A complaint against securitie in these perillous times: vvritten by M. Tho. Kingsmill, sometime fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford: and lately her Maiesties publicke professour of the Hebrew tongue, in the same Vniuersitie Kingsmill, Thomas. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription B00346 of text S125801 in the English Short Title Catalog. Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 197KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 76 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2018 B14343

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this text, in whole or in part. Please contact project staff at eebotcp-info(at)umich.edu for further information or permissions.

 Early English books online text creation partnership. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 2, no. B14343) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 176318) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1314:17) A complaint against securitie in these perillous times: vvritten by M. Tho. Kingsmill, sometime fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford: and lately her Maiesties publicke professour of the Hebrew tongue, in the same Vniuersitie Kingsmill, Thomas. [152] p. Impensis Geor. Bishop, Londini : 1602. Signatures: [A]¹ B-K L⁴ (-L4). Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library.

Header created with script mrcb2eeboutf.xsl on 2016-01-28.

Manually keyed and coded text linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines available at TCP web site (http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/docs/)

 eng Security (Psychology) -- Early works to 1800. eebo A complaint against securitie in these perillous times: vvritten by M. Tho. Kingsmill, sometime fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford: and lately her M Kingsmill, Thomas. 1602 151 36816 4 20 0 0 0 0 6.52 B The rate of 6.52 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the B category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2014-03 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2014-05 Sampled and proofread 2014-05 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2015-03 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion

A COMPLAINT against Securitie in these perillous times :

Written by M. THO . KINGSMILL , sometime fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford :

And lately her Maiesties publicke Professour of the Hebrew tongue , in the same Vniuersitie .

LONDINI Impensis GEOR . BISHOP . 1602.

TO THE READER .

WHen I thought to complain of mens security , as alwaies ; so in these perilous times , ( good christian Reader ) I remembred our sinful body of death , as the best excuse , expressed in these two Scripturae per Antonomasiam : for some speciall writing taken out of the canonical scripture : as is this booke . scriptures ; the first , in the ninth of Wisedome , which is this : Corpus quod corrumpitur , aggrauat animam : & terrenum domicilium plenam curarum mentem deprimit : A corruptible body is heauie to the soule : and the earthly mansion , keepeth downe , that vnderstanding , that museth vpon meane things . The second in the seuenth to the Romans where S. Paul saith : Noui quod non habitet in me , hoc est , in carne mea bonum : Nam velle , adest mihi : & vt faciam bonum , non reperio . I know that in me , that is in my flesh , dwelleth no good thing ; for to will is present with mee , but I find no ●●anes , to performe that which is good : as also that knowne verse of the Poet : Sors tua mortalis , non est mortale , quod optas . Thy state is mortall , but the thing which thou seekest is immortall : which although it be well aunswered , by that godly father : S. Augustine , where he saith : That the soule is immortall , and therefore cannot , be satisfied , but with immortality : yet because concerning the bodie , wee are but flesh , and earth , it is our excuse ( if wee haue any ) for the secure minde , in heauenly matters : No maruaile , if earth minde earthly thinges , though faith , and sence it selfe may accuse man of so carefull seeking of the earth , and so carelesse a minde towards the health of the soule : which being iudges are against vs , in seeking either of them aboue our reach , or measure : But how not more forceably , when men are secure , concerning the better part of their creation , and become vnmeasurable , or vnsatiable , to preferre the worse , before the better ? which how euill it is the Apostle sheweth in the third to the Phillip . saying : Many walke of whom , I haue told you often , and now tell you weeping , that they are the enemies of the crosse of Christ , whose ende , is damnation , whose god , is their belly , and glorie , to their shame , which minde earthly things . Now what may be more horrible , then that our ende should be damnation ? what more abhominable , then that our bellie should be our god ? what more intolerable , then that our glory should be our shame ? And what doth S. Paul lay as the efficient , or sufficient cause , or causes of all these things ? but onely this : for that mens mindes are set vpon earthly things ; from the which minde set vpon earthly things , as a most dangerous roote of such euils , wee are recouered and raysed by the Apostle in this place , saying : But our conuersation is in heauen , from whence also wee looke for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ . Secondly , by S. Paul in the third to the Collossians , saying : If ye be risen with Christ , seeke those things which are aboue , where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the father . Thirdly , by S. Paul 1. Cor . 15. saying : The glorie of the earthly , is one , and the glorie of the celestiall is another : As it is written : The first man Adam was made a liuing soule , and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit , the first man is of the earth , earthlie , the second man is the Lord from heauen : as wee haue borne the image of the earthie , so wee shall also beare the image of the heauenly : for yee are dead saith the Apostle , and your life is hid with Christ in God : And in so much as wee are dead in Christ he concludeth , that wee should set our affections on things aboue , and not on things vpon the earth . Coloss . 3. This ought to be the soules thirst ; as it appeareth in the Saints of God : but being cloathed with flesh , clouded with the bodie , corrupted with sinne , our weakenesse is offended at the vnspeakeable blessednes , at the euerlasting time , at the glory , honour , ioy , peace , and immortalitie , which are too much , too high , & too inestimable for vs. As we looke not , nor hearken after that which is too farre off , to see , or heare , which may happily so quench the smoking flaxe , and bruse the broken reede , that not only of our manifold sinnes & wickednes , but also of the vnworthines of flesh and bloud , dust and ashes , we may not so much as looke towards it : the treasures whereof , if they were conferred from a mightie King of this world vpon a poore Lazar , or low subiect , I should aduise him to be secure of the Kings fauour , neither to seek any measure of such inestimable felicities , but being betweene vs and the father of mercies , and God of all consolations , which hath vouchsafed vs to be partakers of his heauenly kingdome , and hath not left vs vnprouided of most gratious meanes to come vnto it , and withall , not without most dreadfull comminations and threatnings , if we depart or diuert from this calling . As it is an euill thing when there is hope of any benefit , or feare of any danger to be secure ; so , how are we not presently ashamed ? why should we not stand in awe of vtter confusion ? how should we escape that euerlasting destruction of hell ? If either strong vnbeliefe , as if there were no such matter , by the loue of this world , as though the whole world being compared with the losse of the soule , hath not bin waighed in the ballance , and is found too light ; or if the care of fields , houses , wiues , and such like , whereof it is in the Gospell , should cause vs to be found carelesse of that heauenly kingdome . Wherefore , hauing a feruent desire ( good Reader ) to awake men out of this securitie , according to S. Paul in the 5. to the Ephes . Expergiscere qui dormis , & surge a mortuis ; & illucescet tibi Christus : Awake thou that sleepest , & stand vp from the dead , and Christ shall giue thee light : I testifie , and that because of these perilous times A true vse of the word catholike for generall : as also page 110 agreable with our confession of catholike church , which Trent catechisme canno-deny : though the papists impropriat orbem in vrbem : catholike for Romane : that is generall for particular : therefore a wise and iust part to restore a word of that moment to the primitiue vse . Catholike warres , forreine & ciuill daungers , late seditions , and vprores ; that it is not a time to inioy vines or oliues , to rest in chaires or footstooles ; that Vlisses chymney though long , would not serue ; that the boord or the bedde are but lawfull things ; that it hinders not , to be poore , nor helps not , to be rich ; that in all estates it hinders to be carelesse ; it helpes to be vigilant , and faithfull ; that as it is too much to say : I am rich , and increased with goods : Soule take thine ease : So it is not ynough to say , I am poore the Lord helpe me ; As it is too much to say , I haue neede of nothing : so it is not all to say : I am well contented with that , that I haue ; because we haue need of a smach or taste {αβγδ} of the wheat of heauen : neither ought to be satisfied with all that the world yeeldeth . In so much that albeit great vertues , as constancie , grauitie , reuerence , discipline , regiment , authoritie be knowne as the contraries , and aduersaries to confusion , disorder and euill ; yet while these good guifts are vnchristened , euen our christian catechisme teacheth , that they are vnable to indue vs with the best blessednesse : according to that saying of S. Hugh : who naming these or the like vertues luminosas , & validas ; strong and lightsome : saith , that they should be perswaded to men : Non tantum propter istam vitam honestissime gerendam , nec tantum propter ciuitatis terrenae concordissimam societatem : verum etiam propter adipiscendam sempiternam salutem , diuinamque rempublicā : cui nos ciues asciscit fides , spes , charitas , continencie , loue , iustice , concord , pietie , and other vertues ( saith he ) are perswaded , not onely for the leading of a most orderly life , neither only for a peaceable societie of an earthly citie , but also that we might obtaine euerlasting saluation , and that diuine common wealth , to the which faith , hope , and charitie doth gather vs as citizens . And againe , Deus sic ostendit in opulentissimo , & praeclaro imperio Romanorum quantum valerent ciuiles , etiam sine vera religione virtutes : vt intelligeretur hac addita , fieri homines , ciues alterius ciuitatis , cuius Rex veritas : cuius lex charitas : cuius modus aeternitas . God hath so shewed in the most rich and famous Empire of Rome , how forcible ciuill vertues may be without true religion , that it might be considered , that true religion being adioyned , men become citizens of an other citie , the king whereof is Veritie ; the law Charitie ; the measure Eternitie ; the treasures therefore of this citie , are veritie , charitie , and aeternitie , euen the wheate of heauen , which before they are attained , our hunger and thirst would not be satisfied . And therefore neither the bodie of life , neither the bodie of death , neither worldly worthinesse , nor mortall weakenesse , much lesse sinne and euill , the glorie of this life , the cares of this world , voluptuous liuing , riches , and other sensuall delights , ought to be respected otherwise , then as stumbling blocks in the way to life , and steps towardes the way to death ; and are to bee eschewed as the nutriments of this securitie , which we seeke to remoue , being found to abound , to be ripe , and rife in this old age of the world , whereby the most righteous , or best allowed are but offensiue , and scandalous farre behinde hand , esteeming the guifts , comforts , and blessings of this life ouermuch ; and are satisfied within themselues to become ciuill , courteous , gentle , vertuous , or not maligmant , iniurious , wrongfull , or tyrannous . Now they haue wells which they digged not , houses which they builded not , vineyards which they planted not , all which with the rest , which digge , build , or plant with them , I awake out of this dead sleepe , and darke mist of securitie , which is able to make euen the holiest men , as when all are asleepe , in the holiest reward , not to differ from faithlesse , idle , and vaine persons . In deed we cannot , but haue a good opinion of such as are sagely , sadly , or seriously occupied ; a better of such as are studious , then of the laborious ; a better of the laborious then of the carefull : yet what may be the reward of studie , but a forme of knowledge ? what of labours but a state of rest , and comfort ? what of cares , but a ioy of life and safetie : and might it not be answered , to euery of these from our Sauiour : Verilie I say vnto you , ye haue your reward ? or from the Apostle : Ye haue whereof to reioice , but not with God . For shall it be enough to be baptized assoone as we are borne ? or to be catechised assoone as we are able ? Fiunt , non nascuntur Christiani , saith Tertullian : Men are made in time , and are not borne Christians . For behold , men , women and children , liuing as if a childe should liue , in the time of Moses , vncircumcized , or since Christianitie , vnbaptized ; beholde , men building , planting , plucking downe , setting vp , rooting out , buying , selling , marrying and giving in marriage , without respect of the life to come , without the eie of faith , without that fire wherewith euerie man should bee salted , and that salt wherwith euery sacrifice should be seasoned . Now who ? or where are they at this day to whom the Lord saith : Hosee 13. I did know thee in the wildernes in the land of drought : but when they were well fed , and had ynough , they waxed proud and forgat me : for shall not onely Iacob but Iudah also be found well fedde , and proud , or rather among fornicators , vnbeleeuers , Idolaters ? shall they at any time be found among the vngodly or vnrighteous : or themselues be vngodly and vnrighteous . Caesar , when his time was come to be slaine in the Senate of Rome , aswell by Brutus and Cassius , as other conspiratours , saith to Brutus : Etiam tu fili ? what art thou also my sonne , among these conspiratours ? euen so our heauenly father , whose onely begotten sonne we crucifie againe , by falling from the loue wherein we were first established , saith to euerie such : Etiam tu fili mi ? what art thou also my child among conspiratours ? among wilfull and audatious persons , among fornicators , among extortioners , louers of this world , vnbeleeuers , scismatiks , scribes , pharisees , hypocrites . Brutus and Cassius were sonnes in law to Caesar , and not his sonnes indeed : all Israell as one sonne , is called the first borne of God , but were not so indeede : Reges in benevolentia Ioues sunt , saith Homer . In like manner , the great and mightie withall that prosper in this life , are soone of opinion , that they are in high fauour with God ; a philautie , a filiation , a fame , a name to soone resumed , presumed , and receiued : Iohn 2. verily S. Iohn saith . They went out from vs , but they were not of vs , for if they had beene of vs : 2. Tim . 2. they would no doubt haue continued with vs. Verily Saint Paul saith : The strong foundation of God standeth still , hauing this seale : the Lord knoweth them that are his : and let euerie one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquitie . Verily our Sauiour saith : By their fruits yee shall know them ; this is all the sight or knowledge we haue , or ought to haue , one of another in this life , after , God iudgeth , and how may any promise to themselues other then heauie iudgement , 4. Esdras 9. if their fruits be euill , or if they depart not from iniquitie . They ( saith the Lord to Thus the discreete deuotion of this reuerend man maketh vse of auncient monuments , but yet plainly distinguishing them from apostles and prophets page 70 79. 81. Esdras ) that haue abhorred my lawe , while they had yet freedome , and when they had yet open leisure of amendment , and conuersion , the same must knowe it after death in paines . And therefore be thou no more carefull how the vngodly shall be punished : but inquire how the righteous shall be saued , and whose the world is ? & for whom the world is ; & when ? Vnder the name of Esdras , are not the most righteous admonished to inquire how they shall be saued ? Shall the righteous be saued ? how ? or when ? for the promise is made to Abraham and his seede , Rom. 4. that he should be heire of the world . Of a truth ( good Reader ) heauen gate is so straight , the way so full of dangers , the troubles so manifold , the temptations so subtile , the enemies so mightie , the impediments so hard to ouercome , the reward so farre aboue our reach , or measure , that it may be feared , but that with Abraham we learne to hope beyond hope , that the best or most righteous , shall by the best they can doe , or at least , by the best that they doe , inherit but this world . All the Israelites perished which came out of Egypt , and not one entred into the land of Canaan . Are there two or three excepted ? for vnlesse the priests and Leuites carrie the Arke before the people more zealously ; vnlesse the people be more vigilant to follow the cloud which leadeth by day , or the pillar which lightneth by night , more deuoutly ; vnlesse sincerely we eate the passeouer , Exod . 12. as with vnleauened bread , with our loines girded , with our shooes on our feete , and with our staues in our hands : how should we not dwell in this side of Iordan still ? how should we passe the red-sea ? howe should wee ouercome the caues , dennes , mountaines , and wildernes of the earth ? Esdras 7. doth not Esdras tell of a citie giuen to a man for an inheritance ? and doth he not protest , that the entrance to it is like , as if there were a fire on the right hand , and a deepe water on the left , and but one onely straight path betweene them both , between the fire , and the water , so small , that there could but one man goe there at once : and is not mused , by Esdras himselfe how this man should receiue his inheritance ? goe on therfore straight : tread not awry : looke not aside : straine out both camells and gnatts : espie both motes , and beames ; giue both loaues and crummes , the honie , and the honie comb , to thy poore brethren . Do wee not know that when Nabuchadnezer , should be chased from men , and his dwelling was to be with the beasts of the field : how it is answered by Daniell : Daniel 4. wherefore receiue my counsell O king : breake of thy sins by righteousnesse , and thine iniquitie by mercie toward the poore . Now how long wil schoolmen dispute vpon this : whether righteousnesse , and mercie to the poore , Thus this zealous man calleth men from dispute to practise , lest some vnder pretence of plucking vp Popish merit , should plucke vp the wheat of good works . are meritorius to saluation , which as it was spoken first , to Nebuchadnezar : so is left for our admonition , vppon whom the endes of the world are come : that we also should breake our sinnes by righteousnesse , and our iniquitie by mercy toward the poore . And are not the endes of the world come vpon vs ? Is it not time to stretch out both the right hand , and the left , to such friends , as may receiue vs , into the euerlasting tabernacles ? wherefore then doe we not call vpon righteousnesse and mercie , as materiall , and necessary causes sine quibus non , ( as the logician speaketh ) without which , mercy is shut from vs : I deenie not ( christian Reader ) but zeale should call vpon charitie , that it might be kindled ; as also other good gifts , that they might be raised : The Amalekites for vncharitablenesse had warres for euer , with the Lord and his people : All our Lords labourers are to few , to fell the haruest of iniquitie : yet I haue intituled this paper , A complaint against securitie alone . All the world sitteth still , and is carelesse , Zach. 1. {αβγδ} The earth was without forme , and was void , and darknesse was vpon the face of the deepe . These two scriptures , I commend to euery reader , shewing with what contemplation , men may take a view of this latter age of the world . Beware ( christian reader ) of this generall securitie , beware of vnbeliefe , knowing for a suretie , that it is most vnaduised , to care for all things of this life , and to be carelesse of Gods fauour , of the rewards reserued in heauen , or the punishments remaining in hell , for vs. To God the father ; God the sonne ; and God the holy Ghost ; be all honor , glory , and dominion for euer .

Thine in Christ , THO . KINGSMILL .
A complaint against securitie , in these perillous times .

IF the children of light were as wise in their generation as the children of this world are in theirs , they would in these perillous times aduantage themselues of heauenly lucre , as they seeke their gaine of euery occasion that is offered : for in these times , sounding nothing but warres and rumours of warres , remembring aswell kingdomes , nations , and cities , as priuate persons , of their latter end ; we ought to visit our selues , to search and see what oile there is in our lamps ; that is , what faith , pietie , and feare of God there is among men . For what kingdome , nation or citie is there , ouer which we ought not to weep , as our Sauiour did ouer Hierusalem , saying : Luke 19. If thou hadst knowne those things which belonged vnto thy peace , euen in this thy day : but now they are hid from thine eyes : for the dayes shall come vpon thee , that thine enemies also shall cast a banke about thee , and compasse thee round , and keepe thee in on euerie side , and make thee euen with the ground , and the children which are in thee : and they shall not leaue in thee , one stone vpon another : because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation . This beeing a truth through the sworde which our Lord draweth vpon the latter ende of the world ; though not literally vpon euery place or person to be determined ; should mooue men , women , and children , to repent ; and as S. Iohn Baptist speaketh , to shew forth fruits , worthy of repentance and amendment of life . {αβγδ} wo vnto a nation that is sinfull . Isaie 1. I must ease mee of mine enemies , and auenge mee of my aduersaries , saith the Lord . Concidit in plateis veritas : truth is fallen downe in the streets : equitie cannot shew forth it selfe in the light . Isaie 59. He that refrayneth from euill , maketh himselfe a pray , when the Lord saw this : saith Isaie the prophet : in the 59. Chapter . It displeased him sore , that there was no equitie : he saw also that there was no man righteous ; and he wondred that there was no man to helpe him ; wherefore he helde him by his owne power , and he sustained him by his owne righteousnes : he put on wrath in the stead of clothing , and tooke iealousie about him for a cloak ; euen as when a man goeth forth wrothfully to recompence his enemies , to be auenged of his aduersaries , he wil recompence & reward the Ilands . For who seeth not the indignation is come forth from the Lord : who heareth not the trumpet , which the Lord setteth to the mouth of the prophet , Hose 8.1 . saying {αβγδ} trumpet to the roofe of the mouth . Like an Eagle shall the enemie come against the house of the Lord , for they haue broken my couenant , and transgressed my law : Israell should haue said vnto me , thou art my God , we know thee ; but he hath refused the thing that is good , therfore shall the enemie pursue him . Doth not our LORD cry , aswell by the prophet Isaie , Isaie 1. as if there were a prophet this day raised among vs , saying : If yee be willing and obedient , yee shall eate the good of the land ; but if ye be obstinate or rebellious , yee shall be deuoured of the sword ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it . Doth not euery one see in the person of Ieremie , Iere . 1. the Almonde rodde , and the seething pott , looking out of the north , wherein is signified , that a plague is comming ; as most seuerely , as also , most swiftly vpon the dwellers of the earth ? who seeth not with the prophet Isaie , Ieremie , and Ezechiel , Isaie 34. Iere . 47. Ezech . 2. the sword of the Lord drawne out , whetted , sharpned , skoured , to cut off the righteous with the wicked ? and seeing the Lord shall cut off the righteous and the wicked , the righteousnes of the righteous shall not deliuer him in the day of the visitation of the Lord : wherfore what remaineth , but that wee should mourne , if not with Ezechiel to the breaking of our loins , and the melting of our hearts , yet with all his seruants to thē fruit of repentance ? the sword is sharpned , and well furbished , sharpned it is to make a great slaughter , and furbished that it may glitter : shall we then make mirth ? cry and houle saith the Lord by Ezechiel , mourning shall be in all streets : Amos 5. saith the Lord by the prophet Amos , Et in omnibus vicis , dicent heu , heu , and they shal say , in all the high waies , woe , woe , and they shall call the husbandmen , to lamentation , and such as can mourne , to mourning : and in all the vines shall be lamentation ; for I will passe through thee saith the Lord . And shall not the Lord passe aswell through one place , as another ? all places aswell as Israell or Iudah ? And is it not the same Lord which hauing let out his vineyard to husbandmen , tarrieth the time wherin he may send his seruants , to receiue the fruits ? and what shal become of our fruits , or the fruits of our vineyards ? where offences and misdeeds haue multiplyed , and haue preuailed ; what other fruit may be reapt , but repentance ? and where our Lord giueth space to repent and we repent not , what shal be found ? but in stead of true repentance euen melting of hearts , collision of knees , sorrow of loines , Nahum . 2. blacknesse of faces , houling , and weeping . If secular men like nothing worse in their children , or seruants than weeping and sobbing , leauing the worke vndone : shall our mourning and teares wroong out with most extreme coercions , and thraldomes , become our best fruit ? or shall that be a thing acceptable , or a day that pleaseth the Lord ? Matth . 25. verily our Lord and heauenly king , both for his talents vnoccupied , and his vineyard vnfruitful let out to husbandmen , doth adiudge them to most miserable destruction , wherefore if it were firmely beleeued , that our euerlasting king at his comming to iudge the quicke and the dead , shall sit in his tribunall seat , before whom wee must appeare to answere the things that hath bin done : as it is known that an earthly king departed into a strange countrey , at his returne will take account with his seruants : How should it be that wee the seruants and subiects of Christ should become more carelesse or fruitlesse then all others ? Should it not be remembred , that our Lord and King aswell as earthly Lords and kings , shall call for his fruits in due season ? and shall take his kingdome from a fruitlesse people , and giue it to a nation , yeelding the fruits of it ? for indeed what kind of men are so idle , or vnfruitfull in their vocations , as the seruants or subiects of Christ are in theirs ? Other men though their barns be full , their coffers full , and their houses full ; yet they labour still , to get , to keepe , to saue : As for our Lords plough , it standes still , his field is vntilled , his haruest vnfilled , and the penny wherewith he hyreth vs , to worke by the day , houre , or yeere , is vtterly refused . Now what may become of this , but that our Lord as he threatneth by the prophet Isaie , Isaie 5. should take his raine from that vineyard : Iudge ( saith the Lord ) betweene me , and my vineyard : I looked for grapes , and behold it brought forth thornes . As for the vineyard of the Lord of hostes , it is the house of Israel and the man of Iudah , his fayre planting of these he looketh for , {αβγδ} equitie , but see , there is oppression , for righteousnesse , and loe , there is crying : woe vnto them that ioyne one house to another , and bring one land so nigh vnto another , till ye can get no more ground , will ye dwell vpon the earth alone ? the Lord of hosts roundeth me thus in the eare : shal not many greater and more gorgious houses be so wast , that no man shall dwell in them ? and ten acres of vines shall giue but one bath , and thirtie bushels of seede , shall giue but one ephat : these wilde grapes of extortion , and couetousnesse are punished with desolation , and famine ; with desolation , for great & gorgious houses , shall become wasted with famine ; for many acres & great measures of seed , shal yeeld but haths and ephats ; the punishments are not so great , as the offences , and therefore vnlesse it be preuented by repentance , they call for sorer iudgement . How sayest thou I am not vncleane : Looke vpon thine owne wayes ( saith the Lord vy the prophet Ieremie ) thine owne wickednes shall reprooue thee , Iere . 2. and thy turning away condemne thee : that thou mayest knowe , and vnderstand , how euill and hurtful a thing it is , that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God , and hast not feared me saith the Lord God of hosts : I planted thee a noble vine , and wholy right ; see how art thou turned then , into a bitter , vnfruitfull , and strange grape ? yea and that so sore , that though thou wash thee with Nitrus , and make thy selfe to sauour of Borith , yet in my sight , thou art stayned with thy wickednesse , saith the Lord thy God . There is no doubt but by this noble vine the house of Israel , and the man of Iudah is meant , as Isay himself doth interpret it : and as Tertullian speaketh , Quod Israeli dicitur , id omni genti preiudicat . What is spoken to Israel , is preiudicial to euery nation : Insomuch that euery nation or kingdome ; yea euery ●●y , and priuate person , are to be visited , with famine and desolation or sorer iudgments of the Lord at his time : if in the day of their visitation , they be found fruitlesse . Securitie is our euill , whereof commeth blindnesse of hart , with an alienation from the life of God , through a continuall darknesse , taking hold in secure men , which carry their soules in their bodies , as buryed in their graues : And euen as the blind man in the Gospel , saw men like trees ; so let vs but awake , and we may see men aliue indeede ; but behold they are dead , as walking , speaking , and doing ; but behold they are deafe and dumbe ; as crowned with glory and libertie ; but rustie by corruption ; slowe , by nature ; rawe , by securitie ; and hauing no light or life remaining in them , haue smoothered vp their soules in their bodies , as it were in sepulchers , and prisons ; vndone of well doing for lacke of vse ; withered at winter , bearing leaues in the sommer ; but at fruit gathering , failing and yeelding nothing . Now as peace is the breeder of securitie ; so warres of the contrary which ought to raise men , not onely from their restie , and carelesse minds ; but also from their most vrgent and best actions . And therefore we reade of Augustus the second Emperour of Rome , that when he was sacrificing in Octauia to Mars , who was then taken to be the god of Armes ; and hearing of inuasion of the enemie , that he tooke semi-cruda exta : the entrails of the sacrificed beastes halfe rawe , and so entred the field , and returned victor : whereby it was after obserued , that such sacrificed beasts should bee offered rawe , by a very lawe and custome among them , whereof if we gather that the good things men haue in hand , ought to be left vndone , or rawly done , when the sword approcheth ; so the very noise , and fame of warres , though not so neere , yet not so farre of , as belike it is taken , ought to stirre men at the least from their securitie , and to become more warie to looke better to themselues , to their bodies what safetie they are in ; to their soules in what perill they are , lest with Iulius Caesar , our sacrifices be found vnoffred against death ; or with Octauius Caesar , wee offer them rawly , as vnawares , when the forreine enemies shall indeed inuade , and come vpon vs. A slouthfull body , at all times , and in all callings is abhorred : who is compared by Ecclesiasticus : to a bemired stone , of whom euery one will speake to his dispraise , lapidi conspurcato comparandus est piger ; conferendus fimo sterquilinij , quod quicunque contigerit manus suas excutiat : A slouthfull body is compared to the dung of Oxen ; euery one that toucheth him , must wash his hands : wee all wash our hands from the idle , as from clay and myre , the rather , if there be businesse , the more , if there bee daunger : the reward wherof , by it selfe , is dispraise , shame , a generall mislike , and a hatred . Neuerthelesse , how may it bee that one should bee idle , and not euill ; or that euill should not come of it ? I went ( saith Solomon ) by the field of the slouthfull , and by the vineyard of the foolish man , and loe , it was all couered with nettles , and stood full of thornes , and the stone wall was broken downe : this I sawe , and considered it well , I looked vpon it , and tooke it for a warning ; yea sleepe on still a little ; slumber a little ; fold thine hands together a little . Argos foris : talpa domi : we haue moats and beames in our eies , when we should see the thornes and nettles that grow in our owne fields , we are quicker of sight then Solomon , when we looke vpon other mens euils : charitas incipit a seipsa . Godly wisedome and charitie begins at it selfe ; enfourming thee to looke to thine owne field , thine owne familie , thine owne bodie , thine owne soule . A man loues not another , saith S. Barnard : that loues not himselfe ; a man loues not himselfe , that loues not his soule . Be secure of thy body , and behold sundry deformities , diseases , infirmities : be secure of thy soule , and behold it is couered with nettles , it stands full of thornes , the stone wall is broken downe , it lies to bee wasted of the wilde boare out of the wood , and of all the beasts of the field ; whereas the soule should flow , of wine , not vnlike the wine-presse , and vineyards of the old time , and should haue no lesse then a tower and watch , out of a most sure and high place kept in it : howbeit , it is humilitie , and not height , that is the watch , and tower of this vineyard , without the which , deuotion will become superstition ; honestie , hypocrisie ; knowledge , x inflation ; ciuilitie , subtiltie ; friendship , falshood ; here saith euery one that hath but an vnderstanding heart , in the person of Solomon , vidi , & eruditionem coepi : I saw and tooke it for a warning , And shall we looke vpon another mans field ? another man vpon ours ? shall a stranger see it , consider it , looke vpon it , take it for a warning ? And shal not one see , rather for himselfe , consider it better , take it too himselfe for a better warning ? What , yet sléepe on still ? yet slumber a little ? yet folding thine hands together ? How long shal we be behind hand with secular men , in euery care , labour , and worke that belongeth vnto vs ? doe they that haue fieldes , slumber , or sléep ? doe they fold their hands together ? doe they not gather vp the stones , grubbe vp the bushes , weed out the nettles , hedge it or wall it ? And shall there not be a watch in the midst of our fieldes ? shall there not be a wine-presse , or the best grapes , or seeds in them ? shall grapes be looked for , and behold wild grapes ? shall wee suffer them like the good pastures , mentioned by Ezechiel , to be trampled vnder the feet of wild beasts ? shall they lie wast ? shall they be neither digged nor pruned , but beare euen thornes and bryars ? what may this threaten , but that pouerty that Solomon mentioneth ? or that which is ghostly and spirituall , which comes vpon that secure soule ; like one that trauaileth by the way , and as an armed man . More feareful is that saying of the Apostle , which notwithstanding carrieth both blesse and curse with it . The earth which hath drunken in the rain that commeth often vpon it , & bringeth forth hearbs meet for them by whom also it is tilled , receiueth blessing of God , but that ground which beareth thornes and bryars , is reproued , and nigh vnto cursing , whose end is to bee burned . This good sentence hath fire and water , blessing and cursing , life and death with it . And as it may haue allusion to some grounds , which are set on fire being too thicke of brambles and bryars , and ouergrowne too much for the hand of man to manure ; so by the eye of faith , it hath better relation to the fire meant by S. Iohn the Baptist , saying : Now is the axe put vnto the roote of the trees : therefore euery tree that bringeth not forth good fruite , is hewen downe and cast into the fire : or the parable of the tares in the 13. of S. Matthew : where our Sauiour teacheth , that euen as the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire ; so the sonne of man shall send forth his Angels , and they shall gather out of his kingdome all things that offend , and them which doe iniquitie , and shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there shall be wéeping , and gnashing of téeth . Then saith he , shall the righteous shine , as the sonne in the kingdome of their father . Whereupon he addeth : He that eares to heare , let him heare : for let all learne of our Sauiour to require and yéeld vpon most serious matter , their best and héedfull attention ; for what shall men doe with their eares , if they hearken not to these things ? Sée therefore heare , and vnderstand , lest we be in the number of such as haue eies and sée not , eares , and heare not , hearts , and vnderstand not the importance of this fire , which our almightie God and Sauiour hath set downe for euer in the church to be taught , heard and beléeued : if a wheatfield should be set on fire , which was performed by Sampson against the Philistines : if thy house should be burned , as we haue séene and heard of many in our time : if a mans child should be cast into the fire ; for we haue read , that a woman being burnt for a martyr , when her childe sprang from her , that the childe was throwen into the fire for an hereticke . If this were thine owne childe , if this childe were to be preserued by our helps , who would be secure ? and to omit fields and houses : what man , what woman , whose wife , whose child , whose body , whose soule is not ready to be deliuered into the furnace of fire , where there shall be weeping and gnashing of téeth ? And who is there that is not secure ? for O dull and slowe of heart to beléeue all that is written in the lawe and the prophets ? Are we secure , and carelesse , or rather are we not vnbeléeuing , and faithlesse ? is there not fire , as well as water : is there not death , as well as life : is there not hell , as well as heauen ? shall all goe to heauen , that haue not thought of hell ? Deus nouit , qui sui sunt : God knoweth , who be his : in the meane season , there is neither man , woman , or childe , but ought to be enformed by it : malum non vitatur nisi cognitum : A man well warned , is halfe armed : for herein we recommend our selues to the church of Christ , and do testifie and protest , to the children of men , and to all the world , that no youth , or age , no nature , no ingenuitie , vertue , beautie , dexteritie , except christianed , sanctified , or reformed through faith and repentance , with the accomplishment of right and iudgement , for any thing we haue learned shall be able to deliuer them from the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for euer . Hée that hath eares to heare , let him heare . May it be imagined , that Antichrist alone , or that woman sitting vpon a scarlet coloured beast , Apoc . 11. hauing seuen heads and ten hornes ; or the dragon which draweth the starres from heauen , to throw them on the earth , standing ready to deuoure children , assoone as they be borne : or gog and magog , as gathered to fight against the tents of the saints and beloued citie ; or euen the diuell , the beast , and false-prophet , shall be tormented in that lake of fire , and none of those men and women , which for their ingenuitie , actiuitie , vertue , as some count vertue , are praised on the earth . Nos adhuc pueri sumus , saith saint Chrysostom : we are children all this while ? for we soone addict and adiudge all that is foule , euill shaped , miscasually abiected , the aged , the deformed , to death and hell fire : againe , what is ingenuous , vertuous , as it is called , faire , smooth , in good estate , plausible , pliable , affable , estimable , beautifull like children , we can not thinke heauen good ynough for them . This is the sinister iudgement of the world which think not of hel fire , but for such as are cast aside of the world . Whereas they are to take consolation in Christ Iesus , which suffer with him : and euen they which still abide some crosse or other , as ignominy , reproch , calamitie . And contrariwise , all such haue to mislike , misdéeme , and mistrust , which enioy praises , felicities , aduauncements without interruption , whereof saint Hierom saith : nimis delicatus es frater , si vis gaudere cum mundo , & laetari cum Christo , ye are nice brother ( saith saint Hierom ) if yée thinke to enioy Christ and the world . S. Ambrose saith , inde incipit beatitudo iudicio diuino ; vbi aerumna aestimatur humana : what is estéemed of men , as miserable ; thence beginneth blessednesse by diuine iudgement . fauos post fella gustauit Christus : saith Tertullian : Christ tasted not hony , before he had smatched of the bitternesse of gall . Sciunt sancti se , temporalibus supplicijs , vitare aeterna , saith saint Gregorie : The saints know ( saith he ) that by temporall punishments , they escape eternall . Wherefore the children of God , ought to appeale from earthly counsellers to the prophets and apostles : which prouiding for this bodie of sinne , procure nutriments , aides , staies , aduauncements , lucers for the same , giuing comfort to others to do the like ; wheras themselues are the seruants of corruption , in that they see not the soule , but thorough a vaile or cloud , & as a pearle buried and hid , thinking all is safe and well , cast no perill , and much lesse are carefull , how the soule should subdue all earthly things till it may leade them , rule them , blesse them , as it selfe is the seed and earnest of blessednesse : shall these take upon them to giue counsell to others ? shall these bee our leaders and rulers still ? shall these be our friends still ? preiudicially to such saint Paul entreth into jealousie and boasting himselfe , saith : 2 Cor . 11. yee suffer fooles gladly , seeing your selves are wise : yee suffer , if a man bring you into bondage , if a man deuour , if a man take , if a man exalt himselfe , if a man smite you on the face :

It is plaine that saint Paul entreth inlo a comparison betwéene himselfe and false Apostles : and yet it is maruellous , that the Corinths should suffer such false Apostles , not onely to exalt themselues , but to bring them into bondage , to deuour them , to take away , and to smite them on the face : But that it is more woonderfull , to sée the wisedome of this world beare with all these things , in their secular leaders and rulers , as long as peace , agréement , loue , and ( which is enimitie with God ) as long as the friendship and lucre of the world raigneth and linketh them together . With what obseruation , obedience , submission , humilitie , are all magistrates , masters and rulers receiued , saue Gods ministers , which bring the spirit of truth , shewing obedience onely to the faith , which is in Christ . Was there a lawfull comparison betwéene saint Paul and those false Apostles ? the one bringing the abundant blessings of the Gospell of peace : the other exalting , deuouring , taking , smiting : is the nature of man so restie with the world ? so rustie to well dooing ; so rebellious to all that is of God ; that euen in this latter age of the world , nothing séemes more bitter or grieuous , than spirituall rebukes : doe we tempt God ? are we stronger than he ? are men so strong that they may abide the truth , but not his truth ; wisedome , but not godly wisedome ; lawes and ordinances ; but not the lawes and statutes of the holy one of Israell ; crosses and troubles ; but not the crosse of Christ , or the tribulation whereby we may enter into the kingdome of heauen . Doth not the merchant send his complices through the danger of the seas ; and are they not at commaundement ? doth not the husbandman set his houshold to labours and works ; and are they not contented ? doth not a captaine fet foorth his souldiers to fight ; and are they not obedient ? rich men displace , disgrace , deuour ; and they are though not pleasantly , yet patiently abidden : seruants though they be buffeted of their masters , and kept in bondage , take it submissiuely and are quiet ; though one friend deceiue another , yet the bonds of friendship are not broken ; though censors abuse parents in their children , yet they are friends still : A yoong scholler is pitifully corrected of his schoolemaster ( a most detestable corruption as is it vsed ) & honors him as corrected for his fault . A handmaid abides most shamefull smiting and stripes of her yoong mistresse ( a most abominable insolencie , and most apparant dotage to suffer it ) and the handmaid is obedient still . A great ouersight in magistrats , parents and gouernors , to iudge this not a heynous offence , to sée lust ioyned with pride and crueltie , to the detriment of flesh and blood which in the realme is cared for too much , and herein being well séene , that a mistresse hath her will vpon her handmaid or maid-seruant , hauing no right of regiment , but houses and marriages : that likewise a yoong schoolemaster hath his will vpon his scholler , whose voluptuousnes or anger is the childs vndoing : and to suffer it , as though it were a trifle , being indéed a pernicious euill cloaked with hypocrisie , tending to the maintenance of insolencie and lust in yoong rulers , masters , and schoolemasters , and to the bondage and thraldomes of youth : for I may not say to the preiudice and detriment of any common-wealth which should grow or be builded among men . It is a wrong don to innocent children , and to the youth of the realme , that this inordinate affection in yoong schoolemasters , yoong masters and mistresses ( as though lust is not the rod that beats the disciple , handmaid & prentise , which neuerthelesse are not alwaies children ) is not espied , and with some order visited , as also being found , condignly and competently punished . It is pitie but such schoolemasters should haue good wiues ; it is pitie but such masters should be well punished . Is it enough for aged & sage men to espie such folly in youth , such simplicitie in the vulgar sort ? how is it that ye doe not rescue it , or winke at it ? how is it that the sting of a scorpion is mistaken for drinke and schoole-butter , of you that are old and ancient ? for as the stay of great matters , lightly resteth vpon few and not vpon the multitude ; so some few hath our God and Lord chosen to instruct to withstand the rest , that if they also faile , the fall is the greater : Paucorum virtus cuncta Romae patrauit : it was the vertue of some few that did all at Rome : is it not our Lords ordinance , that the number of men , that youth , that women and children should be left vnto themselues ; but ( as S. Bernard noteth ) old men , Apostles , magistrats , fathers , scribes , &c. are ordained with a priuate charge of themselues , to looke to the well doing or sauing health of others : if these be found in their beds with their children , that nothing may awake them but ouermuch noise ; if the clamors of the fatherlesse orphanes and widowes , with which , withall other righteousnes ascend to heauen , may not be heard of these but by verie importunitie , as we are threatned by a parable of the wicked Iudge : Ierm . 5. then will be fulfilled the saying of Ieremie : Thou hast scourged , but they take no repentance , thou hast corrected them for amendment , but they refused thy correction . Therefore I thought in my selfe ; peraduenture they are so simple , that they vnderstand nothing of the Lords way and iudgements of their God : therefore will I go to their heads and rulers , and talke with them , if they know the way of the Lord and iudgements of their God : but these haue broken the yoke , and burst the bands in sunder : wherefore a lion out of the wood hath hurt them , and a woolfe in the euening shall destroy them : the leopard doth lie lurking by their streets , to teare in pieces all them that come thereout . The age of this world doth not beare , that either a lion out of the wood , or a woulfe in the euening , or a leopard lurking in cities should destroy , or teare men in pieces , which thrée beasts are threatned by the prophet : but by these we are to iudge of the like , or as great iudgements ; for is it not of verie vnbeliefe , as though faith in more abuundance is not expected in this age that makes men not to feare , either lion , woulfe or leopard : that is , any subtiltie that may deceiue vs ; any strength that may vanquish vs ; any violence that may deuour vs : for though we should actually ( as Ieremie speaketh ) go from the lowest to the highest , might it not be said vniuersally , and of all together ? they vnderstand nothing of the Lords way and iudgements of their God ; they haue broken the yoke and burst the bands in sunder . This being so , or if this be so , then may we inwardly cry against our selues out of the fourth of Ieremie , saying : Woe vnto vs for we are destroied : O Hierusalem , wash thine heart from wickednesse , that thou maiest be helped ; how long shall thy vaine thoughts remaine with thee ? for a voice from Dan and from the hill of Ephraim speaketh out and telleth of destruction : there commeth a strong wind saith the Lord through the way of my people ; neither to fan nor to cleanse , for thus hath the Lord said ; the whole land shall be desolate , the earth shall mourne ; for the thing that I have spoken to the prophets , purposed and taken upon me to do , it shall not repent me , I will not goe from it : the whole land shall flee for the noise of horsemen and bowmen : they shall runne into dens and into woods , and climbe vp the stonie rockes : all the cities shall be voide , and no man dwelling therein . What wilt thou now do thou being destroied ? for though thou cloathest thy selfe with scarlet , and deckest thee with gold , though thou paintest thy face with colours now , yet shalt thou trim thy selfe in vaine , for those that hitherto haue beene thy louers , shall abhor thee , and goe about to sley thee . Héere , though we may do well to thinke our owne land threatned vnder the name of Hierusalem : yet if England set out armies into forrein lands , as well as forreiners send out their armies into England ; if we besiege their cities as well as they besiege ours ; then the name of Hierusalem , the men of Iudah or the people of God , is indifferent , and lighteth best vpon that kingdome people or citie , where the holinesse of God and his hope and feare dwelleth , and whose present danger is such , that they may say with the prophet , Ierm . 4. {αβγδ} , viscera mea , viscera mea . I can not be stil , for I haue heard the crying of the trumpets and peales of wars : and againe {αβγδ} : contritio super contritionem : destruction vpon destruction : How long shal I see the tokens of war , & heare the noise of the trumpets ? neuerthelesse this shall come vpon them , because my people is become foolish , and hath not knowne me , they are the children of foolishnesse , and without any discretion : {αβγδ} non intelligentes , not vnderstanding : to doe euill , wise they are ; but to doe well , they haue no wisedome , this is the same that the Apostle vrgeth : I would haue you simple to euill , and wise to that which is good : and againe , be children in malice , but in sense and vnderstanding , be of a ripe and perfect age . For what an infatuation ? what a darknes ? what a blindnes is this ? to beare with nature , age , crueltie , coercions , and punishments , as long as affinity , alliaunce , worldly lucer endureth ; and so much to be scandalized at Gods professed seruants , as euery worde they say is a blow ; euery touch a torment ; euery sparkle of that fire , whereof our Sauiour saith , I haue brought fire into the world , and what remaineth , but that it should be kindled , as a lightning or thunderbolt , as it were leuelled to vndoo vs. Here the Prophet and the apostle may seeme to contend : the one counting all the children of foolishnesse , that are ripe and of a perfect age in maliciousnes , but simple in sense , and vnderstanding : the other touching euen children , and women , or effeminate persons , which by clothing themselues with scarlet , decking themselues with gold , painting their faces with colours , and otherwise trimming themselues , sée not their owne shame , stand in awe of no daunger , and haue hope to inioy this glory of their world still . Isaie 47. Vnto them wee may say with Isaie , ( vnder the name of Babilon : vnderstanding by Babilon , men and women giuen to excessiue meats , and vestures : ) As for thee O daughter , thou virgin Babilon , sit thou downe in the dust , sit vpon the ground O thou daughter of Chaldaea ; for thou shalt no more be called tender and pleasant : Bring foorth the querne , and grind meale , loose thy broidred haire , &c. and againe , Sit still , hold thy tongue , get thee into some dark corner , O daughter Chaldaea , For thou shalt no more be called Lady of kingdomes . To this may be laid that complaint out of the fourth of Lam . The children of Sion that were alwaies in honour , and clothed with the most precious gold ; how are they now become like the earthen vessels , which be made with the potters hand ? they that were wont to fare delicately , perish in the streets ; they that afore were brought vp in purple , make now much of foule cloathes . Heere should I not digresse , to speak of some enormious euils , hauing neither wisedome nor reason in them : and especially of the excesses or riots of women , and that at large ; but there be thrée punishments left here , and to be induced by wars more forcible to them then death , and hell it selfe . Wherof the first is ; that they are to be abhorred of such as haue béene their louers , and that they shall goe about to slay them : The second , that they shall sit downe in the dust , and sit vpon the ground ; that they shall bring foorth the quearne , Isaie 47. and grind meale ; and that they shall no longer be called Ladies , tender or delicate ; The third that such as are cloathed in gold , & brought vp in purple , shall either perish in the streets , or make much of dung , ( that is to say ) of dungie or euill sauoring garments . Lam 4 This most pernicious euill , against which we may most ominously cry out with our Sauiour : vae mundo ascandalis : woe be vnto the world because of offences , necessary it is that offences come : neuerthelesse wo vnto him or her by whom it commeth . As it is at all times most scandalous , so is it at the time of warres most detestable , and vnaduised which calleth all to fasting , wéeping , and mourning , and both to sackcloth & ashes , I speake of scandall or offence , offering venom , or rather a silken halter to the modest and innocent ; a sower grape in stead of a swéet , whereof the mothers haue eaten , and the childrens teeth are set on edge : which séemeth faire and pleasant , but indéed is most tyrannous and cruell . For be it well discerned , and it will be found , that the ioyes rising betwéene men and women , of meats , and garments , enioying stately behauiour , and the pride of life and beautie , doth cast such a preiudice vpon the rude and euill fauoured , that none appeare to great men and women greater sinners , then such as lacke these wedding garments . A faire garment couers many a foule euil ; enwalled they are , from death , imprisonments , ignominies , and rebukes , to all which they are disaduantaged , and hastened which lacke them , as men that are without dores . For of stately men and women they cannot be enioyed , which wil be faine to execute iustice vpon such as are rough and rude in the out side , brused with labors , wasted with miseries , which could neuer weare soft raiment , because of their hard burdens : whereby magistrats are faine to spare , as Saul did Agag , and Ahab Benhadad ; so the mightiest , as also the most ciuill and comliest , as such as are delighted to raigne , or rule with them . Now this is a betraying , and traducing of the poore helplesse man , who is taken as a flie in the spiders webb , where the mightie burst through it : wherein the heroicall minds of captains , as generall captaines , captaines of 1000. of 100. of 50. is to bee doubted of , which standing too much vpon honour , or iustice by law of armes , or wisedome in militarie discipline , will be faine to procéed against defamed , maimed , wearied , or abashed souldiers , and that in rigorous maner ; whereas if the comfort of his nature had not beene spent , if he had neuer fallen into the hands of his enemies , and according to that Ironie , ( if he were aliue , as he is dead , ) he would haue béene found as vnguiltie as his fellow souldiers ; it is for Catelines and not for christian souldiers , where they haue once set their foote to fight , there to ouercome or die : Homo fugiens denuo . pugnabit : A man fights twise , that flies at his time . Shal he that putteth on his harnesse , boast himselfe as he that putteth it off ? are not the ends of the warrs vncertaine ? is there such difference betwéene man and man ? againe if the Lord goe not foorth with our armies , how can the victorie be ours ? were the Romanes victorers still ? were the Israelits ? was Pompei ? was Caesar ? for the couetousnes of many captaines and souldiers , their ambition and hope of felicities ( not vnlike Publius Lentulus dreame , that hee was the third Cornelius to whom the Empire of Rome should be deuolued ) is to be withstood aswell by ordinary reason , Thus this holy man charitably conceiueth of them , that in general who though the pitch of Rome haue defiled them in diuers superstions , do yet hold one faith with vs , as not hauing tasted of the depth of Sathan in the popish idolatrie . the course of nature , as also by the interest we haue in the same inheritance , the equality in the same redemption , the faith which makes vs all but one in Christ Iesus : whereby as we acknowledge that they are our brethren , with whom we fight , heires of eternall blessednesse aswell as we : So we ought to confesse , that we may make shipwracke , or be drowned in the Seas , aswell as they bee slaine in the siege or field , aswell as they suffer perpetuall exile , captiuitie , vtter vndoings , and the extreame things which men are afraid of , aswell as they . Now this being weighed as it ought to be of all christian souldiers , that men are going assoone to ruine as to victorie ; to miserie as to felicitie ; to bad as to good ; shall it bee commended in a Christian to say with Turnus ? I care not for him , Etiam si praestet Achillem : Though he were as valiant as Achilles : or shal not that christian be acounted for the best souldier , which fights with Aeneas against his will , and stands and liues harnessed : Vt qui putet extremum semper adesse diem . As one that thinks his last day and the latter end of his life is come : for were there any care in men to further the Soules blisse , as there is of worldly lucre ; it would not be thought , that the souldier alone should take aduantage of euery battell , skirmish or fight , to thinke that the day of his visitation draweth néere : but euen we which are at peace , and ( as the prophet speaketh ) sit vnder the vine and figge tree , ought by the contemplation of these warrs ensuing vpon the world , awake out of sléep ; and by thinking of our Lords day , or our day to approch , to become more vigilant , héedfull , zealous , to denie our selues in this life , and to liue a continuall breathing and meditacion of the life to come ; for is this a time to sit vnder vines & fig-trées , to enioy them , to enioy wiues , houses , vineyards , and ( as Perseus saith ) vncta patina viuere : to liue to our nointed dishes : it had no successe , but it was a most abstinent fact and answer of Vriah to king Dauid , when he was threatned to goe to his house and Beersheba : 2. Reg . 11. The Arke of Israel and Iudah ( saith he ) dwell in pauilions , and my Lord Ioab , and the seruants of my Lord sit in tents vpon the flat earth , and shal I then goe into mine house to eate and to drinke , and to lie with my wife ? By thy life , & as sure as thy soule liueth , I wil not do the thing . Vriah indéed was to returne as a soldiour , and therefore returned and was slaine with the sword of the children of Ammon . Sée the pietie , fortitude , and zeale of Vriah : Vriah would not goe to his house ( though discharged of the king ) to eat and to drinke , and to lie with his wife , while the Arke of Iudah dwelled in tents , and while the men of Israel were pitching their tents vpon the face of the field . We haue to follow , though not the fortitude , yet the zeale that was in Vriah to the Ark of God . And as for our brethren , which do castramentari superficie campi , which do pitch their tents vpon the face of the earth : we ought to condole and suffer with them ; they fight ; fight we should against flesh , sinne and sathan , and the corruptions of the world : walking in the flesh , yet we do not warre according to the flesh : for the weapons of our warfare are not carnall , 2. Cor . 10. but mightie through God . Ye haue not yet resisted vnto blood , striuing against sinne , saith the Author to the Hebrewes : Heb . 12. cast all your care vpon God , for he careth for you ; resist your aduersarie the diuell ; be stedfast in faith ( saith saint Peter ) knowing that the same aflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world . 1. Pet . 5. We haue néed therfore that liue in peace to arme our selues with the shield of faith , the breast-plate of righteousnes , the helmet of saluation , & not to be of such vnbeliefe , as though these spirituall armors were not of might , through our God to vanquish our earthly and ghostly , deadly and mortall , visible and inuisible enemies ; we haue also after the example of Vriah to fight for the arke of God : pro aris & focis ; as well for our temples and churches , as for our fields and houses . It is written in the 79. Psal . {αβγδ} . The heathen are come into thine inheritance , thy holy temple haue they defiled , and made Hierusalem an heape of stones ; the dead bodies of thy seruants , &c. When the arke of God was taken , as it was once of the Philistines : we reade that Eli the high priest fell backward , broke his necke and died . And how shall not the priests of God , though not to the breaking of their neckes , and death it selfe fall backward , and fall vpon the face of the earth , when they shall see the Arke of God , that is their temples and churches inuaded of most cruell enemies ? wherefore then do they not before the enemies inuasion , and before the sight and fee - of such tyrannous desolation and prophanation , cry out betwéene the proch and the altar ? wherefore do not they and we , and all men by them , and with them , lift vp pure hands , not as the prophet speaketh in the porches or at the altars : but ( as the Apostle vrgeth ) in all places . Wherefore do they not offer the Corinthians , that is the people or the charges committed vnto them , as liuing sacrifices vnto God , without spot and blamelesse before him ? wherfore should there not be some aduenture giuen in the battell that is set before vs , as captaines and souldiers are faine to giue aduenture in the time of warre ? whether we may possibly attaine to that most abstinent life , a rule or forme whereof is set downe where the apostle saith : But that I say brethren , because the time is short : It remaineth that they also which haue wiues , be as though they had none ; and they that weep , as though they wept not ; & they that reioice , as though they reioiced not ; & they that buy , as though they possessed not ; and they that vse this world , as not abusing it , for the fashion of this world goeth away . Giue we an aduenture or attempt to the highest abstinence , & happily we may attaine to some measure , or which is as much as is wisht for our own measure in christianity . It is written : Let no man appeare emptie before the Lord . Now what is it at this day not to appeare empty before the Lord ? the priest to bring a sermon , the people to present themselues at a sacrament , to honor mariages & burials ? they are readie to answere with the rich man , all these things we haue obserued from our youth ; the sermon more zealous , the sacrament more blessed , the mariage more holy , the burial more contemplatiue , euery spirituall action more deuoute is {αβγδ} : that is the frée will offering to make attonement betwéene God and vs : for is there not feare lest we shall be bereaued , euen of these holy things of Dauid which are faithfull within a short time , of some of our priests , and many holy men and women ? Are not our churches and temples specified plainely enough by the name of the Lords temple ; when it is said ? thy holy temple haue they defiled , and made Hierusalem an heape of stones : Are not our priests and euen our holiest men , too plainely specified when it is said , the dead bodies of thy seruants haue they giuen to the foules of the aire , and the flesh of thy saints vnto the beasts of the field . The tyranny of armed souldiers , full of wrath and reuengfull , leaues no hope for men or women to escape , being also specified in the 74. Psalme , that such heathenish warriers had shedde the blood of his saints like water in euery side of Hierusalem , and there was no man to burie them ; we may learne it of Adam . But it is not the safest way in matter of sinne or danger , which some godly persons and deuout women , or perhaps some carelesse persons and godlesse women do , to deriue all that is naught , fearefull and dangerous vpon others from our selues ? doth not our Lord threaten by the prophet , that in the extirpation of a citie , realme or kingdome , he shall destroy the iust with the vniust , the righteous with the wicked ? Eze . 22. And yet it is not Noah , Iob and Daniel set vpon the wal , testifying ; that if it be any thing , it is they that shall defend it . Now albeit , how farre we differ from Noah , Iob and Daniel , all the world séeth : yet as king Ashuerus stretched out his rod to him that approched : so the Lord stretching out the rod of mercy , looketh that some or other should with Elias stretch out hands , or with Moses stand in the gap , as finding that wrath is going from the almightie , lest the voice of the Lord by the prophet be fulfilled : The day of vengeance is assigned in my heart , and the yeere when my people shall be deliuered , is come . I looked about , and there was no man to shew me any help . I maruelled that no man held me vp : then I held me by mine owne arme , and my feruentnes sustained me : And thus I wil tread downe my people in my wrath , and bathe them in my displeasure . This is the same that the Lord testifieth againe by Ezekiel , Isai 63. saying : The people in the land vseth wickednes , extortion and robery ; they vexe the poore and néedie , and oppresse the stranger against right : And I sought among them for a man that would make vp the hedge , and set himselfe in the gap before me , zek . 22. in the lands behalfe , that I should not destroy it . But I could finde none ; therefore haue I powred out my displeasure vpon them , consumed them in the fire of my wrath ; their owne waies will I recompence vpon their owne heads , saith the Lord God . This is so spoken as if our Lord would not consume vs in his wrath , if there were but one found , that might set himselfe in the gappe before him : verely there was Lot in Sodom , Rahab in Iericho , Iudith in Bethuel : for if there be no hope that in all our land , none may resemble Iob , of whom it is : that in the land of Hus , there was a man , whose name was Iob , 〈◇〉 . 11. the same was a perfit and iust man , one that feared God , and eschewed euill : yet as penitent sinners , with Rahab , Lot and Iudith , or euen with publicans and sinners , we holding of his mercies , may crie for mercie to our God , who hath promised , saying : thou disobedient Israell , turne againe , and I will not bring my wrath vpon you , for I am mercifull ; and I will not alwaies beare displeasure against thée . And againe , Ierem . 3. O ye disobedient children , turne againe saith the Lord and I will be maried with you : for I wil take out one of the citie , & two out of one generation from among you , & bring you into Syon . How should we not be astonied , afraid and abashed at this ? for if one of a citie , two of a generation shall be brought into Sion , as meant of that euerlasting Sion : what shall become of the rest that are counted thy people , and haue thy name giuen vnto them : Call me father , and shrinke not from me saith the Lord : the voice of the children of Israell was heard wéeping & wailing , for that they haue defiled their way , & forgotten God their Lord . O yée disobedient children , turne againe , & so shall I heale your back-turnings . Loe we come vnto thée , for thou art the Lord our God ; confusion hath deuoured our fathers ; for we and our fathers from our youth vp vnto this day , Iere . 3. haue sinned against the Lord our God , and haue not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God . Repentance therfore it is , acknowledging that we and our fathers haue sinned , that stopped vp the gap betwéene the Lord and vs , {αβγδ} a conuersion of euill that is fruitfull , and hath amendment of life with it . And who seeth not that wars with other scourges and plagues , are sent for fruite of our repentance ? for if we were of a ripe and perfect age in the schoole of Christ , knowing that repentance is not an affection or a sigh and sob of the heart : but a very dereliction of euill , with a new life and doings , entred and sustained : wee would discerne betwéene time and time , betwéene cause and cause , wherein both the clergie and the people may learne of Vriah , though a souldier , that when the arke of God is readie to be taken , when Ioab the captaine & whole armies abide in the open field ; as he thought it not his time to goe to his house to eate and drinke , and to lie with his wife ; so we , because of the time proclaming warrs , aswell to England as to the world , we sue a diuorcement of euill , we become sorrowful for our repletions and satieties in meats and drinks , we rue our surfets taken of women ; to conclude , we forsake our owne vnrighteousnesse , and lay hold on eternall life , we set onely vpon things lawfull and séemely , taking reconciliations , restitutions , distributions , as the first steps towards a new life ; then as men that haue farre to goe , haue not to rest ; so we couet the better gifts , procéeding to lawfull déedes from vnlawfull ; from lawfull things , to that , that is expedient , from the expedient , to things edifying , and exemplifying towards others ; that as we read of Croesus who was dumb before , when his father should be slaine , cryeth out notwithstanding , O homo ne interficias patrem . O man slaie not my father : so though dumbe to this day , yet seeing our churches like to become heapes of stones , our daily sacrifice like to be abolished , the bloud of the saints and seruants of God shed like water vpon the earth , their carkase lying vnburied , no age , no sexe , no person spared , all which we are subiect vnto aswell as all others ; that we burst out into cries , teares , and prayers , become more fruitfull in our stewardships ; more zealous to discharge that fiue , two or one talent receiued , we séeke to adioyne to holinesse , integritie and sincere affection ; to faith , vertue ; to knowledge , temperance ; aboue all things induing our selues with brotherly loue , and humilitie : we sustaine the orphan and widow , the comfortlesse and néedie , we helpe them to right , that suffer wrong ; that either by our amendment and such sacrifice , these present dangers may be auoided ; or if they must néeds come vpon vs , wee may liue and die in Gods fauour , which from the day of our birth to the day of our death , is all the blisse we ought to séeke for . Our life is but a meditation of death ; we are to thinke of life and death as mortall men ; of euerlasting life and euerlasting death as christian men , whereof if we bee still to be remembred because of mortalitie , howe much more when our mortalitie is augmented with miserie ? Suffer me ( good reader ) to passe ouer with silence these pitifull times , séeing they be no more pitifull then manifest and generall , as who is there that sées them not , or hath not his part in them ? and wherefore should the euill that is suffred be reported ? or wherefore should the thing that is foretold , more rather then the thing which we haue felt ? the issues whereof are dangerous and fearefull : still all that are secure , standing like the parts of a house , yet vntouched , which by liklihood must be pluct downe aswell as the rest . Shall the pen of a writer prophetically warne of euils to come , where men are but to shut their doores against them ? The day is come the daie is come alreadie , the morning hath appeared of euils : it is not ( good Reader ) a comet or an ecclips that we stand vpon : we haue séene a morning , or rather a day euill ; and onely is not of those of whom it is in the prophecy : we haue made a couenant with death and with hell ; or we are at agreement , and though there goe forth a sore plague , it shall not come vnto vs : Isa . 28. for we haue made falshood our refuge , and vnder vanitie are we hid , whereof it followeth : the couenant yee made with death shall be disanulled , and your agreement with hell shall not stand ; yea when the sore plague goeth foorth , it shall take you away : for early in the morning euerie day , yea both day and night shall it goe through , and when the noice therof is perceiued , it shall gender vexation ; for the bed is narrow and not large , and the couering small , that a man may not winde himselfe therein : this straight bed and couering is thought to be a prouerb signifying the straight siege of Hierusalem , which is also threatned by the prophet Isai in the chapter following , in these words : woe vnto thee Ariel , Ariel , thou city that Dauid dwelt in ; I will lay siege vnto Ariel , so that there shall be heauines and sorrow in it , and it shall be vnto me , Isa . 29. euen as an altar of slaughter . This word {αβγδ} is as much as the altar or the lion of God ; wherof we may obserue , if that Sion it selfe , the strongest as the lion , if the altar of the citie that Dauid dwelt in as the holiest , could not escape ; then it is not our holines , and much lesse falshood and deceitfulnesse , that shall be able to hide vs from so sore a plague . And whereas we haue séene sore plagues publikly and personally , light vpon others on the right side and on the left , and they haue not come néere vs ; it becomes not christian men to thinke that it is either their sinfulnes or our righteousnesse that made them to suffer vs to escape such horrible and vnexpected troubles , and that considering the season : because this old age of the world , by warres , seditions , vproares and tumults , threatneth disturbances , ouerthrowes of realmes , cities , and kingdomes . And how should priuate men of all sorts , with women and children escape the sword , or sundry kinds of death , as also the preparatiues , as exiles , incarcerations , captiuities , the hands of their enemies , &c. Xerxes king of Persia , séeing a huge companie of his people and subiects about him , fell a weeping ; and being asked wherefore he wept , hauing cause rather to reioice for the multitude of his subiects : I wéepe ( saith he ) that within a short time there will not be one of these left aliue : so he that shall confer the ruines of thousands that haue perished within these twentie yeeres by the sword , shipwracke , sudden deaths , and that disease which is commonly called the plague or pestilence , with such as within a short time are like to perish of the said calamities , as also of hunger and famine , one of the signes of the figge-trée , budding vpon the later end of the world , may weep with Xerxes , or rather exclaime with the prophet Ieremie , saying : O who will giue my head water enough , and a well of teares to mine eies , that I may weepe night and day for the slaughter of my people ? Doe we thinke that our Lords iudgements haue an end in them that haue felt them alreadie ; or doe we thinke that greater are to come , and yet we which liue in peace shal escape them for euer ? And what if wée escape euils that are mortall for euer ? {αβγδ} , in aevum , seculum : that is for our euer , or age or time . Well men may sit vnder their vines and fig trees , liue in their houses , die in their beds : but neither may these blessings perswade our hearts , that Gods blesse is vpon vs , neither is it euident , whose torment shall be greater at the hower of death . And as for iudgement after this life ; shall we beléeue that wee ascend to heauen , and they descend to hell , because they died in the field , and we in our beds ? or because they made shipwrack in the seas , or fell into the handes of their enemies , or lie vnburied in the stréets , and we passe our life in quietnes without care , feare or danger , liue at home , and haue no doubt , but we shal be honorably or honestly buried ( as our fathers were ) in the churches or church-yeards , or graues and sepulchers builded for vs ? This sinister iudgement of the world ( which bequeaths a blessed end to such as haue liued quietly , and so die ; and is afraid what doth become of them which abide some cruell or extraordinarie end , is to be corrected and controlled . Noli timere , prorsus confirmo , Aug. de disc . Christia . cap . 2. to . 9. audeo dicere , credidi , propter quod loquutus sum : Non potest male mori , qui bene vixerit . Feare not ( saith saint Augustine ) I auouch it to the vttermost , I am bold to say it ; I beléeued , and therefore I spake . He can not die ill , that hath liued well . Iam tu dices tibi ; num multi iusti naufragio perierunt ? certè non potest male mori , qui bene vixerit : Now thou saiest to thy selfe ; haue many righteous men perished by shipwrack ? certe non potest male mori , qui bene vixerit : surely hée can not die ill that hath liued well . Num multos iustos gladius peremit hostilis ? num multos iustos latrones occiderunt ? num multos iustos bestiae deuorauerunt . Hath the sword of the enemy slaine many a righteous man ? haue many iust men fallen among théeues ? haue many righteous men béene deuoured of beasts ? To all these S. Augustine stil answereth : certe non potest male mori , qui bene vixerit : Of a truth he can not die ill , that hath liued well . Nonne has mortes martyres subierunt , quorum Natalitia celebramus : did not the martyres suffer these kindes of deaths , whose birth-daies we celebrate ? Quid proderat diuiti sepulchrum marmoreum , sitienti apud inferos ? Quid oberat pauperi , panni cum sanie vlcerum eius , requiescenti in sinu Abrahae ? what was the rich man the better for a graue of marble stone , lying athirst in hell ? what was the poore man the worse for his poore clothes araied with the noysome matter of boiles , resting in Abrahams bosome : Dic mihi quis bene mortuus est , quis male ? Tell me who died well , who ill ? An vis aromatibus sepeliri & apud inferos sitire ? disces ergo bene mori , si didiceris bene viuere : wilt thou be buried in swéete odours , and lie thirsting in hell fire ? thou shalt learne therefore to die well , if thou shalt learne to liue well . Now this age inuites to a reformed life , & bids men put themselues in order to liue well , that they may die well . And as warres , tumults , seditions , plagues , famines , according to Esdras , are sent for amendment ; so it is prophecied as wel by Esdras , as by the prophets and apostles : that they shall protend and foreshew the latter ende of the world , which is so manifest , that in stead of alleaging the places , I had rather the prophet Esaie should be heard , crying for mee , and saying : Isai 41. O stubburne and faithlesse generation , that haue not set their hearts aright ; heare this yee that be called by the name of Israell , which are freemen of the holy citie , and looke for comfort in God , whose name is the Lord of Hostes , the things that I haue shewed you euer since the beginning ; haue I not brought them to passe immediately as they came out of my mouth , and declared them and they are come ? Howbeit I know that thou art obstinate , and that thy necke hath an iron vaine , and that thy brow is of brasse : this the prophet crieth out vpon Israell . But is it not our necks that hath an iron vaine ? is it not our brow that is of brasse ? Are not we euen worse than those hipocrites mentioned by our Sauiour in the 16. of Matth . which go not so much as out of our doores , to sée whether the skie be red or lowring , whether the weather wil be faire or foule ? doth our Sauiour mention these times without caution & contestacion of watchfulnesse & repentance ? for the heauinesse and perplexities of them , search and sée , yée that be called by the name of Israell , whether these comminations be fulfilled in our sight , or whether the mystery of thē be not working alreadie ? {αβγδ} : haue vnderstanding & make others vnderstand the times & seasons of times , that are stil beholding the skie of the scripture , yée that continually heare the voice or voices of the Lord by the prophet and the apostle ; beware of too much honie ; discend with Moses from mount Sinai to the people ; abide not still with Adam in Paradise ; cloake not securitie with the title of holinesse ; neither transmit faults from your selues by agrauating other mens sinnes : for what will yée doe ? will yée heare the voice of God walking in the garden ( as it is written ) in the coole of day , and hide your selues among the trées of the orchard , & say with Adam : the woman that thou gauest me , &c. shall the woman say , the husband that thou gauest me ? shall men and women that be hallowed in the scriptures , but doing nothing , say : the brothers or sisters that thou gauest me haue beguiled me , and I did eat . And did not the Lords iudgements light as well vpon the man as the woman , and the woman as the serpent ? doe we not in deed looke vpon the skie , and say : it is red , we shall haue faire weather ; it is lowring , we shall haue foule weather ; and behold it is blood-red , & can it not be discerned , what weather we shall haue ? wherefore should the voice of the preacher , or the pen of the writer , alledge the prophesying of our Sauiour , as namely in the 24. of Matthew , and the rest of the Euangelists , rather than refer them to the meditation of godlie men and women : it will soone be found that such fortunes both in warre and in peace as we sée and heare , haue béene foreshewed for this latter age of the world by the apostles ; as the old age of men were woont to be forewarned by the prophets ; and that whatsoeuer things haue béene foreshewed of old , haue euer come to passe , euen as they came from the mouth of the Lord ; I haue referred the godly to the conference of the scriptures : I call vpon them with saint Chrisostome : Comparate vobis biblia saltem noua testamenta : get you Bibles , at the least the new Testament . It is time to resort to them to reade them , to contemplate , to fight with them and for them : haue yée not read of a time wherein the people of God with one hand did the work , with the other held their weapons ? Neh . 4. and how that euery one that builded had his sword girded by his side , and so builded , and the trumpetters standing beside them ? where of we say : this ought yée to do , and not to leaue the other vndone , that is , these warlike times cals vpon men to turne mattocks into speares , and sickles into swords , and yet not to leaue the work vndone : for albeit there be some difference betwixt the idle and voluptuous , and them that are still busie about some worke or other : yet in an age , wherein we are all readie from our Sauiour to say one to another : sell thy coat and buy thee a sword : wilt thou hold thy selfe excused , if thou worke still ? In the meane season we exhort you according to the example of Nehemiaes souldiers , to take in stead of swords , bookes in one hand , and your worke in another . Is there any house without a sword , harnesse , or other furniture fit for warres ? euen so , is there any house without a Bible , a new Testament , and other holy and godly writings : the prophet saith , {αβγδ} : they haue made the house of God the house of vanitie : should not euery house be charged with a Bible ? for worse were that house than the house of vanitie , where Gods booke or no part of it dwelleth : make therfore your houses of the house of vanities , or rather of darkenesse , Gods house {αβγδ} : wherein by his word and following thereof , his honour dwelleth . Where two or three be gathered together in my name ( saith our Sauiour ) I am in the middest of them . Sée how gratious a promise there is annexed to men and women , be they few or many that shall assemble themselues in the name of Christ Iesus . Wherfore if there be but fower or fiue , if but two or thrée in a house , yet let them come together in his name ; or if they lacke number , what aileth vs , that as in all other things we séeke not assistance of neighbours and brethren , were there faith and hope in vs , were there dreadfulnesse and the feare of God in vs , would we not séeke to beare one anothers burden in soule matters as well as in all other things ? Our Lord offereth space of repentance : the whole displeasure of the almightie is not yet risen to come vpon men : snares , fire and brimston hath not yet béene our portion to drinke ; the enemy hath not yet done his vttermost violence ; yet our cities , houses and churches stand as they haue done : we exhort you therefore to bring the Arke of God into your houses while ye may : may yée not reade that where it was , the house was blest with it ? we exhort you to fall to praier , to the hearing , reading , meditating and following of the Scriptures . If a man hath drawen his sword , wherefore do yée not resist him ? but if it be the almightie that hath drawen his sword , what should we doe but take sanctuarie and flée to the aultar ? Indéed exception may be taken , as not surely spoken to vs , or any other nation now , which was once threatned to Egypt , Babylon or Hierusalem . But that as S. Hierom mooueth some by the example of the Niniuites ; so by the burden of Egypt , Babylon and Hierusalem , we may be stirred to repentance : yet there is no euasion from the prophecie of Ieremie most vniuersally and generally sent vnto al nations , where the Lord saith : If I take to root out , to destroy , or to waste any people or kingdome , if the people against whom I haue this deuised , conuert from their wickednesse , I repent of the plague that I haue deuised to bring vpon them . Leuit. 18. Againe : When I take in hand to build or to plant a people or kingdome , if the same people doe euill before me , and heare not my voice ; I repent of the good that I haue deuised for them . This being pronounced from the Lord , he commaundeth the prophet , saying : Speake vnto whole Iudah , and to them that dwell at Hierusalem : Thus saith the Lord ; Behold I am deuising a plague for you , and am taking a thing in hand against you ; therfore let euerie man turne from his euill way , & take vpon you the thing that is good and right : But they said , no more of this ; we wil follow our owne imaginations , and doe euery man according to the wilfulnesse of his owne mind . Now who is there so vnaduised , that sées not our selues called vpon vnder the names of Iudah or Hierusalem ? what shall we say then ? that our Lord takes in hand to roote out , wast and destroy vs : I affirme it not , but to say that which we see : feare I doe , that the Lords sword is drawne , whetted & sharpned ; and wherfore not against England , assoon as against any nation or kingdome ? therfore it is time that we take example , the Aegyptians and the Assirians , or rather the Israelits or Niniuits ; it is time we repent and turne from our euil waies , that the almighty may repent and turne from the plague he hath deuised against vs ; time it is that euerie one conuert from his wickednes , and take vpon him the thing that is good and right . Wherefore bee it curious and aboue our measure , to séeke whether the almightie wasteth or planteth , or rooteth out England , or any other nation ; and be it obserued , aswel vpon rebellions , vproares , dissentions , as other plagues , that vpon euery of these euery where , in the bookes of the prophets we are called vpon to repent , and turne from our euill waies . And therfore in the eight of Ieremie , where it is said that the bones of the kings of Iudah , the bones of the princes , of the priests , and prophets ; yea the bones of the citizens of Hierusalem , should be brought out of their graues , and laid against the Sunne , the Moone , and all the host of heauen : it followeth , Thus saith the Lord , doe men fall so that they rise not again , or if Israel repent , will not God turne againe to them ? wherefore then is the people gone so farre backe , that they turne not againe ? they are euer the longer the more obstinate , and will not be conuerted , for I haue looked and considered , but there is no man that speaketh a good word , there is no man that taketh repentance for his sinne , that will so much as say , what haue I done ? A complant it is both personall , and vniuersall ; vniuersally whole Israel is complained of , that they haue turned so farre backe , that they rise not againe : then euery one is visited , to sée whether any would so much as say betwéene God and himselfe , Quid feci? {αβγδ} What haue I done ? which is none other thing , but as if any should lament by himselfe crying ; O wretched man that I am , my sin is euer before me ; mine owne heart condemneth me for such or such euill ; and God is greater then the heart , and knoweth all things : heu quanta de spe decidi from what hope am I fallen ? how shall I doe ? this remorse or féeling would preuaile to newnesse of life , for lack whereof euery one is accused to runne like a fierce horse headlong to the battell . Iere , 8. The storke in the ayre knoweth his appointed time , the turtle-doue , the swallow , and the crane consider the time of their trauell ; but my people wil not know the time of the punishment of the Lord . Our Lord leaueth here , that we as the people of God should know the time of the punishments of the Lord : To which ende wee are sent to the storke , turtle-doue , swallow , and crane , for comparing with that people of God , or rather thinking our selues as Gods people , wee haue to consider of these daies as the time of our trauell , or at least as a time of trauell , for though it be not the time wherein the voice of the mill , or the light of the candle shal cease : yet it is a time , wherin the voice of the bride , and bridegroome ceaseth , wherein laughter is turned into wéeping , and feasting into fasting . O that our wéeping were turned into repentance for sinne , and our fasting into abstaining from euill , in the 5. of the 4. of Esdras , Concerning the tokens ( saith he ) there shall be confusion in many places , and the fire shall be oft sent out againe ; and the wild beasts shall change their places ; and monstrous women shall beare monsters : and salt water shal be found in the sweet ; and all friends shall fight one against another ; then shall all wit & vnderstanding be hidden , and put aside in their secret places ; then shal vnrighteousnesse and voluptuousnes haue the vpper hand vpon the earth ; one land shall aske another , and say : is righteousnes gone through thee ? and it shall say , No : To shew thee such tokens I haue leaue , and if thou wilt pray , weep againe , and fast seuen daies , thou shalt heare greater things . This being spoken of the world it selfe , for Esdras in the 3. and 4. booke , most plainly falleth in with the Euangelists touching the wars , famines , and other scourges threatned to the ende of the world , the preachers voice , or scribes pen , doth not prescribe to any people or kingdome ; doth not pronounce that it is we or they , this or that nation , which the author prophetically threatneth , or which the Lord shall plant or build , roote out or destroy ; but being so sinfull men as all others , we do not amisse to gather the sence of the scriptures , to conferre them with our owne times , and natiue countrey , wherin we may most firmely conclude ; that we ought not to excuse our selues , our countrimen , or countrey , as if an English man should thinke that England , or an Irish man that Ireland shal be preserued , though warres , seditions , and tumults be menaced to the world , for protesting and pronouncing this to be a most detestable securitie , a most inexcusable folly , a most dangerous sinfulnesse : Tormenta quaedam adhibemus : we do as it were torment men before their time , because we tel of their dangers before they come : obseruing , searching , vrging , asking , applying , as namely : whether any such confusion , or monstrous tokens mentioned by Esdras , whether any such fire and water , any such fighting & tumults , as wherin one friend hath béene faine to fight against another : or whether as in seditions and sudden vproares , all wit and vnderstanding hath failed , as shut vp in their secret places ; or whether as in warres and rebellions , vnrighteousnesse and voluptuousnesse haue not had the vpper hand ; or whether wée haue séene any of these things , and should not take them as sparkles kindling a fire , as séeds growing vp towards a haruest , and as the beginnings of sorrowes , and the forerunners of the last and vttermost euils ? 4. Esdr. 16. This Esdras would be entertayned ( and not altogether as a stranger ) with the Prophets and the Apostles : A sword ( saith he ) is sent among you , and who will turne it backe ? A fire is sent among you , and who will quench it ? plagues are sent vnto you , and what is he that will driue them away ? may any man driue away an hungry Lion in the wood ? or may any man quench the fire in stubble , when it hath begun to burne ? may one turne againe the arrow that is short of a strong archer ? the mighty Lord sendeth the plagues , and what is he that will driue them away ? behold , hunger , and plague , trouble , and anguish , are sent as scourges for our amendment : But for all these things , they shall not turne from their wickednes , nor be alwaie mindfull of their scourges . Who is this angrie lyon , or strong archer ? Esdras himselfe interpreteth , what may driue away the sword that is drawne , the fire that is kindled , the arrow that is shott ; he testifieth with all the Prophets and the Apostles , which as they all cry for our conuersion , so they wonder , that plagues and scourges sent of the Lord should not either volentes or nolentes either voluntary or violently restraine vs of euill , which is most strongly and most expressedly exemplified by the prophet Amos , Amos 4. where it it so often vpbraided , saying : I haue giuen you cleannesse of teeth , and scarcenesse of bread in all your cities ; yet haue ye not returned to me saith the Lord , I haue withholden the raine from you , when there were yet three moneths to the haruest , and haue caused it to raine vpon one citie , and haue not caused it to raine vpon another ; yet haue ye not returned to me saith the Lord : I haue smitten you with blasting , and mildew ; your gardens , vineyards , fig-trees , and oliues did the palm-worme deuoure ; yet haue ye not returned to me saith the Lord : pestilence haue I sent among you after the maner of Aegypt ; your yong men haue I slaine with the sword , yet haue ye not returned to me saith the Lord : I haue ouerthrowne you as Sodome and Gomorrah , & ye were as a fire-brand pluct out of the burning ; yet haue ye not returned to me saith the Lord : Here as we are not so much giuen to the letter , as though we had fuffred all these things , yet we may maruel with the prophet , that whereas the Lord hath tried our cities , townes , and villages , with famine and scarcenesse of bread , with no raine , or much raine intempestiue ; with the pestilence , though not altogether after the maner of Egypt , with the death of our yong men slaine with the sword ; that yet we haue not returned to the Lord : there is hardly any parcell of scripture rather to be waighed , then the whole prophecie of Amos for this our age , whereunto lest the reader should be referred in vaine , I haue thought good to heape those few sayings together : Thus saith the Lord for three wickednesses of Iudah , and for foure I will not spare him , because they haue cast away the law of the Lord , and their lies caused them to erre , after the which their fathers walked ; Therfore I will send a fire into Iudah , which shall consume the pallaces of Hierusalem . Thus saith the Lord , for three wickednesses of Israel , and for foure I will not spare him : because they sold the righteous for siluer , and the poore for a paire of shooes ; they gape for breath ouer the head of the poore , &c. and againe , Heare yee this word which I lift vp vpon you : the virgin Israel is fallen , and shall no more rise ; shee is left vpon her land , and there is none to raise her vp , for thus saith the Lord God : Amos 5.3 . The citie which went out by a thousand shal leaue an 100. & that which went forth by an hundred , shall leaue ten , to the house of Israel : and againe , Amos 6.1 . Woe to them that are at ease in Syon ; yee that put farre away the euill day , and aproch to the seat of iniquitie ; they lie vpon beds of Iuorie ; they drinke wine in bowles ; but no man is sory for the affliction of Ioseph . and again , Behold a basket of sommer fruit : Amos 8.2 . The end is come vpon my people : all the songs of the temple shal be howlings in that day , saith the Lord God : many dead bodies shal be in euerie place ; they shall cast them forth with silence . and againe , I sawe the Lord standing vpon the altar , and he said : smite the dore , that the posts may shake , cut them in pieces , and I will slaie the last of them with the sword ; Amos 9. ● . he that fleeth of them shall not flee away ; and he that escapeth shal not be deliuered : Behold the eyes of God are vpon the sinfull kingdome ; and I will destroy it cleane out of the earth : Neuerthelesse , I will not vtterly destroy the house of Iacob , saith the Lord : but all the sinners of my people shall die with the sword , which say the euill shall not come nor hasten for vs. Here is threatned to the house of Iudah , fire , and that for thrée or foure wickednesses the Lord should not spare it : againe , it is threatned to the house of Israel , that for a thousand , there should be left but a hundred , and for a hundred but ten in their cities : Likewise is threatned , woe for ease ; for songs , howlings ; dead bodies , for liuing soules ; for life and peace , death and destruction , which euils , if we haue partly séene with our eies already , and partly sée them as cloudes boading most tempestuous weather : Let vs acknowledge that wée haue sinned ; and say with the Prophet : Come let vs turne againe to the Lord , for he hath smitten vs , and he shall heale vs ; he hath wounded vs , and he shal bind vs vp againe . We ought not to forget the smitings and wounds , which we haue suffred in these latter yeares ; some liue in peace yet that heare of them ; some in trouble , that haue séen them ; many dead , that haue felt them ; it remaineth , that men should change their minds , refourme their endeuours , and both inwardly and outwardly , flee to the holy one of Israel : inwardly , by spéedie sobbing and sighing ; outwardly , by assemblies , humble procéedings , compasstions extended , faith testified , the holy things of Dauid faithfully and lowly frequented : according to that good speach and act of Chrisostome to the people of Antioch ; Vt mari aestuante , As when the sea is troublesome , feare doth compell all men to flée to the hauen ; so the storme ( saith he ) of our publike place , hath driuen all men to take the church : Let vs thanke God therfore for these things , insomuch as wée haue gathered so great fruit of our troubles . S. Chrisostome and the people of Antioch shew what ought to be done in a publike vexation or trouble ; as to flée to the temple as Gods house , or house of prayer : that as Adoniah tooke hold of the hornes of the altar being persecuted by king Solomon ; and as in the old time the fathers had cities of refuge , or sanctuaries to be rescued from their aduersaries ; so we both publikly and personally resort euery where , as to our very church or churches , as our surest hauens and best defences most oportunely fled too , and frequented in publike troubles and dangers ; wherein whosoeuer shall séeke mens well doing with sincere affection , may doubt , whether he should resort to the minister or to the magistrate , to know , whether men liuing in peace ( be there blesse or curse , good or bad ) will doe still as they did before ? as namly in such great troubles as many haue suffred , and they belike haue heard of of late ; wherein we ought to say with the prophet : Thou hast giuen vs teares to drinke , and hast mingled our bread with weeping ; al but fierce yong men & souldiers , shal be suffred to lie as secure and carelesse ; al which I could wish should liue at church for the time ; leauing their houses to eate and drink in , till they learne that the sword of the spirit , and the shield of faith , are also weapons for christian souldiers ; and till they may sée themselues vnworthiest and most vnaduised of all others : if they , vntill their houses be set on fire , or till the euils whatsoeuer light vpon their owne heads , are not mooued with any thing ; I demand of these men whether they mind to sit still , aswell at one time as at another , and that with gold rings , gay clothing , in good places , as though , when poore men are in poore raiment , and in penurie ; ye say not to one sit thou here , stand thou there : for doe not the rich find themselues touched by the Apostle , saying : If a brother or sister be naked & destitute of daily food , and one of you say to them , depart in peace , be ye warmed and filled : notwithstanding , ye giue them not the things which are needfull for the bodie , what shall it profit ? For what if men say not this according to the letter or the hand writing of S. Iames : yet as long as you can sée poore men in vile rayment , your sisters and brothers naked and destitute of daily foode , and giue them not : both the Apostle pronounceth , that your faith starues for lacke of works , and the time doth require to put off gold rings , gay clothing , forbearing high places at feasts , and good seats in in churches , being no time to feast or enioy at all , much lesse to be lifted vp , aduanced aboue your brethren , as also inwald , impald , inhedgd , to the intent ye may sée few or none of the people , but euen your selues and yours ; by the which aduancing or inclosing , not only Nabuchadnezzar , but Dauid also was brought into asound and most vnmercifull inflation : but that as men whose hearts are not aduanced aboue their brethren , ye refuse not to come into the light ; and not onely to frequent publike assemblies aswell as others ; but also to visit the orphan , fatherlesse and widow in their aduersity ; and séeing the poore in their vile raimentye may cloth them ; your brothers and sisters destitute of daily foode , ye may féede them ; that wheras ye haue not done it hitherto , it may be thought ye did it not for lack of opportunity ; and that ye waighed the time wherein ye might shew your selues , aswell fruitfull , as faithfull : for as Nabuchadnezzar became proud , Dauid too secure by resting in their pallaces ; so what may come of such fruition of parlors and séeld houses , but pride , laciuiousnesse , couetousnesse , oblectation of children and women , obliuion of God and his seruants ? whereby little or nothing procéeds from them , but crueltie as lust and vncharitable doings ; as though the linke of our common faith , the same calling , the equall inheritance , doth not exact a mutuall consolation betwéene Christs seruants : which the apostle séeing more déepely aduertiseth ; That the brother of low degree , should reioyce in that he is exalted , againe , the rich in that he is made low . Charitie , fraternitie , the vnitie of the spirit , the bond of peace , makes all the same , and but one in Christ Iesus ; according to that prophecie of Isaie : Isaie 11. The woulfe and the lambe , the Leopard and the goate , lyons and cattell company together ; the cow and the beare shal feede together ; the lyon shall eate straw with the oxe , and the child while he sucketh , shall haue a desire to the serpents nest , and when he is weaned , he shall put his hand into the cokatrice den . For this may well be imputed to the force of christianity , to the same hope and faith , whereby aswell the highest as the lowest , the richest as the poorest , men , women , and children of all sorts , states , & affects , as the valiantest , strongest , seuerest , may with the lowliest , childishest , and womanishest , well ioyne together . All which when they may méete in the vnitie of the spirit , and the bond of peace , actually and zealously together , they doe as the auncient writer Tertullian testifieth , Deum ambire , haec vis deo grata est . They doe ( gathering a band as it were ) compasse the almighty by violence ; this violence ( saith he ) is acceptable vnto God , in the 65. of Isaie : where it is promised , that or euer his seruants call , he shall answere : while they are yet yet but thinking how to speake , he shall heare them .

It likewise followeth , that the woulfe and the Lambe shall féed together , and the lion shall eate hay with the bullocke : but earth shall be the serpents meat ; they shall no more hurt or slay one another , in all mine holy hill , saith the Lord : Great blessings they are , that are there promised to Gods people . Howbeit , as a mixt Scripture as are sundrie others , it mingleth euerlasting ioies with such consolations as are attained to in this life , which to omit as impertinent , we feare not to conclude : that if the woulfe and the lambe , the lion and the bullocke , that is if the highest and the lowest , the richest and the poorest , might in the participation of prayer , in the administration of the word and sacraments , in the zeale of the holy and heauenly mysteries vnite themselues : it were the strongest hand or band we could make , either to reconcile vs vnto God , or to bring to passe that one man should not sight against another ; or to driue away the wrathful indignation of the almighty conceiued against the world of wickednesse . For when will men goe about to muster this armie , wherein men , women and children , euen as many as are able to lift vp their hands and hearts to God , are able persons to fight against their enemies ; to weaken the Israelits : the children borne about the birth of Moses , of Phoraohs crueltie suffred martyrdome : And what shall our children suffer Cum proximus vrbi Hannibal ? When Hanniball or Vlissis souldier is come vpon vs ? when Holifernus doth besiedg our citie ? but most extreame crueltie ; what should we do but fight or pray for them ? what may make men or women more zealous & feruent ? for as we know , or beleue that the bloud of Abell , shed by Cain cryed to the Lord for vengeance : so let vs know or beléeue , that the crying of the bloud of litle children and our cries for them , may stir the Lord of heauen to compassion , euen lest their bloud be shed vpon the earth . Mention it therefore I doe , or motion it to parents , that not onely when they are baptized or catechized : but euen because of a siedge , because of the inuasion of the forrein enemie , when men are within gun-shott , they vouchsafe them a part of our Lords armie and people . Let Zacharie and Elizabeth , Ioseph and Marie carry them in their armes , bring their sucking children to the church , and present them before the Lord in the Gospel ; Mar , 2. Iesus seeing their faith that laid down before him the sicke of the palsie by vncouering the house , we reade that he had compassion on them , and healed the sicke . Niniuie that great citie , ouer which it was proclamed that within fortie daies it should bee destroyed , was defended by their children . Ionas was offended for the gourd which was eaten with wormes : the Lords answere to Ionas was this : Doost thou well to be angry with thy selfe for the gourd ? and he said I doe well to bee angry euen vnto death : Then saide the Lord thou hast had compassion on the gourd about the which thou bestowedst no labour , neither madest it grow , which came vp in a night , & perished in a night : And shal I not spare Niniuie that great citie , in the which are more then sixescore thousand persons that know not their right hand & their left , and also much cattell ? Behold an armie inough to deliuer a citie , euen a greater citie then is vpon the earth , euen 120000. children that know not the difference betwéene the right hand and the left . Here the number which in the Lords behalfe we reiect , are rebellious to his mightie hande : to whom it is as easie to ouercome by few as by many , in the slaughtering of children is left as waighed , and found most heauie : wée as sinfull men , are waighed in Gods ballance , and be we few or many are found too light . Gen. 18. But were there fiftie iust men in a citie ? if thirtie ; if tenne ; would not our God spare that citie ? Shall we speake after the example of Abraham , and comune with the highest , being but dust and ashes : If there be ten sucking children in a citie or towne ; if thirtie ; if fiftie ; shall not our Lord God spare a village , towne , or citie , for ten ; thirtie ; or fiftie sucking children which shal be found in it ? the children with the number of impotent men and women , in stead of iust and righteous men , is all we can say or doe in this sinfull generation ? Shall the righteous be slaine ? shall women great with child ? shall the aged and the grayheaded ? shall not the poore be left in the land to till the ground ? shall fire and sword deuoure assoone the sicke and maymed , as the rest ? doth not wars drink bloud in stead of wine or water ; euen the bloud of souldiers , armies , captains , men , women , and children ? Quis talia fando Mirmidonum Dolopumue autdiri miles Vlissis , temperet a lachrimis ? Who can pitie or ponder of these things without teares ? Venit summa dies , & ineuitabile tempus Dardanidis : Is there but one citie that may say , our last day and not able to be lamented inough is come vpon vs ? it is not the righteousnesse or wisedome of man ; it is not our bowe or shield , that may deliuer vs ; a horse is but a vaine thing to saue a man ; our arme is but flesh , our gold is but clay ; may we alledge with Ezechias , all our burnt offrings and sacrifices ? let vs alledge our sucking children , women with child , the aged , the impotent , the innocent . Palamides when Vlisses fained that he was besides himselfe , that he might not be pressed to the warrs , set his child before his plow-share , to sée whether there was nature or pitie left in him towards his owne child ; whereby he preuailed and ouercame him . In like maner , whereas through our great and manifold transgressions , as also , through sundry and condigne coercions for the same , we sée not but that the heauie wrath of the almighty , against our nation , cities , towns , is inkindled to their vtter extirpation and ruine . Let vs not onely set Christ Iesus our onely mediatour and aduocate ; his onely begotten sonne , betwéene our sinnes and his wrathfull displeasure : but also as his creatures clouded and cladded with flesh and bloud , buried and darkned with earth and ashes , offer our babes and sucklings , as liuing sacrifices to our almigtie & most mercifull father , not like our fathers in the old time , which killed lambes , goats and heiffors ; nor the heathenish idolaters , which offred their children to Moloch , as otherwise , so vpon the approching of their warlike enemies : but as sinfull men redéemed by thy deare sonne , estéeming babes and children more righteous then our selues ; we beséech thée , that as thou once sparedst Niniuie that great citie , for the thousands of children which were in it : so for the sparing of children , be they few or many that are in cities townes and villages , it may please thée of thy fatherly goodnesse , to stay the rage of tyrants , to still the furiousnesse of souldiers , to aswage the madnes of people : that the young ones with the dams may not be choaked together ; that the kidd be not sodde in her mothers milke ; that hearts hardned like the adamant may bée softened , not by the bloud of goats , but by the bloud , though vnshed , of sucking children ; that yong and old , the children with the parents , if it be thy holy will , may inioy to praise and magnifie thy holy name together . The dead praise not thee , nor all they that goe into silence ; I will not die but liue ( saith the prophet ) and declare the works of the Lord . Neuerthelesse , wée as groning to the augmentation of sinfulnes , and heaping to our selues daily the wrath of God for a treasure , vnderstand not , whether we shal doe better , to liue or to die , only be it doubtfull , whether the sufficient number set out for an armie , able men , worthy captaines , with competent strength and counsell , ( for gold may not be counted able to deliuer vs from the hands of our enemies ) rather than an armie mustred of women and children , of the féeble , silly , halt , blind , maimed , aged , impotent , frequenting the church or churches , giuing themselues ouer to all holines , fighting by prayer , and both inwardly and outwardly vniting , and gathering together in Christ Iesus our Sauiour . Leonidas said it was better to goe into the field with an armie of harts , a lyon being their captain , then hauing but a hart to be their captaine , though all the armie were of lyons . Againe the same Leonidas against the Persians , séeing his souldiers inioying their dinners ouermuch : Sic inquit prandete milites , tanquam apud inferos coenaturi . I pray my souldiers , ( saith he ) so take your dinners , as they which are to supp in their graues . For let not any thinke it a friuolous comparison ; betwéene this féeble host gathering to praier at home , and a mighty armie euen lawfully set out against forreine enemies . For if Leonidas iudgment be allowed , that the hope of the victorie resteth in the captaine , and that souldiers should eate and drinke as beholding death before the eies : Let vs protect our selues , Apoc . 19. with that captaine that goeth out conquering , and to ouercome , whose eyes are as a flame of fire , on whose head are many crownes ; whose vesture is dipt in bloud ; whose name is called the word of God ; out of whose mouth goeth a sharpe sword , who treadeth the wine fatt of the fiercenesse and wrath of almightie God ; who hath on his vesture , and on his thigh a name written , King of kings , and Lord of Lords ; vnder this captaine we shall obtaine a corruptible crown or incorruptible ; if after Leonidas counsell we dine and sup : that is , if we liue as men still subiect to death : according to that saying of the Apostle : 1. Cor . 15.10 . Why stand wee in ieopardie euery houre ? by our reioycing which I haue in Christ Iesus our Lord , I die daily : If I haue fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men , what aduantageth it me if the dead rise not ? let vs eat and drinke , for to morrow we shall die . In these words by the way , all Atheisme and Epicurisme are condemned : in the meane season sée in S. Paul a patterne of a good seruant and souldier of Iesus Christ , he standeth in ieopardie euery houre ; he dyeth daily ; he fighteth with the beasts , either in déed by way of punishment , or spiritually with vnreasonable men , quorum non est fides : for so he calleth such as had no faith in them . Our very life is a warfare vpon the earth , our christian life a double warfarre and extreame danger : A thréefold knott is not easily broken ; the Persians , ( that is our deadliest enemies ) are comming vpon vs : it is not Cales or Callis , or some few townes in England , Spaine , or Ireland , sacked or ruinated , that are all the miseries we haue to expect in these bitter warrs , threatned to all the world . If it be too much to be intangled with the affaires of this life at any time ? if we be not crowned at any time vnlesse we striue lawfully ? if we may at no time eate or drinke without measure ? if alwaies we must looke to our meats and drinks , that they be within measure of health and abstinent behauior ? How much rather should men beware of scandalous implications , vnlawfull striuings , inordinate diets , and become most temperate in our meats , most modest in our behauiour ; but aboue all things most innocent in our doings , most penitent for our offences , and most readie for amendment of life ; when seeing death approcheth , if not to night or to morrow , ( yet as it is commonly said ) within a day or two , or ( as it may be truely said , ( within a moneth or two , or a yeare or two : Because deaths that are sodaine , are in warrs most dreadfully , and most ineuitably to be looked for ; if this iudgement of death were according to the wisedome of christian men receiued , I might séeke to arme our souldiers , ( fighting only vnder the banner of Christ Iesus ) against the feare of death ; as also against sinne and sathan , with all other ghostly and inuisible temptations : but now I haue , only with the bitter remembrance of death , to bring if I could , men seeking rest and comfort in their substance and riches , hauing nothing to vexe them , hauing prosperitie , and which are well able to receiue their meats , and to thinke better of their mortallitie and sinfull natures , and thereby to ioine with the godly and poore saints , striuing in all supplications and prayers against sinne , death , and sathan ; knowing themselues to bee subiect to death , with all other temptations aswell as all others . Death is the iudgement ouer all flesh , & as it asketh not how long one hath liued , Eccle . 41. as whether 10. or a 100. or a 1000. yéeres : so it asketh not whether one haue hundreds or thousands of riches , or how much he hath ? I doe not sée but this time is more dreadfull to such , then to the poore and néedie , and therefore they might be armed the rather against the losse of this life , but that they neither thinke of death , neither can they see that their dayes are short and euill ; wherin they are found not onely vnarmed , but also vnclothed of all holy wisedome ; some nice or curious armour , as themselues , so other men wish to them , not vnlike Vulcanes harnesse which Homer faineth to be deuised for Achilles : For touching his own harnesse , Patroclus lost it when he fought with Hector : for euen so the first or second time they fought in flesh and bloud , sinne and the world , they lost their harnesse . Qui non potuit primas partes prudentiae , recipiat secundas poenitentiae . saith S. Augustine . Hee that could not withstand at first by wisedome , let him stand at last by repentance . We cal you from fleshly and worldly wisedome , to godly wisedome , repentance , prayer , with all other holinesse , aswell as your poore brethren : for wee haue no other wedding garment , no other clothing , no other armour for you , but the same which we name . Séeke not with Alexander for Aristotle ; with Caesar for Seneca ; with Pausanias for Simonides . Remember that Abraham saith to the rich man in the parable : They haue Moses and the Prophets . If they heare not them , though one came from dead , they would not beleeue . Be humble and méeke with Dauid ; appeare not still with Saul , as though ye were by the head and shoulders higher then all your brethren . S. Paul doth arme a christian souldier , Ephesians 6. reade the place , consider it , put on the armour with your brethren , they are your fellow souldiers and fellowe seruants in Christ Iesus . S. Augustine writing to S. Ierome , alleadgeth this place of scripture , and layeth to him some others out of the bookes of the Kings , Psalmes , and Chronicles which are materiall and incident to the thing we séeke for , which I thought good to cite at large , his words bee these : Nostra armatura Christi est , & Apostoli Pauli institutio . Assumite armaturam Dei , vt possitis resistere in die malo ; & rursus state succincti lumbos vestros in veritate , & induti loricam iustitiae , & calceati pedes in praeparationem Euangelij pacis ; super omnia accipientes scutum fidei , in quo possitis vniuersa tela maligni ignita extinguere ; & galeam salutis accipite , & gladium spiritus , quod est verbum Dei : His quondam telis , Rex Dauid armatus procedebat ad praelium , & quinque lapides de torrente accipiens leuigatos , nihil asperitatis , & sordium inter huius saeculi turbines in sensibus suis esse monstrabat ; bibens de torrente in via , & ideirco exaltatus caput , superbissimum Goliah suo potissimum mucrone truncauit : percutiens in fronte blasphemum & in ea parte corporis vulneratus , in qua , & presumptor sacerdotij Ozias lepra percutitur , & sanctus gloriatur in domino , dicens ; signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui domine . Dicamus igitur & nos , Paratum est cor meum , Deus paratum cor meum , cantabo , & psallam in gloria mea ; exurge Psalterium , & cithara , exurgam diluculo : vt in nobis possit impleri : Aperi os tuum , & ego adimplebo illud , & dominus dabit verbum Euangelizantibus virtute multa : and againe after a few sentences , conteining familiar matter betwéene S. Ierome and himselfe , he addeth : Et in Paralipomenon libro legimus quod filij Israel , ad pugnandum processerint mente pacifica , inter ipsos quoque gladios , & effusiones sanguinis , & cadauera prostratorum , non suam sed pacis victoriam cogitantes . Our armour is Christ saith S. Augustine , and the Apostles information in the sixt of the Ephesians : Take vnto you the armour of God , that yee may be able to resist in the euill day ; and again , stand therefore , hauing your loynes girt about with the truth , and hauing on the brestplate of righteousnesse , and your feete shod to the preparation of the Gospel of peace : aboue all , taking the shield of faith , wherwith ye may quench al the firie darts of the wicked ; & take the helmet of saluation , and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God . With these weapons king Dauid being armed went to the battell , and taking smoth stones out of the riuer , shewed there was no roughnesse , or myre of this world in his senses ; drinking of the riuer in the way , and therefore hauing lift vp his head , slew the most proud Golias with his owne sword , striking the blasphemer in the browe , and wounding him in that part of the body , in the which Ozias presuming the Priests office , was stricken with a leprosie , and the holy one glorieth in the Lord , saying : The light of thy countenance is sealed vpon vs. Let vs therefore say also , my heart is fixed O God , my heart is fixed , I will sing and giue praise ; Awake lute and harpe , I my selfe will awake right early ; that it may be fulfilled in vs , ( open thy mouth , and I will fill it : ) God gaue the word , great was the number of preachers . And also we reade in the Chronicles , that the children went out to fight with a peaceable minde , in the middest of swords , and effusions of bloud , and carkasses of men lying on the ground , not minding their owne , but the victorie of peace . These scriptures S. Augustin wrighteth to Saint Ierome , to no other intent , but that their contention about certaine questions , and writings might procéede without bitternesse : This armour alleadged by S. Augustine out of the 6. of the Ephesians is well knowne , as also the historie of Goliah in the first and seuentéene of Samuell : likewise the leprosie of Ozias the king for vsurping the priests office , 2. Chr , 26. Now wheras S. Augustine vpon this , that the leprosie sprang in the kings foreheade , compares it with Dauids stone , which sunck into Goliahs forehead , alleadging also out of the Psalmes . Signatum lumen vultus tui . &c. As the conceit is both from his matter and ours : so wee may obserue his superstitious obseruation of the letter , as though the brow were any péece of the matter , either in Ozias or Goliah , more then that their fal was more shameful and apparant . We néed not feare to affirme that there were many superstitions , defects and errours in the auncient fathers , which as we reuerence notwithstanding , so we haue good cause to marueile that the weaknesse of godly preachers , and writers is not better borne in this age : Errare possum , haereticus esse nolo . So long as men are found neither erronious or hereticall , wherefore should not our truth ouerpoyse our defects : whereas they , notwithstanding their superstitions ( for I will not say heresies ) are allowed , and honored . But lest I should enter vpon new matter : S. Augustine citing the whole booke of the Chronicles , for the victorie of peace , sought for in the time of warrs ; alleadgeth as though at somtime the children of Israel went into the fielde with a mind , minding peace , which peace among the carkasses of dead men and effusion of bloud , they retayned ; within that sence so much to his purpose and ours , to say the truth , I find not in all the booke of Chronicles : in stéede whereof , we may alleadge for our examples , the histories of king Asa , Iosaphat , Ezekias , which by praiers rather than by arms , preuailed against their enemies . So were the Egyptians , the Moabites , and Amonites , Zenacherib and the Assirians deliuered into the hands of the king of Iudah , the manner of which kings , in their going out to battell , the forme of their prayers , with the rest that belonged to the sanctifying of the warres would not be omitted : But that for the instruction of godly captaines , armies , and souldiers , the whole bookes of the Kings , should rather with S. Augustine be alleadged , then an act or two . As though they excéeded that should doe it ; or as though it were lesse then dutiful , to performe the like feare of God ; or as though it were most shamefull and perilous to aduenture kingdomes , peoples , armies , cities , townes , villages , and the liues of men , vpon mens witts or stratagemes . As one therfore who may not doubt , but our captaines , with their armies performe this pietie and feare of God , in their attempts and enterprises , I must call vpon persons addicted to their home and peace , to ioyne in prayer with their brethren , that are in the field . Thinke not ( dearely beloued in our Sauiour Iesus Christ ) but that faith with prayer , and true holinesse , is of greatest strength to subdue all our visible or inuisible , our ghostly or mortal enemies . Giue me leaue to borrow word for word , that famous saying of the authour to the Hebrewes , speaking in this wise : Heb . 11. What shall I say more ? For the time would faile me to rehearse of Gideon , Baruch and of Sampson , and of Iephtah , of Dauid also , and Samuel , and of the prophets , which through faith subdued kingdomes , wrought righteousnesse , obteyned the promises , stopped the mouthes of lyons quenched the violence of fire , escaped the edge of the sword , out of weakenesse were made valiant in fight , turned to flight the armies of the aliants . Hereof we sée , that faith whereunto wee are recommended by the Apostle , as it is neuer intempestiue , so is it as I had almost alleadged , best in season , when kings or aliaunts offer violence by warres : for is it not faith which maketh vs to approch and draw néere to our Lord God : who maketh warres to cease in all the world ? is it not he that breaketh the bowe and knappeth the speare in sunder ? Is there any king that can be saued by the multitude of an host ; or is there any man deliuered , by much strength ? shall it bee doubted to whom it is saide at this day ; I am the Lord thy God , which brought thee out of the land of Egypt , Psal . 33. Open thy mouth wide , and I shall fill it : and , Oh that my people would haue hearkened vnto me ; for if Israel had walked in my waies I should soon haue put downe their enemies , Psal . 81. and turned my hand against their aduersaries ; the haters of the Lord should haue beene found lyars , but their time should haue indured for euer : he should haue fedde them also with the finest wheat flower , and with honie out of the stony rock shold I haue satisfied thee . But in steed of al that might shew the Lord to giue victorie to whom it pleaseth him , and that which is not denyed in déede , but would bee better waighed , before menns stratagems be intended or atchiued , that the Lord of hosts is the mightiest captaine , of greatest counsell and strength ; let the godly often meditate in the 28. of Deuteronomie , the comminations and consolations by Moses contemplating , to whom with all the rest , this is threatned . If thou hearken not vnto the voyce of the Lord thy God , to keepe and doe all his commandements and his ordinances which I commaund thee : cursed shalt thou bee , when thou goest out , and cursed when thou commest in : the Lord shall cause thee to fall before thine enemies ; thou shalt come out one way against them , and flee seuen waies before them , and shalt be scattered among all kingdomes of the earth ; thy carkasses shal be meat , &c. again , If thou shalt hearken diligently vnto the voice of the Lord thy God , and obserue and doe all his commaundements which I commaund thee this day : blessed shalt thou be in the citie , and blessed in the field ; the Lord shall giue ouer thine enemies that rise against thee , that they may fall before thy face , they shall come out against thee one way , and flee before thee seuen ways . These promises and punishments being outwardly conceiued ; are to be read consolabilitèr , not certitudinalitèr : that is , not as certaine , but by way of consolation : for the state of christianite , and the very age of the world , doth promise rather ruines and troubles , then victories or other glorie to the children of God . For shall wée put you in hope , that ( if in a citie or towne readie to be sacked and besieged , men harken at that instant more diligently to the voyce of God , and obserue his commaundements , and resort to publike prayer , namely on the Sabboth dayes , wednesdaies , and Fridaies ; than at al other times , with better mind , and deuotions ) God shal spare that towne or citie ? No , but protesting that conquests and ruines , felicities and miseries , depend of the Lord of hostes : wee will that his angell should find some bloud sprinckled , either vpon the postes of our houses , or the messenger hauing on linen rayment , and ( as it is in the eight of Ezekiel ) a writers horne by his side , going through our cities , should set a mark in our foreheads , lest not being found to bee of those which mourne and are sorie , for all the abhominations that are done in that citie , the heauiest wrath light vpon vs. Bée not like the Israelits , which estéemed Mannah too little , and the quailes too much : For it is written : that while the quailes were in their mouthes , the Lord slew the wealthiest of them . Be not like Esau , who estéemed his porridg and hunting too much , and his birthright too little : For it is left written , that by hunting , and for a messe of porridge , he lost his birthright : It is wel known , that faith , prayers , with other holy exercises , are loathed as light bread . Are ye not in this like Naaman , that great man and captaine of the host of the king of Syria , who when Elizeus had said : Wash thee seuen times in Iordan , and thou shalt be clensed : he became wroth , and said : Behold , I thought he will surely come out , and stand and call vppon the name of the Lord his God , and put his hands on the place , that he may heale the leprosie . Are not Abana and Pharphar , riuers of Damasco , better than all the waters of Israel : If I wash me also in them , shall I not be cleansed ? And is not this the arrogant and presumptuous mindes of the worldly , which preferreth Abanah and Pharphar , that is , the riuers of Damasco , euen the counsels , and the strengths of the world , before the waters of Iordan ; that is , before the counsels and strength of the Lord . And where is it that Naaman thinks , that the Prophet should stand forth and pray to his God for him ? whence had Pharaoh to wish Moses and Aaron to pray , that such and such things should not light vpon him ? 3. Reg . 12. whence had Ieroboam to say to the man of God : pray that my hand may be restored : For though it may doe wel , and there is some difference ; yet the delight is not good . Ought yee not to pray for your selues ? no altars , no sacrifices of your owne ? vnderstand ye not that yeare a royall priesthood , a chosen generation ? or vndestand it we feare ye doe , but doctrinaliter not disciplinaliter : by way of doctrine , to improue an heresie ; but not by way of discipline to enforme your selues : yée say we are no priests ; we say ye are no kings ; yet ioyning both together we say , both by way of doctrine , as also by way of discipline , that yee are both kings and priests . Vnusquisque regem gerit in pectore , Euery man is a king in his owne conceit . In this sence they are kings , 1. Pet . 2. or as S. Peter speaketh . Presumptuous they are , and stand in their owne conceite , and being led with sensualitie , speake out swelling words of vanitie , making vp their kingdomes with raging and swelling : Isaie 57. foming out as S. Iude speaketh their owne shame . The wicked haue no peace , saith the prophet , but are like the raging sea that cannot rest , whose water fometh with myre and grauell . It is in the eight of Esay : Forasmuch as this people refuseth the still running water of Silo , and put their delight in Razin and Romelias sonne : Behold the Lord shall bring mighty & great flouds of water vpon thē , namely the king of the Assyrians with all his power , which shall clime vp vpon all his flouds , and run ouer all his banks ; and shall breake in vpon Iudah , he shal flow & passe through , til he come vp to the necke ; he shal fill also the widenesse of thy land with his winges . If it be lawful to compare England with Iudah , and our enemies with the Assirians ? Are there not two or thrée smoking firebrands : ( for so are the two kings of Ephraim and Assyria , named in the seuenth of Isaie ) at whose rage and furiousnes our hearts may quake , yea and the hearts of all the people ; like as the trées of the wood are moued with the wind ? may we not to such end , cite that misticall birth and name of Isaie the Prophets sonne , who was commaunded of the Lord at his conception to call him {αβγδ} which word for word is as much as , Make spéed to the pray , make hast to the spoile . And wherefore this name should bee giuen to the child , it followeth . Or euer the child shall haue knowledge to cry my father and mother , shall the riches of Damascus , and the spoile of Samaria be taken away , or as we may otherwise reade : The souldier shall take away the riches of Damascus , and the people of Samaria , from the face of the king of the Assirians . Indented therefore it was and registred , in the name of the child , that Damascus , Samaria and Iudah which followeth , were within a short time , as within a yeare or two , to expect the greatest inuasion from Rezin king of Ashur , which inuasion or inuasions , are compared to great floudes of water : according to the interpretation in the Apocalips , Aquae multae ; tribulationes multae : Many waters , many troubles . Nowe should England say with the prophet , Indica nos domine , de terra non sancta . Iudge O Lord betweene vs and an vnholy nation : for wee may not still , eyther compare our selues with Israel or Iudah or forreine enemies , with the Aegyptians , or the Assirians ; but onely that this most propheticall and misticall name of the child , may remember vs , in what state or daunger we are in , from our enemies , who are so neare to England , especially some of them , that they are to say one to another ; Make hast to the pray , make spéede to the spoile . And as Cato that ancient Romain , shewed a gréen figge from Carthage in the Senat of Rome ; shewing that the citie of Carthage was too néere Rome for the Romaines to bee secure of them : So England is to be remembred , how neare our enemies are , howe readie lacking but opportunitie , to offer both Bellum & latrocinium , or ( if it hath bin presumed , for it is too late to presume it nowe ) that they are not able to offer iust warrs : yet wherefore should not wasting and spoiling be feared , as menacing detriment and destruction to the innocent subiect , in so much as that or euer the childe that is new borne , haue knowledge to cry : My father , and my mother , the riches of our regions , or spoyle of our cities , or at least our villages , and euen the houses , wiues , children , with other goods and cattels , of our fellow subiects , lie open to extreame ruin and danger . Here I haue nothing to doe with Verres and Lucullus , two Roman captaines , of whom complaint was made ; that their comming into the Roman prouinces , were so burdenous to their confederats , that the detriments from them , differed not much from the depopulations or extortions of true enemies : according to that saying . Cur hostis Hannibal , si tu ciuis ? Wherefore should Hannibal be counted an aduersary ? if he be a true citizen that extorteth , oppresseth , or wasteth , either the subiect or confederate . Whereof our Lord doth protest and testifie by Ieremie , saying : Amend your waies and your counsels ; oppresse not the stranger , the fatherlesse , & widow , and then will I let you dwell in this place . But take heed ye trust not in lying tales , that beguile you , and doe you no good ; for when yee haue stollen , murthered , committed adultery and periury , shall yee be vnpunished ? yet then come yee & stand before me in this house , which hath my name giuen vnto it , and say : tush , we are absolued quite , although we haue committed all these abhominations . Goe to my place in Siloe ; and seeing yee haue done all these deeds , ( saith the Lord ) therefore as I haue done vnto Siloe , so will I doe with this house , and I shall thrust you out of my sight . In this place the Prophet testifieth , that it is vaine to hold of the temple of the Lord , to offer sacrifices , to kéepe his sabboths , vnlesse the oppressour cease from his tyrannie , the swearer from periurie , the murtherer from bloud , the theefe from stealing , the adulterer from fornication ; by the which wee may vnderstand ( aswell as if they were specified ) all other euils and abhominations . I haue not chosen to crie out of these things , but vpon the carelesse and secure , though giltlesse of these notorious abhominations ; to these notwithstanding , because charitie hopeth all things , and indureth all things . Cor . 13. I send two or three Scriptures wherein they may examine themselues , whether such enormities as are registred there , be found within themselues . In the 58. of Esay : They seeke me daily , and will know my waies , euen as it were a people that did right . Of whom it is demaunded in the 58. Psalme : Are your mindes set vpon righteousnes O ye congregation , or do yee iudge the thing that is right , O ye sonnes of men ? Yea , yee imagine mischiefe in your hearts vpon the earth , and your hands deale with wickednesse . In the fift of Ieremie , This people ( saith he ) hath a false and obstinate heart , they are departed and gone away from me , they think not in their hearts : Oh let vs feare the Lord our God , that giueth vs raine early and late , which keepeth still the haruest yearely : Neuerthelesse your misdeedes haue turned these things from you , from among my people are found wicked persons , that priuily lay snares and wait for men to take them , and destroy them ; and like as a net is full of birdes , so are their houses full of that which they haue gotten , with falshood and deceit . Hereof commeth their great substance and riches ; heereof are they fatte and wealthy , and runne away from me with shameful blasphemies ; they minister not the law , they make no ende of the fatherlesse cause , they iudge not the poore according to equitie . Should I not punish for these things saith the Lord , or should not my soule be auenged of such a nation as this ?

A very glasse it is , aswell for priuate persons , as also for whole congregations , townes , cities and countries , which is left in the 22. of Ezechiel concerning Ierusalem : Thus saith the Lord : O thou citie that sheddest bloud in the midst of thee , that thy time may come also when thou hast caused thy day to draw nigh , and made the time of thy yeares to come , therefore the Lord wil make thee to be confounded among the heathen , and to be despised in all the lands . In thee haue they oppressed the straunger ; in thee haue they vexed the widdowe , and fatherlesse ; in thee haue they dispised father and mother ; thou hast despised my holy things , and defiled my sabboths ; tale-tellers are there in thee to shed bloud ; in thee are such as eate vppon the hills , and in thee they commit fornication ; in thee they discouer their fathers shame ; in thee they haue humbled her that was set a part for pollution : euery man hath dealt shamefully with his neighbours wife , and abhominable defiled his daughter in lawe ; in thee hath euery man forced his owne sister , euen his fathers daughter : thou hast taken vsurie and encrease , thou hast oppressed thy neighbours by extortion , and forgotten me ( saith the Lord God ) Behold I haue smitten my hands , vpon thy couetousnes that thou hast vsed , and vpon the bloud which hath beene shedde in thee : Is thine heart able to endure ? or may thy hands be strengthened , in the daies that I shall haue to doe with thee ? To these two scriptures I referre thee ; the one in the 22. of Ezekiel , the other in the seuenth of Ieremie , for exhorting all sorts to zealous prayer , to the kéeping of the Lords Sabboths , to heartie and true repentance , and ( to speake all at once ) to awake men out of that deadly sléep of securitie , because of these most perilous times ; I should but flatter , and men should but flatter themselues , if they should think by fasting or prayer , wéeping and mourning , or any other oblation or sacrifice , they might either turne the wrath of God from them to cease from punishing , or become reconciled vnto his mercifull fauour and kindnesse : vnlesse where there is a fire of euill , as of enuie and maliciousnesse , wee séeke to extinguish it ; where there is a sink of euill , as of vncharitablenesse and couetousnesse , wee seeke to exhaust it ; where there is a roote of euill , as of pride and ambition , we séeke to extirpate it ; where there is a storme of euill , as of crueltie and tyrannie , wee seeke to aswadge it ; where there is a bush-downe of euil , full of brambles and bryars , as of frowardnesse , wilfulnesse , wrong and vngratiousnesse , wée séeke to grubbe it vp , wéede it out , and vtterly to exile it . Of these things the pen of the writer , as well as the voyce of the prophet , hath exclamed in all ages : But as water is poured out vpon the outside of a vessell ; as a fire is kindled when no man warmes himselfe at it ; as a dinner ordeyned , when all inuited refuse to come ; as when a deafe man is taught , & a dead man is cured : so we are offended : and as Saint Paul speaketh , we burne , and are scandalized , séeing the indignation and heauie wrath of the almightie , and thereby beseeching your escape , or amendement : for as the prophet saith : Are your hearts able to endure ? are your hands able to strengthen you , in the time which the Lord shall bring vpon you . Our words or hand-writings whatsoeuer , take no place in you ; should we therefore cease to exclaime , that sinne and wickednes is the extirpation of cities , townes , armies , realmes , peoples , and kingdomes ? shall men , women and children say ; in cinere vrbis ; that is , when the citie is become towardes dust and ashes - Nonne praescisse oportuit nos antea ? Nonne communicatos oportuit ? Should not we haue béene told of these things before ? should not wee haue béene participated in these things before ? wee are readie therefore to pronounce with Ionas : Adhuc 40. dies & destruetur Niniueh : yet fortie dayes and Niniueh shall be destroyed ; wee are readie to vpbraide townes , and cities with our Sauiour , vae tibi Corazin ; vae tibi Bethsaida : Matt . 11. woe to thée Corazin ; wo to thée Bethsaida : And thou Capernaum which art lifted vp to heauen , shalt bee throwne downe to hell . But wee challenge the hearers and readers patience and kindnesse ; for must wee néedes name the cities or townes of our owne natiue countrey ? How ? for we knowe not which , or which ; whether it be this or that towne , citie or village , which the Lord shall visit ; onely let not the day of the Lords visitation come vpon thée vnawares : wée turne therefore from multitudes , incorporations , and all dumbe things to such as haue eares to heare , or eyes to see , or hearts to vnderstand , to all which , we say with our Sauiour : Walke while yee haue light , the night will come , when no man can walke . There are but twelue houres of the day : it is almost night , if the best Astronomers bée not deceiued : whether it be so or not ; as euery man hath a day , so euery mans night commeth vpon him : be it , that the day of our life be twelue houres , or twelue yéeres of continuance ; what man , woman , or childe , may expect twelue yeares of life , where the sword deuoureth ? Doe we looke for Ahaz his dyall , that the degrées may goe backward ? or many such daies as Ioshua had ? For wee reade that one was as long as two , till he might bee auenged of his enemies : or for Hezechias , that fiftéene yeers should be added to our ages , because of all our burnt offerings and sacrifices ; I know not , but this is all that may be found of the prorogation of mens daies in the scriptures : but touching the shortning of the daies of the world in the Gospel ; of shortning our owne dayes in the Psalms ; should the scriptures be alleadged ? praxim mundi allegamus : mens liues are shortned at all times , and in all places . Who would euer haue thought , that they should not haue had eagles dayes , whose daies notwithstanding haue béene shortned in our eyes . Death comming , neuer asketh how long we haue liued , or how long we shall liue ; but cuts off the threed . The iudgment likewise of death is all one to few & to many ; for who would euer haue thought that our hundreds and thousands , which haue perished by shipwracks , warrs , strange sicknesses , should to so great a number haue béene shortned of their daies ? what is to be thought of houses , townes , and cities that are yet standing ? Moenia stant vt solebant , plusque re iam ipsa , extremam ruinam metuentia . The walles stand yet as they did before , looking when they shall be beaten to the ground . Neither the kings of the earth , nor all the inhabitants of the world , ( saith Ieremie ) would haue beleeued , that the enemie and aduersarie , should haue come in at the gates of the citie of Ierusalem ; which neuerthelesse is come to passe for the sin of her prophets , and for the wickednesse of the priests . Here , by example of Ierusalem , the prophet sheweth that there is no kingdome , citie or state , though the kings of the earth , and all the inhabitants of the world , would neuer beléeue , that it should be besieged , vanquished or subdued : yet that it is subiect to excision , extinction and vtter ruine ; which drownfall ( touching the states yet permanent ) were better wisedome to doubt of , then fortitude to liue without feare casting no perill ; for the shaking off of such security , I appeale now to the ministerie : for euen Ieremie in this place doth impute it to the sinne of her prophets , and to the wickednes of her priests , that the enemies and aduersaries entred the gates of the citie of Ierusalem ; then are priests also & prophets as sinners a part , matter , and cause of inuasions , extinctions , and extirpations by warres , or other iudgments of the Lord . The prophet ioyning priests , prophets , and people together , findeth , that horrible and grieuous things were done in the land : whereof he crieth out as he doth often : Should I not punish for these things ( saith the Lord ? ) or should not my soule be avenged of such a nation as this ? Neuerthelesse , I complaine not of horrible things done , but of holy things left vndone , as well of the priest as of the people . Yea I complaine that there hath béene nothing done of you in most tempestuous stormes , by reason of warres , rebellions , and other troubles , more than at all other times ; for wherefore doe not the priests mourne betwéene the temple and the altar ? accusing our doomb and sensles incredulitie , taking cause of these pitifull times , that they , with the people haue done nothing woorthy , of the Gospell which hath béen so many yéeres preached among vs. Hath the people béene excited and brought to walke woorthy of so heauenly a calling ? hath the priests resembled the liues of the prophets , Leuits or Nazarits ? haue they borne {αβγδ} , that is light and integriie in their breasts ? You haue heard of the patience of Iob ( saith the Apostle ) in imitation whereof ; I say yée haue heard , seene , and read of the faith , patience , pietie , and holinesse of all the patriarkes and prophets , wherunto your selues and we all are prescribed ; and what good hath come of it ? haue we repented with the Niniuits ? haue we fasted with Iosaphat ? haue we kept our passeouer like Iosias ? is there any that hath humbled himselfe with Manasses ? To conclude , is there any that hath stept forth like Zacheus , saying : Behold I giue halfe that I haue to the poore ; and if I haue taken any thing from any man by forged cavillation , I restore him foure fold . These are the fruits of stormes and tempests in a common-wealth , or church reformed , or reformable ; howbeit , men obliuious through wealthinesse , carelesse by custome , voide of feare through their long peace and safetie , are not aware of their very dutie to God-ward ; neither do they féele the thirst of the soule , whereof the priests of God may not be silent ; as if the soule were no theame , whereas it behooueth all Christians to contemplate rather the soules , than the bodies of a thousand or a hundred , which haue béene slaine in the field , or haue béene buried in the sea ; or haue suffered vnprouided death at a skirmish , siege , vprore , tumult , or violence whatsoeuer . I would not haue you ignorant brethren ( saith saint Paul ) concerning them which sleepe , &c. the whole place of Scripture condemneth , as vtter infidelity ; so our incredulitie which sée , heare , and make report , of sacking , razing , shipwrack , and losse of men : as how three or foure hundreth men ( skilful of nauigation ) were drowned at such a time , that foure or fiue thousand verie good souldiers were flaine at that siege , or at such a skirmish ; that flos & robur Italiae , the slower and strength of England is decayed , without remorse , sight , or mention made of the soule . Although the soule wherof we should haue blessed remembrance , felt no detriment ; I say not in catholike slaughters , but euen when the christian is faine to put off his gowne , & put on the harnes ; in stead of the church , to enter a castell ; in stead of praying , to fall a fighting : must not the soule be still silent and laid vp for the time , inuisible in the bodie ? Doe not men goe forth to warres with their bodies , as though they had no soules ? as though in the effusions of blood , we are not ( as it were ) taught of the prophet , Amos 6. to say one to another : Hold thy toong for we may not remember the name of the Lord . Therefore among all other calamities ; what may be compared , with wars , vproars and tumults ? which with most certaine damage to mens bodies , goods , and liues , inferreth most horrible corruptions to the soule ? for what place or time may there be for the priest or prophet ? for the statutes , ceremonies , or the vsuall sacraments , which with all reuerence ought to be alwaies administred and solemnized ; and therefore how long will it be , or we which are yet in peace , shall fight after the example of Iudas Machabeus and his people ; rather for the holy citie , sanctuarie and temple , then for our kinsfolkes , wiues , and children ? wherein as I referre the Reader to the last chapter of the Machabees : 2. Machab . 15 so in this holines assigned to Iudas Machabeus I wish obserued , the coniunction sought for in this treatise , betwéene the souldiers abroad , and the people at home , for so it followeth in the same place : Againe , they that were in the citie , were most carefull for those which were to fight . They ( saith he ) that were in the citie ( that is ) in peace to vs , but I follow not this as mentioned before . Shortly therefore drawing to an end , Vniuersities , schooles , the spiritualtie or cleargie , as also citizens , as not the best souldiers , I recommend to their gownes or cloaks , & to fall to prayer . As for the cleargie , of whom I haue begun to speake , though perswaded of them that they are as saint Paul saith of the Romanes , Rom. 15. filled with knowledge , able also to exhort one another : yet I haue somewhat more boldly to write vnto them in these words following ; as putting them in remembrance , through the grace that is giuen me of God , to what desolation , death and darkenes , the feare of God , true holines and godly knowledge is subiect : vnlesse if not with Atlas they carrie heauen ; yet vnlesse with the Leuits they carrie the Arke of God as it were on their shoulders into the land of Canaan . And first , to giue thē the quicker taste of the state , which warres bringeth vpon learned men and churchmen : Let it be accepted from saint Hierom , who writing to saint Augustin in these words , saith : Ezechielis volumen , olim ne gredi volui , & sponsionem creberrimam studiosis lectoribus reddere , sed in ipso dictandi exordio , ita animus meus , occidentalium provinciarum , & maxime vrbis Romanae vastasione confusus est , vt iuxta vulgare proverbium , proprium quoque ignorare vocabulum , diuque tacui , sciens tempus esse lachrimarum : hoc autem animo , cum tres explicassem libros , subitus impetus Barbarorum , de quibus tuus dicit Virgilius : lateque vagantes Barb . & sancta scriptura de Ismahel : contra faciem omnium fratrum suorum habitabit , sic Egypti limitem , Palaestinae Phaenices , Syriae praecurrit instar torrentis , cuncta secum trahens , vt vix manus eorum , misericordia Christi potuerimus euadere . Quod si iuxta inclytum oratorem , silent inter arma leges , quanto magis studium scripturarum , quod , &c. which may be this Englished . I would once haue set downe the volumne of Ezechiel , and pay that which I had often promised to studious Readers : but euen in the beginning when it should be set downe , my mind was so consounded with the wasting of the west prouinces , and especially of the citie of Rome , that after the common prouerb , I also forget mine owne name , & long I held my peace knowing it to be a time of teares . But this yéere when I had explaind 3. books , the sudden inuasion of the Barbarians ( of whom your Virgil saith : the Barbarians dispersing themselues far & wide : & the holy Scripture , of Ismael : He shal dwell against the face of all his brethren ) hath so runne ouer the bound of Egypt , of Palestine , of Phaenices , of Syria , like a full streame drawing all with it , that we were scarce able by the mercie of Christ , to escape their hands . And if it be so , that lawes haue no place in the time of warrs : according to that entire orator , how much more the studies of the Scriptures ? which &c. In vaine it were though I write to the learned , to rip up histories concerning Rome or other occidentall prouinces , or to shew a resemblance betweene this time , and the state of the Aegyptians , Phaenicians , Palaestines , Syrians intended by saint Hierom : we may not fall to our bookes when we shall fall a wéeping , first for our owne sins , then for the sins of the people : scientes esse tempus lachrimarum . This I intimate , considering which I learne of the Apostle : chiefly the season , the daies are euill : Rom. 13. the day of the Lord or the day of our visitation is at hand : it is time that wée should now awake out of sléepe : euery day is an expense of our life towards death ; the houre-glasse doth runne still ; our clock doth strike still ; the figge-trée with all other trees doth budde more and more ; the world is sicke and like to die : Aegritudo mundi est fames , Amb. in Luc . 21. ho . 10 aegritudo mundi est pestilentia , aegritudo mundi est persequutio . The sicknes of the world ( saith saint Ambrose ) is famine ; the sicknes of the world is the disease commonly called , the plague or pestilence ; the sicknes of the world , is persequution of warres ; which our time hath giuen me for a theam . S. Ambrose had spoken before more at large , and thereby laieth to this , the spirituall fight , which I send to my brethren of the cleargie : not as a new , but as their owne battell in time of forreine warres : his words be these : Sunt & alia bella , quae vir sustinet Christianus : diuersarum quoque proelia cupiditatum , studiorumque conflictus , multoque grauiores domestici hostes , quam extranei . Nunc auaritia stimulat , nunc accendit libido , nunc metus terret , nunc iracundia exagitat , nunc ambitio mouet , nunc terrere tentant spiritualia nequitiae , quae sunt in coelestibus , itaque quasi quibusdam vrget proelijs , & quibusdam terrae motibus , quatitur mobilis mutantis animi affectus , sed fortior dicit : si constant aduersum me castra , non timebit , cor meum : si exurget aduersum me proelium , in hoc ego sperabo : In English . There are also other warres , which the Christian man sustaineth ; the battels also of sundry affections and conflicts of indeuors and inward enemies , much more grieuous than outward . Now couetousnes spurreth , now lust kindleth , now feare terrifieth , now anger vexeth , now ambition mooueth , now spirituall craftines in heauenly things tempteth : therefore the affect of the minde declining and mooueable , is forced ( as it were ) from certaine battell , and as it were from earthquakes , shaketh for feare : but the valiant saith : though an host of men rise against me , my heart shall not be affraid : though warre rise up against me , I will put my trust in him : this warfare , though it be at all times , and of all Christians to be indured : yet seeing your seuerall flockes and people are actually , & not you , mustered , and prest indéed against the forrein enemie : it is yours , both as men , and as ministers , most vigilantly to looke to it for your selues and others . But to exemplifie as from saint Ambrose , as also from Chrisostom we reade : when the people of Antioch were in great feare of vexation , confiscation , depopulation , for defacing the image of the Emperour Theodosius , how zealous , or rather how sedulous , hee was as under his bishop , which is mencioned by me , intending this to the popular ministers , not to all , how industrious I say saint Chrisostom was to performe saint Pauls illation in the 11. & 5. Thess. warne them that are vnruly ; comfort the féeble minded ; lift vp the weake ; be patient towards al men ; there followed after a great tempest , a great calme : for by the clemencie of the Emperour Theodosius , the citie was pardoned . Now we read also of saint Augustine in Hipponensi obsidione that hée cried vnto God the Lord : aut vt ciuitatem ab hostibus circumdatam liberaret : aut vt seruos suos , ad perferendam suam voluntatem fortes faceret , aut se de hoc saeculo , acciperet : That it might either please him to deliuer the citie of Hippo , being compassed of enemies ; or to make strong his seruans , to suffer his good pleasure ; or to take him out of this world . S. Augustine lay in his death bed when the citie of Hippo whereof he was bishop was besieged ; Possido . de vita Aug. and died about the third moneth of the siege . Doth not these fathers , and especially saint Hierom , and saint Augustine teach vs at such a time , to water our couches with teares , and to thinke vpon our God when we are waking ? shall it be thought so woonderfull , as though it were saint Augustines horizon , that he onely in so extreame a siege should thinke of the soules of men , as well as of their bodies ? for thus it is written of him : hanc ferocissimam grassationem , ille homo Dei & factam fuisse & fieri , non vt caeteri homines sentiebat , & cogitabat : sed altius & profundius , ea considerans , & in his animarum precipue , vel pericula , vel mortes praeuidens : fuerunt ei lachrimae panis , die , ac nocte . This most fierce robbing & slaying , that man of God did not think , or take to be done , like other men ; but considering of these things more profoundly and déepely , and foreséeing in these , either perils or deaths , chiefly of soules , his bread was mingled with wéeping night and day : what is it then ? should we do well to take our beds and fal a wéeping : No my brethren ; for as saint Hierom admonisheth : that it is Tempus lachrimarum ; so saint Ambrose , that it is Tempus pugnarum : And as saint Augustin tooke his bed , as one that was to die : So saint Chrisostom became most busie and stirring in the citie , as one that was to liue . Howbeit all these fathers doe shew , and the thing it selfe is most euident , that in time of seditions , vproars , tumults , warres , men should not onely put on their harnesse ; but that Christians , and especially the annointed of the Lord , should fall a wéeping or working , studying or striuing wrestling or fighting ; not so extraordinarily , as more spiritually , more feruently and zealously , than at all other times . Be not discomfited though yee be blamed , for violent or importunate , for intempestiue works are well allowed . You know what our Sauiour saith of Iohn Baptists time : The kingdome of heauen suffereth violence , and the violent pluckt it vnto them . Yée are derided for standing so much vpon comelines in profession : learne of souldiers , mariners , physicians , and all other good members of the commonwealth , and you shall find that they all vse extreame remedies , in extreame dangers . Be there no other circumstance euen for the weale of the soule ; how oft are yee called vpon , to plant , to water , to build , to runne , to striue , to wrestle , to fight , in stead of the rest : Hearken ( though not onely spoken to you ) our Sauiour , saying : striue to enter in at the straight gate : for many I say vnto you will seeke to enter in and shall not be able . Sée my brethren , he saith not enter in , but striue to enter in : contendite intrare : hee saith not in the gate ; but the straight gate , arctam portam : he saith not many shall not enter in , but many shall séeke to enter in , and shall not be able : quaerent intrare multi , & non intrabunt . Incident to this , is that we haue in the third of Ieremie : I will take one out of the citie , and two out of one generation from among you , and bring you into Sion . That fiction also of the poet seruing better for this end , than for his owne imagination : de tot modo millibus vnum ; de tot modo millibus vnam : for I may not to such end , alleadge that saying of Ecclesiastes : Among a thousand men , I haue found one : but not one woman among all . But to draw to an end : Poetrie and all other learning , our owne collections and reasons , our applies and replies , may faile vs , and will faile vs ; the Gospell cannot faile for euer . Ego quidem vellem , & haec quae scribo , & illa quae antea in senatu quaestus sum , vana forent potius , quam miseria mea , fidem verbis faceret . Adherbal king of Numidia , in a letter to the Senate of Rome , against Iugurth , saith , or rather as it is in the historie : I verily had leauer the things which I now write , and which before I complained of in the Senate , were found vntrue , rather than that my miserie should giue credit to the wordes which I haue spoken : euen so it is not thanke-worthy , that we wish the seuere & mortall matters we write , or complaine of , were found vntrue . For was Niniuie destroyed , after that Ionas had proclaimed : that within fortie dayes Niniuie should be destroyed ? Ionas the priest , the Prophet , the minister , al that write or preach better things are put to shame and silence , if yee hearken vnto them , repent and amende your euill wayes : but if yee repent not , if yee will not hearken to the wholesome words of exhortation ; if ye wil not amend your liues , it is the Lord that saith . Till heauen and earth passe , one iot or one tittle of the law shall not scape till all be fulfilled .

Jod is an Hebrewe letter , and the least of the alphabet ; a tittle is lesse then a letter ; not the least letter therefore , or tittle of the lawe shall perish : and yet latine , gréeke , and Hebrew , with all other knowledges shall vanish away , scientia abolebitur : 1. Cor . 13. Wherefore that opposite or aduersatiue difference , left by our Sauiour betwéene heauen and earth , and the lawe , or word , is , that heauen and earth , with the elements shall melt with heate , vtterly consume , and come to nothing : Not an annihilation : but a dissolution of former frame and forme . but the law and the prophets , to the which may be added the Euangelists : and the Apostles shall by priuation , make but a way to their perfection : in so much as euery thing written in that booke , shall not haue their consumption , but their consummation . And therefore our Sauiour addeth in the 24. of Matthew : Till all these things be fulfilled : and in the 5. of Matthew : Till all be fulfilled ; Séeing therefore all must be fulfilled : that is , séeing all the curses and blesses of the holie scriptures must be accomplished ; the question not being whether they shall be ; but when they shall be . No hesitation of the thing , but if there be any of the time ; after lightning come thunder , after smoke fire ; after a cloud a tempest ; it remaineth , that as christian men , blest aswell with faith , as with reason it selfe : and thereby finding the misterie of fearefull troubles working alreadie , and the morning of euill gone forth : we wait , if not for the streams , the flames , and vttermost indignations of the Lord : yet according to the scriptures , for the beginning of sorrowes , for the preparatiues , the temptations , anxieties , perplexities , perils , and daungers , as continuall lights , and lightnings , foreshewing the thunder , which if we repent not , must néedes light vpon vs. It is written , Psal . 18. that the earth trembled and quaked , because he was wroth : that there went a smoke out of his presence , and a consuming fire out of his mouth , that at the brightnesse of his presence , the cloudes rayned hailestones , and coales of fire ; that the foundations of the world were discouered at his chyding at the blasting of the breath of his displeasure . What flesh , what witt , what reason is able to heare these things ? what heart shall not faile to consider them ? And yet whereas they sound continually from Gods house in the eares of his people , there is none that repenteth of his euil . Repentance , repentance is the thing that we crie for ; which is the onely remedie whereby these horrible threatnings may be preuented & auoyded . If we compare the wonderfull iudgments of God , as namely in the 18. Psalme , Apoc . 16. with the most terrible temptations , as in sundrie places ; so in the 16. of the Apoc . with that great obseruation , what might be the force of repentance , that if yée repent , or if yee doe not repent . I would thinke , that more then Iosias , Manasses , and Hezechias should shrinke , and humble themselues , or melt at it . In the 16. of the Apoc . when the vials of the wrath of God are powred vpon the earth , when the fourth Angell powreth his viall vpon the sunne : it is said , That power was giuen vnto him , to vexe men with feruent heate of fire : in so much as men boyled in great heat , & blasphemed the name of God , which hath power ouer these plagues , & they repented not to giue him glorie . As likewise when the fift Angel powreth out his viall , vppon the seat of the beast : it is written , That his kingdome waxed darke , and that they gnawed their tongues for sorrowe , and blasphemed the God of heauen , for their sorrowes , and their sores , and repented not of their deeds . Who séeth not this fire and darkenesse , this boyling and blaspheming , this gnawing of tongues , very forerunners and preambles , of that feruent heate , vtter darkenesse , boyling , blaspheming , gnawing of tongues , as also weeping and gnashing of teeth for euer ? And shall wée not sée howe repentance is inserted and graft in this crabstock , to ouergrow and ouercome all these vnwonted sorrowes ; And they saith Iohn , Repented not to giue him glory , and againe , they blasphemed the God of heauen for their sores , and repented not of their deeds : for it may not bee conceiued , that the foresight of visible and inuisible horrours ; as also of hell it selfe , should cause the preuention and fruit of repentance , for though the difference betwéene loue and feare , be conceiued for an euident truth ; in so much as both Saint Augustine , and S. Gregorie are of iudgement : that they are but the enemies of righteousnesse , which for feare , refraine from euill , according to that worthy saying , Qui Gehennam metuit , August . ad Anasta . ep . non peccare metuit , sed ardere : ille autem peccare metuit , qui peccatum ipsum , sicut Gehennam odit . He that is afraid of hell is not afraid to sinne , but to burne : And he it is that is afraid of sinne , that hates it , as if it were hell it self , Qui peccatum , sicut Gehennam odit . yet vnlesse the world were better , and séeing horrible and fearefull things bréede anxietie , and perplexitie in the mind of man , according to the saying of our Sauiour , ( mens hearts shall faint them for feare , and for looking after those things which are comming on the world , ) wee may not expect till the penitent ( as the logicians oppose ) obserue omnes leges bonae definitionis , verae poenitentiae . till we obserue all the lawes of a good definition , of true repentance ; but wee must crie out with all the prophets , our Sauiour & the apostles , that vnles we repent , all the plagues which are written in the booke of of God shall come vpon vs. Heere wishing these plagues to be thought vpon better , beléeued and contemplated , I may cease to speak any more of wars , only referrring the Reader to the 16. and the 20. of the Apoc . for what can be more terrible , than that the way of the kings of the East should be prepared by the drought of the riuer Euphrates , Apoc . 16. and that three vncleane spirits like frogs should come out of the mouth of the dragon , the beast and the false prophet , to gather into a place , called Armagedon , the kings of the earth and of the whole world , to the battell of that great day of God Almightie ? Or that sathan being loosed out of prison , should deceiue the nations which are in the foure quarters of the earth ? Apoc . 20. Gog and Magog whose number is as the sand of the sea , to gather them to battell , to compasse the tents of the saints about , and the beloued citie , till fire come downe from God out of heauen , to deuour them : wherin obserue these two things : first that sathan is the author and sower of warres in the latter daies : then that enormious tumults , and other most extraordinarie crimes , strange from them that doe them , and vnexpected of all men , are much to be imputed to sathan Sathan deceiued Gog and Magog , and what are wee , that wée may not be deceiued of sathan ? And doe we not liue in that part of the time wherein these prophesies must be fulfilled ? Saint Iohn mencioneth a time , wherein sathan shall be loosed out of prison : besides our state whereby saint Paul testifieth : That we wrestle not with flesh and bloud , but with spirituall craftines in heauenly things . And how should men professing nothing , but honour , dignitie , worship , or flesh and blood , be able to withstand the craftines of sathan , whereas the best wrestlers , & most vigilant watchmen of the Lord cannot do it . Is not sathan busie still ? doth he not seeke as well to deceiue , as to deuour ? Should we not feare with S. Paul , 1. Cor . 11. lest the same serpent beguile women stil , as well as Eue : men stil , as wel as the incestuous person swallowed vp with ouer much sorrow , or other Corinthians ? Non enim cogitationes eius ignoramus cogitationes {αβγδ} astuta consilia , vel machinationes : we are not ignorant of his subtilties , 2. Cor . 2. deceits , or deuices , saith the Apostle : let vs therefore according to that short and resolute admonition , giue no place to sathan ; let vs not be found secure or vnprouided , lest we also be tempted ; but alwaies , as it were in complete harnes , against so sore an enemie . Not vnlike a ship in the middest of the sea , or euen as Noes Arke was commaunded to be made of pine-trées : and to be pitched within and without , against the the floud should come vpon the world , and as it is fained of Achylles flesh , that it was invulnerable , that is , such as might not be wounded : So against the lionish roaring , the serpentish subtiltie , the draconish tyrannie of the diuell , our spirits may be full of strength and resistance , as pitched within and without , stablished , harnessed , shut vp , that neither any doore , window nor think of this ship , or arke lying open , may indanger vs of drowning in a sea , where there is no water , of our downe fall into a pit where there is no bottom , finally of our passage into that valley or shadow of death , where there is not any life or light for euer . How long will it bee ere these things sinke into our hearts ? How long will men dally and delay : Shall we think that all other men , must vse the meanes and take the waies , which belong to their good and lucre ? and that we should not likewise vse the meanes , & take the waies that belong to our heauenly good and lucre ? for wherefore should we not be more busie , than secular men to take euery aduantage , all opportunitie , the time , the place , the person , the thing whereby wée may attaine heauen or escape hell ? they that feare the Lord , saith Ecclesiasticus , will seeke out the things , Eccles . 2. that bee pleasant vnto him : they that feare the Lord , will prepare and humble their soules in his sight : they that feare the Lord keepe his commandements , and will be patient till they see himselfe . The same Eccles . in the same place pronounceth , that his mercie is as great as himselfe . And should not the mercie of God make vs resemble more rather the prodigall sonne , repenting , returning and saying to his father : ( Father I haue sinned against heauen and against thee : and am no more worthie to be called thy sonne . For was hee not receiued with a ring , a roabe , with killing , eating , and reioicing ? ) than the rich man in the Gospell , who saith to his soule : take thine ease , eat , drink and be merrie : for it is receiued with this answer : Luc . 12. thou foole this night doe they require againe thy soule from thee : then whose shall those things be , which thou hast prouided ? Behold in this rich man , the verie state and person of this age . For this carelesse , secure , & faithles mind , is my offence in this cause : with whom if it were not denied , that I am more offended , than with malefactors & euil doers ; how should it be receiued ? And yet hauing not to doe to iudge them which are without , and fearing that this gluttons dialogue , betwéene the soule , tongue or heart , is found in the house of Iaacob , and euen in learned and godly men , I can estéeme no lesse of them : and waighing , that Elias sinne might not be purged , with all burnt offerings and sacrifices : that it was Dauids offence , and not the vulgar peoples , which called for warres , famine , or pestilence : and that it was Ionas trespasse that troubled the sea : which could not bee calmed vntill Ionas was cast into the whales belly : and hoping that as our Sauiour saith to Saint Peter : tu conuersus confirma fratres : So the learned with the most vertuous and godly might informe the rest of so dangerous a disease in so dangerous a time ; I thought it not best to commune too long with flesh & blood , and differ , as also be secure from day to day ; but to publish a testimonie of godly iealousie , whereunto I am rather incited , than the rest of our brethren : because were it not for auoiding the arogancy of an affirmation , I were ready to protest & testifie , not only that great wars , but also the same with our Sauiour prophecieth in the Gospell , are comming vpon the whole world . As where he saith : Luc . 21. when yee shall heare of warres and seditions , be not affraid , for these things must needs come to passe , but the end followeth not by and by : Nation shall rise against nation , and kingdome against kingdome . And great earth-quakes shall be in diuers places , and hungers , and pestilences , and fearfull things . Now annexing , Amos 7. to this the saying of the prophet Amos shall I say ? I was no prophet , neither was I a prophets sonne : and the Lord said unto me go , and prophesie , that such wars and seditions shall be in England and Ireland . I affirme no more but the same , which we all heare , say and sée , the wars , seditions , and vproars , which haue béene and are in England & Ireland , are enough to awake men out of the dead sléepe of securitie . Heb . 3. Take heed brethren , saith the Apostle : lest at any time , there bee in any of you an euill heart of vnbeliefe to depart from the liuing God : but exhort yee one another daily , while it is called to day , lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne . It is called to day yet , and wil bee euery day while the world standeth : therefore we ought to remember and excite one another , lest any depart from the liuing God , or lest any should be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne . Now if it be enough , while it is called to day to call one vpon another : because the night commeth when no man can worke : and now Christ knocketh at the doore , and when there shall be no more time , it wil be too late to knocke , because the doore will be shut . Then it is more than cause enough , and more than high time in this time of danger and trouble , not onely for such as haue receiued fiue , two or thrée talents ; but for all who haue receiued two , one , or any , to giue them forth to the exchangers : that both our selues may be the better discharged ; our brethren the better preserued from all euil ; and lastly , our heauenly Lord and king at his comming , may receiue his own with aduantage ; which also we shall performe by the example of our Sauiour , who after hee had pronounced the ensuing of warres , rumours of warres , and fearefull troubles ; armeth the Apostle with faith , patience , godly wisedome , watchfulnesse , holines , prayer , &c. as appeareth in these short , and quicke sayings : Ne terreamini : possidete per patientiam , ammas vestras : Attollite capita vestra : appropinquat enim redemptio vestra : cauete vos , vobisipsis : ne grauentur corda vestra ebritate , & crapula : cauete , vigilate , orate , parati estote : they are as short and quicke in English , as in Latin : See that yee be not troubled : possesse your soules through patience : lift vp your heads , for your redemption draweth neere : take heed to your selues : let not your hearts be made heauie , with surfetting and drunknes : bee ready , beware , watch and pray : And this shall be the end . To the euerlasting & euerliuing Trinitie , the Father , the Sonne , and the holy Ghost , thrée persons , and one God , be all honor , glory , praise and dominion , now and euer .

FINIS .