God let me aske thee this one thing why dost thou amplifie and enlarge this matter and giuest such letters of commendation vnto it No doubt thy answere is that treasure of much worth hath need to be wel kept and that pearles of cheefest price which are easily lost should be fast tied to ribbands and warily locked vp It is to much purpose that the word is sampled and patterned to a pearl and a manifold and comfortable vse we haue hereof and it liuely setteth forth the dignitie nature and excellencie of the word This Pearl is the omnipotent and eternal word of God properly so called for sundry good respects whether we consider the subiect matter or form manner and operation of the pearle For the matter of it Plinius it consisteth wholy of the dew of heauen which a certain shel-fish vsually at a set and certaine season of the yeere draweth to it self as natural philosophers and historians do report now how in this property it fitteth Christs nature the kingly Prophet sheweth vs directly in this wise Psalme 110 The fruit of the womb is of the dew of the morning Aug. Tom. 4. Quaest in Mat. quaestio 13. Ille ad margaritam iam ipsam peruenerat quae integumentis mortalitatis quasi ocncharum obstaculis inter profunda huius saecnli atque inter duritias saxeas Iudaeorum aliquando latuerat Christ now as saith Augustine grew vnto the very substance of a pearle inclosed and shut vp in virgins womb and mantle of mortalitie as it were in the shell and couerture of the fish lying hid a while in the depth of this world as it were in the sea and among the cragged rocks of the people of the Iewes The forme of the pearle is orient and glistering and exceeding beautifull wherein it hath a notable agreement with this word as the same father in the same place thus witnesseth Verbum Domini lucidum candore veritatis solidum firmitate aeternitatis vndique sui simile pulchritudine diuinitatis The word of God shineth through the brightnesse of the veritie it is firm and sound through the solidity of eternity and it is in al parts alike in the beautie of diuinitie The vertue and operation of the pearle is great and for diuers vses is exceeding medicinable among other to remedie the panting of the heart to quicken comfort and restore the vitall spirits to depell and driue away the giddinesse dizzinesse and swimming of the head Now how all these conspire in one in Christ and are compleate in him and are brought to passe in vs by feeling experience by the operation of the word it is as cleer and apparant as the Sunne This was that which was Dauids comfort and quickened him in the midst of his trouble Psalme 119 The want of this 1. Sam. 28. droue Saul into all perplexed and pittiful passions and most desperate designements whilest he rowled in his melancholy and mad moode and bethought himselfe how God was departed from him and aunsweared him no more either by Prophet or by dreame A similitude This is the comfortable electuarie of our soules made by the art of the best Phisitian and approoued by long experience as most excellent This is that aqua vitae which doth A similitude not only slack and alay our thirst but worketh within vs to the quickning of our life when it is dead in sinne Iohn 6 Therefore Peter calleth it the word of life saying Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life And Christ calleth it life This is life eternall Iohn 17 to know thee the true God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ There is no sinner so swallowed vp of sinne so dead and buried in it whome the woorde can not quicken and rayse vp againe It cried out to the drie and dead bones in the field and loe they were knit together Ezech. 37 the flesh came vpon them and the skinne aboue couered them they breathed liued stoode vpon their feete and became a mightie armie Lazarus who had lien foure daies in his graue was quickned by this word Iohn 11 As the bodie liueth by his bodily food A similitude so doth the soule by his spiritual foode the food and diet of the soule is the word But herein this food exceedeth much the other that this is effectuall and liuely to the dead but the other is nourishable onely to the liuing Take thou heede therefore of the wretchles regard and loathsomnesse of the word since it is thy meate A similitude For as among the diseases of the body there is none more desperate then his whose stomacke either loatheth or retaineth not his meate the strength of his life without which the body dieth so he whose soule abhorreth this meate is in all extremitie and is brought according to the saying of the prophet Psaim 107. euen to deaths doore What man is so desperately and irrecouerably sicke A similitude who doth not gladly heare that Phisitian who doth but barely make him promise of his health albeit he be not able to performe it wherefore since Gods word is life of it selfe and healeth all infirmities suffereth vs not to be giddie in the spirit or wauer in the faith but giueth vs assurance of our eternal saluation ô deare and precious let this pearle be in our sight Let the Poets boast of Orpheus as they please who with musicke tamed sauage beasts of this we are most sure that Gods worde hath reclaymed and altered beastly minds Act. 9 and of Apostates hath made them Apostles of purloyners of Gods secrets and merchandizers of the word hath made them the faithfull dispensers of his mysteries Paul very expressely laieth out so much whenas portraying out our counterfeit as it was without Christ after whose glorious image we haue bin perfected and transformed he indigestly shadoweth vs out with a blacke coale in this mishappen manner We our selues also were in times past vnwise Titus 3. disobedient deceiued seruing the lustes and diuers pleasures liuing in maliciousnesse and enuy hatefull and hating one another Likewise leading vs along with a rehearsall of sundrie enormities which we rifely committed he inferreth therevpon that this was our estate but the case is altred with vs we are washed sanctified 1. Cor. 6. and iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God Be we neuer so profound and deeply wise in humane wisedome it may beseeme vs well to seeke after this wisedome as a Pearle of greater price and vertue than the other Solomon the wisest that euer was saw verie manifestly that wheresoeuer the vncreated wisedome of God spake Prouer. 〈◊〉 it spake of excellent things euen things seemely for Princes And although some places are shallow enough for the lambe to wade in yet there be some deep enough to drowne the very elephant of the which we may say with the
it 's labour loft to plow vp Ocean shore The good ground are they Luke 8 by the testimony of Christ who with honest and good heartes heare the worde and keepe it make their hearts the bagge to carry this treasure The good mans hart is the arke of the couenant Hebr. 9. wherein not onely the tables of the olde Lawe but the Gospel of the new is hidden and locked vp It is a fooles heart that is like a broken pitcher that holdeth no water or like a spend-thriftes purse that holdeth no money of a giddy and changeable disposition as leaues of trees shaking euery way with eucry puffe of winde turning round about as the doore vpon the hinges and as a tennis ball that is tossed to and fro and not suffred to rest vpon the ground In the olde Canons such beasts as did not ruminate and chew the cudde as swine Leuitic 1◠Deuter. 14. and such like were defined to be vncleane by the Law of Moses as no doubt those soules are who do not ponder and lay vp in their hearts such precepts and commaundements as the Lord giueth them Therefore that you may not heare the word in vaine the best counsaile that may be giuen you is this to record and write in the tables of your hearts such lessons as you doe learne You must follow the Angels counsaile to Ezechiel Ezechiel 3 saying vnto him Sonne of man eate this rowle that I giue thee cause thy belly to eate and fill thy bowelles with this rowle The like charge did the Angell giue to Iohn that hee should eate and digest the booke Reuel 10. It is the fashion and guise of many to reade much but to eate little to deuoure a great deale but to digest and concoct nothing They returne from the sermon to their dinner and remember nothing no longer than their bodies are in the church as Siues that holde no water no longer than they are holden within the riuer These men labour of a daungerous disease A similitude that is next to deaths doore for theyr case is like vnto that sicke mans estate whose stomacke is so weake as it is not able to retayne and keepe such meate as is put into it but immediately dooth cast it vppe His life is in his nourishment which if hee cannot keepe how is it possible that he should keepe his life I therefore feare much their eternal death who loathe and leaue the diet of the soule which onely preserueth the life of the soule And the prophet Dauid seemeth to conclude so much and to make it an infallible and irrefragable consequence Psalme 107 Their soules faith hee abhorreth all kinde of meate And what followeth heerevppon They are next vnto deaths doore Is there possible any good to be had in the onely hearing and reading of the word without any further heede thereunto Can the henne hatch chickins of those egs A similitude which after shee hath a little sette vppon in the neast she immediately vtterly forsaketh them It is against all beleefe no more can wee bring foorth any good by the hearing of the word which as soone forgotten as it is heard of vs. There is nothing more forcible and effectuall then fire A similitude powerfull to consume but it must haue a time to take holde of his combustible subiect before it can shew his strēgth vpon it For if thou runnest swiftly through it be the fire neuer so quicke thou canst not be scorched or once singed with it A stay must be made that it may apprehend and claspe the fewell or else it is impossible that it should consume it Gods word is the fire of the spirite Luke 24. which inflameth all our heartes and maketh them to burne like a torch which burneth vppe al our sinnes like stubble But if we slubber it vp carelesly and haste away from it and make no stay at it that it may kindle the coales of zeale within them it shall neuer kindle or warme our colde consciences or giue them any comfort Wherefore be perswaded to followe this course which reason aduiseth thee and the practise and examples of the better sort at all times haue animated and incited thee vnto Christes Disciples were led by this rule Luke ◠whenas their thoughts did runne vppon his speech and brought them back again to ask the meaning of it The Virgin Mary is a woman twice or thrice noted for this Luke 12. that she pondered with herselfe the words of the Angell and what kind of salutation is should be and that she lodged such sayings as the heard secretly in hir heart The men of Berea are registred in the chronicles of the spirite for this Act. 17 that they caried home with them the Sermon of Saint Paul that they might trie and examin by the scriptures whether things were so or no. So Dauid vsed this for thus he speaketh of himselfe saying Psalme 119 I haue hidden thy commandement within my heart that I should not sinne against thee There is this marke of difference between Iacob and his sonnes when Ioseph discouered his dreame vnto them his brethren vouchsafed not to giue hi audience but the text saith Gen. 37 that Iacob noted the saying As spicery yeeldeth thee more forcible smell A similitude the more it is brayed and stamped in the morter so the word of God is of better sauour to vs the more it is beaten and bruised in our hearts Wherfore this our Marchant-Ieweller is wise who hideth his treasure assoone as he findeth it And he doth but that which is of common practise The Captain or Lieftenant A similitude to whom the generall Gouernour in the field shal commit a tower or a strong cittie to be kept not only fortifieth it with garrison and munition but foreseeth it to be so diked and fenced round about as it may be sure against intended inuasion If we shall be thus prouident for the safegard of this treasure which the enemy so subtily endeuoureth to haue from vs and keep that thus carefully which our generall commander the Lord of Hostes hath committed to our trust and of which he wil one day take a streight account of vs we shall like loyall subiects discharge our duties wel and shal be very highly rewarded of him for it Let the example of Ezechias be a fair warning to vs 2. Reg. 20 and let vs binde it as a signe vpon our hands who for opening that treasure vnto the ambassadors of Babylon which should haue bin priuatly kept to himselfe and hidden from them gaue occasion to the enemie afterward to rob his posteritie of it As those that do lay seige to any great place A similitude do stop such passages by which they may conceiue their enemie may be succoured so the diuell an old beaten souldiour to this craft intercepteth al the keyes and ports by which he knoweth the Lord conuayeth vnto vs
nothing but a sad and austeare stile delight thee here is law agreeable â—o thy humour Is thy heart so obdurate as nothing but iudgement and terror can soften â—â—â— repaire vnto the Prophets whose dreadful comminations are hammers and thunderboltes and as scepters of yron to beate them vnto powder Art thou light hearted and of a iocund and delightsome nature heere is psalmodie and harmonie for thy fancie Art thou philosophically and grauely bent and delightest thou to heare concise and curious sentences Psal 78. the Lord here openeth his mouth in parables and declares vnto thee hard sentences of old Reade Iob Ecclesiastes the prouerbes of Salomon and there are quicke inuentions sutable to thy vaine Last of all art thou nice and curious in thy reading and doth nothing but Chronicles and antiquitie affect thee there are none such braue antiquaries as the pen-men of the Scripture the admirable actuaries historians of all times Thus euery kind of way whither soeuer we turne our selues and name what we will we haue here a tresure to beare out al our wants So as it seemeth not vnlike a princes armory A simiiltude which affoordeth plenty of all sorts of armor and implements of warrefare sutable to euery condition of person whether of tall or low stature whether of strength or weaknesse of body What is worldly treasure which we esteem so much but base and vile in comparison of this which we esteem so little Paul not being able to find out with himselfe a worser thing to which he might compare it likeneth it to dung Phil. 3. A homely comparison yet fitting right the nature of the thing For what is it else being considered as it is what is the substance stance of our chiefest treasure as of gold siluer or the Onix stone but the very guts and exhalation of the earth Luke 16. The gorgeous glutton who was in the ruffe robed in purple what was the matter of it but the wooll of dead beasts and what was the die and colour of it but the excrements of the shel fish His lawnes and daintie diapers what were they but the barke and the skinne of the flaxe His delicate dishes sent from his dresser what were they but the carcasses of beastes birds and fishes his pompous pallace was nothing else but a confused lump of earth congested together And if I should leade you with a long discourse and recite of particulars I must brand them on the foreheads with Salomons make Eccle. 1. Vanitie of vanities and all is vanitie There is nothing earthly stable and permanent The word of God only endureth for euer Our life passeth away swiftly like a post â—ur youth wax soon old fortune often frowâ—eth and riches ebbe and flow A similitude Isai 4. as the waters of the sea and resemble harlots who do nothing but flatter coozen and forsake vs. The people that calleth thee blessed deceiueth thee saith the Prophet Isai Trust not this flattering and deceitfull world which will kill thee with culling thee as Ioab did Amasa and Iahel did Sisopa It wil promise thee one thing and giue thee another thing as Laban who promised Rachel vnto Iacob Gen. 29 and foisted in Leah It promiseth thee prosperitie and it giueth thee aduersitie tempering poison in a golden challice like the whoore of Babylon What did all the treasure and pleasure of Aegypt availe to help Pharao when as in the height and top of his gallantnesse Exod. 14. the waters ouerwhelmed him the depths couered him and his whole hoast did sincke to the bottom like a stone Nabucad-nezzar had trussed vppe much treasure and had brought in the wealth of the whole world into his exchequor and treasurie at Babylon he stalked in his galleries and crowed pertly like a cocke vppon his dunghill Is not this great Babel which I haue built Dan. 4. for the honour of my kingdome But his comb was soone cut he soared vp so high in the lightnesse of his mind euen as the bird by the lightnesse of her feathers but he was made come downe with mischiefe enough and of the other side brought as low driuen from his court and courtly retinue and dieted couched and driuen among beastes Baltasar braued it passingly for a time and who but Baltasar but this lustinesse lasted not Dan. 5. for imediately he saw vpon the plaster of the wal his definitiue doome which brought him to his dumpes perplexed his thoughts dissolued his ioynts knocked his knees together and what good then did all his treasure do him Most miserable therefore and wofull is their estate who preferre this earthly which is so fraile and fickle before the celestial treasure of the worde which abideth for euer wherevnto shall I liken such a generation They are like vnto dogges A similitude who will not depart from the drie bone they gnaw vpon for any peece of money or like Aesops cocke that hauing found a great iewell in the dunghill is desirous to permute it with a barly kartell If thou fearest that thy corne will foist in lower ground to preuent such mishap Aug. in Psal 89. thou caust hoist it vp to a higher granerie Thy â—â—â—asure which thou cofferest hoardest vp â—â—earth will canker and corrupt in this case therfore be as prouident for thy soule as thou 〈◊〉 carefull of thy corne for the sustenance of thy body lay vp such prouision as is needfull for it in the highest loft where it may lie safely be as forward to lift thy soul to heauen as thou art to lift vp higher vpon any occasion thy graine heere in earth if thou askest how and art herein desirous to bâ— taught I answere with Augustine the pullies gables ladders instruments hereunto belonging are thy wel qualified and godly affections Thy loue is the captaine that giueth the onset the foote of the soule according 〈◊〉 this proposition of S. Augustine Amor men pondus meum Amore feror quocunque feror My loue is my burden whither soeuer I am carried it is loue that carieth me Base account 〈◊〉 made of some kind of money in a double respect partly because the substaÌ„ce is but baseâ— and partly because it is false and counterfeiâ— Such is the treasure which the world yeeâ—â— deth vs Psal 12 the word of God onely is of simplâ— substance purer theÌ„ gold yea then fine gold purer then the siluer which hath bin seaueâ— times in the furnace purified Bagge vp therefore such money as is currant and will be sure to goe for payment it the resurrection of the iust A similitude Send thy treasure thither whither thou art sure to goe as thâ— merchant-factor laieth out his mony abroad to be repaide it at home A similitude We are here trauellers and pilgrims vpon earth and haue no certaine dwelling place As trauellers cannot carry any great burdeâ— with them neither is it wisedome to bestow â—â—st there where ye
Exhortation to the loue of the worde and the spirituall life the purport of the premisses IT is not gold but drosse not hony but gall not credit but shame not life but death not good but euil which the world yeeldeth vs diuide the worlde aright with the sworde of truth and the vanitie of it will soone appeare vnto thee But thy word Psalme 119 O Lord endureth for euer in heauen Mat. 13 It is the word of the kingdome because it bringeth vs to no lesse than a kingdome It is Iohn 6 the word of life which giueth life vnto all creatures Mat. 2 It is the starre which conducteth vs to Christ Gen. 28 The ladder whose toppe reacheth vp to heauen The water which purgeth and cleanseth our leprosie 2. Reg. 5 Psalmey ◠The manna which satisfieth our hungry soules Iohn 6 The booke that we should study vpon day and night The royall and celestiall Testament of God The Oracles of his Sanctuarie Psal 1 Ierem. 31 Isai 22 The Key that openeth his counsell chamber doore The milke of his breasts Mat 16 1 Pet 2 Psalm 11◠the gage of his loue The light of our paths The breath of our nostrells The piller of our faith Pro 3 The anchor of our hope The ground of our loue Heb 6 The charter of our happinesse Pro 4 The Schoole and Library of all spirituall learnings This is the pathway that leades vnto heauen Luke 18 so saith Christ to the yong man in Luke If thou wilt enter into heauen keep the commandements So saith the Spirit Reuel 2◠Blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it So saith the Angel Blessed are they that keepe the words of this booke So saieth Solomon Prou. 29 Blessed is the man that keepeth the Lawe So saieth Isaiah He that doth this is blessed Isai 56 Iames 1 So saith Iames The doers of the Lawe are iustified And to this giue all the Scriptures witnesse if we wil consider them Good cause therfore haue we to loue this Lawe and all the day long to haue our study in it Worldly Lawyers increase daily they are called common lawyers because they are too common and they are not weary in following that study but Gods Law which speaketh of farre better things and promiseth to the faithfull professors thereof not the golde of Ophir or India but the infinite and vnspeakeable treasure of a kingdome lieth open in the windowe or shut in the studie altogether neglected or retchlesly regarded Sommon all the Law giuers and conuent them together and lette them worship their politique ordinances and statutes as they list they must not bee matched and consorted with this Lawe None of these euer durst or did promise vnto any that were keepers thereof the recompence of a kingdome Mercurius Trismegistius gaue Lawes to the Aegyptians Phoronaeus to the Graecians Solon to the Athenians Lycurgus to the Lacedemonians and Numa Pompilius vnto the Romanes yet none of these pricketh them with that praise as to assigne such a recompence and rewarde vnto them Such glory hath all his Saintes saieth the Kingly Prophet 1 Chro. 12 As one of the least of the captaines of the sonnes of Gad could chace away a hundred and the greatest a thousand so one of Gods books exceedeth a thousand of humane constitutions Prou. 31 Many daughters saith King Lemuel haue done vertuously but thou surmountest all so many writers haue written learnedly but the actuaries of the scriptures haue gone beyond them all Wheras others of Gods blessings as food light and life are communicated to others of his creatures as to birds beasts and fishes this priuiledge of the word as a preheminence and prerogatiue royall aboue all other creatures he hath appropriated only to man And this is argument pregnant to perswade vs to the loue of the word As man is most happy by his hauing the word so had he bin of all most miserable if he had bin destitute altogether of this word For what comfort saith Tobias can I haue now I sit in darknes so what comfort could we haue had whilst we sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death whilst we were without knowledge and hope of our saluation aliants from the common wealth of Israel Ephe 2 strangers from the couenant of promise and were without God in the world Whenas God would checke the ingratitude of his people he calleth to mind his benefits done vnto them and as the chiefest among others Miea 6 he grateth their eares with a rehearsall of his word That as he had giuen them Moses to gouerne them Num. 34 so he had sent them Aaron to instruct them as he had giuen them a Iosua to leade the people Iosua 15 so he did giue them a priest to beare the Arke a Iehozadach with Zorobabel Agge 1 and a Iayrus in the Synnagogue with a Centurion in Capernaum Mat 8 9 His word hath bin the badge and cognisance of his people the hedge and partition whereby they haue bin distinguished from all other people So singeth the melodious musition of Israel Psalm 147 He hath not done so to any other nation neither haue any people such knowledge of his laws This is that one thing that is necessary as Christ said to Martha howsoeuer many other vnnecessary things are preferred before it Luke 10 and we preferre with the vngentle and vnmannerly guests in the Gospel Luke 14 our wife our farme our oxen before it Herein we resemble and imitate such porters A similitude who letteth euery one that is costly apparrelled into his masters gate and keepe out such who are farre their betters because they carry not such an outward shew Or they are like the rauē A similitude who whē sheseeth her young ones in the nest first doe begin to fether and then their fethers seeme white she doth not know them but afterwards perceiuing how the fethers grow blacke she nourisheth and preserueth them The world loueth not a godly man because he seemeth to be of a contrary fether but let him turne blacke and be like the world and the world will know him for his owne and make much of him As in desperate diseases A similitude such medicines as do serue simply in their nature as preseruatiues of life are turned thorough the dangerous corruptions of the patients into occasions of death So in some most dangerous diseases of the soule the word which otherwise in nature is a salue is a corsiue vnto vs. For the word is of sundry effects according to the diuerse dispositions of the subiects that it principally worketh vpon The Sun worketh diuersly as we see A similitude according to the variable nature of the matter vpon which it hath his force For as it softneth waxe so it hardneth clay as it whiteth some things so it blacketh othersome things and yet the
Sunne is one but the subiect is not one The word of God is one but we are not one that are hearers of the word to some it is a sauour of life vnto life and to others it is a sauour of death vnto death We are first to be sundred from our deerest kinred rather then to be separated from the word Hierome hath a zealous saying to that purpose in a letter vnto Heliodore Hieron ad Heliodorum Licet à collo paruulus pendeat infans licet vbera quib te nutrierat ostendat mater licet in limine iaceat pater vt te à Christo retardet contemne matrem calcandus est pater solum est pietatis genus in his fuisse crudelē If thy yong babe hang about thy necke if thy mother laie foorth her breasts wherewith she gaue thee sucke if thy father lie vpon the threshall of thy door to stoppe and withhold thee from going to Christ throw away thy child despise thy mother spurne thy father it is piety not to shew pitty in this case By our ioynt obedience vnto the word that shal come to passe which the Scribes said of Christ Ioh. 12. All the whole world will follow after him and the diuel shal be left as Rachel without children Gen. 30 Let vs but take that course in this matter of debate that is between worldlings and Gods people about the best purchase that the two harlots tooke when they iangled and could not agree betweene themselues 1. Reg. 3 whose the liuing child should be who appealed pleaded their case before Salomon Math. 12 So let vs appeale to the wisedom of the spirit that is greater then Salomon A rude man treadeth vpon simples of very good account A similitude throgh want of iudgement which the skilfull Apothecary gathereth vp carefully because he hath experience good knowledge of them Oh if we did know as Christ said to the woman of Samaria who it is that speaketh to vs. Iohn 4. If we knew what purchase here is offered vs and who it is that offereth it vs we would not hucke with him and stand so indifferent and carelesse in the matter If we would compare both these liues together the spirituall and the temporall the word and the world and lay them on euen ballances we should find the world too deceitfull on the weights and the things of this world we should see to be lighter then vanity it selfe In politike affaires and matters temporal we will trie before we trust our eies shall be our iudges and our knowledge and experience shall witnes with vs of the goodnes of a thing Grasiers trie their bullocks 1. Reg. 3 Solomon tried who was the right mother Isaac wold trie his children before he would blesse them Gen. 27. And the Ephramites were tried when they would haue passed Iordan A similitudes What foole is he that buyeth a horse Iudg. 12. and only beholdeth the bridle and saddle and furniture of the horse and neuer trieth or seeth the horse before he buyeth him We haue weights to trie gold and measures for our corne we trie our cattell seruants wiues and children and all other worldly things and shall we not make trial of heauenly matters that we may attaine to the better knowledge of them This was the folly of the frantick Farmer Luke 14 spoken of in the Gospel which vtterly vndid him that first as it is said of him he bought a farme and after that he would go downe and and see it was it not enough that he bought vanity and repentance so deare but that he must be so ready and greedy to buy it as he will not first take a time to see it whether it will serue him whether it be worth his mony what an ouersight was this for if he had first seen it he wold neuer haue had any incorage ment to haue bought it 2 Sam 13 It is so with vs. Absalon was neuer more greedy of a kingdome thē we are of the honor ambition wealth of this world And we first buy them before we do trie them otherwise we could haue no pleasure in them A similitude For as the fish seeth only the pleasant baite but not the deadly hooke that is couered with the baite so we see only the pleasure that delighteth but we doe not see the sorrow that tormenteth It giueth vs poison in a golden boule of wine with pretious balme breaketh our head The channells and riuers of the pleasures of the world do all of them runne into the sea of death The house of this harlot is the way vnto the graue which goeth down to the chamber of death Wisedom setteth out the conditions of the soule of the vertuous and wise Prou 31 among other things praiseth and graceth her in this that she considereth a field and buyeth it First she considered with her self that it was good and because it was good she bought it So we reade of our Ieweller how first he found a field and before he bought it how he departed home and tooke time to make sale of al that he had to make purchase of that field The rich glutton that pransed in his purple Luke 16 opened his eies and saw the worlds vanity but al too late for it was when he was in hel in torments when he espied Lazarus in Abraham his bosome It was affliction and not prouident discretion that opened his eies The world seruethh vs as an Inne-keeper doth his guests A similitude who furnisheth his table with choice of dainty dishes very seruiceably set forth delightsome to the company whereof they take a very liberal repast but he sawceth them in the price when they come to the shot exceedingly ouer-prizeth them and too intollerably grateth vppon them Wherefore trauellers haue now learned to be wiser who will first know their price before they will taste of those meates that are set before them and if that they perceiue their host to be a nipping and pinching companion they leaue him and betake them to a cheaper Inne It is good that thou shouldest take this course with thy soule whensoeuer the preferments and the pleasures of this world as meate for thee to feede vppon are presented to thy soule If the dignitie of a Bishop be imposed vpon thee consider the charge and the shot of it be perswaded that thou must reckon with God for innumerable soules committed to thy care and if thou beest bound to pay deerly for thy dignitie be first well aduised before thou takest it vpon thee Likewise when the pleasure of sinne flattereth thee and a harlot doth intice thee consider how rigorous a rate thine host hath set vpon this vild and sinfull flesh which thou must needes pay euen the tortures of hel and the lake that euer burneth both thy body and thy soule This respect consideration before had Gen. 39 wil make thee with