IT is most truelie written by the ancient father Lactantius ( Right worshipfull ) that God made man for two causes : the one that he should acknowledge and confesse him , to be the true and immortall God , and to honour him in all holinesse and righteousnes . The other was for mans owne sake , that ech one should loue and defend the other . For if , of one man whome God made , all others had their offspring : then are all they bretheren , and of one and the same blood . But for brethren to be diuided and not to loue ech one the other , it is most vnnaturall and execrable before God and man . And for asmuch as such is the state & condition of man , that he was neither borne for him selfe alone , nor yet can liue by himselfe alone , it is most necessarie , that he doo endeuour himselfe vnto those endes for which he was made and created . That is , that he doo first and cheestie serue and honour the eternall God ( for whose honour he was made ) in all holinesse and righteousnes : & then to yeeld vnto man ( to whose comfort he was borne ) those offices of humanitie whereby mans societie is conserued : which doo stand and consist in this , that euerie one doo prosecute another , in all beneuolence , beneficence , gratefulnes and humanitie . For who so is not thus affected , dooth degenerate from the true nature of man in his first creation , & is become worse than the brute beast . Wherefore in the former ages , not onelie the children of God , and the professors of his word , haue beene carefull herein : but the Gentiles also , and the nations which knew not God , haue beene earnest to maintaine the common societie , and to performe one to the other all offices of humanitie . For as Cicero saith , Nihil magis ad humanae vitae societatem tuendam , & ad amicitias conciliandas & confirmandas adiuuat : Nothing doth more nourish loue , and preserue common societie , than good will performed in the offices of humanitie . Who so then is carelesse herein and breaketh the bondes hereof , he is as the godly father saith , Nefarius , parricida , & omnium pessimus .

This is so excellent a vertue , so much tending to the honor of God , so agreable to nature , and so most necessarie for man : as it had his beginning and was ingraffed in man , euen in his first creation , so hath it had his effect among good men in all ages , and in all well gouerned Cities and common wealths , euen among the verie nations : whereof to recite manie examples which are to be drawne from the Israelites , Persians , Assyrians , Grecians , Romanes , and sundrie other nations , it were too long and almost an infinite discourse . And therefore leauing all them I will come to this realme of England , our owne natiue countrie , which though it be the remotest Iland in all the Ocean seas , & taken as it were for a new world of itselfe : yet is it not inferiour to anie nation or people whatsoeuer , either in true religion towardes God , or in dutifulnes to the Prince and Magistrates , or in anie action tending to the conseruation of the common societie , and the nourishing of good will among men . And besides that , this land hath these things in common with others : yet , it hath also certaine particular branches and vsages of beneuolence , loue and good will , among priuate men peculiar to themselues , and which in other countries is not vsed . Among manie others , I doo note and obserue the old and ancient manner of giuing of new yeares gifts . I know the Persians of certaine times did with great reuerence offer presents vnto their kinges . And the Parthians would neuer come emptie handed before their Princes . And likewise the Romane souldiers would at the beginning of euerie yeare , present their Emperours with some one thing or other : euen as the noble men of England for euer from time out of minde haue doone , and yet vpon new yeares daie doo humblie present to the Kings and Princes of the same , some strene or present , dutiefullie witnessing a bounden duetie of their part , as also the Princes by a like gift returned , doo testifie their good will of the other part . But the like course of courtesie , beneficence , and beneuolence to be vsed among the common people , and the inferior sort among themselues : I take it to be proper and onelie vsed within this Realme of England . For besides the yearelie haruest dinners , and other like meetings , vnto which one neighbour conuiteth an other : the tenants also to their landlordes , the seruants to their Maisters , and one neighbour to an other , faile not at new yeeres tide to congratulate a good successe of the yeare past , and wish the like of the yeere to come , with some present or gift : but among none is it more firmely obserued , than by the babes or little children , named godchildren , who at that time make their repaire to their Compatres , named godfathers and godmothers : before whom they doo humblie kneele downe , and by the name of a blessing , doo as it were , giue thankes , bicause they were witnesses to their baptisme , and doo craue their helpes for their increase and continuance in that faith which they promised for them . And therewith doo present vnto their said godfathers and godmothers some one thing or other , in token of their thankfulnes , which giftes in the elder ages were for the most part Akornes , Nattes and Apples .

Of this manner and vsage ensued manie and great commodities both common & priuate , which turned to the benefit of the common wealth , & to the increase of the societie of man : for the Akornes , nuttes , and the kernels of apples were then vsed to be cast and sowed in the ground , whereof in course of time did grow and increase the great abundance of timber , and the plentie of fruites , which their posteritie could not lacke , and the common wealth cold not want : further it bred such a loue betweene the godfathers and the children , as next vnto the naturall parents could not be a firmer . The one alwaies reuerencing , and other louing each other . The parents also being as it were alied by this kind of courtesie doo call one the other gossop , as who saith , Gods helpers , they louing as brethren each one the other , most sincerelie and friendlie . And their children and offsprings treading the trace of their parentes , are affected one to the other as brethren of one and the same familie . These and such other like things when I had considered , it came to my minde and remembrance , how that I my selfe haue beene sometimes a foster childe to this Citie & common welth , being a free citizen borne , and descended of parents , who in their times sate in the cheefest seate and chaire of gouernment : and was by them in my tender yeares & minoritie committed and commended to the credit and gouernment of the Magistrates of this citie . Wherefore as vnto deere parents I thought it my part not onelie as a foster child , but rather as a naturall sonne to yeeld some remembrance of duetie vnto you . And therefore taking the oportunitie of the time present , and the occasion of some things otherwise offered , I haue thought good by waie of a strene or new yeares gift to offer and present vnto you this litle Pamphelet . Which in outward apperance is slender as the hasell nut ; but as by breaking the shell you shall find a kernell , so if you open this booke you shall learne the things most expedient and necessarie for you to know . It is the abridgment or summarie of such speciall points , as be incident to euerie of your particuler officers : which you ought not onelie to know and to vnderstand , but also to see to be doone and exequuted . You haue in an open assemblie giuen your oth , and sworne by the name of the Almightie and eternall God , and protested by the great Iehouah so to doo : wherefore to be remisse , negligent or carelesse therein , you shall not onelie offend against the common wealth , but most grieuouslie sinne against the diuine Maiestie , whose name by your follies is dishonored , and which so great a sinne cannot of his iustice be vnpunished nor vnreuenged . And for as much as the Magistrates are Gods Ministers , substitutes and vicars vpon earth , and from whom all power and authoritie is ordained ; I am here vpon some occasion , to aduertise and remember you , that there be two speciall things required at your hands . The one is concerning God and his seruice in religion , the other concerning your selues and your office in politike gouernment . The latter dependeth vpon the first , and cannot haue any good successe where the first is not kept and regarded : for as a learned man at the common lawes saith , Seeing that lawes must be obeied for God , it foloweth of necessitie that he which will haue them to be obeied rightly , must first learne to honor God truelie : or else where this foundation faileth ( euen as a house builded vpon sand ) the other falleth . It is therefore and ought to be your most cheefe and speciall care , that not onelie you your selues , but all and euerie such as be vnder your gouernment , doo honor and serue the euerlasting God in true religion , and according to his prescripts and commandements , and then of consequence your politike gouernment must and shall prosper & haue successe . And that you are thus bounden to doo , read the volumes of Moses , who was Magistrate vnder God of the Israelites , and he did both deliuer them lawes how they should honor the true God of Israel , as also set downe punishments for the breakers thereof . The like after him , did Iosua , and the Iudges ouer Israel , and the kings ouer Iehuda : as in the bookes of the Iudges and in the Chronicles of the Kings dooth appeere .

For all things to be well doone must take their beginning from religion , as the godly diuine saith , Nulla politia feliciter constitui potest , nisi prima curapietatis sit . Preposterous then is the iudgement of those who would haue that religion should perteine onelie to the bishops and clergie , and that the ciuill Magistrate should deale onelie in matters of policie : but the law of Moses , and the lawe of the Gospell doth determine the contrarie , and chargeth the ciuil Magistrate with both , making the same to be his talent , for which he must as a good Steward make his accompt . If this be true as it is most true , how carefull and vigilant ought the Magistrates of this citie to be , that the people committed to their gouernment , should not thus in the light of the Gospell walke in darkenes , and liue most dissolutelie and looselie ? I know the Gospell is preached most sincerelie , and the Sacraments ministred most purelie , and yet small is the number which imbrace the same sincerelie , and liue thereunto accordinglie . For looke you vpon the face of this common wealth , and you shall find it in as bad or worse state , than was the state of the common wealth of the Israelites in the time of Ezechiel , or rather woorse concerning religion . For Atheistes . Papistes , & blasphemers of Gods holie name , swarme as thick as butter flies , without checke or controlment . The Sabboth of the Lord appointed to be kept holie , and we commanded to sanctifie the same , & to giue our selues to the exercise of good workes , to be diligent in praiers , & to be attentiue to the hearing of Sermons , is of all other daies most licentiouslie spent in sinne and wickednes , the same being counted so much the more holie , as it is spent most idelie and wickedlie . For be the Preachers neuer so godlie and earnest to call , let all the great belles of S. Peters ring out neuer so lowd , there will not be halfe so manie gained into the Church : as one with a pipe and a whistle shall gaine into the streetes to see vaine and foolish spectacles . For let there be a beare baiting , a bull baiting , an enterlude , or anie such vanitie , euerie man is in hast to runne headlong to it , & the time neuer too long to haue there fill thereof . And yet if there be no such plaies or games , they will rather sit idle in the streetes , than be well occupied in the churches .

Euen as it was said merilie of a preacher , that when he sawe the people to depart out of the church from the Sermon , spake vnto his auditorie : saieng , Good people , it is said there is a man in the Moone , but beleeue it not , for there is no such thing , but if you will goo forth into the Churchyard , you shall find twentie knaues in the sunne . And this is most true : for whensoeuer there is anie Sermon , send you one out into the streetes , and there shall you find the greatest number , some to knocke there heeles against the stalles , some to walke vp and downe the streetes , some sitting at the tauerne gulping and drinking , some at gaming and plaieng , some piping and daunsing , and finallie none well occupied . This is most true , the matter is apparant , the fault is knowen , a redresse is wished , but nothing is doone , which thing is much bewailed by the good and godlie . It hath beene oftentimes mooued by some one man of great honor , calling , and authoritie ; it hath beene aduised and persuaded by most learned and godlie preachers , and it is wished by all good and godlie men , that some one good and learned preacher were appointed in this Citie , who vpon the Sabboth daies might catechize the children , teach the old , and instruct the people , whereby they might be reclaimed to God , nurtered in religion , and amended in life . But Durus est hic sermo , this is a hard saieng , and who can abide it ? And therefore manie be the deuises to stoppe so good a course . Some altogither being like to the Aspis , who stoppeth both hir eares against the voice of the enchanter , alleging that there is too much preaching . And of their opinion am I , that preaching is to much , but to no other than too the lost sheepe of Israel , and to the children of condemnation : for as S. Paul saith , If our Gospell be hid , Iis qui pereunt est absconditum , it is hid to them that are lost . The bread of the Angels was vnsauerie , but to those onelie who were to perish whiles the flesh which they lusted was in their teeth . Some doo like verie well to haue the catechizing , so that they might be no contributors , and so would shift it ouer vnto the church men , as though it were their onelie duetie to doo it , and these shew themselues to be the children of the corrupted Adam , who being reprooued for his transgression , chargeth his wife with it , and she shuffleth it ouer to the diuell : and so in this , euery man so thrusteth it one from another , that nothing is doone . And what wil be the end thereof , it is easilie to be knowen , if men would either beleeue the booke of God , or consider & call to remembrance what hath befallen in the like in times past . The Poets among their manie goddes , haue deuised & imagined , that one of them hath two faces , the one before looking foreward , & the other behind looking backwards , & this god they call Ianus , of whom the moneth of Ianuarie taketh his name , and the first daie of the same is called Newyeeres day . By this is means & moralized a man of great wisedome , knowledge , and experience , and who looking to the times past and obseruing the euents thereof , doth forecast the sequele of the like to come . If you then as euerie wise Magistrate ought to do , would as a Ianus looke backe into the old world , and read the bookes and histories of that age , shall find that Noah the preacher of righteousnes , did teach and persuade the people to repentance almost one hundreth yeeres togither , but bicause they were werie of his preaching , & would no more thereof , God sendeth the great deluge and drowned the whole world . Sodoma would not listen to the counsell of Loth , wherefore God with fire and brimstone from heauen consumed them to ashes . The foolish Israelites not contented with such incenses and manner of religion as God by Moses had ordeined , would needs haue another of their own deuise , & in offering the same , the earth opened and swallowed them vp all aliue . The same people were fed with Manna , the foode of Angels , which God from heauen prouided for them , and they waxed werie thereof , and would needes haue chaunge of meates ( as we of religion ) but the meate was no sooner in their mouthes , than was Gods vengeance vpon them , and stroke them with a great plague .

The foolish Israelite neglecting the obseruing of the Lords Sabboth , would needes folow his worldlie causes and gather wood , had his reward , and was stoned to death . The whole nation of the Iewes were called by the Lord Iesus to the doctrine of the Gospell , but they would not vnderstand nor accept the time of their visitation , wherefore they felt the heauie hand of God , and were vtterlie consumed with famine , pestilence and the sword , and the citie & temple ( wherof they made a great aduante ) was not one stone thereof left vpon an other . The cities of Capernaum , which reached vp euen vnto the heauens , Ephesus , Corinth , Antiochia , and sundrie others among whom the Apostles had planted the Gospell , when they lothed it and waxed wearie thereof , the Lord lothed and waxed wearie of them , and all they some by earthquakes , some by fire , and manie by the enimies were vtterlie wasted and consumed . And as he hath thus doone with cities , townes , and countries , so hath he shewed the like power vpon mightie Princes and Monarches , which haue not harkened vnto his voice nor obeied his commandements . Nabuchadnezer , Pharo , Herod , Nero , Caligula , Domitianus , Traianus , Hadrianus , and a number of other Atheistes , who denied the Lord God , his Christ and his Gospell , he tormented them with such plagues , torments and troubles , that of their miserable liues they made most miserable ends . If then the Lord God hath thus dealed with all the nations of the world , and with his owne peculiar people , if he haue not spared the children of his owne familie , nor fauoured the vineyard of his owne planting , nor yet regarded his owne countrie , nor accompted of his owne citie , what shall it be thought he will doo with this ingratefull citie of Excester , which haue tasted of infinite his blessings , and haue a long time beene fedde with his heauenlie Manna , and yet haue and doo dailie contemne his lawes , cast awaie his commandements , and be wearie of his doctrine : what is it , that we can iustlie claime or chalenge for ourselues , why the Lord should not shorten his hand , and be no longer fauorable vnto vs ? Is it our antiquitie ? Be it that this citie is verie ancient , and was builded at the first comming of Brutus into this land , about two thousand fiue hundred yeeres past , before or when London was : yet the cities of Enoch , Nineue , Babylon , Corinth , Athens , Troia , and Carthage were long before it .

Is it for religion ? I grant , that the Gospell is truelie preached , and the Sacraments sincerely ministred . And so was it at Hierusalem , Antiochia , Corinth , Ephesus , and manie other places . Is it bicause it is pleasantly seated , and standeth vpon the top of a hill , in the open prospect of the world , & neere the seas ? So was Hierusalem , Capernaum , Tyrus , and sundrie other cities . Is it bicause it is rich and inhabited with rich marchants and occupiers ? So was Tyrus and Sydon , and others . Is it for the fertilitie of the soile , and the abundance of all things , wherewith God hath blessed it ? So was the whole land of Palestina , who for the great blessings of God in nature , was said to be a land to flow with milke and honie . And yet all these peoples , nations and countries , lothing his word , for their vnthankfulnes and not seruing God in true religion were vtterlie destroied by the mightie hand of God , and now remaineth scarse anie signe or memoriall of them .

And shall this citie of Excester which is but a sower grape , a wild Oliue , & is of his good mercie ingrafted in the place of the naturall branch , and yet hath doone the like or woorse transgressions , shall shee I saie be free from the like punishments ? No , no : although God in mercie haue long & oftentimes borne and winked at the sinnes of this citie , yet he will not so doo foreuer . It is an old saieng : Go the pot neuer so often to the water , yet at length it commeth home broken . Sundrie and manie times ( like vnto the citie of Hierusalem ) hath it beene in great perils by the Brytons , Romanes , Saxons , and Danes , and manie times hard assailed with intestine warres , and the Lord hath alwaies from time to time deliuered it , but they still continuing or rather increasing in sinne , haue and doo dailie greeue the Lord , and doo accoler at his heauie hand . Be you but indifferent viewers of your present state , and be you your owne Iudges , and you shall not denie ( vnles you be like vnto the Fairies , called Lamiae , whose nature is that being within their owne house , they be blind and cannot looke vpon their owne faults , but being abroad can see euerie other mans dooings . But that pride , couetousnesse , whoredome , malice , enuie , excesse , gluttonie , drunkenes , vsurie , extortion , dissimulation and hypocrisie , and almost all kindes of sinnes dooth swimme and abound in euerie place of this citie , and shall it not be reuenged ? The Prophet condemned Sodoma but for foure speciall sinnes , pride , fulnes of bread , idlenes , and carelesnes of the poore , but looke into Excester , & you shall find fortie times foure , and yet we can lie snorting and sleeping in our sinnes , as though it were Omnia bene . The more is our securitie and carelesnes , the greater wil be our plagues in the daie of vengeance , and so much the more , bicause against our knowledge and profession we doo offend God : for as Christ saith , If I had not come & spoken vnto them , they should not haue sinned , but now they haue no cloake for their sinne , vnlesse we doo the sooner conuert and amend .

Well you are Gods ministers , and he hath appointed you to be his Moyses vnto vs , and therefore you must in this dangerous case , stand before him betweene him and the people , and likewise to stand in the middle of the people betweene the liuing and the dead , wherebie is meant , that you are not onelie to present yourselues before the Lord in a perfect and a pure religion , but also must procure and prouide your Aarons and godlie preachers , who hauing in their brest plate Vrim and Thumim , doo catechize , teach and instruct your citizens to know God and the grounds of Christian religion , wherebie they may be a holie people vnto the Lord . And then also you yourselues must be men of corage , fearing God , dealing truelie , and hating couetousnes , and so to stand in the middle of the people , betweene the quicke and the dead ; that when the people doo come vnto you , you doo exequute iustice , and iudge vprightlie in punishing the offender , and acquiting the innocent . For your direction in these two pointes you haue for the first , Gods holie word and Testament , which the Lord hath commanded , should neuer depart out of your mouths , and continuall meditations : for the other you haue sundrie good and politike constitutions , and ancient ordinances of this your citie , out whereof I haue drawen this litle Pamphlet and strene , referring you for your further instructions to the great Leger or blacke booke , wherein at large I haue set downe whatsoeuer concerneth the state of this citie , and the gouernment of the same .

Which good courses if you will folow , notwithstanding the ship of your common wealth being ouerladen with sinne and iniquitie , is in great danger of shipwracke , and to be ouerwhelmed , yet Christ will be in readines to calme the seas , and to saue both you and your ship , if you shall awake him , and conuert vnto him . And then this your ancient citie which hath continued for these manie hundreds of yeeres , shall as the mount Syon be firme and neuer be mooued , but God shall saue keepe and defend it , that you and your posteritie maie still dwell in it and haue it in possession , and you yourselues when you are called to an accompt shall for the well imploieng of your talent , bee rewarded , and enter into the ioie of your Lord . And thus commending my selfe and this my strene vnto your good acceptation , I doo take my leaue .