poyson of your mindes and mouthes but drawing iniquitie with the cordes of vanitie and sinne as it were with cart ropes that so that might bee fulfilled in you that in the book of Psalmes is spoken of the notorious wicked As hee loued cursing so shall it come vnto him and as he loued not blessing so shall it be farre from him and as hee clothed himselfe with cursing like a rayment so shall it come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones And by both of them defiling the aire aboue you and polluting the earth beneath you with the creatures thereupon yea by your bad examples infecting and corrupting your wiues children seruants and all that haue any conuersation or acquaintance with you who hauing nothing to learne from you but that which is euill will in the pronenesse of their owne nature to naughtinesse easily treade in your bad steps and much more easily resemble you in corruption than other men in goodnes by how much you doe more nighly and straightly by many waies touch them than others And as for your owne idlenes and the bad bringing vp of your youth and children both sonnes and daughters it is pitifull to beholde and I cannot without great griefe of heart thinke or speake of it what a shame before men nay indeede what sinne is it before God to see amongst you day labourers and men of manuall occupations who according to Gods ordinance and his iust punishment vpon them for sinne shuld eat their bread in the sweate of their browes and get it as wee say with their fingers endes haunt and frequent alehouses spending there not onely houres but dayes and in that time besides the neglect of their callings by which they should maintaine themselues and theirs wasting that also which they haue gotten shuld be as the reward of their honest labors so the necessary and needfull reliefe of their wiues children and other at home where they should rather spend it in deede to the increase of mutuall comforte amongst themselues than vpon the sonnes of Beliall and wicked and lewd persons in those houses of vnthriftines yea some of them of dishonesty Now for your youth is it not lamentable to see boies and girles of tenne twelue yea a fourteene yeares of age and many vnder these yeares also to swarme in your streetes and to runne vp and downe daily in mire and dirt both wearing out their shooes and spoyling their apparell and that without laying their hands to any honest labours to get some thing towards their maintenance and reliefe Yea and some of them I feare me that follow not this bad trade worse occupied by much in pilfering breaking of hedges learning to lie sweare and make no concsience of anie sinne And as for those few that you seeme to put to learning if you consider the places whither they goe the persons to whome I neede nor particularize this for you knowe what I meane and the small profite they take thereby it were almost as small a transgression before God and men to let them liue idly with the rest as to traine them vp in sorte as they are God hath graciously prouided far better for you if you coulde either see it or haue care and conscience to vse it well As for your selues you haue long agoe done what you could to put religion from you by offering not onely manifold vnkindnesses to the persons that offered it vnto you but contempt to the trueth it selfe and yet though it be full sore against your willes it is by honorable and others and those that loue you and care for you more than your selues vphelde still And now what goe you about namely to banish learning from you and yours Perhaps you will think it a hard charge but surely it appeareth not onely by this that you suffer your schoolehouse the place appointed for the good bringing vp of your youth to goe to foule decay but haue no regarde at all in a manner that they might attaine to some good measure of knowledge in humane learning what will bee the issue consider in a word Contempt of the worde carieth with it alwaies all maner of impietie and lacke of knowledge breedeth all barbarousnes and then what can you look for but euen to haue that fulfilled in you that the scripture speaketh of a rebellious and stifnecked people Ephraim shall eate vp Manasseh and Manasseh Ephraim and so you to become a sauage and wilde people deuoid of pietie charitie religion righteousnesse loue c. and filled with all manner of vngodlines and sinne to which as seemeth to me by your crooked paths you haue made more than post haste already And though God by many crosses and losses laide vpon you and yours labor to stay you therefrom and particularly hath plagued almost al of you with great and grieuous pouertie more I am sure than many of you will bee knowne of so that some few of you excepted you liue for the most part by shifting if not vnhonest deuises and trades yet you will not see the hand that striketh you with beggerie as it were and contempt for your idlenes and carelesnes and so turne vnto him but shifting it from your selues vnto others vniustly laye the fault vpon those that in manie respects haue been but too bountifull and beneficial vnto you and yours And yet I would euen from the bottome of my heart if GOD saw it so good that your iniquitie and sinne had staied here and had not proceeded further But surely it is farre otherwise with you for as the godly thorow the light of God his truth and the powerful working of his blessed spirite are mightilie caried from faith to faith frō one good work to an other so are you in Satans malice against you and the strength of your owne corruption violently harried from one transgression to another euill that so that may be true in you that the Apostle speaketh The wicked must waxe worse and worse and filling vp the measure of their transgressions bee at the last ouerwhelmed with his most fearefull and iust iudgements What shall I say of your excessiue drinking abusing therein and therewith that and many other his good creatures giuen you sometimes for necessitie especially and some times for delight also I confesse yea is it not written in many of your faces and foreheads so that hee that regardeth but the rednes of your eyes the heate of your countenances the swelling of your vaines and sundry such other outward signes of intemperancie might with small a doe poynte and painte out what manner of men you are and as if it were with great capitall letters written in your foreheads so as hee that runneth may reade the same see and behold bouling and quaffing written therein And yet herein is this your sinne amongst others become exceedingly sinfull that many of you leaue your owne houses and go vp down to other places for strong drinke and company and
TO THE HONORABLE AND HIS VERIE GOOD LL. SIR IOHN POPHAM Knight Lord chiefe Iustice of England and Sir William Periam Knight Lord chiefe Baron of her Maiesties Court of Exchequer T.W. hartily wisheth the abundant riches of al Gods mercies in this life eternal blessednes in that which is to come thorow Christ THough I doubt not my good Lords but that you haue ere this heard of the feareful and lamentable fire that in September last light vpon the towne of VVooburne in the countie of Bedford and am fullie perswaded that according to the measure of heauenly wisedome that God hath vouchsaued to you both you haue made spirituall profit not only thereof but of sundry other such like iudgments past alreadie in diuers quarters of our kingdom and iustly feared that hereafter may fall out vpon vs for our sinnes yet because the particularities of that punishment are not so wel and certainly knowne as were meete mens minds are so various and fame increaseth by going as wee say in the Prouerbe besides that euen in these things likewise there is a trueth fit to be vnderstood also because the generalitie of men either see them not because they are blind or els bee amazed at thē for a while because they haue no further insight or else make not good vse of them because they are of carelesse hearts I haue thought it sit and that vnder your Lordshippes protections and with your good acceptation also I trust to publishe though a short yet a true narration of that pitifull spectacle and therewithall some meditations of mine owne concerning that matter begunne within a daye or two after the aforenamed fire it selfe and finished in howe short a space I will not write least I might seeme to vaunt In regard of the matter I haue aimed at nothing but this that the trueth it selfe being laide open and some obseruations made thereupon men might bee lead by the hande to make some profitable vse of it they being drawne on to repentance for that which is past and carefully to looke to themselues for that which is to come least otherwise the flame of Gods wrath should break forth further against vs and that to our vtter wasting and destruction For the manner obserued in this discourse it is not so methodicall I confesse as it should be but the reason thereof was the sodain feare and great griefe that I conceiued vpon the very viewe and sight of the ruines it had made all making me vnfit indeed for that present especiallie for matter or manner to handle such a subiect as it ought both the one and the other then tooke such a deepe impression in me and that is the reason also and nothing else I assure you why I seeme as it were so confusedly to deale in the cause for how can a distempered mind be sit especially in methode to propound any matter sith that to the orderlie deliuerie of thinges there must of necessitie concurre a quiet hart and a staied head Howbeit this I dare notwithstanding protest that for the bodie of the treatie there is in it nothing vnsound or vncertaine and therefore in that respect may the more safely be receiued As for the reasons leading me to present this little labour to your Lordships though they bee many the same waightie also yet take them I beseech you in a worde as it were You haue vouchsaued me sundry honorable fauours and I would not willingly seeme or be thought either vnmindfull of them or vnthankefull for them in any dutie that God hath or shal be pleased to inable me to performe You execute the iustice of the land nay which is more the verie iustice of God himselfe euen deriued from himselfe by her Maiesties holy hand and power How fit therefore it is that his example should bee set before you whose person you doe in some sort beare and whose iudgement also you execute in your functions that so you might in your places tread also in some good measure in his pathes your selues can more wisely iudge than I am able to relate You both professe the holy gospell of Christ and may in some sort and sense be reckoned amongst them that mourne for your owne sinnes and for the transgressions of the land also How meet it is that you and others with you shuld see that you haue not taken vp this lamentation without cause as welfor that which is past present as for that which is feared to come But I will represse my selfe in these thinges and will not cease according to all the graces that I haue receiued frō God to commēd these causes into his most merciful hands who only worketh wonderful things both in heauen and in earth that so turning vs from our euil waies vnto himselfe and knitting our harts daily more and more vnto him wee may haue assured hope of the bettering of our estate in this life according to his owne good pleasure or at the least of the euerlasting sauing of our soules notwithstanding all the troubles and turmoiles that may fal out in the world The Lord alwaies and in all things also direct your Lorships both by his holy spirite and vntill the daye of Christ make perfecte in you all good works that hee hath begun for the prosperitie of Sion or the commoditie of the common wealth to his glorie and your euerlasting comforte thorowe Christ London the 1. of Nouember 1595. Your Lordships bounden and readie euer in Iesus Christ Tho. Wilcocks the Lords vnworthie A short narration of the fearefull fire that fell in the towne of VVooburne in the Countie of Bedford on Saturdaie the 13. of September last 1595. Lord Iesus begin and make an ende MEN brethren and fathers yea whosoeuer amongst you truly feareth God vnfainedly loueth his lawe stedfastlye beleeueth his promises and sincerely obeieth his wil to you and to euery one of you I say are the words of trueth and exhortation following directed not of a hatefull heart I assure you against any for I wish would labour your good generally and especially the saluation of your soules as mine owne nor yet of a minde curious in other mens causes with the neglect of them that belong to my selfe for I know it to bee displeasing before God and vnprofitable to my selfe but of an earnest desire in christian charitie by al meanes lawful and that according to my vttermost abilitie to assay to doe good vnto others as vnto mine owne soule and to labour what I can the setting forth of his glory that hath created vs and placed vs in this worlde for that speciall end and purpose that so at the last also after we haue a little glorified him here we might thorough his mercie and Christs merites obtaine the fruition of euerlasting life and the immortall glorification of our bodies and soules in that great and last day Wherein if either thorow the vncleanenes of my heart or the pollution of my hands or
so far off from taking these things as pledges of his loue that the more he layeth vpon vs that way the more we thinke he hateth vs. And the reason is because we measure these matters not by the line or elne of reason reformed or religious reason but by our vnderstanding much corrupted defaced frō that integritie which it had in creation And then how can we in that darkenes see light seeing that hindereth vs frō beholding graces more cleere than these that are to be seene in afflictions and corrections And if wee cannot see in them his loue till the thicke scales of our ignorāce be pulled frō the eies of our minds and vnderstanding howe shall wee perceiue that he assayeth our good therem til the same also be remoued and taken away For as we are hardly perswaded of this that strokes testifie the fauor of him that soundly roundly layeth them vpon vs so shall flesh bloud neuer yeelde to this that blowes better vs till the hearte specially inlightned beleeue the same and wee know either by experience in our selues or by obseruation in others that they haue not by nature but by grace gained that glorious issue The like may wee say of pledging vp vnto vs the hope of heauen For what man if hee haue not more in him than man will imagine that so harde a measure of afflictions and sorrowes as lie not onely vpon the backs but are in the soules of men yea godly men should testifie vnto them such heauenly graces wee rather say and see that the father that beateth the child much and often hardly mindeth to giue him the inheritance and to make him Lord and heire of all Howbeit Gods word telleth vs that it is far otherwise with Gods elect for if wee suffer with Christ wee shall raigne with him and being made conformable vnto him in his afflictions wee shall also bee like him in glory wee knowing that the momentany and light afflictions of this life doe cause vnto vs or bring with them a farre most excellent and eternall waight of glory Nowe whether in these points it be better for vs to beleeue God and his holy worde or to trust our owne reason and humane iudgement I had almost said let all the world iudge but let the godly especially speake their mindes and deliuer their sentence according to truth and right Whatsoeuer hitherto hath beene deliuered concerneth especially either the narration it selfe and the thing done as we say or els some profitable pointes arising therefrom or appertaining thereto All which no doubt of it are profitable if they bee laide to heart to build vs vp in knowledge and iudgement But there is another thing besides that as in all causes generally so particularly in this wee must carefully labour to attaine to and that is conscience of the things that wee know care to profite by them to the bettering of vs in this life before God and man and in our owne hearts also that so in the comfortable feeling of it we may haue assurance of hope and heart that we shall not be confounded in that which is to come And to this we cannot come or bee brought but by making speciall vse of and particular applying vnto our owne soules the points of instruction or the seuerall and sundrie actions that God doth for or amongst the sonnes of men Without which indeed as in the publike ministerie all paines taken is but labour lost and as it were wordes spoken in the aire as the examples of former ages and the experience of our owne times doe but too sufficiently shewe so in al priuate doctrines or documents whether they be deliuered by the audible voice of man or propounded vnto vs by the workes of God in his mercie towards his owne people or in his iudgements towardes the wicked will bee at the most but as a wonder of nine daies as we say in the Prouerbe and like vnto water spilt vpon the ground True it is and I am sure euery good man will confesse it that neither the one nor the other can indeed either do vs good in this life or further vs vnto eternall saluation to make vs without excuse and defence before God and in our selues I denye not but some power they haue otherwise than as they are sanctified by the almightie working of the blessed spirite And therefore when or where or howsoeuer God dealeth with vs we should presently and vnfainedly humble our selues in prayer and call and craue for grace to profit thereby Howbeit though that I meane the gracious worke of Gods spirit in our hearts be a principall meane of our spirituall profiting yet neither is it the only neither indeed doth it fol low thereupon that the others aboue recited should be reiected or refused For euen as in our naturall life the first and chiefe cause of all is God himselfe who as he giueth it vs so vpholdeth it and maintaineth it according to his good wil that being here true that the Apostle saith In him we liue we moue haue our being and yet no man so vnwise as to refuse meate drinke cloth sleepe and other necessary helps and aides that way for that were to tempt God and to liue if some one or other could doe it rather a miraculous than a naturall life so in our spirituall life though God by his holy spirite worke all in all in the hearts of them that he hath marked out vnto eternall blessednes yet no man that feareth God or careth for his owne saluation neglecteth much lesse despiseth the worde sacraments prayer admonitions exhortations rebukes publike priuate c. but more carefully frequenteth and more religiously vseth the same and laboureth more to treasure thē vp in his heart for goodnes than hee doth all or any of the outward things appertaining to the body or naturall man And euen so is it in this case of applying to our purpose and making vse in our soules of the waies and works of God generall or particular open or secret To that therefore wee come as indeed vnto the life and soule of the other thinges before going and therein direct our speech as first to the whole land generally who vpon euery such particular occasion should make speciall profite as well because all the seuerall members in a kingdome or in a Church make but one politicall or ecclesiasticall bodie and therefore if one suffer all should suffer and if one reioyce all should do likewise as also because some in Gods purpose and iudgement are striken that all or many others at the least might amende because all haue sinued and gone astraye and stand in neede of the grace of God And this is that surely that our Sauiour meaneth when in the Gospell hee saith were those Galileans whose bloud Pilate mingled with their sacrifices greater sinners than all the other I tell you nay but except ye amend your liues ye shall all likewise perish so secondly to the