[ XXIII] The danger of trusting to worldly greatnesse, in time of distresse.
AS a passenger in a storm, that for shelter against the weather, steppeth out of the way, betaketh him to a fair spread Oak, standeth under the boughes, with his back close to the body of it, and findeth good reliefe thereby for the space of some time; till at length commeth a suddain gust of winde, that ••ea∣reth down a main arme of it, which falling upon the poor passenger, either mai∣meth or mischieveth him,* 1.1 that resorted to it for succour. Thus falleth it out not with a few, meeting in the world with many troubles, and with manifold vexa∣tions, they step asiae out of their own way, and too too often out of Gods, to get un∣der the wing of some great one, and gain, it may be, some aid and shelter thereby for a season; but after a while, that great one himself comming down headlong, and falling from his former height of favour,* 1.2 or honour, they are also called in question, and so fall together with him, that might otherwise have stood long enough on their own legs, if they had not trusted to such an arm of flesh, such a br••ken staffe, that deceived them.