was not a more worthy for all qualities belonging to a gentleman nor any more sober or continent then he or that tooke more paines or that lesse loued idlenes then he Our countrey men many of them are great readers and small followers They scorne to be ignorant of any thing yet make no vse of it but lippe witte I had rather see a still practiser then a loud speaker that is ready to take the tale out of a mans mouth whatsoeuer he speakes of Hee that reades much outwardly and reformes little inwardly is like one that delights in a pleasant wood and yet doth nothing when he is there but make rods for himselfe Fye vpon idlenesse the mother of sinne and effeminatenesse both in high and lowe Queritur Aegistus quare sitfactus adulter Ouid. In promptu causa est desidiosus erat The question was asked why lou'd Aegistus luxurie Answere was made Because he liued idlely And therefore they that haue any goodnesse will hate to liue idlely They shall haue time enough to bee idle in their graues but while we be liuing let vs alwayes be doing When Eumenes was so straightly besieged by Antigonus Plut. that his people had no roome to doe any thing they were affraide of nothing more then of idlenesse their enemy troubled them not so much without the walles as idlenesse within But their worthy captaine prouided for them very well deuised new exercises of strength and motion such as their little roome would allow of either in his hall or in some other corners And some hee made ouerseers of the rest The very horses they would not let be idle but kept them in breath with hanging them in such sort that they could scarce touch ground with their forefeete and then belaboured them so with sticke and voice that they sweat and groand againe Others walked them till they were coole Others ground barley for them There was not a gentleman that refused to doe any thing to keepe him from idlenesse Idlenesse is the corrupter of all good manners Plut. in mor. no vertue hath possession saith one Philosoper where a man is not in some good action Idlenesse hath beene equally punished heretofore with murther or theft Others made it but banishment others made it fineable Atheus persicus made them worse then horse rubbers in Licurgo Strobeus ser 42. that were idle Lycurgus prouided so that none could be idle all persons had enough to doe in their place Amongst the Lucanes in Italy a man lost his money by the lawes that he had lent to an idle or a voluptuous body Plin. lib. 6. Amasis likewise a most wise king who reigned foure and forty yeares ouer the Egyptians made a law vpō paine of death Plut. in Sympo that euery man should once a yeare giue an accompt of his life and actions and how he maintained himselfe and he appointed Pretours of purpose to take this accompt Sueto This law did Augustus like so well of that he made the like in Rome And Solon long before him brought the same to Athens to roote out of the citty vnprofitable weedes that sucke out the iuyce and foyson of the earth and bring nothing againe take the fruite of it and giue no fruite againe The oxe feedes by vs and giues vs his flesh to eate the cowe feedes and giues sweet milke for it the sheepe feeds and giues vs cloathing to our backs and our horse carries vs for his meate Onely our idle bodies take all they can giue nothing againe and since they will not be their owne lawe it is great pitty that the law of Amasis is not amongst them If I should tell you more stories in this kinde happly I should please you more then my selfe It is not the Roman nor the Grecian or Spartan that I seeke for but the true Christian Mat. 11. Woe be to thee Corozain as our Sauiour saith so woe be to thee so idle a Christian whatsoeuer For if Christ had walked the Egyptian streetes if Christ had beene preached out of the Romane pulpits if Pagans had had such a marke to shoote at as wee in the eyes of our faith haue had it beene said to them Mat. 20. why stand yee heere idlely and haue a world of your owne to thinke of in heauen which will not be had with out thinking and labouring they would not haue needed such lawes as I speake of nor would haue stood gaping so idlely about them as we doe and care not which end goes forward And therefore ô yee flower of our nation that are here together the hope of your friends not the meanest portion of your countries expectation Whose ancestours were not idle when then they carried the lillies farre and neere and extended your borders so wide and large nor idle when they defended your frontiers built your cities towers townes castles and Churches without number not idle in so many foundations and noble monuments which they haue left behind them to the glory of God and honour of our nation not idle when they bred you and brought you vp to that you now bee And your selues also not idle hitherto either in your times of march or dayes of truce Nay I know not whether any in the world were in better businesse then you not scorning the meanest offices in the field or campe or about your owne persons when yee had others to doe it for you Yet somewhat ye would bee doing alwaies with your owne horse or armour or drying your owne powder or accommodating your pike or picking and pruning your petronell obseruing euer so willingly your leaders voice and seruing God continually in word and thought Let not this idle canker I say come neere your doores hereafter or set any footing where you haue to doe Flie it shunne it auoide it as you would a house that hath the plague in it Take heede I beseech you of this vnprofitable idlenesse that will bee ready to assault you when you come home And beware no lesse of idle hangers on I am very vnprofitable my selfe but rather then I would bee as some are I wish my selfe a stone or a peece of wood that somewhat might bee made of mee There is not a sticke of wood but will make somewhat Either a bowe or a bedde-staffe or a toppe or a tyle-pinne But our idle bodies serue for nothing They are neither good for God nor the common-wealth nor themselues Not for God but to practise his iudgements vpon Not for the common-wealth but to eate vp their prouision before it be spoiled and to drinke vp their pots by yards or dozens if that bee good Neither are they for themselues that put not out their wit nor that they haue to the most no not to any aduantage for their eternall good Knowing well enough that they may not liue heere alwaies One day the dolefull bell must ring out for them their eye-liddes closed vp their face cast ouer with
sence be not pleased wee bidde the spirit adeiw In the one sence Saint Paul said Rom. 7. Psal 41. Who shalldeliuer me from this body of death and holy Dauid When shall I come and appeare before the face of my God And in another place Woe is mee that my habitation is prolonged Psal 119. thinking euery minute an hower and euery day a yeare vntill they were dissolued Phil. 1. Psal 13. and were with Christ in the other sence Dixit insipiens in corde suo The foole said in his heart there is no God Or if hee said it not yet his actions say that when he beleeues not Gods promises but makes him a politician to tell vs he is at hand when we haue twenty thirty or forty yeares yet to liue as many haue No no hee deales not politikely but faithfully with vs and if wee see not his words to be true in this we are blinde and see nothing Psal 89. Holy Dauid saith the daies of man are threescore and ten yeares these seeme great to children but to our first fathers in the old testament this was no age And if we should now liue ordinarily so long wee might haply haue some excuse for our wearinesse But alas what are these threescore and tenne yeares They are nothing to speake of and so runne out They that haue them thinke them quickely gone Wee heare olde folkes confesse it and why should wee not beleeue them when they say as they finde we beleeue the Sentinell what he sees from a high tower because he is higher then we and we beleeue the sea-man what he discouers from aboue the toppe-saile seeing farther then we So ought wee beleeue our elders and ancients when they speake what they haue prooued and wee shall say the same when we come to the same yeares And they say no more but what our Patriarke Iacob said the daies of my pilgrimage said he are an hundred and thirtie Gen. 47. little and euill Holy Job said breues dies hominis sunt our dayes are but short And he asketh a question thus Iob 14. nunquid non paucitas dierum meorum finietur breui Will not the fewnesse of my daies be soone ended Marke these words fewnesse and soone ended and yet he had an hundred and forty yeares to liue after and when hee spake it hee was in extreame paine when euery hower might seeme a day to him These men I hope will be beleeued what they say Compare now the Prophet Dauids sayings to these both speaking from one spirit of truth Holy Iacob and Iob say the daies of man are short Holy Dauid saith our yeares are threescore and tenne therefore I say the time of threescore and ten are short and quickely gone and consequently our reward at hand How will this argument bee answered one telsvs that all the earth as bigge as it is and full of great kingdomes is no bigger then a pinnes head in comparison to the vast and huge firmament and we easily beleeue it when the learned tell vs it though our sence doth not reach it And yet how little or nothing our pilgrimage is heere euen his that liueth longest a matter of so common experience and which our owne infirmities and dayly indispositions minde vs of we perswade our selues notwithstanding that it is a long time and neither will authority reason or warning by others once mooue vs or beate vs from this moth-eaten hold we haue of long life forsooth and time enough yet Three or fourscore yeares are a long time with vs in Gods seruice though short enough in our desires But let them be as long as men will haue them Suppose threescore and tenne be great and grieuous to holde out to the end withall in vertuous life See whether God in this also haue not done very much for vs that we may haue no cause to alleadge against him if we will make benefit of it How many be there I pray that liue to threescore and tenne Doth euery man liue till he be old I will saymore Doth euery one liue to halfe those yeares I will be bolde to say and I thinke I can prooue it that halfe thove that are borne into the world doe neuer come to fiue and thirty yea more then this hardly two parts of three come to see fiue and thirty And this I prooue two waies First by the many multitudes of them that dye betweene the cradle and fiue and thirty As appeareth by sextons and Churchclarkes whom I haue heard affirme that they bury two of the yonger halfe which are vnder fiue thirty for one of the elder halfe from thirty fiue to seuenty Secondly principally by a suruey of housholds families and towneshippes throughout the land be it in citty towne or country and that in this manner Deuide any of these into three and scarce the third part is fiue and thirty My selfe haue noted that two parts of three are alwaies vnder fiue and thirty Vnlesse it be in princes houses and hospitals If the family be nine persons sixe of them be vnder if fifteene tenne of them be vnder If there be thirty in a house twenty at the least are vnder and so forward in proportion Ye will say this may be true not because they bee dead that should make vp the number euen but because they marry away or prouide themselues otherwise ere they come to that age Well then Follow them where they goe and where they settle they must be some where Still yee shall finde all one and the same proportion wheresoeuer they become But to leaue these and come to those that are entred the latter halfe of thirty fiue and vpward there the oddes is much greater an hundred to one Titleman saith a thousand to one that they neuer shall see Seauentye Now what is become of all those that were once fiue and thirty with him are they not all dead but halfe a dozen or not so many in a parish before they come to seauenty or any thing neere it yet thus it is in all places and countries There is a multitude of the younger sort all of an age but of olde folkes but a fewe and almost none in comparison And therefore it is I thinke that holy Dauid said dies amorum nostrorum ni ipsis c. Psal 89. The daies of our yeares in themselues are threscore and tenne In themselues they are so many but in vs not so many or in very fewe of vs. It is a time limited to vs to which most fewe doe euer attaine As if a man should say it is tenne mile to such a towne to goe the next way ouer rocks and places vnpassable but the common way is twentie In it selfe that is tenne but to vs it is twenty Euen so it is with mans age There be that liue to those great yeares but so fewe that a man needes not feare it if he would not liue long and it were folly to hope
it if long life be that he would haue But my purpose is not to dwell vpon these points which although they be true yet I leaue them rather to your scanning at more leisure vpon these grounds I haue giuen you then to seeme ouercurious in a matter so serious as now I haue in hand And yet I hope this is not without fruite which I speake of For so much as euen in this the prouidence of God is seene ouer vs and his tender loue to vs. His prouidence first in foreseeing our danger by liuing long How many be there in the world that wee haue knowne vertuous in their youth and vitious in their age in their child-hood towardly in their middle age of good example in their elder yeares declining and at last vnrecouerable Which Dauid fearing in one place Psal 70. prayes to God saying O forsake me not Lord when I come to bee olde And of this wee haue diuers examples in Scriptures Saul Salomon Ioas and others who of Gods especiall seruants declined in the ende to bee Idolaters Mat. 24. or as ill Gods loue also is heere to beseene towards his elect for whose sake as hee will shorten and abreuiate the whole world Sap. 4 11. and will hasten the end of it so doth he in particular for many of his seruants abridge much part of their time that otherwise they might haue liued And albeit that many liue longer for their amendment or increase of grace which is also his goodnesse Patientiam habet nolensaliquos perire 2. Pet. 3. saith S. Peter he drawes out the time with many that they may haue time to repent them yet so it is that God will haue vs see and know and take notice of it what oddes there is against vs that wee shall not liue long Many signes in our body that our time will be heere but short Many spectacles before our eyes and warnings on euery side by others harmes or vntimely deaths New diseases euery yeare that will not let the bell stand and sometimes horrible plagues and pestilent agues that seldome touch olde folkes but pull downe the lustiest What should I speake of consumptions squinances cough of the lungs ptisickes dropsies pleurisies collicke and stone lethargies appoplexies and sometimes the sweating sickenesse that playes sweepe-stake amongst vs when it comes and these come commonly of misdiet or infection Besides this the number is without number that dye of age before they bee halfe olde of age I say because it is olde age with some vnder forty with some vnder thirty with some vnder twenty or vnder tenne if God will haue them liue no longer who hath appointed euery one their bounds which they may not passe Posuisti terminos qui praeteriri non poterunt Iob. 14. Hee calles it terminos not one bound for euery man but how many men so many limites and bounds Heb. 9. no certainty of it but one which is once as Saint Paul saith but not when And of this there bee naturall reasons also besides Gods ordinance which are the seuerall indispositions of mens bodies as wee learne by Aristotle Galen and Hipocrates the poorenesse of moysture radicall in infinite persons and the ouer abundance of it in others which naturall heate is not able to master The faults also in our first conception and generation which no man knowes of but God make an end of vs quickly when yonger yeares promise longer life To say nothing of the Maleuolous influence of sundry starres the Lords of our natiuity or of them that keepe no meane in their youth and kill themselues with misrule Plures occidit gula quam gladius saith one Lastly the manifold names our life is called by in Scriptures and fathers doe shew the brittlnesse and vncertainty of it as when it is called a bubble that is come and gone in the twinkling of an eye It is called hay greene yesterday and this day withered away Sicut foenum dies eius Psal 102. tanquam flos agrisic efflorebit Compared heere to a flower in the field this day fresh and challenging the Sunne for beauty and fairenesse to morrow holding downe the proud necke and no body lookes at it It is called a smoake Iac. 4. a vapour our face in a glasse soone seene and soone forgotten a cherry faire a shaddow and as Saint Augustine calleth it Medit. a shaddow by Moone-light so much to say as a shaddow of a shaddow What flowers of youth haue we knowne in our time the hopes of their fathers house and greatnesse now blasted and long since buried vnder the shaddow of death and will bee quite out of minde What beautifull Matrons haue we seene in our dayes that possessed mens hearts with their vertues and sparkling eyes They arose like a morning starre to shewe themselues in our Horizon went downe againe in their prime and rise no more To say nothing of our Europe worthies whom our eyes haue seene to fall in our last warres like starres in the firmament De orat But ô fallacem hominum spem fragilemque fortunam saith Tully speaking of our vnstable life how greatly wee build vpon it and yet in medio curriculo as hee calleth it wee are taken and intercepted by death when wee least thinke it in the middest of our course But thus wee see in fewe words how neere our reward is euen as neere as death And if authority of Scripture will not serue here be also reasons for it and more might bee added if neede were Qui non credit peribit And hee that beleeueth not this verity which hee sees testified with his owne eyes how can hee bee thankfull as hee should for so great a benefit Let life bee short or long with vs it is allotted for our good and the way to make vse of it is to thanke God that it is no longer If a man make reckoning of the best things heere and would liue still to enioy them still let him know hee must forgoe them in the ende hee knowes not how soone His delights must goe one way and hee another Let him make much of life for when life is gone his ioy is gone But if a man haue a true feeling and knowledge of himselfe and of his life and of the frailties of it how full of sinne and pronenesse to sinne how full of inticements and euill prouocations and dulnesse to any goodnesse what stormes and afflictions to beate vs from God what danger in prosperity to neglect God what multiplicity of businesse to forget God or to make vs loue him lesse hee will thinke it a blessing of God not to liue long Phil. 1. and will say with Saint Paul Mihi mori lucrum My death my gaine and will ioy much in this possibility hee hath this great possibility I say to bee one of this number that shall liue but a little while Heathens themselues that had no light but naturall yet saw they
their mony An idoll is commonly made of mettall so is there mony of golde and siluer The keeping and holding of it is called heere Idolatry in respect of the much making of it or hiding of it as Rachel did that none may come at it but themselues It is idolatry in regard of the honour done to it which is due to God For though they knowe it is not God nor dare adore it for God yet they loue it altogether as they should loue God that is to say with all their heart with al their soule and leaue to God but a little It is called idolatry also in the other sence 1. Reg. 5. For when God comes in place the idoll Dagon fals to the ground Euen so when grace comes hourding breaks her neck Then swelling bags begin to leake and massie heapes fall in peeces The mettal melts as the heart melts till all be deuided into portions goe where it should goe Some such examples there be of true repēters though very few but many more might be if men were not made hard like mettall with looking at mettal as the Liuonians were turnd to wolues with oftē gazing at wolues S. Paul makes no better of these horders thē excōmunicate persons 1. Cor. 5. h. For he wil not haue vs conuerse with thē nor so much as eat in their cōpany They be rightly called auari quasi eris auidi or mony gripers auari quasi amari for their bitternesse toward the poore auari quasi auersi they turne their backs to a body that lookes poore and thinne on it And yet because they wrong none in getting they will not see their fault in keeping and are in danger therefore of damning Howbeit Gen. 14. there is none of these iudgements that euer touched holy Abraham who was diues auri et argenti For he kept a great house and releeued many with it Three hundred and eighteene the Scripture speakes of that were fighting men besides women and children all bredde and brought vp saith Josephus in his owne house lib. 1. ca. 11 1. Par. 28. These touched not Dauid who heaped such a masse of treasure for the house of God which his sonne was to builde and he might not These hardly touch Princes or noble men of great expences as I saide before nor Magistrates or Prelates who haue great riches if they be good men withall and as ready to poure it out againe as fast as it came in to the reliefe of many Neither touch they any other bee they neuer so rich of Gods blessings so they be humble withall and thinking store to be a burthen will take aduise and be gouerned where they ought and are directed If a man haue a yeares reuenue lying by him the matter is not great and it may be fitting for him But to haue many yeares gatherings moulding by him I neuer yet heard or read of any good man but one and him it neuer did good either dead or aliue And that was Narses Generall to Justinian for the west Hee is touched with no fault but hourding For he was otherwise a man both humble and valiant and no badde man to the poore Hee left so much wealth in a cesterne vnder ground that it could not be carried out in many dayes after it was found But the Emperour made a good worke of it for hee gaue it almost all away to the poore And therefore I commend Belisarius much better who was the other Generall for the east at the same time and sawe the bestowing of his hugeriches himselfe vpon such as were of desert and other pious vses and hospitals for the poore Our nation and countrey also hath beene and still is as much beholding to such benefactours as any and their names are memorable in townes and citties where they abide But especially those I say that doe what they will doe in their life time and not at their death onely when they can holde it no longer themselues This argument my good friends may seeme as to you but vaine who I know are little troubled with this kinde of sinne And yet ye haue good meanes when ye come home to rise and raise good fortunes But the due consideration of tempting riches of the one side which wee must dearely answer for if we haue them and of pinching pouerty on the other side which but few care to comfort or affoord a good looke on doth teach vs to pray thus Prou. 30. and it ought to be al our prayer Diuitias et mendicitatemne dederis mihi sed tantum victui meo tribue necessaria As one should say Lord let not me be rich nor clog me with Superfluum neither let me be in beggars estate nor distract me with want or misery onely giue me necessaries and I aske no more If riches come I haue but an office of charge by it and more care I must haue to bestow them well then haply they be worth If I be poore I cannot pray quietly for thinking of my wants Giue me a meane therefore betweene both Lord that I be not tempted to deny thee as it is said in the same place ne illicear ad negandum ibid. vers 9. And it may bee I shall deny thee with hourding if I be rich or with stealing if I be poore And thus when our Pastours teach vs we must not think they ieast with vs but shew vs the right way we must walke to dye securely There calling is to know what is good for vs better then our selues and what is right and equity in all things This law of conscience I say is it that makes all euen which neither Solon nor Lycurgus euer knew of to imprint in mens mindes And which if they had or that the Spirit of God had come within the element of naturall vnderstanding Philosophers and Oratours would haue vrged vs to this as well as they And yet many of them haue practised the very same in their course of life iust as ours doe teach vs. They contemned riches or poured them out when they had them content with ynough and no more Such as Crates Anaxagoras Zeno Philoxenus and all the rest almost not one of them rich or that sought after it Demonax would take no care for meat or drinke but when he was hungry he went in where he saw the next dore open took a pittāce Your excellent Poets Homer Ennius Plautus Martiall and others who had wits to command riches yet were they poore men content onely with inward contentment let outward things go And to come neerer our word Empedocles thought nothing more Honorable then contempt of Superfluum The same said Chilon one of the seauen wise Possesse no more then yee neede said he And of this opinion might seeme to bee the greatest worthies almost that euer were if they were not ouer ambitious Such as Cimon of Athens Phocion Aristides Lamachus Epaminondas Fabritius Menenius who either refused alwaies what was giuen