his pursse the Glotton more to eate The Apish Ipocrite for praise a good man for his Soule health alwaies Cap. IX A briefe exhortation to Christian Religion AS the wise men of the East did offer vnto Christ their Math. 2. costly presents of Gold Frankencense and Mirh so the most precious thing that wee can present vnto him is the Gold of Faith sure Hope the Frankencence of Zeale and true Deuotion and the Mirh of Vertue and Charitable liuing To honour him with due obedience and depend wholy vpon his prouidence ioyning alwayes practise with knowledge deedes with words keeping with hearing walking with talking and expressing with professing knowing that not the hearers of the word but the doers therof shal be saued Not euery one that cryeth Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heauen but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heauen If yee vnderstand these things saith our Sauiour Ioh. 13 17. happy are ye if ye doe them blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it Hee that heareth the word willingly vnderstandeth it rightly beleeueth it faithfully applieth it profitably and keepeth it diligently shall ioy with Christ assuredly And thus is Religion or godlynesse the ground of conscience and true deuotion Iohn heard a voyce from Heauen saying Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord euen so saith the spirit that they rest from theyr labours and their works follow them And hee that will dye in the Lord must first bee carefull to liue in the Lord It is an infallible rule Qualis vita Finis ita to him that liueth vertuously God doth alwaies giue grace to die faithfully A ioyfull death followeth a charitable life and a happy life insueth such a death So he that liueth to die well shal assuredly die to liue better such as liue like Wolues doe often dye like Swine And commonly after a dissolute life without feare of death followeth a desperate death without hope of life And it agreeth with all equitie right and reason that such as in lewde behauiour haue passed their time shall by rigour of iustice receaue their end Cap. X. An Exhortation to continue patient in Aduersitie IT is required in a true Christian to bee strongly armed Aduersitie with Patience and to abide firme and stable in time of temptation and tryall so that neither prosperitie nor aduersitie weale nor woe life nor death can once moue quaile or discourage him Worldly Riches are subiect to many mishaps bodely health is taken away with sicknesse and by age that daily creepeth on Beautie is soone consumed But a true constant minde comforted by Gods holy spirit no chance or misfortune can alter or quaile Elias in the wildernesse Iohn Baptist in the desart and Peter in prison with the rest of the Apostles whose commendacions by Christ himselfe are very great not onely for leauing their parents friends country to follow him neither for their godly kinde of liuing but by continuing constant vnto the end You haue bidden with mee sayth our Sauiour Christ in my temptation and I will giue you a kingdome Be faithfull saith our Sauiour to the end I will giue you a crowne of life He that ouer-commeth shall possesse all things and I will bee his God and hee shall be my Sonne and shall eate of the tree of life but he that taketh the plough in hand and looketh backe is vnmeet for the kingdome of Heauen Not euery one that worketh in the vineyard but he that coutinueth till night hath the pennie not euery one that fighteth but hee that getteth the victory hath the crowne of triumph not euery one that beginneth well doth good for a time but he that endureth to the end shal be saued Happy and blessed is hee whom the father of mercy indueth with his interior grace so to work runne and perseuer as in the end he may say with the Apostle I haue fought a good fight and got the victory I haue finished my course and woone the price Christ is to mee life and death to mee aduantage Cap. XI A comfortable consolation to the faithfull children of Christ PLuck vp thy hart reioyce little poore dispised flock for the Lorde hath heard the voice of thy weeping whose will and pleasure is to giue thee a kingdome Great are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord is the defender of the righteous cause wildeliuer them out of all Euen as a Father pittyeth his owne sonne so is our God mercifull vnto them that feare him I haue beene young and now am olde saith Dauid yet saw I neuer the righteous forsaken nor his children begge their breade Rather then Elias shall perish for soode God will prepare the Rauens to seede him Rather then Sampson shall decay for drincke God will bring water out of an Asses law to refresh him Rather then Israell shall sterue the Lord will raine Manna from Heauen rather then his people shall faint with thirst the Lord will turne a great Rocke into a mightie fountaine Yea rather then harmeshal come to any one of his chosen he wil set his Angels to preserue thē The mountaines shall moue the hils shall fall downe but my louing kindnesse shall neuer bee remoued not fall away from my elect faith the Lord whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth yet delighteth in him as a Father in his sonne because thou wast beloued of God saith the Angell to Tobias it was necessary that temptation shold try thee Like the heards man when any of his flock is vnruly straieth from his fellowes sendeth forth his dog not of malice to hurt or deuoure him but of loue to saue reforme him euen so our sauiour Christ being our heauenly shepheard when his sheepe goeth astray offend him he sendeth out his dog of tribulation not of enuie to destroy or harme them but of fauour to correct and amend them Euen as Moses by striking the hard stonie rocke with his rod brought forth plentie of water euen so God by striking the hard stony hart of man with affliction bringeth sorth teares of contrition And as in the goldsmithes forge the gold is fined the coales burned so in the forge of temptation trouble the faithfull are tryed whilst the wicked are hardned consumed yea euen as the seede that is cast vpon the land vnlesse it endure the coldnes of raine frost snow can bring forth no fruite no more can a man vnlesse hee beare the crosse of Christ by tribulation and aduersitie bring forth true fruits of the Gospell Cap. XII Of the ioyfull state of Gods children after the last Iudgeent AS the world had a beginning so shal it haue an ending The Heauens shall passe away in maner of a tempest saith the Apostle the element also shall melt with heate the earth shal be consumed with fire but the Lord will create new and the former shall not be
glory euery one a marke wherein thy hand of Mercy is beheld That doth such comfort to each creature yeeld Is not the Fire a figure of thy wrath That soone consumes the proude assault of sinne The aire the pacience that thy mercie hath When true contrition doth remission winne The water teares that thou for sinne hast shed The Earth thy death for to redeeme the dead Since then aboue and in the Elements Sunne Moone Stars Skie Fire water Earth and Aier And what may be beneath the Firmament Beasts Birds Fish worme scale fether hide nor haier Nor Tree nor Flower nor Herbe nor Grasse doth grow But someway doth thy glorious mercie show Shall wreched Man whom God did onely make To his owne Image in his Mercies loue So far himselfe and all his good forsake As to forget so sweet a Turtle Doue As his deere God that so of nothing wrought him And his deere Sonne that hath so deerely bought him Shall Man I say that onely speciall Creature VVhom God hath made to serue his Maiestie In lacke of Grace reueale so vile a Nature As not to seeke his Name to glorifie No heauens forbid though sinne be neuer such In Man should liue ingratitude so much No hee whom God hath made to monarch so Aboue all Creatures that doe grow or breath And by his wisedome makes his will to know The good aboue and euill from beneath And how hee helps the spirit in distresse His glorious goodnesse cannot but confesse And when hee sees with those inseeing eies That in the soule doe giue the spirit light In what the height of heauenly glory lies To whom all glory doth beelong of right His hart will write in his worths worthy storie To him alone bee giuen all onely Glory Oh hee that sits aboue the starry Skie In holy seate of heauenly residence And at the twinckling of his glorious eie Commaunds the world to his obedience Leaue that fowle soule in sorrow euer friendlesse That doth not sound thy name in glory endlesse All grace all goodnesse wisedome power and peace All truth true life all bountie mercy loue These all together sing and neuer cease Vnto the glory of this God aboue And can it bee that Man who sees all this Will not giue glory to this God of his No heauens forbid that hell should haue the power To spit hir poison vpon Man so much To make him liue to that vnhappie hower wherein to shew his wicked Nature such As to forget Gods gratious goodnesse so As not some way his glorious Mercie shew Then set my hart among that world of soules That seele his blessings euery day and hower While truth records in hir eternall rowles The gracious goodnesse of his glorious power Sing in my Soule and neuer cease to sing An Halleluiah to my heauenly King Laus Gloria Deo The high way to Heauen Cap. I. He that in Heauen will tast the fruits of Diuinitie must first learne to know himselfe in the schole of Humilitie HVmilitie is a vertue springing from the feare of GOD the mother of meekenesse and sister of Deuotion without which no man can attaine to the knowledge and feeling of his owne miserie in Adam felicitie in Christ A Bird except hir wings be moued downwards cannot flye vp to the top of an hill nor man except the affectiōs of his heart be humbled downwards mount vp to the Tower of diuine vnderstanding And therefore that godly father Saint Augustine compareth Heauen to a faire stately Pal lace with a little dore wherat no man can enter except he stoupe very low As who should saye God reiecteth the proud but giueth grace to the humble and lowly The true wisdome of a Christian consisteth especially In his booke against the Pelag. in the knowledge of his owne imperfectiōs Then are we said to be righteous saith saint Ierome when we acknowledge our selues to be wicked transgressors He hath much profited in this life saith Saint Augustine that hath learned August how far he is from perfection of righteousnesse For the lesse opinion a man hath of himselfe the more trust he hath in God the more he meditateth on the horrour of Hell the neerer is he to the ioyes of Heauen None more neere then the Psal 51. 17 humble penitent whose heart is most deepely wounded with the grieuousnesse of sinnes nor none so farre from true Religion as he who thinketh himselfe most perfect and very religius The ioyes of Heauen are prepared not for Luke 18. proude presumptuous Pharases which seeme in their owne eyes to bee most iust pure and perfect but for poore humble Publicans that iustly condemne themselues as most vyle miserable wretched The sonne of man came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance to seeke none but those that acknowledge themselues to bee lost to comfort and raise vp none with his Gospell but those that are discomforted and cast downe by the law nor to annoint or heale any with his oile of gladnesse but such broken contrite hearts as for griefe of sinnes are sick and mourne in Syon Cap. II. Of our lothsome deformetie through Adams fall A Naturall man consisteth of three parts the Spirit or immortall Soule indued with reason will and deuine vnderstanding 1. Thes 5. 23. 1. Co. 2. 11 the naturall affections or powres of the Soule as indifferent spurs to Ro. 8. 5. 17 7. 13. 1. Pc. 2. 11 prouoke stirre vp and pricke forward vnto vertue or vice and the terrestriall Body wherein Sathan by tempting of Adam hath Gal. 5. 1 5 written the law of Sinne. All which parts of Man at the first were in such perfect order and concord framed together as neither the immortall Spirit did conceaue any thing the natural powers of the soule desire any thing nor the terrestiall body execute any thing contrary to the will of God All creatures vnder Heauen beeing obedient to the body of man as the subiect to the Prince the naturall body obedient to the reasonable soule as the seruant to the Maister the reasonable soule with his affections obedient to God the creator as the childe to the father till that cutsed Serpent our mortall enemy found meanes to set them at variance discord Since which time the nature of Man became so frayle and weake the occasions vnto euill so many and the illusion of Sathan so prompt ready that except Gods especiall grace preuent him he is apt prone vpon euery light occasion to yeeld vnto sin and wickednesse being more easely brought to conceaue an errour by one little word then the truth by a long tale sooner seduced to consent vnto vice by one small example then conuerted vnto vertue by many vehement perswasions Cap. III. Of the miserie of Adams posteritie and vanitie of the world FOr-asmuch as of all other vices that old rooted infection of Pride Vaineglory and Presumption is most vniuersally grafted in man there
remembred And as we are now clothed with the image of Adams corruptible body subiect to death misery so shall we then bee clothed with the image of Christs glorious body changed into perfection and sinceritie When Christ shall appeare saith the Apostle we shal be like vnto him see him as he is though wee shall not then as now bee maintained with earthly or elementall foode but as the Angells of Heauen yet our bodies of the same humane nature shape and fashion of flesh bones with all parts and members of a man as in this lise not altered in substance but changed in property Behold my hands and my feete saith our sauiour to his disciples for it is euen I my selfe handle mee and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see mee haue And as we shal be new men so shall we haue new sences to vnderstand things not as they seeme but as they are in deed behold the diuine Maiestie of God face to face the fruition of whose glorious presence as the originall fountaine from whence all wisedome gladnesse ioy vertue and true felicitie proceede shall so rauish content and satisfie euery member power and sence of both bodie and minde with such full perfection of pleasure and delight as neither eye hath seene eare hath heard tongue can expresse nor any hart of man imagine in comparison wherof all the desired and gladsome pleasures of this world are but fayned shewes and darke shadowes And as our sauiour Christ laid aside part of the Maiestie tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant hauing performed due obedience subiectioÌ„ vnto his father is now aduanced to the highest dominion and crowned with honor glory so that all knees shall bow vnto him So after the last day when he hath performed the office of a Meditor he shall yeeld vp into the hands of his Father both the kingdome name and crowne of glory that God may bee all in all to whose heauenly mansion the God of all glory bring vs for his Sonne Christ his sake AMEN A most godly and comfortable Praier in time of Aduersitie O Eternall and most louing Father thou GOD of mercie iudgement to whom all things in Heauen earth doe bow obey at the continuance of whose glorious Maiestie the wohle world doth tremble quake who hath fashioned Man of slime and earth couered him in his mothers womb and deliuered him from death and hell To thee our heauenly Father I humbly bow the knees of myne heart beseeching thy Fatherly goodnesse in Iesus Christ to heare mee poore wretched childe of Adam begotten and borne in sinne disquieted with troubles wrapt in aduersitie and oppressed with miserie yet by thy secret purpose pertaine to thy kingdome A Sheep of thy fold by election and calling though vnrulie A seruant of thy household by obedience dutie though vnprofitable A sonne of thy famely by adoption and grace though vnworthie I will call mine owne waies to remembrance confesse mine iniquities against my selfe powre out my complaint beefore thee Giue eare to my praier O Lord consider my distresse and pardon the voice of my humble desires let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my hart be alwaies acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my reedemer I haue sinned grieuously O mercifull God against heauen and before thee now Ioh. 13 17. in the vexation of my â—pirit the anguish of my soule remembring thy fatherly kindnesse toward penitent sinners I appeale to thy eternall mercie acknowâ—edge my wickednesse and lament my grieuous offences My hart is broken with sorrowes my life waxen olde with heauinesse my yeeres with mourning How long wilt thou be angry with thy seruant O Lord how long shall I seeke counsaile in my soule and be so vexed in my spirit how long shall I poore sorrowfull wretch bee tossed with these troublesome floods of mortaletie bewailing the tediousnesse of this my irkesome pilgrimage The infant ouercommeth his mother with crying the childe his father with weeping and the seruant his maister with submission and wilt thou be no more intreated o Lord wher are thy tender mercies which haue beene euer of old our father 's hoped in thee and were deliuered they put their trust in thee an I were not confounded Thou art the Father of the fatherlesse and the helper of the friendles thou hast alwaies hard the humble desires of the poore and thou preparest their hartes to call vpon thee and thine eares harken therevnto thou deliuerest them from wrong and right deere is their blood in thy sight Why art thou so full of heauinesse then O my soule and why art thou so disquieted within me O put thy trust in God for I will yet giue him thanks which is the helpe of my countenaunce and my God yea though hee kill mee yet will I trust in him I will sing vnto the Lord so long as I liue and will praise my God so long as I haue any being He hath chastened and corrected mee but not giuen me ouer vnto death and therefore my hart daunceth sor ioy my flesh shall rest in hope and in my song will I praise him I will honor him with due obedience serue him with feare and reioyce vnto him with reuerence Rebuke me not in thine anger O Lord neither doe thou chasten mee in thy heauie displeasure forsake me not in mine old age when my strength faileth me but comfort my heauinesse pittie my misery and relieue my necessitie Clense mee from my secret faults and pardon the sinnes of my youth Graunt mee a new hart a new minde a new spirit and a new life and I wil offer vnto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiuing and reioyce in my saluation O thou most highest An Exhortacion to continew all Subiects in their dew obedience together with the reward of a faithful subiect to his Prince To the Reuerend Lo. Bishops and the Clergie FOR-asmuch as your ecclesiasticall office is giuen you from God as the next principall members vnder the head to gouerne the Common wealth of this misticall bodie and that there is required at your hands an extraordinarie dutie touching the function of the Soule Let mee entreate you to be as vigilant as the fiue wise Virgins hauing Oyle alwaies in your Lamps against the Bridegrome comes forth of his chamber Your office is the Soule of the Laitie the heart of gouernement the verie Epitome of all obedience From you as the Moone boroweth hir light of the Sunne all inferiour Ministers take their order of perfection Let then your doctrine be pure stedfast like Moyses bush that alwaies burned but neuer cousumed your preaching in season and out of season and your conuersation as spotlesse as the sacrifice of Turtles You best know what plentie of Manna hath rained in Israel how many Homers ful euery man ought to gather Be not any of you the first that
gather more then is commanded in mistrust of Gods benefits infect the whole land with the vice of Auarice You ought rather to be like Pellicans in the wildernesse who in tender loue peck the blood from their breast to feed their yong ones You see with your visible eies how wonderfull almightie God hath alwaies preserued the Queenes Maiestie from the snares of hir manifold enemies And in you prâ—ncipally lies the sacrifice of thancks giuing it is you that ought to daunce before the tabernacle to goe with the people to the Arke Num. 17. 8 of couenant that your righteousnesse may bud like Arons rod. It is you that ought to flie foorth from this tossed Arke like the Doue bring the Oliue braunch of peace in your mouthes tell Gen. 8. 11. the people that if they returne God wil be their God and send a truce to their distressed soules by you his ambassadors Flie not to Tharsis when you are sent to Niniue least deuouring distruction attend you nor with the Man of God goe not out of the way least a Lion teare you in peeces But still be conuersant with the Lord that your saces may shine with Exo. 34. 30 Moses when he came from the Mount and bring the image of Gods glory to the people in your foreheads you must beare with Aron the brest-plate of iudgement vpon your harts There must Exo. 38. 30 be grauen vpon your forefronts Holinesse to the Exo. 35 36 Lord and your soundes must be heard when you goe into the holy places before him So shall yee stand like mount Synay neuer to be remoued and your golden candlesticke shine in the Temple of the Lord. Remember the charge your maister Christ gaue to his seruant Peter binding him three times aboue all things by his feruent loue and the deere affection he bare to his Maister to feede his sheep to bee with Paul the faithfull Ambassadors of Iesus Christ as though God did beseech you through vs we pray you in Christs steed that ye be reconciled to God With Paul like 2. Cor. 5. 2. wife to be an example of life doctrine as in these words And follow hard toward the mark for the Phil. 3. 14. price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Let vs therefore as many as be perfect be thus mindded if ye be otherwise God shall reueale euen the same vnto you Yee are most Reuerent the salt of the earth Mat 15. 13 which wanting sauour is to be troden vnder foot ye are the light of the world a citie that is set on a hill cannot bee hid let your light therefore shine that they that see your good workes may glorifie your father which is in Heauen Thus vnworthie to counsaile so graue aduisements as if the body should instruct the Soule I onely like a trauailer in his pilgrimage seeing a King goe out of his way tell him there is a better a more perfect and a straighter So referring you to your Masters reward who hates a hidden talent I beseech that God who guideth Israell by day Exo. 13 21 in a piller of clowde by night in a piller of fire to direct your earthly bodies spirituall soules to his seruice Amen To the true Nobilitie of this Realme TO ye Right Honorable that are the props supporters of a kingdome that like Atlas should beare the waight of Heauen on your shoulders giue me leaue to stretch forth the Artires of my hart as in a tempestious time in peace vnite you together like one body obedient to one principall head In that worthie member the Hart the monarch seate of our Microcosmos should be your residence with in whose center as in a Princes Court are diuers receptacles for you to inhabit in Then as branches extending from the lofty Ceder being fed by one roote doe notwithstanding cherish one another with their naturall sap So like the true stocke of Nobilitie discended from your worthie ancestors be you combined in a coniunction of vnseperable aide that the body of the tree may be comforted in so happy an issue in the proudest blast of conspiracy keepe you stil vnremouable Be ye like faithfull Mardocheus spotles in your waies when Esser traitors like proud Haman shall perish in their own complets For if yee please to peruse our Histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane yee shall finde that neuer traitor to his natiue Prince but had his reward threefold return'd into his wicked bosom And though it hath pleased God sometime to suffer them the cause best knowne to his sacred pleasure to bring to passe their hatefull purposes yet as a woe pronounced to them by whom such euils come their mischiefe hath not past without greater mischiefe reguerdond There is none of your Honorable societie but knowes that treason is the deuider and seperater of all good things a fatall disioyner of perfection bringing with it ruine and the mercilesse substitutes of war where on the contrary obedience is the sinowes of the state glewes the harts of Nobilitie together like one indiuisible substance And as the seauen leane Kine in Pharaohs dreame deuoured the seauen fat Gene. 41. 4 yet themselues not the fatter so stands it with treason like a cormerant it deuoures all yet is it felfe the better by nothing What greater paterne of miserie can ther be then a kingdome deuided in it selfe it is like the dangerous Eclipse of the Sun nay like the vnnaturall seperation of Heauen that brings all danger and distruction No plague of Egipt comparable to that miserie for ciuile discention is the gate to let in ruine and forraine inuasioÌ„ it is like a wedge of iron that entring into an Oke disseuers both sides in seuerall peeces makes them both fit for the fire The florishing state of Rome was deuoured by that Monster and all tranquilitie swallowed at a bit by that hedius Leuiathan It is like the blinde Mole that louing still to bee mischieuously labouring tosseth vp hir owne destruction Let then Right Honorable that acceptable sacrifice of your harts be offred to our gratious Soueraigne which far exceeds the externall offices of fained affection who with an eye of vigilance will no doubt regard your vertues and like the cheerefull comfort of the Sunne with hir blessed countenance make your yong blossomes come to pleasant fruit and bring the fruit by comfortable warmth to full maturetie By this meanes shall your Phenix liue still you be made most happie in hir fresh renuing God so direct your harts to worke in you vnfained loyaltie to hir sacred Maiestie and deadly hatred to selfe deuouring treason Amen To the Ciuile Maiestrates the Lord Maior and the Shrifes of London and other inferiour offâ—cers THe naturall care that your loyalties haue euer borne to your Soueraigne since your first florishing time both in peace and war hath in ages past as deedes worth registring beene