greater fire will breede Here siluer streames shall quench thy boyling heat And hony dewes thy hungrie stomacke fill Heere sweete Repose with Comfort shall intreate Thy wounded breast to cure with busy skill Hence fetch thy ransome howsoeuer great A mine of treasures are in this faire hill From whose hye top thy scaled eies may see A glorious light that shall enlighten thee The streames are bloud the dew is bread froÌ„ heaueÌ„ The Rest and Comfort are coelestiall ioyes The ransome from the crosse was freely giuen The light is faith which darknes all destroyes THrise happy man that guides his steps so euen As his pure light no gloomy darke annoyes His ransom'd soule aeternall ioyes shall win When timelye death shall blessed life begin H. C. A MOST SVVEET Comfort for an afflicted Conscience It is thus written Prouerbâ— 18.14 The Spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmitie But a wounded Spirite who can beare it THis Scripture is not onely worthy to be grauen in steele with the penne of an Adamant and to bee written in letters of golde but also to be laide vp registred by the finger of God his spirit in the tables of our hearts Which sentence briefly speaketh thus much vnto vs that what trouble befalleth a man his minde being vnappalled hee will indifferentlie beare it out but if the spirit of a man be once troubled and dismaâ—ed hee cannot tell how to be deliuered And no maruell for if the minde of man be the fountaine of consolation which ministreth comfort vnto him in all other troubles if that become comfortlesse what shall comfort it If it be voyde of helpe when shall it bee helped If the eye which is the light of the bodie be darkenesse how great is that darkenesse If the salt which â—auoreth all thinges be vnsauorie for what is it good If the minde which sustaineth all troubles be troubled how intollerable is that trouble To shew this the better I wil first declare howe greate a punishment of God this wounde of conscience is Secondly I will teach how this trouble of minde may be preuented and auoyded Lastly I will set downe how Gods children faling in some measure into this affliction of â—pirite may bee recouered out of it For the first the grieuousnesse of this malladie is seene eyther by some due consideration of the persons that haue felt it or by some wise comparison made betweene this griefe of minde and other outward griefes incident vnto a man The persons in whome we may consider this wounde of spirit are eyther meerely naturall men or such as bee renued by the spirit of God The men meerely naturall are either the Heathen such as neuer knew God in Christ or carnall professors such as haue not professed Christianitie aright If wee looke among the Hearhen how many of them haue willingly gone vnder pouertie and haue beene content to vnburden themselues of all worldly treasures How haue some of them whilest their mindes were vnappalled suffered imprisonment exile and extreame tortures of bodie rather than they would betray their Countries Howe many of them haue deuoured many iniuries and borne outwarde troubles with some ease and with no resistance whilest their mindes were at libertie And yet looke not into the meanest but the best and most excellent men among them euen their wise Philosophers sweete Orators and exquisite Poets who in bearing and forbearing thought the chiefest pointe of vertue to consist and yee shall see when once some great distresse of minde did wounde them some would make an ende of it by preparing a Cup of deadly poyson some would violentlye and voluntarily runne on the enemies pikes some woulde throwe downe themselues from hie Mountaines some woulde not sticke to stabbe most monstrously their owne bodies with Daggers or such like instruments of death all which men would seeme to haue great courage in sustaining many harmes so long as their mindes were not ouermastred But when their diuine and supreame Essence which they accknowledged to be God did by his power crosse ouerturne their witty deuises and headstrong attempts so as without hope of remedie they were hampered in pensiuenes and sorrow of minde then not being able to turne themselues vnder so heauie a burthen they shrunke downe and by violent death would ridde themselues of that disquietnes impatience of their troubled minds But let vs come neerer and whether wee behold the Papists or the familie of loue or the common sort of Christians wee shall see they will passe quietly through many afflictions whether for that they haue a spirite of slumbering and numbnes cast vppon them or whether because they haue brawned themselues through some sencelesse blockishnes as men hewen out of hard Oaks or grauen out of marble stones I know not But yet when the lord shal let loose the corde of their consciences and shall set before their faces their sinnes committed see what fearefull endes they haue whilest some of them by hanging themselues some by casting themselues into the water some by cutting their own throats haue rid themselues out of these intollerable griefes Now wherein is the difference that some die so sencelesly and some dispatch themselues so violently Surely the one feeling no sinne depart like brutish swine the other surcharged with sinne die like barking Dogs But let vs come to the children of God who haue in some degree felt this wounde of minde and it will appeare both in the members and in the heade of all burthens to bee a thing most intollerable to sustaine a wounded conscience And to beginne with let vs set in the first ranke Iob that man of God commended vnto vs by the holy Ghost for a myrrour of patience who although for his riches hee was the welthiest man in the land of Huz for his authoritie might haue made afraid a great multitude and for his substance was the greatest of all the men in the East Yet when the Shabeans came violently and tooke away his cattell when the fier of God falling from heauen burnt vp his sheepe and his seruants when the Caldeans had taken away his Camels when a greate winde smote downe his house vppon his children although indeede hee rent his garmentes which was not so much for impatience as to shewe that he was not senceles in these euils Yet it is saide that hee worshipping blessed the name of the Lorde saying Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither The Lorde giueth and the Lorde taketh away blessed be the name of the Lorde But beholde when at the strange conference of his comfortlesse friendes his minde beganne to be agast which was not so in all his former tryall when his conscience began to be troubled when he sawe the Lord fasten in him sharpe arrowes and to set him vp as a Butte to shoote at when hee thought God caused him to possesse the sinnes of his youth this glorious patterne of patience coulde not beare his
griefe he was heauye and nowe may commende the Image of a wounded spirite to all that come after Dauid a man chosen according to the Lordes owne heart Ezekiah a pure worshipper of God and carefull restorer of true Religion Ieremiah the Prophet of the Lorde sanctified and ordained to that Office before hee was formed in his mothers wombe were rare and singular in the graces and fauour of God yet when they felt this wounde pearcing them with griefe of heart they were as Sparrowes mourning as Cranes chattering as as pellicans casting out fearefull cries they thought themselues as in the graue they wished to haue dwelt solitary they were as bottels parched in the smoke they were as Doues mourning not able without sighes and grones to vtter their wordes their hearts cloue to the dust and their tongues to the roofe of their mouthes But aboue all if these were not not sufficient to perswade vs in this doctrine there remaineth one example whome we affirme to be the perfect anatomie of an afflicted minde This is the Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ the Image of the father the heade of the bodie the myrrour of all graces the wisedome righteousnes holines and redemption of all the Saints who sustained the Crosse euen from his youth vpward and besides pouertie basenes hunger did willingly goe vnder the greate trouble of contempt and reproch and that among them where he should haue had a right deserued honour in respect of the doctrine he taught them and in regard of the manifolde myracles be wrought among them as the healing of the sicke the giuing sight to the blind the restoring of life to the dead This vnkindnes neuertheles did not so much strike into him But at what time hee was set as a Sacrifice for al wheÌ„ he was to beare our infirmities carry our sorrowes at what time hee was plagued smitten of God humbled wounded for our transgressions when hee should be broken for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was vpon him then he cried out My soule is heauie euen vnto the death Then he prayeth Lord if it he possible let this Cup passe from mee But howe praieth hee euen with sweating how sweateth hee euen droppes of blood how long praieth hee Three times when endes his agonie not vntill he was dead What said hee beeing readie to depart My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Was this for his humane death as some haue imagined No no wicked men haue died withthout complaint whose patience then might seeme to exceede his it was his suffering in his humane Spirite which incountred with the wrath of God his Godhead suppressing it selfe for a while he suffered indeede many tormentes in bodie but much more heuily did the wrath of God lie vpon his soule If this consideration of an afflicted spirit in these examples doe not sufficiently shew what a grieuous thing it is to sustaine a wounded conscience Let vs proceede to the comparing of this with other euils which fal into the nature of man There is no sicknes but Phisicke prouideth for it a remedy there is no fore but Chirurgery wil afford it a salue Friendship helpeth pouertie There is noe imprisonment but there is hope of libertie Suite and fauour recouer a man from banishment Authoritie and time weare away reproch But what Phisicke cureth what Chirurgerie salueth what riches ransometh what countenance beareth out what authoritie asswageth what fauour relieueth a troubled Conscience All these banded together in league though they would conspire a confederacy cannot help this one distresse of a troubled minde And yet this one comfort of a quiet minde doth wonderfully cure and comfortably asswage al other griefes whatsoeuer For if our assistance were as an host of armed soldiers If our frinds where the Princes and the Gouernours of the earth If our possessions were as large as betweene the East and the west If our meate were as Manna from heauen If our apparrell were as costly as the Ephod of Aaron If euery day were as glorious as the day of Christs resurrection yet if our mindes bee appalled with the iudgements of God these thinges would little comfort vs. Let experience speake If a troubled minde impareth not health drieth not vp the blood wasteth not the marrowe pineth not away the flesh consumeth not the bones if it maketh not all pleasures painfull and shortneth not the life surely no wisdome can councell it no counsell can aduise it no aduise can aswage it no asswagement can cure it no eloquence can perswade it no power can ouercome it no Scepter wil affray it nor inchaunter can charme it And yet on the contrary if a man languish in sicknes so his hart be whole and is perswaded of the health of his soule his sicknes doth not grieue him If a man bee reproched so he be pâ—ecious in the sight of God and his Angels what losse hath hee If a man be banished and yet doubteth not that heauen is his Country and that hee is a Citizen among the Saints it doth not appall him If a man be in trouble and findeth peace of conscience hee will quietly digest his trouble But if the minde be troubled who dareth meete with the wrath of the Lorde of Hoasts who can put to silence the voice of desperation who will step out and make agreement with the hells to spare vs who dare make a couenant with the Diuell that hee woulde not lay claime vnto vs If then a good Conscience helpeth all euills and all other benefits in this life in themselues cannot help a troubled coÌ„science we se it true in proofe which here is in prouerbe The spirit of a man will susteine his infirmitie But a wounded Spirit Who can beare it Againe in all other afflictions we may haue some comfort against sinne this is euer accompanied with the accusation of sinne A man may be sicke reproched impouerished imprisoned and banished and yet in all these haue a cleare conscience his owne heart telling him that there is noe speciall cause of these crosses in him but that he may suffer them for the triall of his faith or for righteousnes sake and well doing But when the spirit is wounded there is stil a guiltines of sin and when a mans spirit is troubled he suspecteth all his waies he feareth al his sins he knowes not what sinne to begin with it breeds such hurly burlyes in him that when it is day he wisheth for night when itis night he would haue it day his meat doth not norish him his dreames are fearefull to him his sleepe oftimes forsaketh him If he speaketh he is little eased if he keepeth silence hee boileth in disquietnes of heart the light doth not coÌ„fort him the darkenes doth terify him To prosecute our comparisons where al other euils are the more tolerable because they be temporal pursue vs but to death this not being cured endeth not in death
pleasures such as could not away to be sad and hedged vp alwaies of godly sorrow haue had their tables made snares and euen their excesse of pleasures hath brought excesse of sorrowes and whilest they laboured to put the euill day farre from them they haue vsed such follies as haue beene the most bitter and speedie hang-men of their fearefull and trembling consciences There be some of another sort who neuer dreaming of a troubled minde haue had their harts set on nothing but howe they might get some greate fame and renowme and therefore haue slipt into such vaine glorious attempts and foule flatteries as they haue not only lost the peace of their Consciences but also fallen most deepely into reprochfull shame which they sought to shunne Now as the peace of conscience and ioye of minde is such a treasure as the eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard nor the tongue expressed but passeth all vnderstanding So the wounded spirit is such as the eye hath not seene it the eare hath not heard it nor the tongue vttered but passeth all vnderstanding And as they onely knowe what the peace of minde meaneth that feele it so they alone can in trueth speake of a troubled minde that haue tasted of it by experience Bet let vs shew what way is to be vsed to keepe vs from this wounde of the Spirit It is the vse of Phisicke as to cure vs of diseases when wee are falne into them so to preserue vs from sicknes before it hath taken holde of vs it is the power of the worde as to asswage the trouble of Conscience when it doth once presse vs so to preuent it before it hath ouertaken vs. It is a chiefe point of worldly wisdome not to tarry for the vse of Phisicke vntill we bee deadly sicke but to be acquainted with GODS mercifull preseruations to defend vs from it likewise it is a chiefe pollicie of a godly Christian not onely to seeke comfort when the agonie is vpon him but also to vse all good helpes to meetâ— with it before it comes And wee condemne them of folly who will not as well laboure to keepe themselues out of debt as to pay the debt when they owe it so it is a madnes not to bee as circumspect to auoide all occasions which maye bringe trouble of minde vppon vs as wee woulde bee prouident to enter euery good waye which may drawe vs out of this trouble when we haue once entred into it The remedies preseruatiue are first the searching of our sinnes then the examining of our faith The serching of our sinnes is either the due acknowledging of our sinnes or the true sense and feeling of our sinnes The acknowledging of our sinnes is eyther of those that bee past whether wee haue vnfeinedly repented vs of them or of those which bee present whether wee be truelye greeued for them Thirdly of those secret corruptions which in the course of our life are likely to come whether wee are reuerently afraide of them and resolue to suppresse them with all our indeuour Concerning sinnes past we must call to minde the sinnes done of old in our youth in our middle age in our olde age that we iudging our selues may not be iudged of the Lorde that accusing of our selues Sathan haue noe occasion to accuse vs and throwing downe our selues before the Lord he may lift vs vp For many going quietly awaie and sleeping in carnall securitie not withstand-the sinnes of their youth and neglecting to make conscience of their sinnes done long agoe sodainely haue falne into such horrour oâ— minde that the violent remembrance of all their sinnes surcharging them they haue beene ouerwhelmed This Examination dooth then rightly proceede when it is reacheth to the errors of this life to the sinnes of our youth because many men euen from their childhood by a ciuill righteous life hauing escaped grose sinnes wherewith the world could neuer charge them haue notwithstanding caried the burthen of their secret sinnes done in their youth Dauid Psal. 25.7 prayeth the Lord not to remember the sinnes of his youth Iob 23.6 the man of God confesseth that the Lord writinge bitter things against him made him to possesse the iniquities of his youth What shall we thinke that Dauid or Iob were giuen to notorious wickednes in their youth No they knew they were subiect to youthfull wantonnes and vnstaiednes of their affections which though it did not burst out yet it made them lesse carefull to glorifie GOD which loosenes the way to leaudnes which weaknes the waie to strange vanities which wantonnesse the way to open wickednes is euen in the best of Gods Children in the daies of their youth which being afterwards in the time of their regeneration brought as it were to iudgement and laide before their consciences doth cause them to repent But here is a thing to be blushed at which maketh mens eares to tingle when they heare it that many men farre noe doubt from this true repentance can largely indeed discourse of the things done in their youth but in such a brauerie with such boastings and pleasing of themselues in the remembrance of them as besides that they prouoke others to sinne in the like and set themselues a flatte Backe-byas against Repentance and this Christian examination they seeme to renewe the decayed colours of their olde sinnes with the fresh suite of their second pleasures therein But alas what pleasure haue they in those things whereof they haue noe profit what profit haue they those thinges whereof they shoulde bee ashamed Nether in this streine can wee forget the madnes of them who may seeme to steppe one degree farther towardes this examination of sinne than did the former by thinking that the leauing of sinne and repenting of sinne is all one Against these both daily experience and the word of God doth sufficiently declame Iosepâ—s brethren Iacob his sonnes who deuised euill against their brother put him into the pit and solde him vnto strangers did cease from this crueltie but yet they are not read to haue remembered their sins with any remorce vntill thirteene yeares after the sinne was committed as wee may see in the processe of the Historie Dauid had left his sinnes of murther and adulterie as thinking all quiet and well the space of a whole yeare after which time being admonished by the Prophet Nathan he repented of it And experience hath tried in many that haue had some working of God in them that though they left their sinnes many yeares agoe yet because they repented not truely for them they haue rebounded vp on them with terrible sights feafull visions to humble them and to bring them to serious examination of them being done and left long since Examples whereof wee neede not fetch from farre seeing so many preachers as are acquainted with fearefull spirits will giue witnes hereof The fruite of which amazed mindes for sins alreadie left is ours to beware
tempered speech of the Apostle to the sorcerer Repent that if it be possible thy sinne may be forgiuen thee Where hee doth not wholly discourage him because it may bee his sinne may be pardoned neither yet too boldly incourage him in that without repentance he sheweth it altogether impossible to be pardoned And that we be not too preposterous in our consolations let vs bee warned by the blasphemous speech of that detestable Arian who of late yeares was put to death at Norwich This hellish heretique a little before he should be executed afforded a fewe whorish teares asking whether hee might bee saued in Christ or no When one tolde him that if he truely repented he should surely not perish he brake out most monstrously into this speech Nay is your Christ so easily to be intreated indeede as you say Then I defie him and care not for him Oh how good a thing had it beene not to haue cast this precious stone to this swine Oh how safe had it beene to haue dealt more bitterlie and to haue dwelt more vehementlie on the conscience of this caytife Now to attaine some discretion in curing this wounded spirite wee must learne wisely to iudge both of the person afflicted and of the nature of his affliction First we may note whether it be a man or a woman because we may vrge more fearfully the vse of the law to a man as beeing the stronger vessell And as Sathan knewe the woman to be most easie and frameable to be wrought vpon at his first temptation so is hee not ignorant that shee is the weaker partye to sustaine any temptation nowe Then let vs consider whether they that are thus humbled haue knowledge or no Because if they haue no knowledge they thinke trouble of minde to be so strange a thing as neuer anie before had it if they haue knowledge then Sathan is readie to accuse them of the sinne against the holy Ghost as though euery sinne done against knowledge were a sinne of presumption Further we are to enquire howe strong or weake they are that if they be sorely stricken we cease to humble thē any further if they be not sufficiently wounded then to touch thē with some deeper sense of sin Also we must be circumspect to finde out whether by nature they are more fearful melancholy or no As also whether they be vsuall sinners or haue falne once of infirmity that so vpon their disposition inclinatiō we may builde our speeches the better To these it is good to adde the consideration of the persons age estate ability as if the party be troubled for worldlines whether he be not a great housholder if he complaine of vncleannes whether he be not a yoong man vnmaried if he be hūbled with couetousnes whether he be not old because diuers countries callings ages conditions estates of men haue their diuers peculiar sinnes which we must rightly discerne Howbeit of what sex soeuer they are men or women of what complexion soeuer the are of what knowledge to discerne sin of what degree of commiting sinne of what age authority wealth estate or condition soeuer they are it is good to marke that there be many who are more troubled for the vexation and disquietnes of their minde beeing distempered then for the vilenes and horriblenes of their sinne committed who are wounded more with the feare of shame with the feare of beeing mad or with the feare of running out of their wittes than with the conscience of sinne Which thing if we find in them it is our part to trauell with them that they make a lesse matter of the outward shame more conscience of the inward sinne Neyther must we here forget to make a distinctiō between our speeches vsed to the hūbled in the very time of their extream agony burning a gue of their trobles those speches which we vse to them the fit beeing past because the one and former requireth more consolation and lesse exhortation the other and latter would haue vs more aboundant in admonishing and more sparing in comforting when we may wisely admonish them to beware of sinne which so procured their owne woe In this breathing time it is also expedient to exhort them that for some season vntill they shall finde greater power of regeneration they would tye themselues to some holy orders and godly vowes whereby they may either be furthered in mortifying some speciall sinne which for that they coulde finde no power against it did most grieue them or strengthened in some special grace the want wherof did also wound them But before we launch deeper into this sea of particular tentations and beginne to founde the dangerous passages of naturall corruption and originall sinne the troublesome froath whereof doth almost ouerwhelme many poore pilgrims it shall be good to giue this caution that both in these and in the former troubles men woulde be still againe admonished patiently to beare with a wounded spirit albeit it fall out so that they be somewhat pettish seeing the holy Ghost speaketh so fauourably of them saying A wounded Spirit who can beare And surely our practise in other thinges by the lawe of equitie may vrge this at our handes For if men by the light of reason can see it to bee a duetie conuenient not furiously to controle but meekely to suffer and wisely to put vp the vnaduised speeches of a man distempered in braine by reason of some burning ague or such like violent and vehement sicknes we may easily gather euen by the same rule of reason not so seuerely to censure the impatient speeches of him who by reason of some parching Feuer of the spirit is disquieted in all partes of his minde and hath all the veynes of his heart as it were in a spirituall agony vexed Wherfore both vnsauory for want of godly wisedome and vncharitable for want of Christian loue are their murmuring obtrectations which say what Is this the godly man Is this hee that is so troubled for his sinnes Why see how pettish he is nothing can please him no bodie can satisfie him Consider O man if thou canst beare with a fraile body that thou must much more beare with a fraile minde Consider O man that this his pettishnes doth more wound him to the heart than any iniury thou couldest presse him with And therefore seeing he afflicteth his owne soule for it thou needest not adde any thing to his affliction and to exasperate his grieuous smart Consider that it is a blessed thing mercifully to bethinke vs of the estate of the needy and that to rub a fresh wound to streine a bleeding sore is nothing else but with Iobs friends to bring a new torment wher there is no need of it If the wise father doth rather pittie than rebuke his childe when by reason of sicknes the appetite is not easily pleased euen so if we purpose to doe any good with an afflicted minde
but becommeth eternall For euen the heathen men thought that death was the end of all misery the perswasion whereof made them beeing in some misery to make an ende of themselues and hasten their owne death as Sathan doth make many now a daies to doe who are ignorant of the hell which is a place of farre greater paines than any they can suffer in this worlde whatsoeuer Howebeit a tormented conscience if before it was begun is now continued or if it was not before now beginneth and neuer endeth world without ende For though true it is that sicknes pouerty imprisonmeÌ„t or banishmeÌ„t haue ended their term in death yet a wouÌ„ded hart which was teÌ„poral in this life is nowe eternall after this life that which before death was in hope recouerable is after death made vncurable vnrecouerable It is good therefore to consider if euen in this life the torment of conscience be so fearefull how much more grieuous it is to susteine it in hell where that is infinite which here is finit where that is vnmesurable which here is mesurable where is the sea of sorow wherof this is but a drop where is the flame of that fire wherof this is lesse then a sparke But to shut vp this argument Some there haue beene who through out all their life time haue been free from all other troubles so as either they felt them not at all or else in very small measure and by that meanes neuer knewe what outward trouble meant As for example some men there haue beene who for sicknesse neuer knewe there headeach for pouertie neuer knewe what want meant who for discredite were neuer euill spoken of who euer put farre from them the euill daye of the Lorde who made a league with death as it were a couenant with hell who thought they could crucifie euery crosse rather thaÌ„ come vnderany crosse yet they could neuer escape a wounded conscience either in this life or in the life to come True it is that Gods Children by faith repentance do often escape it but the wicked and such as are borne vnto it as to their sure inheritance the more they flie from it the more it pursueth them If we haue transgressed the Ciuil Lawes the Iudge by bribes may be corrupted if a man haue committed some capitall offence by flying his Country he may escape the Magistrates handes but our consciences telling vs that we haue sinned against God what bribe shall we offer or whether shall wee flie whether shall wee goe from his spirit or whether shall we goe from his presence If we ascend into heauen is not he there If wee lie downe in hell is hee not there If we flie to the vtmost parts of the sea is he not there also There needeth no apparitor to summon vs there needes no Bayly arraunt to fetch vs there needes noe accuser to giue in against vs sinne will arrest vs and lieth at the Doore our owne Conscience will impannell a Quest against vs our owne heartes will giue in sufficient Euidence and our owne iniquitie will plead vs to be guiltie to our owne faces Thus we se both by the experience of theÌ„ that haue suffered the wound of the spirit and by the comparinge of it with other euils what a waight most grieuous and burden intollerable it is to haue a tormented conscience Now let vs shew how we may preuent by what meanes Gods children falling into some degrees of it for if it rage in extremity it is an euill vnrecouerable may safely and quietly be deliuered from it And here a iust complaint is to be taken vp it is a wonder to be marked if we may wonder at Gods works that we se many so carefull watchfull to auoide oâ—her troubles and so few or none take any paines to escape the trouble of minde which is so grieuous We se men louing health and loathing sicknes in diet temperat in sleepe moderate in Phisicke expert skilful to purge to auoide such corrupt humors which in time may breed though presently they do not bring forth some daÌ„gerous sicknes yet to auoid the diseases of the soule no man abateth his sleep no man abridgeth his diet no man prepareth Phisicke for it no man knoweth when to be ful and when to be emptie how to want and how to abound Others carried away with the loue of riches very â—ly to fall into pouerty will not sticke to rise early to take sleep lately to fare hardly to teare taw their flesh in labour by land by water in faire foule wether by rocks and by sands from farre and from neare and yet to fall into Spirituall decaies to auoid the pouertie of conscience no man taketh such paines as though saluation and peace of minde were not a thing worthy the labouring for Some ambitiously hunting after honor not easily digesting reproaches behaue themselues neither sluggishly nor sleepely but are actiue in euery attempt by loue by counsell by prudence prowesse by wit by practise by labor learning by cuÌ„ning diligence to become famous to shun a ciuill reproach yet to bee glorious in the sight of God and his Angelles to fall before the heauens and in the presence of the Almightie to bee couered with shame and confusion of Conscience we make none account as they who neyther vse any means to obtaine the one nor auoide those occasions which may bring the other Others vnwilling to come within the reach and daunger of the Lawe that they may escape imprisonment of bodye or confiscation of goodes will be painefull in penall statutes skilfull in euery branch of the ciuill law and especially wil labour to keepe themselues from treasons murthers fellonies and such like offences deseruing the punishment of death yet wheÌ„ the Lord God threatneth the seazure both of soule and body the attaching of our spirits the confiscating of our consciences the banishing of vs from heauen the hanging of vs in hell the suspending of our saluation the adiudging of vs to condemnation for the breach of his CoÌ„maundements no man searcheth his eternall Lawe noe man careth for the Gospell neither the sentence of euerlasting diuorsement from the Lord neither the couenant of reconciliation is esteemed of vs. And to reach our Complaint one degree father Behold the more we seek outward pleasures and to auoide the inward trouble of minde the more we hast and runne into it suddainely plunge our selues in a wonded spirite ere we be aware VVho posteth more to become rich who hopeth lesse to be come poore than the marchant man who aduentureth great treasures who hazardeth his goods who putteth in ieoperdie his life and yet sodenly he either rusheth vpon the rocke of hardnesse of heart or else is swallowed vp of the gulph of a desparing minde from which afterwards he cannot be deliuered with a ship ful of golde Woful profe hath confirmed how some men wholly set on