¶ THE NEW ARIVAL OF the three Gracis into Anglia Lamenting the abusis of this present Age. ¶ Esay 58.34.24 ¶ Cry now as lowde as thou canst leaue not of list vp thy voyce like a Trumpet and show my people their offencis and the house of Iacob their sinnes To his moste Louing and frendly Father V. Villiam Beeston Brewer S.B. wisheth continuall health with end-lesse felicitie WHen and at such time beloued Father I had called to my remembrance the great good wil and wished benefites proceeding from you towardes me and on my part very slenderly deserued in comparison the acquiting of suche curtesie After many inuentions had by what meanes to shew forth some such occasion howe to gratifie you as a sure shewe of obedience thereby to occasion no lesse good will to folowe then formally by you was begon And calling to ininde one of the graue sentences of Seneca which sayeth That the remembrance of benefites ought not to be forgotten and that a smal thing geuen willingly is more acceptable then great riches with euell will And that the will of the geuer and not the value of the gift is to be regarded rhese documentes and such like vrged me to deuise some thing whereby you might perceiue in me not only my obedience to fatherly parentage but also to proue such a sonne good will being first preferred to be more worthy a benefite then to haue geuen which benefite that I looke for is your continuall societye and fatherly affection to abide wyth no lesse good will then hitherto it hath bene To that end therfore I haue taken vpon me to write this worke folowing for you to loke vpon And although it seeme barren for lacke of a more furniture and altogether pore like vnto the wryter Neuertheles I hope you wil except it with no les good wil in comparison of mortall fieshe then Iesus the sauioure of mankinde who excepted the two mites put into the treasury by a pore widow being all the substance that shee had so this small worke of mine being all the substance that I possesse as touching good will haue with no les imparted the same vnto you which woorke beareth the name of the three graces Thankfulnes Plenteousnes and Liberalitie which if you peruse thorowly I doubt not but it wil content your minde so as occasion may serue to further remembrance considering that to attain vertues we haue good desire but to obtaine vices we put to all oure workes such is our corruption for the which cause euery desiring minde to obtaine knowledge oughte to take heede where vertue is to be learned for the les time man hath to liue which may be perceiued from the day of birth to the houre of death with what spede it hasteneth and the time stayeth for none to be ready prepared to the hauen of peace to the ende our mortal enemy raigne not ouer vs the more earnestly ought man in vertues study to be proceding in my louing Father therfore ler this my worke be so accepted as good wil in his continuaunce may further a greater And as concerning this already finished there can nothing be amended or rightly corrected but by that which surmouÌ„teth and is better then it as vice by vertue falshode by truthe wrong by iustice folly by wisdome ignorance by learning and such like For the which cause euery perticular being considered I doute not but that you wil as fauourably receiue this my trauaile with no les good wil then I in presuming to dedicate the same vnto you whome I account moste worthiest not for affection but for your godly life and christian religion in the which the almighty father sonne and holy ghost strengthen with continuance that bothe father and sonne by the holy ghost with father sonne and holy ghost may praise the almight in the celestial heauens worlde without end Amen Your obedient sonne Steuen Batman THE EPISTLE TO THE READER WHen and at such tyme belouid as the miserable state and maners of men were espied the vntruthes the craftie imaginacions and wicked practises of peruersse and frowarde persons TheÌ„ by diuine sufferaÌ„ce diuers learned and auncient Fathers began no soner the euils perceiued to set foorth against such their abusis with the threatnings of gods vengance for y e same diuers and sundry ensamples to the withdrawinge of such as much as in them lay from the infernall pit prepared for offence to that ende that as carefull Parents perceuing their children to wander from the line of obedience mought in time by mesurid correction bring theÌ„ from such their disorder to a better passe In which so doing although some children by ouermuch sufferance in the beginning of their enterance through induranci hardnesse of heart not only neglect theyr tymes from such obedience but also as froward Imps continew in their vngodlynesse shall for their so doing reape no lesse infamy then the Zodomits dyd who refusing the intreaty of that auncient Father Lot were consumid with Fyer or as when Moyses rebuked him that wrongid y e Hebrwe very charitably but he tooke it ill and spake iniuriustye saying bout thou kill me as thou dyddest the Egiptian c. Not far unlike are the aunswers of sundry Scctarians in these dayes who for brotherly repprehensions geueth the like answers Note hâ—w discreetly Nathan y e prophet rebuked Dauid after he had committed adoultery murder he said not angerly thou hast don wickedly but with an apt â— meete â—militude he intrappid him by the wordz of his owne mouth Steuen being with the Iewes in couÌ„sail dyd boldly reprehende them sayinge among other things Dye stiffenecked and of vnuÌ„â—â—umcised heartes and eares ye haue alwayes resisted the holy ghost as your forefathers did so do ye a worthy note to such as will enter into iudgment in matters of religion before they know what it meaneth and although that among many some may haue iudgment yet after the maner of meÌ„ it is not iustice therfore most metest to be reformed when the Thessalonians walked vnquietly y e Apostle Paul with brotherly reprehension saide vnto them why walk ye in ordinaâ—ly working not at all but being curius and busibodies and therfore he rebuked them Many diuerz and sundry ensamples ther are which moueth brotherly affection to consider such substaunce for the which cause after many auctorities vewid and diuers historis redd being moâ—id not with a few griefes to see this present tyme so alterid from kinde deuised this slender and vnfurnished woork to the profit of my Countrey yet not altogither so vnfurnished but that by diligent perusing some good thing may be founde It was good will that forced me to write according to my skill yet considering w t my selfe how far vnable I was to frame that which affection monid after good will had inforcid In remembring the Bee with the same affection went forwarde For among the Bees such
that sées and yet is blynd a dimnid sight hath shure his woes with other eake also ther sorowes do procure If euery one which seeks by gayne the commons to oppresse by cullered licence for the time mought haue the like redresse Then such procurers would shure cease plenty would beare sway which if not séen vnto in time in stead of wealth decay Let this suffice in proose do write in hope that country thine will thee regard like faithful frend as vertues lawes assigne When hatrid and necligence expellith loue and diligence powre and auctoritie regardeth not minoritie Selfe loue with Ipochrisy are frindes vnto cruelty when all these gestes in some place raignes Ere long will fall some sodayne chainge OR euer the fundacioÌ„ of the world was layed the great Elohim Iehouah Adonai Gubernator Deus or omni â—otent God When Moyses demaunded saying who shal I say hath sent me was aunswered ego sum qui sum I am that I am hath sent thée euen that most triumphaÌ„t king of kings who before al worlds saw what should insew from time to time did pronosticate by diuers and fundry his seruaunts Some Patriarks Prophets and Apostels with sundry other people out of euery nation vnder heauen aforewarning to y e rest coÌ„moÌ„ or vulgar people som by proficy or prophisy some by reuelacion some by interpretacion some by dreams some by wonderfull Prodigius and most miraculus sightes to the end that ouer what dominion Realm or cuntrey so euer any of these appeared eyther by sight in act or show by word the people in any such dominioÌ„ what soeuer mought know by such for warning to eschew those dauÌ„gerâ— y â— else might insew Dame Charities being framed froÌ„ out of y e mightie Elohim so wrought as soone as she had auctorite which was not till man was framid in liuely substaÌ„ce And theÌ„ began she to show forth the substaunce of her fundacion which was is shalbe amoÌ„g the obedieÌ„t vnto the end And those here associate were Aglaia Thalia and Euphrosine thankfulnes plenteousnes and lyberalite whereby these being settelid in man shuld yelde forth some such fruit as it had recsued to the honoure prayse and immortall fame of such a moste mercifull and heauenly father Lord and king in as much therefore as in the tyme of our forefathers longe tyme passid ther fell vppon the earth suche fluds of waters wherby the whole world was ouerspred and that al flesh died by the rage of the same sauing Noah and his famely viii sowles And wherefore bicause they regarded not neither beleued the same to insew till they saw the extremite of the flud so spéedily to ouerwhelme them all hope then frustrate and past remedy The preparinge of the Arke made them not a frayed neither the enterance of the flud for so longe as any land mountayne or hill was to bée gotten vnto so longe hoped they of safety such vayne hope deceyued them wherefore they peryshed such was the incredulite at that tyme and much worse notwithstanding former insamples in these our present tymes from after the sayde Deluuium or flud no soner being retornid to their former or preordayned course And that the Sunne Moone and Stars appeard in their pulcritude and kynde then euen in the very presence of the late slayne carcasis such showed Obliuion in the brest of Noah that after a few grapes eaten became so infebelid in the heade that most disorderly laye to the great sorow of his two sonnes Sem and Iaphet although Cham being also one of their bretheren did most vnreuerently laughe at his fathers nakidnes for the which he was a curssud When Lot through wine forgat him selfe his offence was such as mouid a parpetual remembrance to be ware Zodoma Gomorra Adama Zeboim Zoar or euer they were destroyed they had warning their of by there forefathers that perished through the flud and also by the coÌ„ming of the messengers vnto Lot The children of Israel had warning also before they fel into captiuite for as long as Ioseph gydid or gouerned Egipt vnder Pharao so long they continuid in peace and tranquilitie But there rose vp a new king in Egipt which knew not Ioseph And he sayde vnto his folke behould the people of the children of Israel are great and myghtier then wée come and let vs play wiesly with them least they multiply And lest it happeÌ„ that if there chaunce any war they ioyne themselues vnto oure enemies and fyght agaynst vs. And so get them out of the lande so the children of Israell were by the Egyptians held in bondage without mercy Behould the skill of the Egiptians they being in doute of such great increase would not suffer the Israelites no more among theÌ„ c. And yet for all that reasid not to oppresse them in such sort as this second booke of Moyses makes relacion Be it knowen vnto thée thou now florishing Anglia whom God so gyde with continuance that sence thy first a ryuall by that noble Brutus thou hast sufferid many greuous attempes And also ben subuertid by forraigne powre if thou wilt know by whom reade Robertus de Auesbury Rogerus Houenden Forsard Harding Mathae Paris Mathaei VVestomasteriensis Policronicon Supplementi Chronicarum Polidory Virgilij cum alijs The first subuercion of this eyle was by the Britans called Gigantes as of Corineus which inhabited Cornewal and such lyke of whome came our originall by successiue liue from Brute But the second ouerthrowe was by Iulius Ceasar and his Romans who about fyue hundred yeares gouernid this lande but as touching the origynall from Brute Iulius Ceaser was the first that brought the Britans in subiection and after the ende of the sayd yeres the Romaines left both tribut and cuntry rather then to defend it agaynst the Scots Pysts The Britons were afterward conquerid by Hengist king of the Sarons vnto whom the Bretons vnaduisedly had before geueÌ„ to much entry which Sarons were afterward coÌ„querid by Svvane and other the Danes and these Danes with the Sarons Britans remayning were all conquerid by VVilliam bastard Duke of Normandy And since that time continued most victorius to the perpetuall fame of English men and long tyme may if gréedy desier be not the cause of her ouerthrow This being dewly considerid in these our present dayes would geue occasion to foresée a greate mischiefe which else ere tonge will inshew The cause is the people of foraine nations so fast do increase and the commodites of this our natiue soyle doth so fast decrease that it cannot be but that within short space Except the prudency of some foreseight al to be traÌ„sformid vpâ—down The gracis mouid me as in a dream this farforth to speak wher in is or ought both thankfulnes to God for such warning with thankefulnesse to God for so happy a prince called Elizabeth of the Debrues called Elischabeh as much to say as y e rest
of my God which when the ancient City Niniue was warned by Ionas the Lords Prophet they repentid so that they were pardonid of all their sinnes Ierico for resisting the Lord miraculusly ouerthrew as also Ierusalem the often ouerthrow of kingdoms Cities was for disobedience of the lawe contempt of the worde neâ—ligence in not looking to the same in time is so great an ensample before our eyes Caecus caecum ducit ambo in foueam cadunt which if selfe wil with laciuius lust do so blind that it cannot be espied theÌ„ Asina Balaam admonet if their remayn so much fear of gods vâ—ngans for oppressioÌ„ among such as prâ—fesse Christ and as yet deny the works therof as remayned in Balaams Asse who for fear of the Angell shronke vnder his maister theÌ„ I doubt not but euery such Christian which shall happen vppon this my trauayle shall finde no small commoditie and thereby so occasionid to pray vnto God for amendiment whereof that ere long all euill actions may be amendid which being don Vos estis sal terrae lux mundi then shall Angliae florish which God graunt to the ouerthrow of Antechrist to the setting home of those Strangers whose coÌ„ming is neither for the loue of the Gospell nor obedient of Lawes but such as haue coÌ„mittid murder hourdome thefte and obstinate Papists as diuers honest and godly persons of their owne natiue counteris haue testified not with rigour but by fauor not of pretendid force but by princly auctorite Ex fructu arbor cognoscitur So God graunt in time an effect Laâ—brymae Crocâ—dil caucto ¶ In these three principall vertues are contayned the liberalitie of a Christian thankfulnesse plentiousnes liberalitie FRom Ioue the iust I Aglaia am a grace of liuely hew which being placed in mortal wight such sight may nâ—t me vew As carnall man by shewes of loue in armes them imbrace no such am I of substance sure but aye a liuely grace Not séene nor felt so pure am I I let you vnderstand a thousand bodies I possesse in euery soyle and land With thousand thousands to the same as proofe ful wel doth showe in euery wight which séekes by right all euils to forgoe Aglaia she doth doceate when good of frindes they gayne with thankfulnes to yelde dewe prayse and to acquite with 〈◊〉 How to deuise by mindfulnesse to make dewe recompence gainst such as they offendid haue and that with diligence And those to whom we haue done ill is sure the persons thrée Father Sonne and holighost one perfit god we sée By whose great prudency and skill the world framid so with euery vitall thing ther in the Hart the Hynd and Ro The byrds which suore in ayery sky twixt cloud earth so gréene a liuely show to earthy wight most comely to be séene The creping worme the beasts likewise some sauage ferce tame not one of these that liues one earth but Adam gaue a name By means wherof they knowen are now their force their might strength so by maÌ„ in these our daies are brought to thral at length The hugy Whale with mighty fish in showles after their kind subdewed are by mans deuise thus natures are assinde The DragoÌ„s ferce y e Serpent stroÌ„g with tongue téeth doth sting by means of hearb y e grows one earth which vertue forth doth bring To cure such sore to seace the payne agayne to bring to ease those persons as infectie are I plenty do apease What had bin growing on the earth or wher had earth now bene if plenty had not so possest why nothing had bin séene Ere that the world framed was a nothing did remayne then naught at all of truth appeard this proueth very playne Till mighty Ioue by word so willed an earth straight to apéere that being done with splendent shine of ayre substance cléere With Sun and Moone with glitering stars the heauens to adorne diuisions then twixt day tide the Moone the night the morne Then Ver the spring appearid so by helpe of Titans grace whose gliding beams by moisterid heat grene herbs brought forth a pace Which being done dame Aestas shée to hasten the effect the dearling â—eare of Aglaia still no time did not neglect But laborid so till that she had her Messis louer trew among the Siluan shrudes him found the ripenid frutes to vew Therby to saue each growen increase ere Hyems did appere commaunding Autum to make haste as time doth so require That plenty grow may on the earth as god hath so decréed and why because that man on earth thereon may dayly féede To learne likewise of Copia shée wher aboundance is of store two féebler sort of brethren ours we do augment the more For as the winters force is such when Libbes his strength extends to ouerthrow that former grew and stiffenid trées then bends So will the lord our god in déede cut of such cankered wéeds as will and do refuse to help the poore with friendly déedes And as by force of sharpenid windes dame Glacie beareth sway yet heat of Sunne doth force to yeld and so consume a way So shall those gréedy grashops they that Egipt did possesse be forcte againe from thence to flye perhappes with out redresse If that they do not so relent as christian lawes requier with Pluto be in fernall hel sure paid shalbe their hyre Vlisses he hath sayled so long in vaine delight and lust that all his men transformid are to beastly shape vniust Some to Wolues which do deuoure and some to Vipers kind which doth consume each other so that small is left behind Some to swyne which dayly swelles one delicates so fine and like the master Dog doth byte when other fayne would dine To gredy dogs some likened are which kéepes the Neat froÌ„ hay and yet them selues reaps small increase as gredy guts beares sway Like foxes other some ther bée which through craft and goyle by vsery in watching steps their brother séekes to spoyle Deuising how by cautall such so lurking in their den to dispossesse the sely sort Foxes false no men Among the rest great Apes I saw which pleased Vlisses best with frisking gamboles twixt the roopes dayly so were prest Who Cimia hyght with voice did speak which when I did perceue I ceased not till that I had withdrawen him by leue To know why those transformid were and do continew still whose answer was by Ioue the iust his promise to fulfill Bereft from shape through vile delite as now you may behold like to that Babilonion king as scriptures do vnfold And we as Apes among the rest such flatering mates were when in roiall courts and noble place we ruled as did men By meanes of false Ipocrisy each other do deride like Gorgons transformed were and thus like Apes we bide Briarens he our gidon is by power we rule and raigne Discordia she in Plutos cell