shold they all bee wearied and the world come to an end before they should end their description make a perfect declaration what is comprehended in each one of these points This faith informeth thee also that the debts and duties which we owe to almightie God are so great that albeit a man had so many lives as there bee sands in the sea yet would they not suffice if they were all employed in his service And this faith likewise telleth thee that vertue is such an excellent treasure that all the treasures of the world and al that mans heart can desire are in no sort comparable unto it Wherefore if there be so many and so great respects that doe invite us unto vertue how commeth it to passe that there bee so few lovers and followers of the same If men be mooved with gaine and commodity what greater commoditie can there be than to attaine life everlasting If they be moved with fear of punishment what greater punishment can bee found than the most horrible everlasting dreadfull torments in the lake of fire and brimstone to continue even world without end If that bonds of debts and benefites what debts are greater than these which we owe unto the almightie God as well for that hee is which he is as also for that which wee have received of him If the feare of perils doe move us what greater perill can there bee than death the houre thereof being so uncertaine and the account so strait If thou be moved with peace libertie quietnes of mind and with a pleasant life which are things that all the world desires it is certaine that all these are found much better in the life that is governed by vertue and reason than in that life which is ruled by the affections and passions of the mind forsomuch as man is a reasonable creature and no beast Howbeit in case thou account all this as not sufficient to move thee thereunto yet let it suffice thee to consider further that even Almightie God so abased himselfe for thy sake that he descended from heaven unto the earth and became man and whereas he created the whole world in sixe dayes hee bestowed three and thirtie yeares about thy redemption yea and was also contented for the same to leese his life Almightie God died that sinne should die and yet for all this doe wee endeavor that sinne might live in our hearts notwithstanding that our Lord purposed to take away the life of sinne with his owne death If this matter were to be discussed with reason surely this alreadie spoken might suffice to prevaile with any reasonable creature for not onely in beholding Almightie God upon the crosse but whether soever we doe turn our eyes we shal find that every thing crieth out to us and calleth upon us to receive this so excellent a benefite for there is not a thing created in the world if we duly consider it but dooth invite us to the love and service of our Saviour Iesus Christ insomuch that looke how many creatures there be in the world so many preachers there are so many bookes so many voices and so manie reasons which doe all call us unto almighty God And how is it possible then that so many callings as these are so many promises so many threatnings and so many provocations should not suffice to bring us unto him What might almightie God have done more than hee hath done or promised more greater blessings than he hath promised or threatened more greevous and horrible torments than he hath threatned to draw us unto him and to pluck us away from sinne And yet all this notwithstanding howe commeth it to passe that there is so great I will not say arrogancie but bewitching of men that doe beleeve these things to bee certainely true and yet bee not afraid to continue all the dayes of their life in the committing of deadly sinnes Yea to goe to bed in deadly sinne and to rise up againe in deadly sinne and to embrue themselves in every kind of lothsome detestable and odious sinne even as though all their whole endeavours intended by the practise of sinne to resist all grace and favour in the sight of God And this is done in such sort so without feare so without scruple of mind so without breaking of one houres sleepe and without the refraining of anie one delicate morsell of meat for the same as if all that they beleeved were dreames and olde wives tales and as if all that the holy Evangelists have written were meere fiction and fables But tel me thou that art such a desperate wilfull rebell against thy Creator and Redeemer which by thy detestable life and dissolute conversation doest evidence thy selfe to be a firebrand prepared to burne in those everlasting and revenging horrible fires of hell What wouldest thou have done more than thou hast done in case thou haddest beene persuaded that all were meere lies which thou hast beleeved For although that for feare of incurring the daunger of the princes lawes and the execution of their force upon thee thou hast somewhat brideled thine appetites yet doth it not appeare that for any feare of Almightie God thou hast refrained thy will in any one thing neither from carnall pleasures nor from taking revenge of thine enemies nor from backbiting and slandering thy neighbours nor yet from fulfilling thine inordinate lusts and desires in case thine abilitie served thee thereunto Oh what dooth the worme of thy conscience say unto thee whiles thou art in such a fond securitie and confidence continuing in such a dissolute and wicked life as thou doest Where is now become the understanding judgement and reason which thou hast of a man Why art thou not afraid of so horrible so certaine and so assured perils and daungers If there were a dish of meat set before thee and some man albeit he were a lier should say unto thee refraine to touch and eat thereof for it is poysoned durst thou once adventure to stretch out thy hand to take a tast thereof though the meat were never so savorie and delicate and hee never so great a lier that should beare thee thus in hand If then the Prophets if the Apostles if the Evangelists yea if Almightie God himselfe doe crie out unto thee and say Take heed thou miserable man for death is in that kind of meat and death dooth lie lurking in that gluttonous morsell which the devill hath set before thee Howe darest thou reach for everlasting death with thine owne handes and drinke thine owne damnation Where is the applying of thy wits thy judgement and the discourse and reason which thou hast of a spirituall man Where is their light where is their force Sith that none of them doe bridle thee anie whit from thy common usuall vices Oh thou wretched and carelesse creature be witched by the common enemie Sathan adjudged to everlasting darkenesse both inward and outward and so doest goe from one darkenesse
driven to great necessitie the glutton shall rage with continuall hunger and thirst The letcherous shall burne in the very same flames which they themselves have enkindled And those that have all their life time hunted after their pleasures pastimes shall live therein continuall lamentation and sorrow But because examples are of very great force to moove our hearts I will bring only one for this purpose whereby somewhat of this matter may the better bee perceived It is written of a certaine holy man that he saw the paines in spirit of a licentious worldly man in this sort First hee saw how the devils that were present at the houre of his death when he yeelded up his ghost snatched away his soule with great rejoycing and made a present thereof to the prince of darkenesse who was then sitting in a chair of fire expecting the comming of this present Immediatly after that it was presented before him hee arose up out of his seat and said unto the damned soule that hee would give him the preheminence of that honourable seat because hee had been a man of honour and was alwaies very much affected to the same Inconti nently after that hee was placed therein crying and lamenting in that honourable torment there appeared before him two other most ougly devils and offered him a cup full of most bitter and stinking liquour and made him to drinke and carouse it up all perforce saying It is meet sithence thou hast beene a lover of precious wines bankets that thou shouldest likewise prove of this our wine whereof all we doe use to drink in these parts Immediately after this there came other two with two fierie trumpets and setting them at his eares began to blow into them flames of fire saying This melodie have wee reserved for thee understanding that in the world thou wast very much delighted with minstrelcie and wanton songs and suddainely hee espied other divels loaden with vipers and serpents the which they threw upon the breast and bellie of that miserable sinner saying unto him that forsomuch as he had been greatly delighted with the wanton embracings letcherous lusts of women hee should now sollace himselfe with these refreshings in stead of those licentious delights and pleasures which hee had enjoyed in the world After this sort as the Prophet Esay sayth in the 47 chapter when the sinner is punished there is given measure for measure to the end that in such a great varietie and proportion of punishments the order wisdome of Gods justice might the more manifestly appeare This vision hath almightie God shewed in spirit to this holy man for advertisement and instruction not that in hell these things are altogether so materially done but that by them wee might understand in some manner the varietie and multitude of the pains which be there appointed for the damned Whereof I know not how some of the Pagans have had a certaine knowledge for a Poet speaking of this multitude of paines affirmed That although hee had a hundred mouthes and as many tongues with a voice as strong as yron yet were they not able only to expresse the names of them A Poet hee was that spake this but truly therin he spake more like a Prophet or an Evangelist than a Poet. Now then if all this evill shall most assuredly come to passe what man is hee that seeing all this so certainely with the eyes of his faith will not turne over the leafe and begin to provide for himselfe against that time Where is the judgement of men nowe become Where be their wits yea Where is at the least their selfe-love which seeketh evermore for his own profite and is much afraid of any losse May it be thoght that men are become beasts that provide onely for the time present Or have they peradventure so dimmed their eye sight that they cannot looke before them Hearken sayth Esay Oyee deafe and yee blind open your eyes that you may see Who is blind but my servant And who is deafe but ye unto whom I have sent my messengers And who is blind but hee that suffereth himselfe to bee sold for a slave Thou that seest so many things wilt thou not suffer thy selfe to see this Thou that hast thine eares open wilt thou not give eare hereunto If thou beleeve not this how art thou then a Christian If thou beleeve it and doest not provide for it how canst thou bee thought a reasonable man Aristotle sayth That this is the difference between opinion and imagination that an imagination alone is not sufficient to cause a feare but an opinion is for if I doe imagine that a house may fall upon mee it is not enough to make me afraid unlesse I beleeve or have an opinion it will be so indeed for then it is sufficient to make mee afraid And hereof commeth the feare that murderers alwaies have by reason of the suspition they conceive that their enemies do lie in wait for them If then the opinion and only suspition of danger is able to cause the greatest courage to feare how is it that the certaintie and beleefe of so many so great terrible miseries which are farre more sure than anie opinion dooth not make thee to seare If thou perceivest that for these many yeares past thou hast lead a licentious and sinfull life and that at the last according to present justice thou art condemned to these horrible torments in hell if also there appeare by probable conjecture that there is no more likelyhood of thy amendment for ensuing years to come than there was in those alreadie past how happeneth it that running headlong into so manifest a daunger thou art not at all afraid Especially considering the sinfull state wherin thou livest and the horrible paines and torments which doe attend for thee the time which thou hast lost and the endlesse repentaunce which thou shalt have therefore in the most horrible torments of hell Assuredly it goeth beyond the compas of all common sence and conceit of humane reason to consider That there should bee such negligent wilfull grosse and carelesse blindnesse able to enter and take such deepe rooting in the soule of man WHo loves this life froÌ„ love his love doth erre And chusing drosse rich treasure doth denie Leaving the pearle Christs counsels to preferre With selling all we have the same to buy O happie soule that doth disburse a summe To gaine a kingdome in the life to come Such trafficke may be tearmed heav'nly thrift Such venter hath no hazard to dissuade Immortall purchase with a mortall gift The greatest gaine that ever merchant made To get a crowne where Saints and Angels sing For laying out a base and earthly thing To tast the ioyes no humane knowledge knowes To heare the tunes of the coelestiall quires T' attaine heau'â—â— sweet and mildest calme repose To seâ— Gods face the summâ— of good desires Which by his glorious saints i◠〈◊〉 â—yde Yet sigh with
in the sight of God and the death of the other is unquiet painefull and troubled with a thousand frights and terrours To conclude the one live like children under the protection and defence of Almightie God and sleepe sweetly under the shaddow of his pastoral providence and the other being excluded from this kind of providence wander abroad as straied sheep without their sheep heard and maister lying wide open to all the perils daungers assaults of the world Seeing then that a vertuous life is accompanied with all these benefits what is the cause that should withdraw thee and persuade thee not to embrace such a precious treasure what art thou able to alledge for excuse of thy great negligence To say that this is not true it cannot be admitted for so much as Gods word doth avouch the certainetie hereof To say that these are but small benefits thou canst not for so much as they do exceed all that mans heart can desire To say that thou art an enemie unto thy selfe and that thou doest not desire these benefits cannot bee considering that a man is even naturally a friend to himselfe the will of man hath ever an cie to his own benefit which is the very object or marke that his desire shooteth at To say that thou hast no understanding nor tast of these benefits it will not serve to discharge thine offence for so much as thou hast the fayth and beleefe thereof though thou hast not the tast for the tast is lost through sin but not the faith and the faith is a witnesse more certaine more secure and better to be trusted than al other experiences and witnesses in the world Why doest thou not then discredit all other witnesses with this one assured testimonie Why doest thou not rather give credit unto faith than to thine owne opinion and judgement O that thou wouldest make a resolute determination to submit thy selfe into the hands of almightie God and to put thy whole trust assuredly in him How soon shouldest thou then see all these prophesies fulfilled in thee then shouldest thou see the excellencie of these divine treasures then sholdest thou see how starke blind the lovers of this world are that seeke not after this high treasure then shouldest thou see upon what good ground our Saviour inviteth us to this kind of life saying Come unto me all ye that travell and are loaden and I will refresh you take my yoke upon you you shal find rest for your souls for my yoke is sweet my burden is light Almightie God is no deceiver nor false promiser neither yet is he a great boaster of such things as he promiseth Why dost thou then shrinke backe why dost thou refuse peace and true quietnesse why dost thou refuse the gentle offers and sweet callings of thy pastor how darest thou despise banish away vertue from thee which hath such prerogatives and priviledges as these bee and withal confirmed signed even with the hand of Almighty God The queen of Saba heard far lesse things than these of Salomon and yet shee travelled from the uttermost parts of the world to trie the truth of those things that she had heard And why doest not thou then hearing such notable yea and so certain news of vertue adventure to take a little paines to trie the truth and sequell therof O deare Christian brother put thy trust in Almightie God and in his word and commit thy self most boldly without all feare into his armes and unloose from thy handes those trifling knots that have hetherto deceived thee and thou shalt find that the merites of vertue doe far excell her fame and that all which is spoken in praise of her is nothing in comparison of that which shee is indeed ¶ That a man ought not to deferre his repentance and conversion unto God from day to day considering hee hath so many debts to discharge by reason of the offences committed in his sinfull life alredie past NOw then if on the one side there bee so many and so great respects that do bind us to chaunge our sinfull life and on the other side we have not any sufficient excuse why wee should not make this exchange How long wilt thou tarrie untill thou fully resolve to doe it Turne thine eyes a little and looke backe upon thy life past and consider that at this present of what age soever thou bee it is high time or rather the time well nigh past to begin to discharge some part of thy old debts Consider that thou which art a Christian regenerated in the water of holy Baptisme which doest acknowledge Almightie God for thy father and the Catholicke church for thy mother whome shee hath nourished with the milke of the Gospell to wit with the doctrine of the Apostles and Evangelists consider I say that all this notwithstanding thou hast lived even as loosely and dissolutely as if thou hadst been a meere Infidell that had never any knowledge of Almightie God And if thou doe denie this then tell mee what kind of sinne is there which thou hast not committed What tree is there forbidden that thou hast not beholden with thine eyes What greene meddow is there in which thou hast not at the least in desire feasted thy letcherous lust what thing hath been set before thine eyes that thou hast not wantonly desired What appetite hast thou left unexecuted notwithstanding that thou didst beleeve in almightie God and that thou wert a Christian what wouldest thou have done more if thou hadst not had any faith at all If thou hadst not looked for any other life If thou hadst not feared the dreadful day of judgement What hath all thy former life been but a web of sinnes a sinke of vices a way full of brambles and thornes and a froward disobedience of God with whome hast thou hetherto lived but onely with thine appetite with thy flesh with thy pride and with the goods and riches of this transitorie world These have beene thy gods these have beene thine idols whome thou hast served and whose lawes thou hast diligently obeied Make thine account with the Almighty God with his laws and with his obedience and peradventure thou shalt find that thou hast esteemed him no more than if hee had been a god of wood or stone For it is certaine that there be many Christians which beleeving that there is a God are induced to sinne with such facilitie as though they beleeved that there were no God at all and do offend no whit the lesse though they beleeve that there is a God than they would doe if they beleeved there were none at all What greater injurie what greater despight can bee done than so to contemne his divine majestie Finally thou beleeving all such things as Christs church doth beleeve hast notwithstanding so led thy life as if thou wert persuaded that the beleefe of Christians were the greatest fables or lies in the world And if the multitude of
thy sinnes past and the facilitie thou hast used in committing of them do not make thee afraid why doest thou not feare at the least the majesty and omnipotencie of him against whom thou hast sinned Lift up thine eyes and consider the infinit greatnesse and omnipotencie of the Lord whom the powers of heaven do adore before whose majestie the whole compasse of the wide world lyeth prostrate in whose presence all things created are no more than chaffe caried away with the wind Consider also with thy selfe how unseemely it is that such a vile worme as thou art should have audacitie so many times to offend and provoke the wrath of so great a majestie Consider the wonderful and most terrible severitie of his justice and what horrible punishments hee hath used from time to time in the world against sin and that not onely upon particular persons but also upon citties nations kingdomes and provinces yea upon the universall world And not onely in earth but also in heaven and not onely upon straungers sinners but even upon his owne most innocent sonne our sweet Saviour Iesus Christ when hee tooke upon him to satisfie for the debt that we owed And if this severitie was used upon greene and innocent wood and that for the sins of others what then will he doe upon drie and withered wood and against those that are loden with their owne sins Now what thing can bee thought more unreasonable than that such a fraile wretch as thou art should bee so saucie and malapert as to mocke with so mightie a Lord whose hand is so heavie that in case hee should strike but one stroke upon thee he would at one blow drive thee downe headlong into the deepe bottomelesse pit of hell without remedie Consider likewise the great patience of this our mercifull Lord who hath expected thy repentaunce so long even from the time that thou didst first offend him and thinke that if after so long patience and tarrying for thee thou shalt still continue thy leaud and sinfull life abusing thus his mercy and provoking him to further indignation wrath he will then bend his bow and shake his sword and raine downe upon thee even sharpe arrowes of everlasting wrath and death Consider also the profoundnesse of his deepe judgements whereof wee read and see daily so great wonders We see how king Salomon himselfe after his so great wisdome and after those three thousand parables and most profound mysteries uttered by him was forsaken by Almightie God and suffered to fall down and adore idols We see how one of those seven first deacons of the primative church which were ful of the holy ghost became not onely an hereticke but also an arch heriticke and a father of heresies Wee see daily many starres fall downe from heaven unto earth with miserable fals and to wallow themselves in the durt and to eat the meat of swine which sate before at Gods own table and were fed with the very bread of Angels If then the just and righteous for some secret pride or negligence or els for some ingratitude of theirs be thus justly forsaken of almightie God after they have bestowed so many yeares in his service What maiest thou looke for that hast done in a manner nothing els in all thy life time but onely heaped sinnes upon sinnes and hast thereby offended almighty God most greevously Now if thou hast lived after this sort were it not reason that thou shouldest now at the length give over and cease heaping sinne upon sinne and debt upon debt and begin to pacifie the wrath of Almightie God and to disburden thy sinfull soule Were it not meet that that time which thou hast hetherto given to the world to thy flesh and to the devill should suffice and that thou shouldest bestow some little time of that which remaineth to serve him who hath given thee all that thou hast Were it not a point of wisedome after so long time and so many great injuries to feare the most terrible justice of Almightie God who the more patiently hee suffereth sinners the more hee dooth afterwards punish them with severitie and justice Were it not meet for thee to feare thy long continuance so many yeares in sinne and in the displeasure of Almightie God procuring thereby against thee such a mightie adversarie as hee is and provoking him of a mercifull loving father to become thy severe terrible judge and enemie Were it not meet to feare least that the force of evill custome may in continuance of time be turned into nature and that thy long vicious usuall manner of committing sinne may make of a vice a necessitie or little lesse Why art thou not afraid least by little and little thou maiest cast thy selfe downe headlong into the deepe pit of a reprobate sence whereinto after that a man is once faln he never maketh account of any sinne bee it never so great The Patriarke Iacob said unto Laban his father in law These fourteene years have I served thee and looked to thine affaires now it is time that I should look to mine owne and begin to attend unto the affaires of mine owne houshold Wherefore if thou hast likewise bestowed so manie yeares in the service of this world and of this fraile transitorie life were it not good reason that thou shouldest now begin to make some provision for the salvation of thy soule and for the everlasting life to come There is nothing more short nor more transitorie than the life of man and therefore providing so carefully as thou doest for all such things as bee necessarie for this life which is so short why doest thou not provide likewise somewhat for the life that is to come which life shall endure for ever and ever ⧠The conclusion of all the premisses IF now all this bee so I beseech thee even for the bitter passion of our sweet saviour Iesus Christ to remember thyselfe and consider that thou art a Christian and that thou beleevest assuredly for a most undoubted truth whatsoever the true faith instructeth thee This faith telleth thee that thou hast a judge above that seeth all the steps and motions of thy life and that certainely there shall a day come when he will require an account of thee even for every idle word This faith teacheth thee That a man is not altogether at an end when he dieth but that after this temporal life there remaineth another everlasting life and that the souls die not with the bodies but that whiles the bodie remaineth in the grave untill the generall day of judgement the soule shall enter into another new countrey and into a new world where it shall have such habitation and companie as the faith workes were which it had in this life This faith telleth thee also that both the reward of vertue and the punishment of vice is a thing so wonderfull that although the whole world were full of bookes and all creatures were writers yet
to the other Thou art blind to see thine owne miserie insensible to understand thine owne perdition and harder than any Adamant to feele the hammer of Gods word Oh a thousand times most miserable thou art woorthie to be lamented with none other teares than with those wherewith thy damnation was lamented when it was said Luke 19. Oh that thou knewest this day the peace quietnesse and treasures which Almightie God hath offered unto thee that doe now lie hidden from thine eyes Oh miserable is the day of thy nativitie and much more miserable the day of thy death forsomuch as that shall bee the beginning of thine everlasting damnation Oh how much better had it beene for thee never to have beene borne if thou shalt bee damned in the horrible pit of hell for ever where the torments are perpetually durable How much better had it beene for thee never to have beene baptised nor yet to have received the Christian faith if through the abusing thereof by thy wicked life thy damnation shall therby be the greater For if the light of reasâ—n onely sufficeth to make the Heathen Philosophers inexcuseable because they knowing God in some degree did not glorifie him nor serve him as the Apostle sâ—yth in the first to the Romanes how much lesse shall he be excused that hath received the light of faith and the water of Baptisme yea and the holy Sacrament of the bodie bloud of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ hearing dayly the doctrine of the Gospell if hee doe nothing more than those Pagan Philosophers have done Now what other thing may wee inferre of the premisses but breefely to conclude That there is none other understanding none other wisdome none other counsell in the world but that setting aside all the impediments and combersome daungerous wayes of this life wee follow that onely true and certaine way whereby true peace and everlasting life is obtained Hereunto are wee called by reason by wisedome by law by heaven by earth by hell and by the life death justice and mercie of Almightie God Hereunto are wee also very notably invited by the holy Ghost speaking by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus in the sixt chapter in this wise My sonne hearken to instruction even from the first yeares of thy youth and in thy latter dayes thou shalt enjoy the sweet fruit of wisedome Approch unto it as one that ploweth and soweth and with patience expect the fruitfull encrease which it shall yeeld unto thee The paines that thou shalt take shall be but little and the benefites that thou shalt speedily enjoy shall be great My son hearken to my words and neglect not this my counsell which I shall give thee put thy feet willingly into her fetters and thy necke into â—er chaines bow downe thy shoulders and carrie her upon thee and bee not displeased with her bonds approch neare unto her with all thy heart and follow her wayes with all thy strength seeke for her with all thy diligence and shee will make her selfe knowne unto thee and after that thou hast found her never forsake her for by her shalt thou find rest in thy latter daies and that which before did seeme so painefull unto thee will afterwards become very pleasant Her fetters shall be a defence or thy strength and a foundation of vertue and her chaine shall bee a robe of glorie for in her is the beautie of life and her bonds are the bonds of health Hetherto Ecclesiasticus Whereby thou maiest understand in some degree howe great the beautie the delights the libertie and riches of true wisdome are which is vertue it selfe and the knowledge of Almightie God whereof wee doe intreat But if all this bee insufficient to mollifie our stonie hearts lift up thine eyes and fix thy thoughts constantly to behold our omnipotent God in his mercie and love towards sinners upon his dying crosse where hee made full satisfaction for thy sins There shalt thou behold him in this forme his feet nayled fast looking for thee his armes spread abroad to receive thee and his head bowing downe to give thee as to another prodigall sonne new kisses of peace and attonement From thence hee calleth thee if thou wouldest heare with so manie callings and cries as there bee wounds in his whole bodie Hearken thou therfore unto these voyces and consider well with thy selfe that if his praier bee not heard that hearkeneth not unto the cries of the poore how much lesse shall he be heard that maketh himselfe deafe to such cries as these beeing the most mercifull cryings of our loving saviour and intended for our soules salvation Who is hee that hath not cause to resolve himselfe wholly into teares to weepe and bewaile his manifold offences Who is he that can lament and will not lament at this Vnlesse hee bee such a one as seeth not nor careth not what great shipwrack wast and havocke he maketh of all the riches and treasures of his soule FINIS