CHAP. I. Of the shortnesse, frailtie, and miseries of mans life.

THis present transitorie life in the Scriptures is called a Pilgrimage, Gen. 47. Sirac. 40. Psal. 1. a Trauaile, and a Waye, bicause it cōtinually pli­eth to an ende. For as they which are carried in Coaches, or sayle in shippes, do finish their voyage, though they sit stil and sléepe: euen so euery one of vs al­beit we be busied about other matters, and perceiue not how the course of our life pas­seth away, being sometime at rest, sometime idle, and sometime in sport and dalliance, yet our life alway wasteth, and we in poasting [Page 2] spéede hasten toward our ende.

2 The wayfaring man trauelleth apace, and leaueth many things behind him. In his way he seeth stately Bowers and buildings, he beholdeth them awhile, he admireth them, and so passeth from them: Afterwards he sée­eth fields, medowe, flourishing pastures, and goodly vineyards: Vpon these also he looketh a while, he wondreth at the sight, and so pas­seth by. Then he méeteth with fruitfull Or­chards, gréene Forrests, sweete Riuers with siluer streames, and behaueth himselfe as be­fore. At the length he méeteth with desarts, hard waies, rough and vnpleasant, foule, and ouergrowne with briers and thornes: héere also he is enforced for a time to stay. He la­boureth, sweateth, and is gréeued: but when he hath gone a while, he ouercommeth these difficulties, and remembreth no more the for­mer griefes.

3 Euen so it fareth with vs: One while we méet with pleasant & delightfull things, another while with sorrowfull and gréeuous crosses. But they all in a moment passe a­way.

4 In like manner, some one is cast into prison, the same is tormented, vexed and af­flicted: he is now in the brambles, and trou­blesome [Page 3] place, but he shal quickly come forth againe, and then hée will forget all his mise­ry.

5 Furthermore, in highwaies and foote­paths this commonly we see, that where one hath set his foote, there soone after another taketh his steppe, a third defaceth the print of his predecessors foot, and then another doth the like: neither is there any which long time holdeth his place. And is not mans life such? Aske (saith Basil) thy fieldes and possessions, how many names they haue now changed. In former age they were saide to be such a mans, then his, afterward anothers. Now they are saide to be this mans, and in short time to come, they shall be called I cannot tell whose possessions. And why so? Because mans life is a certaine way, wherin one suc­céedeth and expelleth another.

6 Beholde the seates of States and Po­tentates, of Emperors & Kings, how many in euery age haue aspired to these dignities? and when they haue attained them, after long labors and trauailes, in short time they are compelled to giue place to their succes­sors, before they had wel warmed their seat. Yesterday one raigned to day he is dead, and an other possesseth his throne: To morrow [Page 4] this man shall die, and another shal sit in his seat, none as yet, could therein sit fast. They all play this part as on a stage: they ascend, they sit, they salute, they descend, and sud­denly they are gone.

7 Therefore deerly beloued, mans life is a way, and a seducing way to them which forget themselues that they are Pilgrimes, and trauellers, and do stand too much vpon those thinges which are oceurrent in their iourney with long delay. For the night will come, and it wil come quickly, wherein no man can walke, and these men shal not come vnto that heauenly Hierusalem, but shall be a praie for the wilde beasts which walke in the night, and for the infernall wolues. For the which cause our Sauiour Christ crieth in the Gospel, Iohn, 12. Walke, walke while ye haue the light, lest the darknesse come vpon you.

8 There is nothing that doth so euident­ly set before mens eyes the deceits of the world, and the vanitie of thinges present, as doth the due and diligent consideration of the incertaintie, shortnesse, frailtie, and of other gréeuances, and calamities of mans life. For all humane pride, and the whole glorie and aboundance of the world, (hauing mans life for a staie and foundation) can certainly no [Page 5] longer endure then the same life abideth. Witnes the death of many thousands of late amongst vs, and let our mercifull de­liuerance neuer, O neuer be forgotten. So that riches, dignities, honors, Offices, and such like, which men here in earth haue in great regard, do many times forsake a man, he being yet aliue, and do neuer continue longer with him then vnto the graue: For then when the foundation faileth, the whole building must néeds fall.

9. These claie Tabernacles (as Iob cal­leth them) do faile daily. The Prophet Da­uid therefore compareth our life to the fat of Lambs, which wasteth away in the rosting: and to a new coate, which soone waxeth olde, and is eaten with mothes. Isai, to grasse, and the flower of the field, which to day florisheth, and to morow is cutte down and withered. Iob, to the burning of a candle, which in the end anoyeth, & then euery man crieth, Put it out. What thing els is mans life but a bubble, vp with the water, and downe with winde? What then is to be thought of hu­mane pompe and glorie, the which is more transitorie and fraile then life it selfe?

10 This consideration verelie, Hum­bling them­selues be­fore the Lord in prayer. hath o­pened the eyes of many; and hath brought to passe in them, that they begin to wonder at the common blindnes of men: the which ef­fect, that it may worke in vs, let vs call to [Page 6] minde a fewe things concerning the breuitie and miseries of mans life. And to the end our meditation may haue an order, and that we may kéepe the parts thereof in memorie, it shal principally consist vpon the words of ho­ly Iob, written in the beginning of the four­téene Chapter of his Booke, where he saith thus: Man that is borne of a woman is of short continuance and full of miseries. He shoo­teth foorth as a flower, and is cut downe: hee vanisheth also as a shadowe, and continueth not.

11 To the end we might want nothing in this description of humane calamities, it seemeth that his purpose was to begin with the verie matter it selfe, of the which man was made. For he saith not Ʋir, but Homo, that he might expresse the basenes of the mat­ter, of the which this most proude creature was made. For hée is called Homo, ab hu­mo, because he was procreated and made of the earth. Neither was he made of the best of the earth, but of the slime of the earth, (as the scripture testifieth) being the most filthy and abiect part of the earth. Among all bo­dies the most vile element: among all the e­lements the earth is the basest: among all the parts of the earth, none is more filthy and ab­iect [Page 7] then the slime. Wherefore, man was made of that matter, then the which there is nothing more vile and base.

12 And wheras he saith, that he was born of a woman, he hath in fewe words compre­hended many miseries of humane conditi­on. For first of all, our very fashioning and originall is so impure and vncleane, that it is not for chast eares to heare, but to be passed ouer in silence, as a thing most filthie & hor­rible to be tolde. This one thing I say, mans conception is so foule, that our most merci­full Lord, taking vpon him all our sorrowes and calamities, for our redemption, would in no wise beare this: & although he vouch­safed to take vpō him our humane nature, & to suffer many reproches of his enemies; as, to be mocked, blasphemed, spit vpon, bound, whipped, & in the ende most shamefully cru­cified: yet he thought it vnséeming his Ma­iesty, to be conceiued in the womb of the bles­sed Virgin Marie, after the same sinfull manner that other men be.

13 Furthermore, after that man is once conceiued, doth he not indure great calami­ties in his mothers wombe, as it were in a filthy and vncleane prison, where euery mo­ment he is in perill of his life? At the last, hée [Page 8] is borne naked, weake, ignorant, destitute of all help and counsell, not able to go, to speak, nor to helpe himselfe, all that he can do, is to cry, and that is to set foorth his miseries: for he is born to labor, a banished man from his Country, the enemy of God, in possibilitie to liue a fewe dayes, and the same fewe dayes full of miserie, deuoide of all quietnesse and rest.

14 Beholde then the very beginnings, from whence man hath his first originall, who notwithstanding thinketh himselfe to be born to pride, who mingleth and cōfoun­deth all things, who ouerturneth, troubleth, and subdueth kingdomes, he turmoyleth the seas, and thinketh not the whole world suffi­cient for him.

15 Iob saith further, that man is of short continuance. Behold another calamitie of mans bodie. The building is scarce finished, but it is readie to totter, and to fall, and sure it is ere long to fal. Man is scarce entered in­to the worlde, when as hée is admonished to remember his departure out of the same a­gaine. The dayes of man (saith the Prophet Dauid) are thréescore yéeres and tenne, Psal. 90. and though some be so strong that they come to fourscore yeeres, yet is their strength thē but [Page 9] labour and sorrow, &c. Therefore the summe of our yéeres, whereunto all do not attaine, is theéescore yéeres and ten; the stronger bo­dies sometimes continue till fourscore. From which yéeres, first of all we do deduct those yéeres which Infancie & childhood spendeth: for all that time we liue not like men, neither are gouerned with a certaine violent motion like vnto bruite beastes, which are deuoide of reason and vnderstanding. If also we take a­way that time which passeth away when we fléep (for sléeping, we liue not the life of beasts when they wake, much lesse of men) and that time will rather séeme a liuing death, then a liuely life. If, I say, we deduct all the time of childhood and sléep, that which remaineth wil scarcely amount to fortie yéeres: And of these fortie yéeres, we haue not one moment of time in such wise in our power, that we can assuredly say, that we shall not die therein. For whether we eate, drinke, or sléepe, whe­ther we be in labor, or in rest, we are alwaies in perils. Wherefore not without cause our Sauior crieth so often in the Gospel: Watch, Mar. 13. because ye knowe not the day, nor the houre. The which is as much, as if he had more plainly said, Because ye know not that hour, watch euery houre: and because ye knowe [Page 10] not that day, watch euery day: & because yée know not the moneth, and the yeare, watch therefore euery moneth and yeare.

16 And to make this matter more plain by a similitude: If thou shouldst be requested to a feast, and being set at the table, seest be­fore thée many and sundrie sortes of meate, a friende of thine secretly admonisheth thée, that among so many daintie dishes, there is one poysoned, what in this case wouldst thou doe? which of them darest thou touch, or tast of? wouldst not thou suspect them all? I think though thou were extreamely hungry, thou wouldest refraine from all, for feare of that one where the poyson is. It is made mani­fest vnto thée already, that in one of thy for­ty yeares, thy death lieth hiddē from thée, and thou art vtterly ignorant which that yeare shal be: how then can it be but that thou must suspect them all, and feare them all? O that we vnderstoode the shortnesse of our life, how great profit and commoditie should wée then receiue by the meditation thereof.

17 The Peacock, a glorious fowle, when hée beheld that comely fan and circle which hée maketh of the beautifull feathers of his taile, hée reioyceth, he ietteth, and beholdeth euery part thereof: but when he looketh on [Page 11] his féet, which he perceiueth to be black, and foule, he by and by with great misliking vai­leth his toppe gallant, and séemeth to sorrow. In like manner, a great many know by ex­perience, that when they sée themselues to a­bound in riches and honors, they glory, and are déepelie conceited of themselues, they praise their fortune, and admire themselues, they make plots, and appoint much for them selues to performe in many yeares to come: this yeare, say they, we wil beare this office, and the next yeare that: afterward wée shall haue the rule of such a Prouince: then we wil builde a pallace in such a Citie, whereunto we wil adioyn such gardens of pleasure, and such vineyardes: and thus they make a very large reckoning afore-hand, who if they did but once beholde their féete, if they did but thinke vpon the shortnes of their life, so tran­sitorie and inconstant, how soone would they let fall their proud feathers, forsake their ar­rogancie, and change their purposes, their mindes, their liues, and their manners.

18 And this breuitie and inconstancie of life is appointed vs before wee be borne. For man is scarce conceiued, when as he is condemned to death: and when he commeth out of the wombe, he cōmeth out of a prison, [Page 12] not to be frée, but to vndergoe the crosse. And we all doe tende and hasten, as it were, to death: some at one miles ende, some at two, and some at thrée, and other some when they haue gone further. And thus it commeth to passe, that some are taken out of this life soo­ner, and some tarry longer. Since then the case standeth thus, who can sufficiently won­der at our madnesse? for we are going, as it were, to the gibbet, and we dance, we laugh, and reioyce in the way, as if we were secure from all maner of euils. But we are in this error, because we know not the shortnesse of our life.

19 Here then we sée two wonderfull and monstrous things: one is, that man being scarcely borne, dieth, when as notwithstan­standing, he hath a forme & shewe of immor­talitie: other thinges how long they retaine their forme, so long they remaine: A house falleth not all the time that his forme and fa­shion lasteth: The bruite beast dieth not, ex­cept first he forgo his life, which is his forme. But man hath a forme which neuer is dissol­ued, namely, a mind endued with reason, and yet he liueth a very short time.

20 But yet there is another thing to be séene farre more monstrous in this creature, [Page 13] that whereas hée is indued with reason and counsell, and knoweth that his life is like vn­to a shadowe, to a dreame, to a tale that is tolde, to a watch in the night, to smoake, to chaffe which the winde scattereth, to a water bubble, and such like fading things: and that the life to come shall neuer haue end, and yet neuerthelesse setteth his whole mind most carefullie vpon this present life, which is to day, and to morrowe is not: but of the life which is euerlasting, he doeth not so much as thinke. If this be not a monster, I know not what may be called monstrous.

21 Thus hauing séene the shortnesse and mutabilitie of mans life, let vs now also sée the miserie thereof. Man (saith holy Iob) be­ing borne of a woman, is of short continu­ance, and full of miseries. Euery word hath a great emphasis: Hee is full of miserie, e­uen from the sole of the foote to the crowne of the head; not onely the bodie, but the mind al­so, so long as it is captiued in the prison of the bodie. Thus no place is left emptie and free from miseries.

22 Mans miseries are many and great, there is no member, no sence, no one facultie in man, so long as he is here vpō earth, which suffereth not his hell. Nay, all the elementes, [Page 14] all liuing creatures, al the diuels, yea, the an­gels, & God himselfe also, bende themselues against man for sinne. To beginne with the sence of séeing, with how many kind of fea­uers, impostumes, vlcers, sores, and other diseases is it afflicted? The volumes of Phy­sitions are full of diseases, and remedies for the same: and yet for all this, there are daily new diseases, and new remdeies found out for them: & among the remedies themselues, it were to be wished that there were one to be found, y ^t were not more vehement to vexe the sick, then the disease it selfe. Long fasting and extreame hunger, is a bitter medicin, the cutting of veines, the incision of wounds & sores, the cutting off of members, the searing of flesh and sinewes, the pulling out of téeth, are remedies for griefes & diseases, but yet such, that many had rather choose to die, then to vse these and such like remedies. Further­more, immoderate heate, excéeding cold, one while too much drougth, another while ex­cesse of moisture, doeth offende and hurt the very sence of féeling.

23 The sence of tasting is most of all troubled with hunger and thirst: and manie times medicines and meats that are bitter, sharpe, salt, and vnsauerie, do distemper it.

[Page 15] 24 The sence of smelling is compelled to endure and suffer many times al manner of stinkes, all vapors and fogges, and things of bad sent.

25 As touching the sence of hearing, what il tidings, how many cursed speakings, and iniuries doth it heare, which like sharpe swords doe pearce the heart?

26 The sence of séeing, how many things doth it beholde which it would not, and how many things doeth it not sée, which it desi­reth?

27 As for thought, how many horrible and feareful things doeth it imagine and faine?

28 What shall wée say of vnderstan­ding? to what an innumerable sort of errors is it subiect? so as it seemeth to be like vnto a little child, to whom a tedious and very hard knot to be dissolued, is deliuered, & he conten­deth what hee can to vndoe it, and when the knot beginneth in one part to be opened, hee sheweth it and reioyceth, and séeth not that the knot in the other part is more fast shutte: So in like manner, God hath made this ge­neralitie of all things, and hath set the same before mans minde to be considered, & saith, séeke and search out the reasons and the cau­ses [Page 16] of all these things, if thou canst: when as indéede the truth of the thing is more secret and profound, then mans vnderstanding, be­ing placed in the prison of the body, can reach vnto. This is the cause that the phylosophers and worldly wise men, haue fallen into so many and sundrie sects, and dissentiōs about all things, euen of least moment. And they doe so cōtend among themselues, vntill false­hoode hauing put on the habite and vizor of trueth, deceiueth them all. Hereunto accor­deth the saying of the Preacher, chap. 3, God hath set the worlde in their heart. Eccles. c. 3. v. 11. Or, God hath giuen them the worlde to dispute of, yet cannot man finde out the worke that God hath wrought from the beginning, e­uen to the end. Be not curious therfore saith Syrach, chap. 3. ver. 24. in superfluous things, for many things are shewed vnto thée aboue the capacitie of men. And yet we see, that the most ignorant do many times soonest offend herein, rushing into those matters whereof they haue no knowledge, and nothing belon­ging vnto them. They will build Taber­nacles with Peter, and lay platformes for the Church, whereof they haue no skill. Euerie common person will bée an Agryppa ouer Paul, and euery woman a Bernice, and euery [Page 17] meane person make a shoppe a Consistory to controll a State, forgetting the Prouerb, Ne sutor vltra crepidam: The shoomaker is not to excéede his pantofle.

29 But a greater miserie as yet holdeth our actiue and practising vnderstanding. For how many meanes, how many reasons and waies doth it deuise to clime vp higher, and to growe in the opinion and estimation of men. For the which cause the Prophet Da­uid in his Psalmes saith, that our whole life is like a copwebbe: For as the Spider is oc­cupied all his life time in weauing of cop­webbes, and draweth out of his own bowels those thréeds, wherwith he knitteth his nets to catch flies: and oftentimes it commeth to passe, that when the Spider suspecteth no ill, a seruant that goeth about to make clean the house, swéepeth downe both the copweb, and the Spider, and throweth them together into the fire: Euen so, the greatest part of men consume their whole time, spende all their witte and strength, and labour most painfully to haue their nettes in a readines, with the which they may catch the flies of honors and of riches. And when they glorie in the multi­tude of the flies which they haue taken, and promise vnto thēselues rest in time to com [...] [Page 18] beholde, death (Gods handmaide) is present with the broom of diuers sicknesses & griefes, and swéepeth these men away to hell fire, they being fast asléepe in the chaire of securi­tie: and so the worke, together with the workemaster, in a moment of time doe pe­rish.

30 Neither is the man of meanest ca­pacity, and of least vnderstanding, frée from miseries. Who can number the suspitions, the hatreds, the iealousies, the enuies, the feares, the desires, the vaine hopes, the gréefs and anguishes of mans mind? If he do euil, he feareth the Iudges, banishment, whip­ping, reproaches and tormentes: If hée doe wel, he feareth euil tongues. Who is able to expresse with what miserable desire all men are inflamed, in so much that no man li­uing is contented with his estate: but we are all like vnto sick men, which turmoile and tosse, first from one side of the bed, and then to the other, and yet neuer find rest?

31 After these things, behold and con­sider all ages. How weake is infancie? how ignorant is childehood? how light and incon­stant is adolescencie? how rash and confident be young men? how gréeuous and irkesome [...] olde age? What is a young boy but as a [Page 91] bruite beast, hauing the forme and shape of a man? what is a flourishing yonker, but as an vntamed horse? what is an olde man, but the receptacle of all maladies and sicknesses? And in all these ages, with how great a heap of miseries and necessities are we ouerwhel­med? We must daily eate, drink, and sleepe, we are daily compelled to serue many other necessities: and (which is much more mise­rable and vnhappy) we must of necessity pur­chase vnto our selues these occupations, with infinite labors and sweatings.

32 Now who is not astonished, if hée cōsider how al the creatures which compasse vs round about, doe bend their whole force, and fight against mankinde: as if the things which haue bene already repeated, were not sufficient to fil the bosome of mans hart with miseries? That same most cléere brightnesse which we call the Sunne, which is as a cer­taine generall father to all liuing things, doeth sometimes so scorch with his beames, that all things are parched & burnt vp with the heate thereof: at another time he taketh his course so farre from vs, that all thinges die with colde.

32 The earth also, which is the mother of vs all, how many men doth she swallowe [Page 20] vp with her downfalles, gulphes, and qua­kings?

33 And what doe the seas? how many doe they deuour? Verely they haue so many rocks, so many flats & sands, so many sirts, so many Charibdes, and so many perillous places, that it is a most harde thing of all o­ther, to escape the danger of shipwrack: and they which are most safe in the ship, haue but the thicknesse of a planke betwéen them and death.

34 What shal we say of our aire? Is it not many times corrupted? and doeth it not ingender and gather clowdes, thicke mistes, pestilences and sicknesses?

35 As for the bruite beasts, they yéeld no reuerence to man their Prince, and not only the Lyons, Beares, Tygers, Dragons, and other greater wild beastes, but the very flies also, gnats, fleas, and other of the most smal sort of liuing creatures, doe wonderfully and very vehemently trouble, vexe, afflict and dis­quiet man.

36 It were to be wished that wee had no worse enemies then the bruite beasts, and that we had no cause to stand in feare of men themselues: But these also are ful of fraudes, deceits, iniuries, euill practises, then y ^e which [Page 21] what can be more intollerable? And what meaneth so much armour, pikes, bowes, bils, swords & gunnes, with diuers other instru­ments of mans malice, doe not these destroy and consume moe men, then doe sicknesses, and diseases? Histories report, that by one onely, Iulius Caesar, which is said to haue bin a most curteous and gentle Emperour, there were slaine in seuerall battels, eleuen hun­dred thousand men. And if a man of mildnes and méeke spirit did this, what shall we looke for at the hands of most cruell men? Neither lands, nor seas, nor desart places, nor priuate houses, nor open stréetes, are safe from am­bushments, conspiracies, hatreds, emulati­ons, théeues and pyrates. Are there not vexa­tions innumerable, persecutions infinite, spoyling of fields, sacking of cities, praying vppon mens goods, fiering of houses, im­prisonments, captiuities, gally-slaueries, renegations of Christianity by torments in­forced, beside death it selfe, which men daily suffer at the hands of men? And this is that ciuill and sociable creature, which is called humane, which is borne without clawes and hornes, in token of peace and loue which hée ought to imbrace. Moreouer, not onely ene­mies, but also friends, and the mainteiners [Page 22] of peace and iustice, are fierce & cruel against men. O man, the very storehouse of calami­ties, and yet thou canst not be humbled, but art proud still.

37 Neither haue wée onely those fore­said corporal enemies which we may sée and shun: but which is more perillous, we haue also ghostly enemies, which see vs, and wée not them. For the diuels, which are most crafty, cruel, & most mighty in number, and strength, doe nothing, practise nothing, and thinke vpon nothing else, then how they may tempt, deceiue, hurte, and cast men downe headlong into hell fire.

38 The holy and blessed Angels also, do many times fight against sinful men. For who burnt Sodom and Gomorrah, with the inhabitants thereof, with fire and brimstone? The Angels. Who slew the fourescore and fiue thousand men in the hoast of Senacharib? The Angels. Who afflicted the Egyptians with al those plagues mentioned in Exodus? The Angels. Who assisted Ioshua against the Cananites and Iebusites? Gods Angels.

39 Not onely the Angels, but God him­self also, sometime shewing himself towards man as towards an enimy: which caused ho­ly Iob to say, Why doest thou hide away thy [Page 23] face, and takest mée for thy enemie? what meaneth this O lord God? Thou also which wast woont to be my father and kéeper, hast now bidden battell against me.

40 Moreouer and beside all these things, there is yet a ciuill and internall war, which man hath within his owne bowels continu­ally. For what man is he which doth not féele the striuings & contentious of his affection, will, sense, and reason? Insomuch that man himselfe doth afflict himselfe, and vnderstan­deth it not, & is a greater enemie to himselfe then any other can be. For who doth greater harme to thee, then thou doest to thy selfe? who more then thy selfe letteth thée, and tur­neth thée away from thy felicitie?

41 Who then seeth not how truely it is saide, Man that is borne of a woman is of short continuance, and full of miseries? who séeth not that man is set in the very center of the sphere, that miseries may fall vppon him from euery part; and as the white in a butte, that the arrowes & dartes of all miseries may be directed vnto him?

42 But let vs sée what followeth, Hee shooteth foorth as a flower, and is cut downe. Whereby he teacheth, that mans life is fraile and transitorie. A flower v rily is a comely [Page 24] and beautifull thing: and yet for all that, it is nothing, because ther is nothing found more fading and vanishing: Euen so man, during the time of his childehoode and flourishing youth, he seemeth to be of a wonderful come­linesse: but this beautie is of small price, be­cause it is more brittle then the glasse: for that man carrieth alwaies the cause of death in his veines and bowels.

43 Mans fading away is such and so so­daine oftentimes, that there can be no reason giuen of his death: for many haue gone to bed well in the euening, that in the morning are found dead in their beds: and many very so­dainly haue dropped down in the highwaies and streetes, as they haue walked about their affaires. And this is no woonder, if we consi­der the substance of mans body, which being a building compact of gréene clay, is easily o­uerthrowne with a small puffe of wind.

44 And how, I pray you, commeth it to passe, that clocks are so easily stopped from their course? is it not because they are made by arte and skill, with so many whéeles, that if one be staide, all the rest are letted? If this befall clockes that haue wheeles of Iron and stéele, how much more easily may it come to passe in the humane clock of life: the whéeles [Page 25] and engines whereof, are not of Iron, but of clay. Therefore let vs not woonder at the frailtie of mans body, but at the foolishnes of mans minde, which vpon so fraile a founda­tion is woont to erect and builde such lofty Towers.

45 Furthermore, there is another mi­serie which is signified vnto vs by the com­parison of a flower, namely, the deceitfulnes of mans life, the which indeed is the greatest misery: For as fained vertue is double ini­quitie, so counterfeyt felicitie is a twofolde miserie and calamitie. If this present life would shew it selfe to be such as it is indéed, the misery therof should not greatly hurt vs: But it doth now greatly damnifie vs, bicause it it is false and deceitful: & being foule, it ma­keth a very faire and glorious shew: being e­uer mutable, it will séeme to be stable & con­stant: being most short, it beareth vs in hand that it is cōtinuall, that men being deceiued, they may beléeue that they shal haue time to fulfill all their lustes, and yet time and space enough to repent them.

46 Holy Iob concludeth his sentence thus: Hee vanisheth also as a shadowe, and neuer continueth in one staie. To make this more plaine, behold and consider the ages of [Page 26] man, and thou shalt euidently perceiue the alterations of humane life. Childehoode is weake, as well in mind as in body: Flori­shing youth is weake in minde but strong in body: Ripe and manly age, is strong both in mind and in body: Old age strong in minde and weake in body: Crooked olde age, is in this twise a childe, weake both in mind and body: Therefore hée fléeth as it were a sha­dow, and neuer continueth in one stay.

47 Beside this, hée is now wise, now foolish: now merry, now sad: now in health, now sick: now strong, now weake: now rich, now poore: now hée loueth, anon he hateth: now hée hopeth, by and by hée feareth: one while he laugheth, another while he wéepeth: now he will, anon he wil not. To conclude, the Moone, nor any other thing that is muta­ble, sheweth not so many chāges vnto vs, as do the daily & almost sodaine alterations of men. And yet for all this, they liue as men in a frensie, which knowe not their miseries. And although they cannot repose their hope and assurance in the present things of this life, yet they doe not transferre and remoue the thoughts of their minde, their counselles, their works and endeudurs, vnto the happi­nesse to come. And if it were possible, they [Page 27] would make the place of their exile and ba­nishment, their Countrey and inheritance. But in vaine they desire this, for death com­meth and playeth the last Pageant, shutting and finishing the life of all calamities.

CHAP. II. Concerning Death, and the medita­tion thereof.

THe errors of al men, for the most part, take their originall frō hence, that they forget the end of their life, which they ought to haue alway before their eyes. For here-hence commeth Pride, Ambition, too much carefulnesse for the body: hereof also come these Towers, which we build vpon the sand. For if we did consider what wée should be after a few dayes, our maner of li­uing would be, parrduenture, more humble and temperate. For who would haue a high looke and proud stomacke, if hée would with the eyes of his mind behold what manner of one shortly after hee shall bée in his graue? [Page 28] Who would then worship his belly for a God, when he wayeth with himselfe that the same must in a short time be wormes meat? Who would be so in loue with money, that he would run like a mad man by sea & land, & as it were through water and fire, if he vn­derstood that he must leaue all behinde him sauing his winding shéete? If this were thought vpon, all our errors would soone be corrected.

2 The word of God telleth vs in many places of this vanitie, to the ende we might the more earnestly séeke a better course and more happy life. The Prophet desireth of God, Psal. 90. that he may learn to number his [...]aies, to the end he may applie his heart vnto wis­dome. For vnlesse wée thinke vpon death, we cannot applie and fashion our selues to a godly life. Yea we finde daily in our selues, by experience, that the forgetfulnes of death, makes vs applie our heartes to follie, and all kinde of vanity. The holy men of olde time, were wont in such wise to kéepe an account of their dayes, that aboue all things they might apply their hearts to wisedome. Of all Arithmeticall Rules this is the hardest, to number our dayes. Men can number their heardes, and droues of oxen, and of shéepe: [Page 29] they can account the reuenues of theyr man­ners & farmes: they can with a little paines number and tell their coyne: and yet they are perswaded that their dayes are infinite and innumerable, and therefore doo neuer be­gin to number them. Who saith not vpon the viewe of another, surely yonder man looketh by his countenance as if he would not liue long? or, yonder woman is olde, her dayes cannot be many. Thus we can num­ber other mens dayes and yéeres, and vtterly forget our owne. Therefore this is the true wisedome of mortall men, to number theyr owne dayes: and like skilfull Geometricians, to measure all theyr actions, all their studies, all theyr cares, all their thoughtes, all theyr desires, and all theyr counsells, by their de­parture out of this life, as by the end whereto they are referred, as it were by a certaine rule, and thereunto to direct all things: and so to finish the course of our life which God hath giuen vnto vs, that at the last we may come to the happy hauen of rest.

3 The case standing thus: we cannot, nor ought not to doubt, but that the diuell a most cruell enemy of mankind, laboreth all that he can, to take away from vs, the most whole­some remembrance of death, which by most [Page 30] euident demonstrations setteth before our eyes, the breuity of our life, the miserie of our flesh, the deceits of the world, the vanity of things present, and whereunto all humane beauty, and the vniuersall glory of the world, shall come at the last. For otherwise, how could it be, that we should at any time forget a thing so fearefull, & which by no manner of meanes we can shunne and auoid.

4 If a light suspition of some losse, ey­ther of our goods, or of honour, doth preuaile so greatly with vs, that many times it ta­keth from vs our sléepe, what might the me­ditation of most assured death doe, which is more terrible then all other terrors beside?

5 Wherefore, as they which in open games of actiuitie, as of shooting, and wrest­ling, and such like, doe long before the day come, thinke vpon the same, and doe exercise their hand & bow, spending and consuming many arrowes at the marke, that in the day of trial [...]or the best game, they may shoot née­rest the marke: and as Fencers which are to play their prizes of triall, doe daily try their strength, and exercise their weapons, ben­ding their whole minde how they may best foyle their enemies, that when the day com­meth they may haue honour and triumph: [Page 31] Euen so ought we to do, for whom a greater reward without all comparison is set, if wée die wel: and if otherwise it come to passe, wee shall be punished with vnspeakeable shame and reproach.

6 And this our meditation of death, shal be handled in no other order, then the same which our death and departure from this life bringeth with it. For as they which are to runne a race, do oftentimes lead their horses vp and downe the running place, that they may sée & be acquainted with all the stones, vneuen places, and other impedimentes in the same: that when the day commeth, they may finish the race without stay or stop: E­uen so wée, which whether wée will or no, must measure and pace the race of death, shal doe very well, if now in our mind and me­morie we frame this race, and doe diligently consider all those things which are in the same: especially, séeing the way is most ob­scure, and ful of sundry impediments, and is so perillous, that there are very fewe which finish the same happily. They which slip and stumble in it, shal neuer more find any hope of saluation.

7 Therefore, that we may begin there where this most bloody battell hath his ori­ginall, [Page 32] wee ought diligentlie to consider the same: namely, that then death doth especially come, when men doe least thinke of it. Here­vpon the Apostle Paul salth, The day of the Lorde shall come as a theefe in the night. And in the Apocalips, Beholde I come as a theefe. And théeues haue this propertie, that they breake vp houses to steale, when men are most fast asléepe, and when they least suspect any such thing.

8 Hereupon also the Prophet Amos hath these words, In that day will I cause the sun to goe downe at noone, Amos. 8. and I will darken the earth in the cleere day. That is to say, when men thinke it to bée the high noone of their age; when they thinke that they haue yet many yéeres to liue; when their minde is occupied about their gaine, about theyr af­faires, about their honors, buildings, maria­ges and pleasures: when they say vnto their soule, Soule, thou hast much goods laid vp in store for thée for many yeeres, eate, drink, rest, and be merrie: then it shall suddenly be saide vnto them, Behold death is at the doore, thou foole, this night shall thy life be taken away from thee; Eccl. 41. and whose are then those things which thou hast gotten?

9 Then death vnlooked for, frustrateth [Page 33] all our counsels, cutting off the webs of our deuises, and with on stroke she casteth down and layeth flatte on the ground, al those To­wers builded in the ayer: and then what a wound doeth the heart of the sinner receiue, which loueth this present life, when the Phy­sitian saith vnto him, Thou must from hēce­forth thinke no more of life, but of death?

10 Here first of all, all those things which he loued in time past, offer themselues vnto him, from the which he shalbe pulled a­way, and seperated by death, whether he wil or no. The body shal dye once, but the heart shal dye so often as the things be in number which he loued. Then in very déede shal the most cléere light be turned into darkenesse, because those things which were aforetime occasions of great ioy, shal be now horrible vexations and torments. It is a most swéete and pleasant thing to them which liue, to sée their louing and faithful friendes, to remem­ber their honors, to think vpon the pleasures past and to come: But all these things in the time of death, shalbe as swords, as torments, and most bitter potions.

11 But if it be so harde a matter to bée pulled away from those things which do not so néerely touch man, how bitter, I pray you, [Page 34] will the seperation bée of the body from the life and soule? For such two louing famili­ars, which haue alwaies liued sweetly toge­ther, euen from the mothers wombe, cannot be seperated without great gréef. If the Oxe do commonly lowe & mourn, when his yoke­fellow which was wont to draw with him is taken away, how will euery one of vs mourn when the minde shal be seperated from the body? Then wil the body and the mind with teares repeate againe and againe, doest thou thus seperate bitter death? O death, dost thou thus seperate?

12 And when the cogitation of so sharp a seperation is déeply setled in our mind, then gréefes follow gréefes, and sorrow commeth vpon sorrow: for then it commeth presently into the minde, what a miserable condition the body and soule shalbe in after the sepera­tion. And first of all, when a man beginneth to recount with himselfe, that his body after a fewe houres, shall be buried in a graue, or dark tombe, he cannot cease from wondring at so abiect and miserable a condition. What? the body that now liueth, which seeth, which heareth, whith speaketh, shal it be made (af­ter one houre, in a moment) blinde, deaffe, dumbe, without sense, without spirit, without [Page 23] life? Shal I haue then in stead of a large pallace, a base sepulchre? in stead of a soft bed, the hard ground? for delights, rottennesse? for swéete smelles, stinkes? and in stead of ser­uants and familiar fréends, wormes? And thus this cogitation of the graue will verie sore trouble and terrifle a man in these extre­mities.

13 But yet notwithstanding, euery man feareth much more when he beginneth to consider what condition remaineth for the soule. For when he beholdeth that eternity, and that new Region, vnknown to all men liuing, which hée then alone and naked is to enter: and againe, when he vnderstandeth, that there is to be founde in the same, both euerlasting glorie, and perpetual paine and misery, and knoweth not of which hée shal take his part: it cannot bée tolde, with how great feare, with what carefulnes, and with what excéeding sorrow he shalbe tormented. When hée perceiueth plainly that after two houres he shaibe either in eternal ioyes, or in euerlasting paines: Is not this a crosse farre surpassing all other crosses?

14 This incertainty therefore of blisse, or of a cursed estate, which after two houres the sinner expecteth that remembreth his [Page 36] sinnes, & feareth the iust iudgement of God, without hope of remission or faith in Christ) bringeth a hell in minde not to be expressed. For by how much the kingdome which hée desireth is of largenes, and by how much the fierie furnace which he feareth is terrible, by so much greater shal this perturbation be. For from the one, Angels shal come, to carie the faithful vp into heauen: and from the o­ther, diuels shal come, to cary the wicked and infidels into hell fire.

15 But there is yet a farre greater per­turbation then this: namely, that he shal cal to mind the account which he is to make to God, of all his words, déedes, and thoughts. For of it selfe it is a horrible thing to enter into iudgement with God: the which horror wil wonderfully vexe and disquiet the diuels themselues. For as, so long as we liue they set forth vnto vs the mercie of God, and doe also commend the same, and do striue all that they can, to keepe vs from meditating of his iustice and iudgements: Euen so now on the contrary part, they extenuate and make his mercy insufficient, and doe set before our eies the greatnesse and seuerity of the Lords Iu­stice.

16 Then the sinner wil begin to trem­ble, [Page 37] and to fall into desperation, and wil be­gin to reason thus with himselfe: ‘If God for the sinnes of others spared not his onely sonne, wil he spare me which am guiltie of so many sinnes? If this be done in the greene tree, what shal befal that which is feare and drie? If the Prophets, if the Apostles, if the Martyres, after they liued godly so many yeares, entred not into the kingdome of hea­uen without tribulations, what other place can be left for me, but that of hell fire, which know no good that I haue done?’

17 ‘If the Scripture be true which saith, He wil render to euery man according to his works, I which haue done so great wicked­nesses, what should I looke for but eternal torments? If the Apostle lye not (as indéede he doth not) when he saith, That which a man soweth, that shall hee reape, Gal. 6. what shal hée reape but eternall death, which hath made so cursed sowing?’ If no polluted thing shal en­ter into the kingdome of God, how shal I which am altogether filthy and vncleane, haue hope to make so happie and blessed an entrance?

18 Then therefore all his sinnes, which he committed with so great facility when hée liued, shal violently inuade the sinful man [Page 38] like an hoast of his enemies. Then the feare of punishment wil open the eyes, which slée­ping securitie in sinne, before had shut. Then ambition, pride, thefts, murthers, adulteries, fornications, gluttonies, drunkennesse, lying, periurie, idle words, vncleane thoughts, and negligent slacknesse in all good workes, wil come to remembrance. O how heauy & grée­uous wil they then séeme to bée, which now séeme so light, and are done with so much swéetnesse and pleasure? And how greatly wil they then torment the mind of the Sin­ner?

19 For who is able to expresse that last agonie, wherein the soule fighteth with sore and paineful sicknesse, with the temptations of diuels, with feare of the iudgement to come, and al this at one instant? Then com­meth that same last perturbation, the failing of all the sences, as the forerunner of death approaching, which vehemently terrifieth: at what time the breast swelleth, the spéech groweth hoarse, faint, and hollowe, the eyes sinke, the nose beginneth to be sharpe, the countenance waxeth pale, the féet die, and the Arteries send forth a colde sweat.

20 These thinges which appeare out­wardly are grieuous and ful of horror: but [Page 39] they are without al comparison, more grée­uous and horrible which are felt inwardly. For if they (as Saint Hierome writeth of blessed Hilarion) which haue many yeares serued God, doe feare at the time of their de­parture, what shal they doe which many yeares haue serued the diuel, and their exe­crable wickednesses, and which haue prouo­ked God vnto wrath? Whither shal they go? whose help shal they craue? what counsel shal they take? If they looke vpwarde, they shal sée the drawne sword of Gods Iustice? if downeward, they shal sée a great gulfe ga­ping, and hel fire: if the time past, they shal sée al things vanished away like a shadowe: if the time to come, they shal beholde the e­ternitie of worldes, which shal last without ende.

21 But how I pray you shal they be a­ble to resist and abide the assaults of the Di­uels, who wil then bestir them with all their might and maine? What shal sinful men doe which are left in this state? Returne they cannot, and longer to abide in this state, wil not be permitted them.

22 O that we might vnderstande and knowe what manner of battel this is, and what maner of burthen is to be borne in this [Page 74] houre: we would then verily be other man­ner of persons then heretofore we haue bene. Al these things Faith teacheth, Nature pro­claimeth, Experience testifieth, and it is eui­dent to euery one of vs, that we shal come vn­to that state, wherein we wil desire with all our heart, that wée had brideled our selues from al wickednesse, that we had exercised al the works of vertue, that we had liued in all holines, and not spent our time in vaine. Let vs not imitate foolish men, which looke vpon present things onely: let vs wisely prouide for things to come, & so by the grace of God we shal bring to passe, that the same houre which to others is the beginning of sorowes, to vs shal bée the beginning of ioy and feli­citie.

23 Thus farre wée haue shewed what may befal a man at the point of death, vntil the moment of his departure: now let vs sée how the body is bestowed after the horrible seperatiō of the life from the same. The soule therefore being dissolued, there lyeth vppon the ground, not a humane body, but a dead carkasse, without life, without sense, without strength, and so feareful to looke vpon, that the sight thereof may hardly be endured. To be short, it is little better (as touching the [Page 41] substance) then the body of a horse, or a dog, which lieth dead in the fieldes, & al that passe by stoppe their noses, and make hast away, that they be not annoyed with the sight and stinke thereof. Such is mans body now be­come, yea though it be y ^e body of a monarch, emperour, or king. Where is now that Ma­iestie, that Excellencie, that authority which it had aforetime, when men trembled to be­holde it, and might not come in presence therof without al reuerence and obeysance? where are al those things become? were they a dreame, or a shadow?

24 After these thinges the funeral is prepared, the which is al that men can carry with them, of al their riches and kingdomes: and this also they should not haue, if in their life time they did not appoint it for their dignitie and honour. Psal 49. For the Prophet Dauid saith truly, Bee not thou afraid though one bee made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased: for hee shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shal his pompe follow him.

25 Here now a pitte is digged, seuen or eight foote long, as if it should serue for Alex­ander the great, whom the world coulde not conteine: and therin the dead carkasse is con­tented [Page 42] to dwell alone continually, the which so soone as it is come, the wormes doe wel­come, and the bones of other dead men are constrained to giue place.

26 In this house of perpetuall obliuion & silence, the carkasse being wound in a shéet, and bound hand and foote, is shut vp, though it néede not to haue so great labour bestowed vpon it: for it would not runne away out of that prison, though the hands and féet were loose.

27 And now, if we do but consider a lit­tle of the Tombes and Sepulchres of Prin­ces, and Noble-men, whose glory and maie­stie wée haue séene when they liued here in earth, and doe beholde the horrible formes and shapes which they now haue, shall wée not cry out as men amazed, Is this that glo­ry? is this that highnes and excellencie? whi­ther now are the degrées of their waiting ser­uants gone? where are their ornaments and ieweis? where is their pompe, their delica­cie and nicenes? Al these things are vanished away like the smoake, and there is now no­thing left but dust, horror and stinke.

28 But now leauing the body in the graue, let vs consider how the soule entereth into the new world. Therfore so soone as the [Page 43] soule of the sinner is dissolued from the flesh, it beginneth to passe through a Region vn­knowen, where there are new Inhabitants, and a new manner of liuing. What then shal the miserable & sinful Pilgrime do, when he shal sée him selfe alone in such an vnknowen Region full of horror? How and by what meanes shall he defende himselfe from those most fierce théeues, and horrible monsters, which in those vast desarts do assaile passen­gers? This verily is a fearefuli iourney.

29 And yet the iudgement is much more fearefull, which in that place is exercised. Who is able to expresse the vprightnesse of the Iudge, the seueritie of the iudgement, the diligence of inquisition, and the multitude of witnesses?

30 In this iudgement teares will not preuaile; praiers will not be heard; promises will not be admitted; repentance will be too late; and as for riches, honorable titles, scep­ters, and diadems, these wil profit much lesse. And the Inquisition shal be so curious & di­ligent, that not one light thought, nor one idle word (not repented of in the life past) shall be forgotten. For trueth it selfe hath saide, not in iest, but in earnest, Of euery idle word which men haue spoken, they shall giue an [Page 44] account in the day of iudgement.

31 O how many which now sinne with great delight, yea euen with gréedines, as if we serued a God of wood, or of stone, which seeth nothing, or can do nothing, wil be then astonished, ashamed, and silent. Then shal the daies of thy mirth be ended, & thou shalt be ouerwhelmed with euerlasting darknes, and in stead of thy pleasures, thou shalt haue euerlasting torments.

When Ieremy had imbraced all the cala­mities and sinnes of the Iewes, at the last he imputed al to this; She remembred not her end: Lam. 1.9. So if I may iudge why na­tural men care for nothing but their pompe, why great men care for nothing but their honour and dignity, why couetous persons care for nothing but their golden gaine, why voluptuous Epicures care for nothing but their pleasure, why the pastor careth not for his flocke, nor the people for their pastor: I may say with Ieremy, they remembred not their end. When Salomon had spoken of al the vanities of men, at last he opposeth this memorandome as a counterpoyse against them al; Remember that for all these things thou shalt come to iudgement: as if he should haue said, men would neuer speake as they [Page 45] speake, think as they thinke, nor doe as they doe, if they were perswaded, that these thoughts, words, and déedes, should come to iudgemēt. What if we had dyed in the daies if our ignorance, like Iudas that hanged him­self before he could sée the passion, resurection, or ascension of Christ Iesus? we should haue numbred our dayes and our sins too: but alas how many dayes haue we spent, and yet ne­uer thought why any day was giuen vs? but as the old yeare went, and a new come, so we thought that a new would follow that: and so wee thinke that an other will followe this: and God knoweth how soone we shal be de­ceiued, for so they thought too, that are now in their graues. O deare brethren, this is not to number our dayes, but to prouoke God to shorten our dayes; I that writ this, thou that readest this, & all you that heare this, which of vs haue not liued twenty yeares, yea and some thirty or forty, and happily some many more; and yet we haue neuer applyed our hearts aright vnto wisdome. O if wee had learned but euery yeare one vertue since we were borne, we might by this time haue bin like saints among men; whereas if God at this present time should cal vs to iudgement, it would appeare that we had applyed our [Page 46] heartes, our mindes, our hands, and féet, or tongues: yea & our whole bodies to riches & pleasures, to lying and deceiuing, to swea­ring, and forswearing, yea and to all kinde of sin and wickednesse, but to true vertue and wisdome, we haue not applyed our heartes. God of his mery giue vs grace to sée our for­mer sins, truly to repent vs of them, and to amend our liues hereafter, that we may liue with him for euer. Surely if man could per­swade himselfe that this were his last day, as it may be if God so please, he would not defer his repentance vntil to morrow. If he could thinke that this is his last meat that euer he shal eate, he would not surfet: if he could be­léeue that the words which he doth speake to day, should be the last words that euer hee should speake, he would not offend with his tongue in lying, swearing, and blaspheming: if he could be perswaded that this were the last lesson, the last admonition, or the last sermon that euer God would affoord him to cal him to repentance, hee would reade it, or heare it, with more diligence then euer he hath done before. O I beséech you remember your selues while it is to day, lest you repent [Page 47] your selues when it is too late: of all we that be here, which of vs can assure our selues of life til to morrow? or what if we should liue thrée, foure, or fiue yeares, or what if twenty yeares, who would not liue like a christian twenty yeares, to liue in heauen with Christ eternally? we can be content to serue seauen yeares prentise, with great labour and toyle, to be instructed in some trade that we may liue the more easily the rest of our dayes, and we must labour notwithstanding after­wards: and can we not be content to labour in the things of God a little while, that wée may rest from our labours euer after. Christ said to his disciples when he found them slée­ping, could yée not watch one houre? so I say vnto you, and to my selfe, can we not pray, can we not fast? can wee not suffer a little while? he which is tyred, can trauaile a little further, one steppe more to saue his life: and therefore God would not haue men knowe when they shall dye, because they should make ready at all times, hauing no more certainty of one houre then an o­ther.

32 Séeing therefore the case standeth [Page 48] thus, let vs looke to our selues, and let vs take counsel of him, which would be an Aduocate before he be a Iudge: For no man knoweth so wel what is necessary for vs against that day, as he that shalbe the Iudge of our cause. Hee therefore cryeth thus vnto vs. Iohn. 12. Mar. 13. Luke. 12. Walke while yee haue the light, least the darkenesse come vpon you. Take heede, watch and pray, for ye knowe not when the time is. Be ye like men waiting the comming of their Lorde; &c.

33 They that thus watch and waite, are sure to make a most ioyful departure frō this life, and to be receiued into the Lordes ioy, of the which happy dissolution the scrip­tures thus record: I am now ready to bee offered, and the time of my departure, or dissoluing, is at hand. I haue fought a good fight, and haue finished my course: I haue kept the faith: Hencefoorth there is laide vp for mee the Crowne of righteousnesse, &c. 2. Tim. 4.6.

As the Hart brayeth for the Riuers of water, so panteth my soule after thee, O God. My soule thirsteth for God, euen for the li­uing God▪ when shal I come and appeare before the presence of God? Psalme 41.1.

The righteous shall liue for euer: their re­ward also is with the Lord, and the most high hath care of them. Therefore shall they re­ceiue a glorious kingdome, and a beautifull crowne of the Lords hand: For with his right hand shall he couer them, and with his arme shall he defend them. Wisdome, Chap. 5.15.

Bring my soule out of prison, that I may praise thy name, Psal. 142.7.

I desire to be losed, and to bee with Christ, which is best of all, Philip 1.23.

Reade also the fifth Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, the first and se­cond verses.

And let these things be oftentimes thy meditation and standing, that so despising the things of this transitory life, and pacing thy steppes in the path-way to felicitie, thou mayest at the last, obtaine the reward which our Sauiour Christ hath promised, Come ye blessed of my Father, &c. Which Lord for thy mercie sake graunt vs, Amen.

CHAP. III. Concerning the generall day of Doome.

FOrsomuch as the feare of the Lord is the begin­ning of wisedome, and al for the most part are re­strayned from sinne and wickednes, by the feare of punishment & paines, and are brought to a good mind and purpose, they which exclude this feare out of their hearts, doe shut vp against themselues the true and wholesome repentance. For as the Scripture testifieth, the feare of the Lord ex­pelleth sinne, and he which is without feare cannot he iustified. August. in Ioan. Tract. 9. The which S ^t. Augustine by a very proper similitude setteth foorth: If there be no feare, there is no entrance for loue: euē as we sée when a man soweth, the thréed is brought in with a néedle, the néedle first entereth, but except the néedle goe out also, the thréed followeth not: Euen so, feare first possesseth the minde, but feare remaineth not there alone, because it therefore entred to bring in loue. Wherefore to awake vs slée­ping [Page 51] in sinnes, and to ingender feare in our minds, the Lord doth oftentimes in the Gos­pel threaten vtter darknes, gnashing of teeth, euerlasting fire, and other torments of hell, that at the leastwise for feare of paines and torments, we might bridle our mindes, our eyes, and our hands, from sinne and wic­kednesse.

2 This feare is not onely probable, but also very necessarie. For if now after so ma­ny threatnings of our Creator, so fearefull and so greeuous, we scarcely forsake our sins, what would we do if God did not threaten at all? Therefore I holde this, that the feare of the Lord is, as it were, the parent and kée­per of righteousnesse, temperance, loue, and of all vertues.

3 But there is nothing that doeth more worke this feare in vs, then the remembrāce of that great day, wherein al the causes of al men are to be pleaded, and their matters de­termined. Insomuch that Saint Augustine affirmeth, if Christian men should heare no other Gospel then that wherein the general iudgement is set foorth, that one might suffice both to reuoke sinnefull men from their wic­kednesses, and also being reuoked, to cōteine them in their dutie.

[Page 52]4 Wherefore, in this Chapter wée will handle two notable points concerning the iudgement to come. The first shal be concer­ning the greatnes & horror of that day, and of the fearefull signes that shall go before the same. The second shalbe concerning the rai­sing vp of the dead bodies, and the comming of the Iudge.

5 The greatnesse and horror of that last day may be knowen hereby, that it is called in holy Scripture, a great day, and the day of the Lord. And shall it not indéede be a very great day, which shal cōprehend all the daies of all ages, aswell those that are past, as those that are to come? For in that day men shall render an account of all the dayes that are past. In that day God will poure out that in­finite treasure of his wrath and indignation, which he hath heaped vp in the space of al the worlds that are past. In that day the moti­ons of the heauens shall cease, the course of the starres, the reuolution of yéeres, the vicis­situde or returne of moneths and dayes, the decay of mortal things, al the cogitations of men, al their studies, al their Artes, al their disciplines, all their affaires, shall rest in eter­nall silence.

6 Also in that day it shal be decréed by [Page 53] the sentence and irreuocable constitution of the most high and eternal Iudge, what state and condition euery one of vs shall haue and retaine in al eternitie of worlds.

7 And not without cause the holy scrip­tures haue called it the day of the Lord. For as al the dayes of men going before, are cal­led their dayes, because men watch in them, and do whatsoeuer they will: and God bea­reth, suffereth, endureth, expecteth, and after a sort, sleepeth & resteth in them: Euen so then, the day of the Lorde shal shine, wherein hée shal be continually waking & shal do whatso­euer he wil, and we (whether we wil or no) must suffer and endure.

8 Thou now doest adde sin vnto sinnes, and ceasest not to offend God dayly: & God is silent at al these things. And why so? Be­cause this day is thy day: But the day shall come, beléeue me, the day of the Lorde shall come, which shal bring an ende to so long si­lence, and wherein he wil take vengeaunce of all the iniuries that haue béene done vnto him.

9 Thus we sée that al Eternitie com­prehendeth two dayes onely: The one of man, the other of God. In the one, men shal watch, and God shal sleepe; In the other, [Page 54] men shal sleepe, and God shal watch.

10 How horrible this day shall bée, wée cannot plainly vnderstand, and yet we may gesse at it by the present calamities: For then the hoast of al punishments, which their con­federate battel of al offences, shal assaile vs with maine force.

11 But as in the warres of men, before the last and general battel, there are many excursions, and short skirmishes: euen so, be­fore that great and most fearefull conflict, which shalbe in the day of the Lorde, God is wont with his seueral bands to make cer­taine excursions, and one while to send vpon vs famine, another while pestilence, another while warre, another while earth-quakes, another while floods of waters, and another while drougth, as it were his horsemen to in­uade vs, who when they haue damnified vs, retire and abide in their tents. If therefore, we so greatly feare pestilence, warre, famine, earth-quakes, and such like, when as they are but the beginning of sorrowes and short excursions, what I pray you, wil wée doe, when the last and general conflict shal come? at what time al tribulations, extremities, ca­lamities, and miseries, shal also fight against vs?

[Page 55]12 And if wée doe yet more fully desire to know the greatnes and horror of that last day, let vs consider those signes which shal a little while come before that day. Therefore before the comming of that great day, heauē and earth, and all the Elements, shall giue signes: For there shal be signes in the Sun, in the Moone, and in the stars, Luke 21. and vpon the earth, trouble among the nations, with per­plexitie: the Sea and waters shal roare, and mens heartes shal faile them for feare, and for looking after those things which shal come vpon the world.

13 For as man (which is a litle worlde) when he draweth néere to his end, y ^e humors in him, as certaine Elements are troubled, and his eyes, which are as the Sunne and Moone, are obscured & lose their light, and the rest of the sences, as the lesser Starres, do by little & little fall and faile, and yet his minde and reason, as the power of heauen is moo­ued from his seate, wandereth & erreth: E­uen so in the dissolution and fall of this whole frame, which is called the great worlde, the Sunne shal be turned into darknes, and the Moone into blood, and the Starres shal fall from heauen, the Ayer shall be full of whirle­windes, stormes, corruscations, slashing me­teors, [Page 56] and thunders, the earth with fearefull tremblings, and swallowing gulphes: the floods of the sea shal swel so high, as if they would ouer flow the whole world: and the roaring and raging noyse of the fretting bil­lowes and tossing waues, shal greatly ter­rifie. Men therefore shal wither, and waxe pale with feare; and horror and trembling shal vexe them more and more, expecting what these new monsters wil bring foorth at the last, and what wil be the end of such hor­rible beginnings.

14 When a tempest ariseth at the Sea, and the boisterous waues begin to tosse and beat the shippe, and the men which are in the same do beholde the horrible lightnings and fierie flashings in the ayre, and the furious winds also, making the sea to swel and rage, in such wise, that now they sée themselues tossed aloft, and then anon caried down into the déepe: they begin presently to cry, to feare, to tremble, to call for mercie, to multiplie their prayers, to craue time of repentance, to commend their saluation to almightie God: and to be short, they begin to thinke of the amendement of their manners, and to haue better purposes. Then thinke with thy selfe what manner of minde men wil haue, when [Page 57] they shal sée heauen and earth, and all the e­lementes, to haue their peculiar and proper tempestes; when the Sun shal strike a hor­ror into mens harts with his fearful darke­nesse, and the Moone being turned into blood, shal terrifie them that beholde it, and the starres with their falles shal threaten, for they shal fal so thicke, that the Firmament shal séeme to be quite without light, and the aire with continual fierie meteors shal séeme to burne, the sea shal swel excéedingly, and the most high mountaines being shakē with earthquakes, shal fal with excéeding great noise.

15 Who then wil take pleasure to eate? who wil take delight in drinke? who wil then haue any desire to sléep? Nay, who dare once then slumber, or take the least rest, a­midst so many tempests and stormes? O mi­serable and vnhappy sinners, ouer whose heads al these signes doe hang, and doe fore­shew vnto them extreame calamitie. O hap­pie men, yea thrise, four times, tenne times, yea a thousand times happie and blessed, whose conscience in that time wil make them merry and glad.

16 Thus farre we haue considered the greatnesse of the last day, & the signes going [Page 58] before the same: now let vs cal to minde cer­taine thinges concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the comming of the Iudge.

17 Therefore after those signes & won­ders, which shal goe before the day of the Lord, an Archangel shal come downe from heauen, and with the feareful sounde of a Trumpette shal giue a signe to all that are dead, to rise againe, and to come to Gods iudgement. This is that Trumpet which Saint Hierome thought that hée euer heard sounding in his eares, whatsoeuer he were doing: and not without cause. For who can appeale from this citation? who can refuse this iudgemēt? who can pretend sicknes, bu­sines, or any other excuse?

18 Then shal death be compelled to make surrender of al the spoiles in a momēt, which hée had taken away from the world: and she shalbe sent away into euerlasting ba­nishment, beyond al lands and seas, and be­yonde the world, and the borders of al liuing things. For as Saint Iohn sheweth in his Reuelation, then shal the sea yéelde vp her dead which it hath swallowed, and death and hel shal doe the like.

19 What a sight shal there bée then, when sea and land shal bring forth in al pla­ces [Page 59] so many bodies, so vnlike one to the o­ther, so different, and so vnequal? And when as at one and the selfe same place, so many armies shal come together from all parts of the world? In that place, Adam the father of al the Nations of the earth, shal sée al his po­steritie come together, and shal meruaile. There we shal sée Xerxes, Darius, Alexan­der, Caesar, & other Monarches of the world, but yet hauing another forme, other maners, and other mindes, then they had when they liued here. For at the sound of the Trumpet kings and Nations, and all the worlde shal tremble, they shal strike their breastes, and mourne.

20 Moreouer, although all men shal be restored vnto life, yet neuerthelesse, there shalbe great difference betwéen those bodies which shal be restored to holy men, and those which the wicked and vngodly shal receiue. For they shal be more shining then the sun, and shal bee beautified with vnspeakeable brightnes: but the others most foule and vg­ly, and more terrible then death it selfe.

21 What pleasure I pray you, shal the blessed soules haue, when they shalbe ioyned againe to their bodies, as to their most swéet brethren, after so long banishment, neuer to [Page 60] feare any more a seperation? What I beséech you, shal flesh féele, when it shal be raysed from dust, and shal sée an vnwonted light, and when the soule shal come vnto it, and say, God saue thée my sister, and most swéete Spouse, the winter is now gone, the storme is past away, arise my beloued and come, the Lord hath fulfilled our desire, thou hast bene the companion of my trauels and laboures, thou hast for the Lordes sake suffered with me persecutions and iniuries, thou hast bene with me in watchings, in fastings, and vnder the crosse of repentance, thou hast liued with a temperate and spare diet, to féede the poore, thou hast not excéeded in apparrel, that thou mightst cloath the naked: Equitie therefore, and reason requireth, that the things which thou hast sowen with mée in teares, thou shouldest also reape with me in ioy: and that séeing thou hast bene a companion with mée in my labours, thou shouldst also be partaker with me of my pleasures, riches, and glorie. Then shal the soule swéetely imbrace the bo­die, and the bodie ioyfully kisse the soule, and they shal be ioined together with most happy and indissoluble knots: And then with how great ioy and gladnesse shal they dwel toge­ther in one: for from thencefoorth appetite [Page 61] shal not contend with wil; nor sence with reason: but being ioined together in one with the league of amity, peace and concord, they shal enioy the delights and ioyes of heauen euerlastingly.

22 And contrariwise, with what an­guish shal the soule of the sinner be tormen­ted, whē that foule, il fauoured, deformed and feareful body is offered vnto him? With what words thinkest thou wil they salute one another? O vnhappy body wil the soule say; O the beginning and end of my calami­ties; thou hast brought me to these torments with thy entisements: and now I am come, not as it were into a house to rest, but as it were into a prison to be tormented. I am compelled to enter into thée againe against my wil. Is this that fleshe for the which I haue committed so many fornications, so ma­ny wickednesses? For the which I haue so many times giuen my selfe to gluttonie and carnal pleasures? Is this that face, which with so great care I haue kept from sunbur­ning? O vnhappy pallace, for thy sake I haue wearied my selfe by land and by seas. O vn­fortunate belly, how became I such a foole, that I would worship thée for God? Haue I lost the kingdome of heauen for this most ab­iect [Page 62] body, for this most foule stinke of al filthi­nesse, and haue purchased to my selfe euerla­sting torments? O ye furies, O ye spirits of hel, why doe ye stay, why teare ye me not in péeces? why doe ye not bring me to nothing? These & such like words shal the soule vtter against the flesh with excéeding rage and ha­tred, the which notwithstanding, it liued so wel when it was here vppon earth, that it worshipped the same for a Lady and God: and to fulfil the lustes thereof, if feared not to violate and breake the lawe and commande­ments of God.

23 And when all are risen againe, and are gathered together into the place which God hath appointed for this iudgement: then shal hée appeare in the clowdes of heauen, with power and great maiestie, whom God hath appointed to be the iudge of the quicke and dead. And he shal not come alone, but ac­companied with an innumerable multitude of heauenly Princes.

24 The feare which shal come by reason of that maiestie, shal be so great, that the pro­phet Isaias saith, Isay. 2. They shall goe into the holes of rockes, & into the caues of the earth, from before the face of the Lord, and from the glo­ry of his maiestie, when he shal arise to destroy [Page 63] the earth. Apoc. 20. And the Apostle Saint Iohn ad­deth, I sawe a great white throne, and one that sat on it, fron whose face fledde away both the earth and heauen: For as when the flood of the Ocean swelleth, they are wont to tremble which dwel vpon the shore, and yet can take no harme: euen so when the Lord beginneth to poure foorth his wrath and in­dignation vpon wicked men, the Saints also and the Angels, and men which are in no pe­ril, shal after a sort tremble and feare. If therefore the iust shal feare, and the pillers of heauen shal shake, what shal the wicked and vngodly doe?

25 And in very déed, so soone as the Lord shal appeare, there shal be heard immediatly a great cry and howling among the Nati­ons: Mat. 24. Apoc. 1. Zach. 12. for then (as the Lord himselfe saith) shal al the kinreds of the earth mourne; and they shal sée him whom they pearced, and they shal lament for him, as one mourneth for his onely son, and he sorie for him, as one is sor­ry for his first borne. O how many causes of wéeping & howling, shal miserable and vn­happy men then haue? They shal wéepe, be­cause they shal sée that their euils and mi­series are past all remedy. They shal wéepe, because they shal sée that their repentance [Page 64] is too late, and vnprofitable. They shal weepe, because they cannot appeale from Gods sentence, neither can flée the iudge­ment at hand, and it shal séeme a thing in­tollerable to bée at the iudgement, and to heare the sentence of euerlasting condem­nation. They shal wéepe, because when they liued here on earth, they despised those which forewarned them. They shal wéepe, because the pleasures which are gone as a shadow, haue brought vpon them endlesse sorrowes and torments. To be briefe, as men beset on euery side, and brought into ineuitable straights, destitute of al coun­saile and hope, they shal wéepe, because they shal sée that they cannot preuaile any thing at all, neither with wéeping, nor yet with scratching and tearing of themselues.

26 Neither wil the Iudge bée moued by any meanes with these cries and sor­rowes, but wil rather seperate the wéepers from those that reioyce, that is to say, the wicked from the godly, euen as a Shepheard diuideth the Sheepe from the Goates, and shal set the godly on his right hand, and the wicked on his left.

27 And then hée wil beginne to discusse the cause of euery one, and hee wil not for­get [Page 65] any one offence. For wée shal sée all things registred in perfect bookes; by which bookes all men shal be iudged. I sawe (saith Saint Iohn) the dead both great and small stand before God: and the bookes were opened, and another booke was opened, which is the booke of life, & the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes, ac­cording to their workes. So that al our workes are written in those euerlasting bookes. Thou hast scarcely committed an a­dulterous thought, but the same wickednesse is written in Gods booke.

28 And not onely Church-robbings and sacrileges, parricides, periuries and such like faults, but also impure thoughtes and idle wordes, the neglecting of good workes, or the same done to no good ende, shal bée brought into iudgement. For so great is the excellencie & estimation of Chri­stian integritie & purity, that no one, or the ve­ry least vice that may be, is not permitted to Christian men.

29 The cafe standing thus, whereof I beséech you commeth it, that there is in vs so great loosenesse, so great carelesnesse so great sloothfulnesse, and such securitie? Do we not flatter our selues, when so great iudgement [Page 66] hangeth ouer our heades. Holy was the prophet Dauid, a man after Gods own hart, and yet he so feared this iudgement, that hée saide, Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant, O Lord, for no man liuing shal bée iustified in thy sight. Holy was the Apostle Paul, and yet he saith, I knowe nought by my selfe, and yet hereby I am not iustified, it is the Lord that iudgeth me: as if he should say, therefore I dare not pronounce my selfe iust, because he that iudgeth me is the Lord. For such are the eyes of the Lord, that the starres are not cleane in his sight: and ma­ny times his eyes doe beholde wickednesse, where we sée nothing but holines. Holy al­so was the friende of God, Iob. 31. Iob, and yet he said, What shall I doe when God ariseth to iudgement? and when he maketh inquisiti­on, what answere shal I giue him? Why doeth this man of God, so commended of Gods owne mouth, who was so iust and simple, that hee could say without lying, I was an eye to the blinde, and a foote to the lame: Iob. 29.27 and againe. My heart doeth not re­proue mee in all my life: why (I say) is a man of such singular innocencie, so afearde of Gods iudgement? namely, because he knoweth that God hath no eyes of flesh [Page 67] and that he iudgeth far otherwhise then men doe.

30 Moreouer, when all mens causes are diligently discussed and examined, the Iudge wil pronounce against the wicked, the irreuocable sentence of eternall dam­nation, Depart from me yee cursed, into e­uerlasting fire, which is prepared for the di­uell and his Angels. O bitter word, which wil make the eares of them that heare it, to tingle. O sentence intollerable, which de­priueth sinners of all good things, and brin­geth them to all woe. The Lord sometime accursed the Fig-trée, and immediately, not onely the leaues, but also the body and rootes were wholy withered: Euen so, that feare­ful curse of the last day, shal be no lesse effe­ctual. For on whomsoeuer it falleth, it shal so scortch them, and shal so make them de­stitute of Gods grace, that they shal neuer more be able to doe, to speake, to thinke, or to hope for any good thing.

31 Then therefore the wicked being stricken with this thundering sentence, will lift vp their mouthes towards heauen; wil spue foorth their shamefull blasphemies a­gainst God the Iudge; they will curse this day? and the houre wherein they were borne [Page 68] and their Parents which begat them, and the wombs which bare them; the aier which gaue them breath; and the Earth which hath borne them: but they shal not be suffered any long time to speake these things against the Iudge.

32 For suddenly the Spirite of the Lord shal ouerwhelm them, and shal with great violence caste them downe headlong into the déepe, Apoc. 18. as in Saint Iohns Reuela­tion appeareth in these wordes, Then a mightie, angell tooke vp a stone, like a great Milstone, and cast it into the Sea, saying, With such violence shall the Citie of Babi­lon bee cast, Apoc. 20. and be found no more. And a­gaine, Whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life, was cast into the Lake of fire. And this déepe shal be shut vp with gates of brasse, and with yron barres, which cannot bee broken with any force, nor cut in sunder by any arte: and there they shal drinke of the cup of the Lords wrath, and the smoke of their torments shal ascend worlde w ^tout end: & they shal not rest day nor night.

33 On the contrarie part, the iust be­ing in the fruition of ful blessednesse, and of euerlasting glorie, shall haue in their mouthes the prayses of the Lorde, and gi­uing [Page 69] of thankes: and shal with singing and with mirth extol the name of their Lorde and God, with whom they shal reigne with­out ende.

34 But although wée heare of those things often, yet neuerthelesse, wée are not awaked from the sléepe of sinne, before wee be ouerwhelmed with the night of death, and of darkenes: Why doe we which haue this time now, looke for another time, which peraduenture wée shal neuer haue? Now is the accepted time, now is the day of sal­uation, There is nothing more profitable for a man, then to knowe his time, and there­fore in our worldly businesse, wée obserue times and seasons: as a conuenient time to eare, a fitte time to sowe, to plant, and such like. Yea, the brute beast, by the instinct of nature, can make choyce of his time for be­nefite. The Swallowe, when winter ap­proacheth, prepareth himselfe to take his flight into a warmer Countrey. The Bée, and the Ant, in the time of summer prepare their foode against winter. And the Pro­phet Ieremie saith, that the Storke know­eth his appointed time. If brute beastes, de­uoide of reason, haue this foresight to make choise of time for their good: and if man him [Page 70] selfe, in a worldly regarde, can make choyse of a fitte and due time to gette earthly and transitorie things, how much more proui­dent ought hee to bee for heauenly things, that to attaine these, hée lose not his fittest time to attaine saluation?

35 The olde worlde that liued in the dayes of Noah, knewe not their time, & that was the cause they then perished with the flood. The Cities of Sodome and Gomer, knew not their time, & that brought fire and brimstone from heauen vpon their heads to their destruction. The foolish Virgins knewe not their time, & therefore when their Lorde came, they (being altogether vnready) were shut out of the Lords ioy.

Let vs then knowe the season, how it is time now that wee should awake out of sleepe. Rom. 13.36 1. Thes. 5. Let vs watch and be sober for they that sleepe▪ sleepe in the night, and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night: But let vs which are of the day, be sober, least the darkenesse come vpon vs, wherein we can neither walke nor worke.

Let vs alwayes haue before our eyes that day and time, wherein we shall appeare before God, and his Angels, and before the whole worlde, to answere our cause: and ei­ther [Page 71] to receiue a Crown of glory, or else per­petual shame and confusion.

Let vs know that we haue here a very short time limitted vnto vs. wherein wée must so endeuour our selues, that for short and transitory things, we lose not that which is eternall.

If wee haue this consideration of that great day of the Lorde, wée shal not only be the more secure in death, but also be the bet­ter prepared to méet with our Lord and Sa­uiour, when he shal come to iudgement.

CHAP. IIII. Concerning Hell and the tor­ments thereof.

THere is nothing that the Diuell laboureth more, then to perswade men that there is no hel, that so the more ea­sily hée may leade them thether, as it were blindfolde; by the way of sinnes, while they haue no feare of any punishment? euen as shéeues are wont to bee ledde with a vaile before [Page 72] their faces, when they are going to the gal­lowes: & as Ezechias was serued, whose eyes Nabuchadnezer commanded to be put out, whē he was caried away captiue into Babilō.

2 But it may bée shewed by many rea­sons and authorities that there is a hel. For as a Princely magnificence requireth that a King haue a beautiful Pallace, for to enter­taine the best sort of men, and a prison for the worst: Euen so the king of kings, and Lord of all glorie and principalities, hath a Pallace, wherein there are many mansions (as our Sauiour Christ in the Gospel testifieth which is the kingdom of heauen: and he hath also a darke prison or dungeon which is hel.

3 The lawe of nations requireth that malefactors for their offences be driuen into exile for euer: euen so God doth banish from his presence, Luke. 16. the impenitent sinners into hel. For so it is said of Diues that he dyed, & was carried into hel. Esay. 5 And y ^e prophet saith, Hel hath inlarged it self, & hath opened his mouth with out measure, and their glorie, and their mul­titude, and their pompe, and he that reioy­ceth among them shall discend into it. Also S. Iohn saith that the feareful, and vnbeleeuing, and murderers, Apoc. 21. the whormongers, sorcerers, [Page 73] and Idolaters and all lyers, shall haue their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death, And Christ Iesus saith, Feare him, which hath po­wer to cast body and soule into hell.

4 But forsomuch as God hath not made Death, nor the kingdom of Hell vpon earth. Wisd. 1. We must vnderstand that the principal pro­curer of this Hell, is Sathan the Prince of darkenesse, who béeing in his first Creation a bright shining Lucifer, beautified as a precious stone, and more excellent than al the Angels of Heauen in resplendant bright­nesse, through his pride against God, lost his light, glory and beautie, and as he was wor­thy became a foule féend, deiected from hea­uen into this Elementall world, lower than al the Spheares into the Fire, Ayre, Earth and Water.

5 I saw (saith S. Iohn) a starre fall from Heauen to the earth, Apoc. 1. and to him was giuen the key of the bottomlesse pit.

Further he saith: There was a battel in hea­uen, Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon, Chap. 12. & the Dragon fought and his an­gels. But they preuailed not neither was their place found any more in Heauen. And the great dragon, that olde Serpent, called the De­uill [Page 74] and Sathan, was cast out which deceiueth all the world: He was cast euen into the earth, and his Angels were cast out with him. And being thus deiected hée now neuer ceaseth compassing the whole earth, Iob. 1. but in his circuite séeketh like a roaring Lyon whom hee may deuoure. 1. Pet. 5. Luk. 22. Apoc. 12. For the which cause S. Iohn pronounceth this woo saying: Wo to the inhabitants of the earth and of the Sea, for the diuel is come down vnto you which hath great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.

6 For albeit the world séemeth to be the parent, the bringer foorth and nourisher of bodies: yet is it the prison of Spirits, the exi­ling of soules, and a place of all wretched­nesse and paines, For as the worlde is a place of sinne and transgression a Station of Pilgrimage and of woe, a habitation of wailing & of teares, of trauaile & of weari­nes, of fearefulnesse and of shame, of mouing & of changing, of passing and of corruption, of insolence and of perturbation, of violence and opprssion, of deceit and of guile, and fi­nally the laystall of all wickednesse and abhomination: so also by GODS Iu­stice it is appointed the place and pitte of punishment and euerlasting torment, wher­in the euill Angels that rebelled with Luci­fer, [Page 75] and the damned spirites of wicked men departed this life, haue endlesse paine with­out rest.

7 And albeit the Apostle calleth Sa­than a Prince that ruleth in the Ayre: Ephe. 2. yet is that Rule so slane-like, and his power so weakened by the Almightie, that when the Lorde intending to punish the sonnes of Adam, and to strike the earth with tem­pestes of lightning and thunder. Hée there­by also beateth Sathan and the whole rable of his hellish féendes, that in their fury and rage therewith they terrifie men by ougly shapes and aparitions, and (by GODS permission) to murther man and beast, sometimes, do ouer-throwe buildings, Iob. 1. and doe fire, and consumne houses, leauing a most noysome and horrible stinke behinde them of the hellish place from whence they come. For it is not the diuell, but the glorious God that maketh the thunder: and as testi­fieth Syrach: Psal. 29. Eccle. 43. It is the sound of the Lords thunder that beateth the earth.

8 Thus by Gods iust iudgement hée raungeth like a runagate in the sphere of his Hell vntill the day of doome, for which season he is let loose: and yet with such prohibition [Page 76] and restraint, that in his mallice hée can pro­céed no further, than shal séeme fit to the mightie Iehouah his Creator: and then hée shall receiue that punishment whereof S. Iude speaketh in these words: The Angels which kept not their first estate, 2. Pet. 3. Apoc. 21. but left thier owne habitation, hee hath reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darknesse vnto the Iudgment of the great day: at which time there shall be a new heauen and a newe earth wherein shall dwell nothing but righteousnes, when the are refined with the fire of Gods iustice: and then al the creatures of those new heauens, and new earth shall be made perfit: for which perfection and restauration, euery creature waiteth being now subiect to vanitie, Rom. 8. for the which they groane, that they may be deliue­red from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God. For albeit the fashion and forme of this world go­eth away (as saith the Apostle) yet they sub­tance shall reamine, 1. Cor. 7. whether of the hea­uens themselues, or of the Elements, or of men, al which shall abide for euer.

9 At this time of restauration, when al things shall become new, and when the dead are raised vp againe to life in their corporall bodyes, then shal be prepared an out-set ha­bitation, [Page 77] which shal be a Chaos ful of confu­sion, deuoyd of the first most excellent thing that God made, Light: and in steed thereof replenished with darknesse, a thousand times worse thē the palpable darknes of Aegypts plague, Exod. 10. wherein the burning and intollera­ble tormenting fire giueth no light, & where the freezing colde which causeth gnashing of téeth, Iob. 10. mittigateth nothing at al the burning heate.

10 The holy Scripture, to inable the weake capacitie of man, to comprehend and vnderstand the excéeding horror, and most feareful torment of this place calles it a Bot­tomles pit: [...]ophet: á Dùnge on déepe & large, Apoc. 1. Esai. 30. Apoc. 21 the burning whereof is fyer & brimstone the lake of y ^e second death which burneth with fyer and brimstone. And in regard of the weeping, howling, roaring, & secréetching in that place, it is compared to the valley of Hynnom neere Hierusalem, where the idolatrous people at the sacrificing of their children so the Idole Moloch, Iere. 32. made a confused noyse of cry­ing, & howling, together with singing and sounding of Instrumments that the pitifull screetching of the children tormented in that diuellesh sacrifice, might not be heard. And for this cause Christ calleth Hell, Gehennon, [Page 78] which the Prophet Dauid calleth the nei­thermost Hell.

11 And albeit to men that measure all things by Philosophy and humane reason, it may seeme absurde that Fyer should aflict the soules of the reprobate departed, and the damned spirites in Hell, forsomuch as the Agent is euer reputed more noble than the patient: but no corporal body is more no­ble than the Spirit: and according to the minde of the Philosopher in his booke of Ge­neration, Those things are only agent and pa­tient in themselues which communicate in the same matter: yet in this poynt as also in ma­ny other things which leane onely on Faith, and not on humane reason, we must beléeue it because the word of God so deliuereth it. For the soule of Diues in Hell, cryeth and shall crye for euer, Luke 16. I am tormented in this flame. Which is no Parable, but really acted.

This then is no immaginarie fyer, but a true corporal fyer working really vpon body & soule, on the soule before the day of Iudge­ment, and on both together in a higher degrée of torment after the day of doome: not by a proper vertue and naturall action [Page 79] which the fyer hath, but as the instrument of Gods iustice, not consuming, but afflic­ting after a certaine manner of perpetu­all detaining in the torment of reall punish­ment.

12 But is this place of Hell, so to bée vpholden onely by Faith, that humane rea­son cannot conceiue it to be such, or as it is deliuered to be in the word of God? yes ve­rely, and for this cause the conceite of Po­ets was not altogether idle and deuoyde of reason, in saying that Saturnus de­uiding his Kingdome among his sonnes, gaue the West part toward the lower Sea, to Pluto his yongest sonne: the East part to Iupiter: and the Ile-landes to Neptune of the Sea. And héeuppon they fayned that Iupiter was King and God of Heauen: Pluto of Hell: and Nep­tune of the Sea.

And to describe Hell, they could not bethinke them of a more fit place in the earth to make a resemblance thereof, than a certain territory in Italie, betwéene Baiae & Cuniae where the Cimerii inhabite: a place in very déede so inuironed with high hilles, that the Sunne from the first rising to the set­ting [Page 80] thereof, neuer shineth there, by reason of which continual darknesse this Prouerbe is vsed.

More blacke then the darknesse of Cim­meria. And here they place Acherusia, a darke Dungeon or way to Hell. Out of which Her­cules drew Cerberus the dogge of Hel Thus these Poeticall fictions groūded vpon earthly darknesse represent and set before vs, that inuisible darknes, which no man euer liuing on earth hath seene, nor tongue is able suffici­ently to expresse,

13 Geographers tell vs of the mountaine Aetna in Cicile, Plinie. at this day called Gibello Monte, on the toppe whereof is a barren ground mixt with ashes, in the winter time couered with snowe: the circuit of which mountaine is twentie furlongs, and is in­uironed with a banke of ashes on the height of a wall. In the middle of this mount, is al­so a round hill of the same cooller and mat­ter wherein be two great holes called Cra­teres, out of which do rise sometimes sundry great flames of fyer, sometime horrible smoke, sometime are blowne out burning stones in infinite numbers: before the visible fight of which fyer there is also heard within [Page 81] the ground terrible noise and roaring.

14 What else can these fearefull fierie flames, horrible smoke, burning stones, in such hydeous manner blowen vp, and the terrible roaring within that Mountaine Aetna import, but a certaine subterraneall part of Hell? As also it may bee in like manner thought of the marine Rocke of Barry in Glamorgan-shire in Wales, Giraldus. by a certaine cleft or rift whereof, (if a man lay his eare thereon) is heard the worke as it were of a Smythes Forge, one while the blowing of bellowes, another while the sound of hammers beating on a stithie or Anuile, the noyse of knyues made sharpe on a Whet-stone and the cracking of fyer in a Furnace and such like, very strange and ad­mirable to heare.

15 Nauigators report, that there is a sea in the Voiages to the West Indyes, called the Burmudas, which is a most hellish Sea for thunder, lightning and stormes. Also they assure vs of an Ile-lande, which they call the Ile-lande of Diuels, for that to such as approach néere the same there doth not only appeare fearefull sights of Diuels and euill spirits, but also mightie tempests with most terrible and continuall thunder & lightning, [Page 82] and the noise of horrible cries with scréeching which doth in such wise afright & amaze those that come nere that place, that they are glad with all might and mayne to ply and spéede them thence wi [...]h all possible haste they can.

16 Cosmographers also informe vs of a cer­taine wonderfull Whirle-poole in the frozen sea not farre from Ise-land towards the Ile-lāds of the Hebreedes, whereunto al the waues of the sea frō far haue their course & recourse without stop: with their conueying thēselues into the secret receptacles of nature, are swal­lowed vp as it were into a bottomles pit and if chance any ship to passe this way, it is pul­led & drawen with such violence of the waues that eftesoones without remedy, the force of the Whirle-poole deuoureth the same.

17 I doubt not, but there are some which ascribe all these things to natural causes and workings, or els will account them no better than fables, as they do all things els which concerne Religion. But yet let such men now know (as one day with wofull experience they shall féele) that these and many mo won­derfull workes of God in earth, & his won­ders in the déepe, beside his counsels & iudge­ments reuealed in his word, doth assure those which feare God, that there is a Hell.

[Page 83] 18 Who is so ignorant that hée doth not sée and knowe, how in all things both natu­rall and supernaturall there is an opposition and a contrarietie, and therefore also a God, and a Diuel, a Heauen and a Hell. This Hell in the day of doome, as touching the paynes and torments to be layed on the diuel and his adherents shall be therein so inlarged and redoubled, that the darkenes of Cimeria, and all the darknesse of the earth beside the fire in the Region that compasseth the earth, the fierie flames, lightnings, thunder and tempestes; the smoke, terrible noyce and roaring in the mountaine Aetna: the feare­full visions, néere the Ile-land of Deuils: the chilling colde, and frozen Ise in Fry­gida Zona: the indraughts and swal­lowing Gulphes of Waters: the whole barrennesse of the earth with all bitter­nesse, stench, and whatsoeuer else may offend the sences of damned men (the punishments of sinne) shall bee gathe­red together into one Chaos of confu­sion, whereinto Sathan with his Le­gions of damned Spirites which are nowe for a time let loose to remaine and conuerse in the fierie Region in the Ayre, in the hollowe Caues and Dungeons of [Page 84] the earth, and in the waters, and where it hath pleased God to appoint them, shal bée plunged for euer and euer.

19 Therefore let Hell be where it hath pleased God in his secret counsel to place it, to men vnknowne, whether in the North, or in the South, vnder the frozen zoane, or vn­der the burning zoane, Or in a pit or gulph, that shal excéedingly participate of both, it maketh to vs no matter of exception. For most true it is that Saint Gregory saith, Gregor. super illud, Mat. Ei [...]cientur in tenebras The wicked shall be cast into vtter darkenesse, that they may there gnash their teeth, which de­lighted here in nothing but gluttonie: For heat and burning cōmonly maketh men to wéep, and colde causeth men to beate and gnashe their teeth. In Hell (saith he) there shall be cold intollerable, fire vnquenchable, the worme im­mortal, stinke that cannot be indured, darkenes palpable, the horrible scourges of diuels, and the fearefull sight of diuels.

20 Thus much then we learne hereby concerning Hell, that it is a most feareful and horrible place, into the which the soules of all that lyue vngodly in this present world, Esay. 5.14. and in vnbeléefe, are carried after death by the di­uel and his angels, euen as contrariwise, the soules of Gods children, which liue in his [Page 85] feare & in Christian obedience in this world, are caryed vp into Abrahams bosome, as was Lazarus, and are in the hands of God, Luke 16. Wisd 3. Greg. lib. 9. moraliū. where no torment can come neere them. For as S. Gregory saith, Inasmuch as the wicked haue in this life forsaken their Creator, both in body and in minde, they shall in hell fire bee tormented both in body and in minde together.

And now that we haue hitherto spoken at large concerning Hell, it resteth that some­what be declared, as touching the paines and torments that are now, & shall be for euer in the same. In the which, albeit there is but one fire, yet saith S. Gregory it doth not tor­ment sinners after one manner. For euery one shall be punished according to the quali­tie, and quantitie of his sinnes.

22 As in sin there are to be séene 2. tur­nings, namely, a turning away frō the chiefe and increate good or felicitie, called Summum bonū, & a conuersion or turning to the lesser & created good, which be y ^e things of this world: Euen so in the punishmēt, which is answe­rable to that sinne, there shal bée found two sorrowes: The one, which shal arise of y ^e losse of euerlasting blessednes, & the other, which shall arise of the paine and torments which shalbe brought vpon the body & soule. Both [Page 86] which sorrowes and torments, the Schoole­men cal, the pain of losse, & the paine of sence.

23 But first of all we wil speak of the losse of felicitie, which is the greater punishment. There cannot be immagined or deuised any paine or punishment so greiuous, which is comparable to the losse of felicitie. For if to liue in exile and banishment in a close prison from our deare friends in this world, it may séeme a punishment how greatly wil that se­peratiō from God, vexe & torment vs, whose onely sight is so great happines, that sodain­ly it maketh a man blessed and happy?

24 It was to the Cittizens of Rome, a great punishment, and almost the greatest of all other when for some great offences they were compelled to forsake the Citie, and the company of Cittizens, and to dwel in certain desert Ilands, among the Barbarians.

Wherfore Marcus Tullius, when he was brought againe from banishment, as if hee had entred into a new world, & had gotten heauen for earth, said, as a man amazed, how beautifull is Italie? how faire are the regions thereof? what goodly fieldes? what pleasant fruites? what famous cities? how great hu­manitie of Citizens? what an excellent com­mon wealth? and so forth. How great griefe [Page 87] and sorrow then shal they féele, which are ab­sent from the Pallaces of heauen, from the commonwealth of Saints, from those most happy Regions; where peace, charitie, tran­quilitie, and ioy raigneth, where the voyce of praise and reioysing, and a continual Alleluia is sung? And finally to be absent from that most pure light, which maketh the beholders ioyful and happy: and when they shal bée compelled to dwell for euer in most filthy prisons, and as it were in a sinke of al fil­thinesse: where there shall bee no order, but continual horror: where there shall bée no voice, but of such as mourne, and blaspheme: where there shal be heard no sound, but of beating maules, and of whips: and with a rable of all sorts of diuels, both barbarous and cruel, and also in the companie and fel­lowship of most wicked men,

25 Then shal their eyes be opened: then shal the vaile be taken away frō before their face: then shal they sée with excéeding sor­row, that betwéene the euerlasting felicitie, and these fraile & transitory things there is incomperable difference: when they shal be­hold most euidently that they haue lost the ioyes not to bee tolde, and permanent for e­uer, for certaine shadowes and dreames.

[Page 88] 26 Here shal be so great sorrow, that al­though the damned doe know that al accesse vnto euerlasting blessednes is shutte vp from them, O Lord o­pen our hearts, and giue vs grace to seeke thee while thou art to be found, and that there is a most great Chaos, and vniuersal confusion set betwéene them, and the place of the elect and blessed, yet be­ing compelled with a certaine natural de­sire, they shal not refraine themselues from these cries, Lorde, Lorde, open to vs, Lorde, Lorde, open to vs.

27 Hell, therefore, is an intollerable thing, and the paine therof most horrible: and yet if it were a thousand times bigger, yet is it not comparable to the separation from the honor of that blessed glorie in the kingdome of heauen, and to the hatred of Christ, Math. 25. O remem­ber the poore mē ­bers of Christ Iesus, and the Lord vvill remember you. when he shall say, I knowe you not, and to this reproach and checke, When I was hungry and thirstie, ye gaue me no meate nor drinke &c. For we shall more easily en­dure a thousand thunder-claps, then to haue his most méeke and louing countenance tur­ned away from vs.

28 Moreouer the losse of this felicitie bringeth with it selfe the losse of all good things. For the eyes of the damned shall sée no comely shape or forme: their eares shall heare no manner of harmony: their tast shal [Page 89] haue no swéete or sauerie thing to delight it: their féeling shal haue no safte thing to serue it: and their smelling shal haue no fragrant sauours to refresh and comfort it. For they which shal bee once shutte out from the com­panie of God, are at one instant drowned in the Ocean of all calamities and miseries, without hope of deliuerance. Let vs then déeply weigh and consider, how great a mat­ter it is to lose felicitie.

29 Now let vs come to intreat of that torment, which is therefore called the paine of sence by the schoolmen, because it is as wel laied vpon the outwarde sences of the bodie, as vpon the inward faculties of the minde. And that wee may first deale with the tor­ment of the inward sence, yee shal obserue, that there are foure faculties of y ^e soule, which shall bee vexed in hell with wonderful tor­ments. The first is that which the Greci­ans cal Phantasia, and we Cogitation. The second is memory. The third vnderstanding. And the last will.

30 Cogitation therefore, shall be most vehemently vexed with the féeling of those tormentes, into the which both the body and the minde shal be cast. For if now some great griefe doe so possesse our Cogitation, [Page 90] that a man cannot, would hee neuer so faine, but thinke of that griefe; what wil the tor­ments of hel doe in the mindes of the dam­ned, which shal bee greater without al com­parison? Therefore cogitation shal increase the griefes and sorrowes: and those sorrowes shal whette and stirre vp cogitation: and they both shal so féede one another, that they shal leaue no place of rest, neither in y ^e mind, nor in the body of the damned. These there­fore, Holy medi­ditation. shalbe the contemplations of those men, who when they might in this life fruitfully haue thought vpon these things, would not: and they which disdained here to vse these most profitable meditations, as a bridle of their lustes, shal in that time suffer them, as most cruel torments.

13 Furthermore, the memorie shal bée no smal crosse to the mindes of the damned, when they shal beginne to cal to mind their former delights, and the pleasures past, for the which, they are now come vnto these tor­ments. For then too late they shal perceiue, with what bitter sauce they were seasoned. which in times past séemed so swéete vnto them. But they shal much more vehement­ly bée tormented, when they shal compare the breuitie of the pleasures past, with the e­ternity [Page 91] of the present sorrowes. For what Mathematician so skilful can bée found out, which can declare vnto vs how much greter that euerlasting time shalbe then the time of those transitorie pleasures? How shal they then groane and mourne, and what great déepe sighes shal they fetch, when they shal finde by experience that their pleasures were most momentanie, and that they are gone as a dreame & shadow, and that their sorrowes shal haue no end?

14 But the vnderstanding, as it is a fa­culty more excellent and perspicuous, Ʋnder­standing. so shal it bee tormented with a more intollerable crosse. In this facultie shal that worme be, which the Scriptures so oftentimes threa­ten to sinners, where it is saide, that their worme dyeth not, and the fire shal not be quenched. For as the worme hath his origi­nal from the wood, and yet doeth continually eate and consume the woode, whereof it com­meth: Euen so this worme springeth from sinne, and holdeth a perpetual warre with sinne, and is nothing else but a continual re­pentance, and sorrow, ful of rage and despe­ration, which they haue by reason of their sinnes, when they sée and féele, that for them they haue lost the kingdome of heauen, and [Page 92] haue incurred those vnspeakeable torments. This worme of the damned resteth, neither day nor night, but biteth and gnaweth conti­nually, and féedeth vpon the bowels of those miserable men, alwaies bringing to their re­membrance, the notable opportunitie which they had here in earth, not onely with verie small labour to haue escaped those punish­ments, but also without mony, or money worth, to haue gotten the kingdome of hea­uen. Therefore they shall euermore contend with themselues, and say, O miserable men that we be, to whom the kingdome of heauen was sometimes offered fréely to receiue and possesse: the which, the Preachers of Gods word did humbly and louingly beséech vs, to imbrace, & we refused, If we had truly repen­ted vs of our sins, all had ben forgiuen. How small a thing had it béene to haue repented? If we had craued mercy, we had easily ob­tayned it: If wee had called for helpe and grace faithfully, it had béene at hande: If wée had giuen but a cuppe of cold water for the Lords sake, wée had not bene vnrewarded But now wée fast continually, and shal bee tormented, we shal be afflicted, and shal reap no fruite thereof. O that golden time mis­spent, how is it now gone and neuer shal re­turne [Page 93] again? Who bereaued vs of our wits? Who shutte our eyes? Who stopt our eares? Whoso bewitched vs, that we neuer thought vpon these punishments, that wée neuer had regard to these times, that we neuer foresaw this misery, and that we harkened not vnto them which forewarned vs?

30 And if the vnderstanding shal féele these thinges, what shal wée then say of the wil, which is the chiefe and principal cause of sinnes? The wil therefore, shal bée euer­more tormented with a certaine outragious enuie, which it shal conceiue of the honour and glory of Almighty God, and of all the Saints in heauen, according as it is set down in the Psalme: The vngodly shall see it, and it shall grieue him, hee shall gnash with his teeth, and consume away: the desire of the vngodly shall perish. Psal. 112.10. ver. Also in the willes of these sinners, there shalbe ioyned with enuy, an extreme hatred against God, from whēce shal arise horrible curses and blasphemies, Heare and tremble oh wicked and prophane. which shal neuer cease in their mouthes. For when they shal perceiue that there is no hope any more to recouer their saluation, and shal also be assured that they shal at no time come into the fauor of God, and that their tormēts shal neuer haue ende. And further, when [Page 94] they shal sée that it is God himselfe which keepeth them, as it were fast bounde with chaines, in those perpetual torments: and that it is hée which doeth from an high cast downe vpon them thundring tempests: and with his omnipotēt breath doth kindle those furnaces of hel fire: then they wil rage, and some like mad dogges, and wil neuer cease from barking, from blasphemies, and cursed speakings. They wil curse him, because hée created them, and adiudged them to death, and yet dying, are neuer dead They wil curse his punishmentes, because hée tormen­teth them so vehemently. from wic­ked blas­phemies good Lord deliuer vs. They wil curse his benignitie, because it is now turned into seuerity. They wil curse his crosse, and his blood shedde vpon the same, because it hath bene profitable to so many, & nothing auaile­able vnto them.

31 To cōclude, they wil curse al the saints and Angels of heauen, because they shall sée them in ioy and felicitie, and themselues in e­uerlasting miserie. This shal be ther perpe­tual simphonie and melodie: these shall bee their euening and morning songs: these their Psalmes and Himnes, which they shal sing in those doleful Temples of diuels, where they shal haue fire and brimstone, in steede [Page 95] of frankencense, & the noyse of stripes, with whips and maules which shal inforce wée­ping, howling, and gnashing of téeth, in stead of Organes, Trumpettes, Cornettes, and Harpes.

32 Thus farre concerning the sorrow, which ariseth of the losse of the chiefe felicity, and which the inward faculties of the mind doe suffer, which hath béene shewed to be the greatest, and vnspeakeable: Nowe also we wil shewe that to bée an excéeding sorrowe, which the very tormentes shal worke in the external sences of men.

33 Therefore, as the reward of the blessed is not some certaine particular good­nesse, seuered and deuided from other good thinges, but a certaine common and general good, or felicitie, wherein al good thinges, al delights and pleasures are contained: So the paine and torment of the damned is not one kinde of sorrowe, as of the head, of the eyes, of the téeth, of the raines, and so forth: But it is a certaine general punishment, which comprehendeth all the sorrowes, of al the members and sences together.

34 If the sorrow and paine of a woman trauailing in childbirth, bee so great, and so general, that it inuadeth euery part: what [Page 96] shal become of them, vpon whom all maner of sorrowes shal come? If a man cannot in­dure a little fire in one part of his body, as on his little finger, but one houre: how intolle­rable shal the paine of the damned be, when they shal wholly burne within and without? Which of you (saith the Prophet Isaias) can dwel with burning fire? And yet our fire here is but a picture & shadowe of that vnquench­able fire there in hel: where one drop of colde water wil be more worth, then all the iew­elles of the worlde, though onely to coole the tongue.

35 All the sences of the body shall bee here tormented, and that not with heat only, but also with extreame, and moste freezing colde, as Gregorie affirmeth in these words, In hel is intollerable colde, vnquenchable heate, an immortal worme, a stinch not to be endured, a scourge euer striking, darkenesse palpable, a feareful vision of diuels, confusi­on of sinnes, and a desperation of all good things.

36 This endlesse miserie shal enforce them to houle & cry, cursed be the day where­in I was borne, and let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Cursed be the man that shewed my father saying. A [Page 97] man child is borne vnto thée, and comforted him. Cursed be he that he slue me not: Ier. 20. euen from the wombe, or that my mother might haue bene my graue, or her wombe a perpetual conception. How is it that I came forth of the wombe to sée labour, paine, and sorrow, that my dayes should be consu­med with shame.

37 Thrée things, among many other torments shal enforce the wicked to blas­phemie and curse: first, that before the day of doome, they daily sée the downefal of those into Hell, of whose damnation, they themselues haue bene the authors. And for this cause Diues in Hell prayed Abra­ham to send Lazarus to his fathers house to forewarne his brethren that they might not come into that place of torment.

38 Secondly because in Hel, the waters which they could wish might serue for their refreshing shalbe like to burning pitch which shal neuer be quenched, the smoke whereof shal ascend for euer.

39 Thirdly because they shal be ga­thereth, together as the prisoners in the pit & fagoted vp in a band like a bundel of stickes, for the fire.

For as heauen is (as touching the many [Page 98] māsions wherof christ speaketh) is in it self in­finit, answering the essēce, maiesty, & power of God, being placed aboue all orbes & spheres, and farre beyond all circle and compasse of mans capacitie: euen so Hell is limited in a smal orbe, capeable of no more than the dam­ned, and the instrumentes of their torments: which cannot be very spacious, in regard the whole earth is much lesse then the circum­ference of the Sun. The straitenesse of which place shal bring to the huge heapes of the damned packt vp therein, increase of tor­ment, with palpable darkenesse.

40 Now, if this Hell were but a tem­poral paine (as Origen thought) then hope would cheare the tormented sinner: but the torments are eternal, & the tormented quite destitute of hope. The worme of conscience is ther for euer without solace, and gnashing of téeth shal be continually without gladnes. Thus the torments of the damned shal con­tinue so many worlds, as there be starres in the firmament, as there be graines of sand by the sea shoare, and as there be droppes of water found in the sea. And when these worldes are ended, the paines and torments shal not cease but begin afresh: and thus this whéele shal turne round without ende.

[Page 99] 41 For when the motion of the Primum Mobile, and of the Heauens shall cease, then shal time also cease. Now in this world, there is a time past: now there is a time present, and a time to come: but then there shall bée no time past, nor any time to come, no wéek, no moneth, no yeare, nor any variation of time. Apoc. 10. It shalbée as the day wherof the Pro­phet speaketh, which shal be neither day nor night. This shal bée a very long daye: Zach. 14. For it shal bee for euer and euer. For one day is with the Lord as a thousand yeares, Pet. 3. and a thousand of yeares, but as one daye of darke­nesse, and of blacknesse.

42 What [...]an considering these things, will endure these hellish torments, euerla­stingly, to inioy for a litle while the vain plea­sures of the flesh? Although a man by liuing in sin, might procure vnto himselfe the wise­dome of Salomon, the strength of Sampson, the beauty of Absolom and Susanna, the ri­ches of Cressus, the power of Augustus, and the yeares of Mathusalah: what would all these profit at the last, if after a while be­ing in death, thou canst neither deliuer thy body from wormes, nor thy soule from hel fire? and as our Sauiour Christ saith; What [Page 100] doth it profit a man to win all the world, and to loose his own soule? If thou oftē meditate these things, thou shalt both leade a good and holy life, and after a while make a blessed and hap­py ende of thy pilgrimage.

The fifth houre. Concerning the small number of them that shall be saued.

STriue to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say vnto you wil seeke to enter in, and shall not be able. Luk 13.24. With what purpose▪ and mea­ning ha [...] [...] Lord vtte­red this sentēce? Verily to no other end as it may be gathered by the words going before) then to shewe, that they are few in number, which are saued, and many which perish.

2 For there are some which had pro­pounded this question to the Lord, saying▪ Lord are there fewe that be saued? To the which question the Lord aunswered so wise­ly that by his answere, he taught that they were but few which would be saued, and al­so rendreth a reason why they were but few, Striue (saith hée) to enter in at the straight gate, for many, I say vnto you, will striue to [Page 101] enter, and shall not be able: the which is all one as it hee had more plainely said, they are but fewe which shalbe saued, and that for no other cause, but for that the gate of life and saluation is straight and narrow.

3 This thing the Lord goeth about to print in our minds, whē as he so often times repeateth, Many are called, but fewe are cho­sen: And when hee cryed againe, Wide and broade is the way which leadeth to perditi­on, and many there bee which enter thereat: but narrowe and straight is the way which leadeth vnto life, Mat. 7.1.3 and fewe there bee which finde it.

4 This thing Isaias setteth before our eyes by a very plaine, and yet feareful simi­litude: For thus he speaketh, Surely thus shal it be in the middest of the earth among the people, as the shaking of an Oliue tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended. I­saias, Chap. 24.13. These shal lift vp their voice, and shall sing praises, when the Lord is glorious and magnificent: that is to say, how seldome doe Oliues hang vpon the tree after they are shaken: and how seldom are grapes found vppon the vines after the vintage, euen so few shal be saued out of the nubmer of men. Who wil not tremble? who wil not for­get [Page 102] his sport & mirth, and delights, if he begin to thinke vpon this thing?

5 Againe in Esdras it is saide; The most highe made this world for many: 2. Esd. 8.1 but the world to come for fewe: The earth yeeldeth great store of clay to make pots, but little golde: So it is with the worke of this world: There bee many created, but fewe shalbe sa­ued. Wee see hereby that euen in natural things, those that be most excellent, are most rare: much clay, but little gold: great plenty of common stones, but of precious stones ve­ry fewe: vnprofitable hearbes spring euery where, but wholesome & m [...]dicinable hearbs are more geason.

6 How many millions of Infidels, Bar­barians, Turkes, Iewes, which remaine in the darknes of their own ignorāce, are dam­ned? and among Christians so many as hold not their profession truly, or otherwise are e­uil liuers therein? Also before the comming of Christ, all the world went the broad way to damnation, for many thousand yeares to­gether, excepting a few Iewes, which were a peculiar people vnto God: and yet amongst them also it seemeth, the greater part were not saued:

7 If this be so, that God damneth so ma­ny [Page 103] thousands for one that he saueth, Psal. 144. Iames. 2. how is it true, that his mercie is aboue al his works, and doe surmount his iudgements? For if the number of the damned, do so much excéed the number that are saued, it may séeme that the worke of iustice doeth excéede the worke of mercy.

8 To this obiection it may thus bée an­swered: First, that mercy may bée saide to excéede his iustice, 2. Esdr. 7.69. for that our whole saluati­on is of his mercy, and our damnation of our selues, as from the first and principall cause thereof. Ose. 13. Thy onely perdition is from thy selfe (O Israel) and thine assistance to doe good, is onely from me.

9 Secondly, in that hée desireth that all men might be saued. Whereby it appeareth, that hee offereth his mercy to all willingly and fréely, and is constrained to execute his iustice by our obstinate behauiour onely. Mat. 23.37.

10 Thirdly, in that hee vseth many meanes to saue the damned in this life. 1. Tim. 2.9 Iere. 3. First by calling them and assisting them somtimes with his grace to doe good, by mouing them inwardly with infinite good inspirations: se­condly, by alluring them outwardly with ex­hortations, promises and examples of others: [Page 104] thirdly, by aduersities: forthly by prosperi­ties: fiftly, by giuing speace to repent: lastly, by threatnings, This must néedes make the very damned confesse in hel, that his iudge­ments are nothing comparable with the greatnesse of his mercies.

11 But to returne to our purpose: Sée­ing they are so few that shall be saued if they bee compared with those which shal perish, Isaias saith full truly, Isaias. 24. These shall lift vp their voyce: they shall shout for the magnificence of the Lord. That is to say, when (the king­dome of Antichrist being finished) Christ shal come in the clowdes of Heauen with power & maiesty: when hee hath cast innumerable multitudes of the wicked into hel fire: when he hath iudged all blasphemers, all fornica­tors, all drunkards, and al vncleane persons to eternal torments: and when he hath tum­bled downe headlong all proud persons: then those few which are left shal lift vp their voi­ces, and shal breake forth into the praises of the Lord.

12 Now let men which are louers of themselues, eate, drinke, play, laugh, liue in security, and giue themselues to delights, and they shall sée what wil come vpon them soone after. Verily if there bee but a fewe that [Page 105] be saued, these are not like to be in that num­ber, but are rather to to bée reckoned among those which play vpon the Simphony and Harpe, liuing in prosperitie and pleasure all their dayes, and at last descende into their graues.

13 Thus haue we the meaning and purpose of our Sauiour Christ in the for­mer sentence, now we will begin briefly to expound the same.

Striue (saith hee) to enter by the straight gate: one moued the question, but the Lord maketh answere not to one onely, but to ma­ny. Striue ye to enter in at the straight gate. For although one had propounded the questi­on, yet there were many which desired to heare the solution of the question.

15 But what is that straight gate, by which we are commanded to enter? Surely no other thing then Christ himselfe. For in another place he saith plainly, I am the doore, Iohn 10.9 by me if any man enter, he shall be safe: And againe, I am the way, Iohn 14.6 the truth and the life

16 After what manner then do men en­ter by Christ? Two things are required for this entrance by Christ into Heauen: The one is, on the behalfe of Christ, the other is on our behalfe. That which is required on [Page 106] Christs part is, Apoc. 3.7. that he open the gate, for hée hath the key of Dauid, and openeth, and no man can shut: and he shutteth and no man o­peneth: & this is done long since. For Christ then opened vnto vs the gate of euerlasting life, when liuing here vpon earth hée was o­bedient to his Father, humbling himselfe to the death, the most shamefull death of the Crosse. For as the disobedience and pride of the first Adam did shut vp the gate of the kingdome of Heauen: so the obedience of the second Adam and his humilitie, opened the same againe. Therefore that which is re­quired on the part of Christ is already done. For the gate standeth wide open, and shall so stand vnto the end of the world.

17 But on our part this is required, that we striue and labour by Gods assistance to enter in at this gate, which (as is said) stan­deth open. And we enter, when wée vse and receiue those meanes to obtaine saluation which Christ hath appointed: Faith com­meth by hearing the word of God preached. Gael. 5.22. namely, Faith and Repentance. For this was the first ser­mon the preached, Repent and beleeue the Gospell. These two doe worke hope, charity, humility, chastitie, patience, &c. But because these things are hard to the carnall man and vnregenerate, therefore the gate of saluation [Page 107] is called the straight gate.

18 But some man peraduenture will say, if the Law of the Lord be a straight way or gate, why doth the same Lord in another place affirme, that his yoake is sweet, and his burden light? How doe these things agrée, Striue yee to enter by the straite gate: Math. 11.30. and my yoake is sweete, and my burthen light? This knot may be vndone many wayes. S. Chrisostome expounding the seuenth Chap­ter of S. Mathewes Gospel, affirmeth that the law of the Lord in it selfe is grieuous and hard: but yet also that it is light and swéete, if the rewards to come, and the torments to come, be cōsidered. Rom. 8.18 For the sufferings of this life, are nothing in comparison of the glorie that shall be shewed vpon vs.

19 If the sicke man for the loue of his health, is very willing to drinke most bitter potions: If the husband-man in hope of the haruest to come, setteth light by the scorching heate of Sommer, and the pinching colde of Winter: If the Marchaunt feareth not the danger of ship-wracke, nor the lying in wait of Pirats when he aduentureth for gold: If the souldier for vaine glory and a shadowe of honour, thinketh the burthen of his armour light, and is contented to vndergoe hunger, [Page 108] thirst, watchings, labours, wounds, perils, and death it selfe: how can it be but that those things which God commandeth, must bée easie and light to a Christian man, especially if he consider that great and sempiternal glo­ry which God promiseth to his souldiers?

20 The holy Apostle writing▪ to the E­phesians doth not without cause say that hée prayeth with so great carefulnesse, Eph. 1.18. that the God of glory would vouchsafe to giue them, the spirit of wisedom, and illumined eyes of the heart, that they might know what is the hope of his calling, and what is the riches of his glory, & of his inheritance in the Saints. For hée knew that the greatnes of the hea­uenly reward was such that the onely consi­deration thereof was able to make all grie­uous and bitter things swéet and light. These cogitations (saith S. Cyprian) what persecu­tion, Cyprian. de exhor. Martirij. what torments can ouercome? The minde which is setled vpon religious Medi­tations standeth firme & stable: and the same minde standeth immoueable against all the terrors of the diuel, and the threatnings of the world, being confirmed by a stedfast faith of the things to come.

21 The punishments also and torments which are to come, are so continual and grei­uous, [Page 109] that to escape them, all the labours that we suffer here in earth, are not to be accoun­ted labours.

22 But yet let vs see another answere to the former question. The way of the Lord in the beginning is very straight, but by lit­tle and little it is enlarged. In the begin­ning it seemeth hard and bitter: but by vse it groweth easie, by little and little; and by custome it is made light and swéete.

23 Hereupon Saint Bernard saith, The commaundements of God, at the first seeme importable, afterward, not so heauie: Then not heauy at at all: And in the ende they de­light. To this agréeth the saying of Saint Hierom. Vertues are hard to him that first taketh them in hand, easie to him that profiteth in them, and sweete to him that exerciseth them. And Saint Augustine saith, The paths of equitie, when a man first entreth to them, are straight and narrowe, but when hee hath gone foreward in them a time, they seeme spa­cious and broade. Pro. 4.11. Also Salomon in his Pro­uerbes saith: I haue taught thee in the waye of Wisedome, and leade thee in the pathes of righteousnesse: wherein when thou goest, thy gate shall not be straight, and when thou run­nest thou shalt not fall. That is to say, before [Page 110] thou entrest, thou shalt be discouraged, but when thou art entred, thou shalt féele little difficultie or none at all.

24 Homer the Prince of Gréeke Poets, a Heathen man, but yet wise, writteth, that when Vlisses should passe by those places, where Circe a famous woman in inchaunt­ments, (wherby she turned men into beasts) dwelt, caryed with him a certaine hearbe, by the force whereof, he fortified himself against her power: the rootes of the which are most foule and stinking, but the flowers most faire and white as milke. The purpose of Homer is, hereby to shew, that wise men (whom he describeth in the person of Vlisses) are wont to guard and fortifie themselues with vertue, which is stronger then any armour of proofe, least being vanquished with diuers desires & lustes, they be transformed and made like vnto brute beastes: and that vertue is like to the said hearbe which hath blacke rootes, and white flowers, for that the beginnings of vertue are hard and vnpleasant, but the fruit thereof most swéete and good.

25 Moreouer, experience and daily vse, proueth this. For there are many to whom if we should say thus. This must be your life hereafter: ye shall abstaine frō pastimes and [Page 111] pleasures: ye shal seldome walke abroad out of your houses: ye shall not hunt after feasts and banquets: ye shal not vse wanton da­liaunce with women: but yée shall followe your vocation at home, wherein ye shall be conuersant: & hereunto ye shal ioyne prayer, reading, and godly Meditation. To this they would answere, we can in no wise performe this, without God should worke a great my­racle in vs: this is no humane life, but a life for Angels.

26 But if these men would begin to en­ter the kingdome of heauen, as it were with strong hand, to resist their euill customes, to exercise themselues in good workes, and wil­lingly to vse those remedies which helpe to roote out sin and wickednes, as often prayer, and fasting, the receiuing of the blessed Sa­crament of the body and blood of Christ, the diligent reading of the Scriptures and other good bookes, the companie and fellowship of good men: who doubteth but y ^t vpon these re­ligious exercises, there will follow such good successe, that the way of the Lord shalbe ope­ned vnto them more and more: and that in a short time they shall sée themselues in that place with excéeding ioy of minde, wherunto afore they thought they should neuer come? [Page 112] And thus they shal not only without labour and paine but also with delight and pleasure abstaine from sin and wickednesse, and liue a holy and blessed life.

27 For the Philosopher, though an Eth­nicke, saw this plainely and so taught, that it is a pleasure to a vertuous man to liue ver­tuously: and Salomon expresseth the same thing in others words: The righteous man reioyceth, to deale righteously.

28 Moreouer this question may be an­swered another way, If wée say with Theo­philact that Christ is a straight gate, and nar­row way, so called, not so much because he is so, but because hee séemeth so, to the louers of the worlde, to wealthie and riche men. For in very déede if men were humble, if they would lay aside many vnprofitable bur­thens, and put off the garment of the flesh, they should (peraduenture) finde no straites in the way and gate of the Lord: Whereas now they think vpon nothing, but how they may rise continually, howe they may waxe fat in body, swell in minde, howe they may extend & inlarge their possessions, how they may abound and flow in wealth: neither doe they cease at any time to lade themselues with the heauie burthens of the cares of this [Page 113] life. And what maruel then if to such men, the gate of the heauenly kingdome seeme to be straite and narrowe?

29 It séemed not a hard and straite way to the Apostles of our Lord: It séemed not so to them which succéeded them in profession, who forsooke all that they possessed, & would néedes follow poore Christ in pouertie. For it cannot bée expressed in wordes how ample and large the way of the Lorde shal be made vnto all them, which can set their heart vpon Heauen, contemne earthly vanities, with great feruencie of minde to cleaue whollie vnto God, and which can cut off the desires of vnprofitable things.

30 Last of all this may be added also for the explication of our question, that the lawe and commandementes of God are a straite way and gate, if they be considered by them­selues, and alone. But if the grace and helpe of God be ioyned vnto them, they ought not to be called a straite gate, but a swéete yoke and a light burthen.

31 For this is the difference betwéene the law and the Gospel. The law comman­ded that wee should bée holie, but it gaue no grace by which men are sanctified: It com­manded vs to fight against the deuill, but it [Page 114] gaue not vnto vs necessary armor and wea­pons to fight: It commanded vs of carnall to become spiritual, but it gaue not the holy Ghost by which we might be made spiritual: It commanded vs to goe forward towardes Heauen, but it giueth not vnto vs Ladders and steppes by which wée may ascend into Heauen.

32 Therefore the Law was a yoke, but not a swéete yoke: It was a burthen, but not a light one. But the Gospel comman­ding the selfe-same things, giueth helpe and strength, that they may not onely bée done, but also that they may be easily done.

33 Wherefore the Gospel is a yoke, but sweete: It is a burthen, but light. It is also a strait and a broad way: it is a sharpe, and pleasant way. Let vs heare the words of the Prophet saying, Because of the words of thy mouth, Psal. 119. I haue kept hard wayes. Beholde a yoke and a burthen, a strait and a narrowe way. Let vs heare the same Prophet again: In the way of thy Commandements I haue had as great delight, as in in all manner of riches. Againe, I haue runne the way of thy comman­dements, when thou hast set my heart at liber­tie. Behold a helpe of grace.

4 For then the way is inlarged, and the [Page 115] course easily finished, when the heart is made spatious & voyd with the fire of loue: What is the cause that all the saintes did so great and wonderfull workes, and wee so small, and the same not without the compulsion of law many times? Surely there is no other cause but this: they were feruent, and we are colde. Finally they which complaine of the straitnes of the Lordes wayes, séeme to mee not to haue knowne as yet what the Gospel signifieth. For what doth the gospel signifie? what grace? what the Law of loue? what the holy Ghost? what Christ? what Iesus? and what a deliuer? but a deliuerance, but liber­tie, and charitie, but swéetnesse, and faci­litie?

35 What this gate is, wherof the Lorde speaketh, why it is called straite, wée haue hitherto shewed: now these words are to bée considered, Because many I say vnto you, shall seeke to enter in, and cannot.

36 There are thrée sorts of men, which shal séeke to enter in, and yet notwithstan­ding cannot: and there is also a fourth kinde, which doe not so much as séeke to enter in.

37 There are some therefore which séeke to enter into the kingdom of heauen but they do not therefore enter, because they doe not [Page 116] séeke to passe and enter by the straite gate, but by the broad way. And of this sort are the Mahometans, the Iewes, Heretickes, Papists, Sectaries, and all Infidels. The Mahome­tans seeke to ender and to be saued, but there­fore they enter not, and cannot be saued, be­cause they enter not by the strait gate Christ, but by the broad gate Mahomet. For when Mahomet saw the straitnesse of Christian Religion, hée opened a certaine other gate, broad and wide, which leadeth the direct way vnto hell.

38 Behold and sée what a wide gate Ma­homet hath set open: he hath taught nothing to bee beléeued which excéedeth mans vnder­standing; no Trinitie, no Incarnation, no death or resurrection of the Sonne of God. Also hee hath taught to hope for nothing, which the eye séeth not, and the eare heareth not, but floods of milke, honey and wine, ful­nesse of venerie, and fulfilling of lusts, multi­tude of seruants, continuall sportes and ban­quets: this he would haue to be the felicitie of the blessed.

39 The Papistes also set open a very wide gate, when they teach men to merite heauen by workes; to purchase vnto them­selues with mony, pardon for their sins past, [Page 117] & to come; to redéeme their soules out of Pur­gatory fire, by purchasing infinite Masses & Dirges with money to be sung after their death; to haue absolution of their sinnes, by confessiō to a Priest, with diuers other points of like sort: which maketh the way very broad and open for rich men, but straite and narrow for the poore.

40 In like manner al Heretikes & Scis­matickes, which cannot endure and abide the straits of this gate, doe open euery one to himselfe a proper gate: The Family of Loue hath a peculiar gate: the Anabaptists & Li­bertines, a wide gate: and the Brownists, and Barrowists at this time a fantasticall gate, all which séeke an equalitie of states and persons, a common participation of o­ther mens portions, a sacrilegious spoyle of the Lordes treasurie and sanctuary with Athalia: whereby they open the broad way of disorder and confusion, and a libertie to all sinne and wickednes: and yet by these gates which stand so wide open, a great multitude of men doe dayly enter.

41 All which the Lord calleth back with these words, Striue ye to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say vnto you, haue sought to enter (namely into life) and cannot: be­cause [Page 118] they enter not in by the straite gate, which onelie leadeth vnto life.

42 Let not the largenes of the gate moue you. What doth it profite to enter easily, and not by the straits, if ye enter into Hell? Nay rather, if ye be wise, suspect and stand in feare of the broadnes of the gate, and of the facility of faith. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth vnto life. And that is true Christian faith, which for the déepnes and ex­cellencie of her mysteries requireth this, that vnderstanding be captiued of will.

43 There are yet another sort, which de­sire to enter in by the straite gate, but they come too late, and therfore séeking to enter in cannot. Hee that stept not in quickly, and at the first into the water of the poole Bethesda, after the Angell had stirred the same, Io [...]. [...]. lost the benefite of healing: and great were the liber­ties and priuiledges which the Israelites had in that great yeere of Iubile, which was euery fifty yéere: and he that chalenged not his frée­dome in this time, afterwares lost it. Euen so now is y ^e time of health, wherein the Arch­angell Christ Iesus maketh the water of life effectuall to our saluation: now also is that great Iubile, wherein we are to challenge the benefite of Christs death and passion, and the [Page 119] gate of Heauen is set open: but the said water of life must haue his vse in time, or els it hel­peth not: and when the yéere of Iubile is past, the gate of Heauen wil be fast shut vp. Euery mans life is his yéere of Iubile, so that when his life is ended, the Iubile is past, and hée is barred from the gate of life.

44 And because manie while they liue here, are ouerwhelmed with the cares of this worlde, and passing on in their way, do pro­mise vnto themselues a long life, and a large yéere of Iubile: the Lord foreséeing their pe­rill, doth after this mnaner carefully admo­nish them, Striue yee to enter in at the straite gate: as if he should say, vse no delaies in the way, but make haste, runne apace while the yéere of Iubile lasteth, while ye haue time of repentance, and while the gate of saluation is open. For many shall séeke to enter in, but because they come too late, they shall not en­ter. They shall knocke in vaine at the gate, they shall crie in vaine, Lorde, Lorde, Math. 25. open to vs, and in vaine they shall wishe to haue one day of repentance.

45 And for whome, I beséeche you, are these thinges so often spoken? Are they spo­ken for those that are dead, and stand without knocking and saying, Lorde open to vs? No [Page 120] verily, they are not spoken vnto them, for they haue no profite thereby. But they are spoken to vs, and for vs, and to him (I say) this is spoken: The gate of heauen is nowe opened vnto you, now is the time of your Iu­bile come, now the kingdome of Heauen is offered vnto you, ye are now called vpon to enter by the straite gate, loose not this opor­tunitie, for the gate will be shut much sooner then you think of, euen before you be aware, then shal ye be most miserable and vnhappy for euer: yée shall desire but one houre to be giuen you of this most pretious time, wher­of now ye make so little account, and it shall not be giuen vnto you.

46 There is a third sort of men, which séeke soone enough to enter in by the straite gate, but yet being ouercome with the straits in the way, doe not at last enter in. To these the Lord speaketh, Striue ye to enter in by the straite gate, because many, I say vnto you, shall seeke to enter: that is to say, they shall make a proofe whether they can enter or not, but they shal make it daungerous: they shal assay whether they can enter by those straites, but because they séeke not with all their strength to enter, therefore in the ende they shall not enter.

[Page 121] 47 There are of this sort an innumera­ble multitude of men, which whē they heare their sinnes & wickednesses by the word of God condemned, doe for a while purpose to forsake them, & to enter in at the straite gate of vertuous life, and to forsake their drun­kennesse, fornication, contention, strifes, and such like, from which the Apostle commaun­deth vs to abstaine: So that these séeke to en­ter, and begin to enter, but soone after they re­turne with the dogge to his vomite, and with the sow to her mire againe.

48 And some, many times, renue their desires: they oftentimes conceiue the spirit, and yet neuer bring foorth. But the Lord is not fed with barren desires, it is not enough to haue a will to enter, but we must also la­bour and striue to enter. For I say vnto you, many shal séeke to enter, many shall haue a will to enter, many shal haue a desire to en­ter, many shal prooue to enter: but because they wil not striue, and labour with all their strength, therefore they shal not enter. For the kingdome of God suffereth violence, and the violent draw it vnto them.

49 When there is a Comicall or Tra­gicall play at the Theater or Curten, doe yée not sée many times, how men do throng and [Page 122] shooue with great labour to enter betimes, that they may heare and behold the same: for the which they think their pains, their, time, their labour and their cost well bestowed? But in the kingdome of heauen there shal be such glorious sights, and so far excelling those worldly vanities, and prophane delights, that the beholders of them shall bée made happy with the beholding therof: And we must not tarry til our seruants go before vs to prepare the way, but euery man by himselfe, be hée rich, be he poore, be hée noble, or vnnoble, eue­rie one must séeke to prepare and make his owne way, and must striue, labour and en­deuour all that wee can, if wée will bee at those delightfull and happy sights,

50 These things considered, which of vs will not sustaine the labour and trauell to enter in at the straite gate? Who wil not wil­lingly suffer himselfe to be pained and aflic­ted for a time? I doubt not, but that there are many which would enter but they cannot, & therefore they cannot, because they know not how to enter. For without skill we must not looke to enter by those straite and low gates. If the gate belowly, and thou lookest to go in without stooping, with a fight vp body, not once bowing downe thy heade, is it not like [Page 123] that thou shalt hurt thy forehead, and yet be stopt from entrance? Euen so the gate being strait, except thou know how to conforme thy selfe to the fashion of the crosse, and to enter as it were stooping, or side-waies, thou shalt desire to enter in vaine. Therfore this is that which the Lord saith heere, Striue to enter in at the straite gate, because many, I say vnto you, shall seeke to enter in and cannot: and all because they cānot fashion themselues to the crosse, and know not the manner of entring in by the straites. Therefore thou must con­forme thy selfe to the maner of the crosse: that is to say, thou must determine with thy selfe to endure with a valiant mind all manner of afflictions and tribulations, and after this maner thou shalt easily enter.

51 Thus the Lord himselfe entred. For thus it behoued Christ to suffer: that is to say, it was requisite for Christ to be crucified, and so to enter into his glorie. Thus the Apo­stle Peter, Thus the Apostle Saint Andrew, and thus all the elect haue entered into the kingdome of heauen. For they all following the figure of the crosse, with many tribulati­ons, and with great labour, haue entred into the straits of this gate.

5 But now to come to the last, and most [Page 124] vnhappy sort of men, which do not onely not striue to come in, but also doe not so much as thinke vpon any entrance. And how many thinke you are there to be found in this num­ber? verily there are very few, which are not to be reckned amōg this kind of men. What man is hée that forgetteth not the feare of God and his own saluation? To how many doe these words agrée? Isaiah. 5.12 The harpe and Viole, Timbrell, and Pipe, and Wine, are in their feastes: but they regard not the worke of the Lord. Iob. 21.12. And againe, They take the Tabret and Harpe, and reioyce in the sound of the Organs: They spend their daies in wealth, and suddainly they goe down to the graue. They say also vnto God, depart from vs: for wee desire not the knowledge of thy waies, &c. That is to say, we wil not walke in that straite way which thou commandest vs to walke in, but we wil goe the broad way.

53 When the Phrigians, first became christian, the gouernor of the citie desired to be resolued by the Bishop (who was then a­bout to baptise him) of this question: namely whether those that shalbe saued, or those that shalbe damned, shalbe the greater number. The bishop answered, that the greater num­ber should be lost. And I quoth the Gouer­nour [Page 125] will do as the most doe: and so refused his Baptisme. Many men at thsi day perad­uenture will be ashamed, openly to say thus, as this Gouernour did, and yet in déeds pro­claime it.

54 Wherefore the greater part of men shalbe adiudged to euerlasting paines. Few are chosen. Many goe the broad way: Fewe there be that enter the straite gate: the which is not onely proued vnto vs by wordes, but also by many tipes and figures of the scrip­ture.

55 God in that old world, wherin Noah liued, entred into iudgement with mankind, Gen. 7. and destroyed the euill and the wicked with the flood, but saued the good and godly. And how many were saued in that great multi­tude? A few (saith Saint Peter) that is to say, 2. Pet. 2.5 eight soules, &c.

56 Furthermore in the dayes of Abra­ham, by another figure, hée setteth before our eyes, the small number of them that shalbe saued: Gen. 19. for when hee destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone from heauen, hee among so many people saued on­ly thrée.

57 Moreouer in the time of Moses, 1. Cor. 10. God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, to [Page 126] plant them in the land of promise, a land flo­wing with milke and hony: All which things happened to them in a figure, and were done to admonish vs vpon whom the endes of the world are come. How many were ther think you of this people, which came out of Egypt? Six hundred & thrée thousand, Num. 1. fiue hundred and fifty, beside women and children, and old men. How many of this excéeding multitude entered into the lande of promise? Num. 26. No more but Iosua and Caleb.

58 To conclude, what other thing was the transfiguration of the Lord in the mount, but a most manifest figure of blessednes? but how many were admitted to this blessednes? onely fiue: Moses, Helias, Peter, Iames and Iohn: to giue vs to vnderstand, not only that they are few that shalbe saued (because there are but few Christians, Mat. 17.1. if they bée compared with Ethnicks, Iews, Sarasins, Heretikes, and such like, which without al doubt perish) but also because among Christans few shall be saued. Wherefore whosoeuer loueth God truly, and his owne soule, let him labour and striue to enter in at the straite gate, during the time of this pilgrimage.

CHAP. VI. Concernining repentance with­out delay.

IEsus the son of Syrach, 2. Eccle. 5. giueth vs a very profi­table admonition, to turne vnto God from sinne and wickednesse, so spéedily as possibly we can, in these words: Be­cause thy sin is forgiuen, be not without feare, to heape sinne vpon sinne: And say not the mer­cy of God is great: he will forgiue my manifold sinnes: for mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation commeth downe vpon sin­ners. Make no tarrying to turne vnto the Lord, and put not off from day to day: for so­dainly shall the wrath of the Lord breake forth, and in thy security thou shalt be destroy­ed. Also, Eccle. 12. Salomon to the same effect giueth vs most excellent counsail: saying; Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth, while the euill dayes come not, nor the yeares ap­proach, wherein thou shalt say, I haue no plea­sure in them. Héereunto agreeth the saying of Saint Augustine;

Age poenitentiam dum sanus es: sic si ages, dico tibi quod securus es: quia poenitentiam egisti eo tempore, quo peccare potuisti, that is, Repent thee while thou art in health: so doing, I say vnto thee thou art without dā ­ger, because thou hast repented, at what time thou mightest haue sinned.

2 Although these diuine testimonies might satisfie a christian man, that their hope is vaine and full of perill, which deferre their conuersion and repentance, albeit but for one houre: yet it shalbe shewed by other reasons, that it may the more plainely appeare, how néedful a thing it is, for man with all spéede to repent him.

3 There are foure principal causes, why a man cannot without great labour and diffi­culty, forsake sinne and followe righteous­nesse. The first cause is, a custome of sinning, the which, being now made as it were ano­ther nature, can very hardly be ouercome. For as Mithridates vsed to eate poyson so long, that nature in the ende could very wel brooke and digest it, and the people called Ge­merij, are so well acquainted with darknesse wherein they liue continually, that they can­not well endure the light: Euen so men that liue continually in sinne and wickednesse, [...] [Page 131] thus brought vs to his allure, then his care is, to hold vs still in his bondage, and for feare that we should make conscience of sinne, and so turne vnto the Lord by repentance, he put­teth a faire vizor ouer the ougly face of sinne, and so disguiseth her, that the proud person which excéedeth in apparell, saith that his or her pride, is cleanlinesse and decensie: The whoremonger and fornicator, taketh his fil­thy life to bée but the course of youth: The drunkard and riotous person, perswadeth himselfe, that his excesse is but good fellow­ship: The couetous person, beléeueth that his couetousnesse is good husbandry: The idle person which spendeth his whole time in dice, cardes, and such like, neglecting his vo­cation, flattereth himselfe that his time thus wickedly spent, is honest recreation. Where­as if the diuell had not blinded them, so as they might sée sinne in her colours, she would séem such a deformed monster, as they would loathe her for euer. For her eyes are ful of Adultrie: her eares are very large and great, open to heare all vaine delights: her tongue swollen with lying and deceit: her throate is an open sepulchre: her lippes are boulstred vp with the poyson of Aspes: her hands are large to receiue bribes: her belly hath a tim­panie [Page 132] of surfetting and gluttonie: her back is laden with idlenesse: and yet her féete are swift to shead blood: with her heart she thin­keth vpon nothing, but how to betray the in­nocent, and oppresse the widow and the fa­therlesse: Yea, from the very top of the head vnto the sole of the foote, she is ful of botches and sores, & hath no whole part. What man will be coupled with this monster, who hath no other dowrie and portion of her father the diuell but hell fire? Lette him then that hath béene inchanted with her adulterous eyes, diuorce himselfe betimes from her com­pany without delay: for delay is perilous. Her handmaide Security will peraduenture flatter vs & say, It is yet too soone to depart, and so to craue further companie: much like vnto Swetonius Tranquillus crowe, which in the Emperour Domitians dayes, stoode vppon the Capitoll, and saide thus, All shall be well. It is the diuels voyce, which saith, Cras, Cras, to morrowe, hereafter: but God saith, Hodie, Today if ye will heare his voyce, harden not your heartes. If we harken to the diuels voice, he wil serue vs as he ser­ued Adam & Eue, and wil lay open our naked­nesse and shame.

5 A third cause of our delaied repentance, [Page 133] is the absence of the holy Ghost from vs. For as the spirite of the Lorde dwelling in our heartes, maketh the way of vertue easie and swéete, insomuch that the Prophet Dauid saith, Psal. 119. I haue as great delight in the way of thy commaundementes, as in all maner of ri­ches: and againe, I haue runne the way of thy commandementes, when thou hast set my heart at libertie: Euen so contrariwise the absence of the holy Ghost, maketh the same way hard and vnpleasant. And as the light of the Sun chéereth vp mens spirits to goe to their labour: euen so the sonne of righ­teousnesse shining in our heartes, with the bright beames of his grace, maketh vs to haue a delight in the way of his commande­mentes. The first outward meane of Paules conuersion, was the great light which he saw from heauen: then he was cast down to the ground, and humbled: he heareth a voice, and acknowledgeth it to be Gods voice: Act. 9 3. Act. 26. and 22. And then ariseth vp and saith, Quid faciam Domine? What shall I doe? It is the celestiall illumi­nation that worketh our conuersion vnto God, and which frameth our hearts to his obedience. And therefore the Lord saith by the mouth of the Prophet Ose thus to sin­ful men, Ose. 9.12. Woe vnto them when I shall depart [Page 134] away from them. And by the Prophet Ie­remie: Vnderstand and know what a grieuous thing it is, that the Lord thy God hath forsa­ken thee.

6 The last cause, is a certaine sicknesse, and languishing of all the faculties of our soule. For the apple is not so eaten of worms, nor the garment with moathes, as the po­wers of the soule are corrupted with sins and wickednesses, as the vnderstanding is dark­ned, the iudgement dulled, and the wil depra­ued. Whereof it commeth, that now to liue a holy and godly life, is a very hard and pain­full matter. Who seeth it not then, in what perill, and error they are in, who putting off their repentunce and conuersion, from day to day, doe thinke that the same which is now hard vnto them, they shall finde afterwardes more easie, when all the causes of difficulty and hardnesse are increased: when they haue increased the causes of their labour and diffi­cultie, by adding sinnes vnto sinnes: & when an euil custome hath taken more déepe roote: Shall not the Diuell then more fortifie his castle, which is thy soule? Shall not GOD whirh is thy light, depart further off from thée? Shall not the powers of thy soule then, hauing receiued many woundes, bée made [Page 135] more weake and insufficient to goodnes? Be­side this, thou must greatly hazard the losse of heauenly treasures, by thy long delay. God hath thought vpon and loued vs from euerla­sting, and hath prepared for vs an eternal re­ward? with what face then canst thou holde from God a little momentarie seruice, which owest vnto God all that thou art able to doo for euer?

7 God hath giuen vnto thée, the life of his onely begotten sonne, the which is of greater price then the life of all men, and of the An­gels: and by what right and prerogatiue da­rest thou denie vnto him the flower of thy youth, and to spend the same in other things then in the seruice of God, and to offer vnto him the dregs and rottennes of old age one­ly? Mala. 1. Consider what the Prophet Malachie saith, If yee offer the blinde for sacrifice, is it not euill? and if yee offer the lame and sicke, is it not euill? Offer it now vnto thy Prince, will hee bee content with thee, or ac­cept thy person, saith the Lord of hostes? But cursed be the deceiuer, which hath in his flocke a male, and voweth and sacrificeth vnto the Lord a corrupt thing. All that we haue, and our selues wholy, are not sufficient to serue the Lord. Therefore let our youth bee dedica­ted [Page 134] to his seruice as well as our age. Let vs serue him not onely in sicknesse, but also in health; Let vs turne vnto him not onely when we are in affliction, & vnder the crosse, but also in prosperity. For forced holinesse is of no great account. Pharaos repentance, Fe­stus trembling, and Iudas sorrowe, auailed them nothing. Saint Augustine in his second booke of true and false Repentance, speaking of that Repentance which affliction wrin­geth frō men, saith, Vis dicam liberaliter, &c. Wilt thou haue me speake my minde fréely? I do neither say, nor will say, that he shall be damned. But saith he, will ye put the matter out of doubt? Repent then whilest thou art in health: otherwise whether a man doe safe­ly depart out of this life, I my selfe am not sure. And the same Author in another place, saith us: Wilt thou repent thee, when thou canst sinne no longer? Thy sinnes then haue forsaken thee, and not thou thy sinnes.

8 Sinne is common to all times & ages of mans life; yea, to fraile youth more then to olde age, which caused King Dauid to say, Remember not O Lord the sinnes of my youth: There is then at no time want of mat­ter in vs for repentance: and yet our sinnes are much more then our sacrifices. Sinne is [Page 135] common to all: but timely and spéedy repen­tance to fewe.

9 But let the exhortation of our Sauiour mooue vs, which hée so oftentimes repeateth, Math. 24. Mar. 13. Watche, watche, because yee knowe not the day nor the howre. For I demaund of thée whosoeuer thou bée, which assurest thy selfe that after a fewe yéeres be past, thou wilt re­pent thée: who made thée an vndoubted pro­mise (I will not say of yéeres and moneths) but of the morow, which is but one day? nay, who can assure thée of one hower? And what greater follie and rashnesse can there bée de­uised, then for a worme of the earth, to de­termine anie thing certaine, concerning the times and seasons which the Father hath set in his owne power? Art thou ignorant how many this vaine confidence hath decei­ued, euen to this day?

10 But thou wilt say, the Lorde is full of compassion and mercy, who hath made large promises to those that trust in him; who sent his Sonne into the world for mée, and there­fore hée wil not suffer mée to perish. O man, thou greatly deceiuest thy selfe. Truth it is, the promises of God are great, and greater then thou canst well consider. And yet they appertaine not to thee, if thou canst make no [Page 138] better vse of them. Thinke vpon that Pro­uerbe of Salomon, Mel inuenisti? Haste thou found honny? eate not too much. Haste thou the swéete and most comfortable promises of God in the Gospel? vse them to thy comfort, yet presume not therby to liue securely in sin. For Iacob must change his garments before he can obtaine a blessing. Gen. 27. Hester. 2. And Hester must decke her selfe when she commeth into the presence of the King. That is to say, we must put off the garment of sinne, by spéedy repen­tance, & we must be cloathed with vertue and godlines, as pilgrims, with Scrip and staffe for celestiall glory.

CHAP. VII. Of the Remission of our sinnes by Christ, and of our loue to our brethren.

AMong manifolde things which doe set foorth the wonderfull power and exceeding mercy of God, there is nothing that doth so much expresse the same, as doth the great mysterie of the Incarnation and Passion of Iesus Christ, whereby we haue frée pardon [Page 139] and remission of all our sinnes, and that Be­nediction whereof the Prophet speaketh, say­ing; Blessed are they whose sinnes are couered, Psal. 32. and whose iniquities are forgiuen.

2 Wonderfull was the wisedome of God in the redemption of mankinde, from the thraldome of sinne, death and hell, in that he hath made Mercy & Truth, Righteous­nes and Peace, to be conioyned in one.

3 The first Adam sinned so damnation, from the which, neither he, nor his posteri­tie could deliuer themselues. God neuerthe­lesse will not haue Adam and his posteritie vtterly to perish, & therefore in vnspeakable mercie, he deuiseth the meane, that his Iu­stice and righteousnes might be satisfied, and yet man saued. No Saint, nor Patriarch, nor any other were he neuer so holy, which came out of the loines of Adam, were able to make satisfaction to God, for that first trāsgression. No Angel nor Archangel in heauen, was fit to take this great taske in hand. Because man had sinned, Iustice required that man likewise should make satisfaction.

4 Behold here then the infinite loue and mercie of God, who for mans redemp­tion sent his sonne from heauen, Phil. 2. Luke 2. so far to bée abased, as to take vppon him our flesh, con­ceiued [Page 138] in the wombe of the holy virgin Ma­rie by the holy Ghost, Luke. 2. that so of God & man, hée might be Emanuel, that is, one Christ, in whome Mercie and Truth are met together, Righteousnes & Peace haue kissed each other.

5 Of this great worke of wonder, wherin God hath thus conioyned his mercie and his Iustice, the Prophet long before prophesied thus: Vnto vs a Childe is borne, and vnto vs a Sonne is giuen, and the gouernement is vppon his shoulder: and hee shall call his name Won­derfull, Isai. 9. Counseller, the mighty God, the euer­lasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

6 This childe our Emanuel, and Iesus the Lords Christ, approoued himselfe wonderfull in person, & in al his works. Three things (saith S Bernard) are singularly wonderfull, & won­derfully singular: that the Godheade, and the Manhood should be vnited in one person: that one should be both a Virgin and a Mother: that faith should dwell in the heart of man, things in nature and reason so contrarie.

7 This wonderfull Christ, is not to bée comprehended with corporal eyes alone, and with a carnal heart, but also with the eyes of a liuely faith, whereby we haue remission of sinnes. Iohn. 3. For God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begottē Sonne, that all that beleeue in [Page 139] him should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.

8 He then that will be saued must come to him. Whosoeuer wil come to the father, must come by him, who not only is the way to life, but is both the way and life. For as ther was no come to be had in Aegipt, but only by the handes of Ioseph, who after long affliction was so highlie exalted: so there is no grace, nor life, no remission, no holie Ghost now to bée looked for, but at the hands of our Cruci­fied Ioseph. Hée is the Brasen Serpent, which onelie healeth the infernal serpents wounds. Hée is that holy Temple, where only God is to be worshipped, and no where els: without him ther is no hearing God, no helping God, no God for vs at all.

9 Onely the Faith which is effectuall and auaileable to Iustifie vs before God, is that, whose obiect is the body and passion of Christ Iesus crucified, Rom. 4. Act, 16. & whose frutes are the workes of charity. Therfore (saith the Apostle) by faith cometh the inheritance, as after grace, bicause y ^e promise might be firme and sure to al the seede.

10 The meanes to haue this faith, is the worde of God preached, that hearing it, wée may beléeue it to be the worde of life. For so it is also manifest in the Acts of the Apostle, Act. 10.44 Act. 4.4. where it is saide, While Peter yet spake, the [Page 142] Holie Ghoste fell downe vppon them which heard him. Rom. 10.17. And Paule to the Romanes saith, Faith commeth by hearing. So as the Church preaching continually the worde of God by her ministers, and offring reconciliation by Christ, giueth remission of sinnes: in that by the outwarde ministerie it pronounceth the same out of the word of the Scripture, by the which, through attentiue eares (as through a Conduit) both the grace and spirite of Christ do flowe in, euen into our heart.

11 As the word soundeth and is heard in the voice: so in a visible and euident signe, the sacraments do speake, vnto the which we gi­uing credit, obtaine in very deede, that which they promise and signifie. So that how often soeuer wée heare the worde, or receiue the sa­craments in faith, remission of sinnes is assu­red vnto vs: whereby no small faith is in­wardly wrought in vs.

12 Thus then we sée, that remission of sin­nes, is openly published by proclamation, ra­tified by promise: confirmed by will and te­stament: stablished in blood: and sealed with Sacraments. And thus much concerning the first meane to get remission of sinnes.

13 The second meane, is Charitie in vs, in pardoning and forgiuing the offences and

[Page 145] 16 But they which haue the greatest in­iuries done vnto them, ought to be alwayes prepared and ready to forgiue, according as we are taught in the Scriptures: Eccle. 29 Haue the patience with him that humbleth himselfe, and keepe not mercie from him. Our Sauiour Christ commaundeth vs to forgiue our bro­ther that offendeth seuentie times seuen times: and which is more, to loue our very enemies. Also the Apostle Paul doth not on­ly exhort vs to loue our enemies, but also if they be hungry to féed them, and if they thirst to giue them drinke. Rom. 12.

17 Yet such is the corruption of our na­ture, that there is nothing that we can more hardly digest, then the forgiuing of iniuries. For the which cause, let vs vnderstand and knowe, that by how much this forgiuenesse which God requireth is hard vnto vs, by so much it is a greater argument vnto men, that they are the sonnes of God, which doe easily forgiue and forget iniuries, and with their heart loue their enemies. For herein they do shew foorth a certaine likenes vnto God their Father, who loued vs, as the A­postle saith, when we were his enemies, and reconciled vnto himselfe, being redeemed by the death of his onely Sonne, from eternall [Page 146] damnation. Pray (saith our Sauiour Christ) for them that persecute you, Mat 5. and say all maner of euill sayings against you, that ye may be the children of your Father in heauen, who suffe­reth his sunne to shine vpon the iust and vpon the vniust.

18 The example also of our Sauiour Christ maketh this matter yet more mani­fest, the which we ought alwaies to haue be­fore our eyes. For he hauing not so much as any suspition of sinne, yet being buffeted, spit vpon, whipped, blasphemed, crowned with thornes, & nayled to the Crosse, prayed thus for his enemies: Luke 23. Father forgiue them, for they wote not what they doe.

19 There are many other most waigh­tie reasons, which the Fathers haue vsed, to suppresse their frowardnesse, which are most obstinate and wilfully bent to re­uenge. One is, to giue him to vnderstande that hath the iniurie done vnto him, that the same is not the principall cause of the iniurie, which he desireth to reuenge. For all those things whatsoeuer, which we suffer in this life, doe come from the Lord, who is the author and fountaine of all righteousnes and mercie. For God doth correct and chastice vs as his sonnes, wherein he vseth his creatures [Page 147] as his ministers, which can hurt vs in no­thing, but in those things which befall out­wardly. But euery man may most wickedly hurt himselfe, and defile his owne mind, with hatred & enuy. These things, that most rare man Iob vnderstood, who being vexed of the Sebeans, Caldeans, and the diuel himselfe, v­sed these words, The Lord gaue, Iob. 1.21. Gen 45. 2. Sam. 19 and the Lord hath taken. Thus Ioseph forgaue the iniu­ries which his brethren did vnto him. Thus Dauid bare patiently the iniuries which She­mei did vnto him. It is great magnanimitie in a man, when he hath receiued a wound, not to feele or regard the harme.

20 A second reason is, that they which do not forgiue, shall not be forgiuen of the Lord. For, 1. Iohn 3. Eccle. 28. he that hateth his brother (as S. Iohn saith) abideth in death. And Sirach saith, Hee that seeketh vengeance, shall find vengeance of the Lord.

21 The third reason comprehendeth those incommodities, into the which we then fall, when we will not forgiue the iniuries that are done vnto vs. For it is most certaine that hatred is not onely a grieuous sin in it selfe, but also by continuance it striketh more fast into our mindes, & is made greater. In so much that the man which fostereth hatred [Page 148] in minde, and desireth reuenge, with hope to preuaile against his enemie at the last, is so continually troubled day and night, that hée neuer can put that wicked cogitation out of his minde: whereby oft times it commeth to passe, that the malicious man, will sooner goe downe into hell, then be brought to forgiue, and with his whole heart to remit the iniu­rie. Wherefore hatred is rightly compared to a wound, wherein the head of the dart or arrow remaineth fast still.

22 There are many other inconuenien­ces and sinnes, which are fast linked to this sinne of hatred. Therefore Saint Iohn saith, He which hateth his brother is in darkenesse, and walketh in darknesse, and knoweth not whi­ther he goeth, because the darknesse hath blin­ded his eyes. Therefore of necessitie he can­not but stumble and fall. For how is it pos­sible, that a man should allowe or like ey­ther of his words or déeds, whom he hateth? Héereof therefore come rash iudgementes, wrath, enuie, slaunderings, reprochfull ray­lings, and many such like, euery one of the which bring men in danger of hel-fire: wher­of he is guiltie (as appeareth by the testimo­nie of Christ) which saith but so much, as Thou foole. Math. 5. What then doth continuall ha­tred, [Page 149] and back-biting raylers, and slaunde­rers deserue?

23 Let vs therefore follow the counsell and admonition of Iesus Christ, as wée ten­der the remission of our sinnes, Forgiue, and ye shall be forgiuen. For as Tertullian saith most comfortably, Si apud Deum deposueris iniuriam, ipse vlt [...]r est: Si damnum, restitutor est: Si dolorē, medicus est: Si mortē, resuscita­tor est. That is to say, If thou lay downe the iniurie that is done vnto thee before Gods tribunall seate, he is thy reuenger: If thy losse, he is thy restorer: If thy griefe, he is thy Physition: If thy death, he is thy resur­rection, and thy life.

Now therefore as Gods elect, put on the bowels of mercy, kindnesse, humblenesse of minde, méeknesse, long suffering, Coloss. 3. forbearing one another, and forgiuing one another, if a­ny haue a quarrell to another: as Christ for­gaue, euen so doe yée: So shalt thou peace­ably procéede in thy pilgrimage.

CHAP. VIII. Concerning Blessednesse and Felicitie.

IT is written in the nine­tie one Psalme, There shal no euill happen vn­to thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. These wordes of the Prophet Dauid, may beare a two folde interpretation. First, that they which are héere in this life vnder the protection of the Almightie, are frée from all euil. Secondly, they containe a propheticall promise concer­ning the life to come. And whē we be in that heauenly Tabernacle, of the which it is said in another place, Psal. 84. O Lord of Hostes, how ami­able are thy tabernacles? My soule longeth, yea and fainteth for the Courtes of the Lord. And the Lord in the Gospel saith, Lu. 9.16. I say vnto you, make you friendes of the vnrighteous Mam­mon, that when yee want, they may receiue you into their euerlasting habitations. And the Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrewes saith, Heb. 9. Christ beeing a High Priest of good [Page 151] things to come, by a greater and a more perfect Tabernacle, not made with handes, that is, not of this building, neither by the blood of Goates and calues: but by his owne blood entred hee in once into the Holy place, and obtained eternall redemption for vs. Also Saint Iohn in his Apocalips, Beholde, Apoc. 21. the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he wil dwell with them, and they shall bee his peo­ple, and God himselfe shall bee their God with them. And God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes, and there shall bee no more death, neither sorrowe, neither crying, nei­ther shall there bee any more paine: for the first things are passed. When, I say, wée bee in this heauenly Tabernacle, then shal no e­uill happen vnto vs, neither shal any plague come nigh our dwelling. O most blessed Ta­bernacle! O most safe refuge! O region most resplendant and glorious! All thy inhabi­tants weare crownes of glory, sit in thrones of Maiestie, liue in life eternall, and possesse a paradice of infinite pleasures: which as S. Bernard saith, are so many that they cannot bée numbred: of such eternitie that they are without all ende: so precious, as they cannot be estimated: & so great, as they cannot bee measured. For the which cause, the Apostle [Page 152] saith, neither the eye hath seene, nor eare heaerd: 1. Cor. 2. Apoc, 2. nor the heart of man conceiued, what things God hath prepared for those that loue him. And Christ saith, No man knoweth it, but he that enioyeth it.

2 Yet notwithstanding, as it is reported of a skilfull Geometrician, that finding the length of Hercules foote vpon the hill Olym­pus, made a portraiture of his whole bodie by that one part: Euen so by those demon­strations which in Gods word are found, we may make a coniecture of this Tabernacle, and the felicitie in the same, although we can not expresse the full perfection thereof.

3 We haue therefore a most comfortable description of this Tabernacle, in the 21. and 22. chapters of Saint Iohns reuelation, com­paring it vnto a citie which is made of pure gold, with a great and high wall of the preti­ous stone called Iaspis. The wal wherof had also twelue foundations, made of twelue di­stinct precious stones, which he ther nameth: also 12. gates made of 12. rich stones called Margarites, and euery gate was an entire Margarite. The stréetes of the citie were pa­ued with gold, enterlayed also with pearles, & pretious stones. The light of the Cittie was the clearenesse and shining of Christ himself, [Page 153] sitting in the middest therof: from whose seat proceeded a riuer of water as cleare as Chri­stall to refresh the Cittie: and on both sides of the bankes, there grew the tree of life, gi­uing out perpetual and continual fruit: there was no night in that Cittie, nor any defiled thing entred there: but they (saith he) which are within shal raigne for euer and euer.

4 By this description, wherein Saint Iohn vseth such words as hée could, and not as hée would, hée giueth vs to vnderstand, that the greatnes of the felicity prepared for vs in heauen, is such, that as I noted before, we may very well thinke with S, Paul that no tongue of man is able to declare it, nor heart imagine it.

5 This cittie or tabernacle shall in am­plenes and in beauty, be far beyond the reach of mans reasō to comprehend. Yet the great­nes and amplenes, may partly be conceiued by the view of the starres. For if the least of them be of such greatnes, as all the Princes of the world haue not within their power so much compasse and space, and yet an innu­merable multitude of stars haue place in the firmament, where there remaineth stil roome and space for many moe: how great then is the amplenes and capacity of heauen it selfe? [Page 154] The which giueth iust cause to the Prophet Baruch to cry out & say; Bar. 3.24 O Israell, how great is the house of God, and how large is the place of his possession?

5 And now what shal wée say of beau­tie, delicacie, and glory of paradice? This our earthly worlde, which is as it were in com­parison of that other, but a stable of beasts, a place of exile, and a vale of misery and tears: if this be so decked & garnished by the great and most skilful worke-maister, that it sée­meth not to be a stable of beasts, but a garden of delight and pleasures: the firmament a­dorned with so many stars like goldē knops, the earth paued with swéet smelling hearbs, and glorious flowers: decked shith flouri­shing trées and gréene woodes: watered with seas, and riuers: replenished with great ma­iestie of cities and townes: garnished with all manner of fruits and spices: and furnished with all liuing creatures, as beastes, fowles, and fishes, scruing for mans necessary vse & pleasure: If I say, this frame of the world be made so glorious for man which is but a ser­uant, and also for so smal a time, in respect of the eternity to come: what then shal wée imagine that the habitation prepared for the eternity, and the Kings pallace it self shal [Page 155] be? Surely, no lesse, then the power and wis­dome of the maker (who is omnipotent, and wisdome it selfe) could make and finish.

6 But the chiefe praise of a citie consi­steth in this, to haue many Citizens which are noble, peaceable, and quiet: the which are to bée found in most excellent manner in the celestiall Hierusalem. For if wée consider the holy Angels, doth not Iob say, Iob. 25.3. Can his Souldiers bee numbred? And the Prophet Daniel saith, Dan. 7.10 A hundred thousand mini­stred vnto him: and tenne thousand thou­sands stood before him. And if wée consider the number of holy men that shall bée there, then harken to the wordes of Saint Iohn in the Reuelation, I beheld, Apoc. 7.9 and loe a great multitude, which no man coulde number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stoode before the throane, and before the Lambe, cloathed with white long Robes, and Palmes in their hands. And this multitude shal not be confused, but passing wel ordered

7 As touching the Nobilitie of these heauenly Citizens, what shal wée say, when as they shal be triumphant kinges, princes, the sonnes of God, and after a sorte Gods themselues, and inhabitants of the kingdome [...] [Page 158] belongeth to the body, cōsisteth in the change and glorification of our flesh after the gene­ral resurrection: that is to say, whereby this corrupted body of ours shal put on incorrup­tion, and of mortal, become immortall. All this flesh, I say of ours, which now so bur­deneth and grieueth the soule, which is now subiect to so many chaunges, vexed with so many sicknesses, infected with so many cor­ruptions: oppressed with so many crosses and vexations, shall bée freed from all these, and made perfect to endure for euer with the soul, without any alteration. For it shal be deli­uered from al the infirmities, diseases, pains, troubles, and incombrances of this life, and in stéed thereof, it shal haue a most perfect and glorious estate, which shall neuer fade and decay any more. Mat. 15. And then (saith Christ) they shall shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their Father. And if one Sunne can lighten and fil the whole world with his brightnes: if the maiesty & glory of his beames be such and so great, that some Ethnickes, doe wor­ship him for God: and if he haue bene called of the auncients, the Father of gladnesse, the eye of the world, and the fountaine of light: What shal so many glorified bodies of the blessed be? surely they shal be so many suns, [Page 159] so many lampes, and so many shining lights to lighten the heauenly Hierusalem.

11 Nowe to say somewhat concerning the soule as the principal part of man: Wée must vnderstand, that although there be ma­ny things which make vs happie, yet they all are no wher else to be found but in God. For then at the last we shal be happy and blessed, when we shalbe like vnto God, which by na­ture is blessed. And wée shal bee like vnto God, when we shal sée him as hée is. As the Euangelist Saint Iohn testifieth, saying; Dearely beloued, Iohn. 3. wee are now the sonnes of God, and it hath not yet appeared what wee shall be: and we knowe that when we shall ap­peare, wee shall bee like him: for wee shall see him as hee is. Saint Paul also putteth our fe­licity in séeing God face to face. And therefore Saint Austine saith, 1. Cor. 13. This onely sight of God is our happinesse.

12 For as God is hereof blessed, because he séeth and beholdeth himselfe being the first and the chiefe truth: euen so wée also shal be blessed and like vnto God, according to our measure: namely, when we shal beholde and see him as hée is, the first and most principal trueth.

13 Furthermore, if the Moone and Stars [Page 160] doe receiue their light, and are made like vn­to the Sunne, when they are opposite vnto him, and doe after a sort behold him: howe much more shall the pure mindes of the bles­sed receiue the diuine light, and be made like vnto God, when as they shal no more in a glasse or darke spéech, but face to face, behold the vncreated sunne and light of righteous­nesse?

14 O what a ioye shal it bée, when at one view wée behold the most high and hid­den mistery of the inseperable Trinity, and of the loue of God therein towards vs? and when wée shal see all things whatsoeuer in God. For what shal not he sée who seeth him that seeth all things? Then shal mans minde haue perpetual rest and peace, neither shal it desire any further vnderstanding, when he hath all before his eyes that may be vnder­stood. Then shal mans wil bée quiet, when he enioyeth that felicitie, wherein al other good things, as in the fountaine & Ocean of all happinesse, are contained. Then shal faith haue her perfect worke: hope shal enioy that which she long desired, but charity shal abide for euer. Then shal be sung continual prai­ses vnto the Lambe: and the song although it be alwaies sung, yet it shal be euer new.

[Page 161] 15 Therefore our true and onely bles­sednes consisteth in the sight of God: as our Lord Christ hath testified. Mat. 5. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This is life euerlasting, Iohn. 17. that men knowe thee the true God, and Iesus Christ whome thou hast sent.

16 This blessednesse, though it be but one simple thing, yet hath it riches, power & pleasure. In this worlde no man is rich, no man is satisfied: for the heart of man is grea­ter then all the worlde can content. But in that most blessed life, the soules of the bles­sed shal be rich and satisfied with God whom it shal possesse. This abundance of all things the Lord promised saying. Luke. 6. Good measure and running ouer, and pressed down, shall men giue into your bosomes. And in another place, Mat. 24. Veri­ly, verily I say vnto you, he shall make him ru­ler ouer all his substance.

17 The blessed soules also shall haue their honour and power. For if they shal be Princes, if Kings, if the sonnes of God, and petty Gods, and if they shall sitte in Gods throne: how can it be, but that they shall bee most mighty and glorious? For thus saith God in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn; To him that ouercommeth, Apoc. 3. will I graunt to sit with [Page 162] me in my throne, euen as I ouercame, and sitte with my father in his throne. O incre­dible glorie, what labours and sorrowes wil not they forget, which shall be inuested into Gods throne, and haue palmes of victory put into their handes, and crowns set vpon their heads by Gods owne hands, before all the Princes of heauen? Therefore the Apostle Paul most truely crieth out saying: Rom. 8. The affli­ctions of this life are nothing in comparison of the glory that shall be shewed vpon vs. 2. Cor. 4. And a­gaine: Our tribulation which is momentany and light, prepareth an exceeding ioy & waight of glory vnto vs. &c.

18 The ioy and pleasure that the soules of the blessed shall haue cannot be expressed, es­pecially when soule and body shall be vnited againe in the resurrection. O ioy aboue all ioyes, surmounting all ioyes, and without the which there is no ioy, when shall I enter into thée (saith Saint Augustine) when shal I enioy thee to see my God that dwelleth in thée? 35 solilo quiorum. O euerlasting kingdome: O kingdome of all eternities: O light without end: O peace of God that passeth all vnderstanding, in which the souls of saints do rest with thée, and euerlasting ioy is vpon their heads: they possesse ioy and gladnes, and all paine and [Page 163] sorrow is fled from them: O how glorious a kingdome is thine O Lord, wherin all saints doe raigne with thée, adorned with light as with apparell: and hauing crownes of preci­ous stones vpon their heads? O kingdom of euerlasting blisse, where thou, O Lord, the hope of all saints art, and the [...]adem of their perpetuall glory, reioycing them on euery side, with thy blessed sight. In this kingdome of thine there is infinit ioy and mirth, with­out sadnes: health without sorrow: life with­out labour: light without darkenes: felicity without ceasing: all goodnesse without any e­uill. Where youth florisheth that neuer wax­eth old: life that knoweth no end: beauty that neuer fadeth: loue that neuer vanisheth: health that neuer diminisheth ioy that ne­uer endeth. Wher sorrow is neuer felt: com­plaint neuer heard: matter of sadnesse is ne­uer séene: nor euill successe is euer feared: Be­cause they possesse thée, O Lord, which art the perfection of their felicity.

19 Let vs enter into these godly medi­tations with this holy mā: let vs not neglect so great felicity, for the loue of transitorie things which are meere vanity: why doe we so earnestly labour for things of no moment, and haue that most happy and blessed life of­fered [Page 164] vnto vs, wherein all felicity consisteth? Thebrotus when hée had read the booke of Plato of the immortality of the soule, was so moued therewith, that immediately hée cast downe himselfe headlong from a high wall. Shall Platos heathen Philosophy so much preuaile with an Ethnicke, which had no fée­ling of this felicitie, that in hope of immorta­lity he bereft himselfe of life, and shall not the swéete and most comfortable promises of the Gospell much more perswade vs, which haue the true knowledge of Christ and his heauenly kingdom, to forsake these vanities, and delights and pleasures of the world? Re­member often that worthy sentence: Hoc momentum, vnde pendet aeternitas: that is, This life is a moment of time, whereof al e­ternity of death or life to come dependeth. If it be a moment, the ioyes thereof must needs be momentany: and miserable is that ioy which hath an end. But the ioyes of heauen are so perfect, that nothing can be added to them, nor taken away from them, and there­fore perpetual. This therefore is the moste happy and blessed place to build and set vp a Tabernacle, where no manner of euill shall happen vnto vs, nor any plague come neare vs. Therfore stand fast in this station against [Page 165] all temptation, so shalt thou the more cheare­fully shake off all carnall burdens, and recre­ate thy selfe in this paineful pilgrimage.

CHAP. IX. Concerning the libertie of Gods children.

LIbertie is a thing very pleasant & delectable, and more wished for then a­ny thing in the world: in so much that we by ex­perience sée, that not on­ly men, but also beasts, doe greatly desire liberty, & do prefer it before all other things. The little birds, whether it be that of Canary, or the Nightingale, with whose swéete tunes men are delighted, being shut in cages are serued most daintily, without their wonted labour to seeke their foode: and yet for al this, so great is the loue of liberty, that many times they wil neither sing nor eate being sullen and full of sorrow, and if they can they will gladly escape out of their cage, more desiring to get their liuing [Page 166] with labour & in the cold aire, then to be kept captiue in Pallaces, with the delightes of Kings. It this desire be in beasts, and birdes which are deuoide of reason, what great ac­count ought man to make of liberty, who a­lone should be fréed, & yet neuertheles, is oftē times cōpelled to serue most cruel maisters.

2 There are two sorts of liberty: The one is a true liberty: the other is false. The true liberty is that which we haue by rege­neration, by which we haue the participati­on of the spirite of Christ, through the which wée are freed from the tyranny and inuasion of sinne, and our mindes prepared vnto good workes: by the power whereof the Apostle Paul saith thus: I can doe all things through him that strengtheneth me. And againe: It is God that worketh in you both the will, Philip. 4. Philip. 2. Iohn. 8. and also the deed. Wherfore our sauiour Christ saith, If the Sonne make you free, then are you free in deede.

3 And although all corruption of the af­fections of mans minde, be not taken away, yet it is so maimed and weakened, by the power of the holy ghost, that it is not able, as afore, to hinder the making of a right choise: and this is the true fréedome & liberty which we haue by our regeneration. Of this liber­tie [Page 167] Saint Augustine speaketh thus. August. in sententiis suis senten­tia 53. A good man is neuer seruant, but is alway Lord of all things, howsoeuer hee seemeth to bee in seruitude and bondage. And contrariwise a wicked man, although hee seeme to be free, yet hee is a seruant, and that not of one man alone, but hee serueth so many maisters as hee hath sinnes.

4 Then, that is a false liberty, which ma­keth the body onely frée, and leaueth the minde subiect to sinne and wickednesse, most miserably to serue them. For I am perswa­ded, that neither Alexander nor Caesar were frée, although they commaunded the whole world, so long as they most filthily serued their sins. Neither can I say that Peter and Paul were seruants being imprisoned, and kept in chaines and bondes, when as not­withstanding in minde, they went fréely throughout the world, and by their letters, as by a kings letters pattents, deliuered, and set at liberty daily an infinite sort of men. For as man differeth from bruite beasts, not so much in the members of his body, as in the vertues of the minde, euen so not the liberty of the body, but the liberty of the mind is the true liberty, and alone is to be called mans liberty. Of the which fréedome and bondage [Page 168] Christ speaketh thus. Euery one that doth sinne, Iohn. 8. is the seruant of sinne: and if the Sonne shall make you free, then are you free indeede. And the Apostle Paul in like manner saith; Rom. 6. Knowe yee not that to whom so euer yee giue your selues, as seruants to obey: his seruants ye are, to whom ye obey: whether it be of sin vnto death, or of obedience vnto righteousnes: when ye were the seruants of sinne, ye were free from righteousnesse.

5 To restore vs vnto this fréedome and libertie, from the intollerable bondage, and most cruell tyrannie of sinne, from the horri­ble wages, and reward thereof, which is death, our Sauiour Christ hath taken vpon him, and vndergone that which is vnspeak­able.

6 What Orator is able sufficiently to vnfold and declare the tyrannie of sinne and concupiscence? First of all doe but consider what a cruell tyrannie the sinne of whordom exerciseth vppon those that are in bondage thereunto. And sée what an adulterous wo­man will doe to satisfie and fulfill the com­mand of this tyrant. Shée knoweth verie well, that if her husband happily take her in her wickednes she shal without all doubt he vtterly vndone: she shal beside the losse of [Page 169] her good name, riches, friendes, and credite with her parents, children, and and kindred, loose, which is more, her soule, and whatso­euer is both good in this worlde, and in the world to come, and shall leaue behinde her perpetuall matter of sorrow and griefe: And yet for all this, so great is the force of her af­fection, and the tyranny of this wickednesse so insatiable, that this miserable woman is constrained to incurre all these perils though very fearefull and euident, and to deuoure al troubles, so that shée may serue her vncleane lust. What tyrant hath bene euer heard of, so cruel, that would haue his captiues to o­bey and serue him with so great perill and detriment?

7 Yea, this and the like wickednesses at this day, do swallow men vp, and so deuoure their whole time, that they suffer them to do, to say, to thinke, and to dreame vpon nothing else. Wine and Women (saith Syrach) make wise men runnagates: Because men being made drunken with the loue of carnal plea­sures, are no lesse witlesse to doe all other things, and so farre from reason and iudge­ment, as if they had quaffed vp an excéeding quantitie of most strong wine. For reason, (which the fathers call Noct [...]am cerebri, [Page 170] the braines Gloweworme) being once ex­tinguished, what are we better then beasts? Therefore such men, neither the feare of God, neither the pricke of conscience, nei­ther death, neither iudgement, neither pa­radice, neither hell, nor any other thing, wil call backe to a better life. And the more se­cure they are, the more busily they endeuour, and apply themselues to all manner of wic­kednesse. And they doe constraine not onely the members of their body, but also their minde and vnderstanding, which by nature is the Lady and most noble part of man, to watch day and night, and to labour, to finde out the meanes and the wayes how to satis­fie the lusts of the flesh, how to endite songs and Sonnets of loue full of wantonnes and deceite, how to decke and set out themselues with fine apparel, with swéete smelles, with daunces, and other like allurements. The which to doe is no better, then to wrest the heauenly light of the minde, which was made to beholde God, to the obedience of a most wicked bond-slaue: and to make the minde, being withdrawne from heauenly ex­ercises, to be subiect vnto the appetites of a most abiect hand-maide.

8 Therefore whoredome is a great and [Page 171] intollerable tyranny ouer the minde of man: And no lesse is that tyranny of Ambition. For behold and see what a heauie yoke ambi­tion layeth vpon his bondmen, commanding them that al their words and workes bée wholly imployed as nets and snares, to get the common praise and fame of men: and it compelleth them also to creepe as it were vp­on the ground: and to flye through the ayre. For man at the commandement of Ambiti­on, séeketh to climbe higher then all men, to bée subiect to none, to rule al men: and yet sometime when occasion serueth, he prostra­teth himselfe, and humbleth himselfe to al men. Thus the miserable man being con­trary to himselfe, and deuided in himselfe, outwardly preferreth humilitie, and in heart, pride.

9 Furthermore, the lawes of this most cruel tyrant are such, that if a man doe re­ceiue a litle reproache or detriment eyther by right or by wrong, he thinketh that he is vt­terly disgraced, if hée doe not presently re­uenge it, and if by no other meanes, then to prouoke his enemie to some singular com­bat, and so rather to loose his soule and body, then to hazard the least part of his dignitie.

10 I omit the tyranny of couetousnes, [Page 172] and of other vices which are innumerable: affirming with the Prophet Dauid, that all the seruants of sinne, do sit in darknes, and in the shadowe of death, fast bound in mise­rie and iron. For what greater blindnesse can be imagined, then that man should not know himselfe, that he should not know God, that he should not know wherefore he liueth, and seeth not his bondes, his miseries, his perils, and his harmes?

11 And what greater miserie can there be, then that miserable man should haue an infinite sort of desires, as it were an infinite sort of mouthes & stomacks, which alwayes barke, alwayes craue, alwayes hunger, and is not able to satisfie and fill so much as one of them?

12 But now let vs sée, what reward sin giueth vnto her seruants, for so great labors? Let vs harken to the Apostle, and he wil tell vs, The wages of sinne (saith he) is death: that is to say, both the first and the second death. For what gall is to the lips: a Cockatrice to the eyes: a dead carcasse to the nose: and A­lowes to the taste: the same, and more, is sin to the soule of man.

23 Therefore let the bond-slaues of sin and wickednes go, and serue their masters: [Page 173] let them run into all dangers: let them not spare for cost nor labors: let them watch day & night, least peraduenture they be beguiled of so great a stipend. O fooles, which for the wages of eternal death, will willingly beare so heauie a yoke, when as with much lesse la­bour ye might serue righteousnesse, who re­wardeth her seruants with eternall li [...]e in the kingdome of heauen. Wicked men labor, and good men labour also: both suffer, both sweate, both delue and digge: but good and godly men, till that ground, (likewise hus­bandmen) which is firme, sound, & fruitfull, that is to say, they exercise themselues in good workes and in sound vertues, whereby they rearpe in the ende euerlasting life: but wicked and vngodly men, plow in the sand, and sowe in the flesh, and of the same, shall receiue the wages of sinne, eternal death.

14 Therefore, whether yée consider the wickednesses by themselues or the wages of the same: the seruice of sin must néeds be hor­rible and wofull. But yet there is nothing which doth so much set foorth the miserie of seruitude and the excellency of libertie, as the manner of our setting at liberty, and the pas­sion of the Deliuerer. For God which made the world without labour, and as it were [Page 174] with a becke onelie at his will: that he might deliuer vs from bondage & slauery, thought it good to be borne in a stable, and was con­tent to die in sorowes and paines. But what manner of sorrowes? Verilie such, that the onely cogitation & expectation of them, might haue bin able to haue brought him into a bit­ter agonie, to sweate water and bloud plenti­fullie. The suffering of them, made the most hard stones to rent, the earth to tremble, and heauen it selfe to be abashed.

15 If God made so great a reckoning of thy libertie, that hee vouchsafed to take vpon him the forme of a seruaunt, and to liue thrée and thirtie yeares, in hunger and thirst, in colde, in nakednes, in fastings, in watchings, in iorneys, in persecutions, and in the end to shead forth his most precious heart bloud vp­pon the Crosse, rather then hée would suffer this precious gemme to be taken from out of his handes: let vs then acknowledge that ex­céeding glorie of the sonnes of God, where­vnto wée are called, which is the mother of all good things, which alone is able to giue true peace, perfite ioye, blessed rest, and tran­quilitie.

If the heathen Romains of olde time, for a false and fading libertie, suffered great pe­rils, [Page 175] and death it selfe; as Quintus Mutius Scaeuola thrust into the fire his right hand: the Decii vowed themselues to the death, that their legions of souldiers might bée pre­serued and get the victory: Curtius being ar­med at all points, and mounted vpon a horse, threwe himselfe willingly into a gulphe of the earth, that the Cittie of Rome might be deliuered from the pestilence: for so had the Oracle giuen answere, that the wrath of the gods would cease, if that which the Romains estéemed best, were throwne into that gulph. Brutus also for the preseruation of the liber­tie of his Countrey, did not sticke to slay his owne children: If the heathen I say estéemed thus of their liberty, (which is in no point comparable to ours) how much ought we to estéeme of that most true liberty, wherby we are deliuered from sinne, from sathan, from death, and from the wrath of GOD. They sought humaine praise, a thing doubtlesse vn­constant, and of small force, as appeareth by the saying of the Poet Ʋirgill concerning Brutus, His Countries loue him driues, and greedie lust of endlesse same. But our ende is to approue our selues vnto God, whose iudg­ment cannot be deceiued: and to get the prize of the kingdome of heauen, and the fellow­ship [Page 176] of Angels, which is set before vs as the ende of our libertie, which we séeke to attaine by this Pilgrimage.

CHAP. X. Concerning the Imitation of Christ.

THe true and sound per­fection of a Christian man cōsisteth in this, to imitate Christ so neere as possibly he can: for he is the head, we are his members: he is the cap­taine, we his souldiers: he is y ^e Doctor, we are his disciples. It is said of Platoes Schollers, that both their diet, and their apparel, was alwayes like vnto that of their Masters. And the Heathen could say, that the perfection of a man is to be like Iu­piter. So in like manner, Christians must doe all things after the example of Christ: be­cause the perfection of Christianitie is to bée like Christ.

2 But let no man be afraid or troubled: Let no man say with dispaire, how can it be [Page 177] that men which are made of dust, shoulde imitate GOD? that we which are a masse or lumpe of sinne, shoulde bee like the vn­spotted lambe of God? For we are not com­manded to immitate and followe Christ in that glory and maiesty, wherein he sitteth in heauen at the right hand of his Father: nor yet in that power & vertue, by which he go­uerneth the whole world, and worketh signs and woonders: but onely in that patterne of holines which hee set before vs in our fleshe, when he was here on earth.

3 For thou shalt neuer finde these pre­cepts in Scripture: hée which walketh not vpon the sea, is not worthy of me: he that doth not daily raise vp dead men vnto life, cannot be my disciple: and blessed is hée which fore­sheweth things to come, and is mighty in signes and woonders, because to such belon­geth the kingdome of heauen. These are not the things that we are commanded to follow in Christ: but these rather, Learne of me for I am meeke and humble in hart, Mat. 11. Christi ex­emplum (saith Saint Augustine) est medica­ment [...]m vn [...]rum. &c. The example of Christ is a remedy to amend wickednes in vs: but especially it is (saith hee) a medicine for pride, and a paterne of humility. For both his doc­trine, [Page 178] and his whole life was nothing els but an example of méekenes and humilitie: what man bearing the name of a Christian, is not ashamed to sée Christ so humble and méeke, and himselfe so proud? Math. 10. (Againe hée saith) Hee that taketh not vppe his Crosse and followeth mee, is not worthy of mee: Also blessed are the meeke, Math. 5. blessed are the poore in spirite: blessed are they which mourne: blessed are the mer­cyfull: blessed are they which suffer persecu­tion for righteousnesse sake, for theirs is the kingdome of Heauen.

4 This thing our Captaines and guides the Apostles, very wel vnderstoode, who al­beit they spake the languages of all nations, and were moste famous in working of mira­cles, knowing themselues to bée the teachers of the whole world: yet herein alone they re­ioyced, that they were counted worthie to suffer contumelie for the name of Iesus. And the blessed Apostle Paul, beside those things which hée had in common with the other A­postles, béeing rapt vp into the third heauens heard certaine things which are secrete, and yet for all that, hee iudged not himselfe any whit the more like or neare vnto Christ: but for those things onely which hée rehearseth in the latter Epistle to the Corinthians: 2. Cor. 12. they [Page 179] (saith he) are minsters of Christ, (I speake as a foole) I am more: In labours more a­bundant: In stripes aboue measure: in pri­son more plentiously: In death often.

5 These are the things which we are to imitate in our great Commaunder and cap­taine: namely, in aduersitie, patience: In hard matters, fortitude: In all perill and la­bour, constancie. What heart is so cold and cowardly, which considering the inestima­ble greatnesse of the gift that God hath besto­wed vpon vs, in giuing vnto vs his owne so well beloued Sonne with all his perfecti­on, is not enflamed with an excéeding earnest desire, to becom like vnto him in good works? especially séeing the Father hath giuen him vnto vs for an example, whereon we must continually looke, framing our life after such a sort, as it may be a true counterpaine of the life of Iesus Christ (as saith saint Peter) For as much as Christ hath suffered for vs, 1. Tet. 2. lea­uing vs an example, to the end that we shoulde followe his foote-steps. Out of this consi­deration followeth the whole frame and fa­shioning of our selues like vnto him in all his déedes, words, and thoughts, leauing our former wicked life, and decking our selues with the new life, that is to witte, with the [Page 180] life of Christ. By reason wherof Saint Paul saith: Let vs cast away the workes of darke­nesse, and put on the armour of life, not in fea­sting nor in drunkennesse, nor in chambering and wantonnesse, nor in strife: but put you on the Lorde Iesus Christ, and make no prepa­ration for the flesh, nor for the lusts therof.

6 Hereuppon the true Christian béeing in loue with Iesus Christ, saith in himselfe: Sith that Iesus Christ, not hauing any néede of me, hath redéemed me with his own bloud, and is become poore to inrich mée: I wil like­wise giue my goods, yea and my very life, for the loue and welfare of my neighbour. Hée that hath not this affection, is no true Christi­an: For hée cannot say that hée loueth Iesus Christ, if he loue not his members: and if we loue not our neighbour, for whose sake Christ hath shed his bloud, we cannot truely say that we loue Iesus Christ: who being equal with God, was obedient to his Father, euen to the death of the crosse, and hath loued and redée­med vs, giuing himselfe vnto vs, with all that euer he hath. After the same maner, wee being rich, and hauing aboundance of good things at Christs hand, must also bée obedi­ent vnto God, to offer and giue our workes, and al that we haue, yea and euen our selues [Page 181] to our neighbours and brethren in Iesus Christ, seruing them, and helping them at their néede, and being vnto them as another Christ.

7 And as Iesus Christ hath endured all the persecutions and spites of the world for the glory of God: so must wée with al pati­entnes, chéerfully beare the persecutions, and reproaches that are done by false Christians, to all such as wil liue faithfullie in Iesus Christ, who gaue his life for his enemies, and prayed for them vppon the Crosse. And this is to followe Christes steppes according to Saint Peters saying.

8 But now turne thy eyes a while vnto thy selfe, and diligentlie beholde and see what thou doest imitate and followe in the life of Christ. Thou delightest in sumptuous ward­roabes, and in many suites of costlie apparell: But Christ in the most colde time of Winter, was layed naked in a Manger. Thou spen­dest howers and dayes in feasting and ban­quetting, amidst thy daintie dishes, talking, and seruing thy bellie: and the Son of God afflicted his moste innocent bodie with hun­ger and thirst. Thou liuest in peace and plea­sure, in recreations, in playes, in pastimes, and art delighted in idlenes, passing thy time [Page 182] in singing, laughing and sporting: And the Sonne of God came down from heauen for our saluation, that we might not perish eter­nally, and for this cause was a pilgrim, prea­ched, labored, tooke no rest, and spent whole nights in prayer for vs. Thou earth & ashes, canst not digest the least iniurie of wordes without displeasure: but God sent his sonne for vs to suffer most méekely of wicked men euil sayings, reproaches, spitting vpon, buffe­tings, whipping, crowning with thornes, wounding, and at last death it selfe. Thou contemnest great things, and magnifiest smal trifles, if thou sinnest, thou sayest it is nothing: if thy head doe ake but a little, thou thinkest it to bée a great matter: To loose thy soule thou makest no great recko­ning: but if thou be in perill to loose but a fin­ger, thou wilt call together all the Physiti­ons and Chirurgians in the Cittie. But Christ with his true example of life, taught that there is no euil so much to bée feared, as sinne and hel: that nothing was so much to be desired as God, the glorie of God, salua­tion, and vertue: and that he is rich, noble, wise, and beautifull indéede, which is indued with patience, humilitie, charity, chastity, and with other vertues: & that he is a poore man, [Page 183] vile, deformed, and witlesse, which is a forni­cator, a drunkard, a couetous and proude person, and which is polluted with other vi­ces, as with a leprie and scabbe. For Christ being God, and hauing all thing in his pow­er, to choose what manner of life hée would, during the time that hée liued on earth, chose the most vile and abiect state of life: and ther­fore for his house, had a stable: for his bed, a manger: for clothes of Tapistry, hay, and the same none of his owne: a poore mother: thin and a spare diet, apparel suteable: to bée short, he sought no manner of pompe, riches, or pleasure of this world. And contrariwise, he refused no labours, no afflictions, no mi­series, nor any euils, sauing onely sinne, on­ly which euil hée would haue his Disciples and professors vtterly to abhorre.

9 And thou canst not say, that he neither could, nor knew how to choose a better state. For hée which was God most mightie, was also most wise. And what other thing doth Isaias commend in him more, Isaia. 7. then that hée should bée called Emanuel, and hée should know how to shun the euill, and choose the good? Hath not Christ then plainely and e­uidenly by his example of life taught, that there is no euil so much to be eschewed, [...] [Page 186] thée, as with a shielde, who hath saide, I am the way, the truih, and the life: him therfore follow in this pilgrimage here on earth, so shalt thou neuer erre.

CHAP. XI. Concerning the crosse and tribula­tions of this life.

IF in all other things, it behooueth a wise man to haue skill to behaue and gouerne himselfe, how much more in aduersity, the which is of such force to shake & discomfort the mind of man, that thereof come heresies, des­peration, thefts, homicides, and all manner of wickednesse, with the which all men doe so abound, that whether we be small or great, rich or poore, noble or base, or whatsoeuer else, we haue more calamity, then felicity.

2 The efficient cause of these calami­ties, is God himselfe, as he testifieth by the mouth of Isay the Prophet saying: Isay 45.7. I am the Lord, and there is no other: I forme the light, [Page 187] and create darkenesse: I make peace, and create euill: I the Lord doe all these things. And holy Iob, whenin one day he had lost all his riches, all his children, and the health of his body, & vnderstanding that hée was thus afflicted, partly by the Sabeians, and partly by the Chaldeans, partly by the winde, and partly by fire, which the diuell in his malice raised, and therewithall consumed and spoi­led his goods: did hée say, the Lord hath gi­uen, and the diuell hath taken? No verily, but hée saide; The Lord hath giuen, Iob. 1. and the Lord hath taken, blessed bee the name of the Lord. And in another place, Shall we receiue good from the handes of the Lord, and not euill also?

3 Wherefore whatsoeuer befall vs, whether storme or tempest: théeues or mur­derers: losses at the sea or on the land: famin or pestilence: sicknesses or imprisonment: or whether we be afflicted with heretiques, or scismatiques: with Angels or diuels: with heauen or earth: or from whence soeuer any tribulation doth come, God alone is to be fea­red, to be prayed vnto, & to be pacified, to his will and commaundement all things obey. For fire, water, haile, snowe, frost, raine, winde, storme and tempest, these when they [Page 188] séeme to be grieuous vnto men, what do they else but fulfil his word?

4 There are two gates then to be con­sidered, by which tribulations doe enter into the worlde: the one is Gods prouidence, the other is sinne. Concerning his prouidence, Salomon saith: Wisdo. 6. Chap. 14. Hee hath made the small and great, and careth for all alike. And againe; Thy prouidence, O Father, gouerneth it. And our Sauiour Christ himselfe saith: Are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing? and one of them falleth not to the ground without your heauenly father. Math. 6. The very haires of your head are numbred.

5 Not only the scriptures, but that most excellent and comely order, by which we sée so many seuerall things gouerned, being so different, so diuers, and so disagréeing in na­tures, and in places, doth proue vnto vs, that all things in the world, are gouerned and ruled, not by fortune and chance, but by the prouidence of God. Euen as, if thou heare a harpe sound pleasantly, or if thou sée a wa­gon or a ship to goe forward by arte, reason, and order, although thou sée not the harper, wagoner, or maister of the ship, yet thou art out of doubt, that there is a harper which causeth the hary to sound in good tune, a wa­goner, [Page 189] and a shipmaister, which maketh both the wagon and ship, to moue and goe.

6 We are two maner of waies afflicted by God. For sometimes we are troubled by those things, which without any fault of their owne, doe hurt vs: and sometime by those things, which hurt vs not without their fault and sinne. The first followe the lawes of na­ture, by which it is ordained that among mortall creatures, the weaker shal alwaies giue place vnto the stronger. The other doe breake the lawe of God. As when we suffer and sustaine any thing at the hands of wic­ked men, God hath a worke therein, so farre­forth as it may be to our good, and therefore suffereth the euil to be done, drawing out of the euil a greater good.

7 For God is said to work in that which is good: for there is nothing so euill, which hath not some good ioyned with it. And there is no good so small, whereof God cānot make a bottomlesse fountaine, and as it were an Ocean of all good things. As for example, behold a lame man. What is it to halt? To halt, is to walke: but yet, not without a ma­ladie. To walke is good, but the maladie is euil: Whereof or from whence hath the man that walking which is good? From y ^e power [Page 190] of his wil and mouing instrument of the mind. From whence commeth the maladie? commeth it from his will? No verily: but ei­ther of the shortnesse, or crookednesse of his legge, or from such like cause. After the same maner, a théefe stretcheth forth his hand, he shaketh his sword, and it is of God, and is good. But to kill him whom he should not, is euill, and commeth from the wicked wil of man, which God neither cōpelleth, nor moo­ueth, nor helpeth to euill: and yet neuerthe­lesse suffereth that to be done, which he desi­reth. Thus then we sée how farre God hath his worke in the sinnes of men, in suffering them to be done. And although it is in him not to suffer euil, the which without his suf­ferance coulde not bée, yet notwithstanding (that I may vse Saint Augustines words) hee thinketh it better to drawe that wich is good from euill, then not to suffer any euill at all. For God would not suffer any sinne to be, if hée were not so mighty, so prudent, and so good, that both hée knoweth how, and also can and wil out of sinne, worke greater good.

8 What greater euill could there be, then so many Prophets, so many Apostles, so ma­ny Martirs, and Christ himselfe to be slaine? [Page 191] Could not God haue hindred this? No doubt most easily: but he would not. By which we sée how great glary & felicity he hath brought to them that suffered: how great honour and praise they haue yéelded to God, for whome they suffered, and how great profit and com­moditie their deathes and sufferings hath brought to the whole world. Neither did the Church at any time suffer the persecutions of the heathen, but it was thereby made the better, the more vigilant, the more glorious, and like gold, which comming out of the fur­nace, is more fine and pure.

9 The other cause of all our calamities, miseries, and afflictions of this life is sinne. By reason wherof, so soone as we are borne, wée bring with vs the sentence of death. Much like vnto those sicke men, of whose life the physitians hauing no hope, do onely for a time maintaine life with preseruatiues, that so a little while he may linger to make his te­stament, and then depart. Euen so it fareth with vs all, who do not therefore, eate, drinke and sléepe, that we may neuer dye (for that cannot be) but that we may prolong our life for a fewe daies, and so prepare our selues to [...]? And as Pyrates, which are taken at the sea by the royall ships, and are brought to the [Page 192] shoare there to be hanged, and haue no lon­ger hope of life, then there is space betweene the ship and the land: euen so euery one of vs which like Roauers saile heere in the sea of this world, being once taken and holden cap­tiue by the ministers of Gods iustice, when we are come to a certaine place and point of our age, shall without all doubt, or mercy, a­bide there, and suffer death.

10 Sinne therefore hath opened the pas­sage vnto death: and the whole host of tribu­lations do follow death as their captaine and guide, and do enter in vppon vs by the same breach of sinne. And as we do read of sinne, The wages of sinne is death: euen so also wée reade of tribulations, Miseros fucit populos peccatum▪ That is: Sin is the cause of many tribulations.

11 Neither is it for one sinne of Adams that so many tribulations come vppon vs: but also for an innumerable sort of sinnes, which we haue added, and do adde daily, as the holy ghost by the mouth of the Prophet Dauid hath pronounced: If their children forsake my lawe, & walke not in my iudgemēts: if they breake my statutes and keepe not my cōmandements, Psal. 89. I will visit their iniquities [...] the rod, and their sins with scourges.

[Page 193]12 God afflicted the Iewish nation, one while by the Philistines, another while by the Madianits: another while by the Assyri­ans: and also by the Romanes: but alwaies first they sinned and prouoked God to anger: as the booke of Iudges, the bookes of Kings, and of the Prophets do declare. God also af­flicted the Church of Christians by tyrants, as Neroes, Dioclesians, and such like, which most cruelly persecuted the Church: the cause of all which persecutions, was the sinnes and wickednesses of the Christians, as appeareth by Cyprian and Eusebius.

13 Thus farre concerning the causes of tribulations: now wee wil speake of the ef­fects. Concerning the effect and fruit of tri­bulation, Chap. 12. the author of the Epistle to the He­brewes writeth thus: Now, no chastising for the present time seemeth to bee ioyfull, but grieuous: but afterward it bringeth the quiet fruite of righteousnesse, vnto them which are thereby exercised. Although there­fore wée cannot plainely know the fruites of tribulation, before such time as wée come to that blessed and heauenly life, which is free from all misery and trouble: yet notwith­standing it will be very profitable for vs, to speake and thinke vppon the same diligently [...] [Page 196] to desperation. But as the phisitian of things venemous and hurtful, maketh most health­ful medicines: euen so Almighty God by his wisedome, out of afflictions (although they be euill things) bringeth forth in his electe most excellent vertues, among which pati­ence is one.

17 This patience worketh experience also, the which is a certaine tryal both of our selues, and of our own strength: and especi­ally of the might and goodnes of God. For in suffering of aduersities, we learn how great the corruption of our nature is, which being touched with any aduersity, straight way (ex­cept the holy Ghost helpe) breaketh forth in­to murmurings, grudgings, and into blas­phemies, and complaints against the proui­dence of God. Whereof we haue a liuely ex­ample set forth in Iob, who being deliuered by God vnto the diuel, to be tried: how great blasphemies powred he out in his afflictions? how much complaineth he of the prouidence and iustice of God? But the light of the holy Ghost had no sooner illumined him, but how did he plucke vp his spirits againe? Howe godly and rightly doth he iudge of God? The crookednes of our nature is hidden from vs: for the heart of man is vnsearcheable. But [Page 197] looke how soone the fire is stricken out of the flint stone, so soone breaketh out our peruerse nature, whē tribulation oppresseth vs. This tryall (as Peter saith) is euen as a furnace vnto gold. And therefore God answered A­braham, when hée was now ready to sacri­fice his Sonne; Now I knowe that thou fea­rest God, No doubt, that was knowne vn­to God afore. But by that fact he brought to passe, that this obedience was the better knowne vnto others. For we are like vnto certaine spices, whose swéete sauour is not felt, vnlesse a man bruse them well. Wée are also like to stones called Piridites, which shew not forth that force which they haue to burne, except, when they be pressed hard with the fingers.

18 The triall also (before spoken of) bringeth hope. Whereby wée sée that God hath so disposed those instruments of his, as that they should one helpe another, and the one bring in the other. By reason of the hope of the glory of God, afflictions are not trou­blesom vnto vs: but God giuing vs strength wée bare them with a valiant minde. And in the very suffering, we haue a greater tri­all and proofe of the goodnes of God towards vs: wherevpon wee conceiue the greater [Page 198] hope. So hope bréedeth and bringeth in pati­ence: and patience hope. For when we con­sider that God was present with vs, in suf­fering our afflictions patiently, we hope also that he wil hereafter be present with vs, and at the length make vs blessed. The sick man because he hath confidence in the Physition, suffereth his impostume to be cut. After­ward as hee feeleth himselfe relieued, he put­teth confidence more and more in the Physi­tian: so as if néede were, that his foote should be cut off also, hee would nothing doubt to commit himselfe to his fidelity. The diuel so much as in him lyeth driueth vs to desperati­on: and by afflictiōs goeth about to perswade vs, that God is our enemy. But contrari­wise the holy Ghost saith: Because thou hast quietly and patiently borne affliction, it may be a sure token vnto thée, that God therein declareth his fauour towards thée. Where­fore haue thou a good trust, for he vndoubted­ly wil deliuer thee.

19 This confidence wil make vs to re­solue with the Apostle Paul, Rom. 8. that no maner of tribulation shal be able to remoue vs from the loue of God which is in Christ: Neither the losse of goods, of wife, childien, friends, lands, and possessions, nor any thing in the [Page 199] world: because wee are verily perswaded that his loue and bounty towards vs is such, that often times he most aboundantly resto­reth those things which are lost for his sake: and that sometimes in the middest of tribu­lation, and euen in the very crosse and death, hée giueth to his children so much strength and consolation, that in very déede, it is more then a hundred folde. The losse of the said worldly things is to many a great griefe: but is not the winning of a hundred fold so much, and the obtaining of an euerlasting kingdom a good salue for this sore? If we gaine with the losse of transitore things, heauenly trea­sures: with the forsaking of worldly friends, Christ to be our deare and sure friend: and with the refusing father, mother, brother, si­ster, wife, children, purchase God to be our heauenly father, Christ our most louing bro­ther, and to be loued of the Sonne of God, as his deare dearlings, and only beloued spouse, what haue we lost? what greater gaine can we haue? or what more profitable exchange can be made? This bargaine and profit, hath our heauenly Father promised vnto vs, by a bill of his owne hand, sealed with the blood of his onely Sonne, testified by the witnes of his Apostles, and left with vs in our own cu­stody [Page 200] to be paide at the sight, whensoeuer wée shall require it. Whereof this is the con­tent: Who so hath forsaken house, brother, sister, father, mother, wife, children, or land, for my names sake, hee shall receiue an hun­dred foulde, and the inheritance of euerla­sting life. Who will deny, but that hunger, cold, nakednes, cxtreame pouerty, and want of thinges partly necessary, are a heauy burden for a man to beare? But the waight hereof is lightened & made easie to them that with a right eye, and vnfainedly do beléeue Gods promise, and cast their care on him. Cast thy care vpon the Lord, for he careth for thée. Your heauenly father knoweth that ye haue néed of al these things, meate, drinke, and cloathes. He ministreth these things in due time to the beasts of the earth, the foules of the ayre, the fishes of the Sea, and wil he not kéepe his promise vnto vs, for whose sakes he hath made these creatures, and hath made vs Lords ouer thē? What cause haue we to mistrust his promise, rather then the byrd that flyeth forth in the morning vppon this naturall perswasion, that hée shall finde foode, not doubting but that hée who made him, will not suffer him to starue with hun­ger: [Page 201] Haue we séen such as put their trust in him starue with hunger, dye with colde, or perish through nakednesse? It hath not béen heard of, that the righteous hath béene forsa­ken, or his séede begge, wanting bread? For they that know the name of the Lorde wil trust therein: for he forsaketh not them, that séeke after him. And he hath willed vs in the day of our troubles, to call vpon him, adding this promise that he wil deliuer vs. Where­vnto the Prophet Dauid did so trust, féeling the comfortable trueth thereof at sundry times, in many and dangerous perils, that he perswaded himselfe al feare set apart, to vndergoe one painful danger or other what­soeuer: yea, if it were to wake in the valley of the shadowe of death, that hée should not haue cause to feare, comforting himself with this saying, (which was Gods promise made vnto all) For thou art with me: thy rodde and thy staffe, euen they shall comfort mee. Psal. 23. Is Gods staffe waxen so weake, that wée dare not now leane too much theron, least it should break? Or is he now such a changeling, that he wil not be with vs in our troubles, accor­ding to thy promise? Wil he not giue vs his staffe to stay vs by, and reache vs his hand to hold vs vp as he hath béene woont to do? No [Page 202] doubt but that he wil bée most ready in all extremitie to helpe according to his promise: The Lord that made thée (O Iacob) and hée that fashioned thée (O Israel) saith thus, Esay. 43. feare not, for I wil defend thée, &c.

20 He is that mightie Captaine, who hauing vnder his gouernement many soul­diers and seruants, Math. 8. hath them so at his com­mandement, that when he biddeth them go, they go: when he saith abide, they abide: and when he willeth them to do this or that, they obey his word. For paine, pleasure, griefe, ease, sicknesse, health, life and death, are at the becke and call of God, and do come and go at his appointment, as the faithfull Cen­turion confesseth in the Gospel; Math. 8. Yea, hée worketh so forceably in his childrē that leane wholy vnto his promise, that hée maketh to them, of paine, a pleasure: of griefe, ease: of sicknesse, health: and of death, life: As con­trariwise to the vnbeléeuing, pleasure, ease, health, and life, is a wearie, irkesome, and painfull death.

21 But reason and our flesh are hardly perswaded, that we are beloued of GOD, when we be exercised with afflictions, & yet the author of the epistle to the Hebrews saith, That if we be not vnder chastisement, Heb. 12. (wherof [Page 203] all are partakers) we are bastards and not sons. Rom. 8. And S. Paul to the Romanes bringeth in the complaints of the Saintes which were tor­mented and afflicted before Christes time: Psal. 44. For thy sake are we deliuered to the death all the day long: we are accounted as sheep to the slaughter. They which made this complaint were (as cannot be denied) most deare vnto God: and yet they make this sorrowfull complaint, wée are accompted as shéepe to the slaughter. As if they had sayd, Wée are otherwise dealt with, then the Fathers in the olde time were dealt withal, vnto whom God séemed to beare great fauour, when as hée enriched them, fought for thē, gaue them the victorie, and with excellent names and titles, made them famous and honourable: we say they are nowe otherwise dealt with, for wée are deliuered vnto the enemies as shéepe to be slaine: as vnto whom they may doe what pleaseth them: death hangeth all the day long ouer our heads, and we are ne­uer in securitie: but yet herein we are com­forted, that we are not in this perill as men that suffer for euill doing, but, For thy sake, that is for Religion and godlinesse.

22 Wherby also we are admonished, that paines, punishments, and death, make not [Page 204] Martirs, but the cause: For otherwise many suffer many grieuous things, and yet are not martyrs, nor confessors. If punishments mke martyrs, then the Papists at this day, might truely boast of Martyrdome, when for their traitrous deserts to their Prince and Countrey, they are rightly executed. And some Sectaries & Scismatickes, which would faine be reputed Confessors, might then haue some iust colour to complaine of persecution, when they are by Ecclesiasti­cal censures iustly punished. But these are such Martirs and Confessors, of whom S. Augustine writing to Boniface, de corre­ctione Donatistatum, and in many other places, complaineth, saying that in his time ther were Circumcellions, a furious kind of men, which if they could finde none that would kill them, would often times breake their owne neckes headlong, and would slay themselues. These men (sayth hée) must not be counted martirs. These are not shéep, but Goates: these are not led against their wils: but runne headlong through ambition, and proud conceit. These Rammes follow not the example of Christ, of whom it is writ­ten, that when he was led like a sheepe vnto death, yet did he not open his mouth: for these [Page 205] open their mouthes too too wide, vttering blasphemies against Magistrates. These haue forgotten the sentence of the Apostle, If I shall deliuer my body to bee burnt, 1. Cor. 13. and haue no charitie, it profiteth mee nothing. There­fore Martyrs and confessors, beside the good­nesse of the cause, must be méeke, patient, and charitable.

23 Wherefore wée hauing a good cause, ought with patience and méekenesse be rea­dy prepared, when trial shal be to suffer per­secution and tribulation, after the example of the holy Martirs of olde time, because the crosse alwayes followeth them which wil liue godly in Christ Iesus: Then hee, who hath promised vs, that neither in fire, water, no nor yet in the shadowe of death hée wil bée from vs, but wil bée our buckler, defen­der, and shield: faithfully wil performe the same, in such wise, that no temptation shal so assayle vs, but that he wil giue vs a ioyfull end and deliuerance.

24 The holy Ghost hath caused many histories to bée kept in writing for vs, that liue now in the latter age of the worlde, to this end, that we should not onely beholde in them, the fiery raging of the world, from the beginning, against the people of God, and [Page 206] how stoutly they withstood and ouercame by faithful patience the mallice thereof, but al­so by reading of them, wee should in our like troubles, learne like patience, receiue the same comfort, and béeing throughly tryed, conceiue a sure hope of the same victorie, which they after many and sundry trials, did win, whereof we shal not be disappointed, if we to the end, striue lawfully. If it be too hard and aboue your capacity, to behold al the hy­stories & examples propounded in the scrip­tures, and the chronicles of Christs Church, with such consideration that you may espye and behold in them the order of Gods wor­king with his Church in al ages: and if you doe not vnderstand in diligent perusing thē, that the end and issue was euer ioyful, and glorious victorie and deliuerance, wherwith to comfort your selues in the middest of mise­ries, take into your handes the comfortable historie of king Dauid: marke his whole life from that time hée was taken from his Fa­thers shéepe, vntil his death: beholde in him your selues, whensoeuer you shal be afflicted with any kinde of Crosse.

25 After that the Lorde had found out Dauid, a man after his owne mind, and ap­pointed him king ouer his people, who labo­red [Page 207] worthily to deliuer & defend Gods peo­ple from their enemies the Idolaters, that dwelt neare about him he did not grant vn­to him such quietnesse, neither to his people, but that he was in continual troubles, and no smal dangers, during the life of Saule, and also after Saules death, the Idolators, and also Saules friendes, séeking al the waies that might be, to depose him from his king­dome.

26 And not onely was hée thus vexed with his forraine enemies, but also most grieuously of all other by those of his house­hold, who should haue béene his most deare friends, his owne natural sonne Absolom, his most priuie Counsailers, 2. Sam. 15 the nobilitie of his realme, & the most part of his subiects. Absa­lom pretending to his father Dauid a great holinesse (as the maner of hipocrites is) desi­red to haue leaue to goe into Hebron, there to sacrifice for the performance of a vow, which he had made in the time of his being in Si­ria: but his meaning was to obtaine the kingdome from his Father, and to stirre all Israel against him, which hée brought to passe. Dauid was banished, and pursued vn­to the death by his own sonne: who wrought so much villany against his owne Father, [Page 208] that he did not forbear in the despight of him to misuse his Fathers wiues in the sight of all the people. How grieuous and dange­rous this suddain change was to Dauid, and to the godly people, which were but a few in respect of the great number of the malicious Hipocrites which followed Absolom, it ap­peareth plainly in the story, & you may easi­ly consider.

27 The best that was like to come of the matter was, that while the kingdome of Is­rael was thus diuided, Gods enemies the Pbilistines, which had lien long in wait ther­fore, should snatch vp from both the parties the kingdome of Israel, and not only vtterly banish Gods true Religion from among the Israelites: but also bring them, their coun­trey, and their posterity, into most miserable bondage and thraldome, and that to Gods e­nemies the most vile people, and hated of all the world.

28 Dauid in all these perlious dangers of his owne life, losse of his kingdome, and vtter destruction of Gods people, did not dis­courage himselfe, but vnderstanding all this to be the worke of Gods own hand, acknow­ledging the true cause vnfaignedly, did per­swade himselfe that the Lorde after a time, [Page 209] when his good will should bée, would giue a comfortable end to all these stormes and bit­ter pangues. His whole behauiour hee him­selfe describeth in a Psalme, which is left in writing for vs, to learne thereafter how to behaue our selues in the like persecutions.

29 When he was fled from Hierusalem, and the priests were departed from him with the Arke of the Lords couenant, he went vp­pon Mount Cliuet barefoote, wept as he went, & had his head couered: and so did all the people that were with him. And he made his mone vnto the Lord, saying: O Iehoua how are they increased that trouble me? How many are they that rise against me? Howe many are they that say of my soule, there is no helpe for him in his God?

30 Wonder not though this good King with a heauy heart, and sorrowfull cheare, doth lament & bewaile his dolourous estate. Would it not grieue a King when hée thin­keth of no such matter, sodainly to be cast out of his royall seate, and brought in danger of his life, and that by his owne naturall sonne? Can the displeasure of any enemie so much pearce the heart of a kind Father, as the vn­naturall cruelty of the son, to séeke his death, of whom he himselfe had his life? It grieued [Page 210] him no smal deale to perceiue such as had bin his wise counsailers, whom he much trusted, (whose duty it had bene, with the spending of their own liues, to haue defended the com­mon weale, brought to good and quiet order, both in matter of pollicy, and of Gods true Religion) to bée the supporters and main­tainers of an Hipocrite, who had neither re­spect to Gods true honour, nor yet conside­ration of duty to his most honourable Fa­ther, neither yet regard to the prosperous weale of his natiue countrey. But nothing of all these grieued him so much as this one thing: the remembrance and true acknow­ledging in himselfe, that hée himielfe was the onely cause of all these euils. Hée cal­led to remembrance that these plagues fell vppon him sent from God, whose worke it was, and that for his sinnes, which were the cause thereof, and this made him wéepe and mourne. For so soone as the Prophet Na­than had warned him of his offence, he cried peccaui, I haue sinned: and afterward when he saw this grieuous and sodain change fol­low, hée perceiued it came partly for his sin, by the worke of God, and therefore submit­ted himselfe wholly to Gods wil, saying: If I shal finde fauour in the eyes of the Lorde, [Page 211] he will bring me againe, & shew me both his Arke and the Tabernacle thereof. 2. Sam. 15 But and the Lord thus say, I haue no lust vnto thée: behold here I am, let him doe with me, what séemeth him good in his eyes.

31 Thus the worthie man of God ac­knowledgeth his trobles to be of Gods hand, his sinnes to be the cause, & therefore hum­bly & faithfully submitteth himselfe to Gods [...]ordering, well content to receiue whatsoe­uer should be laid vpon him. He assured him selfe, that when he himselfe were most wea­kest, then God would declare his strength for his owne glories sake, and after he were reduced to faithful repentance by the correc­tion of his merciful father, then the rod should be cast into the fire.

32 This consideration of plagues and tribulations, both to priuate men particu­larly, and also of Realms and whole common wealthes is diligently to be weyed, that as they come from God, so haue they this ende, that they tend partly to his own glory, part­ly to our profit and amendment. For al­though sinne be the general cause wherefore all mankinde was, is, and shal bée molested with many and sundry kindes of troubles and calamities, yet the calamities and afflic­tions, [Page 202] are not all kinde of men alike, nor yet for one end and purpose. For the wicked and reprobate are punished, and whipped of God, to a far other end and meaning, then the godly and chosen children, who are the true Church of God, the liuely members of Christ, and such as shall be neuer seperated from God, and his louing fauour in Christ Iesus.

33 These although they be neuer with­out trouble in this world, but alwaies exer­cised vnder the crosse, yet the cause and con­sideration, why God will haue them thus exercised, is either for the honor and glory of his owne name, or the profite, commodity, and exceeding benefit of them, whom hée thus afflicteth, either else for both these consi­derations together: for that there is no trou­ble that comes to Christes Church, or any member thereof, which appeareth not plain­ly to redound to Gods glory, and the profit of the afflicted, if it be well and iustly consi­dered.

34 Thus may you plainly sée, how God hath wrought with his Church in olde time, and therefore shoulde not discourage your selues, for any sodaine chaunge: but with Dauid acknowledge your sinnes to God, de­clare [Page 213] vnto him how many they be that vexe you, and rise against you, naming you Hu­gonotes, Lutherians, Heretiques, and the children of Belial, as they named Dauid. Let the wicked Idolaters boast and bragge, that they will preuaile against you and ouercome you, and that God hath giuen you ouer, and will bée no more your God: let them put their trust in Absolom with his large gol­den lockes, and in the wisedome of Achito­phel, the wise counsailer, yet say you with Dauid, Thou O Lord art my defender, and the lifter vp of my head. Perswade your selues with Dauid, that the Lord is your de­fender, who hath compassed you round about and is as it were a shielde, that doth couer you on euery side: it is hée onely that may and will compasse you about with glory and honour: It is he that wil thrust downe those proud hypocrites from their seate, and exalt his lowly and méeke: It is hee which will smite your enemies on the chéeke-boane, and burst all their féeth in sunder: hée will hang vp Absolom, by his owne long haire: and Achitophel through desperation, shall hang himselfe: the bandes shal be broken, and you deliuered: for this belongeth vnto the Lord, to saue his from their enemies, and to blesse [Page 214] his people, that they may safely proceed in their pilgrimage to heauen without feare.

CHAP. XII. Concerning the alterations of true Re­ligion in all ages.

ALbeit Dauid & his king­dome, after he was an­nointed king ouer Gods people, were exercised with many troubles, du­ring his time: yet he ob­serued the ordinances of the Lord, and kept the true Religion, among his people, according to the commandement of God. After him Salomon had gouernance of Gods people, who in the beginning of his raigne walked after his father Dauid, did build Gods temple, & obserued the true Reli­gion: but that lasted but a while: for in his lat­ter yeares, he fell to Idolatry and the seruice of false Gods, so that the true seruice of God began then to be corrupted.

2 After him, his sonne Roboam reig­ned, at whose beginning that realm had such a miserable change, that it could neuer after recouer it selfe againe: sor the kingdome [Page 215] was diuided, and tenne tribes which were called afterward Israel, fell from Roboam, and from the true Religion, vnto Idolatrie, and false seruing of God, and so continued in false superstitious Religion, alwaies hating the true religion of God, killing the Pro­phets, that did teach the trueth, and the god­ly people, that cōfessed the same many years, and yet all that time perswaded themselues, that they had the true seruice of God, and that their doings did much please God: yea, the face of Gods Church was so blemished, and brought to such a small number of true professors, that the Prophet Elyas complay­neth, that there was not one left, but he him­selfe alone, whose life also they sought after. Consider wil this historie and the working of God with his Church and true Religion. The Prophet Samuel, had taught the people the true seruice of God: the worthie king Dauid maintained the same all his time, but with great difficultie. Salomon his sonne, a Prince of most singular wisedom and know­ledge, perfectly instructed in the wayes of the Lord fel from God, and corrupted Gods Religion, with the false seruices inuented by man, so y ^t the Lord was so offended ther­with, that hée cut off from the rule of his po­steritie, [Page 216] the most part of the kingdome: For the ten Tribes were neuer after him vnder y ^e gouernance of his successiō, neither did they afterward walke in the feare of God, but in Idolatrie and false Religion, till at the last God sent the Assyrians to inuade them in that wise, that they ouercame them, carried them forth of their owne countrey, dispersed them in many countries among the heathen, sent strangers to inhabite their land, and so vtter­ly destroyed that kingdome.

3 This was a fearefull iudgement of God, where he had but one small kingdome in the whole world, that bare the face of his Church, where his true honour was main­tained, and that so dodainly of twelue tribes, ten should fall from God, to Idolatry, and false Religion: yea, and the other also, during all the time of Roboam, and his sonne Abia after him: so that during all this time, there was not in the world any Church, or people, where the sincere Religion, and pure word of God, was receiued by publique authority and cōmon order: although God reserued al­waies some that priuatly serued him, & feared his name faithfully, who were alwaies so ha­ted and punished by the Idolaters, that their liues were bitter vnto them.

4 In those dayes did the Idolaters make [Page 217] the selfe same reasons & arguments against the Prophets and their doctrine, which Ido­laters do make nowe against Gods people, and his true Religion concerning generali­tie. The faithfull thē liued among those Ido­ters with no lesse perill and danger, then the Christians haue done in Spaine, and in other Countries, where the Gospell hath not free passage. The Prophets were then impriso­ned, and driuen out of their countrey like se­ditious heritiques, the causers of all euill, as the true preachers in some places of Chri­stendome now are.

5 After the death of the wicked Kinges of Iehuda, God visited his people with some light of the truth by the meanes of Asa: and King Iosaphat after him: who restored (al­though not perfectly) the true Religion, ba­nished the false, and destroyed the Altars of the Idolaters. The which reformation was done not without great difficultie and trou­ble, and continued but a small time in that same order. For Ioram the sonne of King Iosaphat, ouerthrew the true seruice of God, condemned it, and brought in the place ther­of, the superstitions and Idolatries of the Kings of Israel: and so the Church continued neuer perfectly reformed, but alwayes afflic­ted, [Page 218] till the time of Ezekias. For although A­za, Iosaphat, Ioaz, Amazias, Vzzias, & Ioa­tham, attempted a reformation, and were indifferently good Kings, yet was not the Church cleansed of all the Idolatries, and false counterfait Religion, as it appeareth by the Prophets, E [...]ia, Amos, Isai, Osea, Micha. But the worthy King Ezechia in the first yeare of his raine, began to reforme Reli­gion, brake downe and banished all Idols and Images, hill Altars, and what so euer was against Gods commandement, resto­ring Gods true Religion after the rule of Gods word. The which thing as he brought to passe, not without great troubles and diffi­culties, so it continued in puritie but a little time. For his sonne, wicked Manasses, who raigned after him, put away, and did forsake the true way, and brought in againe al man­ner of Idolatry & false Religion: & did grie­uously punish and persecute, the faithful peo­ple and true Prophets. Hée shed (saith the Scripture) innocent blood excéeding abun­dantly. In like manner did his sonne Am­mon also, who raigned after him.

6 This grieuous change remained thus, vntill the good king Iosias made a newe and godly reformation, which ought to be a glasse [Page 219] to all Princes to behold themselues in. But this godly reformation of this good king did not continue, for his sonne & all the kings of Iuda after him forsooke the waies of God, and restored againe the idolatrie, and false religi­on of their fore-fathers, and so continued, till God sent the king of Babylon to destroy their Cittie, Temple, and countrey: who also led them captiue into Babylon, where they con­tinued many yeares in great affliction: as it appeareth by the Prophets Ieremie and Da­niel: so that in fiue hundred years and aboue, in the dayes of all the kings of Iehuda, Gods religion was set forth, and receiued in pub­lique order sincerely and perfectly, and the contrary vtterly banished and abolished. But in the times of Dauid, Ezechias, & Io­sias, (as Iesus the sonne of Syrach witnes­seth,) All Kings except Dauid, Ezechias, and Iosias, committed wickednesse: For euen the Kings of Iehuda also forsake the lawes of God.

7 With what difficultie and troubles, Gods religion and true seruice was restored after the returne of Gods people from Baby­lon, & how short a time it cōtinued in puritie, what trobles & grieuous persecutiōs the true seruants of the Lord suffered, it is partly set [Page 220] foorth in Esdras and Nehemiah: after in He­ster, and then in Machabes: And although vnto the comming of Christ, there was an outward face and beautifull shewe of Gods religion among the Iewes, yet was it so de­faced, and vtterly falsified with traditions of the Pharises, who were at that time in estimation, that Christ himselfe doth testifie, that their seruice was but vain traditions of men, Mat. 15. and the commandemnet of God was not obserued. All that time there were no Prophets, to instruct them in the right way: for immediatly after the captiuitie, al prophe­sying ceassed in Israel. Nowe peruse the Hi­storie of our Sauiour Christ in the foure E­uangelists, & you shal perceiue in what state Christ found his true religion: what paines and trauaile he tooke to restore the true & sin­cere honouring of God: with how great dif­ficultie he brought it to passe: and at the last, how it cost him his life. After whose death the crueltie of thē, who would séeme to haue and maintaine the true honouring of God ceassed not, but stirred most vehement per­secution against the true Church of Christ, and dispersed it thoughout all the worlde: With what paines, troubles, and difficultie true Christianitie was planted, and false [Page 221] Religion put awaye, Saint Lucas partly mentioneth in the Acts of the Apostles, who spent their liues in the building of Christes Church.

8 After Christs death, the cruell tyrant Nero the Emperor, did persecute the Church most cruelly, after whose time, the Church was in some quiet, but not long. For Domi­tian the Emperour, did persecute Christes Church to destroy his true religion most hai­nously. Nerua his successor was friendly to the Christians. Traian after him, a cruell persecuter and enemie: And then Hadrian after whose time the Church had rest for a while. For shortly after, the Christians that were in Asia, and also in the West partes, were cruelly disquieted. Shortly after this time▪ did England receiue the Christian Faith, and was the first Countrey of all the world, that receiued the Faith of Christ by publicke authoritie. Lucius being the first Christian King. But the puritie of Christes truth did not long here continue, not much aboue one hundreth yeares.

9 Seuerus the Emperour, wrought all the meanes that might be to destroy Christes Church, and to subuert the true Religion with most sharpe persecution: after whose [Page 222] time, there was some quiet. But shortly af­ter the cruell tyrant Maximinus did sore mo­lest the faithfull, and likewise after him De­cius, Gallus, Hostilianus, Lucius, Ʋaleria­nus. Galienus granted the Christians peace: Aurelianus did persecute them. And Diocle­sianus, more like an infernall Serpent, then an earthly man, did as it were deuoure the Church most cruelly. In this time, was the greatest persecution that hath béen before: the tormentors were much more weary in shed­ding the Christian blood, and cruelly tormen­ting the faithfull, thē the holy Martyrs were in suffering the paines. There were in this persecution within thirty daies, aboue seuen­téene thousand Christians killed most spite­fully.

Eusebius Eccle. Hist. lib. 8. cap. 9. 10 But Constantine the good Emperour became a Christian, set the Church in peace, and was the first Emperour that did by pub­like authoritie put downe Gentilitie, and truely maintained Christianitie. But that la­sted not long. For within short time after, Iulianus the Apostata, béeing Emperour, went about to vndoe all that Constantine had done: vsed wonderfull pollicies to destroy the Christian Religion, and did afflict the faithfull very gréeuously. After this time the [Page 223] Church was gréeuously molested by the Ar­rians, after with Humes, Vandales & Gothes, and so continued many yeares, till all good learning began wonderfully to bée decayed. And at the length, albeit the Church séemed to be at rest, yet hath it béene euen vnto this day miserably afflicted and wonderfully de­faced, by two Vicars of the Diuell, put in commission at one time, about eight hundred years since: The one, Mahomet for the Eest: the other, Antichrist of Rome, for the West. The one forraine, the other a more néere and domestical enemie to Christians. For during these foure hundred yeares Rome hath béene Topheth, and the valley of Hynnom, and the very Altar, whereon hath béen sacrificed the body of Gods children. Whose tyranny and outrage is such, that the Kings and Poten­tates of the world, haue béene and are great­ly damnified and iniured by her, as appea­reth by many notable pageantes, which shée hath played afore our time: among which, this one shal serue for many.

11 Pope Innocent being displeased with George Pogiebracius, king of Bohemia, for fauouring of Iohn Hus, and his religion: that is to say, for playing the part of a godly Prince, did excommunicate and depose him, [Page 224] appointed his kingdome to Mathias. But Fredericke the Emperour would not thereto consent: and especially after the death of the aforesaid George, when the Emperour and the Bohemians leauing out Mathias, did no­minate Vladislaus, sonne of Casimirus King of Polonie, to bée king of Boheme, for the which, great warre and trouble kindled be­twéene him, and Fredericke the Emperour: wherein the Emperour, had béene vtterly o­uerthrown, had not Albertus Duke of Saxo­nie, rescued the Emperour, and expressed the vehemencie of Mathias. This fire of dissen­tion being kindled by the terrible thunder­bolt of the Popes Excommunication, did yet a greater mischiefe. For it hindered the sayd Mathias in his expeditiō against the Turkes, wherein he should haue been set forward and aided, by Christian Princes and Byshops.

The like curse and excommunication hath béen denounced by the Antichristian Byshop Pius Quintus, for the like cause, as wée all know, against Q. Elizabeth, but the same hath béen altogither turned to her & her peo­ples good, by him that can and will blesse, where Baalam curseth. What should I need to set before you the bloody broiles of France, and of the Low-countries thereto adioyning, [Page 225] wrought and brought to passe, by this dome­stical enemy, vnder the colour and name of a holy league, therby to maintaine Idolatry and superstition, and to roote out the religion and seruice of almighty God? It is too too ma­nifest, they haue felt it, & all the world cannot but condemne it. But what better can be ex­pected? Can any good come from Rome? No verily. For as Babylon is full of Ostriches: as Africa yearely bréedeth some monster, and as Sodome and Gomer sendeth forth yearely noysome stinches: So the Church of Rome, is the nource and fountaine, which sendeth forth error, treason, rebellion, and vt­ter desolation (if it were possible) of all christi­an kingdomes.

12 Now weigh and consider with your selues this same briefe rehearsal of the seate of Gods church, how the church of the Israe­lites was afflicted in the time of the kinges: then carried into a strange country captiues: after their returne and redeifiyng of the tem­ple, what great perils and troubles it sustai­ned, till after the dayes of the Machabees: next, consider the historie of Christ, and the Acts of the Apostles. After this the ten not a­ble persecutions, which the Church suffered vnder most cruell tyrants, from the eight [Page 226] yeare of Nero, by the space of thrée hundred and twenty yeers, vnto the time of Constan­tine: and from his time thrée hundred yeares after by the Arrians and barbarous Hunnes, Vandals and Gothes, by whose meanes good learning was decaied, & ignorance brought in: and then marke with aduisement, how that from that time hitherto, Mahomet hath vsurped and afflicted the East Church, and the Pope the West: (for he began to exercise his proud power ouer the Church, about the same time, that Mahomet brought in his re­ligion.) Consider I say with aduisement, in all these times, how little while Gods Reli­gion was maintained in the church: what pe­rillous changes were in the kingdome: what excéeding cruelty was alwaies vsed against the people of God, as though they had bin he­retiques, his word condemned as heresy, and the cause of all euils: and you shall easily per­ceiue that neither Gugall, Silo, nor Mispah, can assure the Lords tabernacle any rest: and that Religion kéepeth not her place and stan­ding any long time.

13 The vse and profite which is to bée made héereof vnto our selues is this: that for­somuch as God hath giuen vnto vs his word, and the ministerie thereof, in such wise that [Page 227] we haue amongest vs (blessed be his name therefore) his true religion and seruice: let vs not grow secure, forgetting our duties vnto him, in regard of so vnspeakable a bles­sing, least he come shortly & remoue our can­dlestick from vs. Apoc. 2. For he hath no lesse cause to execute this iudgement against vs now, then he had of old time against the obstinate, and vnthankful Iewes, of whome he complay­neth thus: What shall I doe vnto thee, 2. Esdr. 1. O Ia­cob, thou Iuda wouldest not obay? I will turne me to other nations, and to those will I giue my name. For hee entreateth vs con­tinually as a father doth his sonnes: as a mo­ther her daughters: and as her nourse her young babes, that we would be his people: and loe by our disobedience wée refuse. It is therefore to be feared, that the kingdome of God shall be taken from vs, and giuen to a nation, Math. 21. which will bring forth fruites of the same. For I am verily perswaded, there is nothing that will more spéedily depriue vs of Gods fauour, and that will sooner bring vppon vs his heauy iudgements, then our vnthankfulnes, in abusing his word and mi­nisterie.

14 It fareth with vs, as it did with the Is­raelites, after their mighty deliuerance out of [Page 228] Egypt, in the wildernesse: who at the first when Manna was strange vnto them, liked it wonderfully, so that they would runne out euen on the sabboth, although they were for­biddē to gather it, but soone after waxed wea­ry of it. Euen so in the beginning of Quéene Elizabeth, most happy raigne, we al as mē almost hunger-starued for lack of y ^e spirituall food of Gods word, the Manna of our soule, were right glad by what occasion, or from what maner of persō soeuer we might heare that Angelical tidings as it were from heauē, of our saluation in Christ, & of our iustificati­on through faith in him: yea, how ioyful were we then to heare God serued in our vulgar tongue, with that same forme of praier now vsed in the Church, which some nice wan­tons at this day condemne, saying: Nauseat anima nostra, wée loath this, wée wil haue a better forme: wee wil set vp a Temple in Gerezin, in stead of that in Hierusa­lem.

15 Through this fulnes, some are grow­en so lasie and vnlusty towards the spiritual Manna, that they wil no more goe seeke it a­broad, as in former time of néed, but they wil haue it brought home to their houses, and so make the publick minister, a parlor preacher, [Page 229] as if it were now a time of persecutiō: wher­as Ely hath his open place by one of the pil­lers of the Temple, wher any man may find him, which is desirous of knowledge. For they which desired to be instructed by Christ, asked him: Rabbi, vbi habitas? Maister wher dwellest thou? He answered, Come and see. And they came to him: not he to them: he himselfe commanding it should be so: If any man thirst let him come to me.

16 And as touching Religion, many be of Gallios mind, y ^t it is nothing but a question of names: or of Pharaos minde, that it is but a vaine thing: or at most of king Agrippas minde, to be halfe Christians. But Nazian­zene to the Arrians saith, Aut totum honora, aut totum abijce: Either honor Christ whole­ly, or cast Christ wholly away.

17 There be also many which deale with Gods word & his religion, as doth the But­ter-flye with the swéet flowers: and that is, e­uen to dye their wings with them, that they may séem to be of a fair painted cullor. These thinke that holines consisteth in often, & much hearing, how litle soeuer they practise. They can endure the sowing of a Gomer, although thy reape but an Epha. To these it may bée said, as Phocion said sometime to the Athe­nian hāds, O quam multos duces, quam pauces [Page 230] milites: more teachers then followers.

18 And as for the ministerie, it serueth for nothing now adaies but euen for a whet­stone to set the peoples tongs on edge withal: Come (say they) let vs smite Ieremy with the tōng, & giue no héede vnto his words, Gods Ministers haue cause to cōplaine as Ezech. in his time, that they be iudged & condemned at the dores of mens houses: or as christ, and his apostles, by the fire side: and as Iohn Bap­tist▪ y ^t they receiue their iudgement at the ta­blecloth or carpet, not from any iudiciall seat.

19 Do we think y ^t God wil suffer stil this cōtempt of his word & ministery vnpunished: he hath already looked a long time for our a­mending, & hath long borne with our euil do­ing. And although it is truly said of God, in respect of his long sufferāce, that he hath lea­ [...] feete: so as truly it may be said in respect of his any iudgemēts following the same, that he hath yron hands. Hée commeth a­gainst vs slowly, but when he comes, he pay­eth home surely.

20 For these forty and sixe yeares past, who hath ledde the life of delights but wee? What nation vnder heauen hath bene hap­py, but our English nation? Our God hath long loued vs: Our God hath long suffered [Page 231] vs, and with his chéerfull countenance hath most louingly looked vpon vs: But euen as the Troians, when their citie was beaten downe flat to the ground, saide thus; Troia fuit, there was a Troy, or we had a Troy: so the time may come, wherein we may say, God was in this place, and we wist it not: we had once Gods fauour, & we acknowledged it not.

21 Lt vs then in time recall our selues to a better consideration, and let vs constant­ly and thankfully imbrace the word of God, and perseuer in the way of godlinesse. It was king Hezechias singular commendati­on, that he did cleaue vnto the Lord, and de­parted not from him. And it was a Christian resolution of Policarpe to the Léefetenant of Anthony, who incited him to deliuer himselfe from imprisonment and bonds by blasphe­ming Christ: to whom he made this answer; These eighty sixe yeares haue I serued him, and yet did he neuer hurt me: and sure, Gal. 3. I will not forsake him now. Euen so let vs re­solue, that for so much as we haue begun our pilgrimage in the spirit, neuer to ende it in the fleshe: And that if all the worlde would fall away from God and his word, yet wée, and ours, will serue the Lorde. Iosua. 24. [...] [Page 234] would admonish thee to enter into the Court of Conscience, and examine thy selfe, especially in these foure points fol­lowing.