TO THE HONORABLE AND HIS VERIE GOOD LL. SIR IOHN POPHAM Knight Lord chiefe Iustice of England and Sir William Periam Knight Lord chiefe Baron of her Maiesties Court of Exchequer T.W. hartily wisheth the abundant riches of al Gods mercies in this life eternal blessednes in that which is to come thorow Christ THough I doubt not my good Lords but that you haue ere this heard of the feareful and lamentable fire that in September last light vpon the towne of VVooburne in the countie of Bedford and am fullie perswaded that according to the measure of heauenly wisedome that God hath vouchsaued to you both you haue made spirituall profit not only thereof but of sundry other such like iudgments past alreadie in diuers quarters of our kingdom and iustly feared that hereafter may fall out vpon vs for our sinnes yet because the particularities of that punishment are not so wel and certainly knowne as were meete mens minds are so various and fame increaseth by going as wee say in the Prouerbe besides that euen in these things likewise there is a trueth fit to be vnderstood also because the generalitie of men either see them not because they are blind or els bee amazed at thē for a while because they haue no further insight or else make not good vse of them because they are of carelesse hearts I haue thought it sit and that vnder your Lordshippes protections and with your good acceptation also I trust to publishe though a short yet a true narration of that pitifull spectacle and therewithall some meditations of mine owne concerning that matter begunne within a daye or two after the aforenamed fire it selfe and finished in howe short a space I will not write least I might seeme to vaunt In regard of the matter I haue aimed at nothing but this that the trueth it selfe being laide open and some obseruations made thereupon men might bee lead by the hande to make some profitable vse of it they being drawne on to repentance for that which is past and carefully to looke to themselues for that which is to come least otherwise the flame of Gods wrath should break forth further against vs and that to our vtter wasting and destruction For the manner obserued in this discourse it is not so methodicall I confesse as it should be but the reason thereof was the sodain feare and great griefe that I conceiued vpon the very viewe and sight of the ruines it had made all making me vnfit indeed for that present especiallie for matter or manner to handle such a subiect as it ought both the one and the other then tooke such a deepe impression in me and that is the reason also and nothing else I assure you why I seeme as it were so confusedly to deale in the cause for how can a distempered mind be sit especially in methode to propound any matter sith that to the orderlie deliuerie of thinges there must of necessitie concurre a quiet hart and a staied head Howbeit this I dare notwithstanding protest that for the bodie of the treatie there is in it nothing vnsound or vncertaine and therefore in that respect may the more safely be receiued As for the reasons leading me to present this little labour to your Lordships though they bee many the same waightie also yet take them I beseech you in a worde as it were You haue vouchsaued me sundry honorable fauours and I would not willingly seeme or be thought either vnmindfull of them or vnthankefull for them in any dutie that God hath or shal be pleased to inable me to performe You execute the iustice of the land nay which is more the verie iustice of God himselfe euen deriued from himselfe by her Maiesties holy hand and power How fit therefore it is that his example should bee set before you whose person you doe in some sort beare and whose iudgement also you execute in your functions that so you might in your places tread also in some good measure in his pathes your selues can more wisely iudge than I am able to relate You both professe the holy gospell of Christ and may in some sort and sense be reckoned amongst them that mourne for your owne sinnes and for the transgressions of the land also How meet it is that you and others with you shuld see that you haue not taken vp this lamentation without cause as welfor that which is past present as for that which is feared to come But I will represse my selfe in these thinges and will not cease according to all the graces that I haue receiued frō God to commēd these causes into his most merciful hands who only worketh wonderful things both in heauen and in earth that so turning vs from our euil waies vnto himselfe and knitting our harts daily more and more vnto him wee may haue assured hope of the bettering of our estate in this life according to his owne good pleasure or at the least of the euerlasting sauing of our soules notwithstanding all the troubles and turmoiles that may fal out in the world The Lord alwaies and in all things also direct your Lorships both by his holy spirite and vntill the daye of Christ make perfecte in you all good works that hee hath begun for the prosperitie of Sion or the commoditie of the common wealth to his glorie and your euerlasting comforte thorowe Christ London the 1. of Nouember 1595. Your Lordships bounden and readie euer in Iesus Christ Tho. Wilcocks the Lords vnworthie A short narration of the fearefull fire that fell in the towne of VVooburne in the Countie of Bedford on Saturdaie the 13. of September last 1595. Lord Iesus begin and make an ende MEN brethren and fathers yea whosoeuer amongst you truly feareth God vnfainedly loueth his lawe stedfastlye beleeueth his promises and sincerely obeieth his wil to you and to euery one of you I say are the words of trueth and exhortation following directed not of a hatefull heart I assure you against any for I wish would labour your good generally and especially the saluation of your soules as mine owne nor yet of a minde curious in other mens causes with the neglect of them that belong to my selfe for I know it to bee displeasing before God and vnprofitable to my selfe but of an earnest desire in christian charitie by al meanes lawful and that according to my vttermost abilitie to assay to doe good vnto others as vnto mine owne soule and to labour what I can the setting forth of his glory that hath created vs and placed vs in this worlde for that speciall end and purpose that so at the last also after we haue a little glorified him here we might thorough his mercie and Christs merites obtaine the fruition of euerlasting life and the immortall glorification of our bodies and soules in that great and last day Wherein if either thorow the vncleanenes of my heart or the pollution of my hands or
not contented therewith you delight to drawe others from townes and places abroad and rounde about you to be partakers with you of the selfe same iniquitie and that not onely vpon your market and fayre daies and times of resort but euen vpon other daies of the weeke yea vpon the Lords day it selfe wherein you are so farre off from withstanding euill that not one of you yet for ought I knowe hath been found either to represse this foule vice of quaffing and drunkennes in your selues or to shut your doores against them that fall into riot and excesse that way Adde vnto these the adulteries whoredomes and fearefull filthinesses that haue heretofore and daylie doe fall out amongst you and then you shall see also whether God haue causeleslie stricken you with this and other iudgements or whether you haue not indeede good cause for the same vnfeinedly and speedily to humble your selues least otherwise the wrath begun proceede and breake forth to an vtter wasting of you and yours For your secret sinnes that way I will say nothing but leaue them to God to whome they are best knowne and to your owne hearts which should bee touched with a godly sorrow for them and for your other iniquities likewise Consider a little I pray you of your open transgressions and waigh them for amendment of life Diuers of your daughters and maidseruants haue beene in former time and of late shamefully defiled Your sonnes and other of your families haue been the authors and the actors of this grieuous villanie wherein also sundry of them haue growne to this shamelesnesse in their sinne that they haue gone with out stretched necks and brasen foreheads as though they had done none iniquitie at all Your towne by this mernes too much impouerished alreadie hath beene charged with the keeping of a bastardlye broode beside other foule inconueniences that haue followed flowen from this grieuous transgression To reckon vp the rest of your iniquities would bee to too tedious by these labour to learne to loth and to leaue them and all the other whatsoeuer soundly and speedily to turne vnto the Lorde and no doubt but you shall find fauor for yet with the Lord there is mercie that he may bee feared Otherwise know and assure your selues that if thorowe the pleasures of sinne which indure but for a while your hearts shall bee hardened and you either put the euill day farre from you or do not with speede turne vnto God in a holy conuersation and amendment of life you and yours shall both feele the hande of God pursuing you in this life and eternally perish in that which is to come Good and bad are this day propounded vnto you and the way of life and death set before your eyes Looke well to it and beware that the Lord haue not iust occasion thorow your carelesesse and contempt of his trueth to say Thy destructon O Israell is of thy selfe I knowe that the waies and the workes of a mans life are not in his owne hands or power but that it is God that worketh in vs both the will and the deed according to his own good pleasure Notwithstanding sith 〈◊〉 hath beene so gracious to offer let not 〈◊〉 〈…〉 least otherwise 〈…〉 harde against 〈…〉 we shall 〈…〉 And that which iâ— the Angleâ—es of 〈…〉 in â—â—me particular hand 〈◊〉 to you 〈◊〉 doe in the largenes of my 〈◊〉 speake and wish vnto the whole land whose peace and prosperitie I will pray for to my utter most God assisting me procure al the daies of my life FINIS
The ciuill Magistrate saith either he hath no law to punish it or correcteth it at the most with a simple whipping and as for those that haue the ecclesiasticall censures in their hands they surely haue no will to do it but vse their authoritie rather to picke mens purses than to instruct their consciences and to conuert men vnto God Yea I wish with al my heart that euen the very ministers themselues to whom for ought I see there is no other thing left to represse euil by than crying out against iniquity were not in this as in other matters of as great consequence tongue-tied and mute or else as the prophet saith in another place that they were light and wicked persons and had polluted the sanctuarie and wrested the lawe To rehearse all transgressions in the seuerall sortes and particularities of them would be too lōg and tedious take one therefore and the same as the most common so the most grieuous that by it we may iudge also of the rest the prophanation of the Sabbath is the sin that I meane Where is the man woman or child that hath care and conscience publikely to sanctifie it either by reuerent and religious preparing of themselues to come to publike assemblies as they should or to repayre thither duetifullie as they ought or to carrie themselues there as beseemeth such heauenly exercises of prayer preaching c. What househoulder man or woman what childe what seruant hath any regard priuately to spend it well in meditation and conference of things publikely taught them in singing of psalmes in prayer in thinking seriously vpon the creatures in visiting the sicke in dooing the workes of charitie and christian loue Or rather who prophaneth it not in publike and in priuate by themselues and in company and in euery place almost some by thinking it to be a day of bodily rest only and therefore giue themselues and theirs ouer to sleepe more and longer then than on other dayes besides other some making no more account of the holy assemblies of the church and religious exercises therein than of prophane and common meetings nor so much many times and receiuing the word with no more reuerence attention than a prophane tayle other some sitting idle at their doores gaping and gazing suffering yea some times commaunding their seruants and children to abuse it by dicing daunsing carding stoole-ball playing and other vnlawfull and wicked recreations others also poasting ouer their worldly affayres as matters of accountes repayring to Iustices for execution of law visiting and intertaining their friendes and such other worldly things to that daye with a thousand such like abominations fearefully committed and performed vpon that daye that of all others should bee best spent For these may not wee saye as the Prophet speaketh in cases of meaner importance Shall not the land tremble for this and euery one mourne that dwelleth therein Or as another Prophet speaketh against the people that descended frō Iaakob for their pride contempt of Gods word and other iniquities Aram before and the Philistines behinde and they shall deuoure Israel with open mouth and yet for all this his wrath is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still and good reason for the people turneth not vnto him that striketh them iustly for their sinnes neither doe they seeke the Lord of hostes therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tayle branch and bodie in one day The auncient and the honorable man hee is the head and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tayle with many such other things as follow in that ninth chapter of Isatah which I would desire the godly reader with care to looke vpon and in conscience to make vse of For who knoweth whether this bee yet the day of Gods grace offered and the acceptable time if it be receiued Or who can tell whether this bee not a foretelling and a fore-running signe also that the land may and that or euer it be long for ought we know bee consumed with fire from the West by the Turke Pope Spaniard other instruments of Gods wrath to punish a sinfull and rebellious nation All which would bee glad not only for the inlarging of their territories and kingdomes but euen of hatred more than cruell and bloodie against vs to whet their teeth vpon our bodies and bones and to bath their swords in our blood or else who can or dare say that this may not be an assured testimonie that the Lord Iesus shall shortly come in the cloudes in a melting and consuming fire going before him and destroying all things with great power and glory to iudge the quick and the dead Sin not at the height it is at doth in full prouoke the one with earnestnes calleth for our aduersaries to come out against vs in troopes and armies and on the other side all signes if I be not deceiued that should goe before that great and terrible daye of the Lorde bee accomplished already Sith things then are so vncertaine that wee knowe not when nor where nor how the Lord will come vpon vs and yet wee cannot but feare that hee is nigh euen at the doore why should wee deferre with the wicked euen therein or thereby causing the Lordes wrath to breake forth against vs to our vtter confusion or rather considering that all these things must bee dissolued why doe wee not make this vse of it to learne what manner of people wee should bee in holy conuersation and godly life looking for hastning vnto the comming of that day of the Lord by the which the very heauens being on fire shall be dissolued and the elements shall melt with heate But who I wil not say practiseth these things for the number of such persons is almost as rare in the world as a blacke swanne amongst foules thinketh vpon these things seriously Surely surely the most part busie their mindes and their mouthes also farre otherwise for some giue themselues ouer to filthie and foolish speech which not onely bringeth no grace or godly edification to the hearer but rather corrupteth good maners Other some though they fall not so fouly yet are ouertaken in their discourses of pleasure of profit hauking hunting merchandise purchasing landes c. which though in themselues they be not euill yet because they continually put better matter out of place they are become the sin of their soules And if it so fall out that now and then they or some of them stumble vpon good things be it either in word or deede by the motion of their owne minde or occasion from others it is certainely but as a flashe lightening no man knoweth whence it commeth nor whither it goeth and euen vanisheth away as if it were in the first appearing of it And therefore surely thorow their sins of ignorance negligence carelesnes contēpt prophanenes it is likely that vengeance shall breake forth from the Lord in a grieuous both
And as Gods word doth almost euery where in plaine and audible termes affirme the same saying The Lord doth whatsoeuer pleaseth him both in heauen and in earth and in all deepe places so reason grounded vpon religion confirmeth it likewise For if this be not so why doe we say we beleeue with our hearts and confesse with our mouthes that God is almightie Is it not because wee are certainly perswaded both by the will of GOD reuealed in his worde and by his workes manifested in the world that no such things as these are or can bee performed but by not onely his permission and prouidence which indeed reach not vnto the actions of God otherwise than as he suffereth and foreseeth the same but to his determinatiō councell foresight or appointment but by his al-sufficient might and power also at all times in all places and in all thinges ruling yea ouerruling the same according to the good pleasure of his owne will which if it were not true we should in our profession of it haue been found falsifiers of trueth and in our perswasions of it deceiuers of our owne hearts Neither doth this hinder it howsoeuer in humane reason it may seeme so that in the execution of his councels he vseth means For as we are sure that with meanes and without meanes yea and against meanes too hee can performe whatsoeuer he will either as in regard of the grieuous punishment of the wicked or as in respect of the mercifull deliuerance of his owne people which we may plainly and particularly see in the passage of the Israelites thorow the red sea that not only giuing thē way but being as a wal for them on the right hand and on the left and seruing of or the drowning of the Egyptians therein so hee both appoynteth and vseth the meanes not for any impotencie or weaknes in himselfe for hee is the God of all might and power communicating it in great measure to many and yet hauing neuer a whit the lesse in himselfe and brideling that that hee hath giuen them making their rage also to turne to his praise but that he might the more effectually humble who being grosse of nature are hardly brought vnder or made to stoope but by such apparant and forcible meanes And this may appeare not onely then when he vseth grosse and outward meanes and yet the same powerfull also because they better sort with our nature more liuely affect all our senses but euen then when hee maketh the weakest and the meanest able to effect most great and excellent matters And therfore vnles we be in sinne hardned as flints these and such like things cannot chuse but pinch and pearce vs very farre To apply all this to our particular as purpose so past yea and if you will present visitation also which howsoeuer as in regard of time it be past alreadie yet are the monuments the very cinders therof so present before vs that all our senses sight hearing feeling smelling tasting may still yea and I feare me will a long while bee satisfied therewith Wherein though the Lord vsed the carelesnes and negligence of a sillie poore wretched woman for the beginning of this punishment as you haue heard alreadie and though for the continuance increase and carrying of it yea scattering of it abroad he raised vp a mightie wind other instruments and meanes aboue expressed to serue his own turne with for the declaration of his maiestie and the chastisements of the sinnes of the people yet still if wee haue any grace we must stedfastly looke vpon him vnfeignedly cōfesse that he as it were alone hath wrought this great worke And the knowledge and practise of this poynt dooth holy Iob teach vs and that not onely in matters of the like nature and euent but in such plaine termes also as wil admit or receiue no other construction For howsoeuer he was not ignorant of yea by the credible report of his escaped seruants he knewe well enough and was perswaded that the Caldeans Sabeans Satan and al had as it were conspired and consented but yet euerie one in and about the thinges wherein they were imployed as for example in driuing away his cattle as it had beene a praye or spoyle obtained in iust warre in the ouerthrowing of that house wherein his children were banquetting and in the rest of the miseries and afflictions that God was pleased to exercise him withall yet doth he from the hart frankly and freely confesse and say The Lord hath giuen the Lorde hath taken away And to his discomfortable and wicked wife affirme Shall wee receiue good at the hand of God and not receiue euill also And indeed if we be not thorowly perswaded of this in our hearts as by the cleere light of the worde so by the gracious working of Gods blessed spirite in our seuerall soules we shall with the blind and superstitious of the world irreligiously ascribe as they doe the matters and occurences that fall out in this life to fortune and secondary causes which is nothing else in trueth but to spoyle and robbe the diuine maiestie of his power prouidence wisedome iustice and whatsoeuer therein is most excellent And if we doe not with a sound mind and mouth giue glory to God therin and confesse it to the praise of his name surely it is impossible either to minister soūd consolatiō to others that are distressed a dutie that in charitie we are bound to performe towardes men or with patience and comfort to vndergoe our owne calamities and miseries a cause that we ought greatly to care for or quietly and confidently to expect a ioyfull issue of them and way to escape therefrom a matter that we must patiently hope for or else all will bee nought on our sides For howe is it likely that a man should quietly indure the crosses and losses that fall vpon him who knoweth not that they are inflicted not onely by a superior but by an absolute ouerruling power and the same not vsurped but most holie lawfull iust or howe can hee so much as thinke of a comfortable deliuerance that is not well and thorowly perswaded of the almightie power and prouidence of God who if he worke it not for him it can neuer be effected And if hee cannot as a skilfull Phisitian heale the maladies and sicknesses of his owne soule and minister consolation to his owne conscience how shall wee imagine him able to doe it to others For as for mēs mischieuons minds if our crosses and calamities come altogether from them they cannot be satisfied till wee bee ruinated and ouerthrowne and Satans malice specially against Gods people hath neither end nor measure if it bee not restrained This perswasion therefore that we are vnder Gods almightie hand and power in whatsoeuer state or condition we be being well setled in our hearts will vndoubtedly cause vs that in the time of our prosperitie wee shall not be puffed vp in pride
aboue measure and in the daies of our aduersitie not to bee too much depressed but euen for the time present patiently to beare and for the time to come with comfort to expect and waite for such a deliuery and issue out of all troubles as the Lord shall see to be fit for the glory of his name the benefit of his people and our own euerlasting good Whereas without this we shal either with some of the wicked languish away in distrustfulnesse murmuring and all manner of impatiencie or with other some fall to vngodly deuises and shiftes imagining either to haue our necessities satisfied by cōsonage fraud force theft or some such like wicked way or else that our griefes may and shall bee recouered by repayring to witches sorcerers coniurers and sundry other such wicked persons the practise wherof we may beholde to too many in our time ouertaken withall and running ryot to that great and grieuous excesse of euill Wherefore wee may well see and say that it much standeth vs in hand indeed yea and greatly importeth all and euery one of vs to bee rightly and religiously perswaded as of other grounds principles of Christian religion so of this one point particularly and that not onely for the auoyding of iniquitie and sinne in louing liking in seeking and striuing to them whō for their grosse and grieuous transgressions we ought to loath and abhorre but euen for the faithfull accomplishment of many good duties in pietie towardes God in charitie towards men and in comfort and patience as in respect of ourselues For otherwise how shall wee stedfastly trust in or religiously call vpon him whome wee beleeue not to bee almightie or how can wee comfort our selues or other men if there bee any power that is either equall with or can ouerrule the same Nowe wee are to see what causes should moue the Lord in such fearefull measure and manner as many times he doth to exercise execute his iudgements Of a truth it proceedeth not of himselfe and his owne nature as though hee tooke pleasure in punishing the sonnes of men For the scripture telleth vs in many places that hee is as it were of another disposition namely slow to wrath of great goodnes and inclinable to much mercie for which purpose see Exod. 34. and Psalm 86. neither indeede delighteth hee to afflict his owne creatures specially man the excellentest and chiefest of the rest Some thing then frō elsewhere must of necessitie draw him and driue him to doe it or else it could neuer bee performed From our selues therefore surely and our most grieuous transgressions is the first yea and as a man may say indeede is the onely cause of all our miserie of what kinde sorte or condition soeuer it bee either outwarde in the bodie or inwarde in the minde temporall in this life or euerlasting in that which is to come Which because men are not easily perswaded of nor willingly yeelde to pride and conceitednes concerning some good things in themselues taketh so strong hold of them and possesseth them so mightily God in sūdry places of the holy scripture doth not onely plainely describe the corruption of mans nature saying The thoughts and imaginations of mans heart are onely euill euery day from his youth vpwarde and againe There is none that doth good no not one they are al become corrupt abominal le c. But also by his Prophet peremptorily telleth vs that our sins are they that make a separatiō betwixt the Lord and vs and againe in another place Thy destruction O Israell is of thy selfe For the further cleering and confirmation of which point we are to marke that God at the first made man iust holy innocent righteous c. but he not continuing in that excellent estate corrupted himselfe and all his posteritie who as they were by creation in his loynes so were they all standing with him in innocencie had hee stoode and falling together with him thorow transgression So that nowe it is no more naturall for man as man that is to say vitiated and corrupted as hee is to breath or speake than it is for all and euery one of them euery way and euery day to sin On the other side God is a God with whom there can dwell no manner of wickednes yea whose eies can at no hand behold that which is euill whether it bee in deuise or desire in thought in word or in deede As soone therfore as man hath sinned any manner of waye so soone hath hee plunged himselfe as in regard of Gods absolute and exact iustice into most grieuous and fearefull iudgements And though God strike not presently therefore as wee see many times according to his nature inclinable to mercie yea mercie it selfe hee doth with much patiēce and lenitie forbeare wee must not thinke as the wicked doe that either he doth it not because he cannot for what is it that hee cannot accomplish or because hee careth not for the sins of our soules for wee know that hee hateth sinnes and sinners to but rather to expresse the wonderfull ouerflowing mercie that is in him waiting for mens conuersion if it may be yea assaying to worke it by all good meanes possible or else that forbearing them and they not amending he way the more sharply and seuerely in his iustice punish thē for abusing of his goodnes and turning his grace into wantonnes as the Apostle saith Which thing the world either not soundly knowing or else not sincerely confessing the same to bee true falleth into fearefull dangerous yea deadly extremities sometimes accusing God of iniustice as as that either he striketh them without cause or more than by reason of the offence committed they haue deserued sometimes they post the cause of their punishment from them selues to others supposing that other mens sinnes rather than their owne haue thus prouoked the Lord and sometimes againe they ascribe or attribute all to secondary causes as to such a coniunction and influence of such and such planets to the negligence or reachlesnes of such and such persons to the strēgth and power of such and such windes and waters c. And sometimes they doe prophanely charge and accuse their miserable mishap or fortune as they call it making her with the heathen a God or goddesse and sometimes they fling out into one corruption and sometimes to another By meanes whereof they as much as in them lyeth rob God of his gouernement as though there were any thing that without him or against him did beare sway in the worlde and spoile him of his iustice as though that he which indeede is the onely iust iudge of the worlde could doe iniustice or wrong and forget his long forbearing hande and so besides that they depriue him of his honour in thankfulnes profite not therby to amendment make other things namely creatures God a creator as it were yea sometimes such things as neuer were in the nature of
measure and manner fearefully consume both bough and branch roote and bodie trunke stocke and all in a day And if this bee the state and condition of the generalitie as indeede it is what shall become of the particulars the whole bodie consisting of them as it were of seueral parts but that they also must remaine vnder the same iudgement To you therefore that now are vnder this hand hammer of Gods heauie indignation is it that I write and speake Can you deny but that euen many dayes and yeares alreadie passed you haue long agoe pulled this and a more grieuous iudgement by much downe vpon you from almightie God If you should the heauens would blush at you and the earth would beare witnes against you and testifie vnto your faces the filthines of your words and workes Mee thinketh it should bee farre better for you to giue glorie to God and vnfeinedly confesse that it is his singular fauour to haue spared you so long and that it is his more then common mercy that ye were not al consumed What hath been threatned against you out of Gods word you cannot be ignorant of What punishments haue light vpō you by the plague the small pockes and now this last fearefull fire you cannot but feele What Hath God stricken you without a cause Be it far from you either to speake it or thinke it for that were to condemne the most iust iudge of the world for your owne clearing yea and to go against the stinging testimonie which euery day when you rise vp and euery night when you lye downe telleth you the cleane contrary But if you should proceede to that height are not other mē that haue watched ouer you preached spoken vnto you in the name of the Lord able to cōuince you of falsehood to your faces and to throw the dounge of your iniquity vpon your countenances Giue them therefore leaue to declare the truth to you and labour to beare with patience and to profit by the word of exhortation sith it is directed to you for your good and vnfeined humiliation also for they knowe you and your offences far better than you your selues Perhaps you will thinke this speech strange but deceiue not your owne hearts I beseech you for if you will weigh that naturallie we are blinde to discerne sinne and after they see it yet many times they are partiall in their owne waies and euen bleare vp their vnderstanding and harden their hearts and againe that they are more quicke and better sighted to discerne other mens transgressions than their owne as also that God reuealeth not the sinnes of the people vnto his faithful seruants the Prophets by the halfes I think you would or at the least I am sure you should be of another mind To reckon vp all the particulars were harde and impossible for who can vnderstande his faultes And yet not to lay downe some were to faile in the iustififying of the charge which were vniust and to let you alone in your iniquities which shuld be vncharitable This therefore I say that amongst the infinite and innumerable sinnes of your soules there are some particulars that haue beene and are most odious before God and most apparant in the view of the world Amongst which I reckon in the first place a fearefull contempt of godlines in the most of you and a great and grieuous carelesnesse thereof euen in the best How often and long hath God spoken vnto you by the publike ministerie of his worde in the holy exercises of prayer preaching administration and participation of his blessed sacraments If you could haue seene your happines in that behalfe both for the length of them the graces of the men that God vsed as meanes to publish his trueth vnto you your fauors both waies not farre inferior to any congregation of the land and in these respects indeede going before many it had beene well but how little you haue profited by them nay howe carelesly you haue heard them how coldly you haue frequented them your grosse ignorance in the grounds of Christian religion sheweth the first fewe or none of you being able to render a reason thereof to them that shall aske you your sleeping in the church talking one with another and turning of your bookes there and vsing of your owne priuate deuotions or prayers in the time of publike preaching prayer a grieuous transgression no doubt proueth the second and your dayly and continuall absence therfrom and specially vpon the Lordes day then lying in your beds haunting of alehouses riding and going abroad for your worldly affaires of pleasure and profite manifesteth the third And how weary you are when you are there let this testifie none preuent the time of publike assemblies and some come in the midst of your exercises to the great disturbance of the same and others that are there and that some againe before the sermons are finished other some after the prayers made and before the singing of the Psalme and the vsuall blessing to bee pronounced departe thence wherof you as well as they that tarrie should be partakers posting also out of the Church as it were frō a play or may game as though you supposed that no more reuerence should be shewed there than in other places or that some parte of diuine seruice belonged vnto you and not other some whereas in trueth you ought to be alike partakers of the whole And how should wee looke for any goodnes where this that is the seede of sinne and the nurse of all abominations swayeth so much Surely when men haue once cast Gods lawe behind their backes and haue it not in deede in a high and reuerēd regard what can there bee to restraine them from euill or to direct them in good Nay what shall not then bee right and lawfull though indeede it bee neuer so corrupt and vile From this therfore as from a streame and fountaine of filthinesse haue flowed all your othes particular transgressions as first for example your swearing and cursing by the first blaspheming of Gods name and haling down wrath and vengeāce from the Lord vpon your selues your wiues children familie friends yea all the goodes and cattle that you haue and possesse for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine and sure wee are that the plague of God shal not depart from the house of the swearer as also wee may perceiue by the signe of the flying booke mentioned Zachar 5. in which were contained curses against euery one that sweareth who also should be cut off as wel on this side as on that yea that this iudgement should enter into and remaine in the midst of such swerers houses and should consume the same with the timber thereof and stones thereof And by the second not onely testifying the malice and madnes of your owne harts against men and other creatures of GOD vpon which you powre out the