resembleth perfect truth oft richlie clothed in their golden verse sith they had wit at will and the Muses sounded at their call their pen did flow with droppes distilled from the fountaine of most pleasant inuention their stile was high their words were sweete their sentence true their number perfect their workes admired So that nought but enuie durst once deuise the least disgrace against the same If my skill would yeeld me but a bare resemblance of their perfect stile whereby I might reueale the truth vnto the world with like delight as did those Poets fine or if this age were but halfe so much delighted with the substance of truth it selfe as they were with the portraiture of the shadow I would hope for that good acceptance of this smal simple worke which now I doubt write with him I am sorie for my selfe sith thou shalt be accepted But sith that daie of darkenes hath alreadie dawned in which if wee write the truth plainlie wee are hated if wee write obscurelie we are suspected if we write simplie we are contemned if we write not to please the itching eares of flesh and bloud we are reiected Sith men are so much bent to their owne selfe will and so besotted with the loue of themselues of their owne house their owne goods their owne landes their owne wife their owne children their owne posteritie lastlie with the loue of this present world of dignities honors scepters kingdomes that the kingdome of heauen to them is but a dreame bred in a litle corner of their secret cogitation and he which shall tell them that the kingdome of this world passeth away like a flower a clowde a smoke a shadowe that the kingdome of Christ is not of this world that the further wee enter into worldlie possessions and the higher wee climbe vnto honor the further wee goe backe from the kingdome of heauen and the greater is our fall into the graue sith hee which shall write this plainlie and more than that that the whole regiment of a Christian common wealth ought principally aboue all things to serue for the setting forth of true religion the true worship the true honour of the name of God sith the disgrace of worldlie pride now commonlie receiued and on the contrarie the extolling and magnifying of the beautie of the temple of God is an odious thing amongest worldlinges at this day and my skill verie simple mine inuention slender my treatise rude my words plaine mine eloquence nothing at all I begin with him though to another ende Parue nec inuideo My litle booke I do not enuie thee nay rather I pittie thine estate sith thou art now to passe into the world whose ysie wayes are opposite to God and crauest attentiue eare of those whose fowle deformities thou openlie displaiest Nether would I thinke thy destinie so hard or so much to be lamēted if they were simple at whose harts thou knockest willing them to reuerence the worshippe of God more than the lawes of earthlie princes or easilie to bee recouered from the bewitched waies of this present world But of them manie are high and honourable manie wife and learned manie politique strong and wealthie hardlie bowing downe their eie to behold the low estate of the humble and seldome opening their eare to the crie of poore fatherlesse lying in the streete or to so plaine so simple so vnsauerie a speach as thou seemest willing to vtter in their eares at this time In this dispair of thy good successe I heare an other trumpet sownd whose lowde alarum biddeth thee either retire or else to chaunge thine habite thy countenance thy simple stile and cote wherewith thou art now clothed The solemne courtes of princes haue their Porters to keepe such base coats out who if they once presume to speake beeing controlled then the staffe the rodde the whippe the stockes do make the period of their stile These be the stormes wilt thou shrink for showers of raine God it is which fashioned the globe of the golden tressed sun he raiseth cloudes and discusseth them againe he thundreth lowd and sendeth quiet calme he sendeth grieuous stinges of the bodie oft times to his beloued that he may reioyce his soule with the beautie of his countenaunce Ille meas errare boues vt cernes ipsum Ludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti he first sent foorth the piersing beame of cleare light he opened mine eye hee bowed the fingers of mine hand and bid me write that in this age we seeme and are not holie learned wise charitable louing and kinde one to an other If this bee the generall course of the world foreshewed long sithence by reuealed Prophesie let no man thinke that trueth proceedes from any euill humor or that this heauenlie darte which spareth none dooth aime at him or her or any one but humblie requesting all in the bowels and mercies of Iesu Christ specially to looke to the saluation of their owne soule it toucheth all that all therby leauing the loue of this present world by his gratious crosse and passion may be made the true children of eternal blisse That auncient Poet Hesiod writte many hundreth yeeres agoe that which our liues doe porfectly fulfill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whē the Gods mortall men began to multiplie vppon earth the first age was a goulden age for they were simple plaine wise honest religious long liued deuoide of iniury crafte and and subtilty The second like to siluer not so good as was the first The third brasse more corrupt in minde manners and nature O sineque ego quinto interessem hominum generi O saith the Poet that I had not come in the fift age of the world but either had beene dead long before or else not yet borne sith this is an iron age replenished with malitious crimes and mischeefe This was a deformed shadowe and the bodie of our age is like vnto the same according to the exposition of Daniell vnto Nabuchodonozer wherin he foreshewed that the images head of golde and the breast siluer the bellie of brasse the legges and feete halse iron halfe earth signified the nature and inclination of the whole world Three of them be past and seldome commeth the better Sith this in which we liue is the ende of the fourth Monarch whose euil workes and sinful inclination is resembled to the iron mixt with earth in steede of long life yeelding shorte sinfull wretched daies in steede of sweete peace yeelding wars and rumours of wars in all places in steede of simplicity yeelding double dissembling in steede of true deuotion to the church of Iesu Christ yeelding pilling and polling on euery side in steede of loue to the common wealth and our posterity with the vnsatiable greedy worme of couetousnes prouiding oncly for our owne mouthes our own bellies our owne time in all our dooinges fully expressing the sence and sentence of that auncient Poet Pindarus 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present commodity is euer most accepted for the subtill age to come will alter all Together with this iron earthly age the seede of corruption is daily sowne whose blossomes nowe already put foorth though they shine cleere and bright as dooth the cockle amiddest the wheate yet if they once beginne to reape to threshe to grinde to grinde to bake to eate they shall soone perceiue that there is cockle amongest the corne and ofte times vnder the painted viserd of great knowledge you shall se blind bayard wax so bold that through many wordes and often speaking amongest the ignorant whose eyes dazell in beholding such painted sepulchers hee is reputed for wise and learned According to that true saying of that lerned Dorne In hoc ferreo postremoque saeculo non nisi faeces artium superesse videmus etsi non nulli putent eas maxime vigere propter sermonis ornatum In this last iron age we haue but the dâ—egges of artes and sciences although manie thinke that learning florisheth more nowe then in times past because we talke more then they did and that more cunninglie more smoothlie more courtlie Which great absurditie of this our age throughly mixt with earth iron to the great perill and daunger of many thousand soules mooued mee first to penne this rudely written treatise in the behalfe of the Church of Iesu Christ and the soules health of all true Christians vnto whose handes it shal come Which secret cogitation taking effect by outward sence and shewing to my bodilie eyes in sundrie places and manie solemne foundations nowe made desolate whereby manie thousandes of learned pastours might haue beene maintained for the preaching of the Gospell of Christ and the dailie praysing of his name credidi propterea loquutus sum with the holie Prophet and Apostle I beleeued and therefore I writte that which the holy scriptures the holy counselles the holy fathers haue plainelie affirmed When I looked backe and considered what wee are and what wee ought to bee what wee haue doone and what we ought to haue doone the truth piersed my spirite my heart rent and my ioyntes did cleaue in sunder the passion of that sight beganne to worke the fyer was kindled within the sayinges of the holie fathers ministred oyle wherewith the flame brake foorth at my mouth crying alowde for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Here with returning to the mirrour of trueth the holie word of God whereby all our thoughtes wordes and workes are to bee tried and furthermore perusing the holie fathers by the assistaunce of the holie Ghost openers of the true vnderstanding thereof I meant to gather some store of testimonies out of them to witnesse with mee that this my affirmation in this matter is a certaine and vndoubted trueth Hauing behelde this radiant sunne of light the word of God and the little starres the holie fathers illuminated with the cleare beames thereof though the trueth appeared plainelie in them both yet their testimonies concerning thinges once dedicated to holie vse seemed to mee neither so manie as I expected nor so plaine Herein hauing made some spence of time in seeking that which was not so plainely figured in the fathers as I hoped and as it was truely meant at length the trueth of that conclusion offered it selfe most plainelie to my cogitation which was that as that auncient Solon hauing made many excellent lawes amongest the Athenians hee made no lawe neither set hee downe any punishment for him which should kil his own father supposing that the earth would neuer nourishe so wicked a creature Euen so it is truely supposed that those holie fathers liuing in the siluer age of olde antiquitie did neuer imagine that out of this earthlie yron age of ours there should spring anie so barbarous so cruell so wicked that would attempt to take awaie any thing from the true worshippe of almightie God Which suppositioÌ„ least in some mens sight it should seeme to want true position and sure ground let vs turne our minds a litle from carnal cogitations of worldlie minded men which thinke of necessitie the course of the world must bee mainteined howsoeuer the seruice of God be neglected and his holie temple your mindes thus turned cleane away from wordlie vanities which in one minute shall all vanish and consume like the paper cast into the fier turne your eies and behold the booke of life therewith conferre the expositions of holie councels and ancient fathers expounding the true sence of the same and you shall see most plainlie that things once dedicated to holie vse are not in anie wise to bee altered vnleast it be in extreame necessitie the braunches whereof are plainlie laied open by that holie father Saint Ambrose in these wordes Vasa ecclesiae initiata in his tribus confringere conflare vendere etiam licet primum vt extremae pauperum egestati succurratur c. In these three cases it is lawfull to breake to melt to sel the vessels of the Church first for the relieuing of the poore secondlie for the redeeming of the Christians beeing captiues to infidels Thirdlie for the preseruing of the Church christian buriall of the dead these extremities make that irreligious fact sometimes lawfull as appeareth though verie seldome in the practise of the primatiue Church according to that which Sozomene writeth in the fourth booke of his ecclesiasticall storie the 24. Chapter Saith hee when the people of Ierusalem wanted meat and were all readie to perish through the great famine which was amongest them Cyrillus the Bishoppe of the citie solde the treasure of the Church with all the costlie clothes belonging to the same distributing to the poore according to their necessitie First of all the goods of the Church being dulie and dutifullie bestowed on the worshippe of God and diuine function the true proper and principall vse and end of the same Secondly in extreame necessitie this is a good lawfull and also a holie vse of them and scarcelie to be called alâ—enating of the Church goods sith the poore are belonging to the same according to that generall sentence of all the councels and fathers Bona ecclesiae sunt bona pauperum the goods of the church are the goods of the poore But to take awaie the landes and goods of the Church whereby the beautiful feete of those which bring the glad tydings of the Gospel are shed their sides clothed their bodies fed and numbers of those which dailie praie in his holy temple are or ought to be mainteined lifting vp pure hands with hartie prayers for the sinnes of the people and those also which dailie sing praises to his holie name for his wonderful mercies shewed to mankind no scripture no councel no father no writer no religioÌ„ whatsoeuer doth allow it If wee looke into the law of nature or the rules of humanitie not much dissonant from the conclusions of morall
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
the truth appeare plainly speake brieflie therwith repeating your chiefest arguments most truely And what be they In great mislike of many good things now vsed in our church you commonly begin after this manner In mine opinion Byshops Deanes cathedrall churches c. are not to be allowed sith they sauour of the constitutions of men and are not commaunded by the word If you will ioyne reason with true iudgement and let iudgement guide the vncertaintie of opinion you shal easily perceaue that in mine opinion is no great good argument Looke into true art and you shall soone see that as vnderstanstanding is the internall beginning of the demonstratiue syllogisme whose conclusion is aeternae veritatis vnpossible to be refuted and as fansie is the internal beginning of Sophistical arguments which flie at the presence of the former euen as the shadow of the earth shrinketh successiuely from the rising of the sunne Euen so opinion is the internall beginning of probable reasoning whose conclusion is indifferently either true or false as the Philosopher in his Morralles concludeth most plainely as it cleerely appeareth by this example In your opinion they are not to bee retained in myne opinion they are Now let the Reader iudge which of these two argumentes is the stronger The absurditie of this conclusion flowing from the fountaine of ignorant arrogancie teacheth vs that these mens opinions is more than the truth There zeale farre beyond all knowledge their arguments without all compasse of art Herein wee must vnderstand that opinion is their proper prerogatiue Art is not worthie to knocke at the dore of their blind arrogant zeale What then remaineth to raise this scaled Dragon out of his dungeon Exurgat Dominus dissipentur inimici etus Let the Lord arise and let his enemies bee scattered abroad Let the truth breake forth like the morning beams descending from the cristall skies Let the holie scriptures confute this reason founded on the ysie ground of false opinion and that by the example of Ietro who though he were an Ethnicke and a straunger to the Common wealth of Israell yet his aduise proceeding from mans inuention was both accepted of by Moyses and directlie followed in all good Common wealthes vnto this day Therefore the constitutions of Byshoppes Doctors Deanes Cathedrall Churches c. and all other Discipline orders constitutions and lawes whatsoeuer in the Church of Englande or else where though they proceede from mannes inuention as they tearme it yet if it bee Secundum non contrae scripturas according to the word of God not contrarie to it They are all lawfull good and godlie This is a plaine vndoubted truth and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it And though the piercing floud striue to issue through the chinkes of those infernall dores Though the pitchie smoke ascending from that deadlie pitte contende to couer the eies of the simple Though this hellish Cloude of darknesse could put on the cleerenesse of the radiant Sunne and those foule deuilles appeare in the habite of the brightest angels Though they open their mouthes wide and to the end they may deceaue manie crie alowde dispersing the doctrine of sedition vnder the colour of the word of God opposed to mannes inuentions yet shall the Lord of light quell this hideous dragon with one small sentence of truth proceeding frō his mouth And though the truth is best knowen and most euidentlie seene when she is most naked yet is she not so tender that she can be pierced with the sharpest arming sword of her enemies nor so feeble that shee will yeeld to blastes of wind nor so ill appointed that she hath but one pore dart nor so vnlearned that shee should yeelde to the vanishing smoke of false opinion nor so simple but that she can soone discerne deceauing spirites from the spirit of truth Wisedome crieth in the streates saith Salomon and the truth of this conclusion though it was first pronounced in Ierusalem yet at this day the sound therof hath passed through al our streets entred al our eares◠knocked at the dore of al our hartes And what is the sound thereof euen the voice of the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world He hath said it plainely Whosoeuer is not against vs is with vs. By which shorte sentence he which hath but halfe an eye may plainly see that whatsoeuer is not contrary to the worde of God is according to his worde Sententia scripturae est scriptura saith Saint Augustine Not the words but the meaning of the scripture is the scripture The letter is a dead element but the spirituall vnderstanding thereof founded in truth and veritie giueth life to all which apprehend it Therfore these subtill deceiuers which cry out for a new reformatiō in the church framed in their own fancy according to the word and vnder that colour disclaime the regiment set downe by our most gratious Princesse they do therein most presumptuously abuse her maiestie and all her subiectes This facing error is not content with bare saying but it also proceedeth to defending and prouing after this manner Things once abused by superstition and idolatrie ought not to bee vsed in the woorship of Christ therefore Churches c. ought to be pulled downe and vtterly abolished When I heare this principle so often repeated by them I think on that prouerbe Facile quae cupimus credimus and when I confer therewith the manner of their reasoning I remember Tindarus his short salutation to his master Salue atque vale So when I behold their false propositions which they take as granted and their vntagged arguments therevnto annexed I cannot imagine that they euer entered further into the Logicke schooles than the threshould or beeing there that euer they did once behold that mistresse of Arts and Sciences or if they did once see her grace and countenance yet they neuer saluted her or if they did salute her it was but Salue atque vale Ex vnguibus leonem the first view of this daungerous error doth discouer the vglines of the monster Suppose these seeming saints were so indeede their opinion true yet doe but view a while the venim taile which she draweth after her and you shall soone espie a thousand Hidraes heades arising out of her footings If you be so hard harted that you will not beleeue vnlesse you see then cast away the blinking eyes of fonde opinion and with the cleare sight of true vnderstanding behold that mirrour of heauenly truth which by the beautifull shew of sundry portraitures teacheth vs plainely that things abused by superstition may be well wisely and religiously vsed in the church of God The Gentiles they had their gods to whome they built solemne temples offered daily sacrifices many praiers petitions Therfore should not Salomon builde a most solemne temple vnto the God of heauen and earth The example confirmeth that rule Quarum rerum est vsus
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
philosophie we shall see plainly that those creatures which receaue the greatest portion of blessing they render the most againe not once retracting the former yeilde The fields for one pore graine receaued send forth manie scores againe The fishes multiplie in all the coastes of the wide Ocean seas the beastes their young the Bees their honey the sheepe their lambe their wool their skin the litle poore larke shee mounteth vp into the clowds with a sweet song which solaceth thee either riding by the waie or plowing in the field or sitting in thine howse at home All creatures by kinde yeeld giftes of thankefull grace vnto the Lorde not once retracting anie thing againe And shall onely sinfull man bee founde vnthankfull vnto his maker The Lord of his meere mercie without al merite hath giuen him all the beastes of the field the fowles of the aier the fishes of the sea vnder his dominion he hath giuen him an vnderstanding soule made him steward of his housholde Nay when through disobedience to his maker hee had cast himselfe cleane out of dores our sauiour Christ hee came downe from heauen for his sake hee appeared in the habite of a man hee was counted vile dispited and hated threatned betraied martired euen to the sheading of his most pretious bloud on the crosse for sinful man Neither did his louing kindnes cease with the time for hee left his houshold behinde him eâ—en his catholique Church and his holie spirite to gouerne and guide it to comfort man to instruct him to support him against all his enemies dailie hourelie holding the strings of his heart in his hand and preseruing the breath in his nostrelles least he should vanish from the face of the earth These bee the manifold mercies of the Lord towardes man more than to all other creatures and shal sinful man be more vnthankfull to his maker than the rest shal man onelie of al other creatures take away from the Lord that which is once giuen shal the hart of man waxe hard against bis creator that hee should once thinke ther may be too much giuen to God or forbid any man against the commaundement of Christ to giue al that he hath to the poore distressed members of his church Naie shall not sinfull man rather inuent in his hart write with his pen pronouÌ„ce with his vocie statutes lawes and commissions to the ende that the whole frame of the common wealth especiallie before all other matters whatsoeuer be directed and wholie bent to the glorie of God the worshippe of his holie name the highest point whereof consisteth in mainteining of his holie Temple the house and place of his true worshippe here on earth Naie shall the beastlie hart of that prowde Nabuchodonozer bee placed in the bodie of anie Christian that hee should lay wast the Temples of the Lord or that dronken minde of king Balthasar that he should take to his owne vse the goods of the Church that hee should dissolue the Quire of sweete voices praising the Lord in the Citie and bestowe the foundation thereof on a kennell of houndes crying in the woods If the king call shal we not all runne and if the kinglie prophet Dauid bid vs bring vnto the Lorde shall we waxe hardharted in taking away that which wee neuer gaue If the heathen people through the instinct of heauenlie light secretlie written by the finger of God in the centre of their heart trembled at the entrance of the temples of the Christians and were afraid to touch any thing therein as we reade in sundry histories shall not the true Christian vtterly abhorre from the same if not for loue in regard of the teÌ„der mercies of Iesu Christ bestowed on him yet for feare of those extreame and extraordinarie punishments that hee speedilie powreth vppon all those which spoile his temples O ye kinges and rulers of the earth be wise count not of this crowne of molten mettall which weieth heauy on your heade and presseth you downe to the earth but cast down your crownes before the lambe of God which taketh away the sins of the worlde despise your kingdomes and glorious roialties learne to serue him with a perfect loue of eternall blisle and perfect loathing of these tedious earthly kingdomes striue to finde the narrow gate cast away your iewels heauie ornaments runne runne runne on a pace run swiftly that ye may attaine that crowne which will lift you vp both body and soule aboue all the kingdomes of the world nay farre aboue all heauens euen vnto eternall life That you may more readilie enter this race of a true Christian and more happilie attaine the true perfection of the same first forsake the worlde and all the loue thereof cast away your worldlie delightes and secret inclination denie your selues count not of that flattering constancie whose ende is dolefull miserie Hauing reiected this worldlie habite together with thy fleshlie delightes let the troubled waie of fickle fancie goe and there with entering further the first degree of heauenly meditation weigh wisely with thy selfe and consider what God is and what thou art and thou shalt see plainely that who so is without him or out of his fauour hee is nothing or at the most a verie vile and an euill thing The great desire of the kinges of the earth is long and prosperous reigne Which who so hath enioied long in the court let him but walke out a little into the pleasant woodes and hee shall heare the auncient Poet Symonides sounding that truth in his sweete songe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. a thousand and tenne thousand yeares in respect of eternitie are but a minute or rather the least portion of a minute Sith all is nothing vnto him and hee is one in one eternitie from which vnitie all creatures haue their integritie let vs learne as little children doe by 1. 2. 3. the eternall the incomprehensible the first and simple vnitie in trinitie from which all thinges haue their rising by proportion of number knowing that as hee is the â— and â— so the first and the last loue of our heart the first and the last honour which wee can deuise the first and the last fruites of the labours of our bodie must bee giuen vnto him and in such maner that beeing once giuen vnto him it is the first and the last neuer to bee reuoked againe no not to bee desired in minde and secrete cogitation but there to rest and remaine as in the first and last conclusion for which it was ordained If anie worldly minded man seeme to doubt the truth hereof I will not produce this course begun from the misticall principles of secret philosophie least with the clowdes of reason I should obscure the cleare light of heauenlie truth and hide it from the simple whose good successe in the schoole of Christ I most of all desire The expresse rule of Iustice
right and equitie is the will of God by which what is right or wrong is to bee examined Who then is of the councell of the Lorde or to whome is his will knowne Aristotle that excellent philosopher saith that the cogitations of the hart be plainlie knowne by the woordes of the mouth sith the voice is the interpretour of the minde and as our sauiour Christ saith out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh by which inferiour rule of reasonable philosophie wee may climbe vp to that true conclusion in diuinitie that the Lordes will is reuealed in his worde And is there anie mention thereof in holie scriptures Come and see turne the booke and read the twentie seuenth chapter of Leuiticus where it is thus written plainelie shortlie and truelie Omne quod domino consecratur c. what thing soeuer is consecrated vnto the Lord bee it man beast or field it cannot bee solde or reuoked againe because whatsoeuer is once dedicato God is holie of holiest vnto the Lorde Man is not like vnto the meere vegitable creatures the flowers of the garden or the lillies of the fielde that hee shoulde growe and goe forward vntill hee come to such a degree of ripenesse and then to wither and decaie neither is the Lordes temple or his holie worshippe as the earthlie fielde whose seede dooth growe and straight decaieth againe but to man it is appointed that from the beginning of his daies vnto the ende thereof he shoulde first and last seeke the kingdome of heauen and the righteoufnesse thereof In which course who so hath begunne let him knowe that not to goe forward is to goe backewarde and what is that Hee which is the waie the truth and the life hee hath shewed it vs saying Estote sancti quoniam ego sanctus sum bee ye holy because I am holie In what manner not in hearing but in dooing the will of God not in talking but in walking as it is written not the speakers but the dooers of the lawe shall bee iustified as also another scripture Regnum Dei non est in sermone sed in virtute the kingdome of God is not in woordes but in vertuous and holie life not in criyng Lord Lord but in doing the wil of God which is in heauen not in looking for a mansion place or building pompous pallaces heere on earth whose greatest ioyes be a shining miserie but in hastening forwards towards the kingdom of heauen in giuing our goods our lands our bodies and soules vnto the Lorde Our goodes to feede the poore to cloth the naked to coÌ„fort the sick c. Our lands to the maintaining of his temple wherin his word is daily preached his name praised the poore commonly harbored Our bodies to the prison the lyon the sworde the fire for his names sake all which is the true christian and acceptable yeelding our soules into the handes of our almightie creatour our merciful redeemer our heauenlie comforter This is the olde christian way to the kingdome of heauen through the armies of pleasures of temptations of dangers of punishments of the spiritual powers of this world which who so refuseth hoping to saue his life he shall loose it and who so looseth it shall finde that place vbi vere viâ—itur the true life of eternall blisse for euer Who so grudgeth to giue a peece of vile pelting earthlie land to the Church of God or taketh ought therefro or esteemeth more of goods lands friends rumors fame credit kindred bretheren sisters father or mother or his owne life than of the glorie of God of the welfare of his beloued spowse the holie Church hee is not worthie of the kingdome of heauen neither hath his foot troden the first step of the way of life If this be thus then what manner of men ought we to be in holines of life in studying daylie by all meanes possible how to gratify the Lord of life If he reward the charitable bestowing of a cuppe of could water on his disciples when they thirst how highlie is he displeased with those who ether diminish or take away the maintenance of his holie Temples where his name dwelleth In this respect gentle Reader consider that as Dauid said concerning his sonne now dead I shall goe to him but he shall not come againe to mee so wee must thinke of goods once giuen to the holie worshippe of the Lord for so it is wee must goe to them and that often euen to the holie Temple but they must not bee brought backe againe to vs. This is one true plaine christian way leading to one perfect ende according to that saying of Bachilides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. there is but one waie for mortall men to attaine happinesse and one ende thereof to this agreeth our due and dutifull consideration of the Lords worshippe and his holie will which is that his glorie should be onely and wholy to himselfe as it is written gloriam meam alteri non dabo I will not giue my glorie to an other The truth of this conclusion telleth vs that we must serue him onely not onely first but him onelie Which if we did ponder wisely with our selues and thereunto frame our liues and daily dooinges wee would not take the squared stones of the temple to builde our pompous pallaces withall but we would rather remember that olde saying accursed is that house which hath any stone in it belonging to the church We would not chang the names of church landes and call them by our owne names our lordships our lands our mannours We would not eate the bread of the poore nor drinke the teares which trickle downe the cheekes of the widdow nor contemne the simple estate of the ministers by whose landes and liuinges we are now fatted like the buls of Basan If we would but once enter into our owne conscience plainly and truelie remembring whose goods they are that we possesse and lift vp our eye to the heauens to the which both we and they are dedicated wee would soone loath that which wee haue looued our hart would quake thorow the bitter sting of conscience and sinne would cleane couer our faces with the mantle of darke and deadlie despaire sith wee haue spoiled robbed contemned him whose loouing countenaunce is our eternall Saluation Herewith remembring the bitter sequele and deadlie sting of sinnes committed against God himselfe losse of goods landes contrarie to all expectation sodaine fiers in one hower destroying house goods and all the treasure which thou hast wickedlie heaped together many yeeres barrennesse of wombe sith thou hast trauelled all thy life long for goodly lands and hast no children to enioy them or if thou haue theyr sodaine death before thine eyes and lastlie the restlesse paine and eternall miserie of hell fire purchased with so manie cares and troubles with so much wealth of this world wee ought to wash our