of vnknowledge orignorance is already counterpleaded you shall not say Woe bee to mee that I neuer tasted the milke of vnderstanding but with Iob banne the time that euer you suckt the breasts At my breasts Ierusalem hast thou not suckt but bit off my breasts when thou stonedst the Prophets O Ierusalem Ierusalem that stonest my Prophets and killest them I sent vnto thee How often would I haue gathered thy children together as a Henne gathereth her Chickins vnder her wings but thou wouldst not Therefore shall thy House bee left desolate vnto thee Heere ebbe the spring-tide of my Teares Eyes from this present prepare your selues to bee recluses I came not to shed Teares but Bloud for Ierusalem Bloud for Ierusalem will I shed to attone for her shedding of innocent bloud So that let her yet turne vnto mee her attonement is made I will corroborate my Crosse Giant-like to vnder-beare the Atlas burthen of her insolences With my Nazarite tresses to my Crosse will I bind her crossing frowardnesse and contaminations Not a nayle that takes hold of me but I will expresly enioyne it to take hold of her deflectings and errours Death as euer thou hopest at my hands to haue thy Commission enlarged when thou killest mee kill her iniquities also let thy deepe entring Dart obliuionize their memories Of man as of me thou killest but the body onely kill the body and the soule both of her vnbounded sinnegluttony I will pay thee largely for thy paines Whereas before thou neuer tookst any but the subiects prisoners now thou shalt haue the King himselfe surrendred to thy cruelty Thou shalt enrich thy stile with this title I Emperour Death the Lord of all flesh the killer of the King of all Kings c. Deale well by Ierusalem how euer thou dealst with me Let not her Soule be left desolate though her Citty bee left desolate vnto her Euen the High-priestes that shall binde mine hands and adiudge my body to be scourged deale mercifully with cut them not off suddenly but giue them a space of repentance Let them bee crowned with eternity though they crowne me with Thornes their crowning mee with thornes I take for no trespasse for they cannot pricke me so ill with those bryars as they haue prouokt mee with their sinnes Nor shall the Gall and Vinegar they giue me to drinke bee so bitter vnto mee as their blasphemies Forgiue them Lord they forget what they doe Further I may not proceede except I should detract from my Passion to adde to my Teares Hee that can weepe with more soule-martyrdome then I let him take vpon him to wash in my steed the earths Ethiopian face Euery vaine of me let it burst to feede the Lake of Gehenna before Gehenna gather springs from the heart of Ierusalem Not the least hayre of my body but may it be as a pegge in a vessell to broch bloud with plucking out so in the droppings of that bloud Ierusalem will bathe her selfe O Ierusalem Ierusalem that stonest my Prophets and killest them I sent vnto thee ten thousand times adiew I would neuer haue bid thee adiew or beene diuorced from thee but that thou thy selfe hast diuorced thy selfe Heauen no heauen hast thou made vnto me by endlesse performing thy obits If my crimson Teares on the Crosse may more preuaile with thee so it is or else in vaine I discended or else to thy paine I discended Discende into the closet of thine owne conscience and enquire how oft I haue come thither and cald vpon thee to gather thee Examine thy heart thy reynes if I haue not secretly communed with thee by night to conuert and be turned vnto me Thou neuer with drewst thy selfe and wert solitary but my Spirit was reprouing and disputing with thee At length shall I obtaine of thee to remember and gather thy selfe Though thou wilt not in respect of me whom thou shouldst respect yet in respect of thine owne benefite remember and gather thy selfe enter into meditation of thy lamentable estate But heare thy Physition though thou intendest not to be ruled by him Vnderstand the nature of thy disease which is the first steppe to recouery Relieue my languor by being lesse retchles of thy inuisible aspiring infirmity Glance but halfe a kind looke at me though thou canst not resolue to loue me by halfe a looke my loue may steale into thine eies vnlookt for Thy sight is no way mispent or impayred by casting away one askance-regard on any The Sunne shineth as well on the good as the bad God from on high beholdeth all the workers of iniquity aswell as the vpright of heart It behoueth thee to try all spirits let my Spirit be one of those all which thou bringest to the Touch-stone I do not will thee without tryall on my bare report to be directed by it but when thou hast tride it sifted it to the vttermost then as it approues it selfe to entertaine it Vpon vn-certaine experiments hauing the least protence of gaine in thē men will hazard and venture many thousands try once an experiment to gaine heauen with venture or hazard but a few indifferent good thoughts of mee I say I am thy Messias and am come to gather thee condemne me not rashly but awaite see the end of my gathering whereto it sorts Search the Scriptures the Prophets whether I be a lyer and impostor or no. I would giue thee leaue to hate me so thy hate would make thee industrious sedulous to hearken out enquire whence I am Were I notorious guilty and vn-examined vnheard you should sentence me you should giue to me amongst men an opinion of innocence being not guilty you make your iudgements guilty of knowing I am not guilty in proceeding against mee without circumstance or proofe I speake all this while to the wind or as a disconsolate prisoner that complaineth himselfe to the stone-wals God is mooued and mollified though hee be neuer so incensed with often and vn-slacked intercessions Gold which is the Soueraigne of mettals bends soonest onely Iron the peasant of all is most inflexible Ierusalem with nothing is mooued therefore must her Tabernacle be remooued therefore must her House bee left desolate vnto her Often importunatly violently eagerly haue I intercessioned vnto her to gather herselfe vnto mee I haue kneel'd wept bitterly lift vp mine hands hung vpon her and vowed neuer to let her go till shee consented to retire herselfe into my tuition answer'd pleasingly to my petition Neuer did the Widdow in my Parrable so follow and tyre the wicked Iudge with fury-haunting instancy as I haue done her No where could she rest but I haue alarumd in her eares her pride murder and hypocrisie and with dismall crying and vociferatiue inculcating vnto her drawne my throat so hic into the roofe of my mouth that it hath quite swallow'd vp and ensheath'd my tongue and threatend to turne my mouth out of his office I haue crackt mine
my Brother and Sister In slaying them that are sent to declare the wil of God you resist the will of God and are guilty of all their damnations which are yet vnconuerted whom liuing their preaching might haue reduced The violating of any of the Cömmandements is death Thou shalt not kill is one of the principall Commaundements your fault at the first sight deserueth Hell-fire What doe you but proclaime open warre against heauen when you destroy or ouer-throwe any of the Temples of the holy Ghost which are mens bodies They are the Tabernacles which the Lord hath chosen by his Spirit to dwell in But the bodies of my Saints and Prophets vvhich you slay and stone are no triuiall ordinary Tabernacles such as Peter my Disciple would haue had me to make in the Wildernesse for Moses Elias and my selfe but Tabernacles like the Tabernacle at Ierusalem where I haue ordained my name to be worshipped Their words as my words I will haue worshipped Their heads are the Mounts from whence I speake to you in a holy flame as to your fore-fathers wandring in the desert I haue tolde you here-to-fore they are the Salt of the Earth with whose Prayers and Supplications if this masse of sinne were not seasoned it would sauour so detestably in Gods nostrils hee were neuer able to endure it They are the eyes and the light of the world if the eye lose his light all the whole body is blind and hence it came that they were surnamed Seers for they only foresaw praied and prouided for the people I tell you plainly if it were possible for you to plucke the Sunne out of Heauen and you should do it so consequently leaue all the world in darknesse you should not be liable to so much blame as you now are in killing them I send vnto you They are your Seers your Prophets your chiefe Eyes which you haue slaine destroied and put out Was Caine a Vagabond on the face of the earth for killing but one Abel tenne thousand iust Abels haue you slaine that were more neere and ought to haue beene more deere to you then Brothers and shall I not destitute your habitation for it scatter you as vagabonds through-out the Empires of the world As you haue made no conscience to stone my Prophets and slay them I sent vnto you so shall the strange Lords that leade you captiue and they amongst whom many hundred yeers you shal soiurne make no coÌ„science to cut your throats for your treasure and giue a hundred of you together to their Fencers and Executioners to try their weapons on for a wager and winne maisteries with deepe wounding you O Ierusalem Ierusalem deepe woes and calamities hast thou incurd in stoning my Prophets and slaying them I sent vnto thee How often would I haue gathered thy children together when they went astray How often would I haue brought them home into the true sheep-fold when I met them straying I came into the World to no other end but to gather together the lost Sheepe of Israell You are the flock and Sheepe of my pasture when I would haue gathered you together you would not heare my voice but hardned your harts You gather your selues in counsaile against me euery time I seeke to call you or to gather you Deny if you can that I sent not my Prophets in all ages to gather you That with my Rodde and my staffe of correction I haue not sought from time to time to gather you that by benefits and manifold good turnes I haue not tryde all I might to tye you or gather you vnto me Lastly that in mine own person I haue not practised a thousand waies to gather you to repentance and amendment of life If you should deny it and I not contradict it the diuell my vttrest enemy would confirme it Let me speake truely and not vauntingly although it be lawfull to boast in goodnes such hath alwaies bin my care to gather you that I thought it not enough to gather my selfe but I haue prayed to my Father to ioyne more Labours and Gatherers with me to reape and gather in his Haruest How often haue I gathered the multitude together and spoke vnto them When the people were flocked or gathered vnto mee out of all Citties and had nothing to eate I fed them myraculously with fiue Barlie-loues two fishes I would not haue shewd the wonders of my God-head but to gather you together The first gathering that I made was of poore Sea-faring men whome I haue preferd to be myne Apostles Would you haue beene gathered together when I would haue had you you had gathered to your selues the Kingdome of Heauen and all the riches thereof Now what haue you gathered to your selues but ten thousand testimonies in the Sonne of Gods testimony that he desired and besought you to suffer your selues to be gathered by him and you would not Souldiours that fight scatteringly and doe not gather themselues in ranke or battaile array shall neuer winne the day If you knew how strong and full of stratagems the diuell were with how many Legions of lustfull desires he commeth embattailed against you that secret ambushes of temptations he hath layde to intrappe you then would you gather your selues into one body to resist him then would you gather your selues to gather in prayer to with-stand him then would you gather for the poore which is to gather for Souldiers to fight against him Eâ—…eemosyna a morte liberat et non patitur hominemire in tenebras Almes deedes deliuer a man from death and keepeth his soule from seeing confusion As water quencheth fire saith the Wise-man so almes giuing resisteth sinne And if it resisteth sinne it resisteth the Diuel which is the father of sinne All my Fathers Angels stand gathered together about his Throne No bread is made but of graines of Corne gathered together no building is raysed but of a number of stones glued and gathered together There is no perfect society or Citty but of a number of men gathered together Geese which are the simplest of all foules gather themselues together goe together flie together Bees in one Hiue hold their consistory together The starres in Heauen do shine together What is a man if the parts of his body bee disparted and not incorporated and essentiate together What is the Sea but an assembly or gathering together of waters and so the Earth a congestion or heaping vp of grosse matter together A Wood or Forrest but an host of Trees encampt together A generall Counsaile or Parliament but a congregation or gathering together of special wise men to consult about Religion or lawes O what a good thing is it sayth Dauid for Bretheren to liue or be gathered together in vnity If there were no other thing to ratifie the excellence of it but the euill of his diameter opposite which is diuision or distraction it were infinitely ample to establish the title of his dignity Nor Dauid nor all
the euills of diuision nor al the instances of Angels Bread buildings Societies Geese Bees Starres Men Seas counsails Parliaments may conforme these vngratious degenerates They will not onely not gather themselues into order which I their Captaine might exact at their hands but scorn to be directed mustered and gathered by me when with the myldest discipline I offer to marshal them Sorrie I am Ierusalem that my kindnes and conuersing with thee hath left thee without any cloke or clowde of defence It shall not be layde to thy charge that thou wert ignorant and foolish and knewest not how to gather thy selfe into my family or houshold the Church but that when thou mightest haue been gathered or called thou refusedst and contemned neither shall it bee imputed that thou wentest astray but that going astray thou reuiledst and strookest at him that would haue gathered or brought thee into the right way Ah woe is mee that euer I opened my mouth to call thee or gather thee for now by opening my mouth and thou stopping thine eares when I opend it I haue opened enwidened Hell mouth to swallow thee and deuoure thee I tooke flesh vpon me to the end that Hell not Ierusalem might perish vnder my hand The vanquishment of that vgly nest of Harpies hath beene reserued as a worke for me before al beginnings Now know I not which I may first confound Hell or Ierusalem since both know me and haue armed their fore-heads against me Blessed is thy land O Ierusalem for I was borne in it Cursed is thy Land O Ierusalem for I was borne in it Borne I am to doe all Countries good but thee Thee I came principally to doe good to but thou resistest the good I would doethee Thou interdicts and prohibits me with reproaches threats from gathering thee and doing thee good Of my birth thou reapest no benefite but this that I shall come at the last day to beare witnes against thee Blinde and inconsiderate what wilt thou doe to thine Enemie that thus entreatest thy Friend that thus reiectest thy Redeemer O were thy sinne though not to be defended yet any way excusable it were some-what Why did I euer behold thee to make thee miserable and mine eyes thus miserable in beholding I might haue beheld the innocent Saints and Angels that would neuer haue angerd me but reioiced me the Cherubins and Seraphins would vncessantly haue praysed me I should not haue prayde them to execute my will for they would haue done it with a becke much lesse haue solicited them as I do thee to consent to saue thy selfe I should haue but sayd the word to the sencelesse Planets and it had been done to thy Children more sencelesse then the Planets can I not say that word which not onely they will refuse to doe but deride For this shall thine Enemies gather themselues about thy City and smite thee the Angels shall gather thee to the Lake of fire and Brimstone thou shalt then gather thy browes together in howling and lamentation And as Ieremy sayd The carkasses of thy dwellers shall lie as the dung in the Fielde or the handfull after the Mower and none shall there be to gather them vp All this hadst thou preuented if thou wouldst haue permitted me to gather thee I saw into thy frailty and infirmitie that thou wert not able to gather thy selfe I tooke compassion on thee because thou wert like sheep which had no Sheep-heard I forsooke all my immortall pleasures and mind-rauishing melody to descend and make thee mine to come and gather thee to the glorie prepared for thee The greatest worke was this purpose of thy gathering that euer was vnder-taken in Heauen or Earth Thus did I argument with my selfe to salue thy imperfections of the not gathering thy selfe The Horse tameth not him-selfe the Cammel tameth not him-selfe the Oxe tameth not him-selfe the Beare the Lyon the Elephant tame not them-selues Then why should I require that Man shauld tame recall bridle bring vnder or gather himselfe But as the Horse the Oxe the Cammell the Beare the Lyon the Elephant require Man to tame them so it is requisite that GOD should tame Man that God alone should gather him vnto him Content I was to take vpon me that vnthankfull office of taming or gathering but thou wert not content to bee so tamed or gathered It did not irke me so much that thou wert vntamed or vngathered as that knowing thy selfe in that case thou wert vnwilling to be tamed and gathered Thou could'st not despayre of mine ability to tame thee gather thee for if man tameth the beastes he neuer made shall not I gather thee alter thee tame thee that made thee Easie is my yoke and my burthen is light I would not haue tamed thee or tempted thee aboue thy strength onely I would haue curbd or reaned thee a little to the right hand kept thee from swallowing in sin with greedinesse Suppose as the tamer of all Wild-beasts I had some-time vsed my whyp or my goade had it beene so much Your Horses which you tame and spurre and cut their mouthes with raining and finally kill with making carry heauy burdens many yeeres together you wil not giue so much reward to when they are deade as buriall but cast them to the Foules of the ayre to bee deformedly torne in peeces I hauing tamed thee and gathered thee home vnto me enfeofe thee with indefinite blessednes being deade a space restore to thee not onely thy flesh in more purity but the iust number of thy hayres install thee in eternity with mine Angels where thou shalt neuer-more need to be gathered or tamed where there shall bee no aduersity or tribulation that shall exercise or try thee but eternall felicity to feed thee and that without any care forecast or plotting on thy part such as in the maintenance or earthly weale is wont I shall bee to thee all in all thy riches thy strength thine honour thy Patron thy prouider Yet all this hope cannot moue thee to consent to be tamed or gathered vnto me My voyce which cryeth Returne Returne Whether wanderest thou long strayer is trouble-some and hatefull vnto thee thou canst by no meanes disgest it it is thy Aduersary in the way which since I haue warned thee to agree with and thou hast refused it shall draw hale thee vnto iudgement the Iudge deliuer thee to Death his Sariant the Sariant to the diuell conuicted soules Iaylor thence shalt thou not escape till thou hast paid the vtmost farthing O Ierusalem Ierusalem why shouldest thou gather and intangle thy selfe in so many vneuitable snares when by gathering thy selfe vnder my wing thou mayst auoyde them What haue I required of thee but to gather thy selfe agree with my voice thy Aduersary Nothing but that thou wouldest haue a care of thy health and well-doing A thing which thou in reason not I ought to exact and require of thy selfe yet I as I
eye-strings with excessiue staring and stedfast heauen-gazing when with fast-fortified prayer and eare-agonizing inuocation I haue distressed my Fathers soule for her so that enrag'd hee hath bid me out of his sight chid me rebukt me impatiently said as he said vnto Moyses Let mee alone that I may wreake mine anger on her and consume her None of these may ouer-come her the bloud of my Prophets and the hundred-voyc't clamour of her multiplied mutinies against Heauen are far louder before my Father then I they out-throate mee and put mee downe I cannot be heard euen as one that howles puts downe him that sings Mee would not Ierusalem heare when with sweet songs I haue allur'd cluckt wooed her to come vnder my wings therefore will not my Father heare any man that once names her When I pray for her her sinnes fall a howling that I should not be heard My wings her gray-headed sturdy disobedience hath now cleane vnpinioned and broken so that though I would I cannot gather her Besides she hath steeled my soft impressiue heart and mirmidoniz'd mine eies that they shall neuer giue griefe a Teare more almes Poore Hennes there is nothing so tender as you are ouer your Chickins but had you as I haue none but Kites and Kistrels to your Chickens such as flie against the winde as soone as they are borne and gather themselues in Armes against you when you offer to gather them you would learne of me to leaue off to be so tender To desolation Ierusalem must I leaue thee desolation that taketh his watch-word from thou wouldst not Desolation the greatest name of vengeance that is Desolation which hath as many branches of misery as Hell belonging to it Desolation the vtmost arrow of Gods indignation I cannot in tearmes expresse the one quarter this word Desolation containeth Dauid in the depth of his despaire of Gods mercy said Hee was left as Desolate as the Pellican in the wildernesse or the Owle on the house top This is the Desolation of the Pellican in the Wildernesse that when she hath her bowels vnnaturally torne out by her yong ones into the world tirannously entring and they leaue her in the extremity of her torment and will not deigne her for all her deere trauell one comforting aspect of compassion to herselfe twixt liuing and dying herselfe she complaineth Bloud and teares equally she spendeth and as her womb is rent out with vngratefull fruitfulnesse so now her heart she rents out with selfe-gnawing discontentment and dyeth not decayed by age but destroyed by her of spring The mellancholy Owle Deaths ordinary messenger that nere weildeth his lazy leaden wings but by night and in his huge lumpish head seemeth to haue the house of sleepe built then is most solitary and desolate when restrained from tuning his owne priuate disconsolations to the darke gloomy aire he is sent to sing on a desolate house top a dolefull dreary ditty of destiny Alijs que dolens sit causa dolendi Ierusalem euen as the Pellican in the Wildernesse so by thine owne progeny shalt thou haue thy bowels torne out by ciuill warres shalt thou be more wasted then out-ward annoyance Those whom thou most expectest loue of shall be most vnnatural to thee Not onely teares shal they constraine thee to weepe but bloud vrge thee to rent out thine owne heart in ruing their irreligiousnesse As the Owle on the house-top euer-more howlingly cals for some Corse and is the first Mourner that comes to any funerall so Ierusalem shalt thou howling sit like the Owle on thy high-places and house-tops tune nothing but laies of ill-lucke and desolation funerall Elegies of thy for-lorne ouer-throw Thus shalt thou sing Sodom is sunke and I must succeed God promised hee would neuer-more drowne the world in water but me he hath drowned in bloud All the Eagles of the field feed their yong ones with my yong-mens carkasses Mine old Sages and Gouernours strow the streetes with their white haires like strawes their withered dead bodies serue to mend High-waies with and turne standing quagmires to firme ground ram'd full of their Corses My Virgins and Matrons in steed of painting their faces ruddy colour them with their kins-folkes gore Happy is that wife which may entombe her slaughtered Husband in her Well or Cesterne Happy is that Sister that for strewing hearbs may scatter her discheueld Mayden-haire on her dead Brothers truncke Euen as there be many Foules that eate vp their owne Egges so the Children are faine to feede the Mother The Infant which shee trauels with nine months in her belly once againe hunger thrusteth into her empty famisht body The Babes in conception being halfe entred out of the wombe and but with one eye beholding the miseries of their Country return crying back againe whence they came and chuse rather to tumble forth stil-borne then view the World in such hurly-burly So exceeding are mine aduersities that after successions which shall heare of them will euen be desolate and exiled from mirth with the hearing Adams fall neuer so woe-enwrapped the earth as the relation of them shall Christ the Sonne of God all mens Sauiour but mine fore-prophesied I should thus be left desolate but I beleeued it not therefore is my desolation vnlookt for come vpon mee therefore am I made a scorne to the Gentiles of confusion O Ierusalem Ierusalem all this might'st thou haue auoided I neuer sought the death of a sinner my death thou hast sought for I laboured to saue thee Saue thy selfe as well as thou maist for I haue forsaken thee to desolation haue I resigned thee If in this world thou endurest thy punishment patiently and canst purge thy soule by repentance in my world of Ioy I shall be ready to receiue thee otherwise I haue nouâ—…ht to do with thee thy Soule as thy House bee left desolate vnto thee HEERE doe I confine our SAVIOVRS collachrimate Oration and putting off his borrowed Person restore him to the Triumphancy of his Passion Now priuately as mortall men let vs consider how his threates were after verified in Ierusalems ouer-ture Should I write it to the proofe weeping would leaue meno eyes like tragicke Seneca I should tragedize my selfe by bleeding to death in the depth of passion Admirable Italian teare-eternizers Ariosto Tasso the rest nere had you such a subiect to roialize your Muses with Of a late destruction of Ierusalem Tasso thou wrot'st wherein thy Godfry of Bulloine the destroyer beareth the chiefe part of honour A counterfeite Melpomene in comparison of this was thy Muses Mid-wife when that child of Fame was brought forth Let no man thinke to enter into this History as he should but a consumption of sorrow will cut him off ere he come to the end God forbid I should be so Luciferous passionatiue-ambitious to take vpon mee the full blast of this desolatiue-trumpet of Ierusalem a weake breath or two I will writhe into it and with a hoarse sound
they rid Miriam a Matron of great port and of high lynage discended hauing her receipt of digestion almost closed vp with fasting after she had sustained her life a large space by scraping in chaffe and muck-hils for beasts dung and that meanes forsaking her she had no other refuge of fosterment she was constrained for her liues supportance hauing but one onely sonne to kill him and roast him Mothers of London each one of you to your selues doe but imagine that you were Miriam with what heart suppose you could ye go about the cooquery of your owne children Not hate but hunger taught Miriam to forget mother-hood To this purport conceit her discoursing with herselfe It is better to make a Sepulchre for him in mine owne body then leaue him to be lickt vp by ouer-goers feete in the streete The wrath of GOD is kindled in euery corner of the Citty Famine hath sworne to leaue no breathing thing in her Wals without the Wals the Sword more vsurpeth then Famine Our enemies are mercilesse for we haue no eies to see our owne misery Not they alone besiedge vs but our sinnes also Fire and Famine afflict vs. We haue where-with-all to feed Fire and Famine but not where-with to feede our selues and our children My sonne my sonne I cannot relieue thee I haue Gold and Siluer to giue thee but not a pairing of any repast to preserue thee My son my son why should I not kill famine by killing thee ere Famine in excruciating thee kill mee O my deere Babe had I in euery limbe of mee a seuerall life so many liues as I haue limbes to Death would I resigne to saue thine one life Saue thee I may not though I should giue my soule for thee The greatest debt I haue bound thee to mee with is by bearing thee in my wombe I le binde thee to mee againe in my womb I le beare thee againe and there bury thee ere Famine shall confound thee I will vnswathe thy breast with my sharpe knife and breake ope the bone-walled prison where thy poore heart is lockt vp to be pined Those Chaines and Manacles of corruptiue bowels where-with thy soule is now fetterd will I free it from I will lend Death a false key to enter into the closet of thy breast Euen as amongst the Indians there is a certaine people that when any of their Kins-folkes are sicke saue charges of Physicke and rather resolue vnnaturally to eate them vp then day-diuersifying Agues or bloudboyling surfets should fit meale feede on them so do I resolue rather to eate thee vp my sonne and feed on thy flesh royally then inward emperishing Famine should too vntimely inage thee Would God as the men of Ephraim were not able distinctly to pronounce Shibboleth so I could not distinctly pronoune this sweet name of My sonne it is too sweet a name to come in slaughters mouth Though Dauid sung of mercy and iudgement together yet cannot I sing of cruelty and compassion together remember I am a Mother and play the murdresse both at once O therefore in my words do I striue to be tyrannous that I may be the better able to enact with my hands Sildome or neuer is there any that doth ill but speakes ill first The tongue is the encouraging Captaine that with danger-glorifying perswasion animates all the other corporeall parts to be ventrous Hee is the Iudge that doomes and determines the rest of our faculties powers are but the secular executioners of his sentence Be prest mine hands as Iaile-garding officers to see executed whatsoeuer your superior tongue-slaying Iudge shall decree Embrawne your soft-skin'd enclosure with Adamantine dust that it may draw nothing but steele vnto it Arme your selues against my son not as my son but my bed-intercepting Bastard begotten of some strumpet My heart shall receiue an iniunction imaginarily to disinherite him No relenting thought of mine shall retaine you with repentant affectionate humors I will bloud-shot mine eies that all may seeme sanguine they looke on Some dead man that is already slaine I le anatomize embowell the more to flesh my fiagers in butchering Ratifide it is bad-fated Saturnine boy that thou must be Anthropophagiz'd by thine owne mother Thou wert once the chiefe pillar of my posterity and the whole reliance of my name Well I hoped thou shouldst haue reuiued and new grafted thy fathers fame I expected Ierusalem should haue had a strong prop of thee And if at any time it were war-threatned thy right arme should haue re-tranquiliz'd and reioyc't it that the yong-men in their merry-running Madrigals and sportiue Base-bidding Roundelayes for thee should haue honoured mee That the Virgins on their loud tinternelling Timbrils and Ballad-singing daunces should haue descanted on my praises Mine age of thee expected all life-expedient necessaries My sight put not on yeares-dimnesse so soone as it would haue done onely trusting thou shouldst seale it vp when Death had dusked it My beauty-creasing cares and frowne-imitating wrinkles were wholy buried in the monumentall graue which I misdeeming deemed thy sword might dig me All these my airy-bodied expectations Famine hath dispersed I must enter thee thou canst not entombe me Thy little soule to Heauen must be sent to intelligence the calamity of Ierusalem God will haue pitty of thee and perhaps pitty Ierusalem for thee He surely will melt in remorse and wither vp the hand of his wrath when in his eares it shall be clamoured how the desolation he hath laid on Ierusalem hath compelled a tender-starued mother to kill and eate her onely sonne And yet his owne onely Childe Christ Iesus as deere to him as thou to me my sonne hee sent into the world to be crucified O sorrow conceiuing Mothers looke to haue all your children crucified to haue none of them remitted since our Husbands haue bene so hardy to lay harmfull hands on the Lord of Life Can GOD be more griefe-yeelding with the losse and life-famishing of our innocent children then hee was at the giuing vp of his owne onely Son That one deadly deed hath obdurated him and made him a hard God to all Mothers Famine the Lord hath sent thee to heape a second curse vpon Mothers Neuer shall it be said thou tookst from me my Sonne his Fathers Faulchion shall send him to sleepe with his Fathers Neither shall his death be recorded as my crime in Heauens Iudgement-booke when I but onely rid him that is as good as dead already out of the tedious paine of dying I haue no meate my son to bring thee vp with I haue no eares to giue idle passage to the plaints of thy pyning The enemies without and within shall diuide thy blouds-guilt betwixt them Amongst the rablement shalt thou not miscarry I le beare thee in my bosome to Paradice Thy tombe shall be my stomack with thy flesh will I feast mee This shall be all the childs tribute I will require of thee for the sixe yeares life
Suppose our Monarch were as farre distanced from vs as Constantinople yet still he is a Monarch and his power vndiminished Indeed so did our Fathers rebell and forgot they had a King when Richard cuer de Lyon was warring in the Holy-land his owne brother king Iohn forgot that he had a brother crownd himselfe King But God is not absent but present continually amongst vs though not in sight yet as a Spirit at our elbowes euery where and so delight many Kings to walk disguised amongst their subiects Hee treads in all our steps hee plucketh in and letteth out our breath as hee pleaseth our eyes he openeth and shutteth our feete he guideth as he listeth T is nothing but plentie and abundance that maketh men Atheists Euen as the Snake which the Husbandman tooke out of the cold and cherisht in his bosome once attained to her liuely heate againe and growne fat and lusty singled him out at the first whom shee might vngratefully enuenome with her forked sting So God hauing tooke a number of poore out-casts farre poorer then poore frost-bitten Snakes foorth of the colde of scarcity and contempt and put them in his bosome cherisht and prosperd them with all the blessings he could they hauing once plentifully pickt vp their crummes and that they imagine without his help they can stand of themselues now fall to darting their stings of derision at his face and finding themselues to bee as great as they can well be amongst men grow to enuie and extenuate their Maker A seruant that of nothing is waxt great vnder his Maister if his Maister looke not to him proues the greatest enemy he hath Ef◅soones he wil draw all men from him and vnder-hand disgrace him to engrosse all in his owne hand None are so great enemies to God as those that of smal likelihoods haue waxt greatest vnder him and haue most tasted the gracious springs of his prouidence Oft haue we seene a Begger promoted forget and renounce his owne naturall Parents no maruaile then if these mounted Beggers forget and will not acknowledge God their common Parent and foster-Father I cannot be perswaded any poore man or man in misery be he not altogether desperate of his estate is an Atheist Misery mauger their hearts will make them confesse God Who heareth the thunder that thinkes not of God I would know who is more fearefull to die or dies with more terror and afrightment then an Atheist Discourse ouer the ends of all Atheists and their deaths for the most part haue beene drunken violent and secluded from repentance The blacke swttie visage of the night and the shadie fancies thereof assertaines euery guilty soule there is a sinne-hating God How can Bellowes blowe except there bee one that bindes and first imprisons winde in them How can fire burne if none first kindle it How can man breathe except God puts first the breath of life into him Who leadeth the Sunne out of his Chamber or the Moone foorth her clowdy Pauilion but God Why dooth not the Sea swallow vp the Earth when as it ouer-peeres it and is greater then it but that there is a God that snaffles and curbes it There is a path which no Foule hath known neither the Kytes eyes seene the Lyon himselfe hath not walkt in it nor the Lyons whelpes past thereby VVho then knowes it who is there to trace it Hath the vast azur'd Canopy nothing aboue it whereunto it is perpendicular knit then why doe not all things wheele and swarue topsie-turuy Why breake not thunder bolts through the Clowdes in steade of thrids of raine Why are noy Frost and Snow vncessantly in Armes against the Summer The excellent compacture of mans body is an argument of force enough to confirme the Deity O why should I but squintingly glance at these matters when they are so admirably expiated by auncient Writers In the Resolution most notably is this tractate enlarged He which peruseth that and yet is Diagoriz'd will neuer be Christianiz'd Vniuersity men that are called to preach at the Crosse and the Court arme your selues against nothing but Atheisme meddle not so much with Sects forraine opinions but let Atheisme be the onely string you beate on for there is no Sect now in England so scattered as Atheisme In vaine doe you preach in vaine do you teach if the root that nourisheth all the branches of security be not thorowly digd vp from the bottome You are not halfe so wel acquainted as them that liue cōtinually about the Court and Citty hom many followers this damnable paradox hath how many high wits it hath bewitcht Where are they that count a little smattering in liberall Arts and the reading ouer the Bible with a late Comment sufficient to make a Father of Diuines What wil their disalowed Bible or late Comments helpe them if they haue no other reading to resist Atheists Atheists if euer they be confuted with their owne prophane Authors they must be confuted I am at my wits end when I view how coldly in comparison of other Countrimen our Englishmen write How in their bookes of confutation they show no wit or courage as well as learning In all other things Englishmen are the stoutest of all others but being Schollers and liuing in their owne natiue soyle their braines are so pesterd with ful platters that they haue no roome to bestirre them Fie fie shal we because we haue Leade and Tynne Mynes in England haue Leade and Tinne Muses For shame bury not your spirits in Biefe-pots Let not the Italians call you dul-headed Tramontani So many Dunces in Cambridge and Oxford are entertayned chiefe members into societies vnder pretence though they haue no great learning yet there is in them zeale and Religion that scarce the least hope is left vs we should haue any heereafter but blockes and Images to confute blocks and Images That of Terence is oraculiz'd Patres aequum censere nos adolesentulos ilico a pueris fieri senes Our Fathers are now growne to such austerity as they would haue vs straite of children to become old-men They will allow no time for a gray bearde to grow in If at the first peeping out of the shell a young Student sets not a graue face on it or seemes not mortifiedly religious haue he neuer so good a wit bee hee neuer so fine a Scholler he is cast off and discouraged They set not before their eyes how all were not called at the first houre of the day for then had none of vs euer beene called That not the first sonne that promised his Father to goe into the Vineyard went but hee that refused and sayd he would not went That those blossomes which peepe foorth in the beginning of the Spring are frost-bitten and die ere they can come to be fruite That religion which is soone ripe is soone rotten Too abortiue reuerend Academians do you make your young plants Your preferment following the outward appearance
a ribbe of man you will think to ouer-rule him you ought to be subiect too Watch ouer your pathes look to your waies least the Serpent long since hauing ouer-maistred one of you ouer-maister all of you one after another Banish Pride from your Bours and the lineall discents of your other sinnes are cut off you will seeme Saints and not women But for you men would nere be so proud nere care to goe so gorgeously Nere fetch so many newfangles from other Countries you haue corrupted them you haue tempted them halfe of your pride you haue deuided with them No Nation hath any excesse but they haue made it theirs Certaine glasses there are wherein a man seeth the image of another and not his own those glasses are their eyes for in them they see the image of other Countries and not their owne Other Countries fashions they see but neuer looke backe to the attire of their fore-fathers or consider what shape their owne Country should giue them Themistocles put all his felicitie in being discended from a noble linage Simonides to be well-beloued of his people or Cittizens Antif◅ines in renowne after his death Englishmen put all their felicitie in going pompously and garishly they care not how they impouerish their substance to seeme rich to the outward appearance What wise man is there that makes the cas◅ or couer of any thing ritcher then the thing it selfe which it containeth or couereth Our garments which are cases and couers for our bodies we compact of Pearle and golde our bodies themselues are nought but clay and putrifaction If as the case or couer of any thing keeps it frō dust or from soyling so our costly skinne-cases could keep vs from consuming to dust or being sin-soiled it were some-what but they contrariwise resolue into dust they are no Armours against olde age but such as are harmed by olde age They weare away with continuance euen as Time doth weare and fore-walke vs Our soules they keep not from sin-soyling but are the only instruments so to soile and sin-eclipse them They are a second flesh-asisting prison and further corrupting weight of corruption cast on our soules to keepe them from soaring to heauen Decke our selues how we will in all our royalty we cannot equalize one of the Lillies of the fielde as they wither so shall we wanze and decay and our place no more be found Though our span-long youthly prime blossomes foorth eye-banqueting flowers though our delicious gleaming features make vs seeme the Sonnes and Daughters of the Graces though we glister it neuer so in our worme-spunne robes and gold-florisht garments yet in the graue shall we rot from our redolentest refined compositions ayre pestilenzing stinkes and breath-choking poysnous vapours shall issue England the Players stage of gorgeous attire the Ape of all Nations superfluities the continuall Masquer in out-landish habilements great plenty scanting calamities art thou to await for wanton disguising thy selfe against kind and digressing from the plainnesse of thine Auncesters Scandalous shamefull is it that not any in thee Fishermen and Husbandmen set aside but liue aboue their ability and birth that the outward habite which in other Countries is the only distinction of honour should yeelde in thee no difference of persons that all auncient Nobilitie almost with this gorgeous prodigality should be deuoured and eaten vp and vp starts inhabite their stately Palaces who from farre haue fetcht inthis variety of pride to entrap to spoile them Those of thy people that in all other things are miserable in their apparel will be prodigall No Land can so vnfallibly experience this Prouerbe The hoode makes not the Monke as thou for Tailors Seruing-men Make-shifts and Gentlemen in thee are confounded For the compasment of brauery wee haue them will rob steale cosen cheate betray their owne Fathers sweare and forsweare or doe any thing Take away brauery you kill the heart of lust and incontinencie Wherfore do men make themselues braue but to riot and to reuell Looke after what state their apparell is that state they take to them and carry and after a little accustoming to that carriage perswade themselues they are such indeede Apparell more then any thing bewrayeth his wearers mind All sorts couet in it to exceed Old age I exclude for that couets nought but gold couetise None in a manner fore-cast for their soules they suffer them to go naked with no good deeds will they cloth them They let them freeze to death for want of the garment offaith they famish and starue them in not supplying them with ghostly cherishment O soule of all humane parts the most diuinest soueraignest of al the rest art thou the most despicable and wretched Not any part of the body but thou consultest and carest for To euery part is thy care more auaileable then thy self Impart but the tenths of it on thy selfe be not more curious of a wimple or spot in thy vesture then thou art of spotting and thorow-stayning thy deere-bought Spirit with ten thousand abhominations Whiles the good Angel of mercy stirres about the blood-springing Poole of expiation haste thou to bathe in it Thou canst not bathe in it effectually vnlesse thou strip thy selfe cleane out of the attyre of sinne All gorgeous attire is the attire of sinne The fraile flesh wherein thou art inuested is nothing but a sin-battred Armour with many strokes of temptations assaulted brused to breake into thee and surprise thee Watch pray that thou be not supprised In vaine is thy prayer against sin except thou watchest also to preuent sinne We here in London what for dressing our selues following our worldly affaires dining supping and keeping company haue no leisure not only not to watch against sinne but not so much as once to thinke of sinne In bedde wiues must question their husbands about house-keeping and prouiding for their children and famile No seruice must God expect of vs but a little in Lent and in sicknes aduersity Our gorgeous attire we make not to serue him but to serue the flesh If he were pleased with it why did they euer in the old Law when they presented themselues before him in fasting and prayer rentit off their backs put on course Sack-cloth and ashes No lifting vp a mans selfe that God likes but the lifting vp of the Spirit in prayer One thing it is for a man to lift vp himselfe to God another thing to lift vp himself against God In pranking vp our carcases too proudly we lift vp our flesh against God In lifting vp our flesh we depresse our spirits London lay off thy gorgeous attire and cast downe thy selfe before God in contrition and prayer least hee cast thee downe in his indignation into hell-fire Greeuously hast thou offended and transgressed against his diuine maiesty in turning that to pride which was alotted thee for a punishment His workemanship thou hast scorned and counted imperfect without thine owne additions put to
it Thou hast contended to be a more beautifull Creator and repolisher of thy selfe then he His owne workmanship thou hast made him out of loue with by altering and deforming it at thy pleasure There is no workman that regardeth or esteemeth his owne workmanship after it is translated and transposed by others Except thou quickly vndoest and with-drawest all thy ouer-working he will in wreakfull recompence that thou hast so disgrac't him alter thee deforme thee translate thee transpose thee and leaue thy house desolate vnto thee The last Daughter of Pride is Delicacy vnder which is contained Gluttony Luxury Sloth Security But properly Delicacy is the sinne of our London Dames So delicate are they in their dyet so dainty and puling fine in their speech so tiptoe-nice in treading on the earth as though they walkt vpon Snakes and fear'd to treade hard least they should turne againe Their houses so pickedly and neately must be trickt vp and tapistred as if like Abraham or Lot they were to receiue Angels The floare vnder foote glisteringly rubbed and glased that a Iew if he should behold it would suspect it for Holy ground Nothing about them but is wealth-boastingly and elaborately beautified onely their soules they keepe poore beggerly Iob scrapt his sores with a potshard if they haue any sore or noisome malady about them they will ouer-gilde it and make it seem more amiable then any other part of the body Their habitations they make so resplendent and pleasurable on earth that they haue no mind to goe to heauen Into heauens pleasures they cannot see for their eyes are dazled with terrestiall delights Those that will haue their harts thorowly enflamed with the ioies of the world to come must place no ioy in this world nor frame to themselues any obiect that may too much content They must haue somthing euermore to amate and check their felicity and with Macedon Philip to remember them of mortalitie Delicacy is nought but the art of security and forgetting mortality It is a kind of Alchimical quintessensing a heauen out of earth It is the exchanging of an eternall heauen for a short momentary imperfect heauen Blessed are they that by pining and excruciating their bodies liue in hell here on earth to auoid the hell neuer ending Many of the Saints and Martyrs of the Primitiue Church when they might haue spent their daies in all affluence and delicacy and liu'd out of gunshot of misery haue notwithstanding tooke vnto them the contemptiblest pouerty that might be They haue abandoned all their goods and possessions and in the Wildernesse conuersed with penurie and scarcity to beate downe and keepe vnder their rebellious flesh Some of them haue drunk puddle water fed on the lothsomest things that might be to bring their affection out of loue with this transitory infelicity Some of them haue grated rawed their smooth tender skinnes with haire shirts and rough garments that they might liue in vncessant smart take no ease or rest in this life where no rest or ease is to be taken vp but only a watch-mans lodge to soiourne in for a night or such a house as the Moath buildeth in a garment Others all naked on sharpe shreds of broken flint and fragments of of potsheards haue spred their weary limbs that lust in their sleepe might not assaile them Holy S. Ierome in the Desert thou builts thee a Cell to liue out of the haunts of concupiscence where parched and broiled in Sommer with the raging beames of the Sun and quiuering and quaking in Winter all riueld and weather-beaten with the sharp driuing shours and freezing Northern-winde thou drunkest no kind of liquor but the Ice-chilled water from the cold Fountain nor eats any meate but tough dried roots On the bare ground thou lodgedst and with abstinence and want of sleepe lookedst pale and wan This didst thou to mortifie thy insurrectiue masse of corruption This didst thou to teach mortification and sobriety to these licentious times of ours No course doe wee take to mortifie the Lawe of our members all mortification we censure by the name of superstition our fasts are no fasts but preparatiues to Euening feasts our mourning is like the mourning of an Heyre who then laughes inward when hee weepes most outward It is not prayer alone may kill the olde man in vs either it must be sanctified and assisted with fasting abstinence or it cannot cast out a spirit of such might It is heauenly policy as well as humane policie to weaken our enemy before we fight with him Wee must weaken our enemy Gods enemy the flesh with abstinence and fasting before we fight with him or els he will be too strong for vs. Physitions minister Purgations before they apply any Medicine Surgions lay Corsiues to any wound to eate out the dead-flesh ere they can cure it Abstinence and fasting are as Corasiues to eate out the dead-flesh of gluttony drunkennes concupiscence in our loins which so proiected and eaten out Christ is that kind Samaritan that will come and bind vp our wounds carrie vs home with him to his house or Kingdome euerlasting Thus much of Delecacy in generall now more particularly of his first branch Gluttony which if any Country vnder heauen be culpable of England is All our friendship curtesie is nothing but gluttony Great men shew their state magnificence in nothing so much as gluttony The birth day of our Sauiour his Resurrection and Ascension wee honour onely with gluttony How many Cookes Apothecaries Confectioners and Vintners in London grow pursie by gluttonie Vnder Gluttony I shrowde not onely excesse in meate but in drink also Our full platters and our plentifull cups vnapt vs to any exercise of Christianitie or prayer We do nothing but fatten our soules to Hell-fire Our bodies we bumbast and balist with engorging diseases Diseases shorten our daies therfore whosoeuer englutteth himselfe is guilty of his owne death and damnation Qui diligit epulas sayth Salomon in egestate erit Hee that loueth dainty fare shall feele scarcity Venter maero aestuans dispumat libidinem The belly abounding with wine and good cheere vomiteth forth lust Gluttony were no sinne or not so heynous as it is did it not pluck on a number of other heynous sinnes with it or that wee so engorging our selues infinite of our poore brethren hungerd staru'd not in the streets for want of the least dish on our Tables Very largely haue I inueighed against this vice elsewhere wherefore heere I will trusse it vp more succinct Text vpon Text I could heape to shew the inconuenience of it In London I could exemplify it by many note-worthy specialties but in so doing I should but lay downe what euery one knowes and purchase no thank for my labour To my iourneys end I haste discend to the second continent of Delicacy which is Lust or Luxury In complaining of it I am afraid I shal defile
vp Baudes in the Subsidy booke for the plenty they liue in is princely A great office is not so gainful as the principalship of a Colledge of Curtizans No Merchant in riches may compare with those Merchāts of maiden-heads if their female Inmates were not so fleeting vncertaine This is a trick amongst all Baudes they will faine themselues to be zealous Catholiques and whereas they dare not come to Church or into any open assembly for wonring and howting at they pretend scrupulosity of conscience and that they refraine only for religion So if they be imprisoned or carried to Bridewell for their baudrie they giue out they suffer for the Church Great cunning doe they ascribe to their Art as the discerning by the very countenance a man that hath Crownes in his purse the fine closing in with the next Iustice or Aldermans deputy of the warde the winning loue of neighbours round about to repell violence if haply their houses should be enuirond or any in them proue vnruly being pilled and pould too vnconscionably They fore-cast for back-doores to come in and out by vndiscouerd Sliding windowes also and trapboords in floars to hide whores behind and vnder with false counterfet panes in wals to be opened shut like a wicket Some one Gentleman generally acquainted they giue his admission vnto fans fee free priuiledge thence forward in their Nunnery to procure them frequentance Awake your wits graue authorized Lawe-distributers and shew your selues as insinuatiue subtile in smoaking this Citty-sodoming trade out of his starting-holes as the professors of it are in vnderpropping it Either you do not or wil not descend into their deep iugling legerdemaine Any excuse or vnlikely pretext goes for paiment Set vp a shop of incontinencie who so will let him haue but one letter of an honest name to grace it In such a place dwels a wise woman that tells fortunes and she vnder that shadow hath her house neuer emptie of forlorne vnfortunate Dames married to olde husbands In another corner enhabiteth a Phisition and a Coniurer who hath corners and spare Chambers to hide cation in and can coniure vp an vnphisicall drab at all times In a third place is there a grosse pencild Painter who works all in oyle-colours vnder color of drawing of pictures draws more to his shady Pauilion then depart thence pure vestals Lodge these Baudes any suspicious Gentlewoman and being askt what she is be she young and braue they will answere that shee is an Esquires or Knights daughter sent vp to be plac't with I wote not what Lady or Countesse Be shee of middle yeeres she is a widdow that hath sutes in Law here at the Tearme and hath been a long Counsaile-table petitioner Be she but ciuily plaine and in her apparrell cittizinizd she is the good-wiues Niece or neere kinswoman Thus haue they euasions for all obiections and are neuer lightly brought in question but when they breake and iarre with their neighbours Monstrous creatures are they meruaile is it fire from heauen consumes not London as long as they are in it A thousand parts better were it to haue publike Stewes then to let them keepe priuate Stewes as they doe The world would count me the most licentiat loose straier vnder heauen if I should vnrip but halfe so much of their venerial machauielisme as I haue lookt into Wee haue not English words enough to vnfold it Positions instructions haue they to make their whores a hundred times more whorish and treacherous then their owne wicked affects resigned to the diuels disposing can make them Waters and receipts haue they to enable a man to the acte after hee is spent dormatiue potions to procure deadly sleepe that when the hackney he hath paide for lies by him he may haue no power to deale with her but she may steale from him whiles he is in his deepe memento and make her gaine of three or fowre other I am weary of recapitulating their roguery I would those that should reforme it would take but halfe the paines in supplanting it that I haue done in disclosing it Repent repent you ruines of intemperance recouer your soules though you haue sudded your bodies Let not your feete be fast locked in the mire of pollution Meditate but what a brutish thing it is how short lasting and but a minute contentiue If you should lend it from the beginning to the ending but sutable descriptionate politure or if with your eies you could but view the meeting of venoms I know it would worke in some of you an abiuring dislike Consider but what lothsome things are engendred of the excesse of it and how the soule which was made to mount vpward in the heate of it descends downward Sinne enough of your selues women haue you you need haue no sinne put into you Your flesh of the own accord will corrupt faster then you would though you corrupt it not before his time with inordinate carnall sluttishnes Make not your bodies stinking dungeons for diseases to dwell in imprison not your soules in a sinke To you men this admonition I wil giue be prodigall any way rather then giue a whore an earnest pennie of her perdition Salomon sayth Qui nutrit scortum perdit substantiam He that keepeth a harlot squandreth his substance Paul saith Qui fornicatur in corpus suum peccat He which committeth fornication sinneth against his owne flesh In the Acts it is sayde Abstinete vos a fornicatione Abstaine from fornication In the Epistle to the Galathians The workes of the flesh are adultery fornications c. In the Epistle to the Ephesians No whoremonger adulterer or couetous person shall enter into the Kingdome of heauen Hebrues the 13. Adulterers God wil iudge Deuteronomy the 23. There shall not be a harlot of the Daughters of Israell Mathew the tenth Whom God hath ioyned let no man separate An adulterer goes betwixt or separates whom God hath ioined Cum cetera possit Deus c. When God can do all things els he cannot restore a Virgin after she is defloured Laesa pudicitia saith Ouid deperit illa semel Chastity being once scarred is neuer salued Agamemnon defiling Brisis his wife Clitemnestra plaid false with Egistus in the meane time On the other side Vlisses shunning the enchauntments of Circes the sweet descant of the Syrens immortality of Calipso to liue with his constant wife Penelope shee notwithstanding all the gallant troupes of Grecian woers enticements that in her house kept a standing court a long time kept her selfe chaste for him 20. yeeres Solon ordained that the adulterer should be put to death The tale of Selcucus and is son his stale I haue made my booke too great already only in displaying the sinnes of London Whosoeuer they be that haue soules and would in no means haue them miscarry let them remember that of S. Augustine In pollutione anima fit tota caro In adultery or fornication the