bréefe cocker our selues too much become careles because the woes wherof we are forwarned will not come yet it will be long first ere they take effect For so did many vse to say of the floud in Noes time of the fire brimstone in Lothes time of the destruction of dust and ashes Doe you not thinke that they themselues if they were able to speake would say thus to vs Alas wretches what meane you to runne vp and downe from place to place after the vanities of this worlde Alas why doe you ouerwhelme your selues in the seas of sin and wickednes Looke vppon our bones and let your owne greedines greeue you your owne miserie make you affraid We were once as you be now and as we are so shall you be And therefore to returne thither from whence I haue straied let vs wey with carefull consideration and in weieng let vs tremble at the fearfull end of this world and hauing the day of our owne death continually before our eies let vs hasten as much as we may to amend our life missed Let vs not neglect the time because our good God forbeareth vs vile offenders and his anger commeth forth but slowly to take vengeance for this slownesse shalbe recompensed with gréeuousnes of punishment and his lame legge if I may so speake shall neuer leaue till it haue ouertaken the swift running sinner This is doubtles that how much the longer God looketh for amendement at our handes and we regard it not so much the more gréeuous shall his iudgement be against vs which to be so the Scripture by many examples hath not slenderly proued Now if we thinke which thought be farre from vs that it will be long ere the end of this world come and therevpon euery one of vs set at naught the consideration of our own falles who are more miserable Are we not I beséech you suddenly smitten with death and our soules taken out of our bodies we looking for nothing lesse whiles we very willingly and in the pleasure of our mindes are well content to tarrie in this forsaken worlde and determine with our selues of matters of long continuance But who are happie Euen they that alwaies haue before their eies either their owne death or the ende of this worlde and that make hast to be found in a readines when that houre commeth Let vs therefore be mindfull one with another that we walke in the middes of the snares of the Diuell and in consideration thereof let vs alwaies be prouided that whensoeuer the Lord laieth his commandement vpon vs being set frée from all blottes and blemishes of sinne wée may enter into his rest Let vs not persuade our selues that the time is long which we haue to weare out in this world For it may be that God will call vs vpon such a sudden that we shall not haue an houres respite giuen vs to repent Alas let vs remember the words of our Sauiour saieng Verily verily I say vnto you the houre is come when all that are in their graues shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they which haue done well shall come forth into the resurrection of life but they which haue done ill into the resurrection of iudgement Nowe therefore let vs take our choice determine with our selues what to doe in this life that according to our desertes we may either reioice with the godly or be tormented with the wicked worldes without end If rewardes will not win vs to béecome better let punishments make vs affraide to waxe worsse and if it be not in our power to despise this present world and to ceasse from the custome of sinning yet let vs at the least doe what we can to redresse our selues by righteousnes If we haue wandered like wantons in our youth let vs nowe repent and be reformed in our age and the euill déedes which wée haue done in sinning let vs renownce and forsake by amending For beholde how the world not by litle and litle but as I said altogether beginneth to come to ruine and decay yea it hath failed already many waies and at this present it draweth néerer and néerer to his last destruction as wée haue béen taught by many tokens al which with one consent agrée vppon that matter euery thing that wée sée vanisheth like a clowde passeth away like the euening shadow Behold the euents of things which were foretold vs long ago by the very trueth it selfe are nowe in these daies of oures more than apparantly perceiued All goodnesse as wée plainely sée is taken away and banished all mischéefe and euill day by day doth more and more abound in such sort manner that there is not a man able to open his mouth and so bold as once to gainesay that the last times are come vpon vs considering that the workes fruites of these dangerous daies are so rise among vs in cōtinuall vse practise For in the latter daies saith the Apostle shall be perillous seasons and men shall loue themselues they shall be couetous high minded proude blasphemers stubburne against their parents vnthankfull mischeeuous void of loue without peace faultfinders accusers dishonest vnkinde cruell traitors froward ambitious louers of pleasures more than of God hauing a shewe in deed of godlines but yet vtterly denieng the force and power thereof in their life Is not euerie place of the earth I pray you full of such men Doe not all corners of the worlde swarme with them in such maner that the wordes of the Lorde are more verified in vs of this latter age than of anie people of olde saieng All haue gone backe and started aside all are become vnprofitable there is not one that doth good no not one For now doubtlesse is that houre come according to the testimonie of eternall trueth wherein Iniquitie doeth abounde and the charitie of a great manie is waxed colde For which cause the Lord threateneth against vs his kindled wrath and indignation and foretelleth vs by horrible signes strange wonders maruellous visions monstrous shapes and such like fearefull appearances as it were by proclamations made from heauen that he is comming to iudgement and admonisheth vs earnestly to repent and amend still shaking his right hand of reuengement ouer vs but sparing to smite telling vs neuerthelesse that except we repent we shall all perish And God graunt that hauing so many warnings both in heauen and in earth by the voices and outcries of such strange wonders we woulde at length shake off slouth and awake not setting at naught the soundes of these trumpets these true proclamations from heauen heauie threatnings of God whereby we are called compelled to repent God grant we may so do to whom be all laude praise dominion power and maiestie now and euermore Amen ¶ A contemplation of wonderfull accidents and principally of Earthquaks as well particular as generall which haue happened in the realmes
neuer heard of in the land of Italie The wars of the Carthaginians were they not foreshewed by Earthquakes many daies ere they came to passe Furthermore what great mischéefe misfortune an Earthquake happening in the time of the Emperour Lotharius did signifie the French men Italians to their great paine and perill haue learned Then were kindled betwéene the Emperour Lotharius and his brethren sore dissentions and disagréements and not long after meruellous greate warres insued therevpon the Normans ouerrunning and laieng wast all Aquitania spoiling Abbies with fire and sword and making hauocke of certein townes in France by murther without mercie In the time of the Emperour Frederike the second of that time what casualties Earthquakes foreshewed to come to passe as it is terrible to tell so is it horrible to heare Not long after as recordes do testifie the whole countrie of Frisland was almost drowned with waters which issued out of certeine riuers maine streames néere vnto the sea The Tartars inuaded Scithia Georgiana Armenia the greater laieng them in manner euen with the grounde Poland Hungarie also felt the force of their fiercenesse to their no small hurt and detriment Herevnto I may adde the vtter ouerthrow of Ierusalem by the power of Cardirius the sonne of the great Saladinus the fift time attempted and atchieued the temple of the Lord and his Sepulchre onely and alone left vnspoiled at the praiers and supplications of the Christians An Earthquake also happening in the time of the Emperour Frederike the third of that name was a foretoken of that lamentable slaughter most worthie of memorie which chanced at Constantinople and of the conflict or battell betwéene the Christians and the Turkes at the towne Taurinus a hole and a horrible battell I say nothing all this while what mischéefes miseries happened in the time of the Emperour Maximilian euen within the compasse of our memorie huge heaps of misfortunes were séene and fealt in those daies and after that not long the Churche abounding with all kind of abuse and enormitie day by day diminished c. I am the more tedious and fuller of wordes in this case without rebuke that wée might fall a reckoning what this last Earthquake in our quarters should signifie there is none but may easily ghesse euen by the obseruation of that litle which we haue written and by the like estate and condition of this our age and time that little good is to be looked for The signification thereof I leaue to euery ones particular iudgement knowing that Christian godlines and perfect religion hath vtterly cast away that vaine and superstitious obseruation of the ancient Romanes and other Heathen nations touching signes and wonders and referreth all things both wisely and godly to the prouidence of the Almightie To the which prouidence submitting my selfe I suppose euery Christian reader sufficiently resolued staid in mind if with me they ascribe that to Gods prouidence which the vaine idle dotage of our Elders superstitiously obserued otherwise auouch with liuely voice that there is nothing done either in Heauen aboue or in the earth beneath but either at the commaundement of God or by his sufferance and that almightie God according to his vnspeakeable wisedome wherby he ordereth all things aright yea euen in such wonders as we sée come to passe by the course of Nature as also aboue the course of Nature and against it in like manner that God I say euery way hath a secrete counsell and doth nothing either by commandement or sufferance but to some end setting before our eies by sundrie spectacles more than one or two his patience long sufferance his anger and vengeance calling and bidding vs whome he hath created to life and saluation not to death and damnation vnto the banket of repentance This God therefore which foretold vs of Earthquakes hereafter to come in diuerse quarters as signes and tokens of his wrath against vs and according to his foreknowledge sendeth them at times appointed vseth this kinde of visitation to this ende namely to teach vs that he will not destroy all mankind at once but that he will iudge them by parts and portions nowe some and then some still leauing place to repentance and time to conuert amend Now if neither by earthquakes nor other plagues which are the beginnings of sorrowes we will be redressed no doubt it shall go woorse with vs in the ende For if we continue in the custome of sinne which we are growne into by the trade of our life we shall be sure that such vengeance is like to light vpon vs as is due and answerable to such a wicked woont And this is it which the Lord him selfe spake of fortelling what things should chaunce before the comming of Doomes day saying Yee shall heare of warres rumors of warres be ye not troubled for such things must needes be but the end shall not be yet For nation shall rise against nation and kingdome against kingdome and there shall be earthquakes in diuerse quarters and there shall be pestilence and famine These are the beginnings of sorrowes Which one onely warning teacheth vs what the Earthquake which we lately had forsheweth herafter to come to passe among vs if we manifestly séeing féeling the wrath of God kindled against vs neglect to be penitent and sorie for our sinnes Séeing that the Author of this treatise of méere loue as it séemeth hath vttered his minde still beating vpon this aboue the rest euen sinne sinne as the crieng cause of all calamities which happen vnto man and for that more cannot be said in that matter than he hath alreadie mentioned vnlesse by annexing later examples which haue chaunced since the time of his death I account them gratious that by others harmes can learne to take heede And if sinne be the cause as it is in déede so doeth the holie Ghost report in the sacred Scripture alwaies after the denouncing of any plague adding the prouoking cause if sinne I say be the cause of so many miseries méete and conuenient I iudge it be that we come home againe with the lost childe and crie mercie for our time mispent Father I haue sinned against heauen and against the c. That we séeke after our saluation in whome it is to be founde namely Christ Jesus not in the morning onely that is to say not in our flourishing yeares nor yet in the euening alone that is to say in our decrepite and stooping age but euerie houre and moment both at midnight at the cockcrowing and at the dawning of the day that hauing oile in our lampes we may be readie to enter with the bridegroome as bidden ghestes to his heauenly banquet To rehearse the examples which are alreadie touched and more pathetically or effectually handled than I can by skill comprise it were superfluous A good thing cannot be too much perused and though
all swéete things be they neuer so toothsome by their often vse are made loathsome yet the reading of this with deliberation and the marking thereof with due aduisement shall increase desire to beginne againe when it is once passed ouer and a comfort to sée the iudgement of God poured out vpon a fewe that many might amende two speciall meanes to cut off the verie conceit of satietie and loathing The late casualties that haue béene séene and felt both in this citie and in sundrie places in this land villages and townes both East West North and South yea beyonde the Seas doe threaten vnto vs some heauie iudgement of God and tell vs that Our sinnes are written with the point of a Diamond and with a penne of iron It is no time now to go a gadding to the weather wise the season serueth not the reason suffereth not For nowe we ought all of vs to looke about séeing that God hath spoken vnto vs these many yeares so many wayes by the troubles of his Church by the slaughter of his Saints beginning correction at his owne house by monstruous birthes by strange shapes by inundations of waters by contagions of the aire by fire in the Element by forreigne warres abroad by tumults at home and now of late by an Earthquake at one instant shaking the whole Realme as may be coniectured by the report of trauellers to and from sundrie coastes of this land And not onely on this side but beyond the Seas as I haue heard reported this Earthquake hath happened with the very quiuering therof doing much harme and farre greater than any that hath chanced among vs. Séeing then this Earthquake so vniuersall for I beleeue the Lord did shake the foundations of the whole earth it was his mercie in that we were not all vtterly vndone I may conclude that it was supernaturall being supernaturall the more wonderfull For neither wind nor water could haue the force with a generall moouing of the whole land to terrifie the peoples hearts Let vs be resolued that there remaineth nothing now but the day of our visitation The Lord will come in his wrath to iudge and punish vs whom in mercie he spared and yet we the worsse For what should we looke for now but a terrible reuenger We haue had the Prophets of God we haue had his lawe we haue had his Sonne his Apostles his Euangelists and Disciples we haue had his Preachers we haue had the Elements we haue had euen dombe creatures preaching vnto vs repentance strange sicknesses sudden deaths and I cannot tell what chances wherevnto this changeable estate of ours is subiect haue forewarned vs to amend we neuerthelesse forsaking the waters of the well of life are contented to wallowe in the puddles of our owne pollusion and filthinesse and being lepers regard not to be clensed What remaineth in this case but that the Lord performe that in his seuere iudgement which he hath spoken in his wrath against Ierusalem saieng Who shall haue pitie vpon thee ô Ierusalem or who shall be sorie for thee or who shall goe to pray for thy peace Thou hast forsaken me and gone backwards therfore will I stretch out mine hande against thee and destroy thee For I am wearie with repenting The proofe wherof God graunt we auoid The effect of all is this that others destruction be our instruction ¶ How long wonders and straunge appearances deferre and put off those effectes whereof they are significations and tokens Chap. 8. BEcause we are taught by many proofes and trials that Eclipses for so they call the diminishing of light in the Sunne and the Moone happening at set times seasons and places appointed by nature when the Sunne by the interposition of the Moone and the Moone by the interposition of the Sunne are so couered and hidden that they are suddenly darkened prolong their effects and operations sometimes more sometimes lesse space herevpon riseth a question how long wonders are said and thought to deferre their effects and workings Unto which demand this answer may be made namely that it is at the will appointment of almightie GOD without whose commandement and sufferance those things come not to passe be they either by nature contrarie to nature or aboue nature For God by the same power wherewith he created all things by the selfe same power he gouerneth all things seing he is the author and maker of al things able by his omnipotencie either to hasten or delay all things according to the pleasure of his will For saith the Prophet he hath made all things whatsoeuer he would in Heauen and in Earth and in all deepes But now that same pleasure of Gods will touching the effects of wonders and their appearances are so hidden and vnknowne to vs that this is all we can doe nothing he houeth vs so well euen deuoutly to crie out with S. Paule ô the depth of the riches of the wisedome and knowledge of God! how vnsearchable are his iudgements and his waies past finding out For who hath knowne the mind of the Lord or who hath beene of his counsell or who hath giuen ought to him first and it shall be giuen and paide him backe againe Because of him and through him by him in him is all in all c. Nowe because it is manifest that many wonders haue their cause and originall euen of nature in such sort manner that the very course of nature doeth throughly teach as well the set seasons as also the appointed places of such wonders For it hath pleased GOD to leaue vnto this course of nature whose ministerie and seruice he vouchethsafe to vse oftentimes in naturall things her conditions qualities her operations and workings and hée suffereth nature to beare rule ouer naturall things and naturall thinges to incline and yéelde vnto nature himselfe winking thereat and looking vpon as it were through a lattesse Herevpon it is possible that a man may by certeine coniectures and ghesses gather or by certeine causes and reasons attaine vnto the knowledge both of the times and places when and where the effects of such and such things séeme they neuer so strange and wonderfull shall come to passe To confirme this I bring for example Astronomers skilfull and cunning in their profession who many times know before hand and forshewe likewise the seasons effects of Eclipses neuer failing in their prognostications and yet there are some that holde opinion that an Eclipse is a meruellous matter and such a thing in déede as is monstruous strange and contrarie to the common course of nature Howbeit there is no cause why wée should wonder thereat more than néedes as though it were a rare thing and not to be beléeued seing it is a plaine case that the very naturall eiesight of man doth behold and comprehend as well the causes as the signes appearing aboue him as hée doth the
firmament of the Heauen and the Spheres of fire and aire The Scripture in déede affirmeth that * The stars of heauen were appointed to be signes for the difference discerning of seasons times daies and yeares Which to be true and credible we finde by vse and custome For we sée that by them the husbandman doth giue a ghesse what shall follow and by the set seasons of the yeare vnderstandeth what hée should do by day and what by night learning in like manner at what time it is best plowing sowing and reaping which benefit he hath chéefly by being cunning in the changeable and wandering course compasse of the Sunne and Moone By the Sphere of fire also of the aire by reason of the néerenesse each to other it is giuen vnto them of the countrie to coniecture this and that whiles as we know flames of fire in the aire lightnings and thunders windes and raine haile and other tempestes haue their issue from thence the foreknowledge of which things is greatly in vse among husbandmen shepherds and mariners These signes and appearances as they are naturall and their causes naturall so their effects being naturall may be forknowne of certentie For the knowledge of the one is the knowledge of the other But to come to wonders supernaturall of which kinde are all such wonders as are to be counted very wonders in déede the matter peraduenture goeth farre otherwise because that as the causes of such wonders are aboue our reach euen so the effects and operations much more Againe all wonders though supernaturall are not like but diuerse this also ouerthroweth the knowledge of man For the more difference the more doubtfulnes If this be so who will not confesse that the effects and operations of such wonders are vncerteine both at what time and in what place they shall come to passe Concerning which matter because some effects happen sooner and some later no certeintie able to be knowne there can be no infallible and perfect rule giuen But to touch some signes wonders appearing in the Heauens this is a flat truth that such were séene the very same yeare that Ierusalem was destroied the effects whereof were prolonged a yeares space So in Genua at what time a spring there very straungly bubbled bloud the citie it selfe was assaulted of the Sarracens taken and wonderfully afflicted In Lucania what time it rained iron the very next yeare following the Souldiers of that countrie were all slaine with their Captaine Crassus in Parthia and not one mothers sonne left aliue So a litle before the time that C. Caesar was murthered it was founde true by proofe that his horses would eate no prouender but pining themselues there fell teares from their eies so plentifully that it was wonderfull to behold So after the sightes and visions which Daniel saw in the heauen and told the meaning of them there followed an ouerthrowe of the Persian Empire and the famous victorie of Alexander By all which examples as also by certeine wonders appearing at Vienna in Austria not many yeares past we are taught that there can no vndoubted doctrine be set downe touching the time when the place where the effectes of such wonders should come to passe although the busie heads of the Heathen no lesse vainely than superstitiously haue dealt in that matter Which fashion of theirs we vtterly forsaking refer all things as wée haue oftentimes said vnto the prouidence of almightie God ¶ Why more straunge wonders appeare in these latter daies than haue done in other former times Chap. 9. ALthough the wonders which haue béene séene in former times are many as Chronicles and faithfull recordes verifie yet notwithstanding as most men hold opinion there neuer chanced more nor oftener than in these our latter daies as we may manifestly perceiue by examples alreadie rehearsed Howbeit we haue gathered but a fewe out of many and neither the commonest but the chiefe principall In which collection we haue not béene so precise superstitious as to be affraid to make mention of any but onely such as had in them an euident apperance and shew of strange wonders nor againe so rashe vnaduised that what sightes so euer happened and had any likenes of a wonder by and by to catch it by the end put it into our reckoning for then we might be cast in the téeth and not vndeseruedly that whatsoeuer we coulde hit vpon had it neuer so litle strangenesse we tooke it for a wonder as Midas thought euery thing that hée touched to be streight wayes turned into golde And hereof it is that we are certeinly assured many wonders heretofore to haue happened wherof we are ignorant and better knowne vnto others than vnto vs which although wée had béene able vppon knowledge to report yet for tediousnesse sake it were néedelesse to repeate them in this place For they may be so many peraduenture that it would prooue an easier péece of worke to finde where to begin than where to make an end we haue had more regard in the rehersall of examples to kéepe a measure than to séeke after plentie and store in this behalfe Now there be some that hearing me speake as I doe put out this question why in these our dayes rather than in former times more wonders haue béene séene in euery place of the world Is not this thing of it self a wonder I make answer that it is wonderfull inough and not without some monstrous meaning For so many and so great wonders happening in these our dayes do certeinly foretell that the ende of this world is at hand and that this age wherein we liue weareth away and séeth as an eye witnesse by the wonders and signes which continually appeare that Death draweth nighe yea standeth watching at the entrie doore For séeing that this world in all respectes is compared vnto a man and man also him selfe contrariwise likened vnto the worlde he béeing called and named Microcosmus A little world reason concludeth that as it fareth with man so it fareth with the worlde Now man being a little world is subiect to decay diseases may attach him misfortunes may fall vpon him one infirmitie or other hanging vpon him may consume him though not his whole bodie at once yet the partes thereof though not suddenly and at an instant yet by degrées of times wherby in the ende the disease waxing stronger and he weaker that fearcer and he fainter he may fall sick euery where and at the last giue vp the ghost Now there are diseases incident to the worlde as we thinke and what are they but such effects as are denounced by signes and wonders to happen vnto the worlde namely Earthquakes ouerflowings of waters fieres in the element famines pestilences and any other of this sort which are none otherwise foreshewed either presently to happen or hereafter to come to passe than the sicknesses wherevnto men are
of the end of this world and saieng There shall be signes in the Sunne and in the Moone c. For séeing that this worlde may well be compared vnto Aegypt in sundrie considerations and manifolde cases it commeth to passe that as in old time there were sights and wonders séene whereby the ouerthrowe of Aegypt was threatened should come so in this last end of the world signes tokens are strangely séene in the foure elementes which giue vnderstanding to all the inhabitants of the earth that the end is at hand Now for that we sée in these our daies such signes and tokens multiplied how can we doubt that the end of the world is nie Specially because we sée things that haue increased diminish and things that flourished vanish and at length die and come to an ende Which alteration of the world and the diminishing thereof we shall perceiue to be come if we thinke vpon the daies of old and consider with our selues how many countries nations and Islands in so few yeares haue perished and come to naught how all the elements are growne out of course quite contrarie to their first nature and being meruelously chaunged in themselues kéepe not their accustomed condition and qualitie in due time and season as at the first that the earth hath lost much of her wonted fruitfulnes how painfully so euer it be plowed as wée haue plentifully declared in our Catholikes dedicated to the right renowmed Charles the fift and Ferdinand which to repeate againe in this place were labour superfluous It must therfore be confessed that these so sundrie straunge wonders happening in our daies foretell vs that the end of the world approcheth and prophesieth against it some lamentable destruction as certeine tokens appearing in the bodie of man foreshew the daunger either of sickenes or death ¶ At what day and houre the end of this world shall certeinly be as some hold opinion Chap. 10. THat the end of this world is at hand there is none that can iustly denie because that beside the reasons specified in the last Chapter we sée nothing but it foretelleth vs that the same is like very shortly to be For we may behold according to the prophesies of Christ our Sauiour that there is an alteration and chaunge of the state of all things in a manner that the worlde waxeth worsse and worsse and that with the preuailing of wickednesse it is like to be ouerturned that in these daies of ours iniquitie sinne is growen to the highest degrée that equitie is rare vngodlinesse couetousnes concupiscence and lust common the good a praie spoile to the wicked euery where molested troubled that euill men are rich and wealthie vertuous men in pouertie contempt all iudgement confounded lawes ouerthrowne and that which a man hath be it litle or be it much it must be gotten and also kepte by maine strength that boldnesse and violence haue possession of all thinges that there is no faith no trueth no conscience no honestie among men no peace no méekenesse no shame no rule in themselues nor rest from mischéefe that the whole earth is in an vprore and tumult that warres doe rage in all places that all nations are in armour and assault each other and that Cities nie adioining are at strife betwéene themselues If this be so that these as the Lord himselfe beareth witnesse are forewarnings that the worlde is at an end what remaineth but that we beléeue and looke when it shalbe Now because I thinke there is not a man so shamelesse that will gainesay this it néedeth not that I vse many words in this matter considering that we haue discoursed at large hereof in our Centuries and Catholikes It resteth therefore that we make answere in this place to the obiection of some which demand the question not so necessarily as curiously At what day and houre the end of this world shalbe whereof the scriptures of God haue so profoundly spoken Although I make answere that it is not vnknowne to me that some there are which haue taken in hande to tell by account of yeares when the end of this world shalbe of which sort some haue said that foure hundred yeares some that fiue hundred yéeres some that a thousand yeares should passe and runne out betwéene the ascension of the Lord and his last comming to iudgment before the world should be at an end yet notwithstanding I denie that there is any man able to know or to shewe either the houre or the day of the end of this world as also I hold opinion and certainly beléeue that there is not a man liuing that knoweth the ende of his owne life as the scripture testifieth vnles he be instructed and taught from aboue by some singular reuelation And therefore vpon this certeine beléefe I boldly affirme that the end of this worlde hath alwaies béene euer shalbe altogether vncerteine and that it is not for mortall men as the Lord saith to knowe the times and the seasons which the Lord hath put in his owne will power yea that man cannot comprehende the same by any naturall knowledge as the trueth it selfe prooueth saieng Of that daie or houre no man knoweth no not the Angels of heauen nor the Sonne but the Father because the day of the Lorde as the Apostle saith shall come like a theefe in the night For when they shall say peace and quietnes then shall sudden destruction come vpon them as the sorrowe of a woman in trauell and they shall not escape By which words we are warned that the last ruine and ende of this worlde shall come so suddenly vpon men that when the state of thinges séemeth to be amended and growne from worsse to better famine turned into plentie warre into peace pestilence into securitie then euen then in the twinkling of an eie it shall be consumed with fire Beholde a spectacle in Sodom And this is the reason as I take it why the Lord doth exhort vs euerie where to watch because that as no man is certeine of the ende of his owne life so much more ignorant and doubtfull of the ende of the whole worlde Take heed saith our Sauiour watch and pray because ye know not when the time shall be For you knowe not when the Lord will come in the euening or at midnight or at the cockcrowing or in the morning least when he commeth suddenly he finde you sleeping It is Gods will that as well the ende of our owne life as also the end of the world should be hidden from vs that we might euermore be carefull thereof and setting our mindes vpon it be readie at his comming For the suspicion which the Goodman of the house hath of the comming of the théefe is very profitable though it kéepe him waking when peraduenture otherwise he woulde fall asléepe And surely if it were good for vs to knowe this
Signes in the sicke wherby to know whether he shall liue or die * Vndoubted tokens either of death or of extreme sicknes or of life and recouerie in the diseased according to the rules of Hippocrates * From whence strange sights monstrous shapes c. haue their generation and being * The more strange sights and appearances the more strange significations and meanings * Wonders haue beene seene euen since the very beginning of the world in a manner * For the heart cannot safely consist without the ministerie and due seruice of the inferiour meÌ„bers though it selfe be the principall * The stare of y â— worlde comparable to the state of Aegypt for what reasons and considerations * The chaunge of this worlde set downe by contemplation of other countries * A worke so intituled and named and of this Authors owne writing * The alteration change of this world declared vnto vs by particular circumstances * Men must hold fast now a daies many times more than their owne such is the iniquitie of these times * Workes of his own compiling and so named as is declared before * They are coÌ„futed and put to silence which by coÌ„putation of yeares gather the certeine end of the world * All y e knowledge of y e end of this world quite cut off in man by the testimonie of Scripture * An argument or reason drawne from the lesser to the greater * An allusion made to the example which Christ himselfe vseth in the Gospell * The shamelesnes of some which vpoÌ„ no sure ground will warrant y e certeintie of things most vncerteine Lactantius and others of his opinion reproued for their precise computations * A notable speach wherby all Calculators Reckoners of yeares therby to come to y e knowledge of the worldes end are controlled * For the Lord as the Scripture testifieth hath reserued this to his own counsell and secret knowledge * Search the Scriptures and be answered * Workes and treatises of his owne penning and intituled by the name of Centuries * The mutuall seruice duties required of vs and thought most conuenient for vs to prosecute in these latter daies of the worlde * Herein appereth how iust and vnparciall a iudge God is in the execution of his punishments * Examples of Gods iudgemeÌ„ts powred vpoÌ„ vnrepen * A supposed or imagined speach * The danger of this cogitation is set forth in a parable of the Gospell by our Sauiour himselfe to shew what a shrewd sinne securitie is * The furniture which S. Paul setteth downe by parcels in the 6. chapter to y e Ephesians is necessarie for euerie Christian in this case * Whole some admonitions if we haue the grace to followe them which y â— Lord God grant vnto vs. * Manifest proofes of y e latter day to be at hand neerer than we think The Lorde God amend vs that we be not ouerwhelmed in our wickednesse and sinne vppon the sudden * Very children in comparison can say no lesse the iniquitie of these our dayes are so spred through out all places * The Authors conclusion of this necessarie treatise written for the benefite of vs in this age God giue vs grace well to vse it * The determination and purpose of the Translator in this 12. Chapter being the conclusion * Examples represent vnto vs the good or bad estate of our forefathers * This is not the first time that God hath spoken vnto vs by Earthquakes * Many houses swallowed vp and sunke in Cheapside by a gaping of the earth * A generall Earthquake ouer y e whole realme of England * A particular Earthquake and yet supernaturall the reason may be read in the rehearsall of the historie * The craftiest man accounted the wisest as the worlde goeth nowe a daies * These examples may be loking glasses for vs if we had any grace * The second general Earth quake that I reade to haue happened in England * A breefe note giuen of our Earthquake 1580. by way of digression * A viewe of wonders in Warwikshire elsewhere * An Earthquake at Bath and Welles in the West countrie * An Earthquake at S. Albons the quarters there aboutes also terrible thunder lightenings vpon Christmas day c. * An Earthquake with other strange and fearefull sightes to the astonishment of people * also a third generall Earthquake ouer all England * An Earthquake Waterquake both at one instant * The great plague wherwith this citie of London was lamentably visited * A particular Erthquake in the reigne of our gratious Queene Elizabeth * A leape from London to other places of this realme where y e Earthquake was forceable * We wonder no longer at Gods workeâ— than whiles we see them present * Our vnreadinesse if God had come to iudgement at that instant when he fraid vs with an Earthquake * The Isle of Elie shaken notwithstanding y c rounde compasse of waters about it * Some crieng sinnes of England named by them to iudge the abhomination of the residue * This praier is necessarie for euerie priuate housholdeâ— â—o vse with his familie * We cannot excuse the least sinne y r we haue committed * For the reward of sinne as S. Paule saith is death and except that Gods mercie set in foote eternall damnation * Here would be reckoned vp all such sinnes as our owne consciences cast before vs. with a set purpose to amend * The names of the idolatrous Gods whome the superstitious Gentiles worshipped * This confession must be made with a zeale and fernencie of spirit * The mercie of God hath shewed it self by sundrie signes to all ages * It is the mercie of God his long sufferance that we haue not been destroied in our sinnes * Our offences and misdeedes are more than the haires of our heades * God must be heartily praied vnto for in him it resteth onely to reforme all disorders in vs who of our selues are able to do nothing that is good * The meanes and waies to be reconciled vnto God out of whose fauour and loue we are fallen * For the word of God beside temporall blessinges whith it bringeth to them that follow it in life conuersation is the sauour of life vnto life c. * For in these two pointes consisteth the summe of the lawe and so by sequele the fruition and enioieng of euerlasting life