to attende vpon his pleasure and to waite on his will he would haue vs not in part but wholy to giue them vnto him and without the hart he will receiue and take in good part at our hands and lips nothing But we on the otherside giue nothing lesse to God then our harts What is it that cannot and may not command our harts and haue them at pleasure sooner then Christ Iesus that with the death of his owne hart gaue life to our bodies and soules If the worlde do but a little smile vpon vs and giue vs but an alluring looke and a faire though a false word we will by and by follow it and bestow vpon it all our attendance If the diuell himselfe can make vs beléeue that we shall either haue profite or pleasure by doing his wil our harts mindes wils and all are readier for him then for Iesus Christ O matchles yea monstrous madnes they that séeke our destruction can sooner with a pleasant looke then Christ with the giuing of his life for vs haue vs at commandement Christ would haue vs to mortifie our earthly members as fornication vncleannes inordinate affections euill concupiscence and couetousnes which is idolatrie But who doth not nourish pamper and cherish all these The Lord woulde haue our conuersation in heauen but we are altogither earthly and carnally minded The Lord would haue our féete to stand within the gates of Ierusalem but we loue rather to be trampling the stréetes of Egypt Babylon and Sodom The holie ghost would haue vs to fight a good fight to finish our course after the will of God and to kéepe the faith not onely in words but also in life and déedes Indéed we are apt and ready to fight for worldly promotion honor dignitie reuenues and riches but for heauen and heauenly things we will neuer striue take no paines nor once trouble our selues we will haue i◠with ease and all maner of pleasure or else not at all farewell it The courses we take héere in this life are very bad and the end vnlesse we repent is like to be woorst of all And whiles we haue no care to kéepe good consciences it is vnpossible for vs to kéepe faith Let stande before vs Christ and sathan the one pointing vs to heauen and eternall felicitie but the way to it ful of troubles gréefes and sorrowes the other pointing to hell but the way to it ful of delicates pleasures and daintie delights and let God call and the diuell call and I speake it with gréefe of hart the diuell is like to haue the greater number to follow him for those short pleasures and Christ but a fewe to follow him bicause they must go loden with crosses Daily experience doth teach vs no lesse when all our actions are carnall haue onely but a little outward shew and no taste at all of true godlines nor so much as any rellish of the spirit and loue of Christ Some will abstaine from the committing of many grosse sins now and then and yet not that I feare greatly in any true and sincere loue to God but either for feare of shame and punishment in this worlde or else feare of vengeance in the world to come which both are vnprofitable for the Lord hath no pleasure in forced seruice he will haue it voluntarie with the hart and procéeding of loue not of a seruile feare otherwise it shall be numbred with the rest of our sinnes This doth greatly condemne vs that though we do not such things our selues yet we can without trouble of conscience gréefe of hart or vexation of minde sée and heare the Lords name blasphemed his saboth vnhalowed idolatrie committed parents dishonored whooredome theft murder and couetousnes commonly vsed and all the lawes of God vtterly contemned and it shall neuer offend the greatest number so much as a thorne in a foote or a blaine vpon a finger What other thing is this but to forsake God in the plaine field and to be afeard to serue him in truth and sinceritie least we should thereby purchase mans displeasure Vnlesse therefore we learne to serue him better in more truth with greater zeale and singlenes of hart we haue nothing else to looke for but that he will forsake vs both in this worlde leauing vs destitute of his assistance that our enimies may pray vpon vs and also in the world to come in giuing out against vs his malediction curse wo and sentence of death The Lord make vs new creatures and giue an vnfained loue of himselfe déepe roote in our harts drawing after it a chéerefull obedience to his sacred word and the selfe same to our brethren wherwith we loue our selues so that all be in God that we may escape dangers in both the worlds that when death that inexorable executioner shall do his office we may arriue at the safe and happy hauen of Gods euerlasting kingdome purchased and paide for by Christ and kept in store for all those that beléeue aright and shall liue and die in him But alas the most part of vs as yet vntill it shall please the almightie to inrich vs be like proud beggers which not being woorth one farthing will boast of great wealth So many brag of great holines but haue none and of great faith as though they could remooue mountaines out of their places and yet know not what true faith is How fearful a saieng is that of Christ When the sonne of man shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead do you thinke that he shal finde any faith vpon the earth As if he should saie he shall finde very little howsoeuer now all perswade themselues that they be faithfull inough The Lorde amende vs for we haue receiued great and infinite good things from the Lords hand both for our bodies and soules but in giuing thanks we are like to the nine leapers mentioned in the Gospell which neuer turned backe to thanke God for their healing The Lord hath poured vpon vs infinite dewes of his swéet and blessed word and yet still we continue to be those drie trées to whom his curse cutting down and casting into the fire belongeth The Lord grant that with all spéede we may turne from our sinnes to righteousnes and holynes of life that God may turne his anger from vs and his fauor towards vs Amen MArcus Antoninus with an oration that he made vpon the death of Caesar is said to haue greatly delighted the people of Rome and that he mooued very many of them to shed great store of bitter teares when he put them in remembrance of the great benefits which they had frō time to time receiued of Caesar withal did shew them Caesars garment wherin his enimies Cassius Brutus had slaine him all full of blood whereat they were so mightily mooued that they expulsed the homicides out of the citie so that they durst not if they woulde liue any
he neuer shrinketh aduersitie and prosperitie is all one to him Happy is he that findeth a true and trustie friend AS great and mighty fishes are not bred and fed in small riuers and swéet waters but in the salt and bitter waters of the seas So men that are excellent and very famous by reason of the notable and manifolde vertues wherewith they be indued are not delighted in the false and deceitfull pleasures of this world but are nourished and as it were swéetely cherished and brought vp in Christ with very sower sorrowes and bitter calamities which they endure and most patiently beare for Gods sake And as to a valiant soldier nothing is more noble and woorthie praise than to carry the armour and armes of his prince So a true Christian man estéemeth nothing of greater valure and more honorable than to beare the armes and badges of Christ his captaine that is to be throughly touched with great crosses and many afflictions and to be well armed with a godly patience Heare the Apostle that stout and valiant soldier of Christ I do beare in my body the marks of the Lord Iesu Yea he saith further All that will liue godly in Christ Iesu shall suffer persecutions Séeing Christ our head and onely sauiour suffered persecutions what maruell if we his members suffer them The holy scripture calleth calamities and persecutions yea and death it selfe indured in the quarrell of God and his truth a cup. Dauid prepared himselfe to receiue this cup I will receiue the cup of saluation and will call vpon the name of the Lord and expressing what this cup is he saith Right déere in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Christ hath his cup and the world his the cup of Christ hath very bitter drink in it but very wholsome The cup of the world is gold to sée to and is ful of pleasures within but most pestilent and deadly it pleaseth the senses and killeth the soule AS a physition doth minister to his sicke patients sower and bitter potions to drinke that some hurtfull humor of their bodies may be expelled So God our heauenly physition willing to cure the maladies and to salue the sores of our soules doth reach vnto vs many times the cup of afflictions troubles and miseries that our sins and iniquities being taken away we may be restored to the former saluation of our soules The world doth offer vnto vs a very beautifull cup but it is full of deadly poison it delighteth our eies and taste but it worketh most surely our ouerthrow and vtter destruction This is that cup that Iohn in the Reuelation biddeth vs to beware of the Lord giue vs grace to shun it for he saith it is full of all abhomination and vncleannes Let vs chéerefully receiue the cup of Christ that is pouertie penurie obloquies euill reports backbitings slanders persecutions sicknes and death it selfe this is very sharpe and vnpleasant to our taste at the first but at the length most wholsome to our infected and sicke soules A Good bailife of husbandrie when he séeth plentifull fruits grow after his faithfull labours desireth that his lord or master may come that séeing his diligence and fidelitie in his calling he may reward him for his trauel and paines taken And a valiant soldier after dangerous fight and noble victorie gotten wisheth the presence of his prince that he vpon the view and sight of the sweate of his browes his grieuous wounds and courage may recompence the noble acts that he hath done So that man which hath faithfully handled the husbandrie and bailywike committed to him of the Lord and hath manfully fought against the world flesh and sathan and through the grace and mightie spirit of God hath gotten the vpper hand and victorie of them all he now most earnestly desireth that Christ his captaine vnder whose banner he hath fought would come that he might receiue his reward which is euerlasting ioy in heauen and eternall saluation through Christ with God his angels and saints for euer and euer Which though it be called a reward yet is it the frée gift of God vtterly vndeserued of man but onely deserued and purchased for vs by Christ Iesu in his death and passion vpon the crosse and to all that do beléeue in him it is frée But on the other side the wicked and vngodly whose delight is onely in the pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world which do swallow vp vanities euen with gréedines and set at naught all vertue and godlines which are shut vp vnder iniquitie and become slaues vnto sinne which are pricked in their consciences and do feare the infernall woes and terrible torments of hell which are prepared for them against the day of their death they would not haue Christ to come to heare of his comming is troublesome and fearfull to them A guiltie man whose conscience doth disquiet him would neuer sée the Iudge a traitor would neuer willingly be séene of his prince nor a disloyall person of one that knoweth him AS brasse or copper doth make a greater sound and is heard farther off than gold whereas notwithstanding gold is far more excellent than it So eloquence ioined with knowledge soundeth lowder and farther than humilitie coupled with charitie and yet such humilitie is far better and more excellent than it Knowledge without humilitie puffeth vp saith the Apostle but charitie doth edifie Againe If I speake with the toongs of men and of angels and haue not charitie I am but as a sounding brasse or a tinkling cimball A great bragger and boaster of religion maketh much noise but an humble spirited Christian is far better than he AS trauellers not thinking of the sunne setting are ouertaken with darknes before they be aware So doth death suddenly come vpon many that neuer thought of it neither haue learned to die nor what shall become of them when they be dead But it behooueth all Christians that will be saued to watch to stand stedfast in the faith of Christ to quit themselues like men and to be strong and to do all that they do in loue AS earthen vessels are alike subiect to danger breaking whether they be new or old made So all men are open subiect to death alike whether they be yoong men and in their lustie and florishing age or they be old men and well strooken in yéeres If thou shalt come into a Poâ—ters ware-house where thou shalt sée a large table set full of pots some old and some new some little and some great and shalt demand of the Potter which of them all shall first be broken he may well say for answer That which shall fall first to the ground Euen so among men he dieth not first that is elder but he that first falleth to the ground that is that commeth fiâ—st to his graue What is this world else but a Potters ware-house and
naked vpon the crosse Before Christ did appéere in the flesh pouertie might haue séemed verie bitter and full of ignominie vnto men but after that the Emperour of heauen and earth had taken pouertie vpon himselfe and also touching himselfe said The foxes haue holes and the foules of the aire haue nestes but the sonne of man hath not where to laie his head Who doth not now sée that Christian pouertie in the seruants of God doth well become them and is honorable and that it is a true badge of Christian nobilitie IF a king should haue a certaine house fast lockte and close shut vp full of gold precious stones and costly iewels and would promise all those treasures to one that should open the same and would offer vnto thée two keies one of pure gold hanging at a costly string made of silke and golden threads but that would not open the same locke that thou mightest go into the house and the other of iron rustie and ill fauoured to sée to hanging at a thong of leather or whipcorde the which notwithstanding would open the doore and let thée in that thou mightest choose which of these keies thou wouldest were it not better and more profitable for thée to choose the old rustie iron keie then the keie of gold Yes no doubt The golden one indéed is more precious but what auaileth that when it will not open the doore and bring thee to the treasures The iron one is the viler but yet it is the better Such a king is our God and such an house is that heauenly habitation of his saints wherein are inestimable treasures endlesse ioies and vnspeakable good things which are woorthier and more excellent then man is able to expresse For so saith the holie Ghost No eie hath séene nor eare heard nor hart of man conceiued those thinge which the Lorde hath prepared for them that loue him All which heauenlie treasures God hath promised to all them that shal enter into his holie hill or house of saints The golden keie which the most part of this world do choose and trust to that they may enter into heauen is worldly wealth and aboundance of riches ioyned with couetousnes which will neuer open the Lords house where are kept his celestiall and inestimable treasures But that key doth rather open a foule and vile house of this world which is full of all filthines and abominations The iron keie is spirituall pouertie against the which the kingdome of heauen is neuer shut but standeth euer wide open to all them that bring with them that key so saith Christ himselfe Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of heauen Let vs therefore make no account of the golden key but let vs for Christ and his kingdom forsake and despise the deceitfull riches of this world which are desired and sought for far and neare by sea and land with dangers and losse of the bodies and soules of many thousands as though men could bribe God for their sinnes and purchase heauen with their worldly trifles and let vs without murmuring and grudging with all patience of hart and minde beare and imbrace pouertie and all those crosses and afflictions which vnto the world séeme bitter and intolerable of which kind very many do happen in the life of man Let vs earnestly séeke after the riches of the Lords kingdome and euerlasting life for they be stable and permanent let vs not set our harts and affections on this world for it waxeth olde rotten it staggereth is ruinous and readie to fall Iob speaking of rich men which do deliâ—iously pamper themselues euery day saith They leade their daies in pleasures and in the twinckling of an eie they go down into hel And Dauid saith They shall leaue their riches for others c. And Salomon saith Thy riches shal do thée no good in the day of vengeance And in the booke of Wisedome What hath pride profited thée and what good hath thy bragging of riches brought vnto thée all these things are gone away like a shadow and as a messenger running before EVen as a firebrand drawen from the fire and lying still waxeth cold and by little and little dieth and is extinct but being mooued and put to the fire burneth and flameth Euen so an idle life doth by little and little extinguish vertue but being well exercised it doth kindle and increase the same Therfore is it said in the booke of Iob Man is borne to labour And Ecclesiasticus saith that idlenes hath taught much mischiefe This mooued the Apostle to will Timothie to watch and to labour in all things And the same Apostle saith that euerie one shall receiue his owne hire or reward according to his labour Lawyers do say that inheritance is had with the burden thereof Séeing then that we be Gods heires and the fellow heires of Christ as the Apostle affirmeth it must néedes be that we come not â—â— our inheritance not with idlenes but loden with great and â—â—auie burdens of aduersities and tribulations and with sore â—â—â—our and gréeuous grones vnder the weight of the same If wâ— shall giue our selues to ease and shall séeke after rest in this lâ—â—â— and so slumber in securitie and idlenes our enimie the diuell â—ill surely deceiue vs. For whiles men slept saith the Eâ—…ist the enimie came and did sowe darnell vpon the wheate Christ himselfe doth highly condemne idlenes when he saith Why stand ye héere all the day long idle And a little after Call the workmen saith he to take their hire Idle persons are not called to take hire but they which haue laboured And they are called from their labours to rest from pouertie to heauenly riches and from their calamities to euerlasting pleasures Yea euen when they be dead then are they blessed and rest from their labours the spirit saith so and therefore it is most certaine and true When Tobias slept there fell out of a swallowes nest doong vpon his eies which made him blinde and wâ—iles we do sléepe and slumber in slothfulnes and idle securitie without being vertuously and godly exercised there creepe out of the nests of our harts most wicked and pestilent cogitations which do blinde and numbe our vnderstanding and carrie vs into most dangerous disobedience and rebellion against the Lord. MEn in these our dangerous daies are very close harted merciles towards the poore afflicted members of Christ And though they hear their cries sée their poore bodies readie to die at their doores in stréetes and in prison yet vntill they perceiue that there is no way but present death with themselues they will impart no part of their goodes and wealth vnto them Such men are like vnto beasts which are not eaten vntill they be dead and boiled or rosted For vntill death hath them in his pot and there boile them after his maner the
poore can haue no releefe at their hands whiles they liue they will do no charitable déedes nor works of mercie onely at the point of death in their last testament they will perhaps leaue some legacies to be giuen when they be dead but death must be sure of them before the poore be sure of a penny It were better done by much to releeue the poore with their owne hands in their life time it is not amisse that they do good then but it were better done before It is to be wished that man would consider whence he hath his name homo and finding that he hath it of humus the earth which yéeldeth to euerie man more than it receiueth at his hands and bringeth foorth and ministreth all maner of fruits to all men with great aduantage he would surely be afeard and ashamed that the earth should condemne him in bountifulnes and liberalitie The Lord doth very earnestly condemne the couetousnes and crueltie of the Iewes towards the poore in Ezechiel the prophet saying They did not stretch out their hands to the poore and néedie And Salomon saith He shall be blessed that hath pitie vpon the poore And indéede what a great blessing is it for things of no valure to receiue great and heauenly riches for dead things matters of life for things transitorie things eternall and to haue the Lord himselfe to be pay maister of all these things And the same Salomon saith that he laieth in banke vnto the Lord that hath pitie vpon the poore and also He that stoppeth his eares at the crie of the poore shall crie himselfe and not be heard And the Apostle calleth couetousnes worshipping of idols and affirmeth that the couetous man hath no inheritance in the kingdome of God He that loueth not his brother whom he seeth how can he loue God whom he seeth not Blessed are the mercifull saith Christ for they shall receiue mercie That man that vnmercifully kéepeth his gold monie meate cloth harbour or other comfort whatsoeuer and séeth his brother or sister want as he hath no loue of God in him so can he not by Christ be saued What then shall become of them which being rich do not onely not succour and comfort the poore but also dismay discomfort and dispoile them of that they haue surely such mâ—st néedes perish For theâ— are fettered and holden in the snares of sathan and wo wo is their reward It is a world to sée how the houses wals chambers bedstéeds and garments of rich men glitter and florish with gold and infinite poore soules that Christ suffered his death for are readie to perish in euerie place for want of foode and necessaries They enrich stocks and stones and suffer the seruants of God to be déepely distressed Whiles they hunt after worldly wealth they let slip the kingdome of heauen O miserable men what get they what haue they what possesse they surely nothing of any valure and yet they lose themselues They haue a vaile before their eies birde lime in their wings and fetters about their féete that they cannot sée the kingdome of God they cannot mooâ—e one feather of a wing towards heauen nor set one foote before another to go towards euerlasting saluation yet such men are merie now but their sorrow is not far off nor long to come AS feathers do lift vp and carrie on high the foules and birdes of the aire So the riches and dignities of this world are woont to extol and carrie men into the aire and clouds of vanitie And as haukes trusting to their wings will flie excéeding high as though they woulde pearce the clouds themselues for their too high flieng are oftentimes lost So men depending vpon the wings of prosperitie being puffed vp and swelled with pride the higher they clime the more mischéeuous is their fall and with the greater disgrace are they hurled downe headlong These be those feathers of vanitie which God commanded to pull out and to cast them into the dust The remembrance of death is a place of dust where we ought continuallie to reuolue in our minds those things which the men of this world do déeme and iudge to be most excellent considering how they all in the twinckling of an eie do vanish away and are consumed and we with them are turned into dust TRées growing in the woode are knowne some by the difference of their truncks or bodies some by the propertie of their boughes branches leaues flowers and fruits but this knowledge is had of them whiles they stande growe and are not consumed but if they be committed to the fire and turned into ashes they cannot be knowne for how is it possible that when the ashes of diuers kinds of trées are mingled togither the tall pine trée should be discerned from the great and huge oke or the mightie popler from a little lowe shrub or anie one tree from another Euen so men whiles they liue in the wood of this world are knowne some by the stocke of auncetors some by the florishing leaues of their words and eloquence some in the floures of beautie and some in the fruits of honestie manie by their sauage barbarousnes and some by their milde lenitie and kindnes But when death doth bring them into dust and hath mixed and mingled them all togither who can by their ashes earth and dust discerne and know them when the ashes and dust of all are mingled togither what difference is there then betwéene the mightie princes of the worlde and the séelie poore soules that are no account made of into the remembrance of such dust and ashes we ought to cast the beautifull and faire feathers of this world least being puffed vp with our owne conceites and with an ouer well wéening of our selues we vtterlie lose all temperance and measure kéeping and plunge our selues into intollerable errors For it is a plaine case that where vaine glory doth dominéere and beare the rule there is no place for temperance neither can vertue be suffered to be resident in the kingdome of vanitie HAukes of the best kind whiles they liue are highlie estéemed and much made of and are daintily fed and tenderly looked vnto and are caried vpon the fists of great and mightie men but when they be dead they are throwne out vpon the dunghill And on the other side the partridge when she liueth is troubled afflicted pursued of al euery cartar ploughman is readie to fall vpon hir to do hir violence and to kill hir But when she is dead she is brought to the tables of princes and is very honorably set before them So very many that in this life are counted very famous and notable men and do lead their liues in great prosperitie and worldly wealth and haue all things at their wils and pleasures when they remooue hence and go out of this life they shall be hurled vpon that most foule and filthie dung hill of
and compasseth about with the shadow thereof all those that flie to him for succour yea all the poore birds of God shall safely builde their nests vnder the shadow of his boughes He that dwelleth saith the prophet in the helpe of the almightie shall rest in the protection of the God of heauen Indéede to be vnder the Lords protection and in his fauour is to be in all safetie against all power of men and diuels and to be from vnder the wings of his grace is to lie open to all dangers and to death and destruction it selfe of our soules and bodies The Lord therefore kéepe vs so néere vnto himselfe in due obedience to his will and word that he may vouchsafe to be our shield and buckler against all the assaults of sathan EVen as lightenings do smite whatsoeuer they finde in the earth except the lawrell trée as Plinie affirmeth in his second booke chapter 55 So great calamitie is able to take away and to ouerthrow whatsoeuer is in man or that he hath saue onely firme and constant vertue for constant vertue is a goodly lawrell trée euer florishing and gréene and will not be consumed burnt vp nor destroied with any fire that breaketh out of the cloudes be it neuer so fierce nor with any violence of torments and troubles whatsoeuer To this vertue doth the apostle exhort vs saying My déere brethren â—e ye constant and vnmooueable alwaies rich in the worke of the Lord and indéed they that are grounded in the loue of Christ and leaue nothing vndone to auoid the dishonoring of God and the offending of their brethren and do their best indeuour to honor and obey the almightie and to edifie his seruantâ— do not onely not feare the firebrands of any sorrow whatsoeuer but also do euen despise all the firie flashings and thunderclaps of the world and do remaine constant and vnchangeable in the seruice of God euen to the losse of their liues if néede be Infidels that knew not Christ but were méere strangers vnto him thought it better to lose their liues than to violate their promises and othes made to their enimies Much more then ought Christians in such cases to be constant The Lord himselfe in the mouth of Ezechiel the prophet affirmeth that he shall neuer thriue nor prosper that maketh no conscience of violating and breaking his oth wherewith he hath bound himselfe though it be to his deadly enimie And Iosua hauing promised vpon his oth that the Gabaonites should liue in the countrie vntouched afterward when their great deceit was discouered and they found most vnwoorthie to liue yet for his oth sake he spared their liues We haue sworne vnto them saith he in the name of the God of Israel and therefore we cannot touch them We learne by this to beware how we binde our selues by othes but if we haue once done it we must not regard to whom but by whom we haue sworne and bound our selues EVen as the lambes with the which the shéepe were conceiued as they beheld Iacobs rod were of the same colour that the rod was of So such as the religion and actions of princes péeres of realmes and countries ministers parents and gouerners be such for the most part is the religion and such be the actions of subiects and inferiour persons For as examples are very dangerous in euill things so be they of great force and vertue in good and holy things When princes will haue godlie vertuous loyall and obedient subiects they must deale with them as Iacob did with his shéepe they must lay before them the rod of true religion iustice holines righteousnes and integritie of life and maners and then no doubt they will conceiue in their harts thoughts that be pure righteous chaste sound and holy and bring foorth great plentie of fruits of the same colour that the rod is of to wit not words onely but works also of â—aith and obedience to God and man Parents with their natural children ministers of the word with their spiritual children and maisters with their seruants must do the like AS most pleasant perfumes do euen then when they be in the fire giue out a most excellent odor and their swéetest sauour Euen so a vertuous and godly man when he is thrust into the midst of the hote scorching fire of calamitie and miserie doth then shew most his vertue faith religion patience and constancie THere be some men which now and then do bestow great cost and much of their riches vpon those that néede them not not drawne therunto with either loue or mercie but caried with vaine glory with vanity it selfe so to do Such men are like fluds which send their waters into the sea and leaue the drie land which is very thirsty vnwatred But such men by the commandement and will of God should helpe the poore féede the hungrie cloth the naked harbor the harborlesse visite and redéeme captiues c. For that is the mercy whereto the Lords blessing and mercy belongeth according to that he saith Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy It is a worlde to sée and consider that man dare be so bold and so shamelesse to make but a tush or a thing of nothing of the Lords commandement when in the mouth of his prophets he saith Breake thy bread vnto the hungrie And Giue thy bread to the hungrie soule and couer the naked with thy garment if thou wilt liue and be saued How thinkest thou O man that God will heare thée séeing thou thinkest him not woorthie the hearing With what hart canst thou beg a kingdome of him to whom thou deniest a péece of bread when he sendeth thine and his owne brother for it dost thou thinke that he will bestow vpon thée an immortall garment of eternall glorie séeing thou refusest to giue to his poore naked seruant that is readie to perish and to die with cold one of thy superfluous and old moth eaten garments The vaine men of the world which do lauish out their riches and substance vpon néedlesse things and méere vanities without regarding the néedie saints of God will neuer be able to answer their dooings before the iudgement seate of Christ Will the Lord of heauen and earth take this in good part that haukes and dogs are kept and fed fat and faire and his séely soules that he died for haue neither coates nor flesh vpon their backs or doth this please him that wals and stones be most curiously and costly adorned and couered and men want to eate and wherewith to couer their nakednes How swéete a sacrifice were it to God and how highly would it please him if many rich and costly suits of apparell that men and women haue more then they néed and many golden chaines care rings and other costlie iewels which serue more for pride then for profit were willingly euen in loue to God translated by the owners of
thing that is right For he that instructeth others with wholesome doctrine and doth so staine and blemish himselfe with vile and naughtie vâ—â—es that his life and doctrine be opposite and cleane contrary the one to the other so that it is séene and perceiued of all that there is no agréement betwéene them he is like vnto a sieue or a boulter wherewith meale is sifted or boulted which sendeth foorth the finest floure and best of the wheate and kéepeth the bran and woorst to it selfe The Lord coupleth togither in the priestes of the old law Doctrine and Truth regarding both their teaching and liuing He is a true and trustie teacher which doth himselfe that same that he teacheth The disciples of the Pharysies could espie so much though they loued it not when they said to Christ We know that thou art true and that thou teachest the way of God truely They confesse though with a wicked purpose that he did not onelie teach but also liue after the truth Wherein all christians ought to imitate Christ WHen in mans body the hart doth not impart vnto the members the vitall spirits but the arteries are stopt and shut vp and the blood forsaketh the veines it is a signe of death That man is either already dead or else he will die shortly Euen so when kings and princes of the earth are tyrannicall towards their loyall subiects withdrawing from them pittie mercy loue and liberalitie it threatneth and doth prognosticate the ruine of their kingdomes But through the mercy clemencie and loue of princes their kingdomes do mightily florish and the princes themselues do inioy great tranquillitie securitie and peace God put thankfulnes into the harts of all the true and faithfull subiects of England and else where within hir Maiesties dominions for our most gratious dread soueraigne Quéene Elizabeth for certainly that saieng of Salomon in his Prouerbes was neuer more truely verified in anie king or Quéene since the foundation of England then it hath béene in hir highnes Mercie and truth do kéepe the king and with clemency the kings throne is strengthened and established So all the worlde must be faine to saie Mercie and truth do kéepe good Quéene Elizabeth and clemencie doth strengthen hir throne Hir highnes doth that same that Artaxerxes speaketh of himselfe in the booke of Ester When saith he I did rule and gouerne many nations and had brought the whole world vnder my dominion I would not abuse the greatnes of my power but would gouerne my subiects with clemencie and lenitie All the world must néedes confesse the same of hir Maiestie towards all hir subiects Hir seate hath alwaies béene inuironed and compassed about with mercy which as Hieronimus saith doth lift man vp to Godward All the world is not able to lay to hir highnes charge so much as one dram of crueltie which as the same author affirmeth doth cast man downe to hell ward Euen as among the pretie swéete Bées that Bée onely which leadeth and ruleth all the rest either hath no sting or at the least doth not vse it So clemencie and mercy agréeth with none more in al the world then with a prince God giue grace to all hir Maiesties subiects so loyally louingly obediently and faithfullie to beare and behaue themselues that the mighty God of Israell may affoorde vs hir Maiesties life happy raigne chearefull countenance many yéeres Amen For in the chéerefulnes of hir countenuance is life INgratitude is a thing that the Lord could neuer abide It is a scorching winde that drieth vp the fountaines of piety and the streames of grace Whereas euery thing that is weighty and heauie tendeth and preaseth downward yet notwithstanding the cloudes that are full of water and swelled with moisture do ascend vpward bicause the sunne taketh them from the earth and with his force draweth them vp on high Which being lifted vp in the aire are gathered togither and thickened and so do couer and hide the brightnes of the sunne by whose helpe and attraction they were taken and caried vp but notwithstanding their malice they being dispersed and scattered abroad the sun that conquerer and ouercommer of darknes thrusteth through his beams breaketh the cloudes and giueth light with his shine Euen so the Israelites when they lay in Egypt a long time in obscuritie thraldome bondage and slauerie to Pharao and his people and were euen nailed as it were to the earth of all contempt and crueltie were then taken vp and set in great and high dignitie by the sunne of righteousnes but afterward they went about to obscure and extinguish the brightnes and light of God himself by whose benefit they had gotten that honor and dignitie which they had aâ—d without whom they were nothing but bond slaues of miserie and wretchednes but séeing they were like foule blacke cloudes they were dispersed scattered and vanished away And the glorie of Christ against their wils in spite of them togither with the brightnes of his name did break out and shine abroad and giue light throughout all the world I would to God that this ingratitude and vnthankfulnes had neuer a corner in England nor in any English hart it hath pleased the almightie by his faithfull seruant Elizabeth by his owne grace Quéene of England to deliuer our countrie from no lesse bondage thraldome and seruitude than he did the Israelites by Moses and Aaron and yet we finde to too manie that haue béen bred in England and owe their liues to hir highnes to murmure no lesse against hir happines than the Israelites did against the lords seruants Moses and Aaron The seruitude and slauerie of the Israelites was not greater nor woorse vnder Pharao that tyrant in Egypt than the bondage of England was vnder the Pope neither ought we to be lesse thankfull for our deliuerie from the slauerie of Rome than they should haue béen if they had well remembred themselues from the slauerie of Egypt We read in the booke of Wisdome that the hope of the vnthankfull man shall waste and consume like winters ice c. And tâ—…e Dauid the prophet saith O my soule praise the Lord and forget not all his benefits The Lord grant that we neuer forget any of the Lords benefits and that we may euer be thankfull to his diuine maiestie for the great benefit that he hath bestowed vpon England in his most faithfull seruant Elizabeth by his owne prouidence and appointment our most gratious Quéene and soueraigne whose life health and happines O Lord continue long Amen Amen Amen EVen as a moth or worme doth not bréede in the Cedar being a goodly and odoriferous trée alwaies fresh and florishing the wood whereof doth not rot So enuie is not bred in the hart of a wise and vertuous man but in the minde of a man that is wicked and vngodly and is gréeued and tormented at the happines and welfare of other men
and repining is sadder than they that went downe into Trophonius his den and in enuie passeth Zoilus enuying those especially that in any gift or qualitie are before him Iust men and they that be wel garded with vertues on euery side and are of a noble and excellent courage can ouercome and subdue their enimies but their enuy they can neuer ouercome for it will not be tamed nor subdued It is a fire that consumeth the harts of them whom it possesseth with a continuall burning Salomon his counsell is that thou eate not with an enuious man nor desire his meate And the Apostle willeth the Galathians that they be not desirous of vaine glorie prouoking one another and enuying one another Hieronymus in an epistle to Demetriades saith What pleasure I pray thée doth enuie to that man whom fretting and wrath doth teare and rend in péeces in the secret corners of his conscience and maketh the felicitie of other men his owne torment A wicked man taketh pleasure in his owne wickednes but the enuious man is tortured with the good of others Quintus Curtius in his eight booke De gestis Alexandri reporteth that Alexander was woont to say that enuious men are nothing else but torments and tormentors of their owne selues Chrysostom calleth enuie an vnquenchable fire And Isidore saith that it doth deuoure all good things in man with a most pestilent burning heate And in my opinion it is a very image of hell that tormenteth without profite or pleasure A Father which giueth vnto his sonne whom he loueth déerly a breast plate or stomacher very costly and curiouslye wrought of silke siluer or gold to weare vnder some other garment doth suffer his vppermost garment as doublet or cote to be pinkt and cut in diuers places that the vnder costly worke may outwardly appéere and be séene of all Euen so our heauenly father a God of compassion and mercie yea the God of all comfort doth somtimes suffer that man whom he most déerely loueth to be wounded of the wicked and to be smitten with calamities and miseries to the end that the precious and golden brest plate of patience wherewith the Lord hath inwardly indued him should outwardly appéere and be séene of all Héerehence is that which the Apostle saith to the Hebrewes Whom the Lord loueth him he doth chasten and he scourgeth euerie sonne whom he receiueth And in the Reuelation the Lord in the person of Iohn saith Whom I loue those do I reprooue and chasten And in the mouth of Matthew he saith Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousnes sake True it is that patience is an heauenly gift and a very blessed thing for as the Apostle saith it worketh a triall in man and that triall worketh an hope and that hope doth neuer confound nor shame him that hath it And the same Apostle willeth the Colossians as the elect of God to put on patience as if he should say there is no vesture nor vertue whatsoeuer doth better beséeme the seruants of God than patience vnder crosses and in the midst of a thousand afflictions And therefore the holy Ghost doth aduertise vs to run with patience vnto the battell or fight that is set before vs and euer to looke vpon the author and finisher of our faith euen Iesus who hauing vnspeakable ioy set before him did vndergo and indure the crosse not regarding but euen despising the confusion and shame thereof It behooueth vs when we are beset on euerie side with afflictions and troubles to flie vnto God and to beséech him that with his aide and helpe as with the cléere shine of his most bright sunne he will scatter abroad the cloudes and darknes of our calamities and great miseries least that if they increase and multiplie we fall into despaire and so slumber in sin and sléepe in death that the enimie of our soules and saluation may say I haue preuailed against them For if we will imbrace the Lord with all our harts we shall no doubt be in most sure and certaine safegarde And although the wicked and vngodly sort which are more barbarous and sauage than brute beasts shall afflict the saints and seruants of God and beare and behaue themselues insolently and shall abuse their power and authoritie to the hurt and harme of such as feare the Lord in singlenes of hart and are readie with all patience to beare whatsoeuer crosse shall be laid vpon them yet at the length the Lords elect shall preuaile one way or other to their great comfort and shall be aduanced to eternall life and glorie that neuer shall haue end For as the prophet saith The patient abiding of the poore shall not alwaies be forgotten for although for a time God suffereth his seruants to be strangely afflicted that vertue in them may growe to some perfection yet not the lesse in his due time he doth deliuer them out of all the tempests and stormes of the world and doth make them partakers of his kingdome in glorie euerlasting We are woont to call those men martyrs which suffer death by fire or sword for Christs sake and indeede so they be but that man also in my opinion may rightly be called a martyr which kéepeth truly in his hart and minde an vnfained patience without grudging or repining at any troubles whatsoeuer thinking himselfe happie that he is thought woorthie to beare some crosse or other after his Lord and sauiour Christ such a man no doubt is a martyr euen liuing though he lose not his life by fire nor sword EVen as those shéepe which in the presence of their shepheards do vomit and cast out againe the grasse which they haue eaten do not profitably shew how much how well they haue fed but those rather which do inwardly digest and concoct their meate and do giue abundance of mylke and do beare the softiest weightiest and finest wooll and do shew themselues to be fat faire and well liking For by those things they shew plainly prooue that their pasture is excéeding good Euen so not those pastors ministers and preachers of the word which do deliuer words and stuffe their sermons with eloquence and braue phrases do fruitfully and throughly declare vnto the people that vertues pasture is excellent good and wholsome and to be desired of all but they rather which do inwardly concoct vertue and do obserue it and bending themselues to the actions and performance therof do flow with the swéet milke of mercy and do cloth themselues others with the fine fléeces of christian loue and charitie such I say do euidently declare how much they haue profited in the doctrine of Christ and how much also others ought to profite in the same and do stir vp the harts and minds of their hearers to vertue and godlines both with their doctrine and liuing Words of doctrine are very profitable but when they are séene to worke holines and
For in the booke of Wisdome they are produced speaking these words What good hath our pride done vs And what profite hath the pompe of our riches brought vs All these things are gone away like a shadow and as a poste that hasteth by Let vs therefore set our harts and mindes and bend we our whole desires to heauenly things And let vs make no account of earthly transitorie fraile and the deceitfull things of this old withered and ruinous world For if we will déepely consider and carefully thinke of that happines which is laid vp in store in heauen with God the father through Iesus Christ for all them that do beléeue liue and die in Christ we will not giue our selues to the spéeches of rude ignorant and vngodly people neither will we hunt or hauke after the vaine reports and idle praises and commendations of men nor yet put any trust in any thing that man can do But we will aspire and draw néere vnto that God of ours which is for euer whom no processe nor continuance of time wasteth nor consumeth Of whom the prophet speaketh plainly Thou O Lord shalt indure for euer all other things shall waxe old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yéeres shall not faile And the Lorde himselfe saith to Moses I am that I am And he saide Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israell I am hath sent me vnto you As if he should say He that euer hath béene is and euer shall be whose eternitie is not comprehended within any limites or bounds hath sent me vnto you If then worldy things do much mooue vs which are of no such strength but that in processe of time they are weakned and cleane consumed if I saie that which is of no stabilitie in this life but is sodainly broken and perisheth or at the least by little and little decaieth groweth out of remembrance and is quite forgotten is woont to stir vs vp to take great paines and to vndergo almost intollerable toyles through manifold perils and dangers Why then not much rather yea and a great deale more are we not stirred vp and mooued by him that is for euer to vndergo and to indure the like or if néede be greater paines by many degrées whose promise and maner it is to giue to all those that in truth and singlenes of hart do loue him immortall rewards and to bestow and place them in euerlasting blisse in his owne kingdome with his owne and onely most déere sonne euen Christ Iesu our onely sufficient and alone Sauiour and redéemer God giue vs grace and the assistance of his holie spirit that we may withdrawe our harts mindes and affections from all those vaine and transitorie things which are subiect to ruin rottennes and consumption and that we may set them surely vpon our God follow him and obey him according to his owne will in his written word Amen AS the excellent and noble hauke called a faulken vpon the fist of the fouler séeing a pray flieng on high doth by and by spread hir wings and offer to breake the strings wherewith she is holden and to be gone after the praie but if she be hooded she neither séeth the pray nor is any whit mooued Euen so man whose nature far excelleth all other liuing creatures thinking vpon the things that are aboue in heauen with God and with the eies of his minde beholding eternall blisse and endlesse felicitie he is inflamed and pricked with a great and woonderfull desire to attaine vnto the same but if he be hooded with ignorance spirituall blindnes and a loue of this worlde he will neuer be touched with any heauenly motion nor any whit mooued with any right loue to God nor once turne so much as one eie of his minde towards heauen nor God That most noble faulken I meane the most famous and kingly prophet Dauid being rapt and as it were rauished with an vnspeakable loue and desire to heauen and God did sing this song Euen as the Hart desireth the water brookes so doth my soule long after thée O God My soule is a thirst for God yea euen for the liuing God When shall I come to appéere before the presence of God And the holy apostle being very desirous to flie out of the bands of the body and to shake them off said thus Christ is to me life and death is to me aduantage And immediately after he saith that he hath a great desire to depart and to be with Christ And such ought the desire of all good Christians to be God grant it may be such Amen AS they which haue great néede of water do make haste to come to the fountaine or well where water is to be had but hauing drawne the water and filled their vessels do depart and turne their backs to the fountaine which hath supplied their want satisfied their desires So very many when they be compassed round with perils and dangers and are beset on euery side with afflictions and troubles then they flie apace to the fountaine of grace mercy but when they haue obteined the water of comfort then they do despise that flowing spring of liuing water which complaineth of their vnkindnes by the prophet Ieremie saieng They haue forsaken me the fountaine of the water of life There be to too many of all sorts and degrées in the world which when they are in the straightes of calamities and miserie will with all possible spéede flie and run vnto God and will power out before him many deuout and feruent praiers vpon their bare knées with teares trickling and streaming downe their chéekes and will vse the name of Christ in hope for his sake to be the sooner reléeued bicause as the holy Ghost saith He is the propitiatiō and attonement for our sins by faith in his blood and they will implore and beg the mercy and helpe of God with most lamentable shrikes and gréeuous grones but so soone as they perceiue that God is a God of pittie compassion and mercy and do finde and féele themselues to be lightened and eased of their gréefes they by and by forsake God turne their backs vpon him shake off all obedience and returne to their old vomits and practise their former foule sins with greater gréedines them before And when they should be most mindfull of gods benefits bestowed vpon them then do they vtterly forget him But it is the part and dutie of euery good christian if he once dedicate and betake himselfe to the seruice of God to procéed and to go forward from vertue to vertue and from grace to grace and not to turne the Lords precepts and commandements behind him when indéed he ought to be most thankfull for his louing kindnes and fauor which he hath found and receiued So much doth the Lorde signifie by the prophet
flesh and blood the world and diuell haue their harts those go downward and take roote below Such men are like vnto trées which in the swéete and pleasant spring time will be well stored and full of goodly blossoms and wil make a franke offer and a large promise of much fruit but when the fruit is looked for and should be gathered there is none to be had they were but bare leaues and idle blossoms Such trées did Christ himselfe méete with when he was héere belowe vpon the earth in his bodie and at this day the whole world euen euerie citie and towne is very full of such trées yea it is hard to finde one house wherein there groweth not such a trée Well the Lord did curse them then and be we sure he will not blesse them now he that then did cause them to be cut downe and cast into the fire will in like maner cast into the fire and torments of hell all those that séeke him with their lips and are far from him with their harts Vngodly men which are delighted in forbidden things they come not néere the waies of the Lord whatsoeuer shew of holines they make with men they sit downe and rest themselues in the seate of wickednes for they haue onely their lips gilded with holines there is not one dram of godlines in their harts The prophet doth testifie so much when he saith that they which worke wickednes walke not in the Lords waies their harts are so far from séeking after God or any good thing that indéede they séeke after euill things as Salomon in his Prouerbs affirmeth Yet neuertheles there be some though the number of them be not great that euen as great and mighty vapors with the force and power of the sunne are taken and lifted vp from the earth and do séeke after the sunne by whose strength and vertue they are carried vp on high and growing into cloudes do euen follow the sunne So I say there is a remnant and a little flocke of Christs that in a true vnfained and sincere loue of God are lifted vp from the loue of this world and from all earthly and fleshly affections so far as is possible for man in this life to be and do séeke the Lord and his kingdome in the singlenes of their harts and thinking the time of their abode héere in this vale of all miseries to too long they daily sigh and grone for a dissolution and the comming of Christ to iudge the quick and the dead But this number is very small and we may admire them euen as the prophet Esay did and say Who are these that flie like scattered cloudes The Lord if it be his holy and blessed will turne the harts of all hypocrites and carnall worshippers of God to serue him in veritie and in truth and vouch he safe to increase the number of his single harted seruants Amen EVen as the blood in the bodie of a man being corrupted with a poisoned arrow doth by and by flie to the hart euen séeking and hoping as it were to finde some remedie and helpe there and yet doth euen so soone as it toucheth the hart finde death where it sought for life So men when they are sore pressed with calamities do make the world their first refuge and whiles they séeke for succour and comfort of the world they finde no better thing than death where they thought to haue found life Experience doth teach them that they sought for life in the house of death and for a medicine there where no good thing is to be had But it behooueth vs that do professe christianitie and do fight vnder that banner when we labour and are loden heauily with tribulations and afflictions foorthwith to repaire vnto God and with all spéede and possible haste to run vnto Christ who euen from the altar of the crosse where he offered himselfe for vs that by his death he might deliuer vs from euerlasting death calleth vs vnto him Our sauiour Christ is said to make a feast and to eate at the conuersion of a sinner when he forsaketh his wickednes and turneth vnto the Lord with a contrite and sorrowfull hart for his sinnes and offences committed against the word and will of God for so the Euangelist saith Bring hither the fat calfe kill it and let vs eate So that we can no way make the Lord a banket that will please and delight him but by forsaking the world our sinnes and our selues and in appealing to the throne of his grace and mercies seate We heare his voice euery day what meane we that we obey it not Why continue we in sinne which consumeth and rotteth our soules and bodies as rustines doth iron Why go we not home to our heauenly father We know his goodnes we haue great experience of his clemencie loue and mercie and yet still we linger Our patrimonie is gone we haue most lewdly spent wasted and consumed all so that we are no more woorthie to enter into the kingdome of God than are the very foule and dirtie swine and yet nothing wil driue vs to him It is euen as himselfe saith No man can come vnto me vnlesse my father drawe him the Lord then draw vs vnto himselfe What a madnes is it to séeke for helpe reléefe and comfort of the world which séeketh vs onely that it may deceiue and destroy vs The Lord calleth vs to giue vs comfort and vnspeakable ioy and we turne our backs to him the world doth but hold vp a finger and becken vs to it with a purpose to haue our companie to hell and damnation and we run and whine after it like a thirstie infant after the dug of his mother or nurse And thus we passe on séeking for life in the house of death and for ioy in the vale of miserie where none is to be found The Lord open the eies of our vnderstanding and make vs to know and to see that our helpe health comfort and life in this world and in the world to come standeth onely in him that made both heauen and earth Amen IDlenes as it bréedeth pouertie and beggerie in very many which might liue well and in good sort with diligent and faithfull labour So is it very dangerous in those that be rich and féele no smart nor want in this life for whiles they giue themselues to foule idlenes voluptuousnes doth ouercome reason and they are snared and taken in the deadly traps of the deceitfull flickerings of the world and are poysoned with carnall pleasures and fleshly delights which do beare them faire in hand for a little while but at the length do deceiue them and leaue them in shame and confusion For euen as the earth when it is not tilled nor trimmed doth bréede and bring foorth briers brambles and all noisome and vnprofitable things so idlenes in man doth bréede and broode in him vngodly thoughts and
wicked cogitations of all sorts and doth allure hale drawe and euen drag him to do those things which are so odious in the sight of God that he must either most earnestly repent that he hath done them or else he must die eternally for doing of them Idlenes therefore doth not become Christians for so doth our God and maker teach vs when he saith to Adam in the labour of thy hands shalt thou eate all the daies of thy life And iust Iob saith that man is borne to labour And the Apostle saith If any man will not labour let him not eate When Dauid continued at home in idlenes then did adulterie and murther créepe into his hart and ceased not vntill it broke out into effects and most dangerous actions Christ did shew a great hatred to idlenes when he said Why stand ye héere all the day idle SOmtimes it falleth out that a hen sitteth vpon ducks eggs and with hir diligent sitting the heat of hir bodie she doth hatch and bring them foorth and when they be able to follow hir she clucks them after hir maner as though they were hir naturall chickens she doth call them about hir but they being not of hir but the ducks kinde though by hir they haue beene hatched and of hir haue receiued life and though she hath a continuall care to bring them vp and to defend them from such enimies as séeke to deuoure them yet neuerthelesse they wil follow and séeke after that whereunto by nature they are inclined and giuen When she is scraping and scratching the earth to finde them foode they will be in the water mire or foule puddle after their kinde she may clucke and walke alone they will not kéepe hir companie vnlesse perhaps in some danger when the kite is readie to catch them for some succour they will â—lie to hir howbeit at the length when she perceiueth them to be vnnaturall and vnkinde to hir she doth forsake them and giue them ouer Euen so our swéete Sauiour Christ Iesus hauing taken great paines for vs and hauing humbled himselfe euen in the lowest degrée of all humilitie that can be named as in comming down out of his fathers bosome being most perfect most holy and omnipotent God being euery way equall and in nothing inferiour to his father to take our weake fraile and féeble nature vpon him and sinne excepted to haue a perfect féeling of all our infirmities as wearisomnes of bodie hunger and thirst and such others and besides the induring of these many yéeres togither hauing suffered a most cruell death and euen at his death vpon the crosse hauing tasted and taken a full cup of his fathers furie and indignation which was in déed filled and prepared for vs as a iust reward for our sinnes and should haue béen our owne cup and our owne portion for euer and euer had he not euen then taken and supt it vp to cléere and to frée vs from it Againe after all these things hauing still continued his humilitie in suffering death to kéepe his bodie thrée daies in the graue and euen as it were to tread and trample vpon him and then mauger death hell diuell and Iewes hauing risen againe and being ascended and gone vp to his father where now vntil his comming again to iudge the quicke and the dead he sitteth at the right hande of maiestie and power He now speaketh and calleth vnto vs by his prophets apostles and ministers and willeth vs to remember what case and estate we were in before he died and suffered all these things for vs and he would haue vs to know to be sure and neuer to forget that if he had not suffered death héere vpon the earth as he did we should neuer haue found any way or entrance into heauen the celestiall ioyes and pleasures of the Lords saints saluation and eternall life should neuer haue belonged vnto vs we should haue had no more to do with them then they that liue without faith and die infidels The horrors of hell and the stincking lakes of vnspeakable shame confusion torments endlesse death and damnation should haue béene our inheritance lot and perpetuall portion Christ therefore doth daily put vs in minde that we be not our owne but his and that we be the greatest and déerest purchase that euer was made in heauen or in earth and that the like price and cost was neuer bestowed vpon any creatures as vpon vs. When the angels which werâ— in heauen in the presence of their creator did once offende they were hurled out and cast into hell Christ woulde not bestow vpon them one peny of all that great price and rich ransome which he paid for vs he would not then become man to shed one drop of blood for them but for our sakes he spared not one drop but shed all The Hen that himselfe speaketh of was neuer so diligent and carefull to gather hir chickins vnder hir wings as he hath euer béene most ready to shroude and to protect vs against all the enimies of our soules and bodies Many mothers shall sooner forget the children of their own wombs and vtterly forsake them before Christ will forsake vs yea he will neuer forget nor forsake vs vnlesse we first forget and forsake him Now therefore we being his so déerely bought and so truely paide for he calleth vpon vs euery day he clucketh vs and looketh for vs that we should follow him and tread in such steps as he hath appointed and that we shuld not range at randon but kéepe our selues within the hearing of his voice and our liues within the limits of obedience vnto the same these things I saie he looketh for at our hands But how deale we with this most kinde most louing and most mercifull redéemer and if the fault be not in our selues the fauiour of our seules and bodies Verily euen so as the vnnaturall and vnkind ducks deale with the hen of whom they haue receiued life they regarde not hir clucking neither we Christs calling when she is séeking and prouiding for them on the faire drie and wholesome earth they will be in some foule water filthie mire or stinking puddle And when the Lord Iesus calleth vs to integritie of life to do the thing that is iust and right in his owne eie and to speake the truth according to the knowledge of our harts then will we with gréedines pollute our soules and bodies with all wickednes and things that be abominable then will we oppresse our brethren not caring who sincke if our selues swim then will we not sticke to speake lies euen to Gods owne face And when the Lord calleth and sendeth vs to seeke heauenly things we presently returne to the foule puddles of the world carnall delightes and vaine yea vile pleasures so that we euer take the contrary wâ—y to that which Christ commandeth Christ calleth for our harts to haue them in truth and sinceritie with all diligence
longer come néere it And yet in these daies of ours let come neuer so good and heauenly an orator with the oracles of God himselfe in his mouth and shew most plainly what Christ the redéemer of the world hath done for man and prooue that man hath receiued vnspeakable and innumerable benefits by and through Christ and declare what bitter teares of water and blood did trickle downe his chéekes and what déepe and deadly sighes with many fearfull and gréeuous grones did rise from his hart before he came to the crosse and let him rip vp his passion stitch by stitch as the holy booke and diuine word shall direct and leade him and let him particularly shew how and where he was wounded that he was beaten spit vpon crowned with thornes nailed hand and foote to the crosse scorned and mocked of the Iewes and let him shew most liuely the wicked and cruell Iewes imbrewing their hands in his blood giuing him vineger and gall to drinke and who for all this will shed one teare giue one grone or sigh once from the bottome of his hart yea let the preacher declare and prooue that besides the death and passion of his bodie he suffered in his soule the heauie wrath and indignation of his father and the extreme tortures and torments of hell for a time no lesse than the reprobates that be there alreadie and no lesse then all we by iust desert should haue suffered for euer if Christ had not done it for vs And who for al this will driue out of the citie not Cassius and Brutus that killed Caesar but those horrible abhominable and most damnable sins for the which Christ was slaine For so saith the scripture He saith the prophet meaning Christ was wounded for our iniquities And a little after the prophet bringeth in God himselfe speaking thus of Christ For the sinnes of my people haue I smitten him And the Apostle telleth the Romanes the same thing Christ was giuen saith he for our offences And to the Corinthians Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptures The matter then being so plaine that no man high nor lowe whosoeuer can cléere himselfe of the death of Christ but must néedes will he nill he confesse that there is in him the matter of Christs arraignment bitter passion and cursed death and that he is no lesse giltie of the same his death and bloodshedding than those that cried Away with him away with him it is no reason that he should liue any longer nor than those that did spit in his face and nailed his hands and féete to the crosse It must needes followe that Caesar was more beholding to his friends than the sonne of God is to many thousands of those that do professe his name and Marcus Antoninus was more beholding to the Romanes which were so readie at one oration to purge and cléere the citie of homicides and murthers than a great number of faithfull preachers of Christ be now to infinite thousands of their auditors which are so far from abandoning and thrusting out of cities and towns euen grosse vile and most lothsome sinnes that in their owne priuate houses yea euen in their owne bosoms and bodies they harbour nourish and maintaine them although they heare euery day the heauie iudgements and destroying wrath of God denounced against them not with a generall houering ouer their heads at al aduentures as though no body were spoken to but euen with a particular toutching and as it were an vnlacing of euery sinne in it kind to lay open the stinch and abhomination of the same that men might if they had grace be ashamed and afeard to staine and to blemish themselues with such things as the Lord vpon paine of condemnation hath inhibited and forbidden and yet all will not serue No man that will beleeue the holy scripture can be ignorant of this that the almightie did with the heauie hand of his wrath cast angels out of heauen when they were poisoned with pride and would not be contented with their owne estate and that therefore they became diuels this I say cannot but bée knowen of all and yet who is afeard of pride yea who will not be as proud as euer the angels were and though he prooue a diuell and purchase hell for his pleasure Pride gluttonie abundance of worldly wealth vainly and wickedly vsed idlenes from all good works and no stretching foorth of hands vnto the poore and nâ—edie were the very capitall and head sinnes which did euen wrest and wring from the Lord his heauie and most fearfull iudgements and did as it were with violence inforce him to destroy the Sodomites and Gomorrheans with fire and brimstone from heauen for that other most foule sinne the which I am afeard euen to name did spring and growe out of the sinnes that I haue named before And yet all these sinnes with infinite others do in as bad maner and no lesse measure swarme raigne and reuell in England than when they were at the woorst they did in Sodom What sequele then is to be feared and daily to be looked for with silence I passe ouer There is neuer a man that beareth the name of a Christian but he will confesse that his great grandfather Adam was expulsed and thrust out of paradise for eating one apple forbidden him by the Lord vpon paine of death and yet that man that with open mouth will make that confession will euery day eate seuen apples as bitter and as straightly forbidden as that and will he then for eating seuen thinke to scape better cheape than his grandfather that did eate but one No no the eater of seuen shall finde the way into euerlasting life as hard to enter as the way into paradise was to his grandfather being once thrust out vnlesse he spéedily earnestly and truly repent him and giue ouer the eating of such fruits as the Lord hath forbidden him It is very strange that the iudgements of God shewed vpon Caine for killing his brother vpon Saule for his disobedience vpon Iudas for his treason will not make all men to detest and to hate murther to loue obedience and to beware of trecherie and treason but that men will still liue as they list as though they were persuaded that either God doth not sée them or else not regarde them and that he will neuer call them to any account do what they will all is one God is not angrie nothing displeaseth him or at the least as though they had couenanted and agréed with hell and condemnation without controlment or feare of paine to take their pleasures in all vanities and abhominations whatsoeuer Is it not a woonder that we séeing before our eies if we will beléeue God a whole world drowned with an vniuersal deluge or generall flood of water and yet the same sinnes that were the cause of that generall destruction to be so pleasant sweete vnto
when their pride pleasures and riches and themselues be parted and on the other side there be not a fewe which do liue heere in great troubles and manifold afflictions and are no whit regarded of the world fâ—â—re they God neuer so truely the end of whose liues doth bring the beginning of their ioyes S. 191. 105. Whatsoeuer this world doth or can afford vs is so light as a feather more subiect to a change then the moone more vnconstant then the winde The world therefore with all the trifles and trash it hath is to be contemned and the kingdome of God and the righteousnes therof is diligently to be sought for for that indureth for euer S. 192. P. 106. 107. The vertue of godly princes do mightilie mooue the harts of subiects to true religion a right worshipping of God and due obedience S. 193. P. 117. Humble men when they stoupe lowest and prostrate themselues most before the Lords throne then rise they vp highest and draw neerest to the likenes of God on the otherside vaine and proud men when they exalt themselues most then are they likest vnto the deuill S. 194. P. 107. They that be in great prosperitie are commonly in great dangers a low and meane estate is safest S. 195. P. 107. 108. To be vnder the Lords protection and in his fauour is to be in all safetie against all power of men and diuels and to be from vnder the wings of his grace is to â—â—e open to all dangers euen to death and destruction of soules and bodies It is good for vs therefore in al obedience to keepe our selues neere vnto the Lord S. 196. P. 108. Calamities troubles and afflictions will ouerthrow any thing whatsoeuer is in man saue onely firme and constant vertue but that is so goodly so fresh and so florishing a lawrell tree that it will not be coÌ„sumed burnt vp nor destroied with any fire that breaketh out of the clouds be it neuer so fearce nor with any torments or troubles whatsoeuer S. 197. P. 109. When princes will haue godly vertuous loyall and obedient subiects they must vse them as Iacob did his sheepe they may laie before them the rod of true religion iustice holines righteousnes and integritie of life that by the sight of those things they may conceiue good things and bring foorth fruit of that colour And so must parents deale with their naturall children and ministers of the word with their spirituall children and masters with their seruants S. 198. P. 110. When a man is in most danger and greatest distresse then is his vertue and constancie best tried S. 199. P. 110. The last daie of all daies that is the generall iudgement daie wil be a verie glomy and a blacke sessions daie for those men that do keepe their gold siluer and riches and see their poore brethren distressed and in great want and will not releeue them S. 200. P. 110. 111. Riches as gold money and such like laide vp in chestes and lockt vp in cofers are in danger to be lost through theeues fire or other meanes but being dispersed and scattered among the poore they are in safetie and will bring foorth much fruit and will be very profitable both to the giuer and to the receiuer S. 201. P. 112. The Lord calleth him a blessed man that releeueth the poore and needie and doth promise that he will deliuer him in the day of trouble A little is great riches to him that hath nothing S. 202. P. 112. It is very vnreasonable and vngodly that one christian doth not comfort and releeue another in their tribulations and wants S. 203 P. 113. Christians are commanded to lend without looking for any gaine thereby Vâ—uâ—ers commit theft they must die and not liue They make marchandise of other mens myseries and their owne gaine of other mens losses The vsurer is like him that vnder the colour of loue wil take his neighbour which is alreadie downe by the hand to lift him vp that he may giue him a greater fall S. 204. P. 114. In the ministers of the word true doctrine and godly life must go togither He that teacheth good things to others and teacheth not himself to do them is like a sieue or boulter wherewith meale is sifted or boulted which sendeth foorth the finest floure and best of the wheat and keepeth the bran and woorst of the wheate to it selfe S. 105. P. 114. The tyrannie and crueltie of princes towards their loyall subiects doth threaten the ruine of their kingdomes but lenitie mercie doth make their kingdomes mightilie to florish and brings peace and safetie to themselues Mercy becommeth a christian prince verie well Mercy and truth haue kept do keepe Elizabeth our gratious Queene of England and elemencie doth strengthen hir throne Mercy doth lift man vp to Godward but crueltie doth cast man downe to hell warde S. 206. P. 114 115. Ingratitude is a greeuous sinne wherwith the Lord hath euer beene highly offended the Lords hand hath euer beene stretched out against it England hath receiued great infinite benefits both for their bodies and souls but England is far behind with thanks giuing vnto the Lord wherefore we must be either more thankfull or else looke assuredly for more punishment S. 207. P. 115. 116. Enuie is not bred in the harts of vertuous and godly men but in the harts and minds of the wicked and vngodly Enuie will not be tamed a man may ouercome and subdue his enimies but not their enuie Enuie doth teare and rende in peeces the man in whom it is The enuious man doth make the felicitie of another man his owne torment S. 208. P. 117. The Lord will haue his seruants tried in this world with many afflictions to the ende that the difference which is betweene them and the children of this world may appeere and be euident and that vertue may growe to perfection in them A christian man may be a martyr and euen liuing without losing his life by fire or sword S. 209. P. 117. 118. 119. Words of doctrine are verie profitable but when they are seene to worke holines and righteousnes in the teachers they then preuaile the more with them that are taught S. 210. P. 119. 120. The lighter ballance will euer be highest and the vainer and woorse man will euer extoll himselfe most the heauier ballance will euer be lowest and the better man will euer humble himselfe most It is in a christian man som perfection to know and to acknowledge his owne imperfection S. 211. P. 120. A theefe will speake thee faire and yet wil rob or kill thee The nature and conditions the bloodie tyrannie and more the beastlie crueltie of vsurers plainly and truly opened S. 212. P. 120. 121. 122. A verie true perfect and plaine description of hypocrites what is true vertue among Christians They that would seeme to be religious vertuous godlie and honest do differ so far from that they seeme to be as the