A SERMON PREACHED at Northampton the 21. of june last passed, before the Lord Lieutenant of the County, and the rest of the Commissioners there assembled upon occasion of the late Rebellion and Riots in those parts committed.  Prou. 22. 2 
The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.   printer's device of John Flasket: a garb or wheatsheaf on a wreath (McKerrow no. 356) 
Printed at London for JOHN FLASKET. 1607.   

To the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Exeter, Lord Baron of Burleigh, Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter, one of his majesties most Honourable Privy Council, and Lord Lieutenant for the County of Northhampton.  
RIght Honourable: It is not long since I came forth in a merchants ship, and now it is God's providence, and your good pleasure, that I shall publish myself in a storm: In the appeasing whereof, since it hath pleased your Honour to use my service as the word joined with the Sword, or rather as the Sword of the Spirit with the Sword of justice, I have discharged myself as indifferently as I could to the cutting down of offence in all: It is true that we are fallen into tempestuous and troublesome times, wherein the excessive covetousness of some hath caused extreme want to other, and that want not well digested hath rioted to the hazard of all; yea and by these storms we are cast among the rocks, even two the most dangerous rocks of estate, Oppression of the mighty, and Rebellion of the many, by mischief whereof many flourishing kingdoms and countries have miscarried, and so had we in this undoubtedly, had not God by your good endeavours prevented it; & therefore between these two rocks I sail, admonishing in the passage the one sort, that is, the Mighty, that man liveth by bread, but the other sort, that is, the Many that man liveth not by bread only, to the intent that they which know the ordinary course of God in preserving nature might make a conscience of impairing the means of man's preservation, and they likewise which know that God hath ways to preserve beyond the means of nature, might learn with christian wisdom & patience to temper themselves in want: And because Right Honourable we have obtained great quietness through you, & your worthy Agents, and that great things are done unto our country through your providence, God forbidden, but that as Tertullus did to Foelix so we much more to you should acknowledge it wholly, & in all places, & with all thanks: yet in this we are bold to entreat you, that as you have been means for the due execution of justice upon the rebellious, so likewise (as opportunity shall serve) to promote the cause & complaints of the expelled, half pined, and distressed poor, that they rebel no more. It is the end of all men's exaltation according to the proportion of their state & power to do works of mercy & justice, for he that sat upon a throne did confess, that the thrones were set up for judgement Psal. 122. Now judgement looketh both ways: and therefore as it chastiseth the offendor, so it represseth him likewise, by whose covetousness & cruelty the offence cometh: especially it will be looked for at your hands (Right honourable) strongly to maintain the cause of corn & of bread, God having given you a sheaf supported with Lions, as the highest top, & chiefest eminence of your honour. Neither is there any greater promise of establishment made to the families & persons of men, them by a religious respect of the poor, which who so followeth, his righteousness remaineth for ever, & his horn shall be exalted with honour. Psa. 112. God continue & increase in you an affection of the one, that you may be made partaker of the other. And thus in my deepest devotion commending to God yourself, your state, and honourable family, I humbly take my leave.  
Your honours late Chaplain, and still devoted in all Christian duty. ROB: WILKINSON.   

A SERMON PREAched at Northampton upon occasion of the late Rebellion the 21. of june. 1607.  Math. 4. 4. But he answering said: It is written, Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out off the mouth of God. 
HE that said the whole life of man was nothing else but a time of temptation, he said very fearfully, and yet very truly; for we are tempted in old age, and in our cradles we are not free; If any evil stand before us, we are provoked to do it, and when at any time we have done well, we are even tempted in it; if we abound as Adam did in Paradise, there be intismentes in that, or if we want as Christ did in the wilderness, there may be death in that; so expert is the enemy whom God hath sent to exercise us, that according to time and place, & to each man's state & nature, he hath wherein to allure us, and serveth himself of all occasions. And because we are fallen into a time, wherein poverty without patience hath much disordered us, I have therefore chosen to speak of the hungry temptation, & yet not of the temptation neither, each man being apt enough to tempt himself, but rather of the answer to it; for the devil finding Christ of late, first fasting, & then hungry in a desolate & barren wilderness where nothing was to be had, adviseth him not to look up to heaven, (from whence in extreme want all help is to be waited for) but rather to take the way that was next at hand, & by a new kind of Alchemy, of stones to make himself bread, & unto this Christ answereth him with the text I have read, man liveth not by bread only, etc. and there is nothing in this whole story so suitable, or so aptly speaking to the occasion & season of the time as this; for it is said before, that Christ fasted, meaning a religious fast, as few do now; and it is said likewise, that he was hungry, and no marvel, for he was in a place, where was neither bred nor corn, as may be now; & it is said likewise, that them the tempter came, that is, the Devil came, as all the world seethe he is up and abroad now; & some he tempteth to turn bread into stones, that is, to decay the plenty of the earth, as many rich & greedy minded men do now; & some he tempteth to turn stones into bread, that is, to use unlawful means for their own relief, as the mad & rebellious multitude doth now; but in this verse Christ showeth a bettet way for men's relief, that is, by resting themselves in the pleasure & providence of God, which is for all men an apt & godly answer, to such a devilish & ungodly temptation. In which answer 3. things may be considered; first, that Christ would answer the Devil, next the manner of his answer, which is by scriptum est, & then lastly the substance of his answer, which is, that man liveth not by bread only, but by every word which cometh out of the mouth of God. For the first, a question may be moved, why Christ would vouchsafe to give the devil any answer at all; why did he not rather answer him with silence, as sometimes he answered Caiphas and Pilate? to which I answer, that as he was therefore lead into the wilderness, that he might be tempted, so was he therefore tempted that he might give answer, and that partly to avouch his own wisdom by his answer, and also to instruct us, that we in the like case must be able likewise to make answer; Respondit tentatori docens te respondere tentatori, saith Saint Austin; Christ did answer the tempter to teach thee, that thou must answer the tempter also; that as Gedeon said to his soldiers, What ye see me do, do ye also. judg. 7. 17. So we because we see our Captain to answer, might also learn not Implicitam fidem, a faith folded up in the faith of our fathers, or to believe as the Church believeth, but be armed with reason to answer also: In the field it is lamentable when the defenders of a just and lawful cause are foiled & put to flight; O Lord, what shall I say (saith joshua) when Israel turn their backs upon their enemies? joshu. 7. In the Church it is shameful when men shall maintain a good cause as job did, and yet being opposed cannot find an answer: and God forbidden we should avouch any things in points of faith, for which being opposed we cannot answer. But in the breast of man it is most fearful, when Satan shall come to tempt or terrify, and we like Cain or judas are overcome and cannot answer: for if we be bound to answer every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in us. 1. Pet. 3. How much more to answer this tempting and destroying Serpent, from whose temptation no man can promise himself freedom or imunity. But say, Christ would answer the Devil, yet why after so mild and gentle a fashion; why rather did he not bid him be packing, as he did sometime to Peter? Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence unto me. Mat. 16. Yea why did he not torment him for his pride & presumption in tempting him? why did he not throw him into the deep for laying unholy hands, & for breathing those impure blasts upon him? & thus we imagine God like ourselves; for Michael the Archangel though he strove against the Devil, yet would not revile him. jud. 9 nor would Christ call for fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, albeit they shut their doors upon him. Luc. 9 for he came not now to judge, but to save; he came not (as one day he shall) with fire before him, but he came like a Lamb, lowly to his inferiors, gentle to his enemies, and affable to all; which first addeth strength to the faith of man, in the act of Invocation, for if the enemy received a gentle answer, even when he came to destroy, much more shall they that devoutly seek unto him; beside, it giveth to great personages, judges and Magistrates in their places, an honourable pattern of piety, cheerfully to accept, & gently to answer, the cries, petitions & just complaints of the poor, which stand in need of them, as they stand in need of God, & come kneeling to them as they kneel to God; & when at any time they grow weary of this, they may doubt they have forgotten him who exalted them for this, & fear lest they be forgotten when they fail in this. Now for the manner of Christ's answer to the devil; ye see, he doth not teach us to repel or chase him away (as they do at Rome, with Tapers, & holy water, or with hanging out a crucifix, but by scriptum est, the written word of God; for what cares the devil for a candle, or for holy water, or what cares he for a Crucifix, which is but an image of Christ, who according to some of their own doctors did not fear to lay foul 
Hugo Cardin. sup. Math 4. Assumpsit eum bracchijs suis.  hands upon the sacred body of Christ: but as when joshua feigned to run away from the men of Ai, he did by that means disrank them, & bring a greater slaughter on them. john 8. so when the devil feigneth to be afraid of such things, it is but a sly devise, to wrap men more deeply in the snares of superstition. Neither yet doth Christ answer the Devil by Factum est, by doing the thing required, that is, turning stones into bread, but he answereth him by scriptum est, by showing him what is written; no doubt Christ could have turned the stones, and the stones being commanded must have obeyed him, for when the Prophet cried out against jeroboams altar, the ashes fell out, and the Altar rend in sunder. 1. King. 13. but behold a greater than the Prophet was here, who when himself cried out his last cry upon the Cross, the vale of the Temple rend, the earth did quake, & the stones did cleave in sunder Math. 27. yea surely he that of water made wine, could also (if it had so pleased him) of stones have made bread; yea he could of stones have made men, even of stones to raise up children unto Abraham, Math. 3. but why then did he not? surely the Friars tell us a pretty reason; That Christ would not turn stones into bread at the devils request, 
Royard. Dominica. 1. Quadragesimae.  but rather stay a year longer to turn water into wine, at his Mother's request, that so to her, to the Virgin Mary, and not to the Devil, might be dedicated the first fruits of his miracles, as if Christ had dedicated miracles to his Mother, or had in the miracle of water turned to wine, intended the magnifying of his Mother, who when she moved unto him the want of wine, received an answer something regardless of her; Woman what have I to do with thee? joh. 2. 4. but a better reason of that miracle is gathered out of the eleventh verse, where it is said, the miracle being done, that his Disciples believed on him; but how? Nunquid crediturus erat diabolus? saith Saint Austin, would the Devil have believed if Christ had turned stones into bread? surely no; and therefore as he would show no miracle to Herod, because he asked it idly and curiously, Luc. 23. so neither is any miracle to be showed to the Devil, nor any Pearl to be cast before such Swine, as there is no hope to convert or edify; or say there were hope, yet Scriptum est, the Law and the Prophets are more effectual (saith Abraham) then if one should rise from the dead; yea if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. Luc. 16. and generally by example of Christ, it is so much better to contend with authority of scriptures, then with power of miracles, by how much Christ preferred Scriptum est, before turning stones into bread. Neither yet doth Christ answer the Devil by unwritten verities, as they do who thrust upon the faith of men, dreams, and fables, and mere traditions, which is (saith Theodoret) like the 
Theodoret. quest. 9 in Leuit.  sin of araon's sons, to bring strange fire upon the Altar. Levit. 10. but he answereth him by Scriptum est, It is written; & if it be not written, it is sure no matter of faith, but men may choose whether they will believe it or no: but if it be written, men must believe it, and build their faith, their souls, and salvation upon it; for therefore ye err (saith Christ) because ye know not the scriptures. Mat. 22. but he that knoweth them, knoweth also all needful wisdom in them; for speak we of matters of faith; Fidem Imperator queris; saith Hilary to Constance 
Hilar: ad Constant:  the Emperor, Seek ye to know the faith; then must ye understand it, not by any new or late writings, but by the books of God. Or seek ye to know which is the true & catholic church? Nullo modo cognoscitur, nisi tantummodo per scripturas, there is no 
Chrisost. homil. super Math. & 46.  way to know it saith S. Chrysost. but only by the scriptures: or groweth there any doubt or controversy of opinion in the church? we may say to one another, as S. Austin to 
Aug. contra Maximin. lib. 3. ca 14.  Maximinus the Arrian, Nec ego Nicenum tibi, nec tu mihi Ariminense debes proferre concilium, etc. neither will I object to you the council of Nice, nor shall you to me the council of Ariminun, but let the Scriptures end it; for (even our enemies being judges) when it is in question whether such a thing be lawful or no, Ad sacram paginam recurrendum est, we must have recourse to th'holy scriptures, saith Stella sup: Luc. 6. 3. because in them we may find, Sufficienter et veraciter, both sufficiently & truly, Omnia que ad salutem sunt necessaria, even all things whatsoever are needful to salvation, saith Bonaventura de profectu religiosor. lib. 1. cap. 6. both these men being Friars and fautors of the church of Rome, and yet against the church of Rome, maintaining sincerely the sufficiency of the scriptures; Therefore these are the weapons of our warfare; scriptum est: the word of God (saith S. Paul) is the sword of the spirit. Ephes. 6. yea this is the sword of the Lord and of Gedeon.  
The substance of this answer is, that Man liveth not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The place is found. Deut. 8. 3. where Moses exhorting the Israelits in all their wants to depend upon the providence of God, putteth them in mind, how that being in the wilderness, where was neither bread nor water, yet were they neither famished with want, nor yet compelled to use unlawful means for their relief, but they had a bread which they knew not, even Manna sent from heaven, as in a type to show, that man's life is maintained not by the means of bread, nor by the fruitfulness of the earth, but from the house of Providence, that is, from heaven: and this doth Christ oppose as an answer to the Devil, wherein 2. things may be distinctly considered, First that man liveth by bread, and then secondly that he liveth not by bread only, that is, that God hath appointed man to live by means, & yet he hath not tied his life unto the means. That man liveth by bread, is inferred out of the very text; for even where he saith, Not by bread only, it followeth of necessity, that amongst other means, yet by bread for one & there be in these words three things likewise to be considered; First the subject of God; providence, which is Man secondly the e●d of God's providence, that man must live: and thirdly the means of his providence, that he must live by bread.  
For the first, the devil indeed propounded very cunningly a question concerning the son of God; If thou be the son of God, command, &c: which yet Christ neither denieth, nor affirmeth himself to be, but clean beside the matter, answereth of man; man liveth not; & sure Christ was not bound to give direct answer to such an adversary, who came not to be satisfied, but to deceive, and therefore to dazzle and amaze him the more, he answereth him at random, & where he asked him of the son of God, he answereth him of man, and to let him see withal, what account God did make of man, whom he in tempting the son of God, sought fundamentally to overthrow. And surely man is a great mark in God's eye, for God made man, & printed his own image in man, & made the world for man, & ordained the Angels to guard man, was borne for man, and in the end died for man, that David breaks out into admiration, What is man, that thou art so mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou regardest him. Psal. 8. Only man to man is vile and of no account, & man is Anthropomastix, one man the greatest scourge & plague of another. Man liveth, saith Christ; therefore provision is here made for man, which may sustain in this place a twofold opposition, first with the beasts and brute creatures, before which in God's providence Man is ever preferred, & then secondly with particular men, for Man is not here taken for this or that man, but for Humanum genus, Man for all mankind, & so it standeth with reason that the whole kind be evermore preferred before any one or a few cormorants in their kind.  
If ye speak of the beasts; surely to that question of S. Paul, Doth God take care for Oxen. 1. Cor. 9 We may answer affirmatively, yes sure even for Oxen, and for sheep, for so saith David. Psal. 36. Thou Lord dost save Man and Beast; yea and for little birds too, whereof two are sold for a farthing, 
Deut. 22. 6  even the great God hath made protective laws, that man should not deal unmercifully with them: yet we must take this withal, that whatsoever God hath done for the beasts, yet is it not for their own sakes principally, but for man's, for whose use and service they were created, & not for themselves; and is it not then unnatural (think ye) to see a man put out, to put in a beast, and men turned out to bring in sheep, whereas God created the earth for men, and not for sheep; therefore if ye will maintain large pastures and stock them with sheep, then remember what God saith by the mouth of Ezechiel, The sheep of my pasture are men. Eze. 34. 31. yea and we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Psal. 100 and the image of God in one man is more worth than all the sheep in the world: and it is time, yea high time to speak of this, the text of it already being written in blood; and no marvel if they which feel it, run mad and wild upon it, since we which but see it are so much amazed at it; for a stranger which coasteth these countries, and findeth here and there so many thousands and thousands of sheep, & nihil humani generis, in so many miles not a thing like a Man, might take up a wonder, & say with himself; what? hath there been some Sorceress, or some Circe here that hath transformed men into beasts? or is it so, that men and beasts have waged war together! but how was this battle fought, that sheep got the field? or what men were these that ran away from sheep? yea rather what sheep were these that throw down houses, towns, & churches? oh no: these were no sheep, they were hogs by their rooting, ye forget him that made the world for man.  
Or be it that in this depopulation the beasts did not overgo man, yet whatsoever is done to the wasting of mankind for the benefit of a few in the kind, is against the providence of God too: for God said not to Adam and to Eve at the first, Increase, but Increase and multiply, yea & fill the earth. Gen. 1. 28. Fill it: how? not with clamours and with cries, with tears and with blood, with mutinies and implacable rebellion as these men do; but fill it with men, with the image of God, with the precious seed of the divine generation: and seek not (as the Prophet saith) by joining house to house, and land to land to be alone upon the earth. Esay. 5. Nor let your shepherds say to you as Diogenes sometime said to Timon, O that there were none but thou & I in the land; for in the end Timon will say to Diogenes again, I like the wish well, so as when Diogenes thy brother, that thy brother may live with thee. Not meaning that usury did kill men, but that it doth undo men, and undoing is a woeful kind of dying; for when a man dies, he is buried, and when he is buried perhaps he is lamented, yet they that lamented him survive still, but when a man is undone, he dies in his estate, he dies in his reputation, he dies in his wife and children, & his whole house is like hell, even a heap of misery, his cattle look poorly like Pharaos' lean Kine; his Cartes drive heavily like Pharaohs Chariots without wheels; and his creditors follow him, as Pharaoh followed the Isralites at their backs; so as such a man may seem to live in Egypt; nay it were better by far, to sit down & make bricks in Egypt; for this is not living, but lingering death, & many to avoid this, choose rather to die. Therefore mark I beseech you; ye, to whom God hath given the Earth in possession, & learn to be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. For when God at the 
Luke. 6. 36  beginning made man, first he breathed in his face the breath of life, and then immediately he put him into the Garden which he had made Genes. 2. 7. 8. as much as to say, that first God gave man life, and then presently gave him living; yea Paradise was planted first, and Man created after; so careful was God, not only of Man's life, but also of his living, that the thing which maintained him was made before him, for if he had given him life before living, the Father of providence should have seemed to deal unprovidently, but if he had given him life without living, the father of mercy should have created his children unto misery. And if ye think it no sin to take away the living where God hath given life, ye may think it a less sin to take away life, when ye have taken away the living. And let it be a lesson for all states generally, not to grind the faces of the poor: but the master 
Esa. 3.  so to wage his servant that he may live; & the workmaster so to wage the labourer, that he may live, & the landlord not to rack, but so to rate his tenant that he may live, not miserably, for so it were better to die, but as themselves live plentifully under God, so they sufficiently & contentedly under them; For let men be so oppressed, that they cannot live, & then they come to the cry of the Steward, when he was put out off his Steward-ship; What shall I do! Luk. 16. and it is fearful to think, what men will do in the end. His Master puts him out off the Stewardshippe, and how then? I cannot dig (saith he) and yet now ye see men can dig when they be put out: and to beg I am ashamed; yet Men are now ashamed of nothing yea afraid of nothing, but desperate estates breed they have turned not stones into bread, but corn into grass, and done for a practice that which God threatened for a plague, To take away the staff of bread; yea they have turned as Achab did with Micaiah, the bread of food, into the bread of affliction. 1. King. 22. and worse than so, they have turned men into beasts, and made them wild and rebellious, which before were tame and obedient; yea & worse than so, they have turned living bodies into dead carcases, which though they have justly perished in their rebellion; yet as Christ saith, Luc. 17. Woe be to them by whom the offence cometh.  
The next point of the answer is, that though God have appointed man to live by bread, yet not by bread only. Commonly we are thus affected to the outward means, that if at any time they fail us, we are ready to curse, and finally to renounce them, as the Israelites for the sinew that shrank in jacobs' thigh, 
Gen. 32.  vowed never to eat of the sinew any more: but when they stand us in steed, and do their several offices to us, we are ready, as the Egyptians did with their Sheep and Oxen, to deify and make gods of them, & even to say, as Exod. 32. These are thy Gods which brought thee, etc. Therefore to draw men from immoderate admiration of these inferior means, Christ telleth us, that though by bread, yet not by bread only; for to effect things alone is proper to GOD only, who only can say, as Esa. 63. I have trodden the Winepress alone, and of all the people there was none with me: and if man should live by bread only, then were bread his God; and therefore even the same mouth which commendeth to us the labours of our hands, condemneth likewise all confidence in our own endeavours; for even in the Church where Gods own work is done, yet planting of itself, and watering of itself is nothing; In policies, and in the commonwealth, Except the Lord keep the City, the watchman watcheth but in vain: and they which asked a King to govern them, yet were no whit better, but rather in worse case when they had him; Likewise in the field, A Horse is a vain thing to save a man; and though a Bow and a Sword be mighty weapons in the hands of the mighty, yet I will not trust in my 
Psal. 44.  Bow, nor shall my Sword save me, saith the Psalmist.  
Again, in private Families, and in domestical affairs, It is in vain for men to rise early, and go to bed late: yea and in the very body of man, The Israelites which so lusted for meat, yet when they had meat, died with meat in their mouths. Number. 11. yea and many, the more they have, the worse they thrive, like Pharaohs lean Kine which did eat up the fat, and yet were never the fatter when they had done; and therefore though much may be done by bread, yet nothing by bread only.  
Well then; If not by bread only, by what then? By every word that proceedeth out off the mouth of God; where because mention is made of every word, we are to consider, that the word of God is manifold whereby we live, for first there is Verbum scriptum: the written word of God, which feeds us with wisdom, secondly there is the word of his blessing, which strengtheneth with goodness; thirdly the word of especial power which maintaineth by miracle; four the word of promise which supporteth by faith; & lastly even the word of denial which upholdeth us in patience.  
If we speak of the written word or of the Scripture, it is true that man liveth not by bread only, but by that too; for Search the scriptures (saith Christ) for they are they which testify of me, and in them ye shall have life everlasting. john. 5. And it is a good bar against the devils temptation, when he telleth us of bread, and turning stones into bread, and all for bread, to tell him again, that there is somewhat else to be cared for beside bread, that because God hath given us a soul to save, as well as a body to feed, and a belly to fill, that we therefore should rather care to feed and instruct the soul, then to pamper the body; especially to instruct the soul thus far against the body, that we may learn to do no unlawful thing for nature's necessity, nor to hazard an immortal soul, for a mortal and dying body; And had many of us been as well instructed in the word of God, and in their duty to God, the King & Country, as they have been in the word of the devil, and in unlawful means of recovering bread, I think want of bread could never have raised such wicked tumults as it hath; but a man may truly say to the most hungry soul of this tumultuous company, that when he was most oppressed, and most hungry, yet even then he was better fed then taught.  
Secondly if ye speak of, Verbum benedictionis, the word of his blessing; it is true, that man liveth not by bread only, but chiefly by the blessing of God, for every creature (saith S. Paul) is sanctified by the word of God. 1. Tim. 4. that is by the blessing of God, as Ambrose and Theodoret expound it. And this appeareth to us three ways, First because the very same thing blessed and not blessed, doth show forth power accordingly, as Exod. 16. when against the commandment of God they reserved of the Mannah till the morning, it putrefied and stank, yet the very same Mannah being kept by the commandment of God, was sweet & good many years in the Ark; the reason of which difference was because God did give his blessing to the one, and denied it to the other; Secondly, whereas we by proportion feed our families, as David when he feasted the people, gave to every one a piece of flesh, & a Cake of bread; 2. Sam. 6. that is, so many Cakes of bread to so many people, yet God when he pleaseth, without all proportion feedeth man; for Math. 15. with seven loves he fed 4000 which was much, but Math. 14. with 5. loaves he fed 5000. which was much more; the miracle was great when it was at the least, but with the less provision to feed the greater number maketh it much greater; but the strangest miracle is in the fragments, yea in the fragments three great miracles appeared; first that out of so small a portion feeding so many, there should come any fragments at all, next that out of the fewer loaves and the greater number to be fed, there did arise the more fragments; & lastly that the redundance of the fragments was more than the first stock or principal store of bread; & what is all this, but the blessing of God? Thirdly, (which the devil here acknowledgeth) God can when it pleaseth him, put the very strength of bread into a stone, yea he that can make a man of a stone, can feed him with a stone, & nourish him more with meat of less nourishment, then with the more, as Daniel & the rest, which lived with water & pulse, had their faces not so fair, but fairer than they which lived of the Kings own table. Dan. 1. and what is this likewise but the blessing of God: And had we not tied our life to bread, and thought God could not have blessed us, but by filling our bellies, we should never have forsaken the blessing of God, to have fallen into the curse of those conspiring brethren, Cursed be their wrath, for it was fierce, etc. Gen. 49. but it seemeth that these men when they had bread, they had it without the blessing of God, & wanted grace to use it, and therefore now having no bread, they want another blessing, & know not how to want it.  
Thirdly, if ye speak of verbum potentiae, the word of his power; that word whereof it is said, he spoke the word, and it was done, it is true likewise that man liveth not by bread only but many times by the special power of God; which appeareth also three ways; first by raising up of extraordinary means, as when the Israelites were in the wilderness where the earth did yield no bread, the Lord did cause even the heaven to do the office of the earth, & to rain down bread. Secondly, as he doth strangely provide bread, so when it pleaseth him he can preserve life without bread, for Moses of faith; for to him that believeth all things are possible. Mark. 9 Therefore if ye will have bread, conspire not in mutinies, but conspire in mutual prayers; root not up harmless hedges, nor rend up the bowels of the earth; but look up to heaven from whence ye shall have bread; and though ye see no means how, yea though ye see reason to despair, yet ye shall have bread; for he hath said it who cannot deceive, that he will not affamish the soul of the righteous. Pro. 10.  
Fiftly and lastly as there is Verbum promittens, a word of promise to rest upon, and every man of ordinary faith can stay himself on that, so is there likewise Verbum denegans, a word of denial, whereby God saith sometimes, ye shall have no bread at all, and (which is the highest point of religion) we must learn to stand fast even in that too; Thus stood David in that great distress by Absalon, If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, but if he say thus I have no delight in thee, behold here I am, let him do as seemeth him good. 2. Sam. 15. 25. 26. Thus affected likewise stood the three children in their fiery trial, Our God whom we serve is able, yea and will deliver us out off thy hands, but if not, yet be it known unto thee, that we will not serve thy Gods etc. Dan. 3, 17. 18. And job in the highest style and strength of patience, Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him. job. 13. 15. For though God be always merciful to give, yet in his wisdom he will not give always, but sometime he will suffer, yea he will send men to take it from us, for the exercise of our patience, the trial of our faith and for the consummating the sins of the cruel; and no marvel if it be thus now, that the cruel and tyrannos, or as Eliphas saith, The mighty, and men of authority have the earth in possession. job. 22. 8. For thus it hath been ever, and thus it will be always; and as the the Apostle saith of the Church Oportet esse haereses, there must be heresies. 1. Cor. 11. so saith Christ of the world, Vae mundo a scandalis, woe to the world because of offences, yet can it not be avoided but that offences will come. Mat. 18. yea it were rather to be marveled at, if offences should not come, or that the world should be in better state than it is, the Devil being the God, and governor of it; But how then? shall we therefore shake off patience, and renounce obedience, and take the sword into our own hands, because GOD will not plant another paradise here, and make the world as we would have it? Now sure it is an easy thing to hope when we have it at hand, and to be patiented and quiet when we lack nothing, and every man hath thus much religion, when God giveth him any thing, to bless him for it: but to say with job, The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, and then Blessed be the name of the Lord: This is the perfection of religion, even patience itself: and we must in patience possess our souls. Luke. 21. and if we be not patiented in our trial, all other our Religion is nothing. Neither yet do famine and nakedness separate us from Christ. Rom. 8. 35. But they bring us nearer unto Christ, and death nearest of all, since it is the necessary office of Christian love for Christ's sake to be killed. verse. 36. and when we are killed, yet are we more than conquerors, vers. 37. It was truly said, non sunt hoc tempore finita, sed mutata martyria, martyrdom is not now ended, but only changed, for in time past men were martyred for profession of faith: but now they may be martyrs in the preservation of their charity, yea we may be Martyrs saith (S. Gregory) sine ferro & sanguine, though neither sword touch us, nor blood come from us: & how is that? Si patientiam veraciter in animo custodimus, if faithfully we keep patience in our minds: and we may say to the oppressors of our time, as Cyprian said to the tyrants and persecutors of his time, Nobis ignominia non est pati a fratribus etc. It is no shame to us to suffer of our brethren what Christ suffered, nor glory to you to play that part which judas played; yea rather with Tertullian, Crudelitas vestra gloria nostra, the more cruelly ye afflict us, the more ye honour us.  
Therefore mark (good people) what honour God had offered to us, if patiently we had borne the oppression which is put upon us, for by this reckoning depopulators are persecutors, & oppression is persecution, & we by oppression had come to martyrdom, if patiently we had borne it. But heaven & earth are witnesses how far we are from bearing; yea bearing is come to bearding, and because of a little want, men have buried their patience as they buried hedges. Yea we are come to banding, Ephraim against Manasses, & Manasses against Ephraim; & now at last we are come to flat resisting; The Thistle that is in Lebanon, to the Cedar that is in Lebanon; Come let us see one another in the face; And as if brambles had been anointed Kings, an inferior Magistrate is now too mean, but the great King must come to compound himself; or if he will not come, yet he must send A latere, a messenger from his royal side; or if a Harold come, It is an easy matter to send a painted coat; and when a Proclamation came, as good made under a hedge; and that which is horrible to speak; A King of three great kingdoms must capitulate with a Tinker, whether by Proclamation or by privy Seal he shall manifest his will and pleasure: and yet all this is called Reforming; but such Rephaims are Zanzummims, which as Plato told Diogenes, he did tread upon his pride, Sed maiori cum fastu, but with a greater pride, so these men reform wickedness, but with far greater wickedness; & whereas Rehoboam threatened his little finger to be bigger than his Father's loins, surely these men's little finger would have been bigger in the end than Rehoboams' loins, for tyranny indeed is heavy in the hands of a King, but it is intolerable in times of commotion, when every vile & base companion is a King; & to speak indifferently, I think the sin of these men by many degrees to exceed the other, for Pasture-men indeed do horrible mischief, but they do it by degrees; first one breaks the law; and then an other is bold to break it by example; now evils of such passage are more easily prevented; but that which grows by mutinies being sudden & violent, is less resistible. Pasture-men indeed destroy a few towns, but mutineers by civil commotion depopulate whole kingdoms, and that partly by making way to foreign enemies, who usually increase their dominions by such advantage, but chiefly by sacking & harrying their own country with their own hands. And let men set what pretence & colour they will, yet this hath been from time to time the common proceeding of popular mutinies; first to murmur upon some just cause, as the Isralites did at Moses when he brought them where was neither water to drink, nor bread to eat. Ex. 15. 24. & Ex. 16. 3. Afterward when they had both to eat & to drink, yet (Num. 11.) they murmured, not for want, but for wantonness, viz. for fish, & for flesh, for apples, & for cucumbers etc. Even as many of our malcontents do now, who want not to drink, but want to make them daily drunk. But Nomb. 14. their murmuring came to that, that they would change the state, they would put off Moses, and have an other to guide them: But Nomb. 16. in Coraths' conspiracy they came to that, that all the congregation was holy, they were all jacobs' sons, and they would have no head at all; right as in the days of the judges, wherein there was no King in Israel, but every man did what was right in his own eyes. jud. 17. 6. Thus we find in Scriptures, thus in stories, yea and thus in our own English stories, and I do not think it would have been otherwise now, unless it had been worse; For mark I beseech ye, the course of this creeping conspiracy; first they begun in the night, as checked with fear & conscience of a crime, but afterward they can forth in the broad day, as fleshed and in this conspiracy some one quarrel had ceased, yet the rest had run riot still; and then they which arose only to fill up ditches, must perhaps have been compelled to entrench themselves a new from other conspirators: Nay let me say more as Eliseus to his man, Is this a time to take bribes? to speak simply, 
2. Kin. 5.  there was no time at all for such a work, but at that time it was worst of all, when some hope was offered of bringing home an idolater to the Church; so let me ask of these good people; Was this a time of all times to disturb the peace of the land; now that King and state were so earnest in hand to unite two kingdoms into one, now to attempt the rending of one kingdom into two? into two? nay into ten; into ten thousand; and to bring it, not as jerem. 2. 28. So many Cities so many Gods, but so many men so many Kings, and to make confusion of all; but as the saying is, Melius est ut pereat unus, quam unitas; better one or a few to be punished, them a whole kingdom hazarded; and if in this proceeding any have miscarried, they have perished right, as Saint Jude saith, even in the gainsaying of Core. jud. 11. and they have left this behind them, that they were not killed, but as they killed themselves, the sword after a strange manner ask peace of naked men, and mercy which should be sought, yet seeking for admission with Cap in hand, and as it were creeping on her knees; and so for the rest we leave them to God. And if any yet remain whom the poison of this conspiracy hath infected; I will not use many reasons to dissuade him; only let him take this for one, that if the bleeding bodies of these slaughtered men did acknowledge, even as they lay bleeding and groaning their last upon the ground, that they never felt they had offended God in the present act till then, but then they did; and some upon the gallows asked pardon of God, and confessed themselves penitent for that they had done: what a fearful thing were it for us to live in that sin, which these poor wretch's detested when they died? therefore let us not tie knots which we must untie again, nor commit that evil whereof we must again repent us, but rather be thankful for those good things we have, & wait with patience for those which yet we have not, and say in all things with Christ, Thy will be done, that so at the last his kingdom may come, even the kingdom of righteousness and grace in this life, and that of glory in the next.  
Amen.  
Pax in Christo.