THE Householder: OR, Perfect man.. Preached in three Sermons lately by ED: TOPSELL, preacher at Saint Buttolph's without Aldersgate. Prou. 27, 23, etc. Be diligent to know the estate of thy Flock, and take heed to thy herds, etc. The Contents follow in the next leaf. Printed for Henry Rockyt, and are to be sold at his shop in the Poultry, under the Dial. 1610. ❧ Contents of the first Sermon. 1 DIfferences of men, because few be good, 2. A perfect man, described by the text, 3. Wisdom, needful for all; especially for the teacher of other, 4. The way to attain it. 5 Neglecters of the means, reproved, 6. multitude of fools, and a remedy for them, 7. All wants sensible, except the want of true Wisdom, 8. odiousness of spiritual folly, by Doctrine, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. And by comparative examples, 19, 20. Exhortation to wisdom, and dehortation from folly. Contents of the second Sermon. 1 THE subject of private wisdom, 2. Diligence described, 3. The necessity thereof, 4. The diligent shall bear rule, 5. And is rewarded, 6. The praise of diligence, 7. Dispraise of negligence and sloth, 8. Commodities of diligence, amplified in more rewards, 9 As Nobility and acquisition of honour, 10. comfort to the diligent, and good precedents to other, 11 Discommodities of negligence. 12 Education to labour, & desert of hire necessary for all men. Contents of the third Sermon. 1 THE general charge of Householders, & praise of knowledge. 2. Every man should know his own estate and affairs, 3. And not only believe other, 4. Comparison of Faith & Knowledge. 5. Dignity of knowledge; especially Divine. 6. Ignorance, cause of many evils, 7. Who, and what must be known in Economics, 8. God and reason commandeth it. 9 Honour of Household, provision and cares, 10. Yet with predominancy of spiritual things. 11. The Householders Storehouse necessary. 12. This store must be given forth: commanded by God. 13. By Nature. 14. By Men. 15. Exemplified in Beasts and Creatures. 16. 17. yet so, that we leave rather than lack. 18. It must be spent on our Country. 19 20. 21. 22. And on Wives, Children, Servants, and Strangers. To the Right Honourable, and right worthy young Plants of Nobility, highly borne, Divinely educated, and happily married, the Lord RICHARD SACKVILL, Earl of Dorset, Baron of Buckhurst, and the Lady ANNE, his beloved wife, sole Daughter and heir to the renowned Lord, GEORGE, late Earl of CUMBERLAND, and the truly Religious Lady, MARGARET, Countess Dowager of CUMBERLAND. Great LORD and LADY, IT were vain to excuse this enterprise, your goodness will not refuse it, it were folly to commend it, your wisdoms might justly explode it. I will not say, I contrived and compiled it for your sakes, so should I seem to beg your thanks, and deprive myself of a universal benefit; for we that labour in the Church, must not be personal. Yet I will say, that I would not divulge it to the world, but under the honour of your names: And if it could add either Goodness or greatness to your Honours, (as I hope Almighty God in time will both) I would every line had been a leaf, and every page a volume, till both your souls and selves could say with Solomon, Eccle. 2, 25 who could eat or haste to these things more than we? You are now become other than you were, and the graces of your Noble Natures and education, begin to appear to the view of all that will behold you: for your great places have mounted you on the highest seats, whereby you cannot be secret though you would; for you may not descend that Theatre of Honour, till you die, Principibus regnare est vivere, & non regnare est mori, Princes & Rulers, their life is to be eminent, and when they cease to be eminent, they die, and cease to live. Wherhfore you see (without my Narration) the good and evil in great personages will disclose itself, so as all the enemies shall not stain their Virtues, which will break forth like the Sun in his height and heat; nor all the flatterers, with their several false colours, and false praises, so enamel and guilt over their vices, Conscientiam malam laudantis preconium non sandt, nec bonam vulne rat convitium Aug. contra petil. but they will discover themselves, and if they would not, yet an evil conscience is not cured with false praises, nor a good one wounded by unjust reproaches. Your Hon: are greatly blessed by Almighty God, & I am assured you will, as you ought, ever acknowledge his goodness and greatness, the Author of yours: For you have not forsaken your Father's houses, with Abraham, jacob, and other, but you are both heirs of your Father's houses, and in their houses, to your mutual glory, your conjunction hath increased their honour for you acquired. And that which happeneth to few, is fallen upon you, even in your first and younger years, to be rich, and good, God grant it to continue, and (without blemish, to the Noble Stems from which you are descended) I will not cease to pray, that you may be glad Parents of many children like yourselves, and you, and your Posterity, be greater and better than they, if it be Gods good will and pleasure. The first thing wherein your Hon: must now show yourselves to the world, Your Lordship shall find them anciently divided into Regra, satrapicia civilis & privata, of which the second, which is the Lordly House, fitteth your Honour. is your Household government. Household Government, I say, the Parent & first beginner of commonwealths, the Seminary of Kingdoms, & Counsels; the discerner of natural wisdom, the Architect of honour, and disciplinary school of a wise, virtuous, and happy life: from which Almighty God fetcheth his Bishops. The romans, and best commonwealthmen, fetched their Consuls & Tribunes, and many times Kings have been chosen out of this rank. The wise Solomon is an Author of this government, as you may read in the succeeding discourse. Antoninus was made an Emperor, out of this sight, proof, and hope, who is commended for taking away all wages from the idle, and leaving nothing to his Daughter, jul. Capitolinus. but his private Patrimony. Hermion, the fifth King of Germany, who lived after the flood, Auenti. lib. 1. annal. Bocor. four hundred and eleven years, much about Abraham's time, is likewise remembered for his economy. When he went abroad to fight, he gave diligent order for his Husbandry at home. I could speak of Eberhard a Duke of Wittenberg, for this cause honoured like a God. Of Galeacius, of Columella, and of Cato the wise, who wrote hereof, and is commended for this saying, Plutarch. Non deterior domus rector quam civitatis. A Housholder is not inferior to the Governor of a City, and he that is not wise in Domestical matters, shall never be trusted in the Commonwealth. For these causes, when I came unto Hartfield, after seaventeen years' absence, (the first Pulpit that ever I ascended, and the first place of my Ministerial function) I chose to speak hereof, how, and with what success your Hon: have heard, and I am not now bound to make relation thereof, or trouble myself, against rash, idle, false, and at the best, ignorant censures; yet as evil Laws gave occasion to good manners, sins to Sermons, so hath contradiction to many good Books, and therefore I resolved first for your Honour's satisfaction, and in you for a more universal commodity to all my Countrymen, to give my Sermons a public birth, through my further travel, praying your Hon: to be the witnesses of their Christendom, that they contain nothing but Christian doctrine, and let them be called, the Housholder. Conueniunt rebus nomina saepe suis, I trust that either their Ancestor (I mean Salomon's Text) who was a Preacher, from which I have lineally derived them. Or at the least, some Angel of God, may give me (with blessed Zachary) a sufficient warrant, to take Tables and write, Their name is the Housholder, Luke 1, 63 & so I hope they shall grow in favour with God, and all good men. To conclude therefore, right Noble and happy Earl and Countess, you have already begun as much as I have observed, your Family, and Domestical affairs are handled, not as though their Governors were but twenty, yea rather, sixty year old. You have done as well for the time (I think by inspiration) as all the Divines could have advised you, Purging out the old leaven from the family to you descended. Yet give me leave to say one thing, for the enemy of mankind is cunning. When Humericus purged his Court from the Manichees (a pestilent kind of heretics, which made two Gods) in crept the Arrians, which denied Christ to be God: and thereof, there was a vision: First, a holy man saw a Church full of men, and presently after they were driven forth, be saw it full of Swine. Victor. de persecv. vand. lib, 2. I compare not your Hon: to Humericus (a wretched & heretical Vandal) nor the justly expelled Domesticals to such men, but only the profane beasts which will be any thing, or of any religion, for your Hon: favour, and entertainment. These I compare to beasts & swine, living in eating & drinking, Swearers & drunkards are no more tolerable in a family than Arrians in a Church. and pleasure, whom I pray God to weed out, if any such be, or to keep out of your Family, them that by any preferment of friend or so may be commended unto you. I could say more, but I will not trouble your patience with these plain discourses. I hope that jesus who hath form your Hon: before you were, and now reform you since you were, will make you not Cypresses only, but Olives & Vines, for his own glory, for the Church, for your Nation, for your families, & for your own soul's estate, which I entreat you to prefer before all earthly honour and glory, and so I rest. At your Honour's command, EDW. TOPSELL. To the right Noble and Honourable Householders, feeders of the Poor: ANTHONY BROWNE, Viscount Montacute, at COWDREY. Samson Lennard, Esquire, at Hurstmounseaux. Thomas PELHAM, Esquire, at Halland. Richard Blunt, Esquire, at Dedsham. AND TO all other wise, temperate, provident, and liberal Housekeepers within the County of Sussex: EDWARD TOPSELL Parson of Hartfield and Preacher, wisheth them continuance of their HOSPITALITY, and reward of their CHARITY in the World to come. My LORD, SEe and read how impartial we are: our Pens are like your house, open to all that are to be praised, as that is open to all that are to be relieved. If they want, you examine not their Religion, for GOD hath made you a feeder, and not a corrector; the faults of a vicious man in want, extenuate not the Charity of the liberal. Being a stranger in Midhurst, in August this year, 1609 I heard by one whom I believe, that at Cowdrey were fed daily & relieved, well near 200. of all sorts. Your praises (without respect of Religion) are commendable before us all, for your charity aboundeth above many: and I think (if fame be no Liar) above most of your rank. I never saw your Lordship, and know you not, but by the Fame of your liberality, which I was glad to hear, for your own sake, for the poor, but sorry, you have no more fellows or followers. Trust me, my Lord, I would to God, you were ours, for why should the Christian-worke of such a hand, be lost and unrewarded, for the want of true love, or the love of the truth? Oh, that your Honour had miss your instructors, and that your youth had not been corrupted as fast as it increased: that good Nature, and studious Devotion, sober mind, and Noble birth, had been to your country a greater Ornament, and to your Family and Soul, afar more assured means of the Heaven you desire, than the way you walk in. But I trust, nay, we all pray, with S. Austin's mother, Ne harr lachrimarum filius pereat. You are great & nobly born, descended of a Grandfather, in all things like yourself, just, temperate, wise, liberal, merciful, provident, a lover of his country, but not of his Country's Religion. You are his true heir, he did Auizare his religion, you do the like in your religion and charity. Well, God hath made you happy, in that you are able to give: and I hope, that as one of your eyes is opened, & seeth the object of your mercy, and the true use of your large Patrimony, so in time, he will open the other, to see the infallible object of a Christian faith, for the possession of your far greater Patrimony in heaven. Lady Montacute daughter of the late fia. of Dorset, &. Aunt to the now Earl. To this I am sure, your second self, your noble, virtuous, and truly sanctified wife, saith Amen, Amen. She is a true confessor, she hath kept her own as well as Queen Clotildis, the wife of Almaricus, she is most like her, Procop. de bell. Goth. lib 2. of all Ladies alive, though your Lordship be a far more kind husband, Vxorem euntem adsacra christianorum, stercoribus pro●ectis defoedari curavit, & verberibus came immanitur, tractau●●t. than that Heretic King, and therefore I hope if you might with the Law, yet your noble nature (for your own particular) would not restrain her free liberty to visit the sacred meetings of the good Christians. In confidence's whereof, I will honour you both, and ever pray that your Lordship may never leave off your charity, nor that Noble Lady change her Religion, the assured and undoubted way to life eternal. Farewell. Master LENNARD, YOu are a Housholder by birth, for your aged and most provident Father, was the best that ever I knew, except yourself. You have truly performed his last charge to you, which was to do the like. You have done it in two Counties, Kent hath miss you, Sevenoke (the place of my birth and education) hath wept for your absence: Sussex hath found you, and God provided for you therein, the noble Patrimony of the Dacres of the South. So that now, I cannot decide, whether your worthy father your noble wife (being a Baroness by birth, and most loving to you) or your own disposition, have made you happiest. He blessed you as Isaac did jacob, she enriched you, and ennobled you, as Acsah did Othniell. But yourself is best to yourself, obeying Father, honouring wife, feeding many, good to all. Let your latter end be late, and all your posterity possess the same blessings, till the world's end. And for yourself, I will pray for your reward, that if it be Gods will and pleasure, you may have such reward at one time or other, as had Miltiades. Herod. lib. 6 They were Thracians, called Dolonci. When the inhabitants of Hellesponte Chersonesus, were warned by the Oracle, that they should choose him for the Prince and restorer of their Country, who did first of all invite them to his house after their departure out of the Temple, who passing by this Miltiades, and he by their apparel knew them to be strangers, he called to them, and offered them entertainment in his house, which they accepted, and the next day they showed him the Oracle, and entreated him to go with them, & possess their Country's principality, which thing he did, and happily enjoyed many years, the reward of his hospitality. Even so, the Divine Oracles, I know, have provided for you, & your posterity (in Testimony that almighty God loveth Hospitality) more honour on earth, They shall be Barons of Dacres in the right of their Mother. and an incorruptible kingdom in Heaven. Master PELHAM, WHo may in all your Country say better than you? Psalm 23. My shepherd is the Lord, his rod & his staff comfort me. My head he hath anointed with Oil, and my Cup doth overflow. My table is decked in the presence of my foes, I dwell by green Pastures, and still waters. You are seated in the Eagles nest, Gilbertus de Aquila, was the Lord of Laughton. it is a regal Bird: you (if I be not deceived) are descended of that race. Royal things do therefore become you. (Good Sir) let me not slatter you, the fame and name of your Antecessours, have long sounded in those parts. Honour of Arms commended your Father and Uncle: Sir Nicholas Pelham. Sir William Pelham. Sir john Pelham. Love of his Country, your Brother; Hospitality in peace hath been your honour, & I trust you have not, nor will not give over to feed. Your Patrimony hath been by your thrift augmented, and there is no cause why your mind should not ever taste of her prime and most honoured graces; mercy, liberality, and hospitality. These things brought me first unto you. And I confess, as I had heard so I found, neither want nor waist, neither an evil eye, nor a sparing hand: and in that time of your greatest expense on your poor Countrymen, you increased most in fame and wealth. I cannot forget that note of a neighbour of yours, M. William Morley of Gliude. (the worthiest, learnedst, justest, & most ingeniously affable Gentleman, that ever I knew in all my courses, to whose noble memory, jowe a better Sacrifice than now I give) that your house & hand were open, when your mouth was shut, and other men had their mouths open, when their houses and hands were shut. You have ennobled your family, by honourable alliance in marriage. M. Henry Carey, son and heir to the Lord Hunsdon. I need not commend him, he honoureth your family, and none that knoweth him, but honoureth him, being a lover of the means of Honour, Learning, and Arms; without which, no man is Noble or worthy of Honour. It is the basest and unworthiest mark of a Gentleman, to care for nothing, nor to dignify his house, but by purchases, gallant. Suits, Rapiers, and Spurs, gaming and playing scores and hundreds, and never to do any part of Honour, whereof he boasleth. A man may say unto them, as Herodes Atticus did to Bradeas, his wives Brother, when he had praised his race and descent, and yet being unworthy himself, Coelius. Erasmus. Tu equidem in astragalis nobilitatem gestas. They have no Honour, but in old bones. I will pray that your Son may Patrizare, M. T. P. and that (if Heaven resist not) you may live to see him most happy, for you will make him Rich. And I will end, as Stratonicus said of his Host, who received him kindly, and welcomed him most heartily, although he knew him not, and after him, two or three in the same courteous manner. Discedamus ò puer, nam invenimus pro columba, palumbum, & pro hospite pandocheum. Let us be gone and depart, for instead of a Dove, we have found a Ring-dove, and where we thought to find a special favour, to be received alone, we find a Housekeeper that entertaineth all. Master BLOUNT, YOu are my latest acquaintance, & therefore with you I must conclude, not as the least, but as the upper most in my heart, and if I would praise you for housekeeping, you might give me leave to say as much of you as of the residue, and in your proportion equal to the best. For with the Centurion, you have ever loved our Nation, I mean the Preaohers: & unto your commendation do all the Prophets, and Children of the Prophets, give Testimony. You and your nobly borne & minded wife, Mistress Blount was daughter to the Lord La-ware. never refused him, that came unto you in the name of a Prophet. Wherefore faint not, but expect a Prophet's reward; a prophet's reward, what is that? Nothing in earth but an empty Cup, Heathy and Barren Land? God forbid: so the world rewardeth us, and would admit us but one foot before the Beggar (viz.) we must stand in the Porch, & the beggar without the door, but a Prophet's reward is to be partaker of all the good & labours of the Prophets. For the lovers of goodness are respected (before God) with the Preachers. But especially, the reward of the old Prophets, was the assured performance of all that they had foretold of jesus Christ, and thereof they are not now ashamed; no more, nor no less is the assurance of those things, which you believe & hope, for they that trust in the Lord, shall not be ashamed. These lines (I mean the succeeding Book) were written in Dedsham house, & how unthankful should they be, if they did not leave a long lasting Monnument upon that Housholder, under whose roof they had their first being in letters. Believe me Sir, I was never better pleased, nor had more cause of content then in your house. Where besides Levies large feast, we had Christ at the table every day, I mean the holy scriptures, we wanted nothing fit for Christians, or fitting us for heaven, only the prime part of your family, your own worthy self was absent, & the hope of your name, M. W. B. your son: Oh, that you had more of such hope, so you had more inheritances for than: and for the residue of your happy issue, you are blessed in them all, & they for a father & a mother, are as happy as ever were any of their blood, & yet by father & mother nobly descended. Now must I your latest Orator, and as it were, a child of yesterday, bless you all in the name of all my brethren the Prophets, your ancient & well respected guests, to whom with the Sumanite you have given lodging and light, with the Sarepthian widow, Oil & Meal, with Lazarus, Mary and Martha, meat drink, entertainment & obedience, & with Onesiphorus sought them out, being not ashamed of their chains. So as Candala Q. of Panonia, & niece to Lewis the 12. of France, said to the Venetians, for her royal entertainment, that she never knew herself to be Queen, till she came to their teritory: so may the Preachers say, they know not themselves to be Christ's Ministers, till they come to your house. The Lord show mercy to this house, Luke 10, 5. and the peace of Christ (which the Apostles preached) and the son of peace rest in it to the world's end. So be it. FInally unto all other Noble, worthy, & Worshipful Householders, I present this Treatise, for you (like the Sheep of Christ) are every way profitable. Who keepeth the Fatherless? the Housekeeper. Who relieveth the Widow? the Housholder. Who traineth up children & servants in the fear of God, and service of the Commonwealth, and common good? the Housholder. Who nourisheth Arts, Learning, and them that serve at the Altar? but the Housholder that payeth Tithes. Who maintaineth the world, and defendeth the Country? the Housholder; who having a posterity, loveth it thrice so well as the barren, & mariage-hating Inmate. Who is a monster among men? hated, of God, disdained of the angels, shame of his Parents, & burden to his country, but he that liveth, by whom no other liveth; that is, no Housholder, and yet rich enough: no liker a Christian, than an Ape is like a man, whose flesh is not good for meat, as a sheeps, nor his back for burden, as the horse and Ass, nor skins for warmth and Ornament, as the Coneys, Squirrels, and Martin's, nor good to keep a house as a Bandog. Simia quam similis, turpissima bestia nobis. You renowned Householders, that love this kind of life, purge out of your families, the Drones which eat and consume that whereupon the Bees should live; o drunkenness, the horror of Religion, the consumer of youth and strength, the devourer of all goodness, the bane of the Housholder, can no judgement of God or man, dry thee up, but like Deucalion's flood, thou must overrun and overflow all, except two only: the Temperate, and the Religious? Stand up ye worthies of the time, find a remedy for this evil, or else your honour is in the dust, in the Kennel. For as when your best land is overflowed, it yieldeth nothing: so if you suffer your families to be drenched in this vice, rottenness & barrenness will devour you all. It maketh your families like Fens, & the ditches of Marish Land, wherein nothing but Snakes and Serpents, and ugly Frogs do engender. It is the pit of hell, as out of hell no man can come again; so out of drunkenness are none recovered. Aug. ser. de ehrlet. cavend Your Dogs and Beasts are better than your drunken Children and servants. For saith S. Chrisostom, Hom. 1. Ebriosus est voluntarius daemon, ruinae excusatione carens, et comune generis nostri opprobrium. A drunkard is a wilful Devil, the shame of mankind, and one that cannot be excused in his destruction. Never shall drunkard come to heaven, for as when the Ship is sunk after a Tempest, the wares and lading are quickly washed out, but the bark is filled with sand and water, so as all the strength of man cannot weigh it up again, nor the best Navigator, and sails make it sail again: no more when a man is once sunk in drunkenness (and sink he shall, for the Devil will not leave him, till with the Swine in the Gospel, he drown them:) all the persuasions of God & man cannot set him upright again in the Sea of this world. For like to Bonosus the drunken Emp. Nati sunt ut bibant, non ut vivant, they are borne to drink and not to live. It hath been lawful to put away a man's wife for drunkenness among some Nations: but it is needful that drunkards be excluded men's company, & with Nabuchadnezzar live among beasts (who are never drunk) till they have learned this abstinence from them. And believe me, if you nourish drunkards, your families shall never want woe. From which, the Lord deliver you, and from Drunkards the Lord deliver us. And so I end for your Liberality, and Hospitality, with the Prayer of Nehemiah, Cap. 5, v. vlt. Lord remember these Housekeepers in goodness, according to all that they have done to this people. September, 1609. Your Honours, worships, and all that will believe my report, EDWARD TOPSELL. ¶ The Housholder. Prou. 27. 23 etc. Be diligent to know the estate of thy flock, and take heed to thy herds. 24 For riches remain not always, And is the Crown from generation to generation? 25 The Hay discovereth it self, & the grass appeareth, and the herbs of the Mountain are to be gathered. 26 The Lambs are for they clothing, and the male Goats a price of the field. 27 And let the milk of thy Goats be sufficient for the food of thy family, and for the sustenance of thy Maidens. Whatsoever is Life (according to man's weak understanding) must either be vegetative or growing, as in plants; Sensitive, ye● without motion, as in the Oyster and such like; Sense and motion, as in all Beasts, Fishes, & Fowls; and lastly, Reason, as in Angels and Men. Now, almighty God hath given unto Man all these: Growth, with the plants; Sense and motion with the Beasts; Gravity of substance with all corporeal things; Spirituality & reason with the Angels: that whereas his divine Majesty is the a joh. 11. 25 Life and the Fountain from whence issueth all other life, it may most aptly agree with us, not only that we live, but that we more than live, and b Act. 17. 28 that in him we live, & move, and have our being. And verily, seeing we participate in the variety and dissimilitude of so many creatures, it is no marvel, although the faces, and inclinations of so many men, be also so various, divers, and estranged one from another: for our minds are as many as our persons, and our senses more than our heads, and yet in all these, man taking this, of the Fish and Beast, that, of the Tree and metal, may be compared unto the Beast and Money that perrisheth, Psal. 49, 20. Acts 8, 20. o utinam periret tantum pecunia (saith S. Bernard of Simon Magus) sed pecunia tecum: Would God the Money or Beasts might perish alone, but that cannot be; for we having destroyed them, and they having infected us, we perish together with them (like the Philistims and their banqueting house, judg. 17, 30 or Sodom and their fruitful plain.) But I know not whence it cometh, that there live scarce so many kinds of Worms, Beasts, and Fowls, as there be kinds of men, that die to God, and perish everlastingly, for more perish, then live for ever. Many are the persons & faces of men, but not so different one from the other, as are the minds and inclinations of men; which in truth only make Men; insomuch, considering the defects herein, it is a rare, difficult, and almost impossible thing, to find a man: For in King c Psal. 14. 3. David's time, Psal. 14. there was not one, no not one, and yet for strength thirty and one Worthies, 2. Sam. 23. besides Prophets and Priests. But in Salomon's time, there was some increase, or rather one increase, or to speak more properly, an increase of one, Among a thousand men I have found one; Ecc. 7. 30 one God in Heaven, one Sun in the Firmament, one Phoenix among Birds, one perfect man among all. 2 There be four things whereby a man is declared a perfect man: First, Wisdom, whereby he teacheth himself and others. Secondly, Government, whereby he ruleth himself and others. Thirdly, Frugality and Labour, whereby he provideth for himself & others. Fourthly, Liberality, and Mercy, whereby he feedeth himself and others: All these make a perfect man, and without them, our perfection is imperfection and lameness: And all these were in Solomon, a Type of the mirror of perfection, jesus Christ. First, he was wiser than all his predecessors, and taught himself and others, as appear by his writings: Secondly, he was of excellent government, for he was the King of peace, or a peaceable King. Thirdly, his frugality, in laying up grain, feeding and breeding of Cattle, and building of houses, for himself and other, was great, yea he made gold and Silver like stones in jerusalem Fourthly, 1 Reg. 10, 27. and lastly, he was liberal and merciful, for he was the first that observed, as riches increase so are they increased that eat them for his servants were many thousands, and at one Sacrifice. 2. Chro 8, 9 he offered a thousand Cattle Out of this practice of Solomon, h● delivereth all these in my Text unto other, first expressed in his own person. First, his Wisdom, whil● he adviseth, Be diligent to know th● state of thy flock, etc. Secondly, h●● Government, while he saith, Th● riches endure not always, nor th● Crown from generation to generation; intimating he had tasted 〈◊〉 Crown and riches. Thirdly, h●● Frugality and Labour, The hay discovereth itself, and the grass appeareth, and the herbs of the mountains are to be gathered: Namely, for the use and fodder of men and Beasts: and because money & garments are also the beauty and spirit of a family, especially if they be well gotten; he teacheth how to obtain them, while he saith, The Lambs are for thy clothing, and the Goats a price of the field, (Viz.) to get by sale and exchange of them, Money, for other commodities. Lastly, his liberality and mercy, in housekeeping, and let the milk of thy Goats be sufficient for the food of thy family, and the sustenance of thy Maids. The first thing is Wisdom, observed in Solomon by Collection, because out of the fullness of his Wisdom, he giveth Counsel for other: a note, which I here note, not out of one word only of my Text, but out of all of them together, and I trust not out of order, or curiosity of nicety, but naturally, as the scope of my Text giveth me occasion, considering my Preface▪ and therefore I will speak of it at this time in my visitation of this place, after many years absence, that although you need it not in regard of your continued instruction, yet I will endeavour (that I may be remembered when I am gone) to help forward your Faith and Wisdom both together, wherein the bounds that I will walk, shall be Truth; my matter, Plainness; and my Method, Brevity. 3 Solomon is therefore wise, because he teacheth and giveth Counsel of all things, from the Court and Crown, to the Cart; from the Master to the Servant, from the coffer full of Gold, to the Barn full of Hay; from the Family full of Men and Maidservants, to the Field and Commons, stored with Cattle and Flocks: him and his Wisdom, let us not only admire, but imitate: for they do not only win the Game, which strike the white mark, but also they that shoot near the pin: and we also shall win by endeavour (although we miss and fail to hit aright) if we strive to draw near in assurance of Faith. Heb. 20. 22. Be wise therefore that you may be men (Christ saith) As Serpents, Mat. 10, 16 I say as Solomon, to teach yourselves and other, for Serpents are wise in danger, unto which our Saviour alludeth, That we should be wise in & against persecution, but the storms of tyranny are past, & the bands of danger to our profession are broken, The snare is broken, and we are delivered. Be therefore wise as Solomon, in the Port, in the Harbour, in your peace, in your prosperity. Every man taketh himself to be wise, and therefore every man (as a Physician) giveth Counsel to other when he is well, and is not able to heal or advise himself in evil. The highest piece and part of Wisdom is, to Counsel ourselves, not others. Solomon never failed in teaching others, for that is easy, but in teaching himself, and distinguishing Vice and Virtue asunder, when it came to practise, there he failed. Solomon hath many disciples in his defection, not in his perfection, for they are provided for all but themselves. He therefore that will be wise, and give Counsel to other, whether to King and Superior, or to Servant and Inferior, let him first inform himself, for the wise man is a worthy and excellent Master, also a dexterious, and industrious Scholar: How can he teach other that teacheth not himself? And there is no greater fool in the world, than he which is not provided for his last day, for his farewell to the world, and last estate. His soul is his chiefest care, his greatest price, his honourable charge, and his endless hope; he which is wise for his soul, cannot be a fool in other things, although he know them not, for they belong not unto him as the essential Office of his life, but accidentally, and at pleasure, to know or not to know them. For this cause, or for the souls sake, the wiseman enricheth his mind, by all that ever he heareth, seeth, or that cometh under sense or fancy, by observing things present, by recording and calling to mind things past and absent, by foreseeing the ends and events of things to come; whereby diligence maketh him like a Prophet for another life, for another world. Wisdom maketh him give precepts of life, by comparing things passed, with things present, & judgement so preventeth future dangers, that he is never at a loss, even for the things he misseth, but he is still the wiser by defaults and defects, and like a wise and artificial Arithmetician, by a false number findeth a true, and by a wrong way discovereth the right. His eyes are like man and wife, or like David's host, some went to fight against the enemy, and some stayed to keep the stuff and carriage: no more do they wander, both from home together, one still keepeth house, as one Pigeon still sitteth on the Egs. So the food wherewithal it is sped abroad, is not dearly bought by the death and danger of the young ones at home. If he buy wit, he maketh much of it; to keep it, to value it, to occupy it, that he may have the Treasure of knowledge, his Counsels the infallible Oracles of certainty, though no meddler, yet seeing into every man's business, and yet best experienced in his own. For he knoweth, He that is wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, Dan. 12. 3. and he that turneth many unto righteousness, as the Stars for evermore. here is wisdom; namely, to shine, and here is the fruit of Wisdom, to convert others, and I may say of such a man, as it is in the Psalm, Who is wise that he may observe these Psa. 107. 43 things, for he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. O happy man, which is such an observer! more happy, then by observing times of sowing, and season of reaping; yea, then Rules of policy, Precepts of Art, course of the skies, Lord or Lady, Master or Mistress: yet most happy, because he shall see, hear, and know, the loving kindness of the Lord. here is the end of Wisdom, to enjoy his loving kindness, to know his will, to have his Wages, to work in his Vineyard, to receive his penny, to keep his Sheep, to enjoy his Rachel, to hear his word, to possess his promises, to live in his fear, & to die in his favour. 4. Now, for the attaining of this Wisdom, to counsel and teach ourselves and others, we must (as the Husbandman) carry our seed abroad, out of the Barn into the field, and as he for his increase, doth (as it were) crave help of the Earth, of the Ox, of the Plough, of the Sun, of the Rain; yea, of the Marl and compass, things strange to the seed: so must we seek this wisdom abroad out of ourselves, in holy & divine books, as in a field; craving help of the laborious & diligent Pastor, of the assiduous and daily reading, and Prayer; of the powerful illumination of the Holy-ghost, and of the hopeful event, success, and perpetuity of our diligence. For our way to heaven is by compass, as the Israelites came into Canaan out of Egypt, and the Lord doth exercise us by windings and turnings, and going out of the nighest way, to humble us; for he could bring us a nearer way to heaven, to teach us to value & prise our calling at a higher estimate and rate: for if the heathen could observe, that earthly knowledge was sold for sweat, much more worth is Heavenly wisdom, even water and blood, which our Saviour endured for our sakes, before we could be converted. Turn therefore your eyes to all things, to gather this wisdom, not only to Heaven, but to Earth, to Men, to Beasts, to hell, to seas, to all. For a Heavenly knowledge of earthly things, will help to Heaven, and an earthly knowledge of heavenly things, will send to hell. He that will first see the Sun when it ariseth, must not (like common fools) set his face to the East, expecting her body, but contrary, let him sasten or roll his eyes Westward, upon the tops of hills and Trees, where he shall see her shining, before herself; and that is as much light, comfort, and assurance, as if he saw herself; even so, if we turn our eyes from the inscrutable, and unsearchable Majesty of the eternal Trinity, & look upon the radiant beams thereof, shining upon the creatures, we shall sooner see, both the beginning and ending of our wisdom, then by dazzling our weak sight and judgement, against the impenetrable body of his infinite goodness, which yet in due time we shall behold, if in the mean season we remain contented and studious, in his word, works, and creatures. Saint Basil to stir up the Christians of his time, De gentib. scriptor. unto an earnest and laborious searching after this Divine Wisdom, by familiar comparisons showeth, that even in nature it shineth, and in the works or writings of men, we must also look for the same. For (saith he) even as Dyers in their tincture of Purple, first set a Gloss by some flowers, or other Artificial invention upon their wool, and then after it hath been well dipped, and as it were stained and altered by that first colour, (which yet is not the same wherewithal, and whereinto it is to be changed) than they cast into it the Purple or Scarlet, which doth work the more easily and effectually upon the substance to be changed and died; even so, they which will seek and find this perfect purple and Scarlet of divine wisdom, must first seek it in the tincture of Nature, of human Inventions, & Principles of reason, that thereby the Divine Oracles, may more easily bring them to a perfect conformity with jesus Christ, their Heavenly Wisdom. And whereas it might be objected, that it is superfluous to seek for these things, which we must forsake, because they cannot continue, when the better is come, even as john Baptist giveth place to Christ, and the shadows of the Law, to the substance of the Gospel: The said Father answereth it by another comparison, that although the fruit be the end of the Tree, without which it were good for nothing but burning, yet Est aliqua gloria frondium, there is some glory and comely use of the very leaves, which show the life of the Tree, before the fruit buddeth, and also covereth the fruit in the tenderness thereof, against the violence of storm & tempest: even so, humane Learning, although it (fail like the leaves that fall) hath glory and comeliness in it, and giveth much help, Honour and Grace to this Divine wisdom. 5 Where first of all, I cannot but tax and reprove them, who having wit, youth, time, health, & other helps, for their better and more easy accomplishment of this excellent quality (if I may so term it) of Wisdom, yet sit down and spend out their miserable days in vain pleasures, which cost them more dear, and most of all in the end. I read of a certain Abbot, who busying himself in building, and other worldly occupations, was reproved by his fool in this manner: o stulte quid facis, quid te in huiusmodi negotijs, etc. O fool (said he) what dost thou? Why art thou so troubled with these laborious affairs? Sat still fool, sit still, with thy good cheer in thy Parlour, and thy Whore in thy Bedchamber, and Sie seruias Deo quiet, and so serve God in quietness. This fool, hath the most part of voluptuous persons to follow his Counsel; for besides their bellies and their lusts, they have no study, care, or travail (and that which is worst of all) they live in an outward service of God, without remorse of conscience for their vanity, and think they serve God very sufficiently & quietly; whereas God calleth to them every day, in that renewed reproof of the wicked man in the Parable, who Bid his soul take his ease, Thou fool this night God will fetch away thy soul from thee. You fools, which though nevor so Nobly borne and bred, nor never so richly provided for, with Lands, livelihood, and revenues, what mean you to spend that most precious time, and waste the means of youth, in hawks, Hounds, Edifices, Buildings, Horses, banquetings, and such like; yea, even in labours, and toiling at Cart and Plough, Shop or Sea, without respect of heaven, or heavenly wisdom, because you want nothing: I tell you, this year, this month, this week, this day, or peradventure this night they will fetch away your soul from you, oh then one drop or dram of heavenly Grace and Wisdom, is worth a whole world of honour, wealth, ease, and pleasure, wherein you have wallowed, and destroyed yourselves. 6 But seeing this world is full of Fools, which do not only come short of Solomon, but plainly reprove him, and such as urge his example, I mean our Theological fools; Fools in Divinity, who like the jews to whom Caiaphas prophesied, understand nothing, and like the rabble in the Acts, know not wherefore they are come together, no not in their very Sacred and holiest assemblies; I tell you the host of these Fools are so great, that one wise man cannot direct them, and you had need to pray, that as the generation of Fools, (are in Divine matters many) so the seed of the righteous (to conduct) might also be many. There want labourers in this harvest, O Lord send them forth, to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. They have a story in Denmark, that one Craca a Queen of that Country, having three sons, whom in her natural affection she much loved, and desired to promote: and especially one amongst the rest, named Ericus. She being given to Magic, made by the confection of three Serpents, a strange mess of Broth, whereof none of her sons would taste, save only this Ericus, who eating thereof, his Mother procured him the Kingdom, and he was afterward called Ericus disertus; that is, Ericus the Wise. We cannot, I cannot make any such confection for you, there are many sick for this broth, but what need we go to the Devil for a Medicine to procure Wisdom? There is Balm in Gilead, there is a Physician in Israel, there is a Prophet in judah, there are means sufficient in the Lords holy word, or else Solomon would never have said. Let him that is simple & destitute of understanding, come and eat of my meat, Prou. 9, 4. and drink of my Wine that I have drawn. Every man is become so wise in the Lords matters that he can teach others, but when death and danger cometh upon him, even than his resolution (like Ice and Snow) melteth away, and he is then to seek of his soul's estate. Alas, must fools become teachers of the wise? Or guides of as very Ingrams as themselves? Or shall the horse teach the rider? The Ox the Husbandman to Plough? Or the Sow the good wife to spin? No verily, this is exorbitant; even so is it for Masters and Parents, and aged Persons, who will be guiding their Servants, Children or youngers, & yet have never learned Salomon's conclusion and end of all things, Eccl. 12, 13 Fear God, and keep his Commandment, for that shall bring a man peace at the last. 7 Thus have I discourced of Wisdom, and the benefits thereof, whereunto I will add but this one complaint, that all wants and defects be sensible, and their presence doleful to them that feel them, only the want of heavenly wisdom is not perceived, is not lamented. If a man's Land, or possession, or leaf be in any danger, presently he repaireth to a Lawyer, to declare his case, either of offence or defence, to secure his own: & worthily, for wherefore was Law made? Or how shall justice be honoured, except the estates of men in the differences and controversies of the world, may be thereby established? If the body be any ways heavy or distempered, we instantly post for a Physician, to the end, that Maladies prevented in time, may more easily be avoided, and health preserved; and we do well herein, for God hath not made us for sickness, but for health, and he which placed us in a Paradise, did signify thereby, that we could not brook a Desert, & what Paradise have we now left, except our health? Or what Desert is so intolerable as sickness? Wherein many are forsaken of their friends, and forget their dearest self. Nay, if our Horse or Ox be but a little ill, and forsake their meat, we send for a Leech, to the end that it may be holpen: but if our soul, sick of sin and folly, forsake the wholesome food thereof, tarry at home, forbear the church and Sermons, despise grace and Heavenly wisdom, we are so wise in our own conceits, that feeling no smart or pain, we care not to be cured, but like mad men, break our bands, and set light by our best Physicians, o therefore, I pray God open our eyes, that our souls be not in worse case than our Oxen and Asses! they fall and are sick, and find some to help them up, and ease them; we fall and are sick, and find none to help us up, but like wanton Children, we lie still, and cry against them that would relieve us. This is folly, this is an evil to be abandoned, and whosoever is but a mean Christian, as he blesseth the hand that feedeth him with bread, so let him bless the hand that feedeth him with knowledge. 8 But for the more detestation of spiritual folly, give me leave to argue against it, and disprove it to your consciences, that this rustic sottishness and solidity, or foolish simplicity in Divine affairs which concern the soul, may be abandoned; for surely such an one is Salomon's fool: and if our Saviour Christ say that he is danger of Hell fire, which saith, thou fool, how much more is he worthy and likely to go to hell, that is a fool, than he that calleth a fool. For certainly, if the wrong to be so termed, when one is not, be so inexpiable, as that it holdeth the slanderer in danger of eternal torment, what is not he worthy of, that maketh himself so? It is but the action on of the case to be so named, but to be so, is real; and therefore suffereth & yieldeth greater damage. Hearken therefore unto me, and I will set before you a row of fools recorded in assured stories, whom every man in the Letter derideth, and loveth in the figure; that is, misliketh and scorneth this folly in other, but loveth in himself. 9 Who is more odious in scripture than Esau, Gen. 25, 32, 33. who to satisfy his present hunger (after his hunting pleasure) sold his own Birthright for a mess of pottage; this shall be our first fool, whom all know, and none pity; for if an action demonstrate a fool, surely he deserveth one of the first places. This man God hated, even for this action, and who dare love him? there was never yet any that showed him any pity, no not his Father, nor Rebecca his Mother, and him therefore do all other hate. But tell me, why is he alone thus hated for selling an earthly Patrimony for so small a price? When as there be many more among us, which sell Heaven for less. So do all the profane, impatient of poverty, willing to give themselves to the Devil for riches, and not only out of any want, as Esau had, but out of pride, that being Servingmen & Yeomen, they might be Gentlemen; of Gentlemen they might be Knights; of Knights they might be Lords; of Lords they might be Kings; out of ambitious thoughts, they are transported beyond those ways which the Angels watch, whereby they take the Devil at his word, and for less than the world (which the Son of God refused) they fall down and worship him; no want, or hunger, or pain causing them, but only licentious liberty, and wanton cares, forcing them forward to fulfil their temptations, which being acted, they receive not one half so much good by this sin, as Esau did by his pottage. 10 We will leave Esau and the folly of the profane, who contrary to the wisdom of Solomon, Devour holy things, and so we will come to a second fool, and that was a covetous fool, Nabal When David and his men had done him favours in the wild and wide fields, at last, he sent unto him for a recompense, and yet it was not a demand of any desert, but an entreaty for some necessary victuals for himself and his troup; which thing the fool did not only deny, but to his peril, and the peril of all his family, reproached David and his followers, for Runagates. And if his wife had not been wiser than himself, it had not failed, but that their blood had all been that day shed upon the ground. here was his folly, that would stand for a little, to endanger all; to save one horseload of Raisins, & Bread, and Wine, would bring himself in hazard to lose the whole store in his Barn, in his house, in his seller, besides the life of himself, and his Family. This fool we also hate & deride, who was so penny-wise, and so pound-foolish. But are not many of Nabals' haters, Nabals followers? Many of his Scorners, his Disciples? Yes verily, for the very same men, to save their wealth together, deny not only to David; that is, to men in want, that which should be the fruit and work of mercy, but unto the Church, the Lords Ministers, their poor and just deserved portions, pensions, & Tithes; whereby their private coffers (being not sanctified unto holyuses) are for a while stuffed with the poor Church-mens livings, (like Bladders with wind) and then cometh the Lord with one little prick, and letteth all the whole store fly away from their posterity. A Reverend Bishop in our nation, Doctor Babington L. Bishop of Worcester upon Exodus. hath left recorded in writing, this History; that a certain Gentleman, offered to the Parson for his Tith-wooll, a fleece or two, whereas in truth his due was to pay more: the Parson (being a Lay-man) brought the Tyth-wooll to the Church, and showed it to the Neighbours, desiring them to witness, by the view of that Fleece, whether he had justly tithed his Wool or no: which all that saw, witnessed that he had very falsely dealt therein; then the Parson refused to take it: whereat the Gentleman grew furious, seeing himself so justly shamed before all the Neighbours, and in his rage, swore or vowed, that he would never give him one lock more, although it cost him never so dear. Thus he rested, and the Parson also forbore his farther vexation; but almighty God did not forget this false & furious Gentleman, for he sent a consumption into his wealth, and brought him in short time to such poverty, that he was content to take Dole or Alms amongst the poor people, which were relieved at the Funeral of the said Parson. Remember this I beseech you, and never forget this folly, neither grow rich by unmercifulness or falsehood: for what you think to save in the Acre, you shall lose in the Field, or what you gain in the yard, shall be again taken from you in the whole piece; remembering always the Country Proverb, Covetousness bringeth nothing home. And so we take our leave of Nabal. 11 In the next place cometh the proud fool Rehoboam, (saving the honour due unto Kings) so we will be bold to style him, although he were King Salomon's son. His folly was, that when people came unto him, and desired a release of his Father's impositions (which thing the Elders of Israel persuaded him unto) by one proud and scornful answer, following the Counsel of his young Minions & play-fellows, he lost ten Tribes; that is, ten parts of David's Kingdom at once, and left himself only but two. here is a fool indeed, for it is impossible for a proud man to be wise, and Princes cannot hold their Subjects so fast tied in allegiance unto them with blood and terror, as they may do with compassion & blandishing words; Courtesy being a great jewel in a Prince's crown; Compassion the handle, justice the edge, and Mercy the point of a King's sword. But died Rehoboam childless? & hath he no survivors in his State? I will not meddle with kings, nor Lords, or great persons, but let us come to ourselves, and such as are our equals. Austen the Monk, (whom the Papists call the English-mens Apostle) lost all the British Monks by his pride: Beda. so we, like Austen, lose our Friends, our Servants, our neighbours hearts, by our Lordlike and proud behaviour; we care not whom we devour, upon whom we tread, so we may rise; some by slanders, some by fury, some by folly and truth not to be revealed, fill the world with contentions, rending the Wife from the Husband, the Husband from the wife; the Father from the Son, the Son from the Father; the Lord and Master from the Servant, and the Servant from the Lord and Master, the Landlord from the Tenant, and the Tenant from the Landlord: that there is not so much love and good will left in the Country, as was betwixt Balaam & his Ass, when he did beat him. I will speak plainly; Some like Rehoboam speak proudly; others (like the rebellious Israelites) take it as peevishly, they will have as little charity in their ears, as other have in their tongues, a word & a blow, friendship is no heavier than a feather, which every blast of wind tosseth too and fro. The loss of sixpences will cause a suit, the gain of a shilling will make a Traitor, and they are more ready to follow a Crown of Gold, than an Angel of Heaven All their varnishing is outward; they are like giants pictures, terrifying the beholders, and if they have not power to be cruel enough in their own persons, of their own estate, than they fly to the mightier, and incense them, abusing good Natures by false tales, and force them, instead of milk, to draw blood from their Inferiors, & so they make themselves fools, for they live without credit, and die without pity; saving, It is pity they die no sooner. 12 Yet behold more fools then these: And now, we bring in the man in the Gospel, who in presumption of long life, destroyed his Barns, and builded greater, and bad his soul take his ease, eat drink, and take pastime, Luk. 12, 20 for it had much goods laid up for many years: Ah fool (said God) this night they will fetch away thy soul from thee. And worthily and rightly is he a Fool, whom God calleth a fool, for his judgement cannot be deceived, his insight into man's heart is so perfect, that it cannot err: for he hath anatomised and dissected more; then all the Physicians that ever have been. But who doth so now adays? Who blesseth himself in his riches? Seeketh them, but to spend them; spendeth them, but on himself; keepeth, but for his pleasure; and maketh account to live many years? I will tell you who: he that will not give, because he cannot tell what he shall want before he die: For, although Almighty God have dealt never so liberally with him, giving many houses, and much money, that was borne to none; the sixth part whereof, could have satisfied him, before he had it; now he will not trust his bounty any more, but out of his own provident wretchedness, be unmerciful to other, for fear of want, while they wallow in all surfeit and abundance. Again, they are such fools, who never cease travailing and labouring, all for their living, as if they had at the least a lease of a thousand years for their life, dealing with their souls, as Hackney men with their horses, giving them no rest till they be dead; And then, such souls cannot rest, because if their bodies give them so little rest while they be in them, (who yet have great occasion to honour them) the devils, into whose power the souls of such men do pass, will show them much less favour, having no other joy, but to afflict & torment the souls that themselves have beguiled: For if the old Bird be unkind to her young one, it must look for less favour in the Tallant of the Hawks. Therefore, never gather or keep, in hope of long life (but only to obey God's commandment, who biddeth thee labour) for as the shadow runneth from him that followeth it, so doth long life from him that hopeth after it. Life (saith Ioh) is given to him that desireth to die. And so we leave these fools, praying God for them, that they may learn to unmber their days, and apply their hearts to Wisdom. 13 We read of another generation of Spiritual fools in the Gospel (called Pharisees) and them our Saviour called Fools; Mat. 15, 23 Blind, and leaders of the blind, because they were in nothing so wise, as to beguile themselves, and by observation of their own Traditions, they made the Law of God of no effect, avoiding (by corrupt and heretical Glosses) the plainest Text of God's holy word, such as our Saviour in those two Chapters allegeth: how wise also, are many rus set and Rustic persous, to avoid every one of God's Laws, having knowledge in nothing but to defend their sins. Tell them of swearing, they say, the Law respecteth judgement; Of the Sabaoth, they say, play is not forbidden, but labour; Of coveting house & land, they say, to desire to buy, is not to covet; and so they condemn God, and justify Ahab. Sometime they allege, that the Gospel is for the Church of Rome; sometime, the Brownists at Amsterdam: sometime, they snatch at God's mercy, when their own sins are taxed, & refuse his justice; sometime again, God's justice, when they would have their enemies plagued, and disclaim mercy. Thus, they dare not deny the Scriptures, yet they will not confess them, but in their own sense. They make no reckoning of Prayer, except in the Church, and there they are superstitious, and a Holy day is more than a Saboth: If they be inclined to superstitious fasting, they have Text for that: If to profane eating and drinking, they have another for that. The pride of women's Garments, in Esay and S. Peter, was il in those times, but now (they say) it is good, (so the holy Ghost was blind, and saw not what should suit with our times.) The deceitfulness of Merchants, and oppression of rich men, spoken against by Esay, Ezechiel, and Michah, was for the Tyrians and the jews, but all our honest Merchants are exempted, if once we have delivered our wares, and received our money and security; and to conclude, twenty deceits in Wares, in writings, in words, are a far less sin, then to miss payment of a little money at the day, although it come on the Morrow. But I will leave these Fools, Which strain at Gnats, and swallow Camels, praying God, that his word may be our Wisdom, and our minds be subject to his direction. 14 Now we will leave the scriptures, and descend to the humane Chroniclers of Fools; and first, we will show you the stories of such follies, as have been more general, and then them that were more special, and by God's assistance, apply both to our purpose: and let my plainness be excused, because I desire to be remembered, and to profit. We read of a certain people, (called Atlantes) who dwelling near the burning line, Herod. lib. 4 Stobaeus ser. 42. vocat eas Apharants. are every day scorched by the suns heat, unto whom it is a Customary Religion, that so long as they feel and see the Sun, even all the day long they do nothing else, but with hand and mouth, curse and blaspheme it for so afflicting them with heat, being angry (injustly) with that glorious light, that comforreth all living creatures, because in their own particular, it giveth them offence. These are worthy to be accursed themselves, who for to do them a pleasure, either would have the Sun to remove from her place, or to leave shining. Can there be in worldly affairs a greater folly? Have they no wit, to remove their habitations and seek some other Cires and places of abode? But to continue in a fruitless & bootless blasphemy from age to age, against the high Majesty of God, and his most glorious creature of this visible world? well, they are Blackamoor's, and their bodies are not so black without, as this folly maketh their soul's black within. So are these in story, but how are they resembled in figure? Marry against those Wretches I must apply it, who for their own particular, would remove the gospel, the health of us all; the Magistrate, the peace of us all; & Learniing, the light of us all: because for the gospel, they say other Nations disgrace them, and persecute them; by the Magistrate, they are sometime punished, and forced to right against their will: by Learning, they are overtopped in Virtue and honour; Therefore they are weary of the Gospel, as the Girsites were of Christ; they rail on the Magistrate, because they may not be protected in their wrong; and they would pull down Learning, Colleges, bishoprics, Cathedralles, and all Ecclesiastical dignities, that they may reign alone, and be the only Lords of Virtue and Vice, leaving no better men in the state, than Merchants, Falconers, Hunters, Riders, and poor Carters and serving-men, to do their base Offices. These are verier Fools than the Atlantes, for beside their vain opinions, neither Church, nor Magistrate, nor Learning, doth them any harm, but much good: and whereas, the Moors curse that which burneth them, & scorcheth them to blackness, these wretches find fault with those that warm them, and wash them to whiteness. Whensoever therefore, you hear any open their mouths against any of these, then remember this story, and know, that no pretext of reason can excuse them, either from madness or folly: For we may not buy our Grace with other nations, (if we be disgraced) with the loss of the Gospel; neither will we suffer our Rulers to be despised for the pleasure and partiality of Malefactious offenders; nor so much as draw the Curtain upon Learning, for the tender eyes of any ignorant vain men whatsoever; And so Lord, If these men curse, yet bless thou our church, our King, our State, our Learning, our People, for evermore. 15 Give me leave yet to lead you along in the spirit, Sab. lib. 4. cap. 9 as God did Ezechiell, Gel. lib. 6. cap. 11. and as he said to him, Behold more abominations; Herod. lib. 4 so I to you, Behold more fools. We read of a strange kind of foolish people, called, Psylli, in Africa, who were of a very low stature of body, but of a much lower and meaner wit and conceit. For they, having a City much annoyed by the Southwinde, upon a season, espying their opportunity, in a calm and peaceable weather, armed themselves to go out into the sandy Sea, or wilderness of sand, to seek this their enemy, the Southwinde, and to bid it battle, hoping utterly to vanquish it, so as it might never more blow upon them: while they ranged too and fro, to seek this their adversary, suddenly the Winds arose, and so tossed the sand upon them, that in a short space they were all swallowed up therewith. These are worthily punished for their folly (will every man say) for what can a sharp sword do against the cold wind? No more, then to cast stones; and what simplicity were it to think, that the Wind were a living creature, and had either blood or spirit to lose? Or if it had, that mortal men could meet or match it? Well, out of these sands which drowned these Psylli people, are arose a generation, almost as foolish as they; Namely, those which think by carnal means to overcome Spiritual dangers. For, if the soul have no affinity with Gold, the one being a Corporeal, the other a Spiritual substance, what is there in Magical enchantment, as a Fish's Liver, to drive away a Devil? And Gold to satisfy for men's sins? the grief of Conscience, cannot be cured by Music, nor carnal Precepts overthrow our Spiritual foe. Your spiritual dangers are greatest, therefore trust in the Lord, who is a spirit, and therefore fittest to dispel & conquer them; but as for King, or Man, or Horse, or Spear, or Spell, or Medicine, they cannot help the soul against the lords wrath. It is best to yield our bodies to Spiritual blasts, and let the mind be compassed about with him, whom Wind and Seas obey. Honesty external, is a necessary Armour against the malice of man, yet our Spiritual foe will not fear it, unless it be accompanied with Prayer and Spiritual Weapons also. 16 Thus have I showed you the more general Fools, now I will proceed against the more particular and special. And in the first place I will rank the Hypocrite, which taketh but the vail or garment of Religion; letting go the pith and Marrow thereof. I may well compare him to that Asinus Cumanus, Herod. lib. 1 Erasmus. Ass of Cuma. An Ass finding a lions skin, to the end to make himself more terrible to the foolish Citizens, put himself thereinto, and then jetted fearfully up and down in the same, to the terror of as many of that City as saw him, every one thinking him (indeed to be a Lion: and when he had held them a good time in that dreadful opinion, at last, a stranger came that way, who hearing the general bruit of this strange Beast, was desirous to see him, and at the very first, beholding his ears, knew him to be an Ass in a lions skin, and went boldly to him, & before all the multitude plucked off the lions skin, and so discovered the Ass' practice. This (I know) doth very well suit with an Hypocrite, first because no wise man will be a counterfeit, but only some shalow-witted person, therefore fitly resembled to an ass, apt to bear both God's wrath & Man's: Gods, because he disliketh him that is not so good as he seemeth: Man's, because men of this world hate him, that seems to be good, although he be not. Now, the lions skin signifieth Christ, for he is the Lion of the Tribe of juda, in whose garments we are blessed of God, as jacob was of Isaac, in the garments of his elder Brother. How glad are some men, if for a season they can counterfeit godliness, (for that is both our saviour's coat and skin) and then they beguile simple people that suspect no fraud, for they will pray, read, hear, give, praise Virtue, dispraise Vice, and what not? So as they may get an estimation of piety, to cover their more odious and secret practices. But GOD shall send a man, a stranger, of more skill and Wisdom, to pluck the skin over these Hypocrites ears, that all the world may know and deride this folly, & that they themselves may likewise understand, that dissembled Religion and Piety shall have her shame in this world, and in the world to come. 17 Worldly men are also very much troubled with Ignorance, & want of experience in divine matters, (I mean matters of Conscience) whereof one Callicon (a notable fool) may give them a taste, Eustathius super odyss. and in his action apt to be derided, they may take a view of their own faces. This silly fellow being sleepy, and wanting a Pillow or Bolster to bear up his head, laid uneath it a Vessel of glass, which being very hard, and not tolerable to his tender headpiece, he remembered that he had heard that Feathers make Pillows soft; whereupon he went and filled it full of Feathers, and so lay down upon it again, but with no more ease than before. And surely (no marvel) for except the outside were apt to yield upon any pressure, in vain was it stuffed with any soft matter. You laugh that hear this, & who can forbear to deride such a folly upon so little harm. But turn to yourselves (I beseech you) and tell me, Who hath the judgement to procure quiet sleep to his soul when it is weary? First, out of Nature, we know that it wanteth rest, and out of that knowledge we labour to provide it: but what do we rest our soul's head upon? Namely, a hard brittle shining heap of some worldly pelf, upon which our soul can take no more rest, than the fools head upon the glass, (for as the Lion delighteth not in straw, nor the Horse in flesh, no more doth the soul in wealth of Gold and Silver.) Then we hear of another rest more soft than glass, which is learned or gathered from the Fowls of Heaven, I mean the Saints, which bring unto us the holy word of God, that we provide, and misplace it in the the former brittle hard Vessel of worldly heaps, and so think to sleep more easily upon our former Pillow, by reason of the new inward stuffing, but all in vain, for if the bottle be all hard and fast stopped, we may suck the skin off from our lips, before we draw the Wine through. Put not new Wine into old Vessels, then saith our Saviour, it will be lost, and put the soft Feathers of Divine promises into the hard pots of carnal minds, and there shall be no more rest than before. But change the mind, according to that saying; Be ye renewed in your mind, and then the softness, sweetness, goodness, and quietness, of heavenly promises, more weighty than Feathers shall yield eternal rest to our souls. 18 I will omit to speak of vain fear, which taketh away the wit of man, the fears of the wicked, which are causeless and easeless: declared in the folly of Phanax the Grecian, who ever feared the fall of the Moon, and did often in a foolish Prophetically pity, Plutarch. lament the destruction of the Ethiopians, upon whom he thought of necessity the Moon must fall; but let men fear their falling into sin, and with sin into hell, more than the fall of the Moon upon the earth, or a dear year, cold Winter, or wet Summer. Again, I might speak against that careless sottishness, and wilful ignorance of those things, which they daily hear and see; like to one Amphistides, Suidas. which would never learn to tell above five, or to know whether his father or mother bore him in her womb: such surely are those, who will not busy themselves with Divine numbers, and know not certainly God to be their Father, or the Church to be their Mother. I will also omit, to discourse against the folly of profaneness in the soul's fits, wherein carnal persons having been stung in their consciences, by some guilt of sin presented to their memory, by some Text of Scripture, or other person guilty and privy to their offence: they cast offal care of divine sayings and judgement; yea, peradventure make away the person guilty to their crimes, that he may never stand up in judgement against them. These men are resembled unto us in that fool, who being in his bed grievously bitten with fleas, did put out the Candle, to the end they might not see him, Gilbert. li. 1 Narrac. but his foolship was deceived, as afterward he found, when he wanted light to take them out of his bed. Even so, they which think to procure rest to their secret bitings, by killing the Witnesses of their crimes, or extinguishing in them the little care they had of godliness, shall be deceived; for not only they shall have more plague, but also want help and light to recover a remedy when they would have it. 19 I will conclude all, with another story, Idem lib. eod. against the preposterous folly of worldly men, who first labour for earthly, and then for heavenly things. I do read of a Noble man's fool, whose labour was to bring in wood to the Kitchen: when he came to the pile, he would always draw out underneath, upon which the whole pile lieth, and let the uppermost alone, (which had been more ready) saying, that he would do the hardest labour first, and then the easiest afterward. And by no means could he be dissuaded from this course, but would spend more time in pulling out a stick, than he should have done in carrying in an armful. So are the Children of this world, they take the most and first pains for inferior things which lie undermost, and let the superior and heavenly things, (more easy to willing minds, which yet press and keep down the worldly things) to be last and least regarded. I refer myself to your consciences, whether I speak not true; if true, whether you or he are more foolish. Two parts there are in this Spiritual folly; the first, that men by giving their first labours to the world, which is undermost, like the foundation of a Woodpile, lose much time, & the world, or worldly blessings, come more hardly unto them. For I must ever rest in my sweet saviours saying, Mat. 6, 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, and all other things shall be cast upon you. And heavy things come more easily downward then upward; therefore the Prophet telleth us, 〈…〉 God remembreth the Heavens the Heavens the Clouds the Clouds the Earth, and the Earth the people. So all blessings must first be sought for in heaven, and then (as Agar) we shall have an Angel to direct us to the Fountain of water on the earth. Secondly, another part of this folly is, that we cannot be persuaded with this fool, but that Heavenly things are more easily accomplished of all sorts, then earthly: and therefore he which is seven years apprentice to a Trade, and all little enough; yet an hour in a Church at a Sermon, is loss of time in Heavenly matters, they may do it much sooner. So one of you, which liveth fifty, sixty, or seventy years, and all that time laboureth in, and for the World, thinketh it enough for heaven, to have a Minister, and a few Prayers an hour or two before his death. These are our cares, and our Articles, upon these we pass our time, and venture our souls. But (o Fools) How long will you delight in foolishness, and hate Wisdom! Be wise as Serpents, Esay. 30. 1 be innocent as Doves. If you be only wise for this world, God will destroy you. None came to the birth of Christ on earth, but the wise men in the East. There were more men in the East, but none of them looked up to heaven but these. It is better, you see, to study on the Stars, than the earth, thereby we are at least admonished, to lift up our heads, and look for Christ in heaven, as those wise men did hear on earth. We shall find him, we shall see him, Heb. 9, 28 for unto them that Look for him, he will appear the second time to salvation. You are all the children of wisdom, you must justify her, hearken to her complaint, Can your hearts forbear rending and yearning to hear her cry so earnestly, o Fools, how long will ye love foolishness, and scorners delight in scorning! Prou. 1, 22. Be you turned at my Correction, I will pour out my mind unto you, and make you to understand my words. Fear not the loss of any thing, the lack of that you have she hath provided, all, both house, harbour, meat, Wine, only she wanteth you, you she calleth. Wisdom hath builded her house, Prou. 9, 12. she hath hewn out her seven Pillars. She hath killed her fatlings, drawn her Wine, and made ready her Table. She hath sent forth her Maids (Viz:) the Preachers, crying in the high places (out of the Pulpits) and saying; He that is simple and destitute of understanding, let him come, let him come and eat of my meat which I have prepared, and drink of my wine which I have drawn. For sake your way o ye foolish, and you shall live, and walk in the way of understanding. 20 So crieth Wisdom, and let all her children and friends follow her; yea, not only them to whom David saith; Be you wise, o kings, Psal. 2, 10. he you learned you that be judges of the earth. But every Master, every Gentleman, every Citizen, every husbandman, every Tradesman, every Labourer, every Man and maidservant, every Old and young man. Receive instruction & not Silver, & knowledge rather then Gold. Prou. 8, 10. Wisdom is more worth than precious Stones, and all pleasures are not to be compared to her. Strive to gain the time you have lost, Strive (I say) that you may be rescribed in the number of the wise Virgins, and taken out of the number of the foolish. We read of one Mycernius, that one told him, (take what course he could) he should live but six years. The Prince (for so he was) amazed hereat, plucked up his spirits and said, he would live twelve years, for he knew how to make twelve of six, and this was his course: he bade all sleep farewell, and provided such abundance of lights, that whithersoere he went, or wheresoever he was, it was always as light as day, & so he thought he lived twelve years, because he waked in light, when others sleep in darkness, which is a kind of death, one half of our life being always cut off or spent in sleep. Oh that we had so much wit and power to double our days we have to live, and that the lights of wisdom might never be quenched in our presence, but shine about us, and in us whether soever we go, so shall our day excel josuahs' day, and we walk in the day wherein no man stumbleth. Beloved, While you have the light, walk in the light, and the God of lights and peace fill you full, & bring every one of you out of darkness, and the shadow of death, into the light of Grace and Glory, guiding your feet into the way of peace, Amen. The second Sermon. THus did I discourse of Wisdom and the wise man in my first Sermon, which was a necessary circumstance in my Text, giving precepts to all. Now it followeth, that we handle his words, and look into the Marrow of his proverbial Doctrine, wherein he first instructeth, Be diligent, and take heed. Secondly, he directeth, to thy flock, to thy herds, that is; to all thy state, call, dealing; private, common, every where. Or by the Flock you may understand our goods enclosed within house or hedge, by the Herd, those things that are more common and wild abroad, for the wealth of those times consisted in Flocks and Herds. This his instruction he enlargeth by reason. Secondly by parts. Thirdly, by use. First, the reason, why we must look to our goods and charge is one, and that a mighty and weighty one. For riches endure not always, nor the Crown of Kings to all their generations. Secondly, the parts of the charge, are the several possessions. First, the Hay, that must be mowed. Secondly, the Grass, that must be eaten by Cattle, and not trodden under foot. Thirdly, the herbs of the Mountain, they must be gathered; that is, Grain and Corn of the Mountains for Meat, Medicine, and Ornament. Fourthly, the Lambs, they must be shorn or clipped, that out of their fleeces we may fetch garments and clothing. Fiftly, the Goats, that they may be sold, and bring in money for other uses external, for the saying is wise and true in Columella. Oportet patrem familias esse vendacem non emacem, The householder must sell, and not buy, if he will be rich. Lastly, the uses of his instruction, and all these parts of wealth, Verse 27. which is for the keeping of a good house, when he saith, And let the Milk of thy Goats be sufficient for the food of thy family and the sustenance of thy maids That is, feed thy servants, but not delicately, for so he will prove thy equal, if not thy Master, yet sufficiently, and that out of thine own store, buy nothing for him, neither for thy Maidens, but that they may better look to thy Goats and Cattle, let them live upon their Milk, that so they may learn by thy example to be alike thrifty in time to come: but if once they find thee loose, & give them board-wages, they will be negligent in their charges, and bring ruin to thy estate. 2. [Be diligent.] That is, as if Solomon had said, in all the ways of thy life, be laborious and painful; whatsoever passeth through thy hands, do it not by halves, and slightly, but let it still bear the stamp of thy diligence, And if there be any thing to be done, which is not fit for thy place, or passing thy skill, yet let thy eyes behold the doing thereof; It is a virtue (and no shame) to be present at all thy affairs. Diligence is the Mother, and negligence the Stepmother of humane life. By diligence they are hatched and increased, by negligence they are destroyed and diminished. If we look up to Divine and Heavenly things, diligence is exemplified, Mat. 18, 10 For the Angels stand always before God; if to the Precepts of the Law and word of God: Deut 6, 7. Thou shalt keep diligently the Precepts, Commandments, and Testimonies of the Lord thy God. If a case come into judgement (because the judge hath but one power to do a thing once only, whether good or ill) and because every sentence of a judge, is the sentence of God, therefore it must also be done with diligent inquisition. When a leprous man was brought before the Priests, Deut 17, 4. the Lord commanded diligent inquiry first to be made, and then every man was bound to rest in the opinion of the Priest. 〈◊〉▪ 58. When the poor woman in the Gospel had lost her Groat, She lighteth her Candle sweepeth her house, and searcheth diligently every Corner. Without diligence we can do nothing. The difficulty and hardness of every work is made easy & foftned by diligence: Prudence without justice is nought worth, justice without Prudence is worth as little▪ Knowledge, without Diligence, is of small use, Diligence with Knowledge is worth very much. The life of man is like an Iron, which use maketh bright, and rest maketh rusty: like a Water, which standing, is quickly corrupted, but running, remaineth sweet and clear, like the Pulse, which beating, showeth life, but ceasing, bringeth death. Therefore out of Salomon's precept I will amplify this point three ways. First, I will show the necessity of Diligence. Secondly, the commendation of it. Thirdly, the Commodity thereof. 3 Touching the necessity of diligence, it was the ordinance of God to subject us all to labour, to diligent labour; yea, even to sweat, immediately after our first parents fall, and I verily think, had they never fallen, yet without diligence they could not have lived, the necessity of all earthly and humane affairs requiring the same. For by dullness, sluggishness, and idleness, our business, our lives labour is intermitted, omitted, and destroyed; neither the work of God or man, without use, exercitation and diligence can long stand. All is a Talon, & every talon must be used (not digged into the ground) which cannot be without diligence. Through want of exercise, the Arms of Hercules, of the strongest, are dulled in the body, and the purest and sharpest wits are blunted in the mind. We see that the Land missing his Tillage, yieldeth smaller and worse increase, & that which is often turned, compassed, and Ploughed, is the surer ground to the Husbandman's content. The Merchant, which by continued diligence, often cutteth the Seas, is much richer than he that sitteth at home, and doth little or nothing, after one venture or two. The Iron, of round is not made flat with one stroke of the Smith, but by often doubling, & redoubling the same. The Colt cannot be tamed & fitted for the saddle, by once backing and bitting, but by being every day in the hand of the rider. When Lot went out of Sodom, he must do it with diligence, for he must be in Zoar, before the Sun rising, and he nor they in his company must be so idle or careless, as once to look backward, and so by diligence he and his Daughters escaped the fire and Brimstone. By diligence also, we escape Hel. jacob by his diligent service obtained Rahell, the Star in his eyes, the jewel of his heart. By diligent and valiant adventure, did David bring the 200. foreskins of the Philistims, and won the King's Daughter. By diligence, and not without diligence were the five Talents made ten; and he which had so diligently made and multiplied them, was also made the Ruler of ten Cities. I can never say enough of the necessity hereof, but this I will say, without diligence the sins and filth of our lives are increased, & by diligence are they evacuated; for the sea by ebbing & flowing, by flux, & reflux, by restless labouring and working, is not corrupted, by all the rivers, carcases, and carrions in the world, but still it worketh them out; so as it is without infection. Wars nor peace, omit or intermit diligence, for in war it conserveth from enemy, it helpeth to victory; in peace it conserveth from corruption of manners, and bringeth in plenty of honour and all things. 4 We read that the Milesians having been in long civil wars among themselves, so as their forts & houses were ruined, their cattle diminished by daily rapines, their grain consumed & burned, and the Land wasted, & all for the principality thereof. To help & redress this misery, the contending claimers pitying the state of their Country, grew to a parley, & laid down their swords of Hostility, and condescended to refer their cause to the Pareyans their next Neighbours, and so under their common Seal, sent by embassage their cau●e, quarrel, request, and submission, to their censure and arbitrement. The Pareyans accepted the determination of this business, & having received a more ample reference from the heads of the several factions, to bestow the kingdom or principality upon whomsoever them pleased within the Territory, they came to Miletum, and heard all parties, Pro & con, what could be said for every man's Title. At last, walking abroad, they saw the desolations of the whole Island, and no man minding so much as the Tillage, to procure common food, except one Husbandman, which then had sowed his land, notwithstanding the fury of the sedition. This man they called, and before all the claimers, they proclaimed him K. as the worthiest member of his Country, providing for himself, and the common benefit of other, when all in a desperate idleness gave themselves to sowing & spilling of blood, he in a diligent hand of providence, attended the sowing of Corn and grain, for the filling of his Country with store again. And so all upon a little debate, yielded to him, and praised the Pareians election. Even so is it with the diligent, their hand must bear rule, as justinus of a diligent heard-Boy became a diligent Soldier; of a diligent Soldier, a great Commander; of a Commander, the Emperor of the world, and one of the best. 5 Hearken therefore unto me my beloved, young men and Brethren, be diligent, for they that are not in the labours of men, are in the labours of Devils. When I look up to heaven, I see, and find, that without diligent Prayer, fasting, reading, meditating, & godly continued conversation to the end, we shall never come thither; Oh, therefore be diligent, it is for a Crown, it will quite the pains, it will pay the labour richly. If I look upon the earth, the Husbandman hath four seasons, which observing, he is rewarded with plenty, and with neglecting, he is clothed with Beggary. Be diligent, for God doth speed the Plough. If I look on learning, and learned men, I find that diligence maketh their night's short, their days long, their diet thin, their bread course, cording to that of the Poet: Mùlta tulit fecitque puer sudavit & alsit Abstinuit vino & venere qui pythia cantat. Many and many are the miseries of the Student; sometimes he sweateth; sometimes, he freezeth; and the songs of his Divine Oracles make him forbear both drunkenness and wantonness. Be diligent therefore, for so, mean men have attained Kingdoms; Husbandmen, riches; Scholars, Dignities; and Merchants, Honours; and without this diligence, God will not bestow his blessing. And thus much for the necessity of diligence. 6 The second thing I noted of Diligence, is the praise and Commendation thereof, for this alone was never dispraised. The Turks dispraise Learning; some Temperance, some Fortitude, some justice, some Religion, but all commend Diligence. Solomon is as much commended for his diligence, as for his wisdom, and when he ceased to be diligent, he also ceased to be wise; and when he renewed his diligence, and forsook his pleasures, than he recovered his wisdom. Saint Paul inferior to no man, in praise, in desert, hath his Divine parts commended by his diligence; first, in that he never ceased warning all men night and day, and served the Lord in watching and Prayer: that he travailed two thousand Miles, and in all that journey preached the Gospel: for these his many accidents in his labour, is (as he deserved) commended of all: 2. Pet. 3, 15. yea, S. Peter termeth him his beloved Brother Paul. Saint Chrysostom in Ecclesiastical story, is memorable for many excellent parts in him, and especially for that in his banishment he preached diligently, and converted many to Christ jesus. He that tilleth the ground shall have abundance (saith Solomon.) We read of Furius Cresinus (a Roman) who having every year better Corn than his Neighbours, they called him into judgement for the same, alleging that by enchantment and witchcraft he sped so well, and that by such secret evil means, he drew away the fat of other men's Land into his own. The poor man appeared at the day, and brought with him all his Tools of husbandry; weighty plowshares, heavy Mattocks & Spades, full fed Oxen, all his irons much bigger and stronger than other men's, and lastly his Daughter, a strong and mighty young woman, who was his helper in all his Husbandry, & setting all these before his accusers and judges, cried out in these words: Haec sunt Quirites veneficia mea. (o Romans) this Daughter, these Oxen, these Tools are the Instruments of my Witchcraft, and besides these, I use none, and these I apply with all diligence: whereat his judges being moved, absolved him with commendation. Thus we see, diligence procureth abundance in time of want, and favour in time of judgement: who can sufficiently express or admire her praises, which maketh men so praiseworthy, both in Court and Country. When all jewry were asleep at our saviours birth, who had the warning and notice thereof from heaven, even the very same night, but the shepherds that kept their Luke 2. 8. flock by night; commended for nothing but for their diligence, to them did the Angels of Heaven bring tidings of the Birth of Christ our Saviour the son of David. Lo, another Commendation of diligence, and a greater cannot be to hear the Angels speak, the heavenly Soldiers sing, and to see before all earthly men (next to joseph and Mary) the most blessed Babe that ever was. Diligence is observed by the heavenly powers, and rewarded with the happy vision of jesus Christ. 7 Again, the continual brand of infamy and disgrace, that is set upon the negligent and sluggish, is no mean praise of diligence and industry, and therefore wheresoever we read of a sluggard or idle person, even in his greatness he is taxed for this. Esau, who having been a hunting, came home hungry, to satisfy his present hunger, sold his Birthright, in his negligence saith S. Austen, Malebat emere quam quaerere cibum, he had rather set his Birthright packing, then tarry, or go seek meat at an easier rate, wherefore he is branded with the Title of very few: Esau Ihate. Claudius, after he was Emperor, grew so careless and sluggish, that he minded nothing, neither what he said, nor to whom, nor among whom he spoke. Ptolemy another careless King of Egypt, would play at Chess sitting in judgement upon men's lives, whereby many times wrong judgement proceeded out of the kings negligence, and the blood of an Innocent was shed, which all the kings of the world, could not make to live again, or give a satisfaction. Theodosius the younger was wont to subscribe to all Letters or grants that were brought unto him: to draw him from this carelessness, his Sister Palcheria devised an edict to be made, whereby he banished his wife whom he loved most dearly. And then she getting the writing again after the Emperor had signed it, brought it unto him, blamed him, he denied it, she produced it, and the shame thereof made him more diligent ever afterward. Thus by negligence are all other Virtues stained, because diligence giveth grace to all. Learn (I beseech you) to be diligent, and not to break off your diligence in any point; and in all your actions, join labour and Prayer together: Labour, without Prayer is a presumption against God; Prayer, without Labour is a temptation of God. Let judas Macchabeus witness this for me; before all his battles, he ever prayed, except two, one against Eupator, and then he was overcome, and lost the field; the other, against Alcimus and Bacchides, and then he lost his life. Although his praises were many, for valour & fight, yet his diligence had not been so fortunate, if he had not joined his Prayers to his sword. Be faithful and diligent in small things, so shall God make you rulers over many, & he which is negligent in the smallest, shall not be trusted with greater. I cannot forget, I will not conceal the worthy saying of Bernard. Seruans doctrinam rarò accusabit fortunam, diligentiam cum infortunia rarò sociabis, pigritiam rarò separabis. That is, He which keepeth good Doctrine, shall seldom accuse fortune. You shall not seldom join diligence & misfortune together, you shall as seldom separate misfortune and sluggishness: and ●o I end this second part of the praises of diligence. 8 The third part I propounded to myself, are the commodities of diligence, which are many, and therefore neither this place, nor this time will not permit me to set down either all, or those few, so largely, which I will here describe. First, Almighty God, allureth and draweth on men in all kind of life, by, and for the hope of reward and profit. Noah's Ark, Moses message to Pharaoh, David's fight against Goliath, our Saviour Christ's passion, & our profession, have all their several rewards and promises annexed to them, so hath diligence: for it cannot be, that the same virtue which blesseth mankind with so many benefits, but that also it should receive many commodities for them. First (Solomon saith) The diligent hand shall bear rule; Verily, there is none of us all, but still retain both an Image of honour, and an aspiring to Government, for God made not us for servile & base slavery, but to bear rule over the creatures of the world. By diligence we have already showed how many Emperors and Kings have been advanced from mean estate, and now I will add a few more. The Kings of Hungary were derived from Lechus the second, who was a Husbandman, and by a divine demonstration, taken from the Plough to be the Virgin-queenes' Husband; in remembrance whereof, he caused his wooden soles or shoes to be reserved in his Castle for all posterity to remember, how, and in what sort he came first into the Court. All the world knoweth that the bishopric of Metz is one of the greatest of Christendom, the Bishop being a Sovereign, and a Prince Elector, the seat which Princes and great Lords have sought after for their sons. We read of one of their worthiest Bishops called * Centur x. In his Chapel, where none came but the Emperor, & himself, he caused to be written, Villegese prioris fortunae esto memor, & qui nunc ses considera. Villegesus, who was but a Basket-makers son, yet would he have the Badges of his Father's occupation to remain in his Palace, aswell to make other studious, whereby they might come to honour, as also to put him in mind of his mean descent. 9 The Grecians said, Ponos eucleias Pater, Labour was the Father of Honour, for the blessing of God doth so follow it, that many more are made honourable by diligence, then by Birth, witness all the romans, who raised their Commonwealth, and stood not upon terms of blood (although it be honourable) some of them were fetched from the Blow, some from other mean places; then Virtues gave Titles, now Titles sell Virtues. Cicero, Fabius, Quintius, and other, Witness these things. When Demosthenes was asked how he came to that excellent facility of speaking, so as he led his Auditory to what part he pleased, being the glory of the greeks, and an honour to himself, he gave this answer; that by spending more Oil than Wine, he came to that habit of perfect speaking; Meaning, that he was in his study, writing and reading by his Lamp, when other were at the Tavern, or in their banquets eating and drinking; soft beds, and much learning are hardly gotten together, good cheer and painful diligence are seldom matched together, therefore as Lazarus his sorrows went before his joys, & Dives his joys before his sorrows, so Humility and Labour go before honour, and Honour abused and taken before the time, is seconded with shame, misery, and (peradventure) hell. 10 Again, another commodity we receive by labour and diligence, is the comfort of a good heart, when we must sit down in age, and can work no longer: for the night of age cometh, when we cannot work, and therefore if a good Conscience be any thing unto us, and we know any thing of ourselves, then may we with Authority reprove the idleness of other, and repeat (without boasting) with glory and praise our own practice: whereby posterity and the younger will admire us, and praise us, and Noble Spirits, (whereof there be some in every age) will by our example be provoked to do the like. But if we remain in idleness and sluggishness, what ariseth in our minds, but filthy Lusts, impure thoughts, abominable actions, such as we read were in the Sodomites. Be not deceived, a little cranny letteth the wind into the house, and a little leak overturneth and drowneth a great Ship; even so, a little idleness suffereth Satan's Wind and Water, to enter into the soul to the eternal perdition thereof. 11 By all this we may see the commodities of diligence, both as it is in it own Nature, and as it is also in the contrary. And indeed, we may urge this second a little further, to the shame of Drones, sluggards, and idle persons; God doth worthily punish them, so as they are not like to other men, their hands and faces spotted or stained like the green sickness, and their bellies either blown up like Eglons with fat, or (deserved hunger following them) lank and flat down like the bladder that is pricked. Nothing runneth in their mind but the Torment of labour, from that they post as fast as Moses from his rod, when it was turned into a Serpent, crying out against those that provoke them, as the Devils against our Saviour, Why art thou come to torment us before our time. Yea, labour grieveth them so much, as they watch late, because they will not put off their clothes, and lie long in bed, because they are loath to take the pains to put them on again. The sluggard (saith Solomon) when he turneth himself, maketh a noise like a Cartwheel: Why? Because he is not liquored with the Oil of labour and diligence, he is ever murmuring and complaining: In Summer, he complains of long days, and trifleth them away at the Market, or at the Alehouse, or at other men's shops, or sleepeth after every Meal, or doth nothing but ask for news. He is at defiance with his own house and Lands, so long as there is a meeting or assembly abroad, either at Bowling, Shooting, Drinking, or other vain occasions; being happy in nothing so much (to his own conscience) as that such company and occasion driveth his business out of his head. After meat, if pleasure call him not away, he goeth to sleep, and if the Sabbath come, that he must be forced to his Monthly day, yet shall Prayers be first half done, and the residue he passeth over with desires that they were ended, and like a merry Soldier whom I knew taken by the enemy, and led from Tree to Tree to be executed, was wont to say, that when he had escaped one Tree, he thought long till he had also escaped another. 12 Well, as riches and honour are the end of labour & diligence, so is poverty the end of idleness, and such a poverty as is less ashamed to steal, then to beg, for his inward guilt of ungodly liberty taketh away from him the boldness to ask for God's sake, and biddeth him be his own Carver, to want nothing till he come to the Goal among his fellows. But woe be to them that bring not up their Children to some honest and diligent labour, they spoil them in their youth, doing them more harm for want of seven years Apprenticeship, than they do them good by an hundred pound a year Land. For ease slayeth the foolish, and the prosperity of fools destroyeth them. woe worth them also, that get, and gain, and take, and receive from other men's labours, not giving them good words for their benefits, nor ever opening their mouth for their large allowances, either in the Church, or at the Bar, yea, both in the Church, and at the Bar: sometimes Demosthenes' coynancy (not squinancy) stopping their mouths, as if their throats were sore: sore indeed of a Pestilence never to be cured. Sometimes, possessed of a dumb and deaf devil, whom they will not suffer to be cast out, lest their Consciences should rend them at his departure. These are they which give unto Physicians a groat, unto their Counsellors smoke, unto their Flatterers a pound, unto their Minions & Harlots a talon, unto Divines and Preachers, a halfpenny of custom. To conclude, let us all beware of negligence, and not only cry out against it, as the soldiers did of War in the time of Vitellius, when one had in the wars slain his own Father, yet did every man continue the wars: and so while we dislike idleness, we nourish & maintain it; but let the Son of God be your example, not in his Miracles, but in his labours, that when death or he calleth for you, it may find you working, or praying, or Meditating, or hearing, or counseling, or persuading, or resisting evil, or but saying this will I do, if the Lord jesus give me life and leave, that the fruits of your labours, like the coat of Tabytha, may remain when you are dead and gone. The third Sermon. YOu have heard in the first Sermon, I taught you to be wise; in the second, to be diligent; now in the third, I must exhort you to the Christian care of your own estates and goods; both in their parts, and in their Uses, as they are comprised in my Text. First, for your Cattle (for good men are merciful to their Beasts) provide for them Hay and Grass. Secondly, for yourselves, Corn, signified by the herbs of the Mountain, (for in Israel they sow upon mountains) and Money out of the price of the Goats. Thirdly, for your servants, meat, and Milk. And lastly, for you and them together, clothing, out of the fleeces of your flock. And of all these Solomon biddeth us, Know their states, and take heed to them. Whether they live with us more familiarly in the house, or enclosure, or whether they are more foreign and wild, signified under the name of herds. In this knowledge there are many sweet flowers, may profitable trees or plants, and many fair growing seeds. For to speak a little of knowledge in general; without knowledge, we never have ourselves, nor Almighty God. All are bound to know (except Children) who cannot by their infancy of years; and natural fools, who cannot by privation of natural faculties. The knowledge of God, is both the cause of loving and enjoying him: for, How can we love him whom we know not? And how can we have him whom we love not? The knowledge of God is the beginning of Wisdom, the knowledge of ourselves is the fullness of Charity. If we be ignorant of ourselves, that ignorance begetteth Pride, if we be ignorant of God, that ignorance draweth to Desperation: for if we know not God, we cannot hope in him; if we know not ourselves, we cannot be humble, and then we cannot be blessed. By the knowledge of ourselves (saith Saint Bernard) we Sow in tears, because we feel and see to our sorrow, the defects of our Nature. By the knowledge of God, we reap in joy; because, we feel and see, and hear, the plenty and copiousness of his Redemption: therefore let us go forth and carry our seed weeping, that we may return with our sheaves joying; and both, for our knowledge, and for our Humility, neither with the pharisees, let us boast ourselves above others, nor with the base multitude, be contented to be like others. For, in giving Honour (saith Saint Paul) go one before another; that is, the rule of our Humility, to wish with Martinus Turonensis, Centur. 11. that all our Virtues could be concealed. 1 cor. 14 31 And again, Covet the best gifts, there is the rule of knowledge; the best gifts are the greatest knowledge, and the greatest knowledge, (if it be sanctified) maketh the best men. Difference of knowledge, maketh difference of men; and as David's grace and knowledge preferred him in the sight of God and Samuel before his Brethren (though he were lower in stature, and they taller and more personable men:) even so, God delighteth not in men's legs, or strength, but in their heart and souls; The Angels are pictured, not great, but full of wings, and we that are in the last part and end of the world, & therefore less in our marriage bed, than our Fathers in their Cradle, let us fly about the world, about our calling, up to Heaven, with the wings of heavenly knowledge. 2 Solomon therefore commandeth, to be diligent to know our Herds, & take heed to our flocks, for they signify but one thing. Whereby he meaneth, that we should inform ourselves, of all our possessions, and not only refer their care to our Balyffes and Stewards, who many times take more pains to get our Liveries & Badges, then to do us service and deserts. It is well observed, that Almighty God hath given every man a mind and a state equal, one fit, or at least fitted for another, and no man is so poor, but his estate, is big enough to occupy his mind, and set that on work; for a little, with righteousness, will keep an honest man in action. But if righteousness be absent, what is then the condition of such a person? Namely, to busy himself in other men's affairs, to talk of their livings, of their stock, of their pedigrees, of their sons and daughters, and servants, and of the prizes of Corn and Merchandise, as if he had ten Characks at sea, when he hath neither Money to buy, nor ware to sell away. This man is never a stranger, but at home; knoweth every man, but himself; sums up all men's reckonings, but his own; is even with all accounts, till he leave himself, even nothing. From the root of this vanity, ariseth the idle humour of seeking after news, in Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Morocco, or the Low-countries, and wanting good matter, he coineth some of his own; then he posteth to one Lord or Lady, or other great person, (but of mean intelligence) and there he venteth the wind in his brain. Such is the nature of man's mind (my beloved) as is the Nature of good ground, if you Till & Sow it, will it not bring forth good fruits? But if you Till it not, and let it alone unoccupied, will it not bring forth weeds or Grass? Even so, our minds sowed with knowledge of good discipline, yieldeth a happy harvest of honest faculties; but let alone, and not filled with some better matter, becometh stuffed with the wind of vain humours, lying Tales, credulous lies, and unprofitable discourse. From hence also it cometh, that men have leisure to sow debate, by imagining faults, where none are, and discovering imperfections and follies of other men, which lying hid in secret, were better buriand forgotten, then remembered. For what cometh of it, but shame to our Countrymen, contentions in the Law, troubling of the seats of judgement, hatred and division among honest families, exhausting of Treasure, and setting the soul either wide open (by malice) to the devil, or closed up, by shaking off grace and shame. This is the fruit of them that are ignorant of their own estates, and yet be turbulent discerners of other men; & the best is, the world payeth them well again. For, if they have as many Masters, as they have hearers, every one payeth him with hatred, revilings, and reproaches; so as he laboureth without fruit, Sowing the wind, and reaping the Whirlwind, discovereth, without thanks; speaketh, without credit; eateth, without welcome; liveth, without reputation or love; dieth, without tears or pity; saving, it is pity such wretches tread upon God's dear earth. 2 But you (beloved) which either hear this, or hear of this, bind and buckle yourselves to knowledge, if it were possible, of every thing, Art, Trade, and Occupation; but especially, of your estates, without which, a Christian is unlike to God, and shameth his profession, which crediteth other men, where only he should believe himself. You have but two things in your estate to look into, your souls, and your Temporalties: do in the one as you do in the other. I read of one Pomponianus a Mantuan, that he was in secret accused for denying the soul, and at last (as all secret faults shall be revealed) it came into the light, and he was called into judgement for it. His judges demanded of him, whether he did believe he had a soul or no; he answered Negatively, he did not: whereat his enemies and accusers rejoiced, his grave judges reproved him sharply, and gave sentence upon him. The Prisoner marveled, and told them they were too hasty, for (said he) do you believe you have souls? Yea, said they all, and accurse them that do not. But said he, do you no more than believe it: said they, that is sufficient: then saith he, Non credosed scio. I do not only believe it as a thing absent; but, I know I have a soul, and faith, gives place to knowledge. So my beloved, do not only believe you have Leases, and Lands, and Friends, and Cattle, and goods, and Souls, but know it: it is better to know, then to believe it. Heavenly things I must believe, till I may know, but earthly things I must know, or else I cannot believe. I will love my Servant for his obedience, but I will not believe or trust him for all my state. Know yourselves to be rich, and do not only believe it: know yourselves to be Christians, and do not only believe it: know yourselves to be in the way to heaven, for if you do but believe it, you are deceived: Know yourselves to have Hope, Faith, and Charity; report and opinion are many times false. Faith is the beginning of life eternal, knowledge is the perfection and complement. Faith goeth before, (as Grammar before other Arts) or as the scholar believeth his Master, but knowledge cometh after, and either confuteth or confirmeth the masters precepts. 4 There be causes, there be effects, there be contraries to Faith, all which known and discerned, do no only confirm Faith, but transport, and transform it into knowledge: and true faith will never cease, till it come to knowledge, as true love is not at quiet, till it have the seal of Marriage, because it traineth to experience, and experience resteth in knowing. The trial of many things begetteth Wisdom, and Wisdom the better part of experience, maketh trial of evil things (yet without sin) and keepeth that which is good. It was the fault of Hieron his wife, that having never kissed man (except her Husband) thought that every man's breath did smell as ill as her husbands: whereby her husband blamed her, and she was not thought careful enough of him. Until, and unless we know what difference is betwixt a jews faith, a Turks faith, an Anabaptists faith, and a true Christian faith: none at all, in respect of the form, but the matter, the efficient, and the end of believing, which is not discerned without knowledge. I call the form of believing, not the essence of a true Faith, which is a word impropriated to Divinity, but the being of faith, in the minds Moral and Natural Virtues. Wherefore out of a good doctrine ariseth a good faith; not on the contrary, and out of good Doctrine and Faith, a sound knowledge, defending, maintaining, and persuading both. This is that knowledge, that Solomon saith, is better than Gold and Silver, and is not therefore to be misliked, because it is not always honoured and had in reputation. I have seen (saith the Preacher) an evil under the Sun, Eccl. 9, 11. The race is not always to the swift, the victory to the strong, nor bread to men of knowledge. What then? God himself is not always so respected as he ought, shall not we therefore regard him as much, as if all the world did agnize him? Bread (than which nothing is more needful to mankind) yet is not always respected of wanton and full-fed Children; shall the hungry therefore cast it away? God forbid, no more let honourable Science and Knowledge lose her reputation, because some indiscreet Fools, have set her in the last, least, and lowest place. 5 God himself is a God of knowledge, & next to God, men are the Professors and Students of knowledge, for even the Angels by the church, are informed in the secrets of our Redemption. A man without knowledge, hath no God but himself, no heaven but this world, and in this (through ignorance, of the world to come) they crave a large improvement of their evil days, feeling no other love, or hatred, or fear, or care, or sorrow, or wounds, or conscience; For, as men first sin, and do not care, by a long & inveterate custom, they sin, and do not know. From hence men fall into a Reprobate mind, having no good thing in them, like Beasts they are guided by appetite, like him that had a thousand Cooks, and a thousand Falconers. Reason, which should rule, is made of the Lady the Handmaid, and so the issue of their minds is like Ishmael, a bastard, and a Bondage-generation; from which seldom cometh any good. Religion, the Daughter of God & the Church, and the first borne in Paradise; yea, in Heaven, is clapped up into some stinking Dungeon, through which, passeth the sink of all our beastly pleasures, and that which should have the highest, and the most honourable room in our house of clay (too base for such a Guest) is thrust behind the Stables of great Horses, the Mews of Hawks, the Porter's lodge, yea the Scullery of the most servile Offices, and where she most loveth to be (like the Haebrew servant) she is bored through the ear, and hath many wrongs and brands of disgrace; still a Servant, that should be a Commander. Their rule to believe is their sense, except they see (with Thomas) they will never believe, and yet all the senses being filled, they are not overcome, so easy is it to show the reasons of Divinity, and so hard to persuade. In error, many (like our late Apostates) are first persuaded, and then instructed, but in Religion and Faith, after so much as sense itself crieth hoe, yet instruction can work no persuasion, as though some Ephialtes overlay their breasts. 6 From hence also it cometh, that Adam's sin is laid upon God, because he suffered and permitted it, therefore he decreed and acted it: and whatsoever other evil is committed in the world, he must be made the Author thereof: so strangely rangeth ignorance and want of Knowledge, being not able to discern betwixt permission and action, betwixt the action, and the evil, that like a Bird in a net, the more it striveth, the faster it is hampered, and the higher goeth the sin. Then Fortune or good luck is made their Goddess, attributing whatsoever they have, either to chance, or to themselves; with the wicked in the Prophet, they Sacrifice to their net, or else to their Arms, to their Horses, to their experience, to their wit: but if success fail, and the issue answer not the expectation, than they curse themselves, or open their mouth against Heaven, or accuse Fortune, or peradventure lay load upon the Devil, and well they may, for they ride him to Hell, as a Thief in a Cart to the gallows. The Prophet saith, Esay 8, 21. He which is afflicted, shall run hither and thither, and when he is angry, he shall curse his Gods, and the Kings. They give over praying in such cases, Propter hoc malum (saith Tully) or arem deos, at hij renuntiarunt or ationibus meis. For this evil I would pray to the Gods, but they have renounced all my Prayers. That admired Tacitus hath this blasphemy. Numquam maiores caedes Pop. Rom. etc. The people of Rome never endured more slaughter, whereby it was proved, that the Gods are not so watchful for our health and safeguard, as they be for our punishment and revenge. That wise Livy also speaking of a doleful ye are; saith, that for Plagues, Famines, and sedition, never the like befell them, and if (said he) foreign enemies had not been wanting, Vix ope deorum omnium sustentata foret Resp. scarce all the Gods could have supported our estate or common wealth. It is hard, yea almost impossible, for men without the knowledge of God, to stand in affliction if it be not sudden, but linger. Wicked men are worst in long sorrows, judg. 15. Dan. 10, 8 Revel. 1, 17 and best in sudden: good men be worst in sudden, (as Manaoh, Daniel, and Saint john) and best in long miseries, and continued calamities. Titus another demi-god among the Heathen, when he saw that he must die in his youth, (after he had been Emperor but two years) he cried out against the heavens for their small regard of his life. Wicked & ignorant men (if they have any spirits) are like Tigers, who hearing a Drum, bite and tear off their own flesh; so these in great terrors and evils, are at their wits end. When their Conscience biteth them, than they seek out false remedies, more hurtful than assured perils; Namely, the company of good fellows, and Musical merriments, as though sin were sent to afflict them, to help the Tavern, Alchouse or Minstrel: but so also they bewray their folly and want of skill, for their last recourse is unto GOD, when they have tried all other means, and then they neither speed well, nor do well, because they do it late, too late, beginning at the wrong end, all is out of course, and lost; yea, with their own wives they commit fornication, and poison themselves with their own meat. There is not one Virtue or grace of God, which they cannot Nicke-name, nor a fault so foul, which they will not blanch over with some defence; and if at any time it drop into them to hear a Sermon, it is for the phrase, or some sinister respect, goodness being a stranger, and scornfulness an ordinary companion with them. They have learned nothing of God, but to swear by him, and that rashly, falsely, and presumptuously; for to reprove them (never so gently) for the same, is to take a Kid from a Bear, and a Lamb from a Lion, and a Wolf by the ears. They have no care for their souls, no more then for Beggars by the Highway, whom they neither desire to hear, to remember, to relieve. They love none but themselves, and care not upon whom they tread, nor whom they disgrace, to be a foundation to their rising. I would they loved themselves in the Nature of true love, for such love is like the Mother's love to her Child, a love to preserve, but their love is like the hungry man's love to his meat, a love to consume. To conclude, from hence it cometh, that they never think of death with patience and fear it more than hell, because they are not so thoroughly persuaded of hell, as they be of death, and in one word, I may describe them by the Psalm, The ways of GOD they have not known, and there is no fear of God before their eyes. 7 Thus, and this have I spoken of knowledge, as it is a virtue Moral, and Theological; now it is varied in my Text, by these words, And take heed to thy Herds, which afterward are also divided into Hay, Corn, cattle, and servants, that every one of these may be preserved in Use, Office, Life. So our Flocks and Herds are our Families, our cattle, our charges Pastoral, and magisterial, kingdoms to Kings, Monarchies to Emperors, Counties to Sheriffs, offices to Officers, every Servant & maid have their Flocks, their Herds. He that worketh by the day, or that is hired for a year, or is apprentice till a jubilee, whether he follow the Flocks and Ewes with young, as David did, or the Plough and Oxen as Elisha did, or the wars as joab and Abner did, or attend on their Master as the Centurion's servant did, or on their Lady & Mistress, as the Maids of Esther did, or Fish in the Sea, as the sons of Zebedee, or walk on Messages on the Land, as the Servant of Abraham; and to conclude, whether they be set over all as Bailiffs and Stewards, or over the Hay, or over the Corn, or over the Cattle, or over the Men and Maidservants, they have their Flocks, & Herds, and charges, which they must know, and take heed unto, for service is no inheritance, and badges of Lords and great men, are neither to maintain us, or defend us in ill. These are the things that make a man, that make him perfect, in as perfect manner as may be, if they be found in the way of righteousness, such servants shall divide the inheritance among brethren, and men of this quality, shall stand before Princes. 8 There is nothing more commendable in a man, than oftentimes to visit, view & review their possessions, take special consideration of their meanest utensils, so shall they see how they are kept & preserved, which of them must be altered, which nourished, which continued, which removed, which standeth in the stable, and which is fallen into the ditch. Our cattle are not free from our care on the Sabbaoth day. Luke 14. Which of you (saith our Saviour) shall have an Ox, or an Ass, fall into the ditch on the Sabaoth day, and shall not help him out. And which of you doth not lose his Ox or his Ass to water on the Sabbaoth day. By which we see our blessed Saviour give allowance to this labour, arising both out of necessity and mercy, which two only cases, give dispensation to civil and base services on the Sabbaoth day, which works else were unlawful and insufferable in true Divinity. Yea, in the Law we are bound, not only to regard our own cattle, but our Neighbours, yea, our enemies, and to bring home his Ox or Ass that goeth astray, Exod. 23, 4 to restore the pledge, to restore that we find to the true owner, (if we can come to the knowledge of him.) Such care hath almighty God of every man's particular, as that they which follow not this order, corrupt his ordinance, alter his providence, change the Divine property of those things they lose negligently, or retain unjustly, and shall pay most dearly for usurpation of that, which God in trial (not in right) hath given into their hands. Again, if we often look not to our estates (I mean such as are householders) how can we know what to give according to our proportion, or what store to keep, after our allowance? we may give that we cannot spare, and must go buy else where, which is folly, we may keep that we cannot spend, & that is misery and wretchedness; our Granaries shall be empty or fusty, without our knowledge, our wardrobes void of store of Household, our Armouries without weapons, our Sellers without drink or wine, which il beseemeth a Housholder, a Man, much less a Christian, to whom God hath given state and living, and a family, 1. Tim. 5, 8 for He (saith S. Paul) that provideth not things honest before hand for his own Family, is worse than an Infidel. 9 The charge of this life, is food, raiment, and friends; care first to provide these, then to use them. Weee read that joseph was ordained and honoured of Almighty GOD, Gen. 41. with the second dignity in the kingdom of Egypt, (after he was drawn out of prison) for the provision of Corn and Victual; yea, for this his Father & Brethren gave reverence unto him. Lo, an excellent dignity of housekeeping, and providence for to feed them whom the Lord hath sent into the World, among whom are his Church, that must not want when the lions lack and suffer hunger. Every Family hath its children, in whose name, blood, and estate, it consisteth; their enlargement and continuance standeth upon the wise administration of Household affairs, as well to keep that which is already gained, as to gain that which is desired. Saint Paul would not have a Bishop or Deacon to be chosen, but by this Touchstone of experience, how they had ordered and guided their Households; for no man can ever serve or rule well the Church of God, that hath not well behaved himself in the Domestical and economical life. The wise Cato would have the Housholder, Providere familiae instituta, cibos & medicinam, to provide first for the manners, secondly, for the maintenance; and lastly, for the Medicine of their Families in the time of sickness. What is meat and large allowance of fare and diet to our servants, without good and Divine manners? What are Divine & good manners, 1. Tim. 3. 4. without maintenance? What are both of them without health? And what is it to live in such a family, where neither God is feared, nor the labours of good servants regarded in time of sickness? Surely, let no man trust that Master that forgetteth seven, or but one years service, for one months sickness. A vile Nature or Prodigality, or worse, is the cause hereof. Be studious therefore of your families good, and with Salomon's Mother, Seek Wool and Flax, and labour cheerfully with the hands. Pro. 31, 13 Be like a Merchant's ship, to bring food from far. Rise early while it is Night, give your portion to the Household, and the ordinary to the Maids. Put the hand to the Wheel, and your Arms to the poor and needy. Consider Fields, and Carpets, & fine Linen, and Garments, and buy them, so shall honour be your clothing, and ●ou shall rejoice in your latter days. But yet remember in all your labours, that Almighty God be not forgotten, for it is in vain saith David, Psal 127. 2. to rise early, & eat the bread of carefulness, going late to bed, except the Lord give rest to his beloved. You may with Elisha Blow in the field, and follow the Oxen, but if Eliahs' Mantle be cast upon you, you must forsake the Plough, and follow the Prophets. Our sermons are like his Mantle, and they call you to heaven, as that did Elisha, to be a Prophet. Matthew may sit in his Publicans Office, but if our Saviour call him away, He must arise and follow him. All Trades of life are but Handmaids to Religion, therefore vain are they which forsake the Mistresses, (which is Godliness) her Table and Parlour, which is the Temple, for the Maiden's webs, and Worke-houses of less value and estimation. 10 How shall they be able to look almighty God in the face, which either feeling wealth coming upon them, or else in an over-careful desire, to be rich, and accounted laborious, forsake the Churches and Altars of the Lord, seldom visiting the holy Communion, as a day-feast; seldom coming to the Church, as a Market, wherein there is nothing gotten; and as seldom mumble up their private Prayers, without Devotion, Understanding, or Diligence; Oh, I say, what account shall they give unto the Lord, for this drowsy & Lethargical negligence in their soul's cases. Al their care is for the shoe, none for the foot; all for the Hat and Feather, none for the head; all for the Badge on the sleeve, none for the Wages in the purse; all for the body, that body and soul are both lost. It is a comely thing to see a ship rigged, and with spread sails floating on the Waters, observing also, how one is at the Stern, another at the top, and every man in his place, (the winds moving withal) so it will continue in order and sail surely; but if either Pilot or Steersman be wanting, or other Mariner, the Winds will soon rend the sails, and the Ship split against the rocks: even so, it is a goodly thing, and a royal, to see a Man sailing to heaven, having under, him the earthly Waters, (though inconstant) above him the winds of heaven: if he want not in him, Reason, understanding, Religion, and Grace, which are the Mariners that row and waft our souls to the eternal kingdom. It is good therefore to lay hold on this, and not to forget that, For what shall it advantage a man, to win the whole world, and lose his own soul. 11. Now, I return again to the careful Housholder, who must look to every part of his possession, as it is in my text, Hay, grain, Catle and Servants; yea, although he wear the Crown. It was an excellent saying of Alphonsus, a King of Spain: Principis inane nomen nisi habet in aerario, the name of a king or Prince is an idle thing, if he have not a Treasury to maintain it. The Crown is maintained by diligence, by the Blow, and the Commonwealth flourisheth under the same. I will not, nor may I meddle with Princes; but I say, that the name of a Housholder is an idle thing without a storehouse more or less, according to the proportion of the family more or less. The kingdom of heaven is likened to such a storehouse, out of which the lords Family is replenished with things new & old. Luke 12. The Lord hath his Apple Trees, Cant. 2, 5. and Orchards, and Sellers, as he telleth his Church; to teach us, that store is no sore, but sorrow cometh by the default thereof. When God himself made the world, he made man last of all, having first provided all other things for him: as the world roofed with the Heavens, and floored with the green Grassy earth, stored with all fruits, incessantly and successively growing one after other. The Stars being his lights, the Creatures of all sorts being Servants and Tributaries to him, the Angels of heaven his assured friends, waiting on his safety, & every bird singing melody to his prosperity; so did the great householder provide for man even before he was made; so hath he continued his store working hitherto, And seed time, & harvest, cold and heat, Gen. 8, 22 Winter & summer, day and night, hath not ceased, but shall remain as long as the earth shall endure. So must wise Householders provide aforehand, things honest; even before marriage, Meat and houses, & clothing, & before children, as the mother doth the swaddling clothes. That out of the herds he may with Abraham fetch a Lamb or a Kid, or an Ox: out of the Pastry with Sara, fetch the Meal for the bread of strangers. It is not good to want store and provision at hand, the Venison is best in the Park, and the Cattle in our own, and not in others men's herds. When Isaac would have Venison, because it ran wild, Esau was long in taking it, & so jacob came in the mean time with the tame Kid (a thing in store, and at hand) and got away the blessing. Even so, when necessaries are then to be sought, when they should be used, it preventeth both the thanks, and the benefit, and store bringeth both: for Jacob's Venison (though not true) had both the blessing, and the thanks. Store at hand, is like friends at hand, whereof Solomon saith, A friend at hand, is better than a Brother a great way off. Alex. ab Alex. The ancient Egyptians were wont to hang or paint at their doors a vultures Wing, in token of their Gentry. The Romans, the Spears, Shields, Swords, and warlike weapons, which their Antecessors had gotten by their prowess: & these things (though at the doors) yet no man durst remove or make away. Thus did they for their Honour, let us do as much for our houses and Families, and let not there be among us any that keepeth not his parents Lands, goods, Arms, Cattle, and Virtue, that as we are known by their names, so we may be by their Lands, Honours, Prowess, Frugality, & all other works of Faith, Hope, and Charity. 12. Thus have I briefly spoken of the Household care to get and keep. Now of the last part of the Housholder, or housekeeping, which is his mercy in spending, & liberality in giving forth. That which was first called his charge, Flock and Herds, he now calleth his Family and Maidens, which must be fed and clothed. Whereby, is first to be noted, that all the care we have spoken of, is to give, to bestow, to spend, to distribute, and feed others. He which is the Servant of riches, doth keep, and get them like a Servant, but he which is the Lord and Master of them, doth give and dispose them like a Master; nothing proveth a man so much the owner of his wealth, as the use and bestowing of it; nothing showeth him so much a base servant of wealth and riches, as the hoarding up, and keeping it close from the sight of the world. Now, the servant doth keep them, as Servants do their masters goods; and he which is a Servant of riches, is not a Servant of jesus Christ. Beware of this wretched getting of goods to keep them, & not to spend them: God, Nature, Men, Beasts, and all good creatures, confute and deny this. GOD, for he which is infinite in wealth, giveth all in this world; He eateth not of our Flocks or folds, Psal. 50, 13 or of Beasts that run wild on the hills, he therefore commandeth the earth to feed man, Psa. 145, 15 For he openeth his hand, & filleth all living things with his blessing, Act. 20 35. he saith, It is a more blessed thing to give, then to receive. He chargeth the rich in this world to be ready to distribute. 2 Tim. 6, 17 He threateneth that the rust of the Gold and Silver laid up, james 5, 3. shall consume and torment the souls of them that hoard. Luke 12, 15 He telleth that no man's life standeth in the things it possesseth: Micah 6, 8. He showeth thee o man what is good; Namely, to do justice, and love mercy. And to conclude, Him he styled a Fool, which having plenty of Corn, Luke 12, 20 more than his Barns could hold, would rather build greater Barns (to keep it) then give away the superfluous surplusage to the poor and needy, o Fool, this night they will fetch away thy soul from thee, than whose shall all these goods, and Bags, and Obligations be? Surely, If you say your children's; what comfort is it to a Father in hell to remember the intolerable Torments he there endureth, for getting and keeping that wealth unjustly, without showing pity to other, which now his Sons and Daughters revel in with all earthly pleasures. I tell you such earthly pleasures, have a bitter end; but such Torments have no end: For although they ask but a drop of water, Ideo rogans dives non exauditur in tormentis quia rogantem pauparem non exaudivit in terris. Aug. yet they are not heard, because they have not heard them that begged, or would have borrowed of them in need. 13 Nature also is an enemy to this wretchedness, to this Covetousness, she loveth to multiply, and to increase, if she have Milk in her breasts, she knoweth that (like Riches it will rot) therefore with it she feedeth other. The trees that are laden with fruit, bear them but till they are ripe, and then if they be not taken off, they let them fall. How glad are the fields when they are covered Laetis segetibus, with smiling Grain, and yet they hasten to the harvest (as the Pigeon to her breeding) that being rid of one crop, may be Ploughed for another. The sheep wearied with his fleece, inviteth by a panting necessity, the Shepherd and Shearer to take it off. The seed would be sown, the Gardens would be gathered, the Sea would be Fished, the Heavens keep not their influence, but send it down among us. Why then should men get goods to keep them, and yet Riches endure not always, nor the Crown from generation to generation. Are they not the sons of Nature? Why degenerate they? What Tigers Milk have they sucked? What Cockatrice hath hatched them, who corrupteth all that she toucheth? Let Nature teach them (if they will not learn of such a Mother) who as Boetius saith, De consul. lib. 2. Dat cuique quod convenit, & ne inter eunt, laborat, giveth to every thing, convenient, & laboureth that nothing perish: but these let their money perish, their woods rot, the moths eat their garments, which might be given away, and the Dogs and Swine, that good meat which would maintain the children. The walls have their Gold laid upon dumb pictures, and Heathen men's shape are well clothed by them, and set forth in counterfeits, but nothing cometh from them, for the general good, but (as it were) by force of Arms. 14 Men also, I mean the general and Universal inclination of mankind, is against the keeping of goods in private without some use. Pet. Ravisi. They keep (saith one) for fear of want, and yet they want the use of that they keep. Behold a just judgement of God, ut semper indigeat, qui semper timet indigentiam, They always want, which are always in fear of want. The two Persian Princes had two Titles given them by their people, to signify their good and ill. Lonicerus. Cyrus they called Patrem, a Father, because he gave them riches, and laid up, but for their necessaries; and Darius, they called Negotiator, a Merchant, whose study is to gain, or not to lay out. Valer. lib. 3 Valerius. avaritia indagatrix lucrorum aiudissima vorago, ne que habendo fructu foelix, sed cupiditate quaerendi, miserrima. Covetousness, the searcher out of gain, is a most greedy gulf or swallower, in keeping it is not happy, but in seeking, it is most miserable. Tully saith, Tuscul. Illi morbo qui permanet in venis, & inhaeret in visceribus, nec inveteratus evelli potest, nomen est avaritia, That disease is called Avarice, which runneth in the secret veins, and cleaveth to the inward bowels, which if it be inveterate, can never be pulled forth. Pythagoras. Covetous men which have riches, and do not use them, are like unto Orphans and Wards in their Nonage, which also have houses and Lands, but cannot dispose them. Seneca saith, Inopiae pauca desunt, In. Prou. avaritiae omnia. Poverty wanteth some things, but Covetousness wanteth all things, and therefore the rich man that hath goods & doth not use them, doth never any thing well, except in dying. So he. Unto all these, I may add the note of Innocentius. De cond. huma. For Covetousness, Balaams' Ass hurt his masters foot, and reproved his rider. For Covetousness, the people of Israel stoned Achan in the valley of Anchor, after he was found guilty of the Golden garment. By Covetous Ahab, was Nabaoth put to death for the Vineyard. Gehazi got the leprosy through Covetousness, when he abused Naaman in the Prophet's name. judas for Covetousness, sold his Master and hanged himself. Ananias and Saphira belied their Charity, and keeping back their portion (for they had sold their Land and kept their sin) were strooken dead by the Lord. Believe it, the merciful man never died ill death, the Covetous and parsimonious never happy death. Therefore away with this monster, which all men cry out against, and they which love it most, are ashamed to confess it. Men are wont to desire wealth, pleasures, and Honours: of Wealth cometh evil things; of Pleasure, filthy things; of Honour vain things. For riches breed Covetousness and Avarice; Pleasures bring forth Gluttony and wantonness; Honour, nourisheth Pride, and Vainglory, and I tell you if you receive not the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. 15 Beasts & all creatures hate this parsimony, it is the royalty of the Lion to eat but once of his prey, the residue he leaveth to other, and cometh not again to it. The Elephants are for that cause dispraised, because they hide their teeth fallen off, that no man, or other creature should find them. The Lizzarde, that knowing her urine to congeal into a precious stone, covereth it in the sand, that it might not be discerned. Of what brood are these wicked men, whom no example of God, or Nature, or Men, or Beast can move? They are surely some satires, or strange Ethiopian brood, or peradventure sent by some of the earthly spirits, of whom the Conjurers say, They keep the Treasures in the earth, that no man may use them. Such spirits are these, that is; devils, but in other shapes, that only keep goods from them, that would use them better: let the world sink or swim, they get none from them, and if God were money they would lock him up, that none else might enjoy him. But they that have this world's good, and see their Brother perish, how dwelleth the love of God in them? that is, there dwelleth no love of God in them, and so out of God his love I leave them. 16 But let me not be understood, that I speak against all keeping and storing up of money, and other things, as though it were unlawful to possess any more provision of meat, then for a meal; of Money, then for a day; of Garments than one, for one body, and so of the residue. God forbid, for so in time of necessity man should be unprovided of help when he should use it. God hath ever in store. There is no question of Corn and Cattle, but of jewels, and money, and such like. Solomon in my text, biddeth to look to the he Goats, that they may be a price of the field. Money must be provided against sickness, suit, enemies of our country, and for all other necessities. jacob had money, which he sent by his sons into Egypt for Corn, the first and second time. Abraham had Money, wherewith all he bought the field of Emor. The Church had her store, Acts 2. and 5. and therefore let no man think it against conscience, to be always provided against wants: wherein the rule of Socrates was good (if it could be followed) that a man's Treasure should neither be bigger nor lesser than his necessity. But because that cannot be known, it is good our store be more plentiful, so our charity be never the less. When Iphicrates pitched his Tents in a little open field, and then began to trench and wall them, his General asked why he did so, and what he feared? To whom he answered, such a question became not a commander, Plutarch. Ah undans cautela non nocet, we can never be enough secured against future perils. King Alexander seeing one of his Soldiers going to sharpen his Dart when all other were going to fight, cashiered him, and cast him out of the Army; saying, Inutilis acie, qui pararet arma tunc cum iis utendum. Plutarch. He was unworthy of his army, who went then to provide Arms, when he was to use them. Even like the foolish Virgins, which neither took Oil sufficient, & when they had spent their store, gave themselves to sleep, till it was too late to provide. 17 Let us therefore keep our honest store: for thereby did Abigail mollify the angry and displeased heart of David, when he came against her husband Nabal: and if the present she brought him, had not been present and at hand, it had not failed, but they all had perished before so much could have been provided. Our Coffers must not be like the sealed bags, which Alexius left at Ancona, when he had compounded the wars with the King of Almains. For the Emperor Comnenus his Master, who being to leave Hostages of money with the Citizens, Nicetas. he by his masters direction, secretly conveyed away the Money, and left with them the empty, yet sealed trunks and Boxes, bidding them keep them safe, until they were by the Emperor required. But this deceit being discovered, fared ill with the Emperor; even so, poverty will not be long hid, and then shame or sorrow will follow, until ruin, or else some strange and woeful laborious recovery of our estate. And so I will conclude, that seeing the Lord maketh both rich and poor, Prou. 22, 2 let us with care and Conscience, conserve a Storehouse of well-gotten wealth, as we do relieve the well-deserving poor, for both shall meet before the Lord together. Now followeth a conclusion of all, which standeth in the amplified distribution of the charge, who they be that must be looked unto, who entertained and maintained, who to be provided for, and so an end. Our Flocks and Herds, Family and Maidens, are many in the figure, for I will allegorize them, as well as handle them literally. 18 And in the first place, the subject of our Wisdom, Government, Wealth, and Mercy, seemeth to be our Country, the common parent of us all, which though it bear us as the horse doth the Rider, and as the oxen draweth the Wainman in his Cart, yet must it be directed and defended by us. In it we have all our shares and inheritances; of it, we receive our lives and breath, and therefore for it we ought to apply our care and power. If we forget jerusalem (say the jews in Babylon) then let my right hand forget her cunning. Psal. 137. jerusalem was their country, Babylon their place of exile & banishment. Therefore sweet is the name of our Country, and better is the smoke thereof, than the fire of another, and the dust thereof, than the stones of a strange nation. Nehemiah also, Neh. 1, 4. when he heard that his Country's repair was hindered, how did he leave his place before the King, and laid aside his Courtly garments, put on sackcloth, and lived in Prayer and Fasting. Saint Austen in his old age, writing of his Country, which then began to be spoiled by the Arrian and Circumcellian soldiers, and Vandals; Aug. ad Nectar. saith, Serio iam, ac frigescentibus membris, feruet animus desiderio patriae, now in my old age and coldness of all my limbs; yet my heart burneth for the desire of my Country. But we are all priest, and ready to fight for our Country, and to grace it with the effusion of our blood; true it is, & no true English heart can do otherwise. But what availeth it to fight for our Country against strangers, while we betray it to the Lord? What if we be ready to go against Turk and Pope, with the Arms of flesh and blood? while we have disarmed ourselves of Prayer, Faith, Hope, Honesty, Temperance, Humility, and will not so much as put on the headpiece of Salvation? But in steed thereof, Blasphemy and Swearing, Drunkenness and Voluptuousness, Stealing and Deceiving, till the Land mourn, and be no more able to bear us. My heart bleedeth to forethink and see the ruin and desolation of so many fair Houses, goodly Towns, green Meadows, and cornfields, for the sin and wickedness of them that possess them. God hath more ways to destroy us then by one, then by the strangers sword, against which only we are provided (by the care and providence of our Governors.) He can bring a fire from Heaven, as he did on Sodom, Isaiah 37. or he can sweep away head and tail by the Pestilence, like unto the Army of Senacharih, whereof (it consisting of almost two hundred thousand men) they died all in one night, jero. lib, 4. come. except ten men. And Constantinople, Anno 760. was so dispeopled by a Pestilence, that the Emperor Copronymus, was fain to fetch men from other Countries to inhabit the houses, lest they should fall down. Before the Danes coming into England, there were above forty thousand Churches, Ranulphus Polychr. and in seven battles there were perished (wellnigh) five hundred thousand persons, & above twenty thousand Parishes & Churches decayed. I omit to speak of Famines and other means of our destruction, and I beseech you all, to love their Country, and let not their posterity be dispossessed by their crying sins, for the Prophet saith, A fruitfnl Land is made barren for the sins of them that dwell therein. 19 Your Wives and Husbands are also your flock, these must be taken heed unto, for the married are like the Palms, they are Males and Females, so they must be planted one beside another; yea, the Boughs of the male must be sometimes wreathed and put upon the Female, or else it will not prosper, but mourn and pine away. So it is betwixt Man and wife, there must be more than sight of each other, for they are bone of each others bones, & Flesh of each others flesh. Flesh cut asunder, looseth the vital powers and so dieth, but united, grows together again, and so liveth. No Man, but he which is wise knoweth, what heed to take or respect to bear to his Wife; For Christ doth thereby decipher his love to his Church. So ought a Man to love his Wife as Christ loved his Church, Ephe. 5, 25 who gave himself for it. Every one that is married hath given away himself. Sweet are the bands of Wedlock, yet they are bands and must restrain us: Bonum est coniugium tamen à iugo tractum: Ambr. Marriage is good, yet is named from the yoke, according to that, Be not unequally yoked with Infidels. They which are yoked have no power but to draw, those which are married, have no liberty but to love and look to one another. When Darius had lost his Kingdoms, and Credit, and Honour, and Liberty, he wept not for all that: but when he heard tell that his Wife was dead, than he wept bitterly. So near and dear are the minds of them that be virtuously married, that they cannot part without a thousand sorrows. They are to each other a true Glass, as is the face, so is it in the Glass; as is the Man's and Husbands, so should be the honest Wives; as is the loving Wives, so should be the tender Husbands. To conclude, As the vine on the house top, Psal. 128, 3 so is the Wife; The vine as it is of excellent use, so it is wonderful weak, and except the Gardener support it, it will lie on the Earth and bear nothing. The wife must also be tendered & supported, or else she cannot yield the Wine of comfort to make thee have a glad heart. In every Man's charge there are faults to be espied, no Man casteth away his flock for one sickness? No, if he have a thousand Sheep, and nine hundred fall foul, yet letteth the sick go, & keepeth the residue. Wives have their faults and frailty, and men are not clear: unicuique dedit vitium natura creato. We are all blamable one way or other, therefore spare one another, forbear one another, and let nothing break of love: but that which dissolveth Matrimony, that is whoredom, and the God of all love shall marry you both to jesus Christ. 20 I proceed: Our Parents are the flock and charge of us that are Children, and Children are the charge of Parents. For we are borne weaker & more feeble than all Creatures, and had we not some body to receive us when we come into the world, woe were it with us, we might make a short and woeful stay or Tragedy, To be borne, to weep, to die. Neither our Parents or their Antecessours, have any thing which they transfuse not into their Children, their honour, fame, goods, or stains, for their children they have them, and in despite of reluctance, they will descend upon them. But let them nourish and cherish their Children, and not their sins, and let them wisely take away the rotten from the sound; I mean their children's vices from their persons, or else vice will overcome Parents and Children. Some make their Children Ludentes Simias, Mowing Apes. Digging Pigs. other Fodientes sues, That is, Either they bring them up to nothing but to play, as many of the rich, or else they train them to nothing but to delve and dig the earth, as many of the poor. Alas poor Children, better unborn, because the richer have their pleasures deforming them, and the poorer their labours depressing them, one of them having no sense of Heaven, the other, no understanding but of Earth, and both of them without God to be their Father, and the Church to be their Mother. 21 Our Parents are our charge that are their Children, we ought therefore to take heed unto them: Gen. 27, 43 & for their sakes to fly no labour. At Rebeccaes command, jacob (that was never from his mother's wing) fled to Padan-Aran, and what miseries did he there endure for twenty whole years, the Lord God hath related. If we have any glory and praise, let us give it to our Parents. When Antigonus had won a victory, yet he would attribute it to his Father. Amphionius and Anapius, two brethren, when they had saved themselves from the City Catanea, which was all on fire, and remembered that their old Father was yet within, they took hands, and forced through the flames, and with difficulty (yet with safety) brought away their poor old Father. Oh, Happy Father of such Sons! Oh, Happy Sons, to be such Men! though you be dead, yet will all good children remember you while the world lasteth. Be good to your Parents, you young Men & Maidens, for as you serve them, shall you be served again; if courteously, your Children will do the like; if disobediently, yours will also pay the score double and treble upon you. 22 The Servants are also the charge and flock of the Master, and the Master of the Servants, each must be careful, the Servant of diligence, toward his Master, and the Master, To take heed to the herds of his Servants. Servants are wild, because they have been wanton bred, therefore they love no discipline. But let your love to do them good appear unto them, and then they will be more honest, and more tractable. Great things have been done by Servants. Gen. 24. By a Servant, Abraham provided a Wife for his Son Isaac. By a Servant, and that a little maidservant, 2. Reg. 5, 3 Naaman was brought from his Country to judea, to the Prophet, and there cured of his Leprosy, both of body and mind. By a Servant was Darius brought to be a King, justine. and the kindness of a Master to his Servant, did save his life, when all the Tyrian Servants did cut their masters throats. Therefore do good to your servants, give them instruction, and all good service will follow. Deal not with them as Vintners do with their Vessels, which draw them till they be empty, and then turn them out of doors. So many work out their Servants strength, & then turn them out to beg. Servants, are so set on drunkenness and liberty, that no wages can win them from that notorious Vice, what will be the end hereof. If Lords, and Gentlemen, and Masters, alter not the Copy of this licentious grant, I see not how our poor envied Nation can stand long, without more Enemies than ever the old Saxons had, or the late Netherlanders. In sum of all, break of Prodigality, and neither you that be Masters, put more on your shoes and Garters, than many good Men on their whole bodies, and let not your delicate mouths, buy your appetites pleasure to dear: neither suffer the poor to drink more in one hour, than they get in a day. You all sit with Rulers, follow the wise man's counsel, Pro, 23, 2. Put thy knife to thy throat, if thou be a Man given to thy appetite. Lastly, although Solomon nameth none in this Text, But the family & the Maidens: yet he excludeth not the stranger, for in the family on the Sabbaoth day he is commanded to rest, and he which receives him, is not to let him depart on that day, as it is Exo. 20, 5. And although it be not in the estate of every man to entertain, yet is it a duty to guide and direct such as are distressed to Houses of hospitality. And indeed in ancient time, men were only received to house, & brought with them their own victuals, as you may see in the story of Jacob's Children in Egypt, Gen. 42. 43 and the Levite and his wife in the City of jemini. jud. 19, 16, and 20. Surely to be Hospitable is a part of Charity, & one of the greatest; wherefore the Scripture saith; Heb. 13, 12 Let brotherly love continue, and be not forgetful to lodge strangers, for thereby some have entertained Angels in the likeness of men, Gen. 18, 19 alluding to Abraham & Lot, to whom the Angels came before the destruction of Sodom. What is more horrible & uncomfortable to men, then to be without harbour and House; Gen. 21, 19 and therefore did Agar take it so grievously as she mourned in desperation, until the Angel showed her a Fountain where again she filled her bottle. They which inhabit the deserts follow the footsteps of wild Asses unto the Water-Springes, which without them they should never find; and therefore love and make much of them. How much more should we love to bring one another to the places of our refreshing, and not shut up our doors against the Stranger, as Paradise was against Adam: so as it should be as equal or ready for Strangers to die there, as to dine there. The Priests and Scribes which put our Saviour to death, could Buy with the Money of judas a place or field to bury Strangers, but let us not provide their Graves, rather their Tables, whether they be sick or sound. When David had lost his Wives, and all his goods, by making much of a Stranger, he came to find and recover all again. Even so, we cannot lose by courtesy and humanity to strangers, For we are all Strangers in this world. And if the first Christians had not received the Preachers of their faith (that were strangers unto them) into their houses, Luke 10. their peace which was the peace of Christ had not light or rested upon them. Rahab for lodging strangers had her life saved, and as many as she would receive into her Family. We read of the ancient inhabitants of Bretinum in Romandiola, that they did contend for the entertainment of strangers, and for that cause they erected a Pillar in their Market place, into which every one of the Citizens drove and fastened a distinct ring, and that every stranger that came to that Town fastened his Horse to one of those rings, into whose House he was to be received; Lewd. descr. Italiae. which thing was so observed, that incontinently with all alacrity he was entertained and lodged, and the Citizens took it for a great favour. Cran. lib. 4. The barbarous Vandals had so much humanity in them towards strangers, that they confiscated all his goods, and gave liberty to set his House on fire, that had expelled or incivilly handled a stranger. I could be infinite, but I must conclude. job saith; The Stranger did not lodge in the street, job. 31, 32. I opened my doors, unto him that went by the way. Genesis 2, 6 Abimelech hath his commendation for lodging Abraham a stranger. So hath jethro for Moses. Exod. 2. Obadia that hid so many Prophets, and nourished them, even four hundred. In Abdiam Saint Hierom saith of him, that for his mercy he received the gist of prophesy, and was buried in Sebaste, that is Samaria, in the Grave wherein Elisha was after buried, and S. john Baptist. The widow of Sarepta, a heathen woman, the Sunamite, Martha, and Lazarus, Zacheus, Simon the tanner. Gatus, Onesiphorus, and other had never been spoken of but for their Hospitality, and receiving of strangers. Theresore let not the good Householder forsake strangers, for the Lord loveth them, and goeth with them: and if they be received in the name of Christ, whether they be good or ill, he will pay their reckoning. Learn therefore (saith Saint Austen) learn (o Christian) without difference and respect of persons, to offer entertainment, lest he whom thou shutest out of doors be thy Lord and Saviour. For he saith; I have been a stranger and ye have not lodged me. I tell you, that he that laboureth for Christ, and he that refresheth him that laboureth, shall be both rewarded before jesus Christ. To whom be all present and eternal glory. FINIS. PAge 41. line 1. read he walloweth, P. 46. read Apharantes, P. 65 read Mycerninus, P. 86. li. 5. read Pulcheria, P. 87. li. 20. read infortunio, P. 88 l. 1. deal not. P. 90. li. 12. Villegisus, so in the margin, 118. li. 15. read King, 132. li. 12. read dry. 145. line 2. read avidissima.