on high first kéepeth it lowe and holdeth it downe with the force of a van and the gathering togither of much winde Euen so our God presseth vs downe and kéepeth vs lowe that he may lift vs vp and exalt vs on high he throweth vs downe héere in earth that he may exalt vs in heauen and laieth many times disgrace vpon vs in this world among men that we may be gracious in the world to come with himselfe his angels and his saints On the other side AS a wrastler imbracing him with whom he striueth in the wrastling place for victorie lifteth him vp the higher that with the greater force he may hurle him against the ground So this world doth extoll vs that with throwing vs downe headlong it may hurt vs and that we may fall from the top of deceitfull and transitorie glorie downe to the bottome of most certaine and perpetuall ignominie Cyprian saith The world smileth vpon a man with a cruell purpose it flattereth to deceiue it calleth a man to it to kill him it extolleth him to vndo him AS men mad and frantike are woont to teare and rent themselues So wicked and vngodly men inflict vpon themselues most deadly and incurable wounds yea they be most wilfull murtherers of their owne soules and bodies For that is true in the booke of Wisedome Man through his owne naughtines killeth his owne soule And what greater madnes can there be than a man to run headlong vpon euerlasting destruction Iob hauing a desire to describe the ignorance of such men and to declare that euen in matters most euident and plaine they be vtterly void and destitute of wisedome he saith In the day light they run into darknes and as in the night so stumble they at noone daies And whereas the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome as Dauid and Salomon his sonne do both affirme and vngodly men loden with all maner of naughtines to the feare of God are méere strangers it is plainly and truly concluded that they be not onely without wisedome but also that they haue not so much as the beginning of the same AS the filthie swine regard not but thrust from them roses that are most beautifull and swéete and séeme to contemne most fragrant and pleasant flowers and do rather séeke after foule puddles and stinking mire and forsaking dainty dishes and costly iuncates do franke themselues most gréedily with wilde mast and vncleane things So vngodly men haue no taste of the word of God but hunting after vncertaine riches which are in continuall hazard and at the length will deceiue them they are as it were fettered in the inchanting pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world From the which the Lord preserue and deliuer vs. Amen AS in a fruitfull and fertile ground among many wholsome and very medicinable herbes some that be dangerous and full of poyson do grow So the wits and wisedome of men togither with some profitable and wholsome counsels and admonitions do bring foorth perilous and pestilent errors and are therfore with wisedome and great discretion to be regarded euen as herbes are to be gathered and vsed But this wisedome and discretion is to be sought for and had onely in the word of God which is a lanterne to our féete and a most perfect light vnto our pathes It is onely acceptable to the soules of Gods saints and nothing but it doth féede them to eternall life It is swéeter vnto them than hony and the hony combe In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in the Lords we cannot Thy iudgements O Lord saith Dauid are iust and more to be desired than fine golde or pretious stones and they are swéeter than hony and the hony combe It is the power of saluation to all that beléeue it it is able to saue our soules if it be throughly rooted in vs. The word of the Lord laid vp in our harts doth preserue vs from sinne it clenseth our harts and by the working of the holy Ghost with it it createth right spirits within vs. By the meanes of it the saints and seruants of God attaine to that puritie and cleannes of hart and minde that they wish for and desire nothing but that which is good godly and holy The author of the word is God himselfe who can neither deceiue nor be deceiued and therefore whatsoeuer is written in it is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines whatsoeuer it promiseth after death is eternitie and endlesse ioy to the children of God when this life is ended Whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his good pleasure AS that man that will giue an onset and encounter with an enimie or wil defend and kéepe himselfe vnwounded at his hands hath néede of a sword in his hand to smite the enimie withall and to repell his violence So whosoeuer will triumph and carry away the victorie ouer this world flesh and diuell must hold fast in his hand that is in his maners conuersation and the whole course of his life the worde of God which is called the sword of the spirit is sharper than any two edged sword This the Lord commandeth to be closed and safely laid vp in the cofer of our harts and to be worne as a signe vpon our hands and to be had for a remembrance alway before our eies Salomon doth counsell vs to binde it fast to our harts and to vse it as a chaine about our necks and to take it with vs when we walke abroad And Christ himselfe saith If any man loue me he will kéepe my saying Againe Blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The apostle also Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God but the doers of the lawe shall be iustified And Iames saith Be ye doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiuing your owne selues The Lord giue grace and his holy spirit vnto vs that we may loue to heare his word and to do his will EVen as doues do loue and delight in houses that be faire whited and do willingly frequent swéete and pleasant places but contemne and flie from blacke foule and vnsauorie cottages So faithles and vntrustie friends do hunt and séeke after the friendship of those men by whose wealth and riches they may be holpen reléeued and enriched But men in pouertie and distressed persons vnable to fill their bellies to clothe their backs or otherwise to pleasure them with some worldly things they vtterly despise they care not for their companie their loue nor friendship feare they God neuer so much Yea if some blustering storme and terrible tempest of aduersitie shall blowe away thy wealth and shall separate thy riches and thy selfe thy greatest friends as thou thoughtest will hide them from thée and no where be found but a faithfull friend loueth at al times
be fed with delicates and dainties from heauen and are nourished with the grace fauor of God they holde vp their hands they turne vp their eies they lift vp their harts and mindes to God that is in heauen from whence their soules receiue comfort ioy saluation and euerlasting life Such men are not in loue with this worlde nor with the transitorie things of the same They know and consider that the earth and all that is in it was once nothing and that it shall returne to nothing againe All is vanitie and vanitie of vanities But all their felicitie ioye and comfort is in the worde and will of God to know it that whiles they liue héere below in the earth they may do it That the course of this life being ended they may haue and enioy euerlasting life through Iesus Christ our Lorde LEarned and famous writers do report that in the vniuersall world there is nothing harder then the adamant stone especially that which is had in the Indians which in firmenes hardnes and valure excéedeth the rest but I am of opinion that the hart of man is harder than it for the adamant though it will giue place to no other thing nor be softened by any other means yet is it said to be subdued and mollified with the warme bloud of a goate But the hart of a man being hardned through the continuance and custome of sinne wil not be mollified brideled nor tamed neither with the bloud of a goat nor yet with the bloud of that immaculate lambe Christ Iesus which gaue himselfe a sacrifice for vs vpon the altar of the crosse and there bestowed his bloud that he might mittigate and appease our wilde mindes and pricke to the quicke our harde and senselesse harts and to open vnto vs the waie to the attaining of eternal life and euerlasting saluation O harde saith Bernard and hardened sonnes of Adam that will not be mollified with so great a force and power of loue With whom the bitter pangs of Christ his death and passion cannot preuaile We are surely that people to whom the Lord speaketh by Esay the prophet sayeng I know that thou art hard harted and that thy necke is a synewe of iron and that thy face is of brasse And Ieremie out of doubt speaketh no lesse of vs than of the Iewes they haue made saith he their faces harder then flint and they will not be conuerted I would to God these sayings did onely touch the Iewes and did not also hit a number of vs that professe the name of Christ looke to be saued by him pat vpon the thumbes Wée are proud hawtie and high minded and we hate to be humbled we are couetous enuious leacherous and we will not be brideled Wée are very rich and religious in words but we are very beggerly and haue no religion in our works Our lips and tongues onely are gilded and tipt with good spéeches but our harts are far from the Lorde The almightie vouchsafe to open the eies of our mindes and to mollifie our harts that we may sée and receiue his grace offered vnto vs and that forsakeing our selues and our sinnes we may be conuerted vnto him Amen AS the sunne doth not leaue shining and sending foorth his bright beames although a cloude will sometimes darken his light Euen so we must not giue ouer to exercise godlines and to do well euen towards them that be our enimies and will hate and persecute vs and the better we do the woorse will deale with vs. Christ commandeth vs to loue our enimies and to do them good and to pray for them that hate vs and persecute vs. AS the nut and oliue trées although they be beaten with rods yet bring foorth most plentifull fruits So we must not be weary of well dooing nor caste the exercise and practise of godlines behinde vs but rather more willingly and feruentlie procéede go on in the same although the friends of this world shall braule and rate at vs shall curse reuile and most vnkindly intreate vs. The lot of vertue is to be enuied and to finde fewe friends and if at all to be but coldly intertained with the most parte and greatest number of the worlde The prophet of God complaineth that for his vertues sake the princes of the earth laid their heads togither against him and yet he shronke not EVen as a quiet calme and pleasant water will shew vnto vs if we looke into it the verie image and likenes of our selues as it were a glasse but mooued stirred and troubled it doth not so euen so our owne harts if they be quiet and not troubled with horrors nor distempered with feares will plainly shew vs what we be so that we may easilie know our selues and not be deceiued but being filled with feares tossed with terrors and ouerwhelmed with troubles they cannot do so It behooueth vs therefore that our harts be not troubled nor ouerladen with feares Christ willeth his disciples that they fears not nor that their harts be troubled and in another place hée saith Feare not my little flocke The prophet was in heauie plight when he cried O Lord my hart is sore troubled And in an other place I was troubled in my sléepe Therefore that we may haue our harts quiet our soules in peace and our consciences vntroubled Let vs beware of sinne flie from all iniquitie and walke vprightly before our God all the daies of our liues God grant we may Then may wée saie The Lorde is the protector of my life of whom shall I be afraid And againe I will feare no ill for thou Lord art with me And if God be with vs who can hurt vs A Scorpion is a venemous creature which hath a pleasant pace but woundeth deadly with hir taile shée stingeth not with hir face but with hir hinder part Such a one is euerie smooth toonged and flattering bodie Which speaketh faire to his neighbours face and killeth him in his hart Honest Cato to see too but cruell Nero in experience AS a Bée doth carie a floure in hir mouth but behinde doth pricke verie sharpely with hir stinge So verie manie in these daies do vse most sweet and pleasant spéeches wil euen stroke as it were thy humor and disposition with soft and sugred communication to the ende that by reason of some malice couched in their harts they may worke thy woe and vtter ouerthrow Of these Dauid speaketh They came about me like bees c. Wicked men therefore must be taken héede of For the Scriptures do painte them out in their colours that we may shun them Mathew and Iohn do call them woolues Luke foxes Mathew and Luke the generation of vipers The Lord deliuer vs from them Amen EVen as a candle that it may giue light vnto others it selfe is burned and consumed And as salt it selfe is brused and molten
very good king and setteth down a very plaine paterne a most liuely picture of his vertue that such a man as walketh in an vndefiled way to wit whose life is vnreprooueable shall serue him and be to him a courtier and a counseller and voweth that no man of pride no vaine person nor speaker of euill things shall dwel in his house nor kéepe within his court As if he should say I will diligently inquire and search who they be which in any land countrie and kingdome are faithfull and do loue righteousnes and by their counsell with I be instructed and the familiaritie of them will I vse but all vngodly proud blasphemous lying deceitfull and wicked persons of all sorts will I vtterly expulse out of my house and driue and thrust them out of my court and will suffer them to finde no rest within my kingdome God grant that all good godly Christian princes may follow the steps and example of king Dauid in this and all other his princely vertues and holy exercises Amen IT is the part and dutie of euery good Christian that whatsoeuer he doth in word or déede he do all in the name of the Lord Iesus that is to the glorie of God and in an affiance and confidence that he hath in the name of God that he wil protect defend blesse prosper and preserue him in doing of the same and so to giue vp his hart minde will worke and all vnto God before he do attempt the doing and performance of the same There be very many that do some dédes which to sée to are very good works but not the lesse they kéepe their harts mindes and wils diuided and separated far from God Those things to wit their harts mindes wils and purposes they steale from the Lord and do bestow them vpon the world they regard not God they séeke onely to please men in the action of vertue they haue no respect vnto vertue it selfe but onely and barely to the shew and shape or likenes of vertue Such men are like vnto painters which haue a greater regarde to the colours and shadowes of images and pictures than vnto the substance of the same and contemning the inward parts they bestow all the wit skill and cunning they haue in expressing and painting out a bare shadow and outside of the thing and the more they deceiue the eies of them that behold it the more excellent men are they iudged But the Lord requireth at our hands first fruits that is our harts mindes wils desires and all that is in vs and that we should euen offer vp and consecrate vnto him our selues euen our bodies a quicke aâ—â—â—iuing sacrifice holy and pleasing God which is our reasonable seruice of God And when the Apostle willeth vs or rather beséecheth vs that we giue our bodies a liuely sacrifice holy and acceptable to God and calleth the same our reasonable seruice of God he meaneth that the offering of dead calues and vnreasonable beasts as in times past the Iewes offered vnto him wil not please God now neither that the Lord will accept and take in good part any seruice or sacrifice that we shall bring and lay before him either in words or works so long as we loue sinne and harbour iniquitie in our harts mindes and members The Lord will receiue no sacrifice nor seruice of those that be strangers vnto him but onely of those which are graffed in Christ Iesu and are now become in him new creatures in whom there is a newnes a righteousnes and holines of life in whom all old foule filthie and vngodly conuersation is past And therefore the Apostle saith to the Ephesians Be ye renewed in the spirit of your minde and put ye on the new man and to the Colossians he giueth counsell that they destroy the olde man with all his trash and put on the new man and most louingly he beseecheth the Romanes saying Let vs walke in newnes of life But bicause this newnes cannot be wrought in vs without the grace and holy spirit of God Dauid the prophet doth mightily crie vnto the Lord and saith O God create a new hart within me and renew a right spirit within my bowels or inward parts The Lord requireth of vs a lambe that is innocencie humilitie and méekenes and he would haue vs to offer vnto him a yoong pigeon or a turtle doue that is true contrition and puritie of hart and minde for those swéete birds do vse mourning in stéed of singing and are pretie and fine paterns of puritie and innocencie The Lord will not take receiue nor accept barking curre dogs that is railing raging cursing lying slandering blaspheming or any such vngodly persons neither their offerings sacrifices nor praiers when they come and bring and lay them before him no more than he did the sacrifice of Caine. The roring and cruell lion the rauening wolfe the foule and dirtie swine the blinde mole or want that is the tyrannicall and mercilesse man the oppressor piller and poller of his brethren the man that is méere naturall and carnall the man that is blinde and ignorant in spirituall and heauenly things they are neither sacrifices nor sacrificers that God will or is woont to take any pleasure in as he doth abhorre the vices so for the vices sake he doth detest the vessels vntill such time as they be purged and clensed of such foule and filthie matter If there were no other but onely Salomon to tell vs that the Lord requireth and calleth for our harts it is great reason that we should beléeue the Lord at one word and at one message when so louingly and fatherly he saith My sonne giue me thy hart The Lord helpe vs and grant that we may giue him our harts and whatsoeuer else of the inward and outward man Amen HEliotropium the herbe of the sunne so called bicause it windeth it selfe about with the sunne in the morning very early it beholdeth the rising thereof and all the day it euen followeth the course of the sunne euer turning the leaues towards the same but the roote it neuer changeth stirreth nor mooueth it hath that still fast fixed within the earth So very many will séeme to follow the sunne of righteousnes Christ Iesus but it is onely in leaues and outward shewes for their rootes that is their harts are far and fast within the earth where indéede their treasure is according to that which Christ himselfe doth say Where thy treasure is there is thy hart also Such men will lift vp their hands eies and voices towards heauen and God and with such goodly gréene leaues will make a faire florish and a beautfull shew but their harts and affections are surely set vpon earthly vaine vile and transitorie things and are as far from God as heauen and earth are distant one from the other They shew vnto the Lord onely bare and fruitlesse leaues
CERTAINE VERY PROPER AND MOST PROFITABLE SIMILIES wherein sundrie and very many most foule vices and dangerous sinnes of all sorts are so plainly laid open and displaied in their kindes and so pointed at with the finger of God in his sacred and holy Scriptures to signifie his wrath and indignation belonging vnto them that the Christian Reader being seasoned with the spirit of grace and hauing God before his eies will be very fearfull euen in loue that he beareth to God to pollute and to defile his hart his mind his mouth or hands with any such forbidden things And also manie very notable vertues with their due commendations so liuely and truly expressed according to the holy word that the godly Reader being of a Christian inclination will be mightily inflamed with a loue vnto them Collected by Anthonie Fletcher minister of the word of God in vnfained loue in the Lord Iesu to do the best and all that he can to pleasure and to profite all those that desire to know the Lords waies and to walke in the same This present yeere of our happines 1595. Psalme 128. Blessed is euery one that feareth the Lord and walketh in his waies Printed at London by Iohn Iackson for Isaac Bing To the Right honorable Earle and vertuous Lord the Lord GILBERT TAVLBVT Earle of Shrewsburie and Knight of the noble order of the gartar Grace mercie and peace through Christ Iesus with increase of honor health and all happinesse c. BEing very desirous Right honorable in the feare of God to do good and to profit among all at the least some especially of the weakest sort whose neede of helpe in heauenly things that they may see both vertue and vice and learne to imbrace the one and to auoide the other is exceeding great I haue ventured to take a little paine to collect and to bestowe some labour to gather togither a little booke of Similies to testifie my loue in Christ Iesu to all the seruants of God and haue presumed to dedicate the same vnto your Honor not doubting but that as it may do good and profit very manie concerning the knowledge of God and of his iudgements due to sinne so your Honor will accordingly receiue the same in good part and be as glad to be a patrone to any true seruice to God as any man in the world is or can be able to offer and to performe it Your Honors continuall and faithfull care to do good to your natiue countrie your vnfained and most hartie zeale in fauouring true religion your very good liking and loue towards all that feare the Lorde your misliking of vice and loue to vertue your readinesse to do good to all both for their bodies and soules and to hurt none These things I say haue giuen me this boldnes vnder your Honors protection to publish and to send abroad this my little labour as a poore token of my good will and loue in Christ towards all the seruants and children of God nothing doubting but that for your Honors sake it will be the better welcome to all that feare God and with the greater diligence read imbraced and imitated of all And I my selfe the more incouraged to labour heerafter and to thinke no pains great whatsoeuer I am able to vndergoe and to indure to profite others to increase knowledge in the ignorant and to further the saluation of all men Againe the remembrance of that most vertuous and godlie Ladie Ladie Marie your Honors good and gracious sister wife to the very worshipful and good Knight sir George Sauill when I was preacher in Wakefield to me and to all that feare God a most Christian friende did euen seeme to warrant me though I am vnknowen to your Honour that you are readier to further than I am to perform any good worke Lastly the readinesse to knowe God and their obedience vnto the highest and almightie that I found in those gracious branches sweete virgins and most towarde Ladies your Honors owne daughters when I being preacher at Clerkenwell they were with that vertuous gracious and very religious gentlewoman somtimes mother to hir Maiesties Maides of honor and my very worshipful friend mistresse Winfield hath giuen me great comfort to thrust out this little booke of mine vnder your Honors protection to do good to them that you and I both do loue as I assure my selfe in Christ Iesu Thus without troubling your Honor any longer I beseech the Almightie to blesse your Honors selfe the honorable and godlie Ladie your wife your Ladie daughters and all that appertaine to your Honor if they appertain to God This 22. of May 1595. Your Honors most humble to command in Christ Iesu during this temporall life Anthonie Fletcher preacher of the word of God A paterne of a cursed tree and the fruite and end of the same WHen the sonne of God the redeemer of the world Christ Iesus was heere below vpon the earth so truelie in his bodie as we be now in our bodies sauing that he was cleere and free from all corruption of sinne and as he walked being pinched with hunger did espie a goodlie fig tree which with the faire greene and flourishing leaues did offer vnto him some hope of releefe and comming to it finding it fruitlesse and being disappointed of his hope he cursed it and commanded that it should be cut downe and cast into the fire If he dealt so with trees that did beare no fruite at all we may warrant and assure our selues that he will curse cut downe and cast into the fire that neuer shall be quenched euery tree that is euerie man that bringeth foorth such fruits as this tree beareth If the Lord his curse belongeth to a barren tree that beareth no fruit much more doth it belong to those trees which bring foorth bad fruites If trees that are vnprofitable bicause they beare nothing but leaues are fitter for the fire then to trouble the earth then much more those trees that are so heauie loden and so full of poyson that a man cannot touch one twig of them but it killeth his soule and bodie for euer Such a tree is euerie one that beareth such fruites in his life and manners as this tree doth No good Christian therefore will delight please himselfe with the shadow of such a tree neither build his nest in any part or branch of it but rather will do his greatest indeuor to pull it downe Do thou good Christian thy best and be sure the Lorde will take thy part And howsoeuer earthlie iusticers let slip their parts and forget to do their duties the Lord will neuer forget nor let slip his part Heere thou seest Iustice hath fastened his coard to the top of the tree and Veritie is hacking at the roote betweene them both to ouerthrowe it Now if thou louest righteousnes and art a friende to truth take their parts in this busines pull downe with Iustice and strike with Veritie lend
being troubled the brooke is troubled also and the prince disquieted the people finde no peace Herod the king was troubled and all Ierusalem with him Whiles he raigned impietie ruled good lawes were nothing set by iustice and iudgement lay dead ancient and laudable customs were banished there was no rest no peace which is the end of godly gouernment For to that end are gouernors ordained that people may liue in peace The worke of iustice shall be peace Iustice and peace haue kissed ech other There shall arise in his daies iustice and abundance of peace AS the roote of a trée being vtterly rotten the boughes cannot bud and florish nor bring foorth pleasant fruits in their due time So iustice being violated it cannot be that peace can florish and bring foorth so plentifull fruits as she is woont to do THe prosperitie of this world is as the cléerenes of winter weather as the calmnes of the sea and stabilitie of the moone As these do wauer and be suddenly changed So the state of wealth and worldly things hath no firmnes no perpetuitie no constancie for as it is said All these things passe away like a shadowe and are as a messenger running afore Man flieth away like a shadow and neuer continueth in one state For somtime it falleth out that when thou dost thinke thy selfe to haue gotten innumerable riches and great dignitie and that thou art set euen in the top of excellencie and honor then all of a sudden in the twinkling of an eie thou art hurled from that high and mounting glorie of the world downe headlong into a bottomles gulfe of all disgrace For out of that place which thou hadst thought to be full of rest and securitie very often great calamities and most bitter blustring stormes in the turning of an hand suddenly do arise Séeing therfore that these things stand so we ought not to put any confidence in deceiueable dignities nor to be proud of them neither must we trust in the vncertaine riches of this world which are daily changing but we must flie to our redéemer onely sauiour Christ Iesus place our whole hope and settle all our confidence in his infinite and endles mercies God giue vs grace to do so Amen EVen as the eagle is caried vp on high and falleth not vpon the ground but to séeke his necessarie foode and hauing caught his pray by and by flieth vp againe and maketh no abode below on the earth So we ought to haue our mindes occupied in heauen and all superfluous care of worldly things laid apart with the eies of our mindes and faith to behold our God and in the quietnes and staiednes of our soules rest our selues vpon his grace without hauing more to do with this world than in our seuerall callings to séeke lawfully those necessaries onely which may serue for the preseruation of life Which had we should in the meditation of our mindes and the thoughts of our harts with all our powers flie vnto our God The apostle Paule his counsell is excéeding good Hauing meate and drinke and wherewith we may be clothed let vs be therewith contented for they that will be rich do fall into tentation and into the snare of the diuell And Salomon making his praiers vnto God hath these words Giue me O Lord onely necessaries for my life least if I be too full I may be drawen to denie thée And againe Better is a little with the feare of the Lord than great and insaciable treasures Dauid also Better is a little that the righteous man hath than the great riches of the vngodly EVen as thicke and blacke cloudes do obscure and darken the bright and glittering stars So degenerating posterities and such as be polluted and blemished with trecherie and iniquitie do dishonor their ancestors and do extinguish the cléere light of their noble vertues and do put vpon them the vgly darksomnes of their owne vices that although they be noble men by birth and discent yet they fall into obliuion and by little and little are quite forgotten It is better that a man be renowmed and nobled by his owne noble acts and excellent vertues than to depend vpon the nobilitie of his ancestors They ought not to be called the sonnes of noble men which please themselues with vanities and do wallow in ignominie and wickednes but the sonnes of those wicked ones whose kinde of life they do imitate and whose footsteps they follow Christ called the wicked Iewes which said they had Abraham to their father the children of the diuell And speaking of Christians he saith And how many soeuer did receiue him he gaue them power to be made the sonnes of God In Christ Iesu saith the apostle neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision but a new creature True nobilitie before God consisteth not in the prowesse of ancestors but in newnes of life by faith in Christ AS the pleasant and swéete riuer of Iordan when it runneth into Asphaltites that bitter poole of Palestina is also made bitter vnwholsome loseth the vertue thereof So that man which ioineth himselfe in friendship and doth couple himselfe in familiaritie with wicked and vngodly men becommeth wicked and vngodly himselfe and is stained and blemished with their vices although héertofore he had béen inclined to vertue and godlines It is therefore pithily said of Ecclesiasticus Depart from the wicked and euill things will depart from thée And the apostle in the fift of the first to the Corinthians also in that to the Galath saith A little leauen doth sower a whole lump of dowe AS of necessitie a shadow doth accompany those that walk in the sunne shine So is enuie a continuall companion to those that in good and honest things do excell others and are aduanced and renowmed with the best There is no felicitie saith Valerius Maximus be it in neuer so good measure and modestie which can eschew the gnarling and gnawing téeth of enuie One demanded of a learned man how he might auoid enuious persons If saith he thou shalt haue no excellent thing in thée and shalt do nothing fortunately Enuie is alway vertues companion and is euer at the héeles of them which in honestie vertue and godlines go beyond others Miserie onely admitteth no enuie EVen as the inferiour planet shadoweth and ecclipseth the planet that is aboue it but the higher not the lower So men without honestie indued with no wisedome not acquainted with vertue and enimies to true godlines do their greatest endeuour to distaine the commendation and deserued honor of notable and very woorthie men Iob calleth him a little one or a man of no valure that is tormented with grudging and repining against the welfare of others An enuious man is as vnprofitable to a citie as darnell is to wheate AS rustinesse consumeth iron so enuie consumeth the enuious man
stéedily looke vpon the bright sphere of the sunne he should become blinde bicause the weake sight of his eies is not able to abide so great a brightnes So whosoeuer trusting to his owne wit shall cast the eies of his minde vpon the woonderfull and vnspeakable brightnes of the secrets of God he shall be ouerthrowen of the same and the sight of his minde being blinded and put out he shall neuer attaine to that which he would bicause the great and hidden mysteries of the most high God cannot be comprehended by mans wit being puffed vp with pride or else there should be no difference betwéene God and man if man of himselfe could attaine vnto the secrets of Gods eternall maiestie sealed vp in his blessed word and not to be opened but by the mightie power of his most holy spirit So much did those things signifie which were in sanctis sanctorum hid and couered Paule perhaps leaning trusting to his owne wit before he receiued the faith of Christ would pearce into Gods mysteries but comming far short of his purpose he wandred in a great and dangerous error and would néeds being inflamed with hatred euen kil those Christians with the sword whom he ought not to haue wounded or vexed with a word But a light from heauen compassed him about and falling to the ground he saw nothing yet his eies open as before wherby his former disposition was signified but afterward when he did cast downe and truly humble himselfe and all his pride laid apart came to Ananias he receiued his sight And in that his humilitie he said I am the least of the apostles which am not woorthie to be called an apostle bicause I persecuted the Church of God Dauid saith The Lord openeth his secrets inclosed in his word to those that feare him In which words our God promiseth that he will vnfold and reueale to godly and humble men of hart the secrets and priuities of his holy oracles Vpon whom shall I looke saith the Lord but vpon the sillie poore man that is contrite in hart and trembleth at my words Héerehence commeth that saying of the blessed virgin He hath beholden the lowlines of his handmaidē THou shalt sée somtimes in the aire a cloud hauing the figure and likenes of a tall and mightie man which by and by is spred abroad and representeth huge and high towers but in the turning of an hand being taken with a blast of winde it is dissolued and vanisheth away Euen such is the trust that we put in this transitorie world This world doth set before vs in the conceit of our imagination that we shall be great men and that we shall be very famous and attaine to great dignitie it doth promise vnto vs mountaines of golde and huge and lofti◠towers of honor and renowme but all these things are towers builded in the aire and castles made of winde and grounded vpon vanitie which are dissolued and dispersed most suddenly Iohn the seruant of God did well consider of this when he gaue this counsell Loue not the world nor those things that be in the world the world passeth away and the lust of the same And Paule saith The shape of this world passeth away he saith not the substance of this world but the shape passeth away If then this world must néedes passe away and returne to it nothing againe if that we take to be a substance be but a shape thinke we then that our life our hope our riches our pleasures shall continue no surely For Iames saith Our life is as a vapour appéering for a very short time and our life is dissolued as a cloud in the aire AS our eies which do behold heauen and earth and other innumerable creatures of God do not sée themselues but looking in a glasse by that meane they perfectly sée themselues So we do not sée and consider our owne frailtie and brickle estate but if we will set before our eies the glasse of the remembrance of death and the true knowledge of our selues beholding diligently I say that cléere glasse we cannot choose but very plainly sée our selues and what we be Iames the apostle doth point vs to the law of our God and willeth vs to vse that glasse to behold our selues in Indéed it is a true glasse it wil not flatter nor deceiue vs it will tel vs that we be but dust and that we shall againe returne to dust Iames séemeth to say plainly to vs thus Know your selues and least ye be deceiued behold your selues in the glasse of truth which is the perfect law of libertie Sée what thou art and what thou shalt be Remember that thou art a man and consequently dust and ashes O that we would remember this O that we would be content to imbrace this most certaine truth O that this glasse might neuer depart out of our hands and harts Augustine that learned teacher saith well Before thou wast man thou wast earth and before thou wast earth thou wast nothing Héere thou maist easily sée thy progenie thy nobilitie and the woorthinesse and excellencie of thy stocke and linage Be not proud therefore for thou art but dust and ashes EVen as a little bird shut vp in a cage although it be very pretious and costly and be made of Cedar Iuorie or gold yet she desireth to go out and striueth to haue hir libertie and in hir eager and earnest desire to be gone she doth oftentimes thrust hir bill through the loupes of the cage So the soule of a vertuous man inflamed with an vnfained loue of God being shut vp and holden in the coupe of his bodie although he abound with all necessaries fit for the preseruation of this temporall life yet most earnestly desireth to depart hence and to go to his countrie which is heauen And in token that he would faine go thither he fetcheth many a déepe sigh and many a gréeuous grone and doth full often craue of his creator with his chéekes all to bedewed and smeared with the teares of his eies that this exilement being finished he might rest for euer in that happie and holy house of blessed soules where he may haue the fruition of his God and euerlasting life through Iesus Christ his onely sauiour and redéemer Euery Christian man although he haue wealth at will and haue stately and roiall houses glittering and florishing with Iuorie and golde yet ought he to aspire towards heauen and in hart and desire to flie towards his best countrie saying with the Apostle I would faine remooue hence and go to dwell with the Lord. And againe I do séeke or desire to be dissolued and to be with the Lord Iesu EVen as vipers do eate out and teare in péeces the bellies of their bréeders that themselues may get out So not the Iewes onely but the Papists also do mangle and teare in péeces the law of God
and do rent and corrupt the words and doctrine of the holy prophets of God euen as it were a belly and bowels that they may créepe out and escape from a liuely perfect and a sauing faith and they may be confirmed in their errors heresies and infidelitie Yea as the Iewes haue from time to time slain the gracious and wise prophets of God euen so the Papists now where they beare any sway of rule and authoritie do most cruelly torment and murther the saints of God EVen as the delicate ballance of a goldsmith is mooued with euery little weight so that with one graine laid vpon it it falleth downward So with euery thing whether it bée luckie or vnfortunate we are woont to be greatly mooued and do suddenly change our purposes somtime we excéede in mirth by and by we are ouerwhelmed with sorrow we are euen now praising men to the skies and presently we hurle them downe from heauen with our toongs and thrust them into hell We loue men and hate them we saue men and kill them all with one breth now we choose vertue and by and by vice Thus doth mans will obey his vnbrideled lust The Lorde redresse and amend it FOr euen as the Chameleon changeth his colour according to the thing whereupon he sitteth So we at euery tentation do change our mindes and are driuen from our purposes and determinations and our wicked lusts and the vngracious thoughts of our harts do force and driue vs euen whither they will ANd as the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white So are we most apt and prone to all kinde of vice but to no vertue AS he that falleth into a riuer if he neither mooue hands armes nor legs is quickly drowned and sinketh downe dead to the bottome but if he swim escapeth aliue So he that trusteth to that faith which the apostle Iames calleth a dead faith bicause it hath no good effects and bringeth foorth no liuely fruits as an holy loue to God and man pietie patience pitie mercie compassion and such like vertues he must néedes be drowned in vtter destruction and sinke downe into the bottomlesse gulfe and pit of hell but he that mooueth his hands and his féete to do the déedes of a true and right faith which as the Apostle Paule saith worketh by loue and shall be a doer of the word and not an hearer onely he shall escape safe out of all dangers and shall arriue at the happie hauen of eternall happines and euerlasting life through Christ Iesus whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his will Amen EVen as the riuer Hypanis which is very famous and much spoken of bicause of the cléerenes and swéetnes of the water of the same after that it receiueth into it the bitter and troubled waters of the fountaine Exampes is poisoned and made vnprofitable So many men of great and excellent wits which did flow with the pure and pleasant waters of vertues when they haue fallen into the societie and familiaritie of vngracious and godlesse men haue béene poysoned with the lewdnes of their liues and the loosenes of their conditions And conceiuing their inexpiable fraudes haue béene fouly disgraced with their most detestable vices FOr as rotten apples do corrupt those sound ones that do touch them and lie close to them So the euill manners had conditions of the vngodly do infect those that kéepe theÌ„ companie Therefore Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly nor stand in the way of sinners and hath not sit in the seate of scorners c. And I haue not sitten in the counsell of vanitie and will kéepe no companie with the wicked c. Go out of Babylon saith the Lord and flie from the Chaldeans Depart out of the middest of Babylon and go from the land of the Chaldeans Peter denied Christ when he came into Cayphas his hall c. And Paule saith Euill words corrupt good maners AS it profiteth nothing to graffe a plant if with a whirlewinde or storme it be pulled vp by the rootes before it beare fruit So the word of God being heard and laid vp in our minds shall do vs no good if before it bring foorth fruit with some blustering blasts and sturdie stormes of temptations it shall be rooted out of our harts Therefore saith the kingly prophet Dauid Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of God and in that law doth meditate day and night He saith not that that man is happie and blessed which heareth and readeth the word but he pronounceth him to be happie which doth practise the same in the course of his life and doth digest it in the stomacke of his vnderstanding and endeuoreth himselfe with all diligence to obey it and shal spend daies and nights in the meditation thereof And the Lord by Ezechiel saith Thou sonne of man eate this booke And againe Thy belly and thy bowels shall be filled with this booke Very many do eat the word of God and yet remaine emptie many do take it whose bowels that is their harts and minds are not filled with it bicause in very short time either they do forget it or else they apply it rather to a vaine curiositie than to the profit and good of their soules neither do they obserue those things which they know in their consciences by the instruction of the word ought to be obserued Such a thing did the Lord obiect against the vnthankfull Iewes by Aggeus the prophet Ye haue soweâ— much but ye haue inued little you haue eaten but you are not satisfied They eate much and are not satisfied which heare and reade much and leade euill and wicked liues so far staining and polluting themselues with foule sinne and filthie vices that their life and profession do woonderfully â—ar and vtterly disagrée EVen as that man which goeth about to cut downe a tall and mighty Cypres being barren vnprofitable and an idle trée that other fruitfull plants which are letted and hindered through the noisome shadow of it may increase and prosper doth not despaire though at the first or second blowe he fell it not but by little and little he striketh with the axe vntill at the length he lay it along Euen so a preacher of the worde of God although he sée no profite follow his preaching no faults amended no sinnes abated yet for all that he ought not to despaire to faint and to hide his talent in the ground let him preach againe againe and neuer giue ouer that at the length with the two edged sword of the pure word of God he may hew and fell downe the huge and monstrous trée of sinne and all abhomination and that the new plants of vertue holines and righteousnes may grow prosper and increase AS he that would haue a little flame of fire to mount and rise vp
what are all we that be in it but earthen vessels The Apostle saith We haue this treasure in earthen vessels And saint Iohn saith As an earthen vessell shall they be broken Séeing then that all flesh is grasse and all must sée death but how when and where we cannot tell it standeth vs vpon to haue our mindes fixed in heauen and to be seeking those things which are aboue where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God in maiestie and power that liuing in his feare and dying in his faith we may haue a glorious resurrection and méeting him ioyfully in the cloudes we may heare him most cheerefully say to vs Come ye blessed children receiue a kingdome prepared for you before the foundations of the earth were laid The which kingdom God for his sonne and our sauiour his sake grant vs Amen THe moone when she decreaseth doth turne the opening of hir bowe downe towards the earth and hir backe vp towards heauen and so procéedeth to hir defect and the end of hir course by little and little losing hir light vntill at the length she be darke and vtterly void of all hir light And on the other side when she increaseth she turneth hir open side vp towards heauen and hir backe towards the earth and so goeth on growing and increasing by degrees vntill she come to hir â—ul and perfect light Euen so man when he fainteth and faileth in truâ— christianitie anst spirituall graces and so falleth away more and more he turneth the doore of his hart and the opening of his desires altogither to this world and being carried away with the loue of transitorie things he seeketh nothing but the earth and the things of the same turning him from immutable goodnes to things very vncertaine and changing euery day And whiles he thus falleth away and starteth aside like a broken bowe he loseth the light and excellent brightnes of Christian dignitie vntill he remaine not onely depriued of the light of grace but also blinde in his vnderstanding vtterly obscured and cleane couered with a most palpable darknes The Psalmist speaketh of such men saying They are without knowledge they haue no vnderstanding they walke in darknes And the holy Apostle saith Their foolish hart is full of darknes And againe Walke not ye as the gentils walke in the vanitie of their mindes hauing their vnderstanding darkened But when man groweth in diuine exercises and increaseth in a heauenly life and goeth on still in spirituall graces then he turneth his backe to the world and vtterly renounceth the vanities the flickerings the allurements and all the deceits of the same and turneth the opening of his hart and all his desires to God onely and so goeth on continually profiting and euerie day receiuing some brightnes vntill he be filled not onely with the light of grace but of glorie also Therefore by how much the more thou shalt see a man occupied in the vnsaciable desires of this world and busied with the troublesome affaires of vaine and transitorie things and such as be vnprofitable for his soule by so much the more vnderstand thou that he goeth backward and decaieth in Christian perfection And on the other side the more feruently and earnestly thou shalt see him to aspire to heauenly things knowe thou that so much the more he profiteth in the true knowledge loue feare and worshipping of God That we therefore may profite in heauenly things and be illuminated with the bright beames of grace let vs lift vpwarde our harts to God let vs send to him our desires our sighes and grones let vs neuer cease begging but continually craue at his hands that euerlasting life which is onely excellent onely best and kept in store for all that do truly feare God and walke in his waies EVen as a bodie without a soule is dead bicause it vseth not the sinewes ioints nor members So that common welth or that citie may well and truly be said to be dead where good lawes godly statutes and holy ordinances are not vsed and put in practise which are the sure binding bands of mans societie and the principall parts of a common wealth These missing iustice is contemned vertue banished honestie expulsed and all euill vice vilenes and all sinne iniquitie and abhomination cherished vpholden and maintained IF birds of all sorts do desire the aire fishes séeke for water and the fire of the earth mounteth and flameth vp towards the elementall fire and all things séeke their place and centre and do tend towards the same why then will we not seeke our God as we ought our onely rest our centre and onely good If floods and riuers with great force run into the sea bicause as Salomon saith they came out of the sea why will not we loue our God why will we not aspire towards him why will we not in all feruencie of loue drawe néere vnto him which is that immeasurable sea of all goodnes from whence we came for he hath made vs after his owne similitude and likenes As we are bound to kéepe the precepts and commandements of God so are we most straitly bound to loue honor and obey himselfe Euen as the horse is ordained to run the oxe to plough and the dog to hunt so is man borne aboue all things to loue God AS a stone preaseth to his centre So an hard harted man is preasing towards hel It is said of the obstinate Egyptians They went downe into the depth like a stone Their bodies went downe into the bottome of the sea and their soules into the bottome of hell And Ecclesiasticus saith An hard hart shall fare euill at the last God grant therefore that euery one of vs may iustly say as Iob saith of himselfe The Lord hath mollified my hart It is written in the bookes of Exodus Numbers that Moses did smite the rocke with his rod and that abundance of water flowed out Vnto which words the prophet Dauid alludeth saying He smote the rocke and the waters gushed out so that riuers did run thereat The Lord so smite our stonie harts with the rod of the crosse of Christ and of the remembrance of his bitter passion and so breake in péeces the hard rocks of the same that floods of most bitter teares may run from our eies and many déepe sighes and gréeuous grones may fal from our harts to mooue the Lord to wash away all our sinnes and rebellions against the Almightie in and with the blood of Iesus Christ our only sauiour and redéemer Amen AS wilde and fierce horses are woont to be broken with the hardnes of the bridle and sharpnes of the bit So our vntamed lusts and vnbrideled appetites are hampered and brought within the compasse of reason with the bridle of aduersitie troubles sorrowes and afflictions EVen as the grape that it may yéeld wine is brought to the presse that it may be throughly
and slaie all good works and all godly purposes yea he laboureth by all his meanes and instruments to strangle and to smother the very first motions of them in the harts and minds of men least they should increase and multiply he is that dragon with seauen heads which as Iohn saith in the Reuelation stoode before the woman when shée was to be deliuered of hir sonne that euen in the birth he might deuoure hir childe We may very fitly vnderstand by the woman the soule of man which when it thinketh and purposeth to do good works is said to conceiue and when it bringeth foorth and perfourmeth the same in deed is said to be deliuered as a woman of a childe but then sathan is foorthwith most eager and busie to stop the kindlie birth of vertue and godlines and to smother it so that it neuer come to light The Lord strengthen vs against his force and make vs wise against subtiltie that in all his sleights and craftie conueyances he may bée disappointed and we deliuered from him and that we may do the will and walke in the waies of our God mauger sathan and all his meanes EVen as the Ostrige being a great and mightie foule hath wings but doth not flie neither is lifted vp frō the ground with them so very many men in the world do séeme to bée caried vp to heauen vpon the wings of their ceremonies but are in déede in hart mind and desire fast nailed to the earth As the Ostrige hath wings and flieth not so they haue calling but they answere it not they haue knowledge but they practise it not they haue words but they worke not THe Kite being a most gréedie and rauening foule mounteth exceeding high so that you would thinke shee toucheth the gliding clouds and as shee flieth doth spred her wings and yet when shee is at the highest shee hath hir eies fast set and fixed below in the earth pryeng and spieng to catch if shée can some poore chicken or other praie within hir talons indéed shée flieth high but neuer looketh vp towards heauen but altogither downe towards the earth euen so thou shalt sée a number of men faining a certaine sanctymonie and counterfeiting much holines who although they are thought with the contemplation of heauenly things to be rauished and taken vp into the clouds yet they minde nothing lesse then true godlines neither any thing more then earth and earthly things Their studie is for worldly honor their greatest carking and care is for rich and large reuenues for dignities princes fauours and worldlie wealth Such men turne their backs to heauen and flie from God and so being disappointed of that light which they séemed to séeke for they are wrapped in palpable and most dangerous darknes but they that truely séeke after God do by the helpe and assistance of his holie spirite translate and conuey their minds from earth to heauen and so are illuminated with the brightnes of God his grace and loue for so saith Christ himselfe He that foloweth me walketh not in darknes but shall haue the light of life But we shall neuer follow Christ as we ought vnlesse we shall first vtterly denie our selues for he saith If anie man will folow me let him denie himself and take vp his crosse and folow me and then and so often do we denie our selues as treading vnder féete our old and former sins we leaue to be that we haue béene and begin to be that we haue not béene and follow the counsell of the apostle saying Layeng aside our old conuersation and putting off the old man which is corrupted after the lusts of the flesh let vs be renued in the spirit of our minds But alas I speake it with gréefe of hart the most part of the world despising and forsaking God do take for their guide and do folow as their captaine the violent lusts and foule appetites of their owne corrupted and cankered harts But if we woulde consider what that is that driueth vs whither we are going in such great haste what we do whom we folow what woe wée worke our selues and what will be the end we would surelie forsake those waies of our owne and turne our féete into the waies that is into the statutes and lawes of our God Dauid tooke this course and so the Lord graunt we may Amen EVen as a Bird doth not flie with one wing alone but with twaine So it is not enough that we know much of the Lords worde and will but we must do it also It will not suffice vs at the latter daie that we haue béene great professors of the Gospell and are deepely learned if also we haue not béene inflamed with a loue to God aboue all things and haue not loued our brethren as our selues if our knowledge our faith and profession do not mooue vs to praie to God for to visite and to comfort our poore brethren being sicke in prison or otherwise distressed if I say our faith and knowledge yéeld not fruits that we féede the hungrie cloath the naked call into our houses the harborlesse and shall not do to all men as we would be done vnto we shall be beaten with many stripes bicause we knowe the will of God and do it not Blessed onely are they that feare the Lord and walk in his waies And blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The greatest the highest the best and onely seruice that man can do and bring vnto the Lorde is his obedience to Gods word and the dooing of his will AS hée that maketh tooles and instruments of iron or other mettle maketh not rustines and canker neither is to be blamed if those things which he hath made by reason of too much moisture dust or other corruption shal afterward gather canker or rustines euen so that heauenly workeman our God did not bring in sinne and iniquitie neither can he iustly be blamed if his creatures do staine and blemish themselues with the foulenes of sinne and wickednes for he made them good God saw all things that he had made saith the holie Scripture and they were excéeding good Augustine in his 14. Booke of the Citie of God saith Good things may he without euill things but euill things cannot be without good things bicause the natures in which euill things are in as much as they be natures they are good For they be of God and in some measure they lead vs to the knowledge of him Dauid vnderstāding so much saith Howe excellent are thy works O Lorde thy thoughts are excéeding déepe An vnwise man doth not knowe these things and the foole doth not vnderstande them That man perisheth is damned and goeth to hell is not the Lords fault but mans owne EVen as plants and trées do spread abroad their rootes in the earth from whence they haue their nourishment So christian men bicause they
and doth chasten him that he may helpe and heale the wounds and sores of his soule The Lord himselfe doth say I kill and I make aliue I wound and I make whole And in the mouth of Amos the prophet God hath these words to the Israelites You onely haue I knowen of all the families of the earth therefore will I visite all your iniquities that is I will be reuenged and will punish all your sinnes For in the scripture somtime to visite is to punish As in the Psalm 89. If they breake my statutes and kéepe not my commandements then wil I visite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquitie with strokes yet my louing kindnes will I not take from him neither will I falsifie my truth c. As if the Lord should say If he offend I will punish him and haue mercie vpon him The Lords iustice will haue punishment and his promise will haue mercie This is to our euerlasting comfort that the Lords chastenings are to his children his mercie EVen as in a sea mooued and tossed with great waues and mightie surges the pilots skill and wisedome is throughly tried and his manlines and courage perfectly séene Euen so a man that is godly without dissembling and religious without hypocrisie in the middest of terrible tempests of great troubles when he is throwen vp and hurled downe tossed héere and crusshed there in a thousand stormes of dangers then declareth his patience his spirituall courage and his vnmooueable constancie in vertue and true holines The princely prophet Dauid being woonderfully afflicted did beare most patiently and tooke very quietly the shamelesse reproches of Shemei leauing vnto vs an euerlasting monument of an vnfained and voluntarie patience Yet when Dauid had gotten the victorie of his enimies through the Lords mightie and stretched out hand he tooke a great and dangerous fall in causing the people to be numbred wherein he offended God most highly and brought a fearfull plague vpon them yet repenting he found mercy and forgiuenes of his gréeuous and intolerable sinnes Héere may we see the benefit and commoditie that commeth by the meanes of troubles and calamities and that the Lord hath mercy vpon vs euen then when he séemeth to shew no mercie but onely to deale in iudgement AS when one part of a man that is sicke is not capable of the remedie wherewith he may be holpen we are woont to applie the same remedie to another part as if one be greeued with extreme ache of the head we are woont to strike a veine of the arme bicause the head will not abide phlebotomie or blood letting So that we may helpe and heale many diseases of the soule we must kéepe the bodie in subiection to the spirit and tame the lusts of the flesh and labour to bridle our affections and to keepe them within the compasse of reason sobrietie and temperance AS a water pot or a violl full of liquor if suddenly it be ouerthrowen doth shed and scatter the liquor So a deuout and godlie hart abounding with teares being mooued and troubled with sorrow bicause of the iniuries dishonor wrongs and blasphemies committed against the Lord doth presently powre out great abundance and as it were mightie streames of salt and bitter teares The sinnes of the Iewes committed against God did draw out of the hart of Christ great store of teares and sent them trickling downe his cheekes and the prophet Dauid his eies gushed out and did run ouer with water to sée the wickednes of the vngodly And Peters denying of Christ when he came to himselfe made him wéepe bitterly We are to too eager and forward to reuenge euery little wrong done to our selues but iniuries done against the Lord do neuer once mooue vs but we ought to be gréeued with his wrongs and beare patiently our owne EVen as wilde beasts being about to inuade and to set vpon their praie will stoupe lowe and bende themselues that they may fall and rush vpon it with the greater force and more violence euen so proude and mischieuous men being slie and subtle sometimes will crouch and beare themselues verie lowlie that vnder the colour of dissembled vertue they may supplant and deceiue the simple and godly honest man aduaunce themselues and worke mischiefe to others The holie Ghost by the prophet doth signifie so much when he speaking of the proud man saith He will crouch and bowe that he may get the vpper hand of the poore These are dangerous men their steps are not to be followed True and single harted christians must and wil imbrace true and vnfained humility and lowlines of hart They imitate him that saith Learne of me for I am humble and lowly in hart They are euer ready most easilie to pardon and forgiue detractions and slanders giuen out against their liues iniuries and wrongs offered and don to their innocency obloquies and false reports diuised and caste abroad to blemish their good names and to staine their credits And on the other side they bée euer bold and earnest in reproouing of sinne as spéeches that bée vaine and idle rather offending then profiting the hearers blasphemie and whatsoeuer may prouoke the almightie to displeasure and anger These iniuries committed against the Lorde do gréeue their harts a thousand times more then any violent or tyrannicall torture that can be offered vnto their bodies and liues They make them waile wéepe sigh and sob I speake of good Christians the number of them is small the Lorde increase it and make it greater Amen AS the wings of eagles with their stripe or blowe do marthe wings and breake the feathers of other birds So the mightie and great men of the Iewes with their tyrannicall crueltie and most hellish impietie were wont to draw to destruction and to drag to death the weaker sort and such as were innocent and tendered the glory and praise of God As the scripture in many places doth declare Manasses as it is written shed innocent bloud excéeding much till he replenished Ierusalem from corner to corner And Christ himself beholding Ierusalem with a pitifull voice saide O Ierusalem Ierusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest to death those that are sent vnto thee c. And Stephen the martyr of Christ as Luke maketh mention in the Acts saith to the Iewes Which of the prophets haue not your forefathers persecuted and haue killed them that foretold of the comming of that iust And in the Epistle to the Hebrewes the apostle saith they were stoned they were hewen a sunder they were tempted they were slaine with the sworde they wandred vp and downe in shéepe skins and goate skins being destitute afflicted and tormented Thus was it then I would to God there were not the like nowe euen among some that professe the name of Christ and his Gospel now as though they would die in his quarrell and spend all
in the defence of his truth The Lorde roote out all hypocrisie and conuert or subuert all hypocrites AS great flouds and swelling riuers when they ouerflowe their chanels and do breake through their bankes by reason of their raging and violent streames and so spread and run abroad can not fill and couer the fieldes with water but they hurt corne or grasse or what so else is in their waie So great riches mightie powers and high dignities when they growe and increase in wicked and vngodly men do not spread abroade and run ouer the fieldes and limites of common wealthes but they do much harme to wit they polle and pill away the riches and substance of the séely weake and poore men they fill their diches I meane their purses with the blood of innocents they build their honors and establish their dignities vpon the disgrace and the oppression of the saints and seruants of God And whatsoeuer is in their waie and to their liking they carrie it with them by hooke or crooke by right or wronge they care not who wéepe so they laugh who be emptie so they be full who be vndone so they be aduanced Héere hence come slaughters and murthers Thus are many brought into great calamities and miseries But they that do these things to others do hurt themselues most For whiles they hurt others in their bodies goods or names they kill their owne soules AS a man much mooued with anger and far out of frame through indignation and wrath intending to kill his brother should throw at him precious stones goodly pearles and rich iewels should not damnifie nor hurt his brother bicause he woulde gather them vp kéepe them and inrich himselfe with them Euen so tyrants disposed to kill and with fire and sword to put to death the saints and true seruants of God which do excell in true piety and vnfained loue to God and man do torment them with diuers sorts and sundrie kinds of most cruell martyrdome of which things the children of God are glad and do reioice and grow stronger and richer in Christ being throughly armed with a godly patience they do take and beare them most quietly for God his sake without murmuring or grudging euen as their crosse wherewith most willingly they follow their Lord and sauiour Christ and do account such tortures inestimable riches and themselues happie that they be thought woorthie to suffer such things for the truth sake and in the Lords quarell Such euer haue béene all the martyrs of Christ that when they haue béene haled and dragged to most cruell torments and tyrannicall executions they haue taken and imbraced them most cheerefully as though they were rich and delicate banquets AS precious iewels made of most pure gold wrought cunningly curiouslie with great workmanship the néerer thou shalt come vnto them and the more stedfastly and cléerely thou shalt behold them the finer the brauer and more excellent thou wilt iudge them Euen so as thou shalt come néerer in vnderstanding and knowledge vnto the secrets and mysteries of God conteined in his written word and with the greater puritie of minde the more strength of faith and the brighter light of the grace of God thou shalt looke into them the profounder the déeper the more diuine and heauenly yea and the more comfortable to thy soule will they séeme and appéere vnto thée euery day Insomuch that thou wilt iudge thy selfe to haue béen little better then blinde and to haue séene nothing as thou ought in the mysteries of the diuine word And thou wilt make haste to crie vnto the Lorde with the prophet Open mine eies O Lord and I shall sée and consider the woonderfull things of thy lawe But that man that trusting to his owne gifts wit and learning and hath his hart and minde bewitched with this worlde and poysoned with sinne taking pleasure in those things which the Lord hath forbidden will go about to pearce into the most holie worde and to search out the secrets of the great and most highe God he shall lose his labour open his vanitie misse the marke he shot at and die in the blindnes wherein he liued and so passe hence to his owne destruction the iust reward of his presumption be he neuer so wittie skilfull and learned Through thy commandements saith the Lords prophet I am wiser then all my enimies learneder then my teachers and better experienced then the ancient men of the worlde Therefore true wisedome the best learning and heauenly experience is gotten and had out of the lawe of God by the inward working of the holie Ghost in our harts and minds The Almightie vouchsafe to write his lawes and statutes in all our harts that therby we may be wise against flesh this inchaunting world sin and sathan AS the hauke is then lost when trusting to hir wings shée riseth and mounteth too high So then do vaine men fall far from God when with their owne wit reason and wisedome onely and alone they will vnderstande the déepe misteries of God as though the counsels and wisedome of Gods eternal maiestie might and could be comprehended with the reason wit of man The Apostle his counsell is holie and good be not too high minded but feare AS they that haue cléere and sound eies do easilie indure the bright light of the sunne wherewith eies that be sore and diseased are greatly offended So vertuous and godly men are illuminated and woonderfully cléered in their vnderstanding and the eies of their minds with the diuine and heauenly light of the word of him that saith I am the light of the world wherwith the wicked and vngodly are highly offended in so much that they hate the light and loue darknes more then it And so growing blinder and blinder euery day at the length they fall and tumble downe headlong into the insaciable pit of eternall destruction AS a pot full of swéete liquor if it be made hote and boyled vpon the fire will driue away flies that they will not come néere it but if it be cold the flies will by and by go into it and it will receiue them and they will corrupt and consume it Euen so the hart of man if it be inflamed with a true and sincere loue of God will not receiue into it those dangerous temptations which are continually flying about it but wil remooue and driue them far off and giue no place vnto them but if by reason of slothfull idlenes in heauenly things and for want of a godly courage it grow cold in the loue of the Lord then is it obuious and wide open to all temptations it barreth out none it receiueth all none are reiected be they neuer so wicked all are imbraced intertained and welcome Then is it a receptacle of all abominations as idolatrie blasphemie murther adulterie and whatsoeuer is wicked mischeeuous and damnable The Lord therefore vouchsafe to take from vs
his hand an angling rod and with a baited hooke fishing in an obscure and troubled riuer although he doth not sée the fish rush vpon the baite yet he perceiueth very well that the fish is taken and hanged vpon the hooke bicause the corke or barke of his fishing line is pulled downe and hid vnder the water So sathan that most subtle and wilte fisher although he séeth not our thoughts being in the secrets and bottomes of our harts yet notwithstanding by outward signes he many times doth know them as by our words For out of the aboundance of the hart the mouth speaketh by our actions and by the gestures of our bodies For Christ himselfe affirmeth That out of our harts do come euill and wicked thoughts And Salomon in his Prouerbes doth number among those things which God hateth An hart that is fraught with euill thoughts Héere hence may most easily be gathered that all our euill thoughts do not come vnto vs from without neither are wrought in vs nor stirred vp altogither by sathan but that they come and créepe out of our owne corruption And so by outward signes and tokens comming to the knowledge of our enimie the deuill he neuer ceaseth with infinite temptations of all sorts to do his greatest indeuour to drawe the same cogitations of our harts into most dangerous and damnable practise if the Lord of his mercie and goodnes shall not giue vs true repentance and the assistance of his spirit wherby we may auoide his snares and escape his traps Which thing the Lorde grant vs. Amen AS the smith doth not make himselfe the hote coles that be in his forge but doth blowe the fire with bellowes and so the coles are kindled and made hot and firie So the diuell doth blowe and inflame those dangerous and wicked cogitations which are conceiued in our harts and minds with the bellowes of great and manifold temptations and so laboring to kindle the fire of all iniquitie he ministreth nourishment to all our wicked and damnable purposes For the hart of man is like vnto a smithes forge his euill and bad cogitations are hote burning coles he that doth blowe the bellowes to make them to burne vp and to consume both our soules and bodies is the diuell that ancient enimie of our happines and saluation It is to be lamented verily and with bitter tearâ—s and blubbering eies to be bewailed that such pestilent cogitations and deadly thoughts should be nouzeled and nourished in our harts and soules which do kill both bodie soule for euer euen as the frie of vipers in comming to light do kill their dams most miserably EVen as a begger doth couer and hide those parts of his body which be whole sound and perfect and doth open and shew abroad those parts or members which be â—ore wounded maimed lame putrified and rotten to mooue the harts and mindes of passers by and of all that shall behold him the rather to pitie him and to minister vnto him some reléefe and comfort Euen so we that be poore and miserable sinners in this world must not bring before the Lord our God our owne merits good déeds or vertues as able and sufficient to win the fauour and loue of God and to cléere vs of our sinnes and transgressions but we must most willingly with harts that be rent and torne with gréefe and sorrow for our misdéedes and heinous offences done and committed against the maiestie of God open bring foorth and lay before him the botches of our soules the corruption of our natures and the putrifaction and rottennes of our sinnes and iniquities that we may obtaine at Gods hand ease and comfort to our soules and consciences his great mercie and frée remission for all our rebellions sinnes and wickednesses through Iesus Christ our Lord. AS they which do dig mettals out of the earth do not contemne nor despise the least gobbets and peeces that they espie but take all but especially if they finde by digging a veine of gold they leaue no way vnsought but with all care and diligence they looke about them and do dig the gold and earth togither and most diligently do saue and kéepe the same Euen so ought we to deale in the holy word of God we must passe ouer nothing therein lightly nor despise one word of all the sacred and diuine scriptures but eagerly and earnestly to do our best and greatest indeuors yea and to call and to crie most mightily to the Lord to aide assist and enable vs to dig out of the same word whatsoeuer is requisite and necessarie for the saluation of our soules and eternall life It is not earth and gold mixt togither it is all most pure and throughly tried yea it is purer by a thousand degrées than any golde that hath béene tried seauen times in the fire The prophet affirmeth that it is better than thousands of gold and siluer AS the sea doth cast to shore shell fishes of al sorts wéedes and many other things and not long after doth sup vp receiue deuoure and cast into the depth the same againe Euen so this world doth now thrust vs out of fauour and by and by receiueth vs againe and when we thinke our selues to be vpon a very safe shore and that we haue leisure and time to rest vs and to meditate vpon some woorthie and excellent things euen then we finde our selues deceiued and are tossed among the waues of infinite troubles and are swallowed vp of innumerable calamities bicause many things that we neuer thought of haue preuented vs and the flickerings and false promises of this cosoning world haue deceiued our hope and disappointed our expectation AS a weake and brittle wal is easily cast downe and ouerthrowen with euery engine but an huge fense a mightie strong wall and a tower that is firme and fensed on euery side doth stand surely and endureth the force that commeth against it without yéelding staggering or falling insomuch that the enimies that seeke to ouerthrow it are driuen and constrained to vse warlike engins and policies yea and to batter and shake it with engins torments and ordinances of wars which will send and throw out stones weapons bullets and pellets of iron and lead Euen so sathan doth most easily ouerthrow with euery light temptation fraile and weake men which are not well setled in vertue nor grounded in godlines nor armed with the holy word and spirit of God but to win and ouercome if he could men that are furnished with a strong and liuely faith and such as are staied and do relie vpon the Lords protection and loue he vseth sundrie subtilties and most dangerous and forcible temptations He that tempted our sauiour Christ will neither spare any man nor meanes to destroie vs if he can bring to passe and effect his purposes The Lord kéepe and defend vs from his craft subtiltie and force and so strengthen vs with the holy
religion be That saying of our sauior Christ of necessitie must euer be true and infallible He that exalteth himselfe shall be brought lowe and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted IT behooueth that sinne and iniquitie may greatly displease thée that the loue of thy selfe may be turned into a sincere loue of God For if thou shalt east into an hot burning fornace wood and stickes that be scare and drie and ready to burne there will arise and burne out a most pure and cleare flame of fire But if thou wilt cast into the same fornace gréene sticks wet and stinking rushes or some other such matter they will burne in déede but the fornace and whole house will be filled with smoke and will be euen blacke by reason of the thicke darknes which procéedeth of the foule and stinking smoke So the hart of man is a furnace continually burning if thou wilt nourish it with cogitations and heauenly meditations of the loue of God there will appéere and shine out of it a pure flame and bright light of true and vnfained loue to God and man But if thou wilt cherish and maintaine it with thoughts and deuises of selfe loue then it will be full of vile smoke stinch and darknes They perished saith the apostle in their own imaginations and their foolish hart was darkened The fountaine and originall of all euils and the center from whence the lines of all abhominations do flow is mans inordinate selfe loue Augustine saith that Adam did fall into that ouermuch loue of himselfe before he did eate the forbidden fruit And the same author saith that two loues did build two cities the loue of God Ierusalem and mans selfe loue Babylon It is selfe loue that Christ speaketh of sayeng He that loueth his life shall lose it And Paule saith In the latter daies men shall be louers of themselues couetous hautie high minded proude c. And againe we must not please our selues And Peter calleth the wicked and vngodly bold and pleasers of themselues There is no misery comparable to this that a man knoweth not his owne miserie And of follies there is none greater then not to know a mans owne follie but to haue an ouer well wéening of himselfe It is excéeding great and very laudable wisdome that a man cast downe and condemn himselfe that he may auoid the heauy iudgements of God and condemnation with the wicked world For the more vnperfect that we esteeme and iudge our selues to be the néerer to true perfection do we come For this in some measure is perfection euen to know and to acknowledge our owne imperfection EUen as after great showers and stormes of raine the aire is clensed and cléered So after great troubles sorrowes afflictions and temptations cleannes of hart quietnes of minde and peace of soule and conscience do follow AS with a pile or stacke of seare and dry wood the fire is quickly kindled and caused mightily to flame out Euen so the outragiousnes of carnall and fleshly lust is greatly prouoked mooued and stirred vp through rioting banqueting quaffing gussing swilling and continuall féeding and pampering of the belly and by taking the bodie from good lawfull and honest exercises and giuing it to idlenes slothfulnes and ouermuch ease and rest from labours EVen as of ouermuch fulnes of the stomacke and superfluitie of meats groweth that obstruction which the physitions do call oppilation or stopping whereupon bréedeth a continuall headach and that frensie which bringeth men to a madnes Euen so of a depraued and dishonest loue of this life of the corruption of manners of gluttonie and excesse eating doth spring an vnbridled and vntamed lust whereof ariseth that phrenetical madnes of heretikes and a corruption of their vnderstanding in matters of faith They which care not to kéepe a good conscience do at length fall to an incurable contempt of faith The apostle therfore ioyneth faith and a good conscience togither The which conscience saith he whiles some cast from them they haue made shipwracke of their faith If therefore thou wilt that the almightie shall like and allow of thy faith be sure that thou kéepe a good conscience without the which thy faith is dead and will do thée no good The Emperor Traianus compareth the treasure of rich men with the spleen EVen as when the spleen increaseth the other members ioyntes and parts of the bodie do consume and pine away So the great treasures and riches of couetous tyrants increasing the wealth of subiects and inferior persons is weakened and diminished whiles they pill and poll away their substance and goodes to enrich themselues withall And euen as the spléen increasing the other members do decrease So couetousnes growing greater and greater all vertues do vtterly decay and vanish away Bountifulnes liberalitie charitie truth righteousnes and all such excellent qualities are no more found in those men which are strangled and poisoned with a great and gréedie desire of worldly riches For being drowned in couetousnes they can neuer lift vp their harts to God nor stretch foorth their hands to do good to their brethren God giueth vnto men riches wit industrie knowledge and many other things signified and vnderstood by the name of Talents to the end that they should honor and worship God and bicause they should do him faithfull and true seruice which is the giuer of all good things The Euangelist saith that the Lorde called his seruants togither and gaue vnto them his goods Riches then and all goods whatsoeuer men haue in their possessions are not their owne but the Lords vnto whom they must make an account for the same The Apostle saith What hast thou that thou hast not receiued And the holy prophet his words are plaine The earth is the Lords and all the fulnes of the same the round world and they that dwell therein thou art then a seruant a steward a bailife the things which thou hast are Gods not thine they be his goods which he hath deliuered vnto thée that thou shouldest vse and bestow them not vpon thy foule lusts nor filthie pleasures vaine delights nor to hurt thy brother neither that thou shouldest hide them but to his good liking honor and glorie that his Gospell may be preached his poore seruants and distressed children reléeued that the honest causes of poore widowes and orphanes may be defended and that other such charitable déedes should be done and practised that the Lord finding thée faithfull in thâ—se small things may at the length giue thée greater matters that is the kingdome of heauen and the ioies thereof but if thou be faithlesse in these he will neuer trust thee with those Take héede and beware therefore that thou do not lauish waste and consume the Lords goods in the seruice of the flesh world and diuell It is a lamentable thing to sée how many yea innumerable men in these daies
of them that dispraise thée the other of them that flatter thée but the flatterers toong doth hurt thée more than the persecutors hand Hieronymus saith that nothing doth so easily corrupt mens minds as flatterie Indéede there is no musick more swéet and pleasant to mens eares than flatterie and yet none more pernitious and pestilent than it AS a looking glasse doth imitate whatsoeuer is set before it and doth represent the likenesses of them that looke in it but by a contrarie way for it sheweth the right side to be the left and the left side to be the right and if thou looke into the east it doth represent thee looking towards the west Euen so a flatterer in voice and in gesture will imitate thée If thou laugh and be merie he also will be pleasant and merie if thou wéepe he will wéepe for companie if thou wilt backbite and slander a man he will take thy part and will with railings obloquies and slanders euen gréeuously wound the same man And if thou wilt praise thy selfe he will helpe thée or if thou louest to heare thy selfe praised of others he will carrie thée as it were vpon the wings of praises and coÌ„mendations vp into the cloudes loftie skies Through his subtil sleights and craftie deuises he turneth and bendeth himselfe euerie way When he will worke vpon men that be sad and heauie he is presently translated into their humor with men that are remisse he dealeth merily he handleth old men grauely and yoong men courteously with wicked men he is bold and impudent and with libidinous and lecherous people he is filthie and shamelesse The flatterer hath alwaies at his fingers ends and ready vnder his girdle the gestures voices inclinations and dispositions of all persons high and lowe he leaues out none that he may deceiue all He will praise thée in thy presence and scorne thée in thy absence that old prouerbe Out of one mouth commeth both heate and cold serueth well for flatterers Plinie reporteth that there is a fountaine in Dodona which doth kindle fire brands that are extinct and doth extinguish them when they are kindled So a flatterer is double toonged he now extolleth thée and doth set thée aloft with great praises and by and by he will cast thée downe with iniuries and wrongs Against such the Lord himselfe speaketh My people they that say thou art happie or blessed do deceiue thée And againe Wo be to you that call good euill and euill good A Vyper although she be pestilente and poysonfull yet notwithstanding whiles she is nummed with colde she may safely be handled not bicause she hath no poison in hir but bicause in hir colde and numnes she can not vse it Euen so pernicious and dissembling hypocrites do somtime want opportunitie and power to practise and to put in execution their wicked and detestable trecheries but good will they neuer want for that doth daily grow and increase in them Therefore indeâ—or must be vsed that they may be espied taken rooted out of the Lords vineyarde least they spoile and make hauocke of it They are those foxes that are spoken of in the Canticles Which do dig and turne vp the vineyards AS the skin of a foxe is of some valure and in request but the flesh is nothing woorth So outward shewes of holines are highly esteemed with hypocrites but cleannes of the hart and inward puritie is of them no whit regarded A certaine man being disposed to tearme his great enimie cruell and deceitfull he called him a lyon and a foxe A lyon for his tyrannie and a foxe for his fraude And one Lysander in the like case said That if the skin of a lyon be not inough it must be péeced and inlarged with the skin of a foxe Whereby he meant that if force and violence would not serue but come short of that crueltie that a tyrant would faine practise he must adde deceit to do that he desireth So that old men in times past did by a foxe vnderstand wilie craftie and deceitfull men that would couer their vilenes with a vaile of vertue as all hypocrites do No doubt there be in these daies of ours not a fewe most cruell and bloodie tyrants that carie within them as cruell bloodie traiterous harts to the true saints seruants of God as euer Pharao did to the Israelites Cursed Cain to good Abel and as Iudas to Christ But yet they perceiue that their open vsing of their crueltie cannot preuaile and therefore they practise their cunning fraud deceit and hypocrisie secretly and as they thinke so closely that it cannot be spied But the Lord hath hitherto euer discouered them to his owne glorie the comfort of his people and to their owne shame and confusion And notwithstanding that old prouerbe that is An old foxe is hardly snared I doubt not but to sée or heare tell that the old foxes and yoong cubs shall all at the length either be snared taken by the worde of the Lord and so conuerted or els so snared and knared otherwise that they shall sooner haue that they do deserue then that they do desire A certain writer expounding that place of the Gospel where Christ saith to one that said He would follow him Foxes haue holes and the birdes of the aire haue nestes but the son of man hath not where to lay his head The same expositor vnderstandeth by foxes hypocrisie by the birds or foules of the aire arrogancie As if Christ should haue saide thou saiest Thou wilt follow me But foxes and foules haue their holes and nests in thée that is Hypocrisie and arrogancie do dwell in thy hart and how then can Christ rest or dwell in thée Hypocrites and arrogant persons do neuer follow Christ whatsoeuer they pretend and how faire a shew soeuer they make of holines perfection AN hypocrite is like vnto an apple that is very faire and beautifull without but within is corrupted and rotten An arrogant person is like vnto a goodly tall trée that groweth and mounteth very high but bringeth foorth no fruit When Herode was determined to kill Christ if he could and yet would cloke his wicked trechery with a pretence of vertue and holines Christ said to them that told him of the matter Go yée and tell that foxe c. And also Christ saith to his disciples Beware of false prophets which come to you in shéeps clothing but inwardly they are rauening woolues you shall know them by their fruits And the apostle saith That they haue a shew of godlines but they do denie the power thereof Also the same apostle in another place saith That sathan doth transfigure himselfe into an angell of light No maruell therefore that his ministers are also transfigured into ministers of righteousnes whose end shal be according to their works Iob saith the hope of hypocrites shal perish Beware of the leauen
hir age hath in it the shape likenes and prints of eies and that thin rynde also wherewith the eies of the snake are couered and yet indéed hath no séeing eies So the wicked vnbeléeuing Iewes did séeme to haue eies but indéede they were blinde and idle and emptie skins and ryndes without sight they were men but not of God they had eies of the flesh but none of the spirit they could sée creatures but they had not one eie to behold the creator And as for Christ they had no more sight noâ— knowledge of him that then â—ad of the sun and moone when they were yet in the wombes of their mothers The diuine miracles of Christ were most pure and cléere looking glasses without blemish spot or deceit wherein they might haue séene both the omnipotencie of him that wrought them and also their owne most miserable and wretched estate howbeit they were so stone blinde that they could not see the glasse much lesse themselues in the glasse So that when they sought after Christ and to sée his miracles this might well haue béen said to them Quid caeco cum speculo What should a blinde man do with a looking glasse The Euangelist saith that they came vnto the Lord that they might despise his mysteries and woonders And they said We know not whence this fellow is But bicause they came vnto him onely vpon their féete and departed far from him in their harts and mindes for they came vainly curiously and deceitfully therefore the Lord did most sharply reprooue them and that which they demanded they neuer obtained The papists no doubt notwithstanding their braue shewes and vauntings of religion holines and deuotion are in the same predicament with the incredulous Iewes Let vs therefore take the counsell of the holy Ghost which saith Thinke of the Lord in goodnes and séeke him in the singlenes of hart for he is â—ound of them that tempt him not and appéereth vnto them that put their trust in him Let vs come vnto Christ with a true hart and in the fulnes of faith Many do come to church to heare the word of God at the mouth of the preacher but all profit not bicause all do not come with humble mindes and lowly harts to that end AS of many men comming into a goldsmithes shop one buieth a chaine of gold another a costly ring some a rich iewell and some buie plate cunningly and curiously wrought and some one among the rest stoupeth downe and taketh vp a blacke cole which he turneth and tumbleth in his hands till it foule and make blacke his fingers Euen so very many do come to the church to heare the word preached and do learne and beare away excéeding good and heauenly lessons and do gather great strength to their faith and much comfort to their scules and peace to their consciences and some againe do come without any such good purpose intending to take some occasion to quarrell with the preacher and to marke if any thing fall from him vnwisely vndiscréetly or barbarously wherewith they may sport themselues and scorne him such as they came with wicked purposes and cauilling mindes so they depart with harts as hard as adamants sâ—ared consciences and brasen faces so bloodles that they cannot blush far woorse than when they came The preaching of the Gospell is in deede a very rich shop fully and throughly furnished and stored with iewels of great valure to wit with most wise holy and heauenly sentences procéeding from the almightie himselfe through the mouth of his seruants though séelie wormes and mortall men And whosoeuer will come woorthily to the preaching of the Lords lawes and ordinances of God and of the Gospell of Christ Iesus he must come with an holy and godly minde desirous to vnderstand and to know the will of God that he may do it They that come thus vnto the Lord do most certainly learne those things which appertaine to the saluation of their soules Such onely doth the holy Ghost instruct teach and comfort and doth inflame them with a woonderfull loue of the holy word and heauenly things But the Lord sendeth emptie away all such hearers as approch and come néere vnto him with their eares and lips and are diuided far from him in their harts and mindes being full of hypocrisie deceit and all abhomination To them speaketh the Lord himselfe by Ezechiel the prophet Shall I make answere vnto them when they aske me any thing as if the Lord should say I will not PLinie reporteth in his 14. booke that myrrhe doth kéepe mens bodies from corrupting and preserueth them from putrifaction and rottennes but howsoeuer that is true or otherwise this is most true in the children of God that calamities and afflictions taken and borne patiently do profit and preuaile much to kéepe out foules from the corruption and â—anker of grieuous euils and heinous sinnes and from being spotted of this wicked world For when we are afflicted then do we flie vnto God in oâ—r dangers and extremities as to our only refuge besides whome there is none can helpe or comfort vs. We craue and beg most earnestly his mercie and do make great haste and euen run as it were to meditate of his omnipotencie and readines to do vs good and to deliuer vs. And although we sée our selues to be as it were banished soules and crossed with a thousand troubles and to be euen abiects among men to be thrust out of the societies and companies of worldlings yet we neuer forget the goodnes and mercies of God nor cast out of our minds the remembrance of his louing kindnes toward his seruants The loue and fauor of God is euer before the eies of his saints and their calamitie doth euen stay and rest it selfe in the swéete remembrance of heauen and heauenly things though they be sore wroong in this life and gréeuously pinched yet they are neuer so oppressed that they be discomforted In the midst of mourning and sorrow they do woonderfully reioice in extreme pouertie they féele no want they séeme daily to be cut off and yet still they increase and florish they are still afflicted and yet continually refreshed Thus doth it come to passe that an admirable greatnes of loue and obedience towards the Lord doth grow very feruent and hote in them For they vnderstand that they be therefore afflicted that they should flie vnto God the heauenly and onely comfort as a most strongly fenced tower and inuincible castle that they may be turned from their sinnes and be saued Tobias knowing so much saide O Lorde when thou art angry thou shewest mercie and in the time of trouble thou forgiuest them their sins that call vpon thée And the Lord saith Iob woundeth and he healeth he smiteth and his hands shall heale againe And the kingly prophet Dauid saith Thou art my refuge in my trouble which compasseth me round about And againe The
Lord is hard at hande to them that are of a troubled hart and will saue the humble and lowly in spirit And the Lords words by Ose the prophet are these In their tribulation they will rise vp earely and call vpon me For the Lord his maner and custom is to helpe and succour the afflicted which call and crie for his heauenly comfort Héerehence is that of the Euangelist Iohn Your sorrow shall be turned into ioy And that of the apostle As you are companions of the passions and sufferings so shall yée be of the consolation and comfort And that also in the Actes We must enter into the kingdome of God through many tribulations And holy Iohn in the reuelation speaking of the saints which haue and shall haue the fruition of God in heauen saith Those are they that came from great tribulation Héereupon Augustine saith excéeding well That the Lord hath appointed thée to suffer it is a scourge of him that chastiseth thée and not a punishment of him that condemneth thée Who woulde not then be well contented with troubles and afflictions Who would not willingly vndergo the indignation malediction and persecution of wicked men Who would be afeard of the spite malice and whatsoeuer this wicked world can say or do Séeing the sequell vnto the sons and daughters of God is to be exalted and extolled into heauen and to be placed there at the right hand of the almighty through and with the Lord Iesu world without end The forenamed saints of God and other holy men from age to age in the midst of their calamities did still remember themselues to be men borne vnder that condition that their liues should euer be open and subiect to all the ineuitable darts of infinite troubles and that there was no refusing to liue and leade their liues in that condition whereunder they were borne And whiles they called to minde the euents of other men they knew right well that no new thing had happened vnto them And indéede the remembrance of mans condition and estate and of a common law and lot as it were incident to al doth mitigate the paine of troubles and doth make their burden the easier to bear And this is a thing euer obserued and noted in the children of God that they are so far from impatience and from repining at their afflictions that euen in the depth of their miseries they thinke themselues happy that they are counted woorthy to suffer any thing for Christs sake It were a great booke matter to remember all those that are mentioned in the holy scriptures which euen shrinking and falling away from God haue béene recouered reclaimed and healed by afflictions and tribulations as it were with physicke and medicine from heauen O how great is thy goodnes how incomparable is thy clemencie how infinite and endles is thy mercy O heauenly and most holie father Which dost therefore afflict vs that tho◠maist chéere vs vp againe Thou dost therefore hold vs downe that thou maist comfort vs and dost suffer vs to fall into diuers and sundry calamities that we may learn to know thy righteousnes and mercies All these things thou dost not of hatred to vs warde but of loue not to destroy vs but to bring vs to thy glorie AS the aire is cléered with the brightnes and shine of the sun and when the sun is downe and set the aire is couered with darknes Euen so the minde of man when it is purged cleared with heauenly wisedome sought and drawne out of the word of God doth shine most excellently and sendeth foorth a pure and perfect light of christianitie which may most easily be decerned to procéed and to come from God himselfe But being without that true light it is ouerwhelmed with an horrible and fearfull darknes and giueth out nothing but filthy mists and stinking vapors which do spring and rise out of the corruption and rotten nature of man and euen from hel and sathan himselfe How can it be that darknes and blindnes should remaine and rest in that hart of man which the holie Ghost the authour of all light and the onely light it selfe hath chosen to be his owne seat and holy habitation Can error flowe out of the most pure fountaine of wisedome It is not possible that from the onely centre of all goodnes a line of wickednes should be drawne And can the fruits of death grow out of the trée of life These are vnpossible things And on the otherside where the holie spirit of grace and might hath not place and possession there is nothing to be found but blindnes error sin iniquitie and all abhomination yea and all the fruits of eternall death it selfe EVen as a bitter potion is not saide to be vnprofitable nor without hope when health and soundnes doth follow although it be excéeding bitter to him that taketh it So sharp and pinching calamities wherewith the Lord doth exercise now and then his children are not to be counted idle and in vaine when some peace of conscience and comfort vnto our soules do follow that when the iustice of God is séene many may be amended and the faith and patience of many may be tried For nothing is more auaileable for the aduauncing of the praise and commendation of true vertue then calamitie it selfe taken and borne patiently for Christs sake AS yoong chickins are in safetie from the hauke and puttocke so long as they straie not from about the wings of their dams and when they do straie far from them they are easilie taken of euery vermine Euen so they that depart not from God but kéeping themselues neere vnto him do walke and lead their liues within the compasse and limits of his laws and ordinances are most safely kept by him from the force inchantments engins and all the subtle deuises of sathan and his instruments but if they forsake God and not regarding his word diuide themselues from him by their sins and iniquities they must néedes fall into the tallons and iawes of that tyrannicall hawke and hound of hell from whence there is no deliuerie Whose whole indeuor and labor is like a roaring lion to séeke whom he may deuoure EVen as it is a thing very commendable and worthy praise that a soldier do euer beare about him the signes and badges of his captaine that it may appéere to whom he belongeth So is it no little honor to a true christian man to passe through manie dangers and to be experienced in many troubles and to indure many affliction◠for his captaine Christs sake For sorrowes vexations and tribulations are the armor and badges of Christ And therefore the apostle which for Christs sake suffered many things saith I do beare about in my body the marks of the Lord Iesu EVen as the sun which vnto eies being sound and without disease was very pleasant and wholsome vnto the same eies when they are féeble
and transitorie spirituall things and fleshly matters the things that are aboue with God and the deceiuable trifles that are belowe in the earth may not be mingled togither Thou canst not both sauour of the Lord and of the world thou canst not beare both good and bad fruit it is not possible that thou shouldest both be barren and fruitfull If thou louest God and his doctrine be graffed in thée then art thou fruitfull if not thou art vnfruitfull For the truth it selfe saith He that abideth in me and I in him he bringeth foorth much fruit SAlt is made of sea water but so long as it is in the sea it is not salt it must be taken out of the sea and placed vpon the dry lande that being in salt pits where the sun may shine the aire blow vpon it the water may be thickned and so conuerted into salt This world is a sea so long as we liue in the world being tormoilde in the swelling surges of the pride thereof and tossed with the ebbings flowings of the worlds inconstancie and ouerwhelmed in the bitter waters of the sinnes and wicked practises of the same we are as yet no salt We must go out of the world and enter into the lande to wit into our selues and take a iust view of our owne imbecilitie and haue a due consideration of our owne miserable and wretched estate that the sun of righteousnes may thrust out his beames and the winde of heauenly grace may blow vpon vs and so we may be turned into an admirable and woonderfull salt that being seasoned our selues we may be meanes and the Lords instruments to season others We may be bold to inueigh against all iniquitie when we haue amended our owne amisses Yet must that be done in measure and according to knowledge for so it behooueth al men to do all things that they do It is well saide of one that salt is an excellent sauce and seasoner of all things so that measure be not wanting Otherwise measure and meane missing the salt it selfe is lost and that which should haue béene seasoned is vtterly spoyled For too much doth make very bitter that which measure would haue made ful swéete And yet notwithstanding all men must but especially the ministers of the worde lift vp their voices and crie out against all maner of sinne and wickednes For the Lord saith by Ioel the prophet Sound out the trumpet in Sion crie out vpon my holy mountaine and let all the inhabitants of the earth be troubled and quake And Esaias saith Crie out cease not lift vp thy voice like a trumpet The Scripture doth signifie so much when it saith That God commanded Moses to make two trumpets of siluer wherewith he should call the people togither when their tents were to be remooued For with the sound of those trumpets the people were roused and stirred vp to wars and to celebrate certaine daies wherein sacrifices were offered vp vnto God Euen so euerie preacher of the worde of God ought to call vpon sinners to remooue their tents from this wicked world and the maners and fashions of the same and so much as in him lieth to bring the people that are blinded in their sins and falling from God out of their errors perils and dangers with all their force and skill to mooue and stir them vp to be that in déede which true christianitie doth require That euery one may say with the prophet Esaie Let the vngodly man forsake his owne waie and the wicked man the cogitations of his owne hart and be turned vnto the Lord And with Iohn in the Reuelation My people auoide out of the midst of Babylon be yée not partakers of their sinnes As if he should saie Remooue and separate your selues from the transitory and lieng things of the world forsake the wickednes of it and pitch your tents by godly meditations and holie affections of your harts and minds not in the earth but in heauen For euery preacher of the Gospell ought to prepare his hearers so much as in him lieth and by his owne example to stir them vp against the enimies of their soules And to counsell them with the apostle To put on the armor of God that they may be able to stande against the deceits of the deuill for we wrastle not against the world flesh and blood but against princes powers and the gouernors of the darknes of this world It behooueth vs therefore to be well furnished with the armour of light and that the weapons of our warfare be not carnall but spirituall AS an expert and skilfull husbandman doth first draw out of his fields or lands and pulleth vp by the rootes thistles briers brambles and all other venemous and wilde wéedes and afterward committeth vnto them his good séedes Euen so a wise teacher of the word of God ought first to roote out sinne and vices and to till as it were the minds of his hearers and as much as in him lieth to draw and pull out of them both roote and rinde of all maner of euill and wickednes and to prepare and make them méete to receiue the good séeds of the holie word and to sowe in them those things which being rooted and growne vp may bring foorth both pleasant profitable and plentifull fruites And although vertue and godlines vnto the wicked and vngodly séeme euen horrible and bitter and all vice and naughtines swéete and well sauouring so that they are not willing that the gardens of their harts should be wéeded and trimmed bicause they would haue no vprightnes no integritie of life no truth nor honestie to grow there yet not the lesse the Lords ministers must euer thinke that the same is spoken to them which was deliuered to the prophets long since Make Ierusalem to know hir abhominations And shew my people their wickednes and the house of Iacob their sins Offer vnto them salt wherewith their corruption may be drawne out and they made to sauour swéetely in the nostrilles of God if they be not altogither rotten and consumed in their sinnes Thrust at them with the goade of the holie word and strike at them with the two edged sword of the law of God that if they be not starke dead in their abhominations and be not alreadie swallowed vp of hell if there be any recouery in them at all they may be awaked out of their deadly slumbers and may be so pricked at their harts that they may finde and féele how forlorne they are in the sight of God and flie to him for succour grace and mercy if they belong to his kingdome WHat doth it profite a riuer to flowe from a pure and cléere fountaine if it selfe be foule filthie and vnholesome Euen so the noblenes of fathers and the honours of elders and auncestours what doth it pleasure their sonnes when they themselues degenerate from their
and poison the aire and they should kill men euen being dead as they vsed to do when they liued if they were censured now a daies as they were then we should haue fewer vsurers and mâ— rich men And yet these men are called of some the golden ones of the worlde Indéede they haue golden purses but brasen faces they haue soft words but bloodie minds and harts harder then the adamant These are the caterpillers not of Egypt but of England that discomfort not Pharao that tyrant and enimie of God but the Lords seruants and déere children These flie not abroad at the commandement of God to plague his enimies but at the pleasure of the diuell to annoy Gods friends These are not contented to eate vp and to destroy corne grasse blossomes leaues and all fruit besides neither will the flesh of beasts and foules and birds of all sorts serue them to eate but they must and wil eat mans flesh whiles he is aliue For to consume a man in goodes and credit with vsurie what is it else but to eate his flesh and to drinke his blood and with sorrow to pricke and wound his hart what is it but to kill him Of all the murtherers in this world except those which with false hereticall and diuellish doctrine do murther soules there is none more cruell mercilesse nor more bloodie than the vsurer For he is not satisfied with the blood of men and women but he will haue the blood of yoong children and infants also For he that cutteth downe a trée by the rootes doth he not withall cut downe the boughes twigs and branches and he that consumeth vtterly vndooeth and with sorrow drieth vp the marow in the bones of parents to the shortening of their daies doth he not euen destroy their poore swéete infants also Praise and commend them who will they are barred and shut out of heauen They are those vngodly ones spoken of by Iob whose praise is short and quickly ended The caterpillers of Egypt were surely tethered and harmed no place where themselues were not but these caterpillers wil sit at home in their chaires like a boare that is a franking in his stie and will consume a man one two or thrée hundred miles from them These caterpillers by their brokers do flie ouer and view all the lands lordships mannors parks woods groues fields medowes pastures and whatsoeuer farmes leases or other commodities of the noble men lords knights esquiers gentlemen yeomen and husbandmen of England and héere they gobble vp a whole towne and there a goodly parke héere a lordship or mannor and there a most pleasant wood The Lord kéepe all men out of their hands for where they light and pitch their tents they waste consume and make hauocke of all and do call the places after their owne names as though they had neuer belonged to the ancient and right owners of them The God of mercie take from them couetousnes of the vaine and transitorie things of this world and worke in them if it be his will a coueting and most earnest desire of the saluation of their owne soules and an vnfained loue to their brethren in Christ Iesu Amen Amen Amen EVen as that man which with a painted oxe doth fowle for partridges is not an oxe but vnder the shape and likenes of that simple creature lieth in waite for the pretie fine birds that he may take them and kill them So he that with a counterfeited and fained holines will colour and couer impietie wicked purposes or whatsoeuer is against the word and will of God is not a iust man but vnder the colour and shape of godlines honestie seeking the praise and glorie of the world he casteth in his head and worketh by degrées the ruine decay and vndoing of his neighbors that he may compasse their goods lands and possessions and gaine some honour and dignitie among men Such men haue a shew of godlines as the apostle saith but they denie the power therof And although som hypocrites will now then séeme to forsake their riches and lend some to their neighbours and bestowe some vpon the poore yet still the marke they leuell and shoote at is to augment and to increase them more more For euen as the swiftest of all haukes going about to sease vpon and to take the bird that flieth as it were in the top of the aire doth not by and by when she first séeth hir flie directly towards hir but rather at the first with fetching of a compas doth séeme to forsake and to despise hir and to drawe and to flie from hir but at the second or thirde flight she goeth towards hir with a woonderful â—orce and incredible swiftnes to take hir in the aire and to rend hir in péeces Right so do hypocrites he haue themselues for at the first to sée to they will séeme to thée not to regarde but to contemne the riches and promotions of the world but then they coine and counterfeit a simplicitie fouling for a greater matter than yet they see present and reaching at some higher aduauncement and greater dignitie than that present time and occasion doth offer but at the second or third flight when euery thing doth answer their expectation thou shalt perceiue that with all spéede and gréedines they will lay hold vpon those things which thou thoughtest they had contemned They do not wish or desire any thing more neither can any thing more highly please them than the very selfesame things which they once made the world beléeue they detested and could not abide them These are double harted men they haue wicked lips and hands that worke iniquitie they be those sinners that go two maner of waies and euerlasting woe is their reward The hypocrite goeth two maner of waies when he laieth one thing vp close in his hart and sheweth another in his actions speaketh one thing and doth another Touching such men and matter it is commanded in Deuteronomie that a man should not weare a garment made of wooll and flaxe commonly called linsie wolsie as if it should be said that kinde of vesture doth couer the subtletie of malice and mischéefe signified by the flaxe and doth outwardly shew the simplicitie of honestie and innocencie signified by the wooll Such an hypocrite was Herod when he pretended a great deuotion towards Christ and that he would worship him and all the while was whetting his sword intending his death if he could catch him Such were the inhabitants of Ierusalem in the time of Sedechias they boasted greatly of the law but they would in no wise obserue it True vertue among Christians is that a man leade a life equall and like vnto his words and as the apostle Iames saith so to say and so to do All hypocrites whatsoeuer they would seeme do so far differ from true christianitie as the froth or fome of golde doth differ from gold it selfe EVen as an archer doth
flesh and blood the world and diuell haue their harts those go downward and take roote below Such men are like vnto trées which in the swéete and pleasant spring time will be well stored and full of goodly blossoms and wil make a franke offer and a large promise of much fruit but when the fruit is looked for and should be gathered there is none to be had they were but bare leaues and idle blossoms Such trées did Christ himselfe méete with when he was héere belowe vpon the earth in his bodie and at this day the whole world euen euerie citie and towne is very full of such trées yea it is hard to finde one house wherein there groweth not such a trée Well the Lord did curse them then and be we sure he will not blesse them now he that then did cause them to be cut downe and cast into the fire will in like maner cast into the fire and torments of hell all those that séeke him with their lips and are far from him with their harts Vngodly men which are delighted in forbidden things they come not néere the waies of the Lord whatsoeuer shew of holines they make with men they sit downe and rest themselues in the seate of wickednes for they haue onely their lips gilded with holines there is not one dram of godlines in their harts The prophet doth testifie so much when he saith that they which worke wickednes walke not in the Lords waies their harts are so far from séeking after God or any good thing that indéede they séeke after euill things as Salomon in his Prouerbs affirmeth Yet neuertheles there be some though the number of them be not great that euen as great and mighty vapors with the force and power of the sunne are taken and lifted vp from the earth and do séeke after the sunne by whose strength and vertue they are carried vp on high and growing into cloudes do euen follow the sunne So I say there is a remnant and a little flocke of Christs that in a true vnfained and sincere loue of God are lifted vp from the loue of this world and from all earthly and fleshly affections so far as is possible for man in this life to be and do séeke the Lord and his kingdome in the singlenes of their harts and thinking the time of their abode héere in this vale of all miseries to too long they daily sigh and grone for a dissolution and the comming of Christ to iudge the quick and the dead But this number is very small and we may admire them euen as the prophet Esay did and say Who are these that flie like scattered cloudes The Lord if it be his holy and blessed will turne the harts of all hypocrites and carnall worshippers of God to serue him in veritie and in truth and vouch he safe to increase the number of his single harted seruants Amen EVen as the blood in the bodie of a man being corrupted with a poisoned arrow doth by and by flie to the hart euen séeking and hoping as it were to finde some remedie and helpe there and yet doth euen so soone as it toucheth the hart finde death where it sought for life So men when they are sore pressed with calamities do make the world their first refuge and whiles they séeke for succour and comfort of the world they finde no better thing than death where they thought to haue found life Experience doth teach them that they sought for life in the house of death and for a medicine there where no good thing is to be had But it behooueth vs that do professe christianitie and do fight vnder that banner when we labour and are loden heauily with tribulations and afflictions foorthwith to repaire vnto God and with all spéede and possible haste to run vnto Christ who euen from the altar of the crosse where he offered himselfe for vs that by his death he might deliuer vs from euerlasting death calleth vs vnto him Our sauiour Christ is said to make a feast and to eate at the conuersion of a sinner when he forsaketh his wickednes and turneth vnto the Lord with a contrite and sorrowfull hart for his sinnes and offences committed against the word and will of God for so the Euangelist saith Bring hither the fat calfe kill it and let vs eate So that we can no way make the Lord a banket that will please and delight him but by forsaking the world our sinnes and our selues and in appealing to the throne of his grace and mercies seate We heare his voice euery day what meane we that we obey it not Why continue we in sinne which consumeth and rotteth our soules and bodies as rustines doth iron Why go we not home to our heauenly father We know his goodnes we haue great experience of his clemencie loue and mercie and yet still we linger Our patrimonie is gone we haue most lewdly spent wasted and consumed all so that we are no more woorthie to enter into the kingdome of God than are the very foule and dirtie swine and yet nothing wil driue vs to him It is euen as himselfe saith No man can come vnto me vnlesse my father drawe him the Lord then draw vs vnto himselfe What a madnes is it to séeke for helpe reléefe and comfort of the world which séeketh vs onely that it may deceiue and destroy vs The Lord calleth vs to giue vs comfort and vnspeakable ioy and we turne our backs to him the world doth but hold vp a finger and becken vs to it with a purpose to haue our companie to hell and damnation and we run and whine after it like a thirstie infant after the dug of his mother or nurse And thus we passe on séeking for life in the house of death and for ioy in the vale of miserie where none is to be found The Lord open the eies of our vnderstanding and make vs to know and to see that our helpe health comfort and life in this world and in the world to come standeth onely in him that made both heauen and earth Amen IDlenes as it bréedeth pouertie and beggerie in very many which might liue well and in good sort with diligent and faithfull labour So is it very dangerous in those that be rich and féele no smart nor want in this life for whiles they giue themselues to foule idlenes voluptuousnes doth ouercome reason and they are snared and taken in the deadly traps of the deceitfull flickerings of the world and are poysoned with carnall pleasures and fleshly delights which do beare them faire in hand for a little while but at the length do deceiue them and leaue them in shame and confusion For euen as the earth when it is not tilled nor trimmed doth bréede and bring foorth briers brambles and all noisome and vnprofitable things so idlenes in man doth bréede and broode in him vngodly thoughts and
to attende vpon his pleasure and to waite on his will he would haue vs not in part but wholy to giue them vnto him and without the hart he will receiue and take in good part at our hands and lips nothing But we on the otherside giue nothing lesse to God then our harts What is it that cannot and may not command our harts and haue them at pleasure sooner then Christ Iesus that with the death of his owne hart gaue life to our bodies and soules If the worlde do but a little smile vpon vs and giue vs but an alluring looke and a faire though a false word we will by and by follow it and bestow vpon it all our attendance If the diuell himselfe can make vs beléeue that we shall either haue profite or pleasure by doing his wil our harts mindes wils and all are readier for him then for Iesus Christ O matchles yea monstrous madnes they that séeke our destruction can sooner with a pleasant looke then Christ with the giuing of his life for vs haue vs at commandement Christ would haue vs to mortifie our earthly members as fornication vncleannes inordinate affections euill concupiscence and couetousnes which is idolatrie But who doth not nourish pamper and cherish all these The Lord woulde haue our conuersation in heauen but we are altogither earthly and carnally minded The Lord would haue our féete to stand within the gates of Ierusalem but we loue rather to be trampling the stréetes of Egypt Babylon and Sodom The holie ghost would haue vs to fight a good fight to finish our course after the will of God and to kéepe the faith not onely in words but also in life and déedes Indéed we are apt and ready to fight for worldly promotion honor dignitie reuenues and riches but for heauen and heauenly things we will neuer striue take no paines nor once trouble our selues we will haue i◠with ease and all maner of pleasure or else not at all farewell it The courses we take héere in this life are very bad and the end vnlesse we repent is like to be woorst of all And whiles we haue no care to kéepe good consciences it is vnpossible for vs to kéepe faith Let stande before vs Christ and sathan the one pointing vs to heauen and eternall felicitie but the way to it ful of troubles gréefes and sorrowes the other pointing to hell but the way to it ful of delicates pleasures and daintie delights and let God call and the diuell call and I speake it with gréefe of hart the diuell is like to haue the greater number to follow him for those short pleasures and Christ but a fewe to follow him bicause they must go loden with crosses Daily experience doth teach vs no lesse when all our actions are carnall haue onely but a little outward shew and no taste at all of true godlines nor so much as any rellish of the spirit and loue of Christ Some will abstaine from the committing of many grosse sins now and then and yet not that I feare greatly in any true and sincere loue to God but either for feare of shame and punishment in this worlde or else feare of vengeance in the world to come which both are vnprofitable for the Lord hath no pleasure in forced seruice he will haue it voluntarie with the hart and procéeding of loue not of a seruile feare otherwise it shall be numbred with the rest of our sinnes This doth greatly condemne vs that though we do not such things our selues yet we can without trouble of conscience gréefe of hart or vexation of minde sée and heare the Lords name blasphemed his saboth vnhalowed idolatrie committed parents dishonored whooredome theft murder and couetousnes commonly vsed and all the lawes of God vtterly contemned and it shall neuer offend the greatest number so much as a thorne in a foote or a blaine vpon a finger What other thing is this but to forsake God in the plaine field and to be afeard to serue him in truth and sinceritie least we should thereby purchase mans displeasure Vnlesse therefore we learne to serue him better in more truth with greater zeale and singlenes of hart we haue nothing else to looke for but that he will forsake vs both in this worlde leauing vs destitute of his assistance that our enimies may pray vpon vs and also in the world to come in giuing out against vs his malediction curse wo and sentence of death The Lord make vs new creatures and giue an vnfained loue of himselfe déepe roote in our harts drawing after it a chéerefull obedience to his sacred word and the selfe same to our brethren wherwith we loue our selues so that all be in God that we may escape dangers in both the worlds that when death that inexorable executioner shall do his office we may arriue at the safe and happy hauen of Gods euerlasting kingdome purchased and paide for by Christ and kept in store for all those that beléeue aright and shall liue and die in him But alas the most part of vs as yet vntill it shall please the almightie to inrich vs be like proud beggers which not being woorth one farthing will boast of great wealth So many brag of great holines but haue none and of great faith as though they could remooue mountaines out of their places and yet know not what true faith is How fearful a saieng is that of Christ When the sonne of man shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead do you thinke that he shal finde any faith vpon the earth As if he should saie he shall finde very little howsoeuer now all perswade themselues that they be faithfull inough The Lorde amende vs for we haue receiued great and infinite good things from the Lords hand both for our bodies and soules but in giuing thanks we are like to the nine leapers mentioned in the Gospell which neuer turned backe to thanke God for their healing The Lord hath poured vpon vs infinite dewes of his swéet and blessed word and yet still we continue to be those drie trées to whom his curse cutting down and casting into the fire belongeth The Lord grant that with all spéede we may turne from our sinnes to righteousnes and holynes of life that God may turne his anger from vs and his fauor towards vs Amen MArcus Antoninus with an oration that he made vpon the death of Caesar is said to haue greatly delighted the people of Rome and that he mooued very many of them to shed great store of bitter teares when he put them in remembrance of the great benefits which they had frō time to time receiued of Caesar withal did shew them Caesars garment wherin his enimies Cassius Brutus had slaine him all full of blood whereat they were so mightily mooued that they expulsed the homicides out of the citie so that they durst not if they woulde liue any
vs as is the honie and the honie combe well wel swéete meats wil haue sower sauce If thou hadst béen an eie witnes of the ouerthrow drowning of Pharao his chariots and horsemen in the red sea dulie examining what sin that might be wherewith God was prouoked to iâ—flict that heauy iudgement vpon him and shouldest haue found the selfe same sinne to be in thy selfe and euen highly to please and delight thée wouldest thou not haue trembled and feared least the same God with whom there is no respect of persons which punished that sinne in Pharao would not spare or fauour it but euen most sharply punish it in thée also Or if thou haddest séene with thy bodilie eies some of the grudging and murmuring Israelites stoong to death with veâ—emous and poysonfull wormes in the wildernes and some of them consumed with fire that came from heauen and the earth also opening and swallowing vp some of them and sending them downe quicke into hel would it not haue terrified thée and haue made thée deâ—â—st and abhor those sinnes which brought such destructions vpon the committers of them all the daies of thy life And why dest thou not so now If thou hast any faith and if the word of God beare any credite with thée thou art no lesse perswaded of the truth of those things than as if thou hadst séene them All these and such other things are written for our learning that we beholding the Lords wrath executed vpon so manie in all ages and from one generation to another for displeasing and offending the Almightie we might beware and take héede that we do not the like déeds least we be beaten with the same or sharper rods The sodaine and fearefull death of Ananias and Saphyra his wife for their hypocrisie dissimulation and séeming to be that they were not will it no whit mooue vs Can we liue without feare and a continuall looking for the like presente and sodaine death our selues when our owne consciences earely or late at home or obroad shall checke and charge vs as truely and as iustly as their consciences did checke and charge them With how many and how great fearefull and deuouring plagues that haue swallowed vp infinite thousands of men women and children hath the Lord tried vs and most louingly admonished vs in England within these few yéeres Hath not the whole masse and weight of the earth trembled tottered and shaken vnder vs as though it euen groned and were excéeding wearie of our sinnes rebellion and disobedience towards our creator and redéemer and that of late within our owne knowledge and remembrance And yet for all that we procéede in our wickednes and are woorse and woorse euerie day So that we séeme to be that wicked crue and pack of fooles mentioned by the prophet which haue said in their harts there is no God Those mariners and méere idolaters which were in the ship with Ionas that had no true knowledge of God nor any vnderstanding how to honor and to worship him aright yea they knew nothing but Paganisme and idolatrie may make vs greatly ashamed for they hauing but a very little familiaritie and conference with the prophet did become very good and true worshippers of the liuing God and did offer sacrifice and vowe vowes vnto him But we haue the lawe and the prophets of God also Christ himselfe and his apostles we haue not conference with one but with them all we haue his ministers and messengers daily vnfolding and interpreting the scriptures of God vnto vs and yet neuer the better we will forsake no sinne but rather choose eternall damnation to do our owne wils then euerlasting life to do the will of God Are we not woorse then those Iewes which crucified the son of God euen Iesus Christ Surely we be for they hearing Peter preach but one sermon a great number of them were conuerted But we hearing manie hundreds are neuer touched with any remorse of conscience nor mooued to any serious or true repentance We are like vnto lepers vpon whom no water will sticke nor abide by reason of the foulnes and greasie matter of their leprosie Such lepers and far woorse are we vpon whom no â—ewes nor any drops of the grace and word of God will cleaue abide and continue We do nothing for gods sake nothing of conscience nothing of loue all our actions the Lord amend it do sauour and smell of hypocrisie It is to be feared that were it not for vaine glory sake and to haue commendations and praises of men verie few would do any good and were it not for feare of shame or punishment few would abstaine from any sinne Idolators blasphemers and violators of the sabaoth will neuer blush saie what you will Children in these daies thinke it great wisedome to controule yea to scorne and to disobey their parents elders and superiors To murther is manlines to commit adulterie and fornication is but a tricke of youth to steale a pretie sleight to beare false witnes is counted a gainful trade and serueth finely to pleasure a fréend and as for coueting another mans house his wife his seruant his maide his oxe asse or any thing that he hath it is so common as houses be in England yea in London where they stande neerest one to another What then shall the Lords ministers messengers and preachers keepe silence giue ouer their labour and cease vtterly to crie out against sinne God forbid the Lord hath a little flocke and a small remnant like a litle wheat in a great heape of chaffe for their sakes let the seruants and messengers of the Lord labor stil Againe the harts of al men are in the hands of God as he made them of nothing now they are made to conuert men from sinne Let all the seruants and children of God in this case trie what they can do with the Lorde and neuer giue ouer calling vpon him for their saluation if it be his will to grant it They haue indéede harde faces and harts like adamants that will not be brused saith the Lord yet go to them and let them know my minde do thy office though they be disobedient lift vp thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and to the house of Iaacob their sinnes Blow ye the trumpet in Gibeah and the shaume in Rainah set the trumpet to thy mouth It may be that the wals of sinne and wickednes will fall downe flat at thy shouting and battering them with the iudgements of God as the wals of Iericho did at the sound of the trumpets and the shouts of the people I beséech God it may be so And indéede good reader that is the onely thing that I desire séeke for and beg daily at the hands of God euen that all idolatrie hypocrisie superstition blasphemie breaking of the Lords sabaoth and whatsoeuer is against any precept of the Lord
may be vtterly abandoned And if thou for thy part wilt begin euen striue to be the first thou shalt do well Wed thou thy selfe as in déede we all ought to do the will of God whatsoeuer it cost thée somthing for my sake thy poore brother in Christ that most déerely doth loue thée in the Lord Iesu and somthing for thy soules sake to kéepe it out of hell and that it may come to heauen but especially for Gods sake to whom thou owest all obedience and so shall I thinke my paines well bestowed and be ready all the daies of my life to labour still to do thée good Loue to thée in Christ Iesu hath constrained me to send abroad this little booke of Similies to let thée know that I wish well to thée and that I daily desire and beséech the almightie that sinne may be destroied and that the feare of God may euer possesse thée dwell in thy hart and florish in thy hands True it is good reader that we ought to desire to liue no longer than we haue a care to liue well and that the whole course of our liues may be acceptable to God That is the Apostles meaning when he saith Wherefore also we couet that both dwelling at home and remoouing from home we may be acceptable to the Lord. And a little after the same Apostle saith that Christ died for vs that hencefoorth we should not liue to our selues but vnto him that died for vs. Therefore it is a méere vanitie to say we be Christians vnlesse we cast from vs our old corruptions and custome of sinning and be changed in our mindes and become new creatures in Christ Iesu The which thing I do most humbly craue at the hands of God euen for his owne name and his onely sonne Christ Iesus his sake both for thée and me that when the daies of our miseries in this dangerous and troublesome world shall be expired thou and I may haue a ioifull méeting with the rest of the Lords saints and all his holy angels in the glorie of his endlesse blessed and eternall kingdome through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom be all honour power praise glorie and dominion now and world without end A necessarie Table of the chiefe and principall things contained within this booke pointing the Reader to euery page and Similie wherein the same is to be found by these two letters S. P. the first signifieng the Similie the second the Page with figures of both their numbers as followeth WHo they be that are Christs sheepe and who be not Similie 1. Page 1. A veine of our head is cut that the whole bodie may be healed S. 2. P. 1. As the sunne light offendeth bleared eies so the truth offendeth both ignorant and obstinate papists S. 3. P. 2. As al the members of the bodie haue from the soule their moouing and life So euerie part of a commonwealth is gouerned by a godlie prince S. 4. P. 2. The sorcerie of the papists Brownists Familists and such others S. 5. P. 2. The worde of God signified by raine and sweete dewes and the operation of them both S. 6. P. 3. The church of Christ and true religion now established in England ought not to be condemned nor euil spoken of bicause some bad men are mingled with the good S. 7. P. 3. A candle that is put out cannot light another candle S. 8 P. 3. The spots of the world are dangerous and to be shunned of all but especially of them that teach others S 9. P 4. Those ministers of the word shepherds of the Lords flocks which smother their learning and do not impart their knowledge to the church of God do offend greatly S. 10. Pag. 4. Euill and wicked counsell is woont to fall vpon the heads of the first inuentors and giuers of the same S. 11. P. 4. 5. The minde of man without the word of God is barren and bringeth foorth no good thing S. 12. P. 5. People for the most part do imitate their princes whether they be good or euill S. 13. Pag. 5. The end of godly gouernment is peace S. 14. P. 6. Where true iustice hath no place there peace is not to be looked for S. 15. P. 6. The prosperitie of this world is like winters weather the calmnes of the sea and the stabilitie of the moone S. 16. P. 6. The superfluous cares of worldly things laid apart our mindes ought to be occupied in heauen and euer waiting vpon our God S. 17. P. 7. Men are very truly called the sonnes of them whose manners and liues they choose to imitate and follow S. 18. P. 7. As sweete waters are corrupted and spoiled when they run into waters which art salt bitter or vnwholsome So good men are greatly blemished in vsing the familiaritie of the wicked and vngodly S. 19. P. 8. Enuie is alwaies vertues companion miserie onely admitteth no enuie S. 20. P. 8. An enuious man is as vnprofitable to a citie as darnell is to wheate S. 21. P. 8. The enuious man can neither abide a superior an inferior nor an equall He is fitly compared to a viper and to the rustines of iron S. 22. P. 8 9. Enuie is a dangerous disease rife in al places it is a picture of hell S. 23. P. 9. To put any trust or confidence in this world or to depend vpon vaine man is to leane to a broken staffe the rod and the staffe of the Lord are onelie to be leaned vnto S. 24. P. 9. In all our words and actions a measure must be kept and consideration is to be had what agreeth with the time place and persons S. 25. P. 10. Humilitie ought to go before dignity S. 26. P. 10. Many hearers of sermons delight more in the rolling toong of the preacher and his retoricall phrases than in the matter it selfe which he deliuereth S. 27. P. 10. Though sound doctrine bicause it brideleth lusts reprooueth sinne and is a pore and cleere looking glasse for men to beholde themselues in is not welcome to manie yet ought the teachers of the word to continue and to be feruent therein S. 28. P. 10. 11. A common wealth is maintained and vpholden with two things to wit with due reward and due punishment S. 29 P. 11. Men are then woont to be ecclipsed and darkened concerning the loue of God and their neighbors when they growe rich in this world S. 30. P. 11. 12. The getting of great riches is the losse of great quietnes S. 31. P. 12. A iust man is a mightie man be he neuer so poore and a wicked man is vile and base be he neuer so rich S. 32. P. 12. 13. A fine exchange betweene a rich man that is naught and a begger that is honest and vertuous S. â—â— P. 13. As cloudes do couer the sunne so calamiâ—ie darkeneth the minde of man S. 34. P. 13. No sound iudgement can be giuen of a man vntill
he be throughly tried S. 35. P. 13. The best foode for the soule of man S. 36. P. 13. 14. Not proud but humble men do profite by reading and hearing of the worde of God S. 37. 38. P. 14. 15. The riches dignities and honors of this world and the life of man are fitly compared to clouds in the aire which are suddenly dispersed and scattered with the windes S. 39. P. 15. 16. The word of God is a looking glasse that wil deceiue no man If a man behold himselfe well in it he shall see plainly that before he was man he was earth and before he was earth he was nothing S 40 P 16. As a birde thrusteth hir bill through the loopes of hir cage in token of hir great desire to be at libertie So the soule of a true Christian groneth and sigheth in the bodie in desire to be dissolued and to go to dwell with the Lord Iesu S. 41. P. 16. 17. Papists compared to vipers S. 42. P. 17. Man for his inconstancie is compared to a ballance that is mooued with euerie little weight S. 43. P. 17 18. Man is so wauering that he is compared to a Chameleon which changeth his colour according to the thing that is next him and also bicause the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white S. 44. 45. P. 18. Not they that trust to a dead faith but they that haue a liuely and working faith shall be saued S. 46 P. 18. Many men of very good qualities and indewed with sundrie vertues and full of good parts haue been strongly altered and greatly disgraced through their familiaritie with the wicked S. 47. P. 18. 19. When Peter came into Cayphas his hall he denied Christ S. 48. P. 19. What it is not to eat the word of God and not to fill a mans bellie and bowels with it S. 49. P. 19. The harder that the tree of sinne and wickednes is to be cut downe the more earnestly and diligently ought the preachers of the word to strike at it with the sharpe edge of Gods most mightie and most holie worde S. 50. P. 20. The Lord doth humble vs in this world that he may exalt vs in the world to come this world doth smile vpon vs with a purpose to deceiue vs S. 51. 32. P. 20. Wicked men are wilfull murtherers of their owne bodies and soules S. 53. P. 21. Vngodly men finde no comfort nor sweetnes in the word of God S. 54. P. 21. In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in Gods we cannot Whatsoeuer is writteÌ„ in Gods word is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines and whatsoeuer it promiseth in the world to come is eternitie S. 55. P. 22. The onely weapon that we must vse to ouer come the world flesh and diuell is the word of God and the practise of the same S. 56. P. 22. Poore men feare they God neuer so much are little set by in this world S. 57. P. 23. Christ hath his cup and the world his the one is bitter but wholesome the other very pleasant but pestilent and deadly S. 58. P. 23. and 24 and also S 60. P. 24. As a guiltie man whose conscience doth accuse him would neuer see the iudge and a traitor would neuer willingly be espied of his prince nor a disloyall person of one that knoweth him and on the other side a true and faithfull subiect that hath done dutifull seruice desireth the presence of the prince in hope to be well rewarded So the wicked and vngodly ones of the world are greeued to heare of Christs comming to iudge the quicke and the dead but they that haue liued with good consciences do grone for his comming S. 61. P. 24. There be great braggers of religion which make a great noise as thogh none were right professors of the truth but themselues such be not the best men humble minded Christians are better than they S. 62. P. 25. Death commeth suddenly vpon many that neuer thought to die nor cannot tell what shall become of them when they bee dead S. 63. P. 25. 26. All men are alike subiect to death whether they beyoong or olde this world is like a potters warehouse and all men in it are earthen vessels S. 64. P. 26. As the moone decreasing hath hir open side hanging downward but increasing and gathering light hath hir opening vp towards heauen So men meere naturall haue their harts set only vpon earth and earthly things but men regenerate haue the open side of their harts euer towards God heauen and heauenly things S 65. P. 26. 27. A common wealth without good lawes and holy ordinances put in practise is like a bodie without a soule S 66 P 28. As the horse is ordained to run the oxe to plough and the dog to hunt So is man borne to loue God aboue all things S. 67. P. 28. Mans hart is so hard that it must be smitten with the Lords owne hand and bruised with one calamitie or other or else no godo thing will euer issue out of it S. 68. P. 28. and S. 69. P. 29. S. 70. P. 29. The earth is the Lords steward and doth dispose and detaine the increase of it selfe at the Lords appointment when God wil plentie when he will scarciâ—ie S. 71. P. 29. 30. If man cleaue to God God will sticke to him if he will run from God yet can he not escape his hands S. 72. P. 30. A man that is vertuous without hypocrisie is an excellent iewell he is greatly greeued to see any bewitched with the forceries of the world he doth what he can that none may Carnall men are meere strangers to true christianitie S. 73. P. 31. Vaine and carnall men compared to organs S. 74. P. 31. Naturall men will do no good thing vnles they be pricked forward with the praise and commendations of the world S. 75. P. 31. 32. Hypocrites most plainly and truly described by a wood or groue full of goodly trees and pleasant plants to delight men and also full of stinging serpents to poyson and to kill men S. 76. P. 32. Heauenly meditations doe molliâ—ie and warme the hart and do greatly inflame men with a feruent loue of God This world and the things thereof haue euer been false and haue deceiued euen their louers and deerest friends at the length S. 77. P. 32. 33. The Lorde suffereth his owne children whom he loueth most deerely to bee oftentimes in great wants when the wicked haue euen the world at will The afflictions of this are not the maledictions and curses of God but rather most certaine signes of his loue and tokens of his grace S. 78. P. 33. 34. God doth suâ—fer his saints heere vpon the earth to be smitten and sore beaten of the world and to be throughly tried with diuers tentations to the end that their inward graces may breake
out that men seeing their constancie in the loue of God may glorifie their father which as in heauen S. 79. P. 34. The good agreement and well hanging togither of the in 〈…〉 creatures of God in this world though differing in natures and the apt placing of the whole may very well teach vs that there is a mightie creator a great gouernor and a wise preseruer of all these things S. 80. P. 34. 35. The cause of the sinnes and iniquities which man committeth is in himselfe euen as the tree is in the kernell and the herbe in the seede Self loue is a perilous and common theefe ranging and robbing in euerie place it maketh men fooles and doth put out their eies and yet is welcome to all S. 81. Pag. 35. They that be godly are most easily moued to do good vpon any occasion offered the troubles and afflictions of their brethren are to them as if they were their owne if they do but heare of anie distressed they by and by cast with themselues how to do them good such be good though few S. 82. P. 36. A good christian though he be heere vpon the earth in bodie in affect and desire he is in heauen S. 83. P. 36. Gods children despise those things which vnto the worldlings seeme very precious not earth but heauen hath their harts S. 84. P. 36. As he that walketh vpon coards fastened on high had need to looke to his footing so it behooueth vs to be very carefull where we place our affections For there be two that daily striue for them God calleth and sathan allureth Sathan doth keepe a continual siege against all vertue to kill it if he can euen when it is a hatching in the hart of man S. 85. P. 36. 37. Many men haue calling but they answere it not knowledge but they practise it not words but they worke not such are compared to the ostridge that hath wings and flyeth not S. 86 P. 38. All that be aduanced into places of high dignitie are not the best men though some be very good yet some seeke more their own praise and profit than gods glory but that is not to follow Christ S. 87. P. 38. 39. The greatest highest and best seruice that man can do vnto God for the comfort of his ownesoule and his happines in the world to come is his due obedience vnto the word of God S. 88. P. 39. 40. That man perisheth for euer and goeth to hell is mans owne fault not the Lords the Lord is no more to be blamed for mans destruction then the smith that made for thee som instrument of iron or steele is to be blamed if thou wilt suffer it to growe rustie and cankered the smith made not rustines neither God thee to sinne S. 89. P. 40. The children of God vnderstaÌ„ding by the word that this world and all that is in it is meere vanitie they haue their felicitie ioie and comfort in knowing of the word and doing of the will of God S. 90. P. 40. The Indian adamant which in hardnes doth excell all other stones is said to be mollified with the warme bloud of a goate But the hart of man hardned with continuance and custome of sinne will not be mollified with the bloude of the immaculate lambe Christ Iesus S. 91. P. 41. Though the world intreat vs vnkindly and be daily harming vs yet we must no more giue ouer doing good then the sunne giueth ouer shining though many clouds do continually couer it S. 92. P. 42. Vertues lot is to be enuied to finde very colde intertainment if any at all with the men of this world and yet for all that the seruants of God will neuer be wearie of well doing S 93 P. 42. Mans hart being quiet and not troubled with horrors nor distempered with feares wil plainly shew a man what he is so that he may easily know himselfe but being tossed with terrors and ouerwhelmed with feares it cannot do so S. 94. P. 42. A flatterer to see to is honest Cato but in experience cruell Nero and therefore verie fitly compared to a scorpion S 95. P. 43. There be many dissemblers and smooth tongued flatterers in the world that will euen stroke as it were mens humors and dispositions with words as soft as oyle and so sweet as honie and al to creepe within them that at the length they may worke their wo and destruction S. 96. P. 43. As a candle that it may giue light to others is consumed it selfe and salt that it may draw corruptioÌ„ out of flesh keepe it sweet and wholesome for mans body is all to brused broken and wasted it selfe So euerie christian man and especially teachers of others ought to spare no labour to do good to others and to win some soules to God if it please him to blesse their labours S. 97. P. 43. The saylers gâ—oâ—on called the marâ—iners needle lockt shut vp or kept in a â—offer of gold siluer wood or whatsoeuer will euer stil looke towards the north pole So right christians which are throughly resolued concerning their saluation and euerlasting life will neuer turne from Christ but haue their harts and minds still fixed in him come wealth or want sicknes or health libertie or imprisonment life or death S. 98. P. 43. 44. A christian will not haue two loues one for himselfe and an other for his neighbour but will loue his neighbour with one the same loue wherewith he loueth himselfe S. 99. P. 44. 45. The soule of man so long as it is in bondage vnto the bodie it seeketh onelie the bodies pleasures and delights but hauing once recouered that seruitude and brought the bodie to be subiect vnto it then it seeketh no longer the peace pleasure ease and rest of the bodie but now being freed from that bondage and restored to it selfe it seeketh it owne peace rest health and happines for euer S. 99. P. 44. 45. That man is in a wofull case that hath his head vnder the girdle of this world he shal neuer find any rest peace or quietnes Put no trust in the world if thou dost it will deceaue thee and giue thee quid pro quo that is a mischiefe in stead of a pleasure promised The going out of this world to a christian is like a safe sure haueÌ„ to a man that hath bin very long and dangerously tossed in a most troublesome and perilous sea S. 100. P. 45. 46. A corrupted iusticer or iudge by the vertue of a precious stone or some other rich iewell bestowed vpon him freely will make a bad matter go for good and a very iust cause go for nought Yea for a good round sum of money though it be in an old leather purse he will now and then sell iudgement break the necke of iustice Where this corruption and abuse is it breedeth this slaunderous report of the law which is good Parâ—is cornis
man which the holy Ghost the author of all light and the onely light it selfe hath chosen to be his owne seate and holy habitation Error cannot flowe from the fountaine of wisdome neither is it possible that a line of wickednes should be drawne from the one a centre of all goodnes the fruits of death cannot growe out of the tree of life these are vnpossible things And on the other side where the holy spirit of grace and might hath not place and possession there is no good thing to be found bicause the author of goodnes is not there S. 170. P. 87. and 88. Calamitie patiently borne doth availe very much for the aduancing of the praise of true vertue and vnfained holines S. 171. P. 88 It is mans onely safetie to keepe himselfe neare vnto God for when he shaketh off the gouernment of Gods word and with his sins and iniquities diuideth himselfe from the Lord then commeth his danger he cannot but fall into the hands of sathan hell and destruction S. 172. P. 88. Sorrowes troubles afflictions and vexations are in the children of God the armour and badges of Christ S. 173. P. 89. Howsoeuer God dealeth with men yet he is all one there is no change nor any shadow of change in him the change is in our selues not in the Lord. When we liuing in his feare faith and loue do inioy the light of his countenance his blessing spirituall and temporal if at any time he turne his face from vs and shall take away the comforts of our soules bodies it is bicause we are changed not he S. 174. P. 89. Man must be verie carefull and haue in himselfe at the least a desire that something may be in him to mooue the Lord to grant that vnto him that he craueth or looketh for at his hand as if he will haue the Lord to be mercifull he must vse mercy towards others if he would haue him to be a good father to him he must shew himself an obedient child c. S. 175. P. 89. 90. 91. Diuers and sundry names giuen to Christ to expresse his nature and his disposition toward man S. 175. P. 91. Though a man be neuer so barren bad without any good thing in him yet if the word of the Lord once take hold of his hart and finde any rooting there it will draw him by degrees to the nature of it selfe and make him very fruitfull S. 176. P. 91. A man may boldly inueigh against the sinnes of others when he hath amended his owne amisses and very likely he shall be salt to others when himselfe is seasoned S. 177. P. 92. Although vertue and godlines seeme vnto the wicked very bitter and vnâ—auorie and all vice and naughtines sweeâ—e and well sauoring they are very vnwilling that the gardens of their harts should be weeded euill things drawne out of them or that any good should be planted in them yet the ministers of the word must still do their office and dutie S. 178. P. 93. 94. The holy ghost doth â—â—e to call men and women the sonnes and daughters of them whose maners and conditions they follow not of their naturall parents when they follow not their footesteps S 179. P. 94. Men very honorablie borne and comming of honorable parents being themselues naked that is without vertues and honorable actes do iustly deserue the losse of their titles honor and dignitie and whiles they degenerate from their noble parents of whose honor they brag they are fitly and rightlie compared to Aesops â—ay S. 180. P. 95. Euen as in a threshing place chaffe will be aboue wheat not bicause it is the better but bicause it is the lighter so amongst men they that be vaine and haue nothing in them but pride vainglory and a false opinion of themselues will thrust foorth themselues before those that haue a far greater weight of vertue and iust deserts then they haue but on the otherside the humble man will euer take the lowest place and be well contented with the least account in this world S. 181. P. 96. Whosoeuer will enter the gate to go into that most stately and princely house of the kingdome of heauen must bowe down humble himselfe and stoupe lowe otherwise he breake his head be driuen backward and neuer get in for pride is pestilent sicknes it deuideth a man from God from himselfe and from his neighbour and doth disperse and distract him into infinite euils and innumerable vices S. 182. P. 97. Rioting excesse and fulnes of meate and drinke doth make mens bodies vnapt to all good and holy exercises and very prone and apt to all sinne and wickednes S. 183. P. 98. A cable rope being singled into threads whereof it was made may be drawn through the eie of a needle and a rich man diuiding his riches as God hath appointed and commanded him may enter into the kingdom of heauen S. 184. 105. P 98. 99. A rustie iron key hanging at a whip coard or at a thong of leather which will open the doore and let a man go into an house where is gold and great riches is better then a kâ—iâ— of golde tied to a string or lace of silke and siluer which will not open the locke S. 186. P. 100. 101. Idlenes is a schoolemaster and a teacher of all mischiefes and doth extinguish all vertues in man but godlie and holy exercises are very profitable do much good increase vertue in all that vse them S. 187. P. 102. Vngodly rich men haue a vaile or couering before their eies birde lime in their wings and fetters about their feete that they cannot see the kingdome of God they cannot mooue one feather of a wing towardes heauen nor set one foote before another towards euerlasting life and yet they be merie now but their sorrow is not far off S. 188. P. 102. 103. 104. The higher that proud and vaine men do clymbe the fowler the more mischieuous is their fall Vanitie pompe and pride are very bad and naughtie feathers which christians ought not to suffer to growe in their wings but to pull them out and to cast them into the dust S. 189. P. 104. What difference soeuer is amoÌ„g men now whiles they liue in the world death at the length hauing don his office will make them all so equall and alike that the dust of princes and poore men of rich men beggers of the learned and vnlearned of those that are wise and of the foolish being all mingled togither they can no more be discerned and knowne one from another then the ashes of one tree can be deuided from the ashes of another being both burnt togither in one furnace S. 190. P. 104. 105. Very many in this world being without the feare of God do liue in great pompe al pleasures fulnes of great riches and wealth at will and are highly esteemed during their life whose woes and sorrowes do then begin
froth of gold doth differ from gold it selfe S. 215. P. 123. 124. They that with their hypocrisie do steale the praises commendations of men without any iust desert they either lose them before they die or not long after for the truth will out it will not be hid for euer The glorie of this worlde is buried with mens bodies when they be dead and posterities do forget it To be truely glorious is to despise the glory of this world S. 214. P. 125. 126. Singlenes of hart and true christian simplicitie is best seene and made most euident in troubles and afflictions S. 215. P. 126. 127. Sorrow and griefe shut vp and pestered in mans hart and no way vttered is verie dangerous and deadly weeping mourning and sighing doth lighten and ease the hart S. 216. P. 127. The reprobates and castawaies that be tormented in hell do confesse that the pompe and glorie of this world is transitorie and that it is a vaine thing for man to set his hart vpon Let christians therefore whiles it is to day that is whiles they liue heere vpon the earth set their harts and mindes vpon God heauen heauenly things not vpon this world or ought that belongeth to it let them either confesse heere in their life time that all those things be vaine which the world doth affoord vnto man or else they must confesse it in hell where and when it will be too late S. 218. P. 128. All they that with the eies of faith do behold the ioies and pleasures of heauen laid vp and kept in store for the saints of God in the world to come although they sit heere in the princely seates of all dignitie honor delights or whatsoeuer may hee had in this world yet will they vnfainedly desire to bee dissolued to remooue out of this world and to go to dwell with the Lorde Iesus S. 219. Pag. 129. Men being thirstie do earnestly desire water but their thirst being quenched they turne their backs vpon the fountaine where they found water so men distressed will crie and seeke after God but being eased they will forget him and turne their backs to him S. 220. P. 130. The knowledge and vnderstanding of the word and will of God doth not by and by worke an hungring and thirsting to leade a vertuous and a godly life in all those whom it hath instructed and most perfectly taught what they should do and how they ought to liue He that wil speake good things and will not do them is like an instrument that delighteth other men but not it selfe To what end a man should desire knowledge if he will desire to haue it aright S. 221. P. 131. 132. and 133. Mans bodie must not bee pampered but kept in subiection to the spirit otherwise it will be vnrulie and very vnapt to feare and serue the Lord S. 222. P. 134. Manie men when they be poore and in meane estate will be very lowly but once inriched and aduanced they forget both God and man as in such men honors change maners so were it very well if maners might change honors S. 223. P. 135. There be in this world two principall and chiefe fishers the one is Christ the other is the diuell Christ fisheth for men to saue them the diuell fisheth for men to destroie them The diuell catcheth far moe than Christ the reason is bicause his baite is more agreeable to the corrupted nature of man than Christs baite is but happie are they that take Christs baite and not the diuels S. 224. P. 136. 137. 138. Sathan is a subtle fisher and doth not by and by deale very roughlye with those of whom he maketh a sure account but doth suffer them a little to play and to sport them selues with his hooke in their mouthes vntill at the length they cannot escape S. 225. Pag. 139. and 140. They be most dangerous people that can keepe no counsell nor secrets S. 226. P. 140. 141. and 142. Verie manie will make a shew of vertue that haue no delight in vertue it selfe Such men are fitly compared to painters whose delight is more in colours than in the substance S. 227. P. 142. Very manie will follow Christ with their lips whose harts do neuer come neare him in words they will be with God but in deedes with the diuell S. 228. P. 144. Christ is said to make a feast and to eate at the conuersion of a sinner S. 229. Pag. 14â— and 146. Idlenes doth breede and cherish all wickednes and abhomination in man and doth not become a Christian S. 230. P. 147. The iudgements of God that hang ouer our heads for our vnthankfulnes S. 231. Pag. 147. c. When man in troubles seeketh for comfort from the world he seeketh for life in the house of death S. 229. P. 145. The world with a smiling looke and the diuell with a faire word can sooner haue at commandement to follow them and to do their wils the greatest number than Christ can with his death and the promise of his kingdome S. 231. P. 148. Man is the deerest purchase that euer was made in heauen or earth the like price and cost was neuer bestowed vpon any creatures as vpon man S. 231. P. 148. The goodnes of Christ considered there was neuer any creatures dealt so vnkindlie with him as man doth ibidem When Christ calleth vs to do good then we run headlong to do all maner of euill ibidem It will profite man nothing to abstaine from the committing of sinne if he loue it in his hart and doth it rather for feare of shame here or condemnation in the world to come than drawen with the loue of God ibidem Pag. 151. The people of Rome were mightily mooued with an oration made by Marcus Antoninus vpon the death of Caesar and expulsed the homicides out of the citie but when we heare of the death of Christ and knowe the cause of his death to be our sinnes yet we will not expulse sinne out of our selues they shed teares when they heard what Caesar had done for them but we can heare what Christ did for vs without one teare or anie griefe of hart S. 232. P. 152. Caesar was more beholden to the Romans than Christ is to the most part of the world S. 232. P. 153. The cause of the destruction of Sodom Gomorrhe and that the same sinnes be now very rife S. 232 P. 154. Very many will confesse that God in times past did most iustly punish the sinnes of men but the same confessors will do the like without either feare or loue of God S. 232. P. 154. The examples of Gods iudgements vpon others do no whit moue the vngodly in these daies S. 232. P. 155. and 156. Men in these daies are woorse than some of those Iewes which crucified Christ S. 232. P. 156. They that wil not profit any thing by hearing the worde preached nor will suffer no drops nor dewes of grace to
bide vpon them are compared to lepers ibidem The Lords ministers must go on in doing their office and his busines though the people be neuer so obstinate and do what they can that the wals of sinne may fall downe as the wals of Iericho did at the sound of the trumpets and the shoutes of the people â— 232. P. 158. FINIS Matth. â—1 12. Mark 11. 12. 13. Matth. 3. 10. Luc. 12. 15. Ephes 5. 3. 1. Cor. 5. 10. 1. Tim. 6. 10. Similie 1. Ezech. 34. vers 12. 16. Prouerb 1. 24. Iohn 10. 27. Iohn 10. 26. 2 Coloss 1. 18. Galat. 4. 4 3 Mos Papistaâ—um 4 5 Papists Familists Brownists such others Iude 4. 6 Psalm 61. 9. Ezec. 34. 26. 7 August de ciuiâ— Dei lib. 11. cap. 18. 8 9 Good counsell Exod. 37 23. 10 Prouerb 11. 11 Psalm 8. Ester 7. 12 13 14 Matth. 2. Esay 32. Psal 85. Psal 72. 15 16 Sapient 5. Iob. 33. 17 1. Timoth. 6. Prouerb 30. Prouerb 15. Psalm 36. 18 Ioan. 8. Ioan. 1. Galat. â— 19 Eccles 7. 1. Corinth 5. Galath 5. 20 21 Iob. 5. 22 23 Genes 3. Genes 35. 1. Sam. 18. Sapient 2. 24 Esay 31. Esay 36. Exod. 7. Exod. 14. Psalm 23. 25 26 27 28 2. Timoth. 4. Act. 17. 29 Solon 30 31 Matth. 13. Marc. 4. Luc. 8. Esay 34. 32 33 34 35 Act. 23. 36 1. Timoth. 6. 37 Exod. 19. Prouerb 25. 38 Exod. 40. 1. Reg. 6. 8. Act. 9. 1. Cor. 15. Psal 25. Esay 66. 39 1. Ioan. 2. 1. Cor. 7. Iacob 4. Sapien. 2. 40 Iames. â— Ecclâ— 10. 41 2. Cor. 5. Philipp 1. 42 43 44 45 46 Iam. 2. Galat. 5. â—aâ— 1. 47 48 Psalm â— Psal 26. Esay 48. Ierem. 50. Matth. 26. 1. Cor. 15. 49 Psalm 1. Ezech. 3. Aggae 1. 50 51 52 53 Sapien. 1â— Iob. 5 Psal 101. Prouerb 1. 54 55 Psal 119. Psal 119. Psal 18. Rom. 1. Iam. 3. Psal 119. 56 Ephes 6. Deut. 6. Exod. 13. Prouerb 6. Iohn 14. Luc. 11. Roman 2. Iam. 1. 57 Prouerb 17. Eccles 25. 58 Galat. 6. 2. Tim. 3. Psal 116. 60 Apoc. 17. 61 62 1. Cor. 8. 1. Cor. 13. 63 1. Cor. 16. 64 Psal 2. Esay 30. 2. Cor. 4. Apoc. 2. 65 Psal 82. Rom. 1. Ephes 4. Psal 128. 66 67 Eccles 1. Genes 1. 68 Exod. 15. Eccles 3. Iob. 23. Exod. 17. Numb 20. 69 70 Numb 21. 2. Paral. 33. Nehem. 9. 71 Psal 24. 72 Malach. 3. Iames 1. Psal 16. 73 A vertuous man is a pretious iewell 74 75 Matth 6. Psal 16. 1. Cor. 10. 76 77 Psal 39. 78 Ierem. 13. Hebr. 12. Rom. 5. Galat. 6. 2. Tim. 3. Matth. 5. 79 Gen. 39. Ierem. 20. Ezech. I. Matth. 11. Psal 15. 80 81 2. Tim. 3. 82 83 84 85 Luc. 16 Iudic. 16. Apoc. 1â— Esay 26. The Ostrige 86 87 Iohn 8. Matth. 16. Ephes 4. Psal 119. 88 Psal 128. 89 Genes 1. Psal 92. 90 Ecclesiastes 1 91 Esa 48. Ierem. 5. 92 Matth. â— 93 Psal 119. 94 Ioh. 14. Psal 55. and Psal 57. Psal 27. 23. Rom. 8. 95 96 Psal 118. Math. 10. Ioh. 10. Luc. 13. Math. 3. Luk. 3. 97 Math. 5. 98 Cant. 8. Psal 16. Heb. 12. 99 Ecclesiastes 1 Psal 116. 100 101 102 Iob. 6. 103 Prouerb 17. Eccles 12. August lib. 83. quaestionum Isidor lib. 3. de summo bono Boetius lib. 3. de consolatione 104 105 Heb. 12. Deut. 32. Amos 3. Psal 89. 31. 106 2. Sam. 16. 2. Sam. 24. 107 108 Matth 21. Luc. 19. 109 Psal 10. Math. 11. 110 2. Reg. 21. Math. 23. Act. 17. Heb. 11. 111 112 113 Psal 119. Psal 119. 114 Rom. 11. 115 Ioh. 8. 116 117 Psal 133. Luc. â— Ephes 4. Esay 48. Prouerb 6. 118 119 120 Act. 1. 2. 121 Acts. 9. 122 123 124 125 1. Cor. 2. 1. Cor. 3. 1. Cor. 9. 126 127 128 129 130 Eccles 6. 8. 37. 131 Math. 15. Proverb 6. 132 133 134 Psal 119. 135 Matth. 4. 136 137 2. Tim. 2. 1. Cor. 10. 1. Cor. 6. 138 139 140 Luc. 1. Iac. 4. Math. 7. Mark 8. Luk. 3. 6. Luk. 14. 18. 141 Rom. 1. Aug. lib. 14. Ciuit. Dei Ioh. 12. 2. Tim. 3. Rom. 5. 2. Pet. 2. 142 143 144 Papists 1. Tim. 1. 145 146 Matth. 25. 1. Cor. 4. Psal 24. Eccles 8. Colos 3. Ephes 5. 1. Reg 9. 147 Augustine Matth. 5. Matth. 6. 148 Exod. 32. Osc 2. 1. Esd 2 Tob. 1. 2. Matth. 2. 149 Prouerb 19. Math. 8. 150 Philip. â— 1 Cor. â— Roma â— 151 152 153 Math. 9. Ezech. 11. 1. Samuel 2. 1. Sam. 4. 154 Eccles 31. 155 156 157 Psalm 58. Wisd 5. 158 Proverb 29. 159 Esai â— Esai 5. 160 I meane the subtle and obstinate papists Cant. â— 161 Hypocrites Papists foxes and hypocrites Matth. 8. Luc. 9. Cyrillus 162 Luc. 13. Matth. 7. â— Timoth. 3. Iob. 13. Luc. 12. 163 Prouerb â—4 Eccles 1. 164 A threefold death 165 166 Matth. 7. Luk. 23. Matth. 1â— 167 Matth. 2. Iohn 9. Wisd 1. Heb. 10. 16â— Ezech. 14. â—69 Tobias 3. Iob. 5. Psal 32. Psal 24. Ose 2. Iohn 16. 2. Cor. 1. Acts 14. Apoc. 7. 170 171 172 1. Pet. 5. 173 Galat. 6. 174 Psal 18. 175 Sap. 7. Esa 53. Iohn 1. Matth. 11. Esa 5. Amos. 3. Matth. 5. Iac. 2. Ioan. 10. Matth. 13. Luc. 8 Matth. 25. Luc. 14. Matth. 20. 21. Luc. 19. 176 Ioan. 15. 177 Ioel. 2. Esa 58. Num. 10. Esai 55. Apoc. 18. Ephes â— Rom. 13. 2. Cor. 10. 178 Ezech. 16. Esai 58. Matth 5. Eccles 12. Hebr. 4. Act. 2. 179 Matth. 3. Ioan. 8. Ezech. 16. 18â— Ioan. â— 181 Tobias 4. Eccles 7. 10. 1. Cor. 4. Luc. 14. Luc. 18. 182 Mar. 10. Luc. 18. Matth. 11. Matth. 18. 183 Genes 2. Matth 4. Exod. 32. Deut. 31. Ose 13. Luc. 6. 184 Matth. 6. Matth. 19. Iosua 6. 7. Iosu 10. 185 Matth. 8. Luc. 9. 186 1. Cor. 2. Matth. 5. Iob. 21. Psal 17. Pâ—oâ—erâ— 11. Sapien. 5. 187 Iob. 5. Eccles 33. 2. Tim. 4. 1. Cor. 3. Rom. 8. Matth. 11. Matth. 13. Matth. 20. Apoc. 14. Tobias 2. 188 Ezech. 16. Prouerb 14. Prouerb 19. Ibidem 2â— Ephes 5. Colos 3. 1. Iohn 4. Matth. 5. 189 Leuit. 1. 190 191 Psal 15. Eccles 40. Psal 144. 192 Ezec. 17. 193 194 195 Iames. 4. 1. Pet. 5. Abdias 1 Psal 37. 196 Psal 125. Psal 91. Psal 32. 197 1. Cor. 15. Ezech. 17. Iosua 9. 198 Genes 30. 199 200 Matth. 5. Esay 58. Ezech. 10. 201 202 Psal 41. Psal 112. Psal 112. 203 1. Cor. 12. Ephes 5. Galaâ— 6. 204 Ezech. 18. Psal 15. Deut. 23. 24. Matth. 19. Deut. 24. Luc. 6. Ambros Chrysost 205 Ezech. 18. Psal 15. Exod. 28. Matth. 22. 206 Prou. 20. Ester 13. Prou. 16. 207 Sapien. 16. Psal 121. 208 Prouerb 23. Galat. 5. 2â—0 Heb. 12. Apoc. 3. Matth. 5. Rom. 5. Colos 3. Heb. 12. Psal 13. Psal 10. 210 2. Timoth. 4. Titus 2. 211 Psal 112. 212 Psal â—5 Ezech. 18. Iob. 20. 213 2. Tim. 3. Eccles 2. Deuter. 22. Matth. 2. 214 Prouerb 7. Ezech. 25. Psal 3â— Prouerb 10. Esay 40. Eccles 14. Psal 49. Esay 16. Esay 21. 1. Cor. 10. 215 Psal 26. 216 Weeping sobbing and sighing do ease the minde Ezech. 24. The fountain of sorrow is in the hart 217 Eccles 22. 38. Iohn 11. 35. 218 Wisd 5. 8. Psal 102. vers 26. 27. Exod 3. 14. Matth. 25. 34 219 Psam 42. v. 1. 2. Philip. 1. 21. 220 Ierem. 2. 13. Rom. 3. 25. 1. Ioh. 2. 2. Ezech. 46. 9. Gen. 19. 22. Luc 9 61. Psal 84. 7 221 1. Sam. 9. 1. Reg. 14. Ibid. cap. 7. Iosuâ— â— Ezech. 20. Psal 24. Psal 15. Matth. 5 1. Cor. 8. Rom. 2. Marcus Tullius in Verrem Idem in Salust 222 Galat. 5. 1. Cor. 9. 2. Cor. 4. Marc. 9. Ioel. 1. Matth. 6. Ionas 2. 223 Psal 73. Psal 112. 224 Ezech. 29. Ibidem Ioh. 4. Luc. 16. Matth 4. The diuels baite Christs baite 225 226 They are very dangerous men which can keepe no counsell noâ— secrets Iob. 22. Psalm 1. Prouerb 13. Eccles 13. 1. Cor. 5. Psalm 10â— 227 Coloss 3. 17. Hypocrites Rom. 12. 1. Cor. 5. Ephesi 4. Coloss 3. Roman 6. Psalm 51. Prouerb 23. 228 Herba solaris Matth. 6. Esa 29. Matth. 15. Matth. 21. Marc. 11. Matth. 25. Psalm â— Psalm 119. Prouerbs 27. Esai 60. 229 Matth. 1â— Luc. 15. 230 Genes 3. Iob. 15. 2. Thessal 3. 2. Samuel 11. Matth. 20. 231 Matth. 23. 37. Psalm 15 Prouerb 2â— Coloss 3. Philip. 3. Psalm 122. â— Timoth. 4. Matth. 25. 4â— Luc. 18. 8. Luc. 17. 17. Luc. 23. 31. 232 Esa 53. Rom. 4. 1. Cor. 15. Iob. 4. 18. 2. Pet. 2. 4. Iud. 6. Ezech. 16. 49. Rom. 1. 24. Genes 3. Gen. 4. 8. 2. Sam. 15. Matth 27. 5. Act. 1. 18. Exod. 14 23. 27. Numb 16. 1. Cor. 1â— Rom. 14. 4. Act. 5. Psalm 14. Ionah 1. 5. Ionah 1. 14. 15. 16. Act. 2. 37. 38. 39. The transgressing and breaking of the lawes commandements of god is offensiue to verie few Ezech. 2. 3. Esay 58. 1. Hos 5. 8. Iosu 6. 20. Deut. 30. 20. Act. 4. 19. and Act. 5. 29. 2. Cor. 5. 9. 2. Cor. 5. 15. Ibidem 17.