when he was bidden to forsake but worldly wealth which hee then enioyed? Woe be vnto these false elusions of the world, baites of perdition, hookes of the deuil, which haue so shamef••lly deceiued and seduced full many frō the right path vnto the Lorde, into the high waies of confusion and perpetuall perdition.
We might nowe woorthily (deare Christians) lament & bewaile our heauie state, miserable cōdition, and sorow∣full chaunce: yea, I say, we might well accuse our selues, and wt Iob cursse these oure troublous, wicked, and blou∣dy last dayes of thys worlde, were it not that wee both see and beleeue, and finde in Gods sacred booke, that a rem∣naunt God hath in all ages reserued, I meane the faithful, as many as haue bene from the beginning of the worlde, exercised, whetted, and pullished with diuers afflictions, troubles and tossings, cast and dashed againste all pearils and dangers, as the very drosse and outcastes of the earth, and yet wil in no wise halte betweene God and Baall: for God verily abhorreth two men in one: he can not awaye with them that are betweene both, but casteth them away as a filthy vomite. Christe will not parte spoyle wyth his mortall enemie the deuil: he wil haue all or lose all: he will not permit the deuill to haue the seruice of the body, and he to stand contented with the heart and minde: but he will be glorified both in your bodies and in your spirites, which are hys, as S. Paule sayth. 1. Cor. 6. For he hath made all, boughte all, and dearely paide for all, as S. Peter sayeth: With his owne immaculate body hath he cleane discharged youre bodyes from sinne, death and hell, and with his most precious bloud paid your ransome and full price once for all and for euer.
Nowe what harme, I pray you, or what losse sustaine you by this? Why are you, O vaine men, more afraide of Iesus your gentle saueour, & his gospell of saluation, then of a legion of cruell deuils, going about wt false delusions, vtterly to destroy you both bodies & soules? Thynke you to be more sure then vnder your captaine Christ? Doe you promise your selues to be more quiet in Sathans seruice, then in Christes religion? esteme you more these transitory and pernitious pleasures, then God and all his heauenly treasures? Oh palpable darknes, horrible madnes, & wil∣ful blindnes, wtout comparison, too much to be suffred any longer. We see, and wil not see: we know & wil not know: yea, we smarte and will not feele, and that our owne con∣science well knoweth. Oh miserable and brainlesse soules, which would for foolish pleasures & slipperye wealth, loose the royall kingdome and permanent ioyes of God, wyth the euerlasting glory which he hath prepared for them that truely loue hym, and renounce the world. The children of the world liue in pleasure and wealth, and the deuill, who is their God and prince of this world, kepeth their wealth which is proper vnto them, and letteth them enioy it. But let vs which be of Christe, seeke and enquire for heauenly things, which by Gods promise and mercy in Christ, shall be peculiar vnto vs. Let (I say) the Crecians, Epicures, and such other beastly Belials and carnall people, passe for things that be pleasant for the body, and doe appertaine to this transitorie life: Yet shall they once (as the kingly Pro∣phet sayth) runne about the Citie of God, to and froe howling like dogges, desiring one scrappe of the ioyes of Gods elect, but all too late, as the rich glutton did.
Let vs therfore passe for those things that doe pertaine to the spirite, and be celestiall, We must be here (sayth Paule) not as inhabitours and home dwellers, but as straungers: not as straungers onely, but after the minde of Paule, as painful souldiers appoynted of our gouernour to fight against the gouernour of darkenesse of this worlde, against spirituall craftinesse in heauenly things. The time is come: we must too it: the iudgement must begin first at the house of God. Began they not first with the greene and sappie tree? and what followed then on the dry braunches? Ieremie spea∣king in the persone of God, sayeth: In the Citie wherein my name is inuocate, will I begin to punish: but as for you, (mea∣ning the wicked) you shall be as innocentes and not once touched: for the dregges of Gods wrath, the bottome of all sorrowes, are reserued vnto them in the ende: but Gods houshold shall drinke the flower of the cup of hys mercye. And therfore let vs say wt Ezechias: Play the men & shrinke not: let vs comfort our selues, for the Lorde is with vs our helper, and fighteth for vs. The Lord is (sayth he) with you when you be with him, and when you seeke him he will be found of you: and againe, when you forsake him, he will forsake you.
Wherfore we ought not to be dismaid or discourage our selues, but rather to be of good comforte: not to be sad but merry: not sorrowful, but ioyfull, in that God of his good∣nesse will vouchsafe to take vs as his beloued children, to subdue our sinful lustes, our wretched flesh and bloud vn∣to his glory, the promoting of his holy word, and edifying of his church. What if the earthly house of this our habita∣tion (Paule meaning the body) be destroyed? We know as∣suredly we shall haue a buildinge of God not made wyth handes, but euerlasting in heauen, with such ioyes as faith taketh not, hope toucheth not, nor charitye apprehendeth not. They passe all desires and wishes. Gotten they maye be by Christ, esteemed they can not be. Wherefore the more affliction and persecution the woorde of God bringeth, the more felicitye and greater ioy abideth in heauen. But the worldly peace, idle ease, wealthy pleasure, and this present and pleasant transitory life and felicity, which the vngodly foolishly imagine to procure vnto themselues by persecu∣ting, and thrusting away the gospel, shall turne vnto theyr owne trouble, & at last vnto horrible destruction & mutati∣ons of realmes and countries, and after this life (if they re∣pent not) vnto their perpetuall infelicitie, perdition, and damnation. For they had rather with Nabal and his tem∣poral pleasures descend to the deuil, then with pore Christ and his bodely troubles, ascend vnto the kingdom of God his father. But an vnwise man (sayeth the Psalmist) compr••∣hendeth them not, neither doth the folish vnderstand them, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 these bloudy persecutors grow vp & florish like the flower and grasse in the field. But vnto this end do they so florish, that they might be cut downe & caste into the fire for euer. For, as Iob sayth: Their ioy lasteth but the twinkling of an eie, and death shall lie gnawing vpon them, as doth the flock•• vppon the pasture: yea the cruell worme, late repentaunce (as S. Marke sayeth) shall lie gnawing, tormenting, and accusing their wretched conscience for euermore.
Let vs therfore (good Christians) be constant in obey∣ing God rather then men. For although they slay our sin∣ful bodies (yea rather our deadly enemies) for Gods veri∣tie: yet they can not do it, but by Gods sufferance and good will, to his praise and honour, and to our eternall ioye and felicitie. For our bloud shed for the Gospel, shall preache it wyth more fruite and greater furtheraunce, then did oure mouthes, liues and wrytings: as did the bloude of Abell, Steuen, wyth many other moe. What though they laughe Christ & his worde to scorne, which sit in the chaire of per∣uerse pestilent scorners? To whome as to the wise Gen∣tiles of the world, the Gospel of Christ is but foolishnes, as it was to the Iewes a sclaunder and a stumblinge stone, whereat they now being fallen, haue prouoked the wrath and vengeance of God vpon them.
These are the dayes of vengeaunce (sayeth Luke) that all thinges wrytten may be fulfilled. And surely it shall be no lesse then a huge storme of euils that shal come vpō vs, because that a long and a cursed obstinate maliciousnes of vs, hath gone before, crying in the eares of the Lorde God of hostes, who so many times and so many wayes haue bene prouoked with the vnspeakeable richesse of his good∣nesse, his pacience, and long suffering, to amendement, and haue neuerthelesse contemned the same, and proceeded for∣ward to worse and worse, prouoking and stirring the pre∣sence of Gods maiestie vnto anger.
Now therfore sayth God by the mouth of his prophet: I wil come vpon thee, and I will send my wrath vpon thee: vpon thee (I say) O Englande, and punish thee according to thy wayes, and rewarde thee after all thyne abhominations. Thou hast kindled the fire of Gods wrath, and hast stirred vp the coales. For thou waste once lightned, and hadst ta∣sted of the heauenly gifte, and wast become partaker of the holy ghost, & haddest tasted of the good word of God: Yea, it is yet in thy mouth, sayth the Prophet. Alas O Englād, thou knewest thy Lorde and maisters wil, but diddest no∣thing thereafter: Thou must therefore (sayeth hee) suffer many stripes, and many sharpe strokes, and walke on in the glit∣tering and hot flame of thine owne fire, and in ye coles that thou hast kindled. This commeth to thee from my hande, saith the Lorde: namely: That thou shalt sleepe in sorrowe, yea euen so thou shalt. The plain truth telleth the tale, the im∣mutable iustice of the euerliuing God, and the ordinarie course of his plagues from the beginning confirmeth the same. The ioy of our heart (sayeth Ieremie) is gone, oure glory is fallē away, our mery singing is turned into mour¦ning, the garland of our head is fallen, Alas and weale a∣way that euer we sinned so sore: Wo worth all abhomina∣tions and wickednesse: wo woorth cloked hypocrisie: woe worth our carnall liberty: wo worth our most cursed ido∣latrie. For because of these things, sayth the Lorde, ye shall perish with sword, hunger, and pestilence.
Wherfore, let all the wicked enemies of Christe, and all ye vnbeleuers, look to be tormented and vexed with al hel∣lish furies, and cleane wythout hope at Gods accompting day, which know not God in Christ to be their very righ∣teousnesse, their life, their onely saluation & alone sauiour, nor beleeue not in him. They must, sayth S. Iohn, needes abide and pearish wyth their sinnes in death and in eter∣nall damnation. But we be the children of Saintes, as the