¶The .v. Chapter. Of the losse of the goodes of fortune.

FOr first to beginne at these outward goodes that neither are the proper goodes of y^e soule nor of the body, but are called the goodes of fortune, •hat serue for the sustenaūce & com∣moditie of man for the shorte season of thys presente life, as worldly substaunce offices honor & auctoritie• What great good is there in these thinges of thēselfe, for whiche they were worthy so muche as to beare the name, by which y^e world of a worldly fauour, customa∣bly calleth them? For if the hauing of strength, make a man strong, and the hauing of heate make a man hote, and the hauyng of vertue make a man verteous: how can these thynges be verely and truly good, whiche he that hath them, maye by the hauyng of them, as well be the worse as the better, and as experience proueth, more o•ten is the worse than the better. What should a good man greatly reioyce in that that he dayly seeth most a∣bounde in y^e handes of many that be nought? Doe not now this great Turke and his ba••awes in al these a∣uauncementes of fortune, surmount v••y farre aboue any christen e•tate and any lordes liuing vnder hym? And was there not yet hence vpō a .x•. yere a goe the great Soudan of Siri, whiche many a yere together bare as great a porte as the great Turke, and after in Page  [unnumbered] one somer vnto y^e great Turke, that whole Empier was loste, & so maye al his Empire nowe, & shal here∣after by God his grace be loste into christen mennes handes lykewi•e, when christen people shalbe mended and growe into god his fauour againe. But whē that whole kingdomes and mighty greate Empiers are of so lytle surety to stand, but so soone stra•slated frō one man vnto an other: what greate thing can you or I, yea or any Lorde the greatest in this lande, reckon him selfe to haue by the possession of an heape of siluer or golde, white and yelowe met•al not so profitable of theyr owne nature (saue for a litle glistering) as the •ude rusty met•all of yron.