Amen Soone after midnight shee sayd that shee had agreat conflict neither could wee conceiue what shee felt but soone after most comsortably He is come said she hee is come the Diuell is ouercome the world is ouercom and the slesh is ouercome Into thy hands ô father I cemmend my spirit and so fell asleep her eyes being shut and teeth set But breath being perceiued to be in her they stroue to reuiue her which was a great trouble vnto her Yet through the mercy of God shee obtained her olde comfort againe by many signes testifying her assurance to the end and departed vpon the Mun day-night quietly falling at it were into a sleepe And so shee is departed in peace and resteth in ioy with her beloued Sauior So then happy is she but woe is vs from whom she is departed we may iustly weepe and lament Her husband may lament from whom is departed a heauenly wise humble louing and obedient wife Her children may lament from whom is departed a mother by nature a mother by grace who as the Apostle laboured till Christ was formed in them The poore may lament from whom is departed a faithfull Patronesse full of good workes towards them Wee Ministers may lament from whom is departed a carefull hearer yea an helper in our labours Women may lament from whom is departed the ornament of women And al the neighbours round about may lament both men and women from whom is departed a great light a starre shining in a darke place following which wee may bee sure to see light Shee is departed but her memory diueth and shall liue for the memoriall of the iust shall be blessed Pro. 10.10 And let her memory liue in vs as long as we liue we treading in the same steps and being transformed into the same image of heauenlinesse wisdome loue and humility that when wee shall be infeebled and death shall approach we may also ioyfully dispose our selues heereunto and say Lord now lettest thou thy sevuint depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes haue seene thy saltiation Which the Lord grant vnto vs for his mercies take in lesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee all honour and glory now and for cuermore Awen The last words of that holy and learned father Ierom who died the 96 yeere of his age Anno Dommi 422. translated out of Latin and transferred hither as most a uaileable to stir vp true Piety and to mortifi worldly Vanity and to prepare to a comfortable departure WHen the time of his death was now come through a hot burning-Feuer he willed his sonnes to come together about him whom like young-plants hee had established from their youth vp-ward Whose mourning when his graue countenaÌ„ce beheld through piety and mercy being moued a little while hereat hee sighed in his Spirit and weeping lifting vp his eies he spake thus O my sonne Euse bius why dost thou shed those vnprofitable teares is it not a vaine thing to shed teares ouer the dead What man liuing is there that shall not see the dissolution of this mortall body Darest thou speake against that which the Lord hath once spoken and thou hast heard seeing thou knowest that no man can resist his will Now I beseech thee O sonne walke not according to the flesh cease to weepe surely the weapons of our warfare are not carnall Then with a merry countenance and chearefull voice hee said vnto the rest Let sadnes cease let mourning bee put away let there be one voice of ioy amongst you all for behold the acceptable time behold the day of iubilation and of gladnesse aboue all the daies of my life in which the faithfull Lord according to his word doth open his hand that he may call backe to the supernall Countrey recouered by the pretious death of his owne sonne my soule hitherto in banishment in the prison of this deth for the guilt of my forefather Alam O most dearely beloued sonnes doe not hinder my ioy doe not seeke to keepe from the earth that which helongeth vnto it For ye ought as the Ministers and houshold Seruants and friends of God to aspire after spirituall things that yee may be an example vnto others Why doe yee that are spirituall poure out those so many vnfruitrull teares Let the remembrance of sinne make you alwaies to weepe bee as ready to weepe as you haue beene to offend Weepe if any man dieth in sinne for if when a wicked man ari seth from death by repentance the Angels reioyc in heauen surely if any man that hath bin good dyeth in sin the Angels sorrow But bewaise not me as one dying but reioyce with mee as one touching the hauen of saluation What is weaker than the miseries of this life which is compassed bout with so many troupes of sorrowes and passions as that there is almost no houre wherein any liuing man whatsoeuer may passe free from sorrow If the rich man bee pressed on euery side with feare lest hee should loose that which he doth possess if the poore man be neuer it rest that hee may get â—iches if a good man doth on this side feare the daager of the Deaill and on that side lest the ship of this mortall body should suffer shipwracke in the sea of this world and no age or sex or condition doth passe free from sorrow as long as it remaineth in the misery of this life If ye know any thing in mee an hinderance to my iourney sorrow Alas how many of those that saile through this great spacious sea in which are so many diuers kindes of enemies wrestling togither according to the quantitie of ech ones strength after much happinesse in sayling after many victories thinking euen now to obtaine their wished for end haue come in this very houre into the snare of perditict by some diabelicall suggestion Alas how many doth both life and same here recommend ouer whom by the onely consenting vnto sinne cruell death and ruine hangeth Therefore whilst yee liue feare ô brethren the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom our life is a warfare vpon earth he that ouercommeth here shall be crowned else-where Whilst wee are coucred with this skin v. e haue no complete victorie If our forefather had feared he had neuer fallen Presumption of a mans selfe is the beginning of all euils and he that feareth not doth presume vpon himselfe How can any man laden with gold goe securely amongst theeues What other thing doth our Sautour teach vs but to feare when he saith Watch for yee know not at what houre the theefe will come S. Peter saith 1 Pet. 5. Be yee sober brethren and watch bicause your aduersarie the deuill goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom hee may deuoure No man dwelleth securely amongst serpents He which is more holy and more wise let him alwaies feare more for he which is higher if he falleth receiueth the greater fall
built vpon him and yee may carry your selues in all things as the ministers of God in much patience in tribulations in necessities in streights in scourges in prisons in labours in fastings in chastitie in long-suffering in the Holy Ghost and in loue vnfained in the word of truth and in the virtue of God Let there not be a lye told amongst you for euery lyer is abominable vnto God God is truth and lying is opposite to truth Flie euery idle word for of euery idle and vaine word wee must giue accompt vnto God Loue silence where there is much talking there cannot but be much lying The speech bewraieth what a man is Let no word come from your mouth which may not sauour of Christ alwaies meditate vpon Gods law Surely nothing hurts a man more then euill society for such is a man made as they are whose society hee vseth The Wolfe neuer dwells with the Lambe A chast man flies the society of the luxurious I thinke it impostible for a man to remaine long in good workes that vseth euill society euery day With the holy saith the Psalmist thou shalt be holy with the innocent thou shalt be innecent with the froward thou shalt learne frowardnesse For euen as euill company hurteth so good companie profiteth Nothing can be compared to this treasure hee that hath found good Companions hath found life flowes with riches And to speake truely very seldome is a man made either good or euill but by company The heart of a child is like vnto a table wherin nothing is at the first ingrauen therefore what hee receiueth from company he reteineth euen vnto old age whether it be good or bad Let youth keepe company with men of yeares and wisedome for if hee be linked to one like vnto himselfe by daily fellowshippe hee shall fall from folly to folly Aboue all things my sonnes sweare not neither by heauen not by earth nor by any other Oath Out of whose mouth Oathes are heard in him is little knowledge and loue of God If it be not true which I sweare I doe in effect denie God for God hath for bidden to take his name in vaine Be instant in continuall prayers Frequent and deuout prayer doth much auaile Prayer doth lift vp a man from earth to heauen and makes him to speake with God Hee obteineth grace of God if his Prayer be deuout and mixt with teares Hezechiah by his prayers and teares did presently obtaine grace of the Lord so that the sentence was changed which had bin denounced At the praiers of Elias the beauen gaue raine which had beene shut vp three yeares and six monethes If ye want any thing aske it of the Lord by prayer and weeping being no whit doubtfull for whosoeuer hath faith but so much as a graine of mustard seed whatsoeuer he shall aske shall be granted vnto him The same Lord that then was is now also rich in all things wherefore let God now be your hope your ioy your thinking and your desire For of him in him and through him are all things in whom we liue and moue and haue our being and without whom we are nothing And now ô my sonnes I shall not speake many things to you for the houre is come vnto which I was borne vpon this condition I came into the world that I might goe out againe The Lord spared not his owne son but made them to die vpon the Crosse for vs all by whose death our death is dead for none of vs liueth to himselfe but dieth whether wee liue we liue to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord therfore whether we liue or die we are the Lords and for this cause Christ is called the Lord of the liuing and of the dead For if Christ bee dead surely the seruant is not about his Master we must also die and if he be risen againe we haue also most sirme hope that we shall rise againe and if he bee risen to die no more neither shall we die any more after our resurrection but shall alway abide with him in glory When Christ died a man like vnto vs died that the body of sinne might be destroyed that we might be made one body together with him Wherefore my beloued sonnes although I now die I beleeue that my Redeemer liueth and that I shall rise vp out of the earth at the last day and shall bee couered againe with this skinne and in this my flesh I shall see him my Sauiour whom I my selfe shall see who now speake whom ye see now dying and not any other for me And these very eies whereby I now see you shall looke vpon him Wherefore reioice with me and sing cast away the garments of mourning and heauinesse praise the Lord sing a Psalme vnto his name giue glorie to his praise for hitherto I haue walked through fire water behold now he refresheth me I will enter into the house of the Lord that I may pay my vowes from day to day Oh how great a game it is to me to die Because Christ shall bee my life againe Behold the earthly house of this habitation is dissolued that another may succeede not made with hands eternall in the heauens Behold I put off this mortall cloathing that I may put on immortall Hitherto I haue bin in pilgrimage now I returne to my countrey Behold I now receiue the prize for which I ran in the race I touch the hauen which I haue desired with so great a desire Behold I am carried from darkenesse to light from dangers to safetie from pouertie to riches from battell to victorie from heauinesse to ioy from a temporall life to eternall and from a filthy stincke to a most sweete smell Here I am blinde there I am inlightened here I am wounded there I am healed here I am alwaies made heauie there I am made ioyfull liuing here I am dead there I am truely made aliue The life in this world is no life but death a deceitfull life a life loaden with sorrowes weake vmbraticall deceitfull Now thou flourishest by and by thou witherest it is a fraile a momentany a fading life Wherein looke how much thou growest so much thou decreasest when thou goest more forward thou drawest nearer to death O life full of snares how many men doest thou intangle in the world How many through thee doe indure the torments of hell How blessed is he that acknowledgeth thy deceits how much more blessed is he that careth not for thy flatteries and how most blessed is hee that is well rid of thee O sweete and pleasant death thou art truely no death that bestowest true life Thou puttest away feuers and wounds thou quenchest hunger and thirst O most just death good vnto the good and rough vnto the euill thou humblest the proud rich and mightie and exaltest the humble Thou openest the way to eternall punishment to the euill and to eternall reward to the iust
A PATTERNE For WOMEN Setting forth the most Christian life most comfortable death of Mrs LVCY late wife to the worshipfull Roger Thornton Esquire of Little Wratting in Suffolke Whereunto is annexed a most pithy and perswasiue discourse of that most learned holy Father IEROM being his last speech before his death which is able to rouze vp the most drowzy and dead in sinne And finally the last most heauenly prayer of the sayd IEROM a singular help for a poore soule wrestling with the pangs of death to addresse herselfe towards her SAVIOVR By I. M. Bachelour of Diuinity LONDON Printed by Edw. Griffin for Iohn Marriot and are to be sold at his shop in S. Dunstanes Church-yard in Fleet-street 1619. TO THE ETERNAL MEMORIE OF THAT MOST RENOWMED AND BEST DESERVING GENTLE-WOMAN LVCY LATE WIFE TO ROGER THORNTON ESQVIRE WHO DYED IN WRATTING PARVA IN SVFFOLK DECEMB 21. ANNO SALVTIS HVMANAE 1618 BVT EVER LIVETH WITH GOD. IOHN MAYER THE MOST VNWORTHY PASTOR OF THAT CHVRCH AS HIS LAST BOVNDEN DVTY TOWARDS HER HIS LOVING PATRONESSE CONSECRATETH THIS SLENDER PAPER MONVMENT TO THE WORSHIPFVL and singularly religious ROGER THORNTON Esquire my very good Friend and Patron and to the hopefull branches of his late cut-off Vine the comfortable fellowship of God the Holy GHOST IT is a saying Dies dolorē minuit Time lesseneth griefe which if it bee true I may seeme to misse of my marke by bringing again to remembrance your inestimable losse seeing to remember a grieuous accident is to rub euer a sore and to increase patne when time had well nigh worne it away But to set fourth the praises of the dead to arect monuments to their memory are I know not how though no subsidia mortuorum salues vnto the dead yet solamina viuorū by the practise of all ages comforts of friends suruiuing And not without cause seeing it is promised that the memory of the inst shall be blessed the name of the wicked shall rot Pro. 10-17 Wherefore in all ages men haue been carried as it were by a secret instinct thus to seek the continuance of the good memory of their deceased deare ones and so haue had some solace by the remaining shadow which they could not haue by the fading substance Thus laakob set vp a piller to his best beloued Rachel and Absalom being conscious to himselfe of his ill deserts Gen. 35.20 for which it was likely that his memory should not without a Monument set vp a noted piller in his life time to continue his name after death 2 Sam. 18.18 The Man solemn built by Artemisia to her decre husband deceased hath beene for the statclinesse one of the seuen wonders of the world And it is incredible to recoum what costly Pyramides Turkish Emperours haue built for the continuance of name And some haue doted so far not content to haue the memories of their friends thus continued as of excelient men and women they haue delighted in procuring diuine honours vnto them as vnto he and she gods But the witty scoffe of Agesilaus King of the Lacedemonians may well bee applied vnto such who when the Thraceans would needs put diuine honors upon him for his good deserts towards them sayd Deos vosipsos priùs facite rùm deisicandorum hominum potestatem vobis esse credam First make your selues gods and then I will beleeue that yeo haue power to make other men gods Wee are not of those Christians that doe thus robbing God of his honour honour the Saints of God departed or such as by excessine cost robbing the poore seeke to inrich the tombs of the dead As rom saith of the costly Churches and Monasteries built to the honour of Saints so may we iustly say heere Quis tam insipiens est vt non intelligat quod talia aedificia non cedunt ad Deigloriam sed ad mundi pompam Who is so foolish that he doth not vnderstand that such buildings tend not to the glory of God but to wordly pomp And againe Qualis potest esse iustitia munerare mortuos spoliare viuos What righteousnesse can this be to honour the dead and to spoyle the liuing we print and paint carue and graue enely for their iust commendation that we may remember that as their memory liueth vpon earth amongst men so their soulos liue alwayes amongst Angells in heauen and that hauing them still as patternes before our eyes we may be whetted on to an imitation of their vertues who haue so happily runne their race finisht their course and already receiued the crowne of righteousnesse This Worthy whom I heere describe deserued more cost then I haue or was able to bestow and I confesse that her excellency compared with the simplicity of this rapsody or hastened labour of mine hath hither to deterred me from making it publique But now because I see it is expected and I might otherwise bee blamed at many hands for neglect of so great good deserts I haue aduentured it forth and if I haue not so fully displayed her colours as I might the fault was in your too great secresie through which her singular pious and charitable acts done by her in so great closenes were hidden from my knowledge so that I could not insert them And because it is for her memory that I have done this I haue diuided it deuoting to her as is most proper the dedication and to you the consolation Wherfore take that which is yours and whereof yee haue inst cause hauing a wife a mother already so highly aduanced in heauen of who I may without flattery to my knowledge Pro. 31.29 vse the words of Lemuels mother Many daughters haue done vertuously but thou furmountest them all It is not if it bee duly considered your losse and but her gaine though I confesse it a great losse to vs all for with the losse gaine redounds vnto vs. Whilst shee liucd wee could haue onely the comfort of one in the iourney with vs now she is dead we may haue the comfort of one our iourney-fellow safely come to the end of the way And this is a double comfort the one for that one of our neere fellow-members is gone from miserie to glory the other for that in her wee haue beene more confirmed who saw her ioyfull end so many as walke after him For wee ought to reioyce with those that reioyce and it was the ancient enstome of the Church of God and now is to giue God thankes for the happy departure of good Christians in regard of their breaking the ice before vs to the confirming of our hope when wee shall follow after Vnto this monument for the further garnishing I haue added a discourse of another Saint dying long agoe which deserueth to be engrauen in marble with a pen of iron And this I haue done to supply my wants through defect of memory in setting downe her speeches and prayers For looke what is heere spoken in exhorting in
you because yee desire these temporall ioyes yee shall suffer though most nilling the paines of hell Behold ye haue but a litle time remaining fill vp the measure of your wickednesse that all the wrath of God may come vpon you Enioy this short time in sports drunkennesse and dancings and wantonnesse let not your time bee spent without these Why delay you whilst yee liue gather for your children riches honors preferments increase your nobilitie and name that your children also may fulfill that which ye haue done that yee may altogither suffer the greater tortures in hell But some man will say the Lord is good and mercifull and receiueth in mercy euery sinner that commeth vnto him This is true indeede I confesse the Lord is better than he is thought to be he spareth as is meet euery one that commeth vnto him Is he not a most kinde God that tolerateth so great iniuries done vnto him by sinners giuing them space to amend But thou must know this that as he is kinde in forbearing so he is iust in punishing But some man perchance will say again he which hath done euill all his life becomming penitent at the very point of death obteineth pardon of the Lord. O how false an opinion and how false a meditation is this Scarce one of a hundreth thousand whose life hath bin alwaies ill hath found this fauour at the Lords hands A man begotten and altogither nourished vp in sinne which hath neither seene nor knowne God neither hath bin willing to heare of him neither taketh notice of his sins nor what repentance is being altogither bound vp in secular businesses whom the strait of forsaking his sonnes presseth whom weaknes paineth whom the sorrow of riches and temporall goods now about to be lost shaketh when he seeth that he cannot enioy them any longer can such a man make repentance acceptable vnto God who would not repent if he did thinke that he could be healed I may verily conclude truly that he which doth not feare to offend God whilst he is young and sound shall not be found worthy in death of the Lords pardon What repentance is that which a man receiueth only because he seeth that he can liue no longer who if he should recouer from his sicknesse againe would become worse than he was before I know no meane monyed men who hauing repented them in their extremide haue waxed well againe in bodie and worse in life I hold this I thinke this to be true and haue learned it by manifold experience that he atteineth no good end that hath alway led an ill life which hath not seared to sin but hath alwaies liued in the vanities of the world Pretious saith he in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and most accursed the death of the wicked And therefore my beloued sonnes gird your selues with power be ye mighty sonnes and feare not the slender power of the rich mighty here in the doing of righteousnesse For he that suffereth for righteousnesse is blessed and if he suffereth death he is more blessed If thou desirest to haue life through Christ feare not death for Christ for thou canst not indure those things for Christ which are worthy of the glory to come which shall bee reuealed when our glory which is from aboue shall appeare Let him not looke for a reward that doth not labour the name of a Christian alone doth not suffice but if thou beest a Christian imitate Christ Hee hath in vaine the name of a Christian who followeth the Deuill He is no Christian but an Antichrist according to that of Iohn Ye haue heard that Antichrist commeth now there be many Antichrists Wilt thou therefore reigne with Christ then suffer with Christ If Christ the Lord and King who hath a name aboue all names ought to suffer that he might enter into his glory what hope hast thou to enter without paines O how foolish are we and slow of heart to beleeue We will here passe our time in pleasure with the world and afterwards reigne with Christ Seeing the master entred naked shall the seruant expect to enter being laden with the superfluitie of apparell of gold and pearles He was full of fastings this man of surfets and ryotings he died vpon the crosse for him this man sleepeth vpon a delicate bed Shall seruants do that which the Lord doth not The Lord promiseth his kingdome to the sonnes of Zebedee if they could drinke the cup that he should drinke Be yee wise come hither and heare me and I will tell you the things which I haue heard and knowne It is good to cleaue to the Lord and to walke as he hath walked Euen as Christ hath laid downe his life for vs so we if need be ought to lay downe our life for the truth which is God himselfe He that loueth his life in this world shall loose it Christ hath suffered for vs leauing vnto vs an example that we should follow his steps Let him not thinke himself a Christian which doth not finde himselfe ready to die for Christ Let the minister of Christ follow Christ Answer me ô thou man which art a Christian onely in name and in word dost thou hold and preach the faith of Christ this is a good thing but where be thy workes faith without workes is dead Let mee tell thee truly thou which praisest Christ with thy word and not with thy worke doest indeed denie who if thou didst beleeue his sayings thou wouldst at the least be afraid and blush to commit sinne And if thou dost beleeue and dost euill thou art to be punished an hundreth fold more Is not the sin which is done out of malice infinitely worse than that which is done out of ignorance The Angell sinned and the man sinned the one could finde pardon the other not For what cause the Angell sinned out of malice man sinned out of the Deuils suggestion Where vpon say I thou doubtlesse canst haue none excuse if thou saist that thou sinnest by the Deuils suggestion euen as he did because thy suggestion is not like vnto his He knew not yet what the Deuils suggestion meant neither how greatly sinne would displease but thou knowest well and beleeuest as thou saist and yet cōmittest so many thousand fins And what shall I conclude they that are such Christians beleeue him in word and lye vnto him with their tongue but their heart is not right with him neither haue they faith in his testament If any man loueth Christ if any man be a true Christian specially a Priest in whom as it were in a glasse perfection doth shine he must deny himselfe that he may be altogither dead vnto the world because that vnlesse a graine of corne falling vpon the earth dieth it remaineth alone He wandreth in the way that hastens to goe by riches and delights It is a signe of manifest damnation to follow the pleasures of this world and to
as new born Bibes yea shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen A new borne Babe seeing a faire woman is not delighted beholding gorgeous apparell he doth not desire it Being hurt he dwelleth not in anger he doth not remember nor hate therefore he followeth his father and doth not forsake his mother And therefore let no man thinke that he shall attaine the kingdome of heauen vnlesse he be a follower of this innocencie viz of chastitie contempt of the world of loue and patience following Christ and resting in the bosome of the church his mother Put off most beloued the old man and put on the armour of God that yee may stand against the treacheries of the Deuill Let your weapons wherewith ye fight be chasâ—itie patience humilitie and charitie for these are weapons against the subtleties of the Deuill wherewith if yee be armed yee shall gird your loynes with fortitude and strengthen your arme and when yee shall be in the battaile yee shall laugh your house shall truly be founded vpon a sure rocke which is Christ Luxurie is the sword of the Deuill as how many doth he slay with that sword and there is no sin whereby the Deuill doth so often ouercome For as chastitie doth equall a man vnto the Angels so luxurie doth make a man like to the brute beasts yea to speake truly it makes him worse than a beast We doe not read of any other sin that God said that he repented that hee made man for it The workes of luxurie are these it weakneth the body and doth alwaies as it were destroy a man by death it brands the good name it emptieth the purse it sets a worke to steale it causeth murther it dulls the memory it takes away the heart it blindes the eyes of either man and prouokes the wrath of God aboue other sinnes It springeth from gluttonie as from a roote and for no other sin hath God exercised so manifest iudgement as for that without all mercy For this sinne God brought the flood vpon the world he burnt Sodom and Gomorrah and slew many other men This is the net of the Deuill if any man be taken herein he is not soone let loose againe In this so grieuous a battaile no men can ouercome vnlesse hee flies none can firmely indure vnlesse he times the flesh He that vseth wine carries fire in his bosome Be not drunken with wine saith the A postle where in is luxury This brunt is not borne but by abstinence and fasting Wine hurteth but the countenance of a woman an hundreth fold more A beautifull woman is the deuils dart whereby a man is soone drawne into luxurie Let no man liuing be confident in this if thou beest a Saint yet thou art not secure Can a man hide fire in his bosome and his garments not burne or walke vpon coales and his feete not burne A man a woman togither are fire and towe and the Deuil neuer ceaseth blowing to kindle it Many most holy men haue fallen by this vice for their securitie therefore feare ô my sonaes and if in other sinnes much more in this But to speake truly a new kind of fornication is committed by many of the spiritualty now a dayes Alas what shall I say men doe not now blush but glory in doing euill There is some kinde of bashfulnesse tho but a litle in women but in men this euill hath so increased that he is counted a foole that is not expert in these things What should I say more This is their holy day keeping this is their preaching for this come they to the Church that they may see faire women and that they may talke with them that the desire of filthinesse may the more increase thereby But ô wretched man why dost thou glory in this euill Thou sinnest an hundreth times more than the woman Shee is weake and thou thinkest thy self strong shee sitteth at home and thou wandring abroad seekesta thousand waics to intangle hir and sometime compellest hir by force and when thou dost these things because God holds his peace thou thinkest that hee is like vnto thee But the time will come wherein he will reproue thee and set thy sinnes before thy face Wherefore ô my sonnes be yee wise as serpents innocent as doues fight manfully against the old serpent O loue one another I haue receiued this not of man but of my Sauiour who saith This is my commandement that yee loue one another As out of one root many branches do spring so out of charitie spring all vertues If I speake with the tongues of men and angels and haue not loue I am nothing saith the Apostle He that hath loue is benigne and patient He hath true loue which doth not only loue the nearest vnto him by kindred and in the flesh as the heathen doe but which loueth his enemy euen as his friend By this one thing a man may know that he abideth in loue if he loueth him that is against him There are very many that loue but they loue amisse for in louing man they oftentimes loose the loue of God They which loue any thing more than God are not worthy of God In all vertues temperance is required vertue must alwaies keepe a meane To loue too much or too litle is euill All loue that hurteth is to be anoyded Through too much loue some haue fallen into fil thinesse through too litle some haue fallen into enuie Ouer-much loue would alwaies see the thing which it loueth This loue is ignorant of iustice and truth it wants reason it knowes no measure neither can it thinke any thing but that which it loueth It is impossible that a man which hath such loue should offer acceptable prayers vnto God or please God This loue is not charitie but folly We ought to loue all our brethren as our selues but yet so as that we loue not their vices It is loue to punish sinne it is iust to loue more the better man Men are so to be loued that goodnesse may be exalted and vice disgraced He that is without true loue is without God because God is loue and loue is God He that dwelleth in loue hath already begun to dwell in heauen Where there is true loue there is no enuie no ambition no backbiting no murmuring or mocking but one and the same will Therefore I beseech you whilsi yee haue time that ye receiue not the grace of God in vaine In this short time of our life let vs sow and so we shall reape in due time The dayes of man are short our life is cut off as a weauers threed death commeth as a theefe and euery mans workes follow him Whilst ye haue light walke not in darknes he that walketh in darknesse knoweth not whither be goeth Your light is Christ which doth shine in darknesse come there fore vnto him the liuing stone reiected indeede or men but chosen of God that yee as liuing stones may be