our face most apparantly I will not long discourse on that part pardon me the glasse is cleare what should I write That prouerbe was vsed of auncient time and we prooue it true Suis quisque malis blanditur euery man flattereth himselfe in his owne humor and though the glasse do shew thee plainely that thy face is foulie spotted in diuers places with vncleannesse of thine owne hands and full of puffed pimples by reason thou drinkest lyquor not ordained for thy stomacke yet to the ende that those small scabbes without may breede great sores within and that thine ende may bee the lue of thy desert flattering thy selfe with thine owne deformrtie and loath to bee corrected by an other thou castest away the glasse which once abandoned qui semel verecundiae limities transilient without all blushing thou affirmest boldly a mould a wart a wrinckle a â—reckle a spotte a wheale is but a toye in a mans face I count but little of the foolishe glasse And shew me reason why not why not if it be not seene it is no blot but if it be no more hid then the nose on your face or the sight in your eye if all men loath the sight thereof and count you carelesse of your health for neglecting the same then knowe that the time is nowe come of which it was foreshewed that men should bee loouers of themselues more then of the Lorde and you are a childe of the same nowe therefore sith the glasse is gone and reason is the rule by the which you leauell knowe yee that your deformities are great and sith you loue to feede on meate forbidden two men of your complection know this for a trueth that all meates are not for al meÌ„ It were a straunge vnnatural kindnes if the little child sucking on his mothers brest shold pull the meate out of her mouth as she is feeding yet much more vnholsome to be eaten of the child then straunge to the beholders If this vnnatural vnkindnes doe seeme so vntollerable in the flesh how much more in the children of the spirite wee must knowe that man as Hermes writeth consisteth of two natures of heauen and earth of bodie and of soule of the fleshe and of the spirite The fleshe is of earth earthlie the spirite is from heauen heauenlie first is that which is spirituall and then that which is bodilie The bodie is quickned last and dieth first but the spirite is that which is first and laste As the spirituall is first so wee ought first of all to walke after the spirit and not after the flesh to become like our spirituall father and to nourish our spirituall mother and brethren redeemed with the same spirituall sacrifice renewed with the same spirituall grace confirmed by the same spiritual pastours vnto sanctimony holines of life reading first aboue al other knowledge science contemplacions and reuelations the true heauenlie doctrine of the spirit Seking with our bodies liues and goods to preserue keepe the volumes the pastours the temples of the spirituall worship of the Lord where the breade of life is broken to those which hunger and thirst after righteousnes and the spirituall foode of the soule After the body followeth the shadowe and next to this spirituall foode of the soule the food of the corruptible bodie is to be prouided Both are necessarie but the former first Therefore let vs not seeke after the foode which perisheth but seeke the foode which preserueth both bodie and soule vnto eternall life knowing that as our sauiout Christ saith man liueth not by bread onely but by euerie worde which proceedeth out of the mouth of God This word is the conduit of the spirit whose substaunce is perfect trueth this word was in the beginning by it all thinges were made It created all thinges of nothing in weakenes strength in vilenes honour in the dust it placed a liuing a heauenly and an vnderstaÌ„ding soule erecting the bodily chariot where in he placed it right vp to heauen that he might aboue al things continually haue his face his eie his hart and cogitacion fixed on heauen and heauenlie conuersation But man would not abide in honour the spiriual grace of the heauenly fountaine infused into him was corrupted with the vncleanes of the vessel FroÌ„ the beginning his enemies prouoked him to offend his maker to leaue y e heauenly spirit to incline to her handmaid this sinful filthy coruptible flesh Therewith he lusted after his sensuall appetite he rowled his eie to fro according to y e wauering of fleshly sensuallity leauing the mistris in most degenerate sort he bound himself to serue the pleasurs of the body with the los of life he brought in death in affecting the losenes of the flesh he lost the freedome of the spitit in seeking lands honor on the earth he left the spiritual Canaan the heaueÌ„ly IerusaleÌ„ perfect lawe of the libertie Sith therfore the essence of man is his spirit according as it is written Mens vniuscuiusque is est quisque as the minde is so is the man eyther good or bad and that our first and chiefest constitution is spirituall Let vs vnderstand thus much of our selues that it is most consonant to our creation to our constitution to our saluation that aboue all other things we frame all our thoughts and meditations our calling and conuersation our goods and landes our liues and liuinges our bodies and our soules to the nourishing of the doctrine of trueth and the maintaining of the nurses the true teachers and preachers of the same This is the key of knowledge whereby wee must open the doore of heauen the tree of life which feedeth the soule the cleare light which lighteneth euery man which commeth into the world Now the windowe beginneth to open the day spring from an highe now visiteth vs teaching vs truely that as we consist of two natures so we are of two beginnings spirituall and earthly of a spirituall father the creator of heauen and earth a spirituall mother the holy catholique Church on whome hee hath sent his holy spirite visibly descending So we must first and principally apply our selues to the maintaining of the health peace and safety the reuerence renowne and glory of this spirituall father and mother leauing our earthly father and our earthly mother in regard of them because hee created redeemed and sanctified vs vnto himselfe our holy mother She nourisheth vs with the spirituall milke of the holy ghost that wee should be an holie religious generation vnto the Lord. Therefore after wee haue truelie confessed that wee beleeue in the most holie blessed and glorious trinitie three persons and one God next vnto our heauenlie Father wee acknowledge our spirituall mother the holie catholique Church in whose custodie at his departing out of this world he left his will and testament plainlie written and subscribed with his owne hand and the handes of
Councell hath foreseene the daunger and set downe the sentence of eternall trueth in these wordes Hee which shall not wiselie foresee this euident daunger of eternall damnarion to his owne soule and contrarie to this sentence take awaie the goods and possessions once giuen to the Church or vniustlye deteyne the same vnlesse hee make present restitution to the church so soone as he can let him be strucken with the curse which the wrathfull iudge of all the world shall inflict on all the soules of the wicked at the day of doome and let these goods bee a curse to him which gaue them from the Church which receaued them and which possessed them Neither let him finde anye protection for his crime before the tribunall seate of Iesu Christ because without all feare of God and regard of his holie worshippe against lawe and right hee hath taken awaie the goods of the Church giuen to maintaine the holie worship of the Lord and to feede the hungrie bodies and soules of the poore innocent people Generallie saith the same Councell whosoeuer shall presume to confiscate to spoyle or to take anie thing consecrated to holie vse or belonging to the Church vnlesse hee truelie repenting correct and amend his wicked facte so soone as hee can and that by restitution to the same Church let him bee subiect to the greeuous curse and censure of the Church Likewise those which enter on the goods of the Church and detaine them through the gifte the authoritie the commission of Kinges and Princes obtaining them by tirannicall force from the Church leauing them to theyr heyres and posteritie as though they were theyr owne inheritaunce vnlesse with speedie repentaunce they restore the Lords possession vnto his Church being first admonished by the holy Bishop let him be accursed for euer and accounted as an infidell according to that commandement of our sauiour Christ if he will not heare the Church let him be to thee as an heathen or as an infidell therefore saith the councell it is not lawfull for the Emperour or anie true christian to attempt anie thing contrarie to the commaundementes of God neither to doe anie thing repugnant to the rules of the holy Prophets the Apostles and Euangelists Those which bee my sheepe saith our Sauiour Christ they heare my voice and those which be naturall children of the Church their hart will melte when they heare the voice of their mother crying in the streetes Our heauenly father he hath begotten vs in the spirite and our spirituall mother shee nourisheth vs with the sweete milke of the word of life Shee vttereth her voyce often and cryeth alowde in many places of the world but neuer so manifestly as when shee sheweth her countenaunce openlie to all the world in open generall councell gathered together in the holie Ghost You haue heard her voyce whileare and the sound thereof hath gone into all landes saying touch not mine annointed neither anie thing once dedicated to my holie worship Sponsus sponsam amat the bridegroome doth loue his spouse intirely Hee sheweth her his brest and reuealeth to her the secrets of his hart his wil is apparant vnto her she hath reuealed it at sundry times vnto her children Which times though they were diuers yet veritatis simplex est oratio her voice was is alwaies the same as appeareth by the councell of Aurialens whose wordes though they differre from the former yet the sence and sentence is the same first forewarning her eldest children of this grieuous sinne and then the other in their order after this manner Let no Clarke or spirituall pastour alienate any goodes belonging to the Church and least it should seeme true which some obiect that those which giue to the Church may also take away the same councel doth meete with that obiection in the 19. chapter in these wordes It is not lawfull for him which giueth anie thing to the Church or for his heires once for to require it backe again In like maner the second councell ☜ of Spale Those Churches which by tumultes and warres haue beene disturbed shal altogether retaine the selfe same liberties which they had before with all the possessions whether they bee possessed by any other Church or any others whatsoeuer The first councell of Paris hath giuen this resolute iudgement concerning Bishops goodes and therein the goods of the Church because the goods and possessions of Bishops are knowne to be the goods and possessions of the Church If any man shall violently intrude himselfe into them or by violence peruert them let him bee stroken with the curse of the holie Canon that he which would not followe the motion of his owne conscience at the least maye bee reclaimed by the holie constitutions of the Church Which offence least it shold seeme a smal sinne in the eyes of worldlye men or that the gaine gotten thereby might seeme to counteruaile the losse no man is so simple which seeth not plainely that this is a pleasaunt sinnefull thought leading to a bitter end as appeareth by the sentence of the same councell following Let no man be so farre from the seeking of his owne soules health or so willing to seeke eternall death that he should once desire enter or possesse any goods landes or commodities belonging to the church Though the councell of Magnutium seeme in the beginning by gentle words to mittigate the haynousnesse of the fact yet indeede the meaning is the same and in conclusion of the same weight as appeareth by their style in this manner If anie man doe presume to retaine diminish or take anie goodes landes or profites belonging to anie Church Colledge or any holie place let him bee excommunicated as a spoyler of the Church not once allowed to come neere the Church doore These milde wordes least they should animate the wicked they drawe a more fearefull iudgement after them as appeareth afterward in the same councell concluding thus If anie man diminish any thing belonging to the Church as a cruell murtherer of the poore let him bee accursed for euer This was the voice of the mother and her children haue learned to pronounce the same Saint Ambrose as it is written before affirmeth it vnlawfull for temporall men to possesse ecclesiasticall goods Saint Augustine writing on the Psalmes saith that when the last dedication of the house of God shall come then shall that safetie also bee giuen vnto it which was spoken in the seuenteenth chapter of the second booke of the Kinges after this manner I will appoint my place of worship with my people Israell and they shall dwell alone seperated from others and the sonne of iniquitie shall not presume to destroy it The scripture calleth the spoilers of the church the sonnes of iniquitie bicause the sonne of heauen hath not beheld a more vngodlie fact then the iniurie of the sonne done to the mother of the infantes to the nurse of
reward of those which defaced the Temple of the Lorde and decaied his holy Ministerie but it is most plaine and euident by sundrie auncient histories that in all ages when wisdome learning and religion once gaue place to worldly pollicie when the vertues of the mind were subdued to the force of flesh when vertuous life waxed out of vse and sensualitie increased when the bodie robbed the soule and the naturall man imprisoned the freedome of the spirite when the pride of the worlde mainteined it selfe with the goods of the Church then shortly after followed the vtter subuersion of the whole common wealth Therefore let sinfull man looke downe vpon himselfe with great humilitie let the pride of corruptible flesh strike saile in time leâ—t with the sodaine puffes and pirreies of vnnaturall windes which commonlie rise from such mens hearts it be violently driuen into the swift currents of perdition whose end is the gulfe of eternall sorrowe Let not worldly men goe on daie by daie minding nothing else but earth and earthly ioies like brutish beastes which haue no vnderstanding but let them looke vp vnto heauen from whence commeth our ioy and true felicitie let them consider that which the Philosopher gathered by plaine reason that man consisteth not of bodie onelie neither that his beginning is meere naturall as is the stone the flower the tree the oxe the asse but that he is indued with a soule of heauenly and angelicall substance made vnto eternitie that his stature was framed vpright and his countenance erected to the heauens to the ende that aboue all thinges hee shoulde haue a diligent eie vnto God his Creatour who dwelleth in the heauen aboue and a speciall regard vnto his diuine worshippe which hee hath appointed heere belowe That this duetie is inioined him from the day of his birth to the day of his death that in obseruing the same is life and in neglecting it is death not the death onely of the bodie but the eternall death both of bodie and soule If this be so how diligently ought we to looke about vs how readie to walke the steppes of our Sauiour Christ whose meate and drinke was to doe the will of God here an earth howe willing should we bee and desirous to imitate those godly Christians of the primatiue Church who sold their goods and their lands laying them downe at the Apostles feete or their successours which imploied themselues their goods and their lands on the diuine seruice and reuerent Temple of Iesu Christ Let no man presume so farre in his blind zeale altogether deuoid of knowledge and sauering rather the doctrine of men then of God to say that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is he worshipped with outwarde worship but in truth and spirite thereby most prophanely concluding that we ought to put no religion in outward things or to ascribe any holines to the same Wee haue heard that the Temple sanctifieth the gold thereof and if any man doubt of the same let him adde prophane hands vnto the arke though vnder colour to holde it vp and trie with Oza whether he shall presently be stroken from the Lord with sodaine death Or let him but holde out his hande against the Prophet and trie with Roboam whether it will be presently dried vp or no. Though the Lorde strike thee not presently with Oza or at thy returne chaunge thee into a Leaper as white as â—nowe with Gehesey though he doth not accurse thee as hee did the figtree yet assure thy selfe that with the burning sinnes of thy body the winges of thy soule wherewith thou shouldest flie vp into heauen shall bee scorched thy heart shall melt thy conscience shall burne and thou shalt be consumed in the great daie of the Lord. Let all men knowe this for a truth that those which diminish the worshippe of God heere vppon earth the Lord will cut of the line of their posteritie in this life and blot out their portion in the lande of the liuing If this be fearefull O ye sonnes of men then let the daily remembraunce thereof enter into your brestes let it sinke downe into your harts and ransacke your inward spirits that ye may therby learne to kisse the louing son of your saluation to imbrace his manifolde mercies and to tremble at his iudgements Say not God is mercifull and therein abuse him he is farre off and therefore deny him a thousand yeares with him is but a daie and therewith forget him but remember with your selues and consider wiselie that all his wordes are truth and hee hath saide long since I come and I will not staye behold I come quickly He hath girt vp his loynes he hath taken his two edged sword into his hande his trumpet is now ready to sound that great alarum of the day of iudgement His thousand thousandes of angels are ready to deuide the heauens to inflame the aire to dry vp the waters and to shake the earth with all the kingdoms therein and now he is comming euen at the doore Though some may thinke that my penne declyneth to this fading conclusion rather by course of stile than for the euidence of truth therein contayned for the glorie of Iesu Christ or for our dutifull readines against the day of our saluation yet in so great daunger remaine not doubtfull through the flattering shew of sinfull delusions But rather sith it greatly concerneth our soules health let vs harken to that plaine voice of truth when you see these things then thinke that your redemption is at hand and bee yee perswaded fully of the same by euident reason by that which you see with your eyes which you heare with your eares which you haue felt with your sensuall bodies not many yeares since And now after the meditation thereof more truly vnderstand with your harts Whereby you are forewarned hereof euen by secret thoughts when you lie in your beds considering that the bridegroome of our eternal saluation is at hand Cast off the loue of this present world scarce go backe into thine owne house to thy wife and thy little children if thou bee at home within thy doores goe not out into the field to see thy cattell or into the streets to bid thy friends farewell or looke once aside from this present comfort the redemption of all the godly Resolue thy selfe to giue account to come to iudgement for nowe the course of this worlde by all computation is run out all flesh is come to an ende And would you haue it set more plainely before your face Lift vp your eies and you shall see that long since the figge tree is budded the fields are all white vnto haruest the heauens are shrunke in their seat and waxen olde like a garment If you yet doubt that the world is not at the point to bee dissolued or that there is no such present appearance why wee should looke for a newe heauen
riches pleasure and dignitie vile earth springing out of the earth and destinate with your bodies to the earth againe be yee not so enchaunted with the humming swarme of worldly pleasures and delightes that yee loose the ioy eternall And now a litle seclude those painted showes of worldlie vanities besmeared with glistering vernish which dimmeth your eies and looke vppon your selues your soules and bodies Neither is it sufficient to consider with that holie Father vnde vbi quo from whence wee came where wee are now and whither wee shall returne the true answere whereof is that treble anxesis of the prophet earth earth earth But in this iourney according to the counsell of saint Paule we must shake of all which hangeth heauie on and presseth vs downe we must learne to weane our selues from our infirmities and to know our disease with fixed eies we must behold our wounds how many how dangerous how deep they bee how they are to bee cured and how the stroke of the enemie here after is to be auoided Though al our battaile and strife is not directed against flesh and bloud onelie but also against spirituall powers and enemies of our soules yet the enemie of flesh and bloud oft times so daunteth our harts with his proud defiance and in such sort that through the too much caring and carking for our selues hee maketh a plaine and readie entrance to the wounding of our bodies and so much the rather because the shield and brestplate with which wee chuse to defend our selues though at the first sight it sit fit vpon our breast and outwardly seeme well steeled to the eie yet inwardlie it is most dangerouslie impoisoned infesting the bodie with strange contagion sinking into the vaines and synewes so deepe that it weakneth our iointes it dulleth the spirites and daunteth the courage of the heart This is the contagion wherewith as Celsus wriâ—eth the Venetians seeking to ouercome their enemies were made a praie vnto them This is that two edged sword with which whilest wee rashlie fight against our enemie and striue to reach him a sore blow with lifting our hand vp too hastilie too rashlie too high with the other side wee cut our owne faces This is the rule which teacheth vs that when we are prouoked to battaile by outward foes we must not make flesh our strength or put any confidence in riches but if wee hope to ouercome our bodilie enemies wee must first conquere the spirituall aduersaries of our soules now ruling in our mortall members and that is by flyflying to our most louing captaine and victorious conquerour Iesu Christ who hauing conquered our great enemies death hel and damnation is ascended vp on high leading captiuitie captiue and giuing great spoiles and giftes vnto men His louing voice doth sound from heauen and biddeth all men come Come vnto him all yee that are loaden and he will refresh you The spirite and the spouse say come and hee which heareth let him saie come hee which thirsteth let him come and those which hope to see their desire vpon their enemies let them come and all which loue Iesu Christ and his louing spouse come and see touch and tast how sweet the Lord Iesu is But how shall wee come and which is the way hee which biddeth come hee calleth them which thirst opening to them the fountaine of eternall life And though I am vnworthie to aduise anie yet my purpose is to admonish those which erre that they come into the true way And how shall wee come by true repentance of our former wickednes and sinnes committed against God And how shall we repent not in only saying Lord Lord or onely God forgiue me and so going on in our sinful life but if thou hast offended thy Lord and louing father thou must bee heartelie sorie for thy misdoings with fasting with praying with shewing thy penitent mind and sorrow for thy sins in thought in word in deed If thou haue taken thy neighbours goods restore double and with that good Zacheus in signe of true repentance giue halfe thy goods to the poore In this habit of a true Israeliâ—e forsaking all that â—hou hast follow our Lord and sauiour who hath walked the same waie before vs. If thou haue sinned in fleshlie lustes and desires fast and praie instantlie strew ashes on thy head put on sackcloth in stead of silkes returne from the view of courtlie troupes entring into thy secret Chamber cast downe thy selfe before the Lord euen vppon the could ground Mourne and lament before the Lord crie out alowd Adsum qui â—eci in me conuertito ferrum It is I O Lord it is I wretched maÌ„ which haue sinned against heauen and against thee haue mercie vppon me O Lord according to thy great goodnes and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences This is the beginning of repentance for these sins of infirmitie and the end is like vnto the same These were the wordes and deedes of Dauid and was there nothing else yes verilie after due consideration of his sinnes and sorrow for the same he sought to please the Lord he fullie purposed to take the arch out of the simple tent and to build a faire temple vnto the Lord God of Israell this was his holie life wherewith he sought to win the Lordes fauour and his sinnes were the sinnes of his bodie euen the sins of infirmitiâ— but if thou once lift vp thine hand against the Lord and his holy temple if thou take away the goods of his church and the maintenaÌ„ce of his holy ministers preachers of his word who first tooke thee vp in their hands and brought thee into the Church who haue washed thee with the baptisme of repentaunce vnto eternall life who haue taught thee the true Christian faith and cloathed thee with the stole of righteousnesse and leade thee by the right hande vnto eternall life who pray dayly for thy sinnes and the sinnes of the whole people then knowe thou assuredly that though thy armye of souldiers bee huge and monstrous Though they bee verie manye and their courage great Though thy chariots be nine hundred all of iron as were the chariots of Sisera though thy barred horses bee raunged foorth by thousandes and thy Iennets by tenne thousandes Though thy riches be incomparable thy strength aboue al estimation yet if thou haue taken anie iote of maintenaunce from the seruice of the high God if thou weaken the walles of his Church and by vnlawfull exactions impouerish his ministers I speake a truth and I call heauen and earth to witnes the same that which you accouÌ„t your strength shall breede your destruction The Eagles feather once thrust in shall eate to dust all the feathers in the bedde the lyons haire shall consume the mixture of other peltes adioined thereto and Achanes forbidden spoile shall cause the Israelites with losse of life to flie the
is lighter than vanitie it selfe The wise high mightie honorable politike rulers of this world trouble themselues all the dayes of their life in fetching in casting in compassing goods lands honour dominion and power They rise vp earely and goe to bed late as sayth the prophet they eate the bread of carefulnes they search and seeke many newe waies They inuente many strange pollicies they aduenture many great daungers they loose many frendes they vndoo many poore schollers widowes and fatherles children euen to the losse of their owne soules and yet they say they loue the Lord and his holy temple O sinfull harts besotted with sensualitie Can that shippe be safe which is tost with euerie surge of the sea and ouerwhelmed with euery blast of wind can that minde bee quiet which boyleth with sundry flames of fire Is there any suretie in lightnes it selfe any certainetie in outwarde fortune any safetie in perpetuall warre any securitie in present daunger any frendshippe in open defiaunce any felicite in outwarde riches anye religion in spoyling the Church Be there two heauens that wee should make our paradise heere on earth or is the Lords arme shortened that hee can not execute his will or his iustice decayed that the sinners shoulde escape vengeaunce Is hee asleepe that hee is not stirred vp with the outrage which the heathen and hard harted worldlings commit against his church or is hee deafe that hee heareth not the crie of the poore or blinde that he seeth not the pride of the world openlie disclaiming the brightnes of the heauens No the Lord is not slack as some count slacknes He which made the heauens so high most carefully he beholdeth the lowest the poorest the simplest creatures here below He which made the eare hee will heare the crie of the poore and hee which made the eie hee will beholde the scarres which be inflicted on the face of his beloued spowse In his compassion hee shall pittie her and in his iudgement he shall draw forth the two edged sword of his wrathfull indignation He shall rise vp like the Gyant to the battaile and shall passe forth as the Lyon to deuour his praie Hee shall redouble the wickednesse of his enemies into their bosoms Hee shall cast downe the house on their heads He shall bring the curse of their desert vpon them and who is able to withstand the surie of his wrathfull indignation to endure his anger or to suffer his heauie displeasure though some men prosper for a while with that which is not their owne being reserued to a greater destiny yet let those which hope for the saluation of Israel learne to feare the Lord aright Let vs not abuse the long patience louing kindnes which the Lord hath shewed in sparing vs so long I grant the Lord is merciful long suffering full of patience and mercie sore grieued with the death of a sinner But yet he is iust in reuenging the iniuries of his spowse If anie offer iniurie to the king or to a noble mā or to a meane man before his face he will reuenge it presently but if wee offer violence to the spowse of Christ or the dead or the fatherlesse or the innocent which cannot speake for themselues nor pleade their owne cause then know that the Lord hath taken the defence of these to himselfe Hee which dwelleth in the heauens hee seeth it Though his blow be long in comming it pearceth deepe euen into the Marrow and the bottom of the soule and that to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him Hee beareth long with them but when he commeth he payeth home Hee suffereth the wicked to deuise many vnlawfull means whereby they waxe rich in this world He letteth them passe on their course oft times with great prosperity euen many yeares diuers liues till at the length when the fruit of sinne is ripe and the first sower thereof is readie to reape a plentifull haruest of his vngodlinesse then besides the danger of the soule the sowthwinde ariseth the heauens ouercast the outragious tempest breaketh out of the cloudes aboue it passeth it pearceth it ouerthroweth so that the haruest which hath bene so many yeares in growing of a sodaine is cleane distroyed and vanisheth out of sight Though thou haue thonsandes of landes and tenne thousandes more than the auncient inheritance of the fathers Though thy money bee heaped in bagges and thou wallow in thy wealth hauing all thinges at thine owne will yet if thou haue robbed thine owne mother to enrich thy treasure thou shalt bee a fatherlesse childe and childlesse father thy selfe so that thou shallt haue no parents in whose presence thou maiest ioy nor leaue any childe behinde thee to weepe for thee at thy graues side Nay that which is a visible curs thy goods for which thou hast drudged so sore when thou art dead shall bee translated into the handes of thine enemies to the end they may strongly bee auenged of thy dearest friendes O let not your eies bee blinded with carnall delight and too much carefulnesse of this earthlie bodie let not the delights of the flesh blot out the well meaning motions of the spirite Be wise betimes and vnderstand this true rule of the spirite least the terriblenesse of the example cause you to tremble at the first sight and after further view breede great amasement in your hart and conscience If thou haue children and childrens children and great store of earthie offices honors and dignities for them all yet if thou spend more time and care in prouiding for them and herein count more of thine owne honour now begunne and budding in thy posteritie then of the prosperitie of the Church of Christ of his diuine worship of of his holie ministers Thy wife shall prooue a stinging serpent in thy bosome thy children shall bee wastfull distroyers of that which thou so carefullie hast built vp thy bodie agonished with sundrie malladies altogether vncurable thy groning daie and night will marre thy melodie conceiued of thine abundance of riches thy hart shall quake with doubtfull feare of thine enemies death will double the discord of thy disquietnesse and if thou were the mightiest and most puissant prince in the world yet if thou count of any earthlie thing before or in comparison of God and his holie Church vnlesse thou repent thy desire shall neuer prosper Concerning this conclusion I minde onely to giue you a tast of which if it please you to pervse Celsus of Verona hereunto annexed yee shall find the whole seruice represented in sundry deynty dishes which manie wicked worldlings take from the ministers of the Chuch setting them on their owne tables Hee hath described the whole course and named sundrie costlie meates whereon the Venetians vsed to feede adioyning thereto their sower sawces which once receiued in at the mouth but hardlie afterwardes digested did breede great hart burninges in their breastes And good
SalomoÌ„ was the wisest man that euer was being onlie man yee haue heard of the fruit of his heauenly wisdome euen the building of a holy temple vnto the Lord. If heauenly wisedome built it vp then sinful folly pulled it down down it came But wil you see with what countenaÌ„ce the Lord beheld that fact That mightie Monarch Nabuchodonozer amongst his generall warres and famous victories he conquered Ierusalem and rased the walls he spoiled the Temple and tooke away some of the golden vessels of the house of God placing them in his emple before his Idols wherein the learned obserue that he had some conscience in taking some of the vessels not all in vsing them only in the temple of his gods not in his owne house He was a mightie Emperor as his dominions were greater then those of other princes so was his hart lift vp in prid aboue all other men therefore the Lord he put the mighty man from his seate hee disarmed him of all his power he made him naked of al his glory he remooued the crowne of golde from his head that which argueth what manner of men they be which laie violent handes on the temple of God he tooke from out his brest the vnderstanding hart of man placed therein a brutishe beastly heart together with the shape of an Oxe which hath hornes and hoofs and eateth haie After this hee tooke him from the princely pallace and turned him lose into the wilde soile euen amongst the beasts of the wood His body was wet with the dewe of heauen his drinke was the water of the puddle his solace was the company of brute bests He led this dul deadly life for seuen yeres y t hee might learne to know the God of heauen to regard his truth to giue him al honor and glory which after the Lord of his mercy wisdom had restored him to his kingdome he did most willingly plainely acknowledg euen in these words I Nabuchodonozer do lawd magnify extoll aboue al things y â— king of heauÌ„e earth c. Though after this strange chastisement he was woÌ„derfully humbled in the sight of God man yet the corruptioÌ„ of the fathers bloud did sinke so depe into the bones of his son king Balthasar that when he was at a solemne feast amoÌ„gst his princes the nobilite of his court being dronken he commanded y â— the golden vessels which his father Nabuchodonozer â—ad brought froÌ„ the temple of IerusaleÌ„ should be brought into him that he his princes his nobles wiues concubines in a brauery might drinke in them It was so don They did eate and drinke in the vessels belonging to the temple of the Lorde they praised their idoll Gods but by the way the wine which tasted sweete to his lips came cold to his hart For in the same moment as hee was drinking right ouer against the candle standing on the table there appeared the fingers of a mans hand writing on the wal which once discried by the king himselfe hee beheld it with a gastly looke and fearefully esprised with the letters which appeared in his sight his colour chaunged his heart panted his spirit was troubled his raines were loosed and his legs shrunke vnder him Straightway in great hast hee sent for Daniel who read the writing which was this Mane Techel Phares expounding these three words in this manner Mane that is God hath numbred thy kingdom broght it to an end Techel thou art weighed in the ballaunce thou art found too light Phares thy kingdome is diuided giuen to the Medes Persians This was the sentence of the Lord against that mightie king for translating his vessels appointed for his holy sacrifice vnto prophane vse the execution was not long deferred for the selfe same night in which he presumed to drinke in those holy vessels hee was slaine in his owne house Though the Lord do not alwaies sende such manifest speedy reuenge on all those which take the goods of the holy church vnto their priuate vses yet let them which are guiltie thereof beware that they abuse not too much the merciful louing patience of the Lord for his sword is sharpe passeth swiftly betwixt the soule and the spirit like the lightning breaking out of the clowd Think not that he is forgetfull because the fact is nowe past or vniust because vengeance yet lieth hid or partial that without repentance he should suffer any sin to scape vnpunished in any person whatsoeuer from the beginning of the world vnto this day Dauid was a holy and a kingly prophet a man euen according to Gods owne hart his eies beheld the vaine beautie of a woman wherewith his hart was straight inflamed and set on fire within his brest hee tooke his poore subiects wife and sent her husband to wars where hee was slaine he loued he killed and after that he possessed the woman had by hir a goodly boy What followeth in the text of holy scripture the prophet Nathan brought him a heauie message froÌ„ the Lord saying it is euen thou thou hast sinned against the Lord and thy poore subiect thou hast slaine Vrias the Hethite and married his wife wherefore the sworde shall not departe from thine house for euer This was the defiance of the Lorde sounded against king Dauid by the mouth of Nathan the prophet to which the great alarum was not vnlike For the Lord did visite the little childe which he had by Vrias wife with sicknesse For whom Dauid prayed vnto the Lorde most instauntly that hee would spare the childe Hee prayed long hee fasted religiously hee mourned hee remained in the darke hee put on sackecloth and ashes hee lay vppon the colde ground his noble counsellors could not intreate him to take any meate for seuen dayes in the ende whereof the Lord tooke away the fruit of his sinfull delight euen the childe vnlawfully begotten which he so entirely loued Afterwards though the Lorde blessed him with Salomon yet to shewe that the fight of the rereward should bee no lesse mortall than the sodaine alarum giuen before to the maine battaile the Lorde stirred vp his owne sonne in armes against him and armed the people so stoutly with rebellious heartes in desire of his destruction that it was saide plainely before the king that all Israell were vp in armes against him and sought to destroy him This tumult of the people was so sodaine so violent and so outragious for the time that the king for feare fledde out of his owne pallace and durst not staye therein though hee had shewed great signes of hartie repentaunce and the Lorde had sayde that hee would remember his mercies promised vnto him the retreate was not fully sounded but the Lorde punished the sinnes of the king together with the death of seuentie thousand of his subiects destroyed with the plague which hee sent amongst