nethermost hell to the highest heavēs The crie of our sins reacheth the heavens and euen there worketh our woe by turning them this yeare into brasse to make the land barren and the next yeere dissoluing them into teares and showers dropping downe for fatnesse death and dearth Quicquid id est timeo whatsoeuer it is I feare our rebellions against God will make a commotion of all his Creatures against vs both great and small Elements and all never so much distempered as of late yeeres that a man would thinke but that God hath promised That Summer and Winter and the seasons shall uot cease so long as the earth remaineth the very foundations of the earth to be out of course and which is more and worse then all I haue said the armie of our sinnes may bring vpon vs an host of men from a far country of a fierce countenance to tyrannize ouer vs as it fell out oftē with the Iewes as may be obserued in all the course of the scriptures still as they sinned God raised vp euer anon one forraigne power or other to chastise them till at lēgth the whole armie of their sins ioyned in one that is to say come to the height of all impietie called frō a far country an other armie euen the fierce Romanes who brought vpon them a final desolation And haue we no reason to feare the Romanists hauing so many of them alreadie in our bosomes swarming in all places of the land neuer more bold cōfidēt then at this day As I said before so I say againe quicquid id est timeo I say no more And so much out of my loue and loyaltie to God my Prince and countrey as a watchman and by vertue of my calling I may be bold to say for Res est solliciti plena timoris amor Loue is full of fearefulnes Nor is it least in obseruance though last in succession which fell out in the Northerne parts of this kingdome in Aprill last and in the parish where I dwell and haue my pasteral charge witnes fiue hundreth more besides my selfe who beheld with astonishment that fearefull spectacle To wit a dead childe base borne of lewd parents hauing foure leggs and foure armes all out of the bulke of one bodie with fingers and toes proportionable which bodie had two bellies and two nauels forward with one plaine backe without seame or diuision it had but one head and that of a reasonable proportion with two faces the one looking forward and the other backward either face had two eyes two eares a nose a mouth perfect nor was there in the seueral members thereof any blemish or disproportion saue in the moulding the sexe was female and the mother was deliuered but halfe an houre before this strange birth of a perfect womā childe which was baptized at our Church and yet liueth To presage what may follow I cannot neithere dare I lest I seeme disasterous onely let it tax our mishapen liues so farre degenerate from the simplicitie of the old world wherein both virginall and coniugall chastitie were prized with honour where now with many it is almost dishonourable to be honest Iudah with Thamar left his claoke to verifie his lust but Ioseph with Potiphers wife lost his cloke to vilifie his lust Many Iudaes fewe Iosephs in these adulterous daies wherein men doe rather solace themselues then sorrow for that sinne of which I may say Lex Iulia dormis Nay Lex Iehoua dormis O thou law of God why sleepest thou The many legges and armes may tax our vntollerable pride and auerise reaching heere and treading there yea in robbing well nere all Gods creatures to fil the belly cloath the backe with costly and garish sutes madding the minde and making bodies monstrous might Iacob and Rahel rise out of their graues to behold their children that tread vpon them they could not but deeme them of a monstrous birth Two mouthes taking in two bellies casting out taxe our insatiable desire of belly cheere drunkennes exoticall sins and neuer but of late a staine to this English Nation In philtris philistinorū Sampson fell Et Ebrietas decepit quē Sodoma non decepit Wine made him sinfull whom Sodome could not deceiue Lastly two faces may taxe the world of palpable hypocrisie diuellish deceit damned equiuocation First in vs Protestants whiles we say we beleeue and yet do not liue the life of the Gospel we professe wherein we doe but Sophisticate with the Lord equivocate with his Saints for what auayleth it a tōgue to speake well with a mentall reseruation to do euill Next it may seeme to taxe the damnable doctrine of our Romish equiuocators who are double faced to deface all truth and to destroy all commerse both with God and man whiles they say Dafallere da Iustum sanctumque videri Lord giue me to deceiue and yet that I may seeme a Saint Pyrrus Vlisses as you may read in Sophocles being sent to Lemno◠to take from Philoctetes Hercules his arrowes The two Legats aduised by what meanes they might best wrest them out of his hands Vlisses affirmed it was best to doe it by lying and deceit Pyrrus answered no I like not of that because I neuer vsed it but alwaies loued the truth as my father and Ancestors haue euer done Wherunto Vlisses replyed y e when he was a yoūg man he was of that mind but now being old he had learned by long experience dearely bought that the surest way best art in mans life is Fallere mentiri Many of this age are of Vlisses minde especially the Iesuited crue of damned equiuocators but true borne Israelites are of Pyrrus spirit great is the truth preuayleth is the sweete poesie of their profession both in themselues friēds families yea they resolue vpon the doctrine of their maister Christ that the truth shal make them free As also Quod non patitur ludum fama fides occulus that eyes honours and othes will not be ie sted withall But to proceed yet further and make vse of the prodigie it is respectiue how when the Prince was dead this birth was borne It was in the Autum of the yeare when Prince Henry that sweet blossome was blasted with the dampe of our sinnes and so as with this faire flower fell all the flowers of the field leaues of trees and Roses in our garden they would not flourish while Henry was a falling but fel with him Woe vnto vs that euer we sinned so faire a Prince so pious and so puisāt to fal in a day was such a stroke as shooke the Cedars with the shrubs and might yet well beseeme our sacke cloth and ashes but this base birth was borne in the spring following to tax vs as with the growth of our monstrous sinnes so to teach vs withall that sithence the faire feature of a Prince so well fashioned in his life was so soone forgotten
the fiery furnance Lazarus from the graue and Christ from his crosse yea and all his Elect from death and doome when they shall meete him in the cloudes and be caught vp to raigne with him for euermore with palmes in their hands in signe of victorie and crownes vpon their heads in signe of glory Lastly and not the least to our comfort read and you shall find how oftentimes and for the most part the Lord doth answere vs according to that we should aske and not according to that we doe aske as he did Iacob who sought a leader to Haram and God shewed him a ladder to heauen And Saul who sought his fathers asses found a kingdome the Maries sought Christ dead but they found him risen And that Saint at Sychar sought but puddle water at Iacobs well but she found went away with the water of life Surely the rule is true vberior gracia quam precatio Gods grace is more abounding then either we can desire or deserue the theefe vpon the crosse craued but a memento when Christ should come into his kingdome and he had a promise euen that day of a perpetuitie in paradise To iustifie that I haue said Vberior gracia quam precatio and therefore pray with good hope to be heard be your prayers neuer so many powerfull or piercing yet shall ye find his grace wil be euermore abouÌ„ding brimfull and flowing ouer I may not be long and therefore passe to the last part of the text which is the reward crowne and diadem of our prayer bossed with many blessings from the Lord more precious then the Carbuncle Topas or Chrisolite And seldome haue you heard or read of a powerfull prayer from an holy heart without remuneration froÌ„ the Lord for as you here see inuocation is crowned with saluation It shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued who euer prayed and found not the Lord propitious who euer made intreatie vnto his God and had not a blessing returned into his bosome It is said of Augustus Caesar that neuer suter departed from him disconteÌ„ted that Titus Suetonius thought the day lost wherein he did not good to some A milder more mercifull Sauiour is here then all the Caesars clapt in one euen our good God called Deus a dando God in creating but good in giuing for who hath gone from him discontented who hath trusted in him and beene deceiued Come vnto me all ye that trauell and be heauie loaden I will ease you it is his gracious call Be of good comfort my little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome it is his glorious crowne Aske ye shall haue seeke ye shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you it is his irreuocable promise at which the gates of heauen fly open and against which the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile only wrastle with God for a blessing till you haue wearied both God and your selues The aduertisement is good from the prophet Ye that are mindfull of the Lord keepe not silence and giue him no rest till he haue repaired your ruines and set vp Ierusalem the ioy of the world But what may be the different blessings we receiue from God by our prayer and wherunto the Lord hath tyed himselfe by promise for the performance not for our merit but for his mercies sake Surely they are many and they are Remarkable if you please to rancke them thus First by the sufferage of prayer all the creatures of God are sanctified to our vse so saith the blessed Apostle Euery creature of God is good and nothing â—ought to be refused if it be receiued with thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer Stamped with the word of God vpon the one side and with the perfume of prayer vpon the other then is it a Shikel for the sanctuarie Our meate our drinke our corne our cattell our clothes and lodging our wiues children and families our labours in our vocations our King and kingdome our Church and Common-wealth nay our liues and deaths must be sanctified with our prayer otherwise though the creatures be good in themselues yet are we profane in the vsage And therefore our Sauiour when he had performed all to his death and passion yet shutteth it vp with this powerfull prayer Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne As and if he should haue said I haue prayed I haue preached I haue wached I haue fasted I haue cured malladies and saued soules I haue giuen life and forgiuen sinnes I haue done my fathers busines on earth now let me be glorified in heauen I pray for that which is past that it may be sanctified and I pray for that which is to come that it may be glorified Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne c. Ierom in his booke de laudibus Bethlem doth much commend the Christian carriage of that place and people in the vsage of Gods gifts and creatures euen from the Prince in his Pallace to the Plowman in the field Of whom he saith Arator ad Stiuam semper aliquid cantat dauidieum The Plowman with his stilt in his hand doth still folace his soule with some psalme of Dauid And surely God speed the plowe were no bad prayer when the labourer taketh the stilt in his hand but I feare it is done of fewe And if all our manuall trades were sanctified first and last euery day with prayer and prayses for a blessing they could not but prosper much better There is much pouertie in y e world and it is no maruell for that men worke not yea but many worke and yet are neuer the richer that 's possible too for that men pray not they spend their thrift in drinking when they should bestow their time in praying the creature is not sanctified with the word of God and prayer In the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy Ghost is neither fond begninng nor foolish ending of all thy labours blessed worke so begun blessed worke so done so it be said of conscience and not of course without hypocrisie in the heart or superstition in the thought surely such perfume is like the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed its sweet as balme and therefore breake it its fragrant as Myrrhe and therfore vse it euer dropping from the binges of thy heart lippes and hands A second blessing that commeth by prayer is the forgiuenes of sins for by the sufferage of prayer sinnes are pardoned couered concealed As may appeare by Moses his intreatie with God for the people either to forgiue the trespasse Israel had committed or else to rase him out of the booke of life he had his prayer and the people were both spared and pardoned Blood and prayer shall reconcile God and the people for as the text saith the priest shall
to the Altar softer then the heart of Ieroboam The heard harted Iewes then and we now stand by the crosse of Christ as Ieroboam did by the Altar at Bethel we are sadned in our sinnes and senseles of the sorrowes of our Sauiour the earth stones graues are more passionate then we they tremble breake and open at the death of Christ our flintie harts are shut from all compassion and we are a people of no bowels and because we relent not euen now the teares of the clowdes are in their eyes and they drop downe shewres of raigne in greater abundance then vsuall hath beene seene as more passionate then we either for the sins of our soules or death of our Sauiour When I am lifted vp an high saith Christ then will I drawe all men after me and not men onely but earth Stones and graues shall open vnto me woe is my heart we are heauier then earth harder then Rockes more silēt then the graues we speake not we pray not we praise not we stirre not at the death of our Redeemer he is lifted vp higher then euer he was euen from the crosse of shame to the crowne of glorie and we are pulled downe to all shame and Ignonimy with the weight of our sinnes heauier then a tallent of leade If any man say shewe vs his sufferings and we will greeue with him and for him I answere Dominus in monte verbum in alto Christ is vpon the mountaine of his holines his word is exalted here and elsewhere in the land for what doe we preach other then Christ Iesus and him crucified And doth it drawe all men after it The vaile of this Temple these stones in the pillars this holie ground and dead graues shall stand vp in iudgement one day against this people that they haue beene more prest to heare passionate to feele of the preaching piercing and sufferings of Iesus Christ then the men of this generation for we haue piped vnto you out of the Gospell and ye haue not danced we haue mourned vnto you out of the Law and ye haue not lamented But when wisdome is iustified of her children then shall ye finde it no wisedome but extreme madnes and folly to haue haunted the Tauernes followed your pleasures prophaned the Sabaoths sold Christ at a lower rate then euer Iudas did not for thirtie pence but for a penny shot a goodly price whereat he is valued and euen then alas when Christ is in preaching and agonizing ouer the cuppe of bitter affliction Nay the Queene of the South shall stand vp in that great day so shall the men of Niniuie and the one shall condemne vs in that they repented more speedily and the other that she came more readily to heare the wisdome of Salomon then euer yet we did to heare the wisdome of Christ The vse is good of all I haue said to strike a Selah with our soules in caution of our former future sinning procuring prodigies signes and wonders at Christ his death and our redemption for if one sin of Achan endangered all the campe and if one sinne of Dauid plagued all Israel what maruell then if when all the sinnes of all the world lay so heauily vpon our Christ and pressed him downe to death there was a commotion of all the creatures of God to see and behold so dolorous a spectacle as when the sonne of God gaue his sacred soule a sacrifice for our sinnes who had no shelter but in the graue for that opened to giue him passage when the vaile of the Temple rent and denied him sanctuarie And now spare we a while to passe from these prodigies at Christ his birth and death to the wonders were wrought sithence euen downe to our disasterous daies whereby we may gather the neare approach of Christ his second comming to iudgment The thought wherof so frighted Iob in his frailtie that he wished the graue might be his couer till the griefe thereof was past I might tell of that great day and it was the Lords day when hee mightily declared himselfe to be the sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead and what maruell then if vpon the approach of so glorious a presence Sheal was shaken graues were opened and dead bodies did rise with him and appeared vnto many in the holy citie to the great wonder of all the world And I might tell of that great day and it was the Lords day when at that high feast of penticost the holy Ghost appeared in a visible signe and was powred downe from God and fell vpon his Apostles in so great abundance what maruell I say if vpon the approach of so powerfull a spirit and presence sounds from heauen filled their eares like the rushing of a mightie wind fiery clouen tungs filled their eyes and mouths to speake magnalia dei to all nations vnder heauen I say what meruell if feare with an astonishmēt filled their eyes eares and hearts when the Lord was about a worke of so great wonder I leaue these holy wonders to the leaues of holy writ wherein you are daily exercised and by your holy patience I will follow the streame of some such signes as sithence haue fallē out shewing a presence in God prepared to punish without passion in man to preuent the danger by speedie repentance Memorable is the destruction of Ierusalem by Tytus and Vespatian 40. yeares after Christ his painefull passion who prophecied of their ruine because they repented not nor did or would know the day of their visitation she would acknowledge no presence of the Lord in mercy and therefore must feele the presence of her God in iudgement yet not without prodigies signes and wonders as harbingers of his wrath whereof Iosephus writeth much and more then I can now stand to relate being preuented with time but reade his booke de bello Iudaico and there ye shall find how first a blasing Starre was seene in the ayre like vnto a sword hanging ouer the Citie for more then a whole yeare together threatning nothing lesse then fire and desolation for their bloodie sinnes the blood of the Prophets and of that Iust one crying vengeance to God in heauen against that bloodie Citie 2. Againe at the feast of vnleavened bread in a great assemblie of people and at nine of the clocke in the night a bright light was seene in the Temple shining and so continued for the space of halfe an houre In token that because they had quenched the holie lamps and put out the light of the world therefore the glorie of that house should be of no continuance 3. Thirdly at the same feast and in the day time when the High Priest was offering an Heyfer for the Sacrifice she brought foorth a Lambe in the midst of the Temple In signe that though they thought they had killed that Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world and that Moses should still haue
make an attonement for him and it shall be forgiuen him Father forgiue them for they wot not what they do It was Christ his prayer vpon the tree and he preuayled And Demitte nobis debita nostra is our dayly prayer and who doubteth of indulgeÌ„ce Sathan winnowed Christ prayed and Peters faith failed not Nay that I may shut vp this assurance and close with your religious eares and hearts who heare me this day This man saith Paul because he indureth euer hath an eternall priesthood wherefore he is also able perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Marke I pray you how grace aboundeth in our Christ a man of our mould and miserie ergo mercifull to saue A God of might and maiestie ergo able to saue yet not with shadowes and Iterations like Aaron which argued his imperfection but once sacrificed for all which made him an absolute Sauiour And all this without limitation either of time place time or person to all such as goe to God by him Thirdly as by the power of prayer the euill of sinning is taken away and forgiuen so likewise the euill of punishment is often pardoned and quite forgotten When Abimelech had taken from Abraham his wife and so endangered his state life and kingdome God by night warned him of the wickednes by a dreame and said Behold thou art but dead because of the womaÌ„ which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife now then deliuer the man his wife againe for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee that thou maist liue and if thou deliuer her not againe be sure that thou shalt die the death thou and all that thou hast You see the sinne you see the danger and withall you see the meanes of deliuerance from both Euen Abrahams prayer powerfull with God to stay the stroake of death from the king and barronnes from euery wombe of the house of Abimalech When Sodome for her sinning was to feele the Iudgement of God punishing Lot prayed that he might shift to Zoar O let me escape thither is it not a little one and my soule shall liue to whom God answered Behold I haue receiued thy request also concerning this thing that I will not ouerthrow this citie for which thou hast spoken hast thee saue thee therefore for I can doe nothing till thou come thither Where marke I pray you how prayer openeth the fountaine of grace and beateth backe the ocean of Gods iudgements it mouldeth him to be mercifull euen to Sodome till Lot be safe in Zoar for so he saith I can doe nothing till thou come thither thy prayer hath manacled my hands I cannot strike till thou be gone hast thee saue thee escape thy life feare and fire are a falling see thou saint not either in thy powerfull prayer or speedie passage Corath Datham and Abiram with a rout of Rebels moe stand vp against Moses Aaron saying Ye haâ—e killed the people of the Lord God sawe the sinne and hastned on the iudgment when he said vnto Moses get you vp from among this congregation for I will consume them quickely Then as the text saith they fell vpon their faces And Moses said vnto Aaron Take the censor put in fire of the Altar cast on Incense and goe quickely to the congregation and make an attonement for them for there is wrath gon out from the Lord the plague is begun Then Aaron tooke as Moses commanded him and ran into the midst of the congregation and behold the plague was begun but when he stood betweene the dead and them that were aliue the plague was staid O blessed Incense blessed praier blessed station O blessed deuotion so readily running to repaire the ruines of a dying decaying people where fourteene thousand and seuen hundred died besides them that died in the conspiracie of Chora yet as you may there see by the sufferage of prayer the rest were saued and the plague was stayed Elephas as it is in Iob vrged much the power of prayer to deliuer from punishment when he said to Iob call now if any will answere thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne As and if he should say to aggrauate his griefe the more O Iob of all thy miseries this is not the least that neither thy God will answere thee nor the Saints will pray for thee whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed if there be no passage for prayer in the day of thine affliction whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed Let Paul conclude for all to make good the power of prayer in this particular of putting off the punishment of sinne with deliuerance from danger when he pressed the people to pray for him 1. That he might be deliuered from the disobedient in Iudea 2. That his seruice in the church might be accepted of the Saints 3. That hee might alwaies come to them with ioy 4. And that he together with them might be refreshed with the shewer of all heauenly comforts A needfull prayer my deare brethren from you to God for vs who are your Pastors that we may feed you without perill that our seruice may be accepted that our presence may be with ioy And that drops of grace distilling from aboue may daily refresh our more then dying and decaying plants And here I might seasonably presse with Pauls perill Peters deliuerance out of prison by the prayers of the Saints Who when he was in durance and imprisoned by Herod the king earnest prayer was made of the church vnto God for him and preuailed for euen there as you may read the praiers of the Church ouerturned the counsell of tyrants obtained the presence of Angels brake the prison vnlosed the chaines put Sathan to flight and preserued the Church yea and Peter too when by the prayer of men and conduct of an Angell he passed away without peril and was deliuered out of the hand of Herod and from all waiting for of the people of the Iewes Fourthly and lastly as prayer is the arrowe of our deliuerancâ— â—oth from the euill of sinning and the euill of punishing so is it piercing in procuring all good things for vs from the hands of God For by it the barren wombe is made batsome as in Sarah Annah the Shunamit and in Elizabeth of all which it fel out as it did with Zacharie when the Angell said feare not Zacharie for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall beare thee a sonne c. By it the enemie is conquered as in Moses against Amalecke of whom it is said plus fecit oratio mosis orando quam Iosue pugnando Moses prayer was more piercing then Iosuas pike In Samuel against the Philistimes In Iehosophat against Moab and Ammon In Iudeth against Holefernes And in Dauid against that Gyon of Gath wheÌ„ he said what
in his death the Lord would tempt vs with a prodigious birth for so vnualuable a losse nor is it strange a sinfull people should be so threatned because it is vsuall with God to punish our pleasures by contrarie passions as he did the daughters of Sion when in steed of sweet sauour hee threatned a stinke and in steed â—f a girdle a rent in steed of brothered haire baldnes in steed of a stomacher a girding of sacke and sunburning for beautie why not England in steed of a Royal religious issue whereof we are vnworthie with a monsterous birth and mishapen broode of that whore of Babel whose Romish faith and faction the Lord he knoweth doth daily breed euen in the bowels of the kingdom wherin there are but to many doublefaced double harted and double handed fawning stil vpon vs and yet threatning our destruction both with eie heart and hand could they but gaine the opportunitie I speake not this to dismay any but to charge vs of vnthankefulnes for yet we are blessed with the hopefull issue of moe Princes and with many drops of much royall blood and by the grace of God this strong gable of so many cords wil neuer be broken if our sinnes burst it not yet with this caution that we repaire the ruines of this our late losse with speedie repentance and pray withall that God would establish the remaine of our religious hope for his sonnes sake and Syons safetie O but he hath left a desolate court I answere as Ambrose did of Theodotius Non sunt destituti quos pietatis sua reliquit haeredes they are not forsaken or left desolate whom he hath left heires and successors of his princely vertues Religion puissance pietie and clemencie the brightnes whereof will shine to Gods glory and Englands honour so long as Chronicles can speake and bookes be opened I might here obserue as many moe haue done what presages fell out vpon the fall of this faire flower and peerelesse Prince how the two glorious creatures of God both Sunne and Monne were troubled the Sunne scarce seene of twentie daies before his death the Moone opposed with a mightie Rainbowe in the dead and and darkenes of the night bended ouer that house of mourning where he died I might tell how the ayre earth and clouds seemed to be sensible of his fall and to condole his death whiles strange windes storms and tempests with continually shewers raignes and floods Many darke daies Clouds and foggie mists were vpon vs to warne vs of our woe as formerly hath beene obserued of Theodotius and Queene Elizabeth before their deaths Nor can I passe without passion what fell out in the sommer before Prince Henry died at Chattam Where and when a swarme of Bees knit vpon the maine mast of that Royall ship he had made for Englands defence tellng vs that ere long Angels foode from heauen more sweet then Hony or the hony Combe should fill the soule of this Saint to glory and Immortalie yea and swarmes of Gods holy Angels should come downe to fetch him from the maine mast of this earthly kingdome aboue the heauen of heauens there to raigne with God and his Christ for euer A blessed Bee dedeliuered from the sting of sinne and death to the endlesse glorie of life and immortalitie neuer to sin or die any more Nay more then all I haue yet said to make good that there is not an euill in the Citie which the Lord will not reuale to some of his Prophets that Prophet who preached in the morning of his sicknes pointed from aboue at the period of his life when he vttered that text and truth Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and is full of miserie It was powerfull in the preacher and passionate in the Prince to bring him to the thoughts of his mortalitie And so my deare brethren to conclude and make vse of all these fearefull signes and prodigies let all these together strike out an allarum to praier and repentance yea and to godly sorrow neuer to be repented of by the sweet perfume and priuiledge whereof soules are saued and bodies deliuered from threatned dangers And not bodies onely that is to say particular persons but states and kingdomes are preserued from all malice of the creatures be they neuer so implacable Are there monstrous and vntimely birthes pray to be regenerate and borne a new not of mortall seede but immortall by the word of God that liueth and endureth for euer Are there fearefull thunderclaps making thy wild heart to shake like the wildernes of Cades stand in awe and sinne not common with thine owne heart in thy chamber and be still say withall it is thou Lord onely that makest me dwell in safetie Are the Sonne and Moone eclipsed deficient in their light darke and bloodie The foole chaungeth like the Moone So saith Siracides and thou art changeable ô Christian when by the motion of Gods spirit thou begins to be religious and by and by falles to be sacriligious Sacriligium creatori committitur dum imbecillitas ascribitur creaturae And therefore it s not the Moone that laboureth for her light but it s thou that labourest in thy sinnes it s thou that chaungest like the Moone O if I might say we fooles chaunge like the Moone for shee shortly returnes to her fulnes we fooles linger our conuersation Illa velociter colligit quod amiserat lumen tu nec tarde fidem recipis quam negasti The Moone doth speedily gaine againe her light that she hath lost we fooles doe hardly in any time recouer the faith we haue denied What should I say more Luna defectum luminis patitur tu salutis The Moone suffereth but the losse of her light thou of thy saluation Grauior ergo tua quam lunae mutatio More dangerous therefore by much is the eclipse of thy soule than is the eclipse either of Sunne or Moone But it may be some man will say doth neither Sunne nor Moone labour in the eclipse doubtles they doe and that continually For we cannot denie but they labour with other creatures as the Apostle saith and grone with vs also trauelling in paine together vnto this present desiring the day of their deliuerance out of the vanitie of corruption wherein they are Leaue off therefore to looke vpon the defects of those glorious lights vnles thou looke vpon the staines and blemishes of thy wicked life For how is it possible for the drunkard in his wine the wanton in his lust or the couetous man in his wealth to looke vpon the Moone and see the things that are in heauen when he knoweth not rightly how to vse or discerne of things that are on earth Are there new Stars vncoth and vnknowne Doe they blaze in the heauens and moue thee to wonder what may be the effect Say with the Sages and then art thou wise vidimus stellam eius in oriente