauls In omnibus The Minister shall haue the Easter-booke perhaps some other trifles it may be against their wills wooll and lambes but shall the blacke coate carry away the Tith-shocke The gumm'd Taffata Gentleman would fret out at this They plead to their Vicar We giue what the Law allowes What their Law not what the Gospell And yet they hope not to be saued by the Law but by the Gospell The Apostle saith Part of all why then not the tenth part vvhich God at the first commanded and custome in all ages commended That part once assigned of God should preuent all arbitrary disposing of men What Landlord leaues it to his Tenant to pay him vvhat rent he list If Mammon must set out Gods portion he is sure to haue but a little It was neuer well with the Church since it vvas at the worlds finding No man feares to surfet whiles he is at his enemies feeding I thinke the purest and precisest Reformers deformers I should say of Religion can hardly order this matter better then God hath done Euery plummet is not for this sound nor euery line for this leuell nor out of many such blockes can a man carue Mercurie The Canon Law saies that Si Princeps causam inter partes audierit sententiam dixerit lex est in omnibus similibus If the Prince heare a cause betwixt parties and giue a definitiue Sentence that is a â—…aw to decide all controuersies of the same nature But vve haue the Prince of heauens Sentence for paying of Tithes before the Law to Abraham vnder the Law to the Iewes therefore small reason that it should not hold vnder the Gospell among Christians Be not deceiued God c. They were the Churches why are they not Plead what you will God hath a grieuous Quare impedit against you You say they were taken away from idle drones and fatte bellied Monkes So Rapiuntur ab indâ—…gnis 〈◊〉 à dignis From the vnworthy they were taken and from the worthy they are detained But to whom are they giuen Possidebant Pâ—…pistae possident Rapistae Those kept some good hospitalitie with them these keepe none So that as Cominâ—…us obserues vpon the battell of Montlchâ—…y some lost their liuings for running away and they were giuen to those that ranne ten mile further Idlenesse lost and oppression hath gained But let me say with the Psalmist Psalm 11. The foundations are cast downe but what hath the righteous done The foundations of the Church which shuld hold vp the Gospell tenths maintenance are cast downe because of superstitious abusers but what hath the righteous done that these things should be taken from them A Bishop comming to a Towne because the Bells rang not suspended the Organs A strange kinde of reuenge because the Bells rang not in the Steeple to suspend the Organs in the Quire So because those Bells not of Aaron but of Antichrist did not ring to Gods glory you haue suspended the Organs and meanes of liuing from them that take paines and in your owne consciences preach to you the sincere Gospell of Christ. But be not deceiued God is not mocked Or perhaps you say you must haue these Church-liuings for Hospitalities sake that you may keepe the better houses So you make the Cleargy poore that you may make the poore rich I haue read that the Sophy of Persia beeing to send a great summe of money for an offering to Mahomet in Arabia would send none of his owne coyne for that he said was gotten by ill meanes but exchanged it with English Merchants because theirs was gotten honestly and with a good conscience So it may bee you thinke that your owne vniust moneys and extorted commings in by the ruine of your Tenants is no good offering to GOD. But the Church-mans liuing comes honestly and with a good conscience and therefore you will take that to offer your sacrifice of almes to God But heerein you come short of the Persian you doe not giue your owne Lordships and lands in exchange Yet me thinkes if spirituall liuings must be giuen to the poore you might suffer the Church to giue her owne I could neuer finde eyther in Albo Praetorum or in Rubrica Martyrum how the Laity was deputed to this stewardship Sure they intrude themselues into this Office and will be Gods Almoners whether he will or no. If they will giue to the poore let them giue that is theirs Dona quaerit non spolia Deus God expects and respects gifts of thine owne not spoyles of others Be not deceiued God is not mocked But where is your Hospitality after all this you can tell me nay I can tell you Bestowed amongst Silk-men Mercers yea vpon Taylers Players Harlots and other insatiable beggers of the same ranke In the raign of Alexander Seuerus the Tipplers Alehouse-keepers complained against the Christians that they had turned a place of ground to some religious vse which belonged to them But the very heathen Emperour could answere vpon hearing the cause that it vvas honest and fitte God to be serued before Alehouses Who would not iudge that Tithes are fitter to be giuen to God then to hounds harlots sycophants inuenters of fashions and such bawdes of pride and notorious iniquitie This I will speake boldly and iustifie that Hospitality was at the same time impropriated from the land that spirituall liuings were impropriated from the Church You haue not robbed Peter to pay Paul but to pay Iudas And hence misery sets her blacke fooâ—… into so many faire dores all comes to beggery at last They that swallow Churches like dogs that eat knot-grasse neuer thriue after it Be not deceiued God is not mocked I haue rubbed this sore enough and conclude with that saying of Chrysostome Moneo vt reddatis Deo sua vt Deus 〈◊〉 vobis vestra Restore to God his owne that God may restore to you your owne Thus as he that had pulled one of Salomons Curtaines the rest would follow though in the first there were worke enough for his admiration So
putting oyle into it but this makes it burne more And as it is with some that thirstily drink harish and ill-brewed drinks haue not their heate hereby allayed but inflamed So this vvorldlings hote eagernesse of riches is not cooled but fired by his abundance 4. That which makes a man easie to hit makes also his wound greeuous The Poet tells vs that when Codrus his house burnes a little cottage in the Forrest he stands by and warmes himselfe at the flame hee knowes that a fewe sticks straw and clay with a little labour can rebuild him as good a Tabernacle But if this accident light vpon the Vsurers house distraction seizeth him withall he cryes out of this Chamber and that chest of his Closet and Cabinet of his bonds morgages money and plate and is so much the more impatient as hee had more to lose In a vvord here is all the difference betwixt the rich and poore the poore man would be rich while he liues and the rich would be poore when he dies For it is small greefe to leaue hunger cold distresse bondage hard lodging and harder fare but to forsake full Barnes full purses musike wine iunkets soft beds beautious vvomen and these lust-tickling delights and to goe vvith death to the Land of forgetfulnesse this is the terrour I end then as Paul concludes his counsell to rich men Lay vp for your selues a good foundation against the time to come that you may lay hold on eternall Life THE BAD LEAVEN OR THE CONTAGION OF SINNE GALAT. 5. 9. A little Leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe THIS Epistle was written with St. Pauls owne hand chap. 6. 11. Ye see how large a letter I haue written vnto you with my owne hand It is for quality excellent for quantitie large Hee wrote not so long an Epistle to any other Church with his owne hand Indeed he wrote a letter to Philemon with his owne hand vers 19. I Paul haue written it with mine own hand but it was short He wrote longer Epistles to the Romanes and Corinthians but not with his owne hand but by Scribes Wee haue cause therefore to regard it more as his pains were greater in writing so let our diligence bee greater in obseruing The maine purpose of it is to discouer 1. That ill coniunction of Moses and Christ the ceremonies of the Law with the sanctimony of the Gospell 2. The free Grace and Iustification by the bloud of Christ without the workes of the Law In this the Galatians had receiued a beginning but now had admitted a recidiuation For this cause the Apostle chides vers 7. Yee did runne well who did hinder you that you should not obey the Trueth Where there is a Concession and a Conuiction a step and a stop The Concession or Step ye did runne well The Conuiction or Stop Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth In the former he compares Christianity to a race all men must first be viatores in this valley of teares before they can be Assessâ—…res and sit with Christ in his kingdome of glory Onely as it agrees with a Race in many things as labor it 's no idle thing to be a Christian shortnesse it is a Race the perplexity is recompenced vvith the breuity continuance the runner must hold out the last steppe if he will obtaine the prize So there are some differences 1. In other races many runne onely one winnes the goale but in this all that runne faithfully shal raigne triumphantly Though they cannot runne so fast as others nor so farre as others yet euen they that came at the eleuenth houre into the Vineyard receiued they penny so well as they that came at the third For the Lord regards not Quantum but ex quanto not how much but how well What euer houre they are called let them spend the aftertime in a zealous diligence 2. In other races one hinders another but in this iourney one helpes another The more the merrier no enuy or grudging eyther in the way or the goale Dispar gloria singulorum sed communis latitia omnium There may bee different glory of some yet there is a common ioy of all Euery good man is a spurre to his brother Peter and Iohn ranne to Christs Sepulcher Iohn out-ran Peter vnto the graue Peter out-went Iohn into the graue But we run together vnto Christs Throne some come before some after all meet in the Communion of Saints 3. In other races the runner obtaines a prize that shall perish all the runners heere get an incorruptible crowne They runne for a little prize a little praise we for eternall glory Runne wee then cheerefully behold a kingdome lyes at the stake God giue vs all eyes of faith to see it and hearts of obedience to runne to it through the power of Iesus Christ. In the latter the Apostle may seeme to put a superfluous question Who did hinder you For there are many aduersaries As first Satan the General of that damned crue that hinder our passage to heauen Paul excuseth himselfe to the Thessalonians Wee would haue come vnto you once and againe but Satan hindered vs. Zach. 3. Ioshua the high Priest stood before the Angell of the Lord and Satan stood at his right hand to resist him Where God hath his Church Satan hath his chappell So also wicked men such as haue taken the Deuils oath of Allegiance What the Deuill cannot doe immediately by himselfe hee does mediately by his Instruments To erre Humanum is the weakenes of a man but to seduce diabolicum is the part of a Deuill It is ill to play the woman worse to play the beast worst of all to play the Deuill But what speciall hinderers the Apostle meanes wee shall haue precise occasion in some future passages to demonstrate Onely I must not omit that the Apostle giues a direct resolution by way of negation vers 8. This perswasion comâ—…eth not of him that calleth you God is no wayes the Author of error and sin He that wils the death of no sinner will not lead him into the wayes of destruction Indeed he suffes Satan to temptal but to a diuerse purpose the good to try them the reprobate to destroy them The temptations of the godly are for their instruction of the wicked for their destruction Iames tells vs that euery good gift comes downe from the Father of lights is it euill it commeth not from God The Apostle telling the Ephesians of lusts blindnesse wantonnesse obstinacy concludes piercingly Non sic didicistis Christum Yee haue not so learned Iesus Christ. Art thou peruerted thou neuer learnedst this of Christ. Let no man say when hee is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempteth no man In him we liue moue and haue our being A Gentile Poet sung it a Christian Apostle sanctified it all the creatures in heauen and earth cry Amen vnto it Life is his whether we liue well
enter If thy foot offend thee saith Christ out it off Heereupon when the penitent confessed to S. Anthony that he had kicked his mother he vrged him with that Text the man went and cut off his foot but S. Anthony honestly to make him amends set it on againe Were these not goodly constructions So the new elected Pope in his solemne Lateran Procession must take copper money out of his Chamberlaines lap and scatter it among the people saying Siluer and gold haue I none but such as I haue I giue vnto you And is not this a probable truth a praise-able bounty Seuen yeares penance is enioyned to a deadly sinne because Miriam was separated seuen dayes for her leprosie and God saith to Ezekiel chap. 4. I haue giuen thee a day for a yeare Oh genuine and most neighbourly concording of Scriptures When Gods word subiects Priests to Kings their Glosse subiects Kings to Priests at least to Popes But as when they determined to kill the Emperor Henry the seuenth that they might be sure to poyson him they stucke not to poyson their owne God in the Sacrament So purposing to teare the honour and deface the maiesty of Kings they first offer violence to the sacred word of God In these damnable Glosses it is hard to decide whether Pharise is beyond Papist or Papist beyond Pharise But Dum haec malè construunt seipsos malè destruunt Their euill construction of the Scriptures brings a worse destruction to themselues They make that serue the turne of their policie which God meant to serue the turne of his glory The Pharises cleaued to the letter but despised the Spirit so do Papists Hoc est corpus must bee materially there for this they wrangle fight burne the contradicters yet few of them care to finde it spiritually there Dabo claues I will giue thee the keyes therefore none can enter heauen except the Pope open the dores Whereas Peters two keyes one of knowledge the other of power are fitted to two lockes Ignorance and Induration But wee know who keepes the keyes and lets in many thousands to heauen without the Popes leaue These things saith hee that is holy and true hee that hath the key of Dauid he that openeth and no man shutteth that shutteth and no man openeth Some of the Rabbins affirmed that God requires two things concerning his law Custodie and Worke custody in heart worke in execution The Pharises thought it enough to haue it in their frontlets not in their hearts So the Romist hath his opus operatum prayers numbred on beades fastings pilgrimages c. and then cryes like Saul Blessed bee thou of the Lord I haue performed the commandement of the Lord. The Pharises iustified themselues by their workes and would not sticke to say of the Law All this haue I kept from my youth Doe not the Papists so doe they not climbe to saluation by their owne works iustify themselues Those thought it not only easie to fulfill the Law but possible to doe more then they were bound to They thought it not worth thanks to performe what they were bidden Gods Law was too little for their holinesse They plyed God with vnbidden oblations gaue more then they needed then was commanded I pay tithes of all said that Pharise of all it was more then he needed If God would haue a Sabbath kept they ouer-keepe it let a house be on fire that day they would not quench it And what other is the boasting opinion of the Romanists it is nothing with them to content God they can earne him supererogate of him Yea these Iewish Papists haue done more then enough for themselues many good vvorks to spare for others this they call the Churches Treasure they sell them for ready money But Christ taught vs all to say We are vnprofitable seruants intimating that doe what we can yet God is a loser by the best of vs. To omit the miserable penances of the Pharises pricking themselues with thornes and wounding their flesh with whips wherein it is not possible for a Papist to goe beyond them If the misvsing macerating lacerating their owne bodies be a meanes to come into heauen surely the Pharises should enter farre sooner then the Papists Yet were those kept out and shall these enter Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharises ye shall not enter into the kingdome of Heauen The people were so besotted on them that they thought if but two men should goe to heauen the one must bee a Scribe the other a Pharise But here was strange newes neyther of them both shall come there So the Papists thinke that if but two men be saued one must be a Fryer the other a Iesuite Hee that should say neyther of them both was likely to speed so well should haue the whole multitude stare vpon him for such a Paradoxe The Pharises brag'd much of Moses Chaire iust so doe our Papists of Peters Chaire The Pharises iustified it that there was no error in theirs the Papists affirme that there 's no possibility of error in theirs The Pharises thundred against the poore people This people who knoweth not the Law are cursed So the Pope thunders his curses and excommunications against vs but we blesse God his thunder cannot reach vs. I would other places had no more cause to feare his thunder Then would they answere him as Gregory the fourth was answered when he purposed peremptorily to proceed against Lewys le Debonayre the French Bishops answered in flat termes Si excommunicaturus veniret excommunicatus discederet If he came to excommunicate hee should be sent back excommunicated The Pharises compassed Sea and Land to make Proselytes and when they had made one they make him twofold more the child of hell then themselues Doe not our Seminaries so Yes they are Compassers too like their grand Master Iob. 2. much like those Circulatores and Circumcelliones a limbe of the Donatists They creepe into Ladies houses I had almost said into their Chambers the Pursuiuant in modesty hath forborne the Gentlewomans bed and missed him Confession and Penance are the principall wheeles whereupon the Engine of their policie runnes By the first they find out mens secret inclinations by the other they heape riches to their Tribe They will not lead a Nouice into the maine at first to make him belieue the Popes infallibility of Iudgement authoritie to decrowne Kings to make Scripture no Scripture and no Scripture Scripture c. This meat is too tough it will not downe therefore they court his affections with pleasing delights smooth semblances and moderate constructions as neare to the religion from which they would peruert him as possibly may be afforded So by degrees they gaine him God and the Truth loseth him In their owne Countreys places of freedome they vizour their hearts in England they vizour their faces too The Pharises made difference of oathes
euill will persecute the good and the good may not partake of the vices of the bad What agreement hath the temple of God with Idols Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the vncleane thing and I will receiue you Out of the Egypt of this world hath God called his Sonnes We are forbidden all fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of of darkenes not altogether with the workers For then wee must needs goe out of the world It is commanded Ierem 15. that the precious be separated from the vile yet so that they may returne to the good though the good may not turne to them It is good for the good to sunder themselues from the incorrigible wicked as being the first stayre of the ladder that leaues the earth and sets the first step of our iourney to heauen God in his eternall decree separated the elect from the Reprobate in his Vocation he sequesters them from nature and sinne When hee executes particular iudgement hee takes Israell from the Tabernacles of Corah when he will giue the generall he will seuer the Sheepe from the Goates Christ then who is the Prince of Peace causeth not quarrels betweene man and man as they are creatures but betwixt goodnesse and euill as they are contrarie natures That the sonnes of Beliall hate the sonnes of God Christ is not the cause but the occasion For when the Gospell separates vs from the world the world then bends his malicious forces against vs. So that Peace in sinne Ver. 51. Christ came not to send but Peace of conscience Phil. 4. The peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding c. Which because the wicked will not embrace therfore Fiue in one house shall be diuided the Father against the Sonne and the Sâ—…nne against the Father c. The Gospell doth not otherwise worke this diuision then the Law is sayd to make sinne because it made sinne knowne Or the Sunne is sayd to cause mothes because it causeth their appearance Let Paul continue a Pharise and the Pharises will loue him conuert he to a Christian and they will hate him Whiles we liue after the world we haue peace with the world none with God when we are turned to Christ we haue peace with God none with the world This ground laid we will consider for the better exposition of the words fiue circumstances The Fire Fewell Kindlers Smoake Bellowes Wherein we shall find Christs willing and the fires kindling Who wils goodnesse to his chosen which he is sure will enrage the wicked to their persecution The cause thus giuen the fire is left to be kindled by others For though Non sine Deo patimur yet non a Deo petimur The instruments of our afflictioÌ„ will be found vngodly who though they plead we haue done the will of the Lord shall goe to hell for their labour The Fire Is discord debate contention anger and hatred against the godly Euery man is composed of foure elementall humours whereof one is Choler resembled to Fire In whom this Choler is most adust puissant they are vsually most hote furious fiery But I speake here of nature for grace can alter nature and purge this corruption Regeneration is the best physicke to purge Choler Many medicines hath Philosophie prescribed against this spirituall disease but in vaine The Philosophers seruant could scoffe his Maister He inueighes against anger writes volumes against it ipse mihi irascitur and yet he is angry with me Onely grace can more then giue rules giue power to master this madnesse Fire and Contention haue some resemblances 1. Debate is like Fire for as that of all elements so this of all passions is most violent The earth is huge yet we walke quietly on it it suffers our ploughes to rend vp the entrals of it to teach vs patience The aire is copious yet admits our respiration The waters boystrous yet sayle we vpon them against them But Fire especially getting the vpper hand is vnmercifully raging it left nothing behind to witnesse the former happynes of Sodome The worlds last destruction shall be by Fire and God vseth that of all elements to expresse the very torments of hell adding Brimstone to it To this is the anger of God likened Our God is euen a consuming fire So doth debate exceede all passions flouds of correction can quench the turbulent an fiery spitit which is set on fire of hell Onely one extreame may driue out another as we hold our burnt finger to the fire by a new heat to extract the former So the fire of grace onely must draw out the Fire of debate or send it to the euerlasting fire to purge it 2. Contention is like Fire for both burne so long as there is any exustible matter to contend against Only herein it transcends fire for fire begets not matter but consumes it debate begets matter but not consumes it For the wicked study cause of contention as Benhadad against Ahab 1. king 20. So when the Pope could find no iust exception against Fredericke the Emperour he quarrell'd with him for holding the wrong stirrop when the great Prelate should mount his palfrey and thought he might easily mistake for Emperours are not vsed to hold stirrops yet hee was persecuted almost to excommunication for it It is wofull dwelling amongst debatefull men whose soules hate peace that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without naturall affection which Paul makes a reprobates marke striking all that stand in their way and not ceasing to burne till all matter cease to feede them Salomon discribes such with a firie comparison First ver 17. he cals him a Busi-body he passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him he thrusts himselfe into impertinent busines and is like one that taketh a dog by the eares which hee can neither hold nor well let goe ver 18. He notes his politicke villanie As a mad-man who casteth firebrands arrowes and death and saith Am I not insport he scattereth abroad mortall mischiefes vnder the colour of iest And ver 20. lest the fire should goe out hee administers fewell himselfe Where no wood is there the fire goeth out ver 21. when he hath kindled this flame hee striues to spread and disperse it and is as coales to burning coales and wood to the fire The words of a tale-bearer are wounds and they goe downe into the innermost parts of the belly They penetrate and cruciate the most tender and sensible places 3. As a litle sparke growes to a great flame so a small debate often proues a great rent Behold how great a matter a litle fire kindleth The wind at first a small vapour yet gets such strength in going that it ouer-turnes trees and towers A back-biting tongue hath pulled downe strong citties and ouerthrowne the houses of great men Warre is compared to fire
a man verè voluit tamet si non valuit adimplere faithfully would though not fully could accomplish There are that will restore some but not all to this they haue Posse but no velle let the creditors be content with one of foure But this litle detinie is great iniquitie For a mite is debt as well as a million Tam though not Tantum so good a debt though not so great a debt And he that is faithfull in a litle shall bee made ruler ouer much What shall we then say of their goods that breake and defraud others Come they from Gods hand or from the deuills Surely Satans right hand gaue them not Gods Left Haec mea sunt sayth the Deuill meae diuitie mei diuites These are mind my riches and my rich men O that men would see this damnable sinne mee thinkes their terrified consciences should feare that the bread they eate should choake them for it is stolne and stolne bread fills the belly of grauell They should feare the drinke they swallow should poyson them being the very bloud of good housholders mixed with the teares of widowes and orphanes The poore creditor is often vndone and glad of bread and water whiles they like hogges lurking in their styes fatte and lard their ribbes with the fruite of others labours They robbe the husband of his inheritance the wife of her dowry the children of their portions the curse of whole families is against them And if this sinne lye vpon a great mans foule hee shall finde it the heauyer to sinke him lower into perdition They are the Lords of great lands yet liue vpon other mens moneys they must riot and reuell let the poore commoners pay for it They haue their Protections their bodyes shall not bee molested and their Lands are exempted what then shal they escape no their soules shall pay for it When the poore creditor comes to demand his owne they raile at him they send him loden away but with ill words not good money In the Countrey they set labourers on worke but they giue them no hire Tut they are Tenants vassalls must they therefore haue no pay Yet those very Land-lords will bate them nothing of their rents But the riches so hadde are not of Gods giuing but of the Deuills lending and hee will make them repay it a thousand fold in hell 2. Promises are due debts and must not be detained If the good man promise though to his owne hurt he changeth not Indeed now Promissis diues quilibet esse potest men are rich in promises but they are poore in performance More respect is had to commoditie then to honestie Men haue their euasions to disanull their promises either they aequiuocate or reserue or being vrged plead for getfullnesse But the truth is they haue sufficient memorie but not sufficient honestie It is said that a good name is the best riches Qua semet amissa postea nullus eris But what care they for a name so long as they saue their money Quid enim saluis infamia nummis A Pilate could say Quod scripsi scripsi What I haue written I haue written and shall not a Christian say Quod dixifaciam what I haue promised I will performe Hence it comes that there is so litle fayth in the world that scriueners haue so much worke that the prouerbe runns in euery bodies mouth Fast bind fast find that there is no hope of good deeds but Sealed and deliuered that there is more trust to mens seales then to their soules For the Law of God holds vs not so fast as the lawes of men There is more awe of iudgement in the common Pleas then of a sentence of condemnation in the Court of heauen The Sherife is altogether feared not God their is no dread of any Execution but his Is the wealth thus detained in your owne consciences Gods blessing deceiue not your owne soules God requires vs to be iust in all our words as righteous in all our wayes A Christians word should bee as currant as his coine Thus you see this first circumstance of Iniustice taxed Therefore Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to doe it 2. By putting forth base things for good The Prophet Amos speakes of some that sell the refuse of their wheat the basest wares neither doe they sell them for base but for good If halfe a score lies back'd with as many oathes will put off their vile commodities they shall not lye vpon their hands Not vpon their hands I say though vpon their consciences Plenius aequo Laudat venales qui vult extrudere merces Their rule for themselues is Vincat vtilitas for others Caueat emptor Either they will shew you one thing sell you another and this cosenage hath longer armes then all other trickes and ouer reaches them Or they will conceale the insufficiencie of the wares and for this cause they darken their shops lest the light should reueale their workes of darkenesse They loue darkenesse more then light let them take heed least it be vnto them according to their desires least as they haue brought hell into their shops so their shops send them into hell Or if the commoditie bee discerned bad you must haue that or none If your necessity forceth you to buy it shall force you to buy such base stuffe This is a grieuous sinne in all professions especially amongst Apothecaries because with their iniustice may be also mixed a spice of murder But you will say wee compell none to buy our commodities we but shew them and make the price But it is craft tendere plagas etsi agitaturus non sis to lay snares though you driue not men into them Or be it what it will yet rather then refuse your money they will protest to giue you the buying Yea rather then faile they will sell it you cheaper then before they swore it cost them Quis metus aut pudor est properantis auari What sell cheaper then they buy How should they then liue The answere is easie they liue by their lying Now doth this wealth come on Gods name is this the blessing of Heauen Which of your consciences dare thinke so Saint Augustine speakes of a certaine Iester that vndertooke to tell the people what they all did most desire Multitudes came to heare this to whose expectation he thus answered 〈◊〉 vultis emere chare vendere You would buy cheape and sell deare And this is euery mans desire that desires to bee rich more then to be iust 3. By making others bad with his goods and here we may fitly proceed to the condemnation of Bribery A gift blindeth the eyes of the wise They that see furthest into the Law and most clearly discerne the causes of iustice if they suffer the dusts of bribes to be thrown into their sight their eyes will water and
periudice But the poyson of the wicked dum alios inficit seipsos interficit Whilest it infects others kills themselues His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe Their owne wickednesse like poyson hath in themselues these three direfull effects It makes them Swell Swill Burst 1. It makes them swell with pride and blowes vp the heart as a bladder with a quill Quis est Dauid Who is Dauid and who is the Sonne of Iesse Yea Quis est Dominus Who is the Almightie that wee should serue him Thus the Spider a poysonous vermine Climes vp to the roofe of the kings pallace If he be in prosperitie nothing can hold him to a man Be hee but a Thistle he sends to the king of Lebanon for his daughter to be his Sonnes wife Though he be but a dwarfe in comparison he would swell to a son of Anak Sinne hath puff'd him vp he forgets his maker The Lord hath fed him to the full he rebells against him We haue then good cause to pray with our Church In the time of our wealth good Lord deliuer vs. 2. It makes them swill the poyson of sinne is such a burning heate within them that they must still bee drinking And the deuill their Physician holds them to a dyet-drinke they shall not haue the water of the Sanctuary that would coole them but the harsh harish ill-brewd drinke of damnation They shall tast nothing but sinne more poyson still Which is so farre from quenching their thirst that it enflames it Totis exquirit in agris Quas modo poscit aquas sitiens in corde venenum So a man puts out the Lampe by powring in more oyle and extinguisheth the fire by laying on fewel This may for a small time allay the heate as cold drinke to a burning feuer So Ahabs feruor was a litle delayed with a draught of wine out of Naboths vinyard But Satan holds his guests to one kind of lycour and that 's ranke poyson the mudde of sinne and wickednesse He allowes them no other watring place but this Puddle-wharfe 3. It makes them burst here be the three sore effects of sinne in the soule as of poyson in the body Frst it makes a man swell then it makes him drinke lastly it it bursts him Iudas is houen with couetousnes hee drinkes the money of treason and then he bursts Rumpuntur viscera Iudae he burst out This is the catastrophe of a wicked life Then when lust hath conceiued it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringethforth forth death To others You see how fatall the poyson of the wicked is to themselues It doth not onely rumperese but corrumpere alios burst themselues but corrupt others It depriues their owne good it depraues others good The hurt is doth to others consists in Correptione Corruptione in outward harming in inward defiling them Outwardly Their Poyson breakes forth in the iniuries of all about them They spare neither forreiner nor neighbour There be litle snakes in Babilon that bite only forreiners and not inhabitants Pliny writes of Scorpions in the hill Caria that when they sting onely wound the naturall borne people of the Countrey but extraneos leuiter mordere but bite strangers gently or not at all These like fooles not onely strike them that are nearest but betweene their poyson in ruinam omnium to the ouerthrow of all Such a one cannot sleepe except he haue done mischiefe nay hee dyes if others doe not dye by him Et si non aliqua nocuâ—…sset mortuus esset A mans Land cannot scape the poyson of the depopulator nor his estate the poyson of the vsurer nor his children the rauisher nor his peace the contender nor his name the slanderer If their poyson cannot preuaile ad interitum hominis they will spend it ad interitum nominis If they cannot murder they will murmure They are the Deuills bandogs as one calls Parsons the Popes Cerbâ—…rus If they cannot come to bite they will barke If their sting cannot reach their mouth shall sputter out their venime Yea some of them doe not onely this mischiefe whiles they liue but etiam mortui euen dead As Herod that caused the noble Sonnes of the Iewes to be slaine post mortem suam after his death They write of some serpents that their poyson can doe no hurt except it bee shot from the liue bodies of them but these leaue behind them a still euill-working poyson As wee say of a charitable man that hee doth good after hee is dead his almes maintaine many poore soules on earth when his soule is in heauen Et quamvis ipse sepultus alit So these wicked sinne perpetually euen dead The incloser of commons sinneth after he is dead euen so long as the poore are depriued of that benefite He that hath robbed the Church of a tenth so leaues it to his heire sinnes after he is dead euen so long as God is made to loose his right Moriente serpente moritur venenum but here moriente homine viuit peccatum As one sayd of a Lawyer that resoluing not to be forgotten hee made his will so full of intricate quirkes that his executors if for nothing else yet for very vexation of law might haue cause to remember him Ieroboams sinne of Idolatrie out liued him The vniust decrees of a partiall Iudge may out liue him euen so long as the adiudged inheritance remaines with the wrongfull possessor The decrees of diuerse Popes as in curtalling the Sacrament forbidding marriage c. are their still liuing sinnes though themselues be dead and rotten Inwardly Their poyson doth most hurt by Infection their companie is as dangerous as the plague a man cannot come neere them but hee shall bee contaminated Like the weed called Gosses they make the ground barren wheresoeuer they grow Their Poyson is got Per Contactum Contractum Compactum Conspectum 1. By touching he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled It is dangerous to sport and dally with them dum ludunt laedunt He casteth firebrands and arrowes and death and sayth Am I not in sport As Solomon sayth Their very mercies are cruell so their very iest is killing earnest 2. By companying with them they hurt by sporting but worse by sorting Cast in thy lot among vs let vs all haue one purse They that will quarter themselues with the wicked must drinke of their poyson If you aske how happes it that their infection is not smâ—…lt Bernard answers Vbi omnes sâ—…rdent vnius minimè sentitur one is not smelt where all stinke 3. By Confederacie which is yet a higher degree of receiuing their poyson The first was alight dallying with their humours the next a societie with them in some drunken riots and disorders but this third is a conspiracie with them in their pernicious and deadly plotts Thus a Seminary comes from Rome and whistles together a number of traytors he brought poison