Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	church_n	militant_a	triumphant_a	2,228	5	11.7299	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00659	Golden epistles contayning varietie of discourse both morall, philosophicall, and diuine: gathered as well out of the remaynder of Gueuaraes workes, as other authors, Latine, French, and Italian. By Geffray Fenton.	Fenton, Geoffrey, Sir, 1539?-1608.; Guevara, Antonio de, Bp., d. 1545?	1575 (1575)	STC 10794; ESTC S101911	297,956	420

them his eares are open to heare them if they appeale to him in their aduersities and he accompanieth them wyth his holy Aungell to the end they erre not he beholdeth the calamities they endure and yéeldes compassion to the complayntes they make accordinh to the comfort of the Psalme O culi domini super iustos et aures eius ad praeces eorum Still touching the discourse of Religion and of the professors of the same ANd albeit these words of our Lord That who perseuereth not to the ende shall not be saued are generall to all Christians yet they concerne most chiefly such as be of the ministerie who being called to an estate so holy by how muche they are chosen as men most necessary and worthy by so much more doe they offend the maiesty of God if they renounce or leaue it Redite domino deo vestro sayth God by his prophet If you promise any thing to your God looke to offer it giue it For a man hauing once past his promise must consider that to doe any thing is an office and action of the will but the accomplishment therof is of necessitie The Church compelleth no man to take baptisme but after we be once receiued she hath power to constraine vs to liue like Christians Euenso there neyther is nor ought to be authority to enforce one an other to chaunge habyte or enter the ministery but being once possest of the orders we are bounde to kéepe our profession Yea it belonges to the ministers of the Church to know that the perfection of religion consists not onely to take the habyt to forsake the worlde and to be enclosed within the precinct of his vycarage and Churchyarde But with all to him appertaynes the passion of paines troubles and iniuries and to striue to resist his affections and lastely to be constant with his brethren For that to liue in order is a thing easie but to perseuer to the end is entangled with great hardnes Non cessamus pro vobis orare vt dignos vos faciat vocatione sua we pray to the Lord cōtinually saith the apostle to the end you may be made worthy of his ministery that is that you be thought méete to be called by him and that he call you as he is wont to call those whom he loueth God inuiteth all God calleth all and entreateth them to serue and follow him But amongest all others those whom hée calleth particulerlye those doth hée holde vp wyth hys hande and if hée suffer them to slyde hée is readie to helpe them vppe agayne Suche as bée called of God perseuere to the ende but those whom the Ennemie leadeth retourne eftsoones to the Worlde Great is the comfort of suche as are come into Religion guyded by the hande of God séeing it is aduouched in the Scriptures that the holy Ghost led Iesus into the Desart and the wicked spirite caried him vp to the Temple not with intention that hée should Preache but rather to throw himselfe headlong from the place There were many other places in Jerusalem more high then that which the Diuell led Christ vnto but he desired nothing more then to make Iesus Christ fal from the pinacle of the temple by that which we are instructed that greater vaunt doth the Diuell make to make one of those fal which are consecrated to Christ thē a hundreth of suche as Prophane and wander in the Worlde And therwithall we are taught that the fall which the seruant of God makes in the ministery is dangerous to the soule doubtfull to his conscience and most slaunderous to the common weale It is written in the discourse of the liues of the fathers of Egipt that one of those holy ancients saw in a vision the assemblie of Diuels and hearing euery one report the diuersitie of illusions wherewyth they had be guiled the worlde hée saw their Prince make greater gratulation and recompence to one of those ill spirits that had deceiued a vertuous man of the Church then to al the rest sturring thousands to transgression sinne two of the childrē of the great sacrificator Aarō were burned for no other occasion then for that they had transgressed in one Cerimony of the Temple And albeit in the congregation there were no doubt greater sinners then those two Children yet God saw cause to punish them and dissemble wyth the others the better to make vs to know that the estate of the ministers is of such perfection that that which to the world is estéemed ceremony the same to men of the Church is rule and precept and the breache of it a sinne mortal So that vntil the Church militant be ended and that we go to enioy the Church triumphant of necessity drosse will be mingled with gold chaffgo with corne the thorne grow with the Roase marrow ioyned to the bones and good men be consociat with the wicked yea and this is no small wretchednes that many times it is more hard to endure a wicked man in the ministery then all the temptations which the illuding spirit can sturre vp there Vtinam recedant qui conturbant nos Would to God sayth S. Paule such as trouble our common weale were deuided from our company the man of the Church being wicked doth this hurt in the congregation either to prouok others to sinne by his example or at least to sturre them to murmure by his vile perswasions séeing the pot that boileth to much casteth out his fatnes the troublesom sea reuerseth the ships the vyolent winde renteth vp trées by the rootes and fluddes ouer flowing their chanels spoile the corne Euen so the minister which is not studious or géeueth not himself to praier or lastly occupieth not his mind with some exercise of the hand much lesse that he preuayleth in his function but is an instrument of euil to such as he can make like to himselfe the first curse that God gaue in the world was to the enuious Cayne saying Quia occidisti fratrem tuum eris vagus et profugus super terram Séeing I haue bestowed thée vppon the earth and thou hast there defyled thy selfe with the bloud of thy Brother thou shalt haue my curse to goe as a vagabounde in the worlde and lyue discontented according to which wordes of God to Cayne I say that for a man of order it is an other Paradise the tranquillitie that he findes in the exercise of the ministery But to him that hath a will corrupted it is a Hell to be subiect in that place Sewer in good consideration there is not vnder Heauen the lyke tranquillity as to be in companie of good men and to pray to God in societie of such as be vertuous And as Christ would neuer haue giuen to Cayne so great a curse if he had not committed so vyle a Treason agaynst his brother So the Lorde neuer suffereth that any minister or man of the Church wander or go as a vagabound through the world but for

is an infallible propertie in his iustice to minister rewardes to good men aboue the rate of their merittes and prepare punishment to the wicked vnder their deseruinges And where Christ commaunds not without great misterie that we should hold in our handes our candles lighted and neither vse the seruice of the candlestick nor appoint others to hold them for vs it is to aduertise vs that if God ought to saue vs it ought to be through his great mercy onely and not by any meane of our proper merittes although in our actions we ought alwaies to expresse a holy industrie and diligence In like sort it is not enough in the profession of religion that we be girt that we haue cādles that we hold thē in our hands or that we haue many candles but it belongs to our christianitie to haue thē burning with light not as dead and stinking snuffes wher by we are warned the better were it not to enter into religiō at al if in the same we correct not the abuses of our liues gather profit by the fruit doctrine of the gospel by the example of the great prophet S. Iohn baptist being himself as the scripture saith the candle that burned gaue light are boūd al sincere vertuous religious men to take hede that they want no wax of good life to burne and be lesse replenished with vices to giue impedimēts to their lights so that no other thing is the religious man vndeuoute then a candle dead it can not by any similitude resemble a candle light but rather a snuffe troden out quenched where the man of the church hath no other good thing in him then his habit by the which he ought neuer the more to exalt or glorifie himself since afore the maiesty of God it is no no other thing to be reputed a holy man holding nothing of vertue but his habit then a candle whose light being quenched his qualitie lieth dead The virgins that had not their lamps lighted according to the iudgement of the gospel deserued not to enter with the bridgrome euenso the man by whom is not performed the dutie of a good Christian and muchlesse hath fulfilled the office of a Churchman may stande assured that when de dyeth he shall not be founde amongst those that are inuited but past ouer to the fellowship of such as are deceiued That great is the grace which God sheweth to that man whom he withdrawes from the world and reduceth into holy religion for that there is more suretie to stande and not so much subiection to fall and if he suffer him to stumble he hath appoynted him helpes to hold him vp and many readie meanes to repentance Since that in the Church he hath more oportunitie to serue God and lesse occasion to commit sinne And albeit being compounded vpon humors and complexions of corruption we cannot but erre in thinges corrupt and worldly Yet such is the care and protection of God ouer those that he loueth and hath called and chozen to the seruice office of the Church that if sometimes he suffer them to fall the better to make them know him it is not without the readie assistance of his hand to helpe them essoones to ryse agayne Yea he seldome suffereth them to slyde into such faultes as may geue him occasion to be angrie with them Therefore who vnder the habite of religion riseth into a minde of Pryde Ambition Epicuritie or Malice is amongest the children of God the same that Satan is to all Christians Dathan amongest the Jsraelites Saule amongest the Prophets and Judas amongest the Apostles Wherein let all men be warned that haue will to enter into Religion that afore they séeke it they may know wherefore they follow it since for no other cause ought they to come to the cōmunion of Religion but to amend and reforme their liues For albeit the sinceritie of Religion receiue great sinners yet it is with no tolleration to commit heynous Crimes after they be inuested What other thing is ment by that Discipline of the Scripture wherein the Lande of Promise for traueling in small labors on the Holydayes they were commaunded to be stoaned But that to the man of the Church sinning lightly in Religion was merit of great seueritie punishment for that a small sinne committed in the world beares an estimation of a grieuous crime in the Church Take héede sayth S. Paule that you receiue not the grace of our Lorde in vaine And what other thing doth he then receiue it in vaine who makes no reckoning of his election and cares not to be called to the Church and deuided from the worlde For as by baptisme we are sanctified euenso by the profession of the ministerie we are regenerat Let euerie one then take héede what it is that he takes in hande afore he beginne to manage so holy a function and whether they be professors by will or by necessitie For all religions being of the institutions of holy personages as it can not be tollerable that in their ministers be any imperfections or want of perfect deuotion and vertue So who in the habite of religion will liue prophanely or follow the libertie of the worlde in that man is no apparance of reformation and lesse argument of fayth or vertue And therfore in the church for some perticuler mento be more exempt and priuileadged then others or to aspire aboue the congregation and communitie of the Church in any priuat or familiar prerogatiue although it may be suffered for a time yet religion can not holde it tollerable long For no more then the Sea can beare bodies that be dead no more hath the Church a nature to brooke in her ministers mindes of Ambition and Pryde for which cause it is called order as wherein are conteined all thinges well ordered which without this order cannot but beare to cōfusion Who hath once taken the habite of religion and will still continue entangled with the customes of the worlde and exercise his minde in vanities can not but breake the statutes of Religion and stande in perill of infidelitie since the doctrine of the gospell and the libertie of the world could neuer holde societie or fellowshippe together A discourse in the presence of a great assemblie of Noble Ladyes of the good and euill that the tongue doth Mors et vita in manibus linguae IF to men of the worlde were power of election to demaunde the thinges they desire most afore all other temporall felicities they would require to liue long And if on the other syde they had libertie to contesse what thing in the World they abhorred most who doubtes not but all men loth nothing more then to dye Wherunto there is to be made this readie reason that as liuing they enioye that they haue and dying they leaue to be that they are So with life all things are remedied by death there is nothing which hath not end

and worthie Charitie the same being well expressed in the day of his Passion when neyther the tormentes of his bodie nor the wickednesse of his People could restraine the course of his great loue wherewith he Prayed for such as Crucifyed him and pardone those that offended him Yea he prayed not onely for his Apostles and Disciples but also for all the faythfull that beléeued in him and loued his Father with whom as he was one selfe thing in Diuinitie so he prayed to his Father that all such as beléeued might be in him one body misticall through Charitie Great was the loue of Iesus Christ in the wordes of his petition to his Father séeing that albeit we were not then borne no nor our farre auncient Fathers yet he besought his Father in great feruencie for the estate of all his Church euen no lesse then for those that dyd communicate with him in the Supper So that as he dyed for all so he prayed for all By which we haue good reason to beléeue that séeing be remembred vs afore we came into the world he will also kepe care ouer such as are employed in his seruice If Christ had not loued vs with that Charitie and prayed for vs in such feruencie of zeale what had become of vs Sure if there be in the Church of God at this present any obedience patience charitie humilitie or any abstinence or continencie it ought all to be atributed to that loue which Christ expressed in the prayer that he commended to his Father for vs Redéeming with his bloud our disfauour and with his praier he restored vs eftsoones to an estate of Grace and reconcilement To loue those that are present and such as are absent to beare affection to the Quicke and remember such as are Dead happeneth often is naturall but to loue such as are to come and not yet borne is a zeale that neuer was hearde of but in the person of our Redéemer who prayeth for such as liue wickedly and loueth good men although they are not yet borne In worldly thinges so straight is the copulation and vnitie betwéene lyfe and death loue and hate him that doth affect and the thing affected that al takes end together and in one houre But to the frendship that Iesus Christ beares vs belonges an other qualetie for that his loue tooke beginning afore the foundation of the world and will not ende no not at the day of iudgement In this Letter is debated the difference betweene a seruaunt and a frende FInding in your last Letter more matter worthie of rebuke then méete to be answered I am bolde to geue you this Councel that in causes of importance the Penne is not to bée vsed afore the matter be wel debated lest others take occasion to iudge of your domges and your selfe be denied of that you demaunde This is also to bee obserued in speaking to any personage of estate wyth whom we ought not to Communicate but with feare reuerence and modestie By your Letter you wishe me to be your Mayster and withall would chuse me to be your frende Two estates no lesse different in qualitie then incompatible in one person and most vnlyke in office for that a frende is chosen by wil and a Mayster is taken by necessitie A frende will consider but a Mayster must be serued A frende geues of liberalitie but a Lorde demaundes by authoritie a Mayster hath libertie to be Angrie but it belonges to a frende to suffer And a frende pardoneth but a Mayster punisheth So that the comparison béeing so different it cannot be possible that being your Master I should beare vnto you the due respects of a frende since if I be your Mayster you are bounde to serue me feare me follow me and obey me Offices preiudiciall to the prerogatiues of a frende and against the laws of that libertie and frée souereignetie which the hart of man desireth To require me with such rashenesse to be your frende is sure to demaunde of me the most precious Iewell I haue in the worlde For to be your frende is to binde me to loue you all my lyfe deuiding my hart into youres and making you euen an other moytie with my selfe true frendship being none other thing then an vnfayned consent of will and affections and a transportation of two hartes into one bodie And therefore two frendes if they will loue and liue in the true obseruations of frendship ought to speak but wyth one Tongue and loue with one harte yea they ought to Communicate together in one substance and rate of lyfe and not grudge to suffer in common one perculier and singuler death Amongest frendes what is suffered of the one ought not to be intollerable to the other and albeit their thoughtes be proper to themselues yet their persons their goodes and fortunes ought alwayes to be common One frende ought not to say to an other I will not or I cannot since it is principall priueleadge in frendship to finde nothing impossible Therefore who ioynes in frendship with an other bindes himselfe not to denie the thing that he demaundes nor to vse excuse in any thing that his frende requires him to doe since in this consistes the full office of frendship to owe to our frendes euen our selues and all that we haue By the Councell of Seneka the wise and discréete man ought to admitte but one frende forséeing withall as neare as he can to haue no enemie at all For sayth he if there be daūger in enemies there can be no suretie in the multitude of frendes since in respect of their nomber they bréede difference of consent and will with varietie of condicions and where is no conformitie of manners there can be no perfection in frendship So straight is the rule of frendship that of many that professe liberall affection there are fewe that performe it being an office perticuler to the Children of vanitie to haue readie tongues to promise and slowe handes to performe True frendes are bounde to féele the aduersities of their frendes with no lesse affection then if they had proper interest in them yea it belonges to them to minister remedie to their necessities and geue comfort to their miseries estéeming it to apperteine to their dutie to communicate in all the fortunes of their frendes The same agréeing with the resolution of Eschinus the Philosopher who being asked what was the greatest perplexitie of this lyfe aunswered that to loase thinges which we haue got with paine and to be deuided from that which we loue are the greatest afflictions that can trauell a humaine minde The frende whom we chuse ought aboue all other thinges to be discréete to the ende he may Councell vs and of habilitie and wealth the better to administer to our necessities and lackes For other wayes if he beare no aduise and iudgement wée shall want Councell to gouerne our prosperitie and if he be pore what meane is there to

in these wordes O Tamus when thou shalt ariue at Salus nere to the I le of Corfu tell them that their great God Pan is dead All the Nauie fell into greate feare and trouble of minde with the sounde of the voyce and consulting what was to be done Tamus to whom was committed the confidence of the message resolued that if the winde serued he would passe by the place assigned by the voyce without saying any thing giuing no other credit to it then as a vision or illuding suggestion but if the winde sayled then he promised to performe the imbassage Accordinge to which resolution the wynde abating he was dryuen to rest at anker euen in the same place Tamus standinge vppon the vppermoste hatches of the shippe began to erye with a loude voyce The great God pan is dead He had no sooner ended his spéeche but there were heard generall lamentations sighes sorrowes skrikinges with straunge and wonderfull voyces and that in maruelous multitudes This accident was forthwith caried to the knowledge of Tyberius the Emperour who raised all possible diligence to vnderstand what might that GOD Pan be that they sayde was dead wherein the wisemen and wysardes of that time aunswered him according to their superstitions and vaine coniectures This Pan was a God which the gentiles worshipped there being many other Gods of that name And this happened about the time of the passion of Christ as may be gathered by the yeares of the raigne of Tyberius the Emperour In déed Pan in gréeke signifieth al. Wherevpon many do gather that al this was spoken of the death of Iesus Christ true God and lord ouer al things But because the gentiles held Pan for a God there is good congruency to take the death of this Pan for the spiritual death of the Prince of deuilles for the destruction of his kingdom and the ruin of his errours by the which he hath kept in captiuitie all mankind To this are conformable the noise and voyces of the spirites complayninge and lamentinge the ruin of their Prince and his spirituall death being nowe made naked of the strength and forces wherwith he oppressed and vexed mankind The same author affirmes that about the same time one Demetrius passing by the yles Orcades neare to England was tolde that not long since there was heard great whispering and howlings in the ayre and many fearefull thinges séene the wyse men of those Ilandes construing those prodigious things to the death of some great god which opinion hath some reference with the iudgemēts of the other woonders But these strange sights significatiōs in the world interpret in true testimony and iudgement the strangnes of the death of our souiour Iesus christ and of the victories which he hath obtained together with his triumphant glory The third testimony we may draw from Traian the Emperour a Prince Pagan albeit much resolued into pagancy a great persecutor of the christians yet so qualified by the truth of the gospel that he was constrained to moderate his crueltie though not so much as he ought yet so farre as ministred ease to the godly Plinius Secundus established hys deputie in Asia against the christians aduertiseth the Emperour that he founde no other ill in the christians but that they made certaine assemblies not to erect any Monopolie nor to commit theft nor to vse ribaldrie nor practise deceit not to desier the goods of others nor to execute any vylanus act only the cause that they assembled together was to communicate in common and necessary actions as to eate drinke together offring no hurt or preiudice to any That which hée found most wicked ill in them was that they were adicted to a certain superstiton not declaring it and so concluded that there was no ill in them This was in the beginning of our christian religion yet in that time the professors of it were bitterly persecuted But notwithstādinge they were accused and suffred imposition of great Crimes yet when they came to the triall and proofe no small matter amongst people Pagans they were holden so guiltles that euen their ennemies gaue testimony of their innocency the Deuill notwithstanding keping them so blinde that they had no iudgement of that which they did nor vnderstood what they pursued and much lesse knew what they were whom they caused to die so cruelly Plinie foūd thē not culpable in any thing except a certain superstition and yet without an apparance of il he estéemed it superstition to beléeue that one man dead on the crosse was the sauiour of all men not considering further the groundes of this religion The assemblies they made were chiefly to celebrate the sacrament of the supper which contained a greater mistery then Plinie could finde out But the Emperour hauing this aduertisement from his deputy forbad ani more to enquire against christiās willing notwithstanding that such of them as were attainted conuinced should be punished corrected Tertulian deriding this edict exclaimes against it saying oh ordenance confused foolish he forbids inquisition because they be innocent and yet leaues liberty to chastise them as offendours in one instant he pardonith and yet he is cruell he confesseth innnocencie and yet dissembleth it if he will punish them why defendes hee information against them And if hee will not haue them enquired vpon why doth he not absolue them There are established in euery Prouince prouostes to apprehende and imprison théeues robbers and euery one hath liberty to kill a publike enemie and to execute such as the lawe hath conuict of treason But alone touching the christians it is not suffred that they bee cifted as offendours and yet is it lawefull that euery one accuse them as though they bee thinges different to cutte of any one as an offendour or to present him as a malefactor Wherein thys Edicte suffereth thys contraryetie denyinge information and enquirie against the christians and yet leaues libertie to punish them if they be found guiltie For if no man informe againste a christian howe shall he be founde guiltie And in case of information what meane is there to accuse him and so consequently to punnishe him not findinge hym culpable of any thing So that the Emperour would that they were punished not as culpable but only for that they were Christians In all which as may be discerned the testimony which the firste Christians had of theyr proper ennemyes together with the simplycitie of the statutes by whose meane they were persecuted Euen so in all these thinges is matter tending to the aduowing and iustification of our iueice The Fourth testimonie wée may draw out of the doings of Adrian a Prince Pagan and dieng in the same superstition Who vpon the viewe and consideration of certain inhihitions deliuered to him in writing by Quadratus a Disciple of the Apostles and Aristides a Philosopher conuerted to christianitie dispatched commissioners to his proconsull of Asia enioyning him not to molest the

the punishmēt of some notable offence he hath done in the church being in the fauor of God we are come into the Church and being in his disgrace we are discontent disdained in the same wherupon it foloweth that the minister well instructed liueth alwaies content where such as are dissolute trauell for the most part in sedition and Emotion And therefore to those may we refer the malediction of Cayne who wandering prophanly from place to place séeke out new companiōs and conuersation to entertaine the time with idle and dissolute exercise and turne their function into a forme of euill life and example vpon him doth fall the malediction of Cayne in whom remaines a mind wauering and inconstant séeking change of church and cure without occasion and desireth to liue vnder new Bishops and ordinaries not with intention to amend his lyfe but to séeke out where he may liue in greatest liberty Yea such one findes no time nor place better agréeing to him then where he may liue out of subiection of superiors vpon that man is thundred the malediction to whom it is troublesome to pray greeuous to study and hatefull to instruct and preach but rather as a man repenting his vocation wandreth vp and downe ill contented shewing wycked example by his complayntes And lastly to that man is referred the malediction who is factious in his ministery at contention wyth his bishop and séekes occasions to retourne eftsoones to the worlde procuring businesse to solicyte and being denyed licence to follow his worldely causes hee is full of murmure and obteyning leaue he runnes headlong to his owne distruction The ende of this discourse rebuking such ministers as are wanderers MAny be the meanes which the Minister wythin his Church hath to serue God wythall For if the humor of Pryde reigne in him if enuie disquiet him if Gluttony tempt him if Ire prouoke him or the lusts of the flesh pricke him vices albeit hable to moue him yet of no power to make him fall neyther can he so easily resist them hauing conuersation in the world séeing he is no sooner tempted then subiect to fall The building without his couering shrinketh easily the Marrow without the bone is soone dryed vp the trée without his barke is subiect to renting and the man of the Church leauing the Church runnes easily to destruction If Dina daughter to the Patriarke Jacob had not gone from the place where her Father bestowed her neyther had Emor ben killed nor she defamed If wretched Judas had not swarued from the colleadg of Christ nor deuided himselfe from the company of the Apostles he had neuer done the sin whose vilenes caried him to a desperate death By which notable examples all men of the Churche ought to bée warned not to leaue the profession whereunto God hath called them nor to be deuided from the Companye of whom he hath made them members For that much will be to his profite the good examples which he shall take of some and of no lesse auaile the wholesome counsels which he shall giue to others By meane whereof the man of the Church deliting to wander vp and downe the world if he consider vprightly of thinges shall find that for the most part he retorneth to his ministerie more enuious more ambicious more moued more pensife and lesse deuout then when he went out and so shal he alwayes féele within his sorowfull hart great occasions of remorse and no lesse cause of complaint against himselfe Beware therefore you men of the church of the illusions of the Deuill and that he entise you not out of your ministeries vnder cooller to do some good Séeing if he once preuayle so farre as to seperate you from the fellowship of good men he will by litle and litle infect you and make you of the nomber of the wicked For the shepe that straieth from his flocke the Wolfe deuoureth him the Pigeon that flieth farre from her houfe is a pray to the Faulcon the trauailer that goeth alone is subiect to robbing the riuers that come out of the sea to the fieldes do hurt and the Minister that is deuided from his congregation beares perill of destruction Peccatum peccauit Hierusalem propterea instabilis facta est the wretched Citie of Jerusalem heaped sinne vppon sinne sayth the Prophet whereby God enioyned her to penance to be alwayes errant and a vagabond euen so then doth the Minister commit sinne vppon sinne when he forgets the profession hée hath made Retorning eftsones to the dangers of this miserable world the affliction of such men is that they liue alwayes in perplexitie neuer contented with themselues So that the seruant of God professing Religion ought withall to make this promise neuer to change it till he exchange his life neither abandoning the estate he hath taken in hand nor forgetting whereunto he is bound Assuring himselfe that where in his Ministerie he shall find tranquillitie and small occasions to sinne the world will giue him nothing but disquietnesse wyth great liberty to offende and little helpe to amende his lyfe S. John Baptist was commended of God particulerly for his perseuerance in straytnesse of lyfe and the great courage he shewed in Preaching according to this question he made to the Hebrues what are you come sayth he to see in the Desart doe you thinke that the sonne of Zachary is a willow leafe mouing with euery winde Christ commended not Saint John onely for that he went barefoot liued solytary fedde vppon Locustes ware nothing but Cammelles skinne and slept vppon thornes But he allowed his constancie for that he would neuer goe out of the Desart entring therein euen in his youth In which respect we haue to belieue that in so many yeares and in such sharpe desertes Saint John endured great hunger extreame cold many temptations gréeuous sicknesses and infinit cares Of all which afflictions Christ makes not such expresse menciō as of his vnfayned constancie many sayth the Apostle issue out of the lystes to iust and many gee to runne the caryar but in the ende he that goeth best caryeth away the pryce and who aryueth soonest gayneth the wager Euenso you ministers of the Church forget not so to runne the cariar of this mortall lyfe that you aryue in time to winne the rewarde This councell which the Apostles giueth is not of will but of necessity For that better should it be to the man of the Church neuer to haue entered religion nor taken the habyte if he perseuere not in that he hath begene and is carelesse to kéepe that hee hath promised In the last supper that Christ made wyth his Disciples after he had sayde vnto them Vos isti qui per man sistis mecum in temptationibus meis gaue them then his comfort Et ego d●spono vobis regnum Séeing you and no other haue continued wyth mée in my trauelles and troubles following mée also in my greatest daungers Bée you assured that your place