but the barke rhine of a man and our equality vppon the soule which is mans maine substaunce thinke it I pray you no dishonour to your person if with all humilitie I offer my aduise vnto you One man can not be perfect in all faculties neither is it a disgrace to the Goldsmith if hee be ignoraunt of the Millers trade Many are deepe Lawyers and yet shallowe Diuines many very deliuer in feates of the bodie and curious in externall complements yet little experimented in matters of their soule and farre to seek in religious actions I haue studied and practised these many yeeres spiritual phisick acquainting my selfe with the beating temper of euery pulse and traueling in the scrutiny of the maladies and medicines incident vnto soules If therfore I profer you the fruits of my long studies and make you a present of my profession I hope you will constre it rather as a duetifull part than anie point of presumption He may be a father to the soule that is a sonne to the body and requite the benefit of his temporall life by reuiuing his parent from a spirituall death And to this effect said Christ these words My mother and brethren are they that doe the wil of my father which is in heauen Vpon which place S. Iohn Climacus shewing to what kindred a Christian ought chiefly to rely draweth this discouâ—se Let him be thy father that both can and will lay his labour to disburden thee of thy packe of sinnes Let holy compuÌ„ction be thy mother to depure thee from thy ordure and filth Let him be thy brother that will be both thy partner and compeditor to passe and perfite thy race towardes heauen Take the memory of death for thy perpetual phere and vnseparable spouse Let thy childreÌ„ bee bitter sighs of a sorrowfull heart and possesse thy body as thy bondman Fasten thy friendshippe with the Angelicall powers with which if thou closest in familiar affiaunce they will be patrones vnto thee in thy finall passage This saieth he is the generation and kindred of those that seeke God Such a father as this Saint speaketh of may you haue of your owne sonn to enter you farther in the fore recited affinity Of which happily it was a significaÌ„t presage aboding the future euent that euen from my infancy you were wont in merriment to call me father R. which is the customary stile now allotted to my present estate Now therfore to ioine issue and to come to the principal drift of my discourse most humbly and earnestly I am to beseech you that both in respect of the honour of God your duety to his church the comfort of your children and the redresse of your owne soule you would seriously coÌ„sider the tearmes you stand in and weigh your selfe in a Christian ballance taking for your counterpose the iudgements of GOD. Take heede in time that the woord Thecel writteÌ„ of old against Baltazar interpreted by Daniel Dan. 5. be not verified in you whose expositioÌ„ was You haue been poised in the scale found of too light weight Remember that you are in the waining and the date of your pilgrimage is wel neer expired now it behooueth you to look towards your countrey Your force languisheth your senses impaire and your bodie droupeth and on euerie side the ruinous cottage of your faint and feeble flesh threatneth fal And hauing so many herbingers of death to premonish your end how caÌ„ you but prepare forso dreadful a straÌ„ger The young may die quickely but the old can not liue long The youÌ„g maÌ„s life by casualty may be abriâ—ged but the old mans by no phisicke can be long adiourned therfore if gâ—een yeares sometimes must think of the graue the thoughtes of sere age should continually dwel in the same The prerogatiue of infancie is innoceÌ„cy of childhood reuerence of manhood maturitie of age wisdom And seeing that the cheife properties of wisdome are to be mindfull of things passed careful of thinges present prouident of thinges to come vse now the priuiledg of natures taleÌ„t to the benefitte of your soule and procure hereafter to be wise in well doing and waâ—chsull in foresight of future harmes To serue the world you are now vnable and though you were able you haue litle cause to be willing seeing that it neuer gaue you but an vnhappy welcom a hurtful entertainment now doth abandon you with an vnfortunat farwel You haue long sowed in a field of flint which could bring you nothing forth but a crop of cares and affliction of spirit rewarding your labours with remorse and affording for your gaine eternall domages It is now more then a seasonable time to alter the course of so vnthriuing a husbandry and to enter into the filde of Gods Church in which sowing the seeds of repeÌ„tant sorow watering them with the teares of humble contrition you may reape a more beneficiall haruest and gather the fruites of euerlasting comforte Remember I pray you that your spring is spent and your summer ouerpast you are now ariued to the fall of the leafe yea and winter colours haue alreadie stained your hoarie head Be not carelesse saieth S. Austen though our louing Lord bear long with offenders for the longer he staieth not finding amendement the sorer wil he scourge when hee comes to iudgement and his patieÌ„ce in so long expecting is onely to lend vs respite to repent not any way to enlarge vs leisure to sinne He that is tossed with variety of stormes and cannot come to his desired port maketh not much way but is much turmoiled so hee that hath passed many yeeres and purchased litle profite hath had a long beeing but a short life for life is more to bee measured by merites than by nuÌ„ber of daies seeing 〈◊〉 most men by many daies doe but procure many deathes and others in a short space attaine the life of infinit ages What is the body without the soule but a corâ—upt carcase what the soule without God but a sepulchre of sinne If God bee the way the life and the trueth he that goeth without him strayeth hee that liueth without him dieth and hee that is not taught by him erreth Well saieth saint Austen that God is our true and chiefest life from whom the reuolting is falling to whome the returning is rising in whom the staying is sure standing God is he from whom to depart is to die to whom to repaire is to reuiue in whom to dwel is to liue Be not you therefore of those that beginne not to lâ—ue vntill they bee ready to die and then after a â—oes desert come to craue of God a frends entertainment Some thinke to snatch heauen in a moment which the best scarce atteined in the mountenance of many yeeres and when they haue glutted theÌ„ selues with worldly dâ— lites they would iumpe from Diues his diet to Lazarus croune and from the seruice of Satan to the solace of a Saint
A SHORT RVLE OF GOOD LIFE To direct the deuout Christian in a regular and orderly course Newly set forth according to the Authors direction before his death Set me downe O Lord a law in thy way Ps. 118. I said O Lord that it is my portion and al my riches to keepe thy law Ibid. At S. Omers by IOHN HEIGHAM An. 1622. THE PREFACE TO the Reader WHen that great seruaÌ„t of God S. Benet had in most seruent and deuout prayers â—eelded vp his soule vnto God two of his religious followers as reporteth S. Gregorie being ignorant altogether of his death although in places far distant had the like vision They saw out of their godly Fathers celâ—e directly towards the East a most beautifull way adorned with gorgeous Tapestry and shining with a multitude of innumerable lampes to proceed euen vnto heauen At the toppe wherof there standing a notable person in a venerable habite and demaunding of them whose way it was which they behelde they answered they knew not But he incontinently said vnto them these wâ—rdes Haec est via qua dilectuâ— Domino coelum Benedictus ascendit This is the way by the which Gods wel-beloued seruaunt Benedict went vp to heauen meaning thereby as S. Bernard noteth the holie Rule of a religious life instituted and practised by the same Saint by which not hee alone was passed as by a most readie and pleasant way to heauen but whosoeuer of his followers would trauell by the same should with like securitie arriue to the end of a most happie iourney The Author of this little Booke gentle Reader I nothing doubt but is verie well knowne vnto thee as also for his learning pietie zeale charitie fortitude other rare and singular qualities but â—speciallie for his pretious death he is renowned in the world abroad neither needeth there any extraordinarie vision but the sound and certaine Doctrine of the Catholike Church is sufficient to perswade that he is a most glorious Saint in heauen hee being such an one as hath confessed a good confession before many wâ—tnesses and made as Saint Iohn saith his garments white with the blood of the immaculaâ—e Lambe But because thou shouldest not be ignorant of the way by which this valiant Champion of Christ arriued vnto so happie a Countrey he himselfe hath left behinde him for thy benefite and euen amongst the least of his fruitfull labours for the good of soules had designed to publish vnto the world the description of this most gainefull voyage to heauen be-decked with the most preâ—ious ornaments of all Christian vertues and with the most pleasant and comfortable brightnesse of notable rules of spirituall life euery one of which may be as it were a Lanterne vnto thy feete and a continuall Light vnto thy steppes This therefore doe I nowe deuout Reader present vnto thy sight affirming vnto thee that which thou thy selfe wilt not denie as being both true and manifest that Haec est via qua dilectus Domino N. caelum intrauit This is the way by which the wel-beloued seruant of God N. went vp into heauen For in what estate soeuer he liued in this worlde hee ranne the way of Christian perfection in an ordinarie course of a secular life 〈◊〉 from his very infancie he was a spectacle to all that knewe him in the state of Religion the which he imbraced from his childehood he was a rare example of religious perfection and discipline and finally in his manie seueral and most cruell conflicts with the enemies of Christ he sheweth how stronge and vnconquered the loue of God is whose burning heate neuer so manie waters or gustes of moste mayne floudes may either quench or smother and whose power the most power-able thing of all which is Death can not ouercome Thou therefore my deare brother heholding according to the exâ—ortation of this victorious triumpher see thou imitate his faith Fashion thy life and manners according to these deuoute rules which are a most perfect mirour of his godlie life in so doing thou mayest hapilie attaine thy self to the like crowne of glorie For though Martirdome be a most speciall gifte of God and he freelie bestoweth it where hee liketh neyther is it an ordinarie rewarde due vnto neuer so great merites of neuer so holie personages and it is to his excellent power a moste easie thinge subitò honestare pauperem euen from the middest of a sinnefull life to exalt vnto Martirdome yet is there a certaine disposition in those which are chosen to so high a dignitie ordinarilie required of God which is first to haue killed their passions before they be killed by persecutors first to haue beene exercised in a spirituall conflict of mortification before they be tried in the fornace of Christian confession first to haue become the towne butchers before they be deliuered to the hangmans shambles Otherwise as our Sauiour saieth Qui amat animam suam perdet eam Who so loueth his life or soule disordinately shall loose it and neuer be able to stand in that combatte wherein not flesh and bloud not pride ambition and vaine glory not malice and rancour but a mortified â—inde and a resigned heart into Gods handes obtaineth the victory Which disposition and ready preparation for this so happy a crowne was most perfectly found in this our Authour whereupon iusued that he might truely â—ay with holy I. B. Elegit suspendium anima mea mortem ossa mea Desperaui nequaquam vltra iam viuam My soule bath made choice of hanging and my bones of death I am become desperate I will now liue no longer because long before he had hanged vp his soule by perfect estranging of it from earthly affections and keeping it fixed and ioyned to God thence did it pooceed that his earthly boâ—es abhorred not that death which was to be suffered for Christ. And because he had wiâ—hdrawne his hopes from the base desires of this life therefore did â—e contemne this life for the loue of this heauenlie life and he thought he had liued long enough when he might die to liue for euer Enioy therefore these rules deuout Reader and ioyfullie treade the pathes of this most pleasant way to heauen and if by the compendious commoditie thereof thou shalt see thy iorney toward thy euerlasting countrie to be forwarded giue glorie vnto God and vnto this his faithfull seruaunt and assiste with thy deuoute prayers those which haue beene meanes to prepare it for thee Yet doe I aduise thee of two especiall thinâ—es first that whereas in these Rules thoushalt sometimes reade that thou must doe this or that thou must not vnderstand that worde must as though thou wert bound to the performance of any thinge there expressed but onely that those actions doe belong vnto the exercise of perfection without anie further bond then either the lawe of God or holie church do impose Secondlie that before thou begin to practise these Rules containing in them great
perfection thou acquaint thy selfe with an other Booke entituled The Exercise of a Christian life or such other-like lest thou attempt to builde a great house with slender foundation and climing to the toppe of a high ladder without passing by the middle steppes at vnawares thou receiue a fall Vale. A SHORT RVLE OF GOD LIFE THE FIRST CHAPTER of the foundations of a Good life The first foundation THE first foundation of a good life is often and seriously to consider for what end and purpose I was created and what Gods designement was when he made mee of nothing and that not to haue a being only as a stone nor withall a bare kinde of life or growing as a plant or tree nor moreouer a power of sence or feeling only as a bruâ—t beast but a creature to his owne likenes indued with reason vnderstanding and freewil Also why he now preserueth me in this health state and calling Finally why he redemed me with his owne bloud bestowed so infinite benefites vppon me and still continueth his mercy towards me The end of man The end of my being thus made redeemed preserued and so much benefited by God is this and no other that I should in this life serue him with my whole body soule and substance and with what else soeuer is miâ—e and in the next life enioy â—im for euer in heauen Rules that follow of this foundation â— Was made of nothing by God and receiued body and soule from him and therfore am I only his not mine owne neither can I so binde or giue my selfe to â—â—y creature but that I ought â—ore to serue loue and obey God then any creature in this world Secondly I committe a â—â—â—de of theft and do God gâ—eat wrong so often as I â—â—ploy any part of my body 〈◊〉 soule to any other ende theÌ„ to his seruice for which only I was created Thirdly for this do I liue and for no other ende but for this doe all creatures serue me and when I turne the least thing whereof God hath giuen me the vse or possessing to any other ende then the seruice of God doe God wrong and abuse his creatures The second foundation Seeing I was made to serue God in this life and to enioye him in the next the seruice of God and the saluation of mine owne soule is the most weighty and important busines and the most necessary matter wherin I must employ my bodie minde time and labour and all other affaires are so farre foorth to be esteemed of me waighty or light as they more or lesse tend to the furtherance of this principall most earnest busines For what auaileth it a man to gaine the whole world and loose his owne soule Rules that follow of this foundation FIrst what diligence labour or cost I would emploie in any other temporall matter of credit liuing or life all that I am bound to employ in the seruice of God and the saluation of my soule and so much more as the weight or worth of my soule passeth al other things Secondly I ought to think the seruice of God and saluation of my soule my principall busines in this world and to make it my ordinary study and chiefe occupation and day and night to keepe my minde so fixed vpon it that in euery actioÌ„ I stil haue it before mine eies as the onely marke I shoote at the third foundation I Cannot serue God in this world nor go about to enioye him in the next but that Gods enemies and mine will repine and seeke-to hinder me which enemies are three the Worlde the Flesh and the Deuill Wherefore I must resolue my selfe and sett it downe as a thing vndouted that my whole life must be a continuall combate with these aduersaries whom I must assuredly perswade my selfe to lie hourely in waite for me to seeke their aduantage And that their malice is so vnplacable and their hatred against me so rooted in theÌ„ that I must neuer looke to haue one hower secure from their assaultes but that they will â—rom time to time so long as there is breath in my body still labour to make me forsake and offend God alure me to their seruice and drawe me to my damnation Rules following of this foundation I Must prepare my body and mind to all patience and thinke it no newes to be tempted but a point annexed necessarily to my profession and therfore neuer must I be wearied with the difficultie considering the malice and wickednesse of mine aduersaries and my professed enmitie with theÌ„ Secondly I must alway stand vpon my guarde and be very watchfull in euery action seeing that whatsoeuer I doe they wil seeke to peruert it and make it offensiue to God euen my very best indeuours Thirdly I must neuer looke to befree from some trouble or other but knowing my life to be a perpetuall warfare I must rather comefort my sâ—lfe with hope of a glorious crowne for my victories then of any long or assured peace with mine enemies The fourth foundation The thing which these enemies endeuour for to drawe me vnto is sinne and offence of God which is so odious hatefull and abhominable that God doth more detest and dislike it then he did the cruell vsage the woundes the tormentes and the death it selfe that for vs he suffered of the Iewes and it maketh our soules more vgly then the plague leprosy or any other moste filthy disease doth the body Rules following this foundation SO carefull as I woulde bee not to wounde torment or murther Christ so carefull must I bee not to commit any mortall sinne against him yea and much more seeing that he hateâ—h sinne more then death hauing voluntarily suffered the one and yet neuer committed the other Secondly when I am teÌ„pted with any sinne let me examine my selfe whether I would buy the fulfilling of mine appetite with being a leaper or full of the plague or with death presently to ensue after it if not then much lesse ought I to buy it with the leprosie losse and death of my soule which is of far more worth then my body The fift foundation Being Gods creature made to serue him in this life my body soule and goods and all things any way appertaining vnto me are but lent or onely let me for this end and I am only as bailiffe tenaunt or officer to demaine or goueâ—ne these thinges to his best seruice and therfore when the time of my stewardship is expired I shall be summoned by Death to appeare before my Land-lorde who with most rigorous iustice will demaunde account of euery thing and creature of his that hath beene to my vse yea of all that I haue receiued promised omitted committed lost and robbed and as I can then discharge this account so shall I be either crowned in eternall ioy or condemned to perpetuall damnation Rules following of this foundation FIrst I must vse all thinges in this life as an other bodies goods for which I
must keepe my custome of receiuing at the lest euery eight daies though I must not think that I am then bound to so much preparation or praier as when my body was in good health If I see my disease dangerous and haue cause to feare deathe I must procure to haue some good body with me too put me ofteÌ„ in mind of God of the Passion of Christ and seeke to haue my viaticum and other Sacraments and preparations of Gods Church It is good also to haue my will ready before I fall to any extremity and a certaine order sette downe for all temporall matters that I be not cumbred with then when it standeth me most vpon to looke to my souâ—e Of the care of Seruants THE EIGHT Chapter I Must see that they lie not out in the nights but that I knowe what becometh of them I must not keepe such as are great swearers or giuen to any great or notorious vice vnles there be great likelyhood certaine hope of their amendment I must procure by what meane conuenieÌ„tly I may that they may haue necessary instructioÌ„ in matters apertaining to the saluation of their soules I must take special heed of any secret meetings messages or more then ordinary liking betwixt the men and the women of my family I must see that the men haue no haunte of womeÌ„ to their chambers least lewdnesse bee cloaked vnder some other pretence I must haue great regard that my chiefest officiers and meÌ„ of most account be trusty persons of good life and example because the rest will follow as they shal lead theÌ„ I must seeke as much as may be that my seruants be not idle nor suffered to vse any great gaming sor by the one they shal fall into lewed life by the other into swearing vnthriâ—tines robbing and such vices I must see that they haue their wages at due times least for want they fall into bad courses When they doe not thâ—ir dueties I must rebuke them agreablie to the quality of their fault and not winke at great matters lest they wax carelesse and bould to do the like again yet must my rebukes be â—eÌ„pered with grauity and mildnes Of the care of my children THE NINTH Chapter I Must thinke that my children so longe as they are vnder age and in my power or custody ought to be kept as my selfe I hauinge in this time to answere for them I must take heed they come not amongest such seruantes as are like to teach them to sweare or any other vice and I must giue speciall warning that none doe it I must set honest sound persons to gouerne theÌ„ that may also teach them vertue and goodnes yet not trusting too much to my seruants care but that I my self haue a speciall eie ouer them and take an account what they doe I must vse them to deuâ—tion by little and little not cloying them with too much at once but rather seeking to make them take a delight in it I must teach them their Pater nosteâ— Aue and Creed and other good praiers and make them perfecte in the tenne Commaundementes and those of the church and the points of faith especially those that heretikes denie I muâ—t keepe them alwaies occupied in some profitable thing allotting them according to their age more or lesse time to play I must often speak to them of the Passion of Christ and of the liues of Saintes I muste on the one side breake them from their wils and punishe them as they deserue yet remembring also that they are young and not keeping them in too much subiection which may breed in them base and seruile mindes and make their loue lesse towardes me and I neuer ought to beate any childe in mine anger I must procure that they bee taught such exercises and qualities as are fit for those of their degree and yet haue a chiefe care that good and honest persons be about them I must not vse them to vaine dresses and costlie appaâ—ell but rather often shew them the vanity thereof yet must they not bee kept too straite in that or any other thing that they are afterwarde to haue lest they being too much bard from it make them too eager of it when they come to enioy it at their owne will I must vse them to giue almes to make much of the poore and to vse reuerence to aged persons and spirituall men and praise often the true religion and vertu of their parentes and auncestours in their hearing that it may moue them to imitate their good workes I must tell them often of the Abbies and the vertue of the olde Monkes and Friers and other Priestes and religious men and women and of the truth and honesty of the old time the iniquity of ours I must vse them to read good bookes that are fittest for their capacity and see them kept from vaine bookes of loue heresy and such like I must harten them often as they grow in yeares to suffer aduersity and to digest grief especially in Gods cause a good quarel telling them the examples of others and how good a thing patience and constancie is When they are fit to goe to schoole I must procure that they haue discreete and calme teachers and such as are not cholericke hasty or curst lest they take dislike and tediousnes in learning they must be rather wonne vnto it by praise and emulation of others then by beating and stripes I must see that they be taught such ciuility curtesy complementes as their degreeâ— and the time requireth frame them as much as may be to be geÌ„tle humble affable eueÌ„ to the meanest rebuking them for angrie and sharp wordes or disdainful behauiour euen to their inferiours I must be times as age will permitte them inure them in confession and often vse of the SacrameÌ„tes the onely remedy for their vnstaied and greene wittes I muste not let the boies and girles be much together especially out of sight after eighte and nine yeares age least they fal to vnhappines Likewise my daughters must not be much amongest the men nor my sonnes amoÌ„gest the women When they come to such age as they must of force bee in many companies I must procure some sounde and honest persons to bee for the most part with them to informe me of their courses I must make them in any wise to beware of lewd conuersation which is the ouerthrowe of youth and therfore cause this pointe to bee beaten into them by good zealous men I must neuer assure or marry them vntill they bee of sufficient age to make their choice and frame their likeinge neither force them to any match least they curse me all their liues after as it often happeneth Of Temptation THE TENTH Chapter FIrst I must learne to know when I am tempted for if I can find my temptaâ—ion I may reckon it halfe ouercome For if I haue feare of God or care of my soule I
But be you well assured that God is not so penuâ—ious of â—rendes as to hold him selfe his kingdome salable for the refuse and reuersion of their liues who haue sacrificed the principall therof to his enimies and their owne bruâ—ishe appetites then onely ceasing â—o offend when habilitie oâ— offending it taken from them True it is that a theefe may be saued vpon the crosse and mercy found at the laste gaspe But well saieth S. Augustine that though it be possible yet is it scarce credible that his death should find fauour whose whole life hath earned wrath and that his repentance should be accepted that more for feare of heil and loue of him selfe then for loue of God or lothsomnes of sinn crieth for mercy Wherefore good Sir make no longer delaies but being so neere the breaking vp of your mortal house take time before extremitie to satisfie Gods Iustice. Though you suffered the bud to the blasted and the flower to fade though you permitted the fruit to perish and the leaues to drie vp yea though you let the boughes wither and the body of your tree growe to decaie yet alas keepe life in the roote for feare least the whole become fuell for hell fire For surely where soeuer the tree falleth there shall it be whether it be to south or north heauen or hell and such sap as it bringeth such fruite shal it euer beare Death hath already filed from you the better part of your naturall fores and hath left you now to the lees and remissailes of your wearish dying daies the remainder whereof as it cannot be long so doth it warne you speedilie to ransome your former losses For what is age but the calendes of death what importeth your present weaknes but an earnest of your aproaching dissolution You are now impathed in your finall voiage and not far of from the stint and period of your course therfore be not dispurueied of such appartenances as are behoofull in so perplexed perillous a iorney Death in it selfe is very fearefull but much more terrible in regard of the iudgement that it soÌ„moneth vs vnto If you were laied on your departing bed burdened with the heauy loade of your former trespasses goared with the sting and pricke of a frestred conscience If you felt the cramp of death wresting your hart stringes and ready to make the rufull diuorce betwene body soule If you lay panting for breath and suiming in a colde and fatall sweate wearied with strugling against your deadly panges O how much would you giue for an hower of repentance at what rate would you valew a daies contrition Then worldes would be worthles in respecte of a litle respitte A shorte truce would seeme more pretious then the treasures of Empires nothing would be so much esteemed as a trice of time which now by monthes yeeres is lauishly mispent O how deeply would it wound your hart when lookinge backe into your life you considered 〈◊〉 faults committed and 〈◊〉 confessed manie good workes omitted and not recouered your seruice to God promised and not performed How inconsolable were your case â—our frends being fled your senses frighted your thoughts amazed your memory decaied your whole minde agast and no part able to performe that it should but onely your guilty conscience pestred with sinne that would continually vpbraid you with most bitter accusations What would you thinke when stripped out of you mortall weede and turned both out of the seruice and how 's roome of this world you were forced to enter into vncouth and strange pathes and with vnknowen and vgly companâ— to be conuented before a most seuere iudge carying in your owne conscience your inditement written and a perfit register of all your misdeeds When you should see him prepared 〈◊〉 the seÌ„tence vpon you against whoÌ„ you had transgressed and the same to be your vmpier whom by so many offences you had made your enimie When not onely the diuels but euen the Angels should pleade against you and your selfe maugre your will be your sharpest appeacher What would you do in these dreadful exigents when you saw that gastly dungeon and huge gulfe of hell breaking out with most fearfull flames When you saw the weping gnashing ofteeth the rage of those hellish moÌ„sters the horrour of the place the rigour of the paine the terrour of the company the eternity of all these punishments Wâ—uld you theÌ„ think them wise that would delay in so weighty matters and idly play away the time allotted to preueÌ„t these Intollerable calamities Would you then account it secure to nurse in your bosom so many sâ—rpeÌ„ts as sinnes or to foster in your soule so manie malicious accuser as mortall faults Would you not then thinke one life too litle to doe penance for so many iniquities euery one wherof were enough to cast you into those euerlasting vnspeakeable torments Why then do you not at the least deuote that small remnant and surplusage of these your latter daies procuring to make an attonement with God and to free your conscience from such corruption as by your schisme and fall hath crept into it Those verie eyes that read this discourse and that veâ—y vnderstanding that conceiueth it shal be cited and certaine wiâ—nesses of the rehearsed things In your owne body shall you experience those deadly agonie and in your soule shal you feelingly find those terrible feares yea and your present estate is in danger of the deepest harmes if you doe not the sooner recouer your selfe into the fold and family of Gods Church What haue you gotten by being so loÌ„g customer to the world but false ware sutable to the shoppe of such a marchant whose trafick is toile whose welth trash and whose gaine miserie What interest haue you reaped that may equall your detrements in grace and vertew or what could you finde in a vale of teares parageable to the fauour of God with the losse whereof you were contented to buy it You cannot be now inueigled with the passions of youth which making a partiall estimate of things sette no distance betweene counterfeit and currant For they ar now worne out of force by tract of time or fallen in reproofe by triall of their follie It cannot be feare that leadeth you amisse seeing it were too vnfitting a thing that the crauant cowardice of fleshe and blood should daunte the prowesse of an intelligent person who by his wisdome cannot but discerne how much more cause there is to feare God then man and to stand in more awe of perpetuall then temporal penalties If it be an vngâ—ouÌ„ded presuÌ„ption of the mercy of God and the hope of his assistance at the last plunge the ordinary lure of the Deuell to reclaime sinners from the pursuite of vertue it is to palpable a collusioÌ„ to misleade a sound sensed man howsoeuer it preuaile with sicke affected iudgements Who would rely eteâ—nal affaires vpon the gliding slipperines and running
streame of our vncertain life Or who but one of distempered wits would offer fraud to the discipherer of al thoughts with whome dissemble wee may to our cost but to deceiue him it is impossible Shal we esteeme it cunning to robbe the time from him and bestow it on his enemies who keepeth tale of the least minutes of our life and wil examine in the end how each momeÌ„t hath been emploied It iâ— a preposterous pollicy in any wise conceit to fight against God â—ill our weapons bee blunted our forces consumed our limmes impoteÌ„t and our breath spent then when we fall for faintnes haue fought our selues almost dead to presume of his mercy the wounds both of his sacred body so often rubbed â— renued by our sinnes and euery parcel of our own so sundry and diuerse waies abused being so many whetstones and incenâ—iues to edg and exasperate his reuenge against vs. It were a strange peece of art and a very exorbitant course while the shippe is sound the Pilote well the Sailers stroÌ„g the gale fauouâ—able and the Sea calme to lie idle at rode burning so seasonable weaâ—her and when the shippe leaked the Pilot were sick the Maâ—iners saint the stormes boisterous and the Sea a turmoile of outragious surges then to lanch foorth to hoise vp sailes to set out for a voiage into farr countries Yet such is the skill of these euening repenters who though in the soundnesse of health and in the perfit vse of reason they can not resolue to cut the gables and weigh the anckers that withhold theÌ„ from God neuerthelesse they feed them selues with a strong perswasion that when their senses aâ— astonied their witts distracted their vnderstanding dusked and both the body and minde racked and tormented with the throbs and gripes of a mortall sicknes then forsooth will they think of the weightiest matters become sodaine Saintes when they are scarce able behaue themselues like resonable creatures If neither the canon ciuil nor commoÌ„ law allowâ—th that a maÌ„ perished in iudgement should make any testament or bequeste of his temporall substaunce being then presumed to be lesse then a man how can he that is amated with the inward gaâ—boils of an vnsetled conscieÌ„ce distrained with the wringing fiâ—tes of his dying flesh mained in al his habilities circled in wiâ—h so straÌ„ge encoÌ„brances bee thought of due discretion to dispose of his chiefest iewell which is his soule to dispatch the whole menage of all eternity and of the treasures of heauen in so stormy short a spurt No no they that wil loiter in seed time begin only to sowe when others reap They that will riot out their health and cast their accountes when they can scarcely speake They that will slumber out the day enter their iorny when the light doth faile them let them blame their owne folly if they die in debt and eternall beggars and sall headlong into the lapse of endlesse perdition Let such harken to S. CipriaÌ„s lesson Let saieth he the grieuousnesse of our sore be the measure of our sorrowe Let a deepe wounde haue deep and diligent cuâ—e Let no mans contrition bee lesse theÌ„ his crime Thinkest thou that our Lord can be so soone appeased whom with perfidious words thou hast denied whom lesse then thy patrimony thou hast esteemed whose temple with sacrilegious corruption thou hast defiled Thinkest thou easely to recouer his fauour whome thou hast auouched not to be thy Master We must rather most instaÌ„tly intreat we must passe the day in mourning the night in watching and weeping our whole time in painfull lameÌ„ting We must fall prostrate vpon the grouÌ„d huÌ„bling our selues in sack-cloth ashes And hauing lost the garment of Christ we should be vnvnwilling to be clothed with any other hauâ—ng faâ—sed our stomackes with the â—iand of the Deuell wee should now desire to fast from all earthly food We should ply good workes to purge our offences wee should be liberall in almes to auoid the death of our soules that Christ may receiue that the persecutour would haue spoiled neither ought that patrâ—mony to be kept or fansied with which a man hath bene ensnared and vanquished Not euery short sigh will bee a sufficient satisfaction nor euery knocke a warrant to get in Many cry Lord Lord and are not accepted The foolish Virgin knocked and were not admitted Iudas had some sorow and yet died desperate Forslowe not saieth the holy Ghost to be conuerted vnto God and linger not off from day to day for sodainly will his wrath come and in the time of reueng he wil destroy thee Let no man seiourne long in sinfull securitie nor post ouer his repentance till feare enforce him vnto it Lette vs frame our premises as wee would find our conclusion endeuour to liue as we are desirous to die Shall we offer the maine crop to the Diuel set God to gleane the reproofe of his haruest Shall wee gorge the Dâ—uil with our fairest fruits and turne God to feede on the filthy scraps of his leauings How great a foly were it when a man pineth away in a perillous laÌ„guor to prouide gorgeous apparell to bespeak suÌ„ptuous furniture take order for the rearing of stately buildings neuer thinking of his owne recouery to let the discase take roote within him Were it not the lik vanity for a Prince to dote so farre vppon his subiect as neglecting his own regaltie to busie him selfe wholy in aduancing his seruant Thus saith S. Chrisostome do they that wheÌ„ their soule hath surfeited with all kind of sinne is drenched in the depth of infinit diseases without any regard therof labour their wits in setting forth her garment and in pampering the body with all possible delights And wheras the soule should haue the soueraignitie and the body follow the sway of her direction seruile senses and lawlesse appetites doe rule her as superiours and she is made a vassall in her owne dominions What is there sayâ—th S. Augustine in thy meanest necessaries that thou wouldest not haue good Thou wouldest haue a good house good furniture good aparel good fare good cattell and not so much but thy hose and thy shoâ—s thou wilt seek to haue good Onely thy life and poore soule thy principal charge of all other things the most worthy to be best thou art content should be nought ly cankering and rusting in all kind of euelles O vnspeakable blindnes Can we prefer our shoes before our soule refusing to weare an euell shoe and not careing to cary an vgly and deformed soule Alas let vs not set so litle by that which God prised so much Let vs not rate our selues at so base a peniworth being in truth of so peerles dignity If the soule be such that not all the gold treasure of the world nor any thing of lesse worth the the blood and life of almighty God was able to buy it If not all the