THE ROUSING OF THE SLUGGARD, IN 7. SERMONS.  
Published at the request of divers godly and well affected.  
By W. B. Minister of the word of God at Reading in Berkshire.  PROVER. 24. 30. I passed by the field of the slothful, etc. to the end of the 32. verse. 
AT LONDON, Printed by the Widow Orwin for Thomas man.. 1595.   

THE ROUSING of the Sluggard.  

The first Sermon.  PROVER. 6. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 6 Go to the Pismire or Emot, O sluggard, behold her ways, and be wise: 7 For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler, 8 Prepareth her meat in the Summer, and gathereth her food in harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. 11 Therefore thy poverty cometh as one that travaileth by the way, and thy necessity like an armed man. 
IN the five former verses, the holy Ghost hath condemned hastiness, and unadvised rashness, as the very bane of suretyship, and the undoing of many men. In these verses he proceedeth against idleness, and negligent slothfulness, or slothful negligence, another extreme, contrary to the former, and no whit inferior in danger unto the former. And between both he requireth in all the children of God, an advised diligence in all the ways of their calling, to show that the way of a Christian is to make an even course between so many rocks and dangers, as he is on both sides beset withal, and always to sail by the card and compass of God's word, the spirit of God sitting as Pilot at the helm to direct the course by the same; lest otherwise, either upon the rocks of rashness & vain glory, or upon the sands of slothfulness and negligence, he suffer shipwreck of body and soul before he need, or before he would.  
The matter of these verses is in general a dissuasion from idleness and negligence: Idleness for want of a calling, and negligence in a man's calling are the principal things which the spirit of God here dealeth against, persuading also to faithful diligence, by the example of a silly creature the Pismire. But more particularly these points are in these verses to be considered of: first, the Sluggards Schoolmaster, and his lesson that he must learn, in the 6. 7. 8 verses: them the Sluggards examination in the 9 verse: then his answer in the 10. verse: and lastly his judgement in the 11. verse.  
And this text may be called the rousing of the Sluggard, because it hath to deal with one that is fast asleep, and therefore cometh to awaken him by all the means he can devise, as it were by calling, pulling, and hallowing, and pinching, & terrifying, as if he would not leave him till he had awakened him, if he will be awakened: for first, he persuadeth him by the example of a Pismire, to shame him withal: then he debateth the matter with him to know how long he will sleep, to see if that will awake him: and then he showeth him his nature and property, to see if that will awaken him: and then seeing he will not awake, he showeth him the danger of it, and so he leaveth him: And the same course will I take.  
But for as much as every man consisteth of two parts, viz. body and soul, both which are in time to be provided for, and Salomons care was aswell for the one, as for the other: therefore we will set down two sorts of Sluggards to deal withal. The Sluggard temporal, and the Sluggard spiritual: for some are Sluggards for the body, and some are Sluggards for the soul. Of Sluggards temporal which neglect the things of this life, we may also set down two sorts, either such as live without any calling, or such as live negligently in their calling. Of Sluggards spiritual likewise, I summon two sorts to appear before the Pismire: first, those that have no care at all to use the means of their soul's health, but live as though they had no souls to save: then those that use the means of their salvation but coldly, and negligently, driving off all to the last cast, think that it is not yet time to make their provision. And first of the Sluggard temporal.  
Go to the Pismire, etc. The Sluggard is here set to school with a very simple schoolmaster, and yet able to teach the Sluggard wisdom, if he will take the pains to behold her ways, that is, to consider well of the order and manner of her living, and to apply the same unto himself. Whereby we may learn first that idle bodies and slow bellies which live without a calling, or negligently in their calling, are not so wise, and therefore neither so profitable, as the silly Pismire is. For she is wise to help herself, by making ready her provision in time: the Sluggard hath no wisdom, nor care to help himself, nor to save any thing that he hath. Now he that hath no care to help himself, for whom will he care? He that is unprofitable to himself, to whom will he be profitable? He that will not till his own ground, whose ground will he till? He that will not labour for himself, for whom will he labour? for every man naturally is given to help himself, and to provide for himself: therefore it seemeth that Sluggards and idle packs are unnatural, and monsters in nature. And therefore aught to have no place in nature, that is amongst men or beasts, because they are not so profitable as either man, or beast, be the one never so simple, and the other never so filthy. For the beast is still in his kind even to the very Pismire or Emmot, but the Sluggard is out of kind. And therefore the Apostle warneth the Thessalonians, 
2 Thess. 3. 10.  that if any amongst them were able to work and would not work, they should not eat; to show that idle persons are not worthy to live: his reason is, because they be inordinate livers, and work not at all, but are busy bodies, that is, they live out of all order, intermeddling with other men's business, but altogether neglecting their own duties. Such are those wanton widows and prattling gossips, of when the Apostle speaketh in another place, which live in pleasure, that is, they love not to take any pain for their living, now hear the Apostles judgement of them, They that live in pleasure (saith he) are dead, 
1. Tim. 5. 6.  while they live: that is, they are unprofitable to men, and as good dead as alive, and better too: for while they lived many were the worse, no man the better for them: but when they be dead, they hurt no body: besides that, the worms, or something else, do then feed their fill upon their carcase, which in their life time fed upon all other, but fed none themselves.  
The natural man hath abho●ed idleness for want of a calling, although he had no light but the light of nature: therefore when joseph's brethren came before Pharaoh, he asked them of what trade they were: 
Gen. 47. 3.  for it was a very unnatural thing to be without a trade, that is, without some ordinary and lawful kind of calling, either in the Church, or Commonwealth, whereby a man may be both profitable to others, and helpful to himself.  
As the natural man condemned it, so doth the Pismire here in our text rise up in judgement against the Sluggard whatsoever he be, but especially against him that for want of a trade, or some calling, is become a sluggard, & leadeth an idle life: For she having no guide, governor, nor ruler, doth gather her meat in summer, etc. What would she do if she had a guide and governor? etc. And what a shame is this to the slothful person (if he be not past shame) that hath both guides, and governors, and rulers, both to teach him, and keep him in order, besides the benefit of reason and understanding: and yet for all these means and helps, which the Pismire wanteth, is careless of his own good? But hath the Pismire or Ant no guide, nor governor, will some say? how is it then that she doth always keep that wonderful order, and take that marvelous travail for her living, without breaking or altering thereof? To this we may answer, that her order is the order of nature given and imprinted in nature by God at the beginning, her guide is God himself, and her governor is the ever-watching, and everlasting providence of the Almighty, which extendeth itself to man and beast, to all things in heaven, in earth, in the sea, in hell, and in all places, and at all times, yea to the Pismire, the fly, the hairs of a man's head, the hairs of every man's head in the world, and finally taketh account of every hair upon every man's head. 
Mat. 10. 30.  But as for other helps, and other guides, and other governors, the Pismire hath none: man hath so much as she hath, and more too by many degrees: therefore if man shall be found more careless; nay, if not ten thousand times more careful & painful than the unreasonable creatures, he must justly be condemned: for God doth condemn him, the natural man doth condemn him, the bruit beast doth condemn him, the poor Pismire doth condemn him, and the whole course of nature doth condemn him. Then grievous, and just must that man's condemnation be, that is denounced and ratified by all. Therefore in time go to the Pismire, O sluggard, behold her ways, and be wise: for she having no guide, etc.  
There be some, companions to Atheists, which partly through ignorance, and partly through pride of heart, (for commonly they go together) that have not stuck to find fault with the creating of the Pismire, the fly, the worm, & an infinite number of creatures more, and as it were to quarrel with God for making of them, because (as they say) they cannot see to what purpose they serve, or what good they do in the world. Now for an answer to these witty fellows that will set God to school, we may tell them, that if these silly creatures (whereat they are so offended) did no more good, nor were no more profitable in their kind, then idle brains and the sluggish persons be, and such as themselves be, which do nothing but find fault with God, and his works in nature, like dogs which bark at the Moon; it were no great matter if the world were rid of them, saving that God must be glorified in his judgements upon them, if they repent not, or in his mercy, if it please him to work their conversion.  
But in the mean time, I demand of these cavillers, and quarrelers with God, what hurt doth the fly, & c? It is said of Apelles the cunning painter, that he did by art make the picture of a fly, sitting upon a man's face, in such artificial and lively manner, that divers coming to look upon the picture of the man, took the said painted fly for a living fly indeed, in so much that one with his handkerchefe stroke at it, and thought to have driven it away but could not, which being perceived, they did greatly wonder at the excellent cunning of the painter. But what is Appelles to the Almighty? or who gave him that cunning which he had? did not God? Now, shall a painted fly, which is no fly, serve to set forth the cunning and skill of a man, and shall not men much more take occasion by seeing a living fly, to praise the Lord, and to wonder at his most excellent and unspeakable wisdom, and skill, and power, and glory, which into a thing of so small compass, and quantity, hath put such variety of joints and members in such order, and comeliness, with such ●ute of divers colours, such liveliness, nimbleness, and swiftness, as a thousand worlds are not able to match or make the like unto any part thereof?  
If any man would know to what use frogs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and louse, etc. serve, let him ask Pharaoh, and his subjects of Egypt, & they will tell him, that as there be many uses of them, so one especial use is to punish wicked men by them, and when the Lord will, they shall be his host to subdue even the pride of the proudest, & to make the stoutest to stoop.  
But the Pismire, the Pismire, wherefore is she good, or what profit cometh by her, will the sluggish Atheist say, that had never any leisure yet to peruse the proverbs of Solomon? Oh saith the sluggard, we read that she gathereth her meat in summer and harvest, etc. But what good doth she else? doth she nothing but gather meat and devour it? Verily no. That's enough for thee O sluggard, to devour, and help none: for so thou dost indeed. Or else there is no creature but is profitable in some measure: The sea swalloweth up whatsoe●●● is cast into it, but yet it is profitable both in nourishing of fishes, and carrying the ships for the good of man. The fire consumeth all that is cast into it, but yet it maketh a recompense with his heat, which is so necessary that no man can be without it. 
Prou. 30. 16  The grave never saith hoe, (saith Solomon) but yet it is profitable in smothering evil smells & savours, which else would annoy the living. Yea they do receive the dead to their lodging, when no body durst abide them within their doors, nor within their streets, nor within their walks, nor within their fields, nor within their sight, nor within their smelling: Like the earth which received Abel's blood, 
Gen. 4. 11.  when it might not be suffered to have a resting place in Abel's body.  
Now, if idleness and slothfulness were but half so profitable as the sea, which yet drowneth infinite numbers: or as the fire, which spareth neither house nor city: or as the grave, wherein is nothing but stink and rottenness: yea if they were not 1000 times more hurtful, than any of these, they might be more borne withal, then now they can be, or aught to be.  
But yet the Sluggard is not answered, he must needs know wherefore the Pismire serveth, and what she should do in the world: And the Pismire on the other side marveleth what the idle Sluggard doth in the world. It is no marvel though the Sluggard cannot away with the Pismire of all other things: for many idle scholars cannot away with the school, nor their schoolmaster; no more can the Sluggard well digest the sight of the Pismire, because he is put to school with her to learn wisdom. For he counteth it as a kind of disgrace to his person, to be set to school at an Antheape, or at any body else: but so it pleaseth the Lord we see to pull down the pride of men, and by the vile and base things of this world (as S. Paul saith) to confound the mighty. 
1. Cor. 1. 27  What say many now adays? They scorn to learn their duty at the preachers hand, or to be catechized, they will not so much be abased and disgraced, when the Lord knoweth they be as blind as beetles in their duty both to God and man. But if men be so proud, that they will not be taught by the preacher of the word, nor be subject to the ministery of their pastors, the Lord knoweth a way to humble them well enough: He can turn them out into the field amongst the Aunts, and flies, and grasshoppers, that they may see what manner of scholars they are, when such tutors are set to teach them their lesson: 
Dan. 4. 30.  As he turned Nabuchadnezzar out of his palace into the wilderness, from men to beasts, until amongst the beasts he had learned to know himself. And thus we may see that the poor Pismire can in no wise be wanting, if it be for nothing else, but to teach the Sluggard wisdom.  
Behold her ways, and be wise. Here we are further taught, that we ought to behold the creatures, with due consideration of their natures, and the wonderful works of God in them, and that we ought so to behold them, as to be the better for beholding them, and not to be (as most are) idle gazers upon them, or vain and curious disputers of them to no purpose, but for ostentation of learning or wit, etc. It is good to be a natural Philosopher, but it is better to be a christian Philosopher withal: that is, when by beholding and learning the natures of the creatures, we are drawn nearer to the Creator, and taught to know ourselves, and our duty to God better than we did. For this is true wisdom, and true wisdom is true Philosophy. Therefore the Sluggard being sent to the Pismire to behold her ways, & so to get wisdom, what else is he taught, but to become a right Philosopher? So that a man may learn Philosophy in the fields, by an Antheape, if he hath the spirit of God; yea as good as any Aristotle can teach him in the schools, and better too: for he goeth no further than the causes of things, and teacheth men to rest there, saying: Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: that is, Happiness standeth in the knowledge of natural things, and the natural causes of natural things. But Christians have learned out of the book of God, to go one step beyond Aristotle, and all that are but mere naturals, and that is not only to search out the causes and qualities of the creatures, (wherein indeed Solomon did excel, for he disputed of all things from the Hyssoppe that springs out of the wall to the Cedar in Lebanus) but then further to make use of the same, 
1. King. 4. 33  and out of every thing to learn something, whereby they may either correct their manners, or be more confirmed in the providence of God, or be stirred up to the doing of their duty to God and man, or to be more humbled in themselves, or to magnify the name of God for his wisdom, for his power, and for his goodness, etc. Such a Philosopher was David: When I behold thy heavens (saith he) even the works of thy fingers, 
Psal. 8. 3. 4.  the Moon, and the Stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him?  
There is no creature of God in the world, but that man may learn somewhat out of the same, and profit by it, to the amendment of his life. The reason is, because all the creatures of God do serve their Creator in that course and kind wherein they were first created, only men are the sinners in this world, and have forsaken their first estate, and are become unkind against their Creator. If we speak of dutifulness to our superiors, we may learn it of the ox, and the ass: for, 
Esay. 1. 3.  The ox knoweth his owner, (saith Esay) and the ass his master's crib, but Israel hath not known, my people hath not understand. If we speak of lovingness & kindness between man and wife, every man may learn it of the Hind and the Roe: for Solomon willeth the husband and the wife, to love together as the loving hind and pleasant roe: 
Prou. 5. 19  to show that there is not amongst all so much love and kindness as they may learn of the beast. If any man will brag of his diligence and paine● taking, 
Prou. 6. 6.  the Pismire is more painful than he. Again, 
Pro. 30▪ 26. 27. 28.  The coneys are not mighty, yet they build in rocks. The grasshoppers have no King, yet g●e forth all by bands: The spider takes hold with her hands, and is in King's palaces. Again, the Prophet jeremy saith, 
jerem. 8. 7.  that the stork, the turtle, the crane, and the swallow are skilful in the● appointed times: but man knoweth not the judgements of the Lord. The dog is in his kind more thankful than man is. The sea keepeth his tides of ebbing and flowing, just at the day and hour appointed, that a man may be bold to build upon his coming: to shame those that promise much, but perform nothing, and to show that unconstant men of their word may be taught by the sea. As they go beyond us in glorifying their Creator, so do they also far excel us in many natural gifts, or qualities of the body, which make men forget themselves: The Horse in strength: The Roe in swiftness: The Lion in courage: The Eagle in sight: The Dog in winding. These and ●●ny more besides these, do excel man in the natural faculties and qualities of the body. And therefore to conclude this point, what cause is there that we should be so proud of ourselves, or any thing that we have, or can do, seeing as all the creatures in their kind do excel us? glorifying their Creator better than we do, yea and are appointed as tutors and schoolmasters to teach us our duties?  
Lastly, we may learn from hence, not to contemn, and disdain, but with great reverence, and in the fear of God to use all the creatures of God: both for that they serve so notably to set forth the glory of the Creator, and also for that they are appointed to teach men their duties. Of Lecturers, some read of one thing, and some of another, and are reverenced for their labour 〈◊〉 are maintained in Cities, and Universities: some by the City, some by the University, some by Noblemen, & some by the Prince, and therefore are called their Lecturers, & are greatly reverenced & regarded. The Pismire here is the Sluggards reader, but maintained at the Lords cost and charges: therefore 〈◊〉 may not be despised, but the work of the Lord in her is to be had in great reverence. For the works of the Lord are great, 
Psal. 111. 2. 3.  (saith the Psalmist) and ought to be sought out of all them that love them. Yea, His work is beautiful and glorious, & therefore greatly to be regarded. It is counted no small matter to be the philosophy Lecturer, or the Greek Lecturer, or the Physic Lecturer, or a Reader in the Law: but to read a Lecture of wisdom, as the Ant doth, is more▪ because wisdom is above them all. That was the cause why the Queen of the South counted the servants of Solomon blessed, 
1. King. 10. 8.  because they were in place continually to h●are th● wisdom of Solomon. Now, when the preaching of the word cannot be heard, which is th● Lecture of all Lectures, and teacheth only 〈◊〉 wisdom, than the creatures are brought forth both to humble men and to condemns them. And surely these are better Lay men's booke●▪ then the Popish Images, which Papists caused to be set up in Churches: for they were laying vanities, and taught nothing but ●ollie and vanity: but the creatures of God are not so, and they teach men the truth indeed, and out of every creature the spiritual man may learn● some heavenly lesson: therefore wher●soe●e● he becometh, he is at school, both at home and abroad, at the Temple he learneth wisdom, and in the field, and every where he 〈◊〉 learning of something. Now therefore to th● Sluggard again. Thou seest thy tutor, it is th● Pismire, her school thou knowest is in th● fields, and woods, all that go to school with her must sit upon the low four●e, e●en the very ground, and lower they cannot 〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉 low must every one sit that will go to the Pismires Lecture, for she readeth the right Philosophy 〈◊〉 life. And some would feign be in h●aue●, because they are loath to endure any pain, or trouble, or labour, especially for the trut● upon earth, and this is but the sluggards wish.  
We do r●●tly reprehend the Papi●ts for that Monkish life that is amongst them, to live like Eremites, 
Eremites. etc.  Monks, Friars, Nuns, chant 〈◊〉 Priests, Mass Priests, and Soul priests, and hedge priests, & a company of Cloister ●reepers beside, which was most abominable before God and man. For first, they cast off all cal●ing, and were no way profitable, either in the Church or Commonwealth: then ●ec●ndly all helped them, but they helped none. God shall not need an army of Doctor's 〈◊〉 Counsels to confute them, this poor 〈◊〉 creature the Pismire doth shamefully 〈◊〉 them, and most strongly confute them. Now, as this is common amongst those Caterpillars, so we must take heed that this be not in all of us, for we are all too monkishly addicted. How do men of trades de●●ise with themselves how to leave their pains and to sit down, 
Men of trade.  or go up and down, being so rooted in idleness 〈◊〉 sloth, that they know not which way to 〈◊〉 their hands to any honest labour? these are also sent to the Pismire to learn wisdom.  
Next unto them must Churchmen have a place on the low form, which fish till they have caught that fish that they looked for, 〈◊〉 then hang up the net. And no merua●●●, 〈◊〉 their net they say hit upon a company of odle steeples which lay in the bottom of the ri●er, 
Nonre●●dents.  which they never looked for, nor thought of, and with haling of them up, their ●ettes were so piteously rend and torn and spoiled, that they could ●euer fish with them since to any purpose. These also are here sent to the Pismire amongst the idle sluggards, to behold her ways, and to learn to be wise.  
The unlearned Minister likewise which hath made the ministery his last refuge, 
Ignorant Ministers.  because he would live at ease, he must go to the Pismire too: for if it should be demanded of him, as Pharaoh demanded of joseph's brethren, What trade, or calling have they? What ●ust their answer be? Forsooth, I was sometime a Tailor, or a Cobbler, or a Weaver, or a Glover, or an Ostler, or a Huntsman, or a Servingman, or a Player, but now I am a Minister, or a Curate, or for fault of a better, the booke-reader of our parish, for preacher he is none, that is too painful: Therefore go to the Pismire O sluggard, behold her ways, and be wise. That is, give over the ministery for which thou art so unfit, and betake thee to thy old occupation again, and learn of thy tutor the pismire, to take more pains therein.  
Next, the negligent Minister must go along to the Pismires Lecture. 
Negligent Ministers.  Such as at their first entering into the ministery had good gifts, but afterwards live like idle be●●ies, and betray 〈◊〉 ●oules of God's people into the hands of the diue●. Against such the Prophet Esay speaks, 
Esay. 56. 〈◊〉. 11.  when he saith, Their watchmen are all blind: they have no knowledge: they are aldunie dogs: they cannot bark: they lie and sleep▪ and delight in sleeping. And the Prophet 〈◊〉 saith, 
jere. 48. 10.  Cursed is be that doth the work of the Lord negligently. Therefore if these sluggards will avoid the curse of God, they must of necessity go to the Pismire, and learn of her to be more painful and diligent in the work of the Lord, there is no remedy.  
The Magistrate also aswell as the Minister must go to the Pismire, if he be slothful and negligent in his office. 
Magistrates  For they are called pastors, ●nd shepherds in the scripture. And therefore it is said of D●uid, That ●e fed the people of the Lord according to the simplicity of his heart, 
Psa. 78. 70. 71. 72.  And guided them by the discretion of his hands. The reason was, because the Lord did choose him, and take him from the sheepfolds, for to feed his people in jacob, and his inheritance in Israel: By which Magistrates may see what they should do. But if they be hot in their own matters, 
2. Kin. 5. 11.  like Naaman, who cha●ed because the Prophet would not come to him, when he sent for him; & cold in God's matters, like Ely, who let his children do what they list: then are they guilty of no small negligence, 
1. Sam. 2. 23 24  & he is here reproved by this silly, yet diligent creature. Therefore O sluggish Magistrate wheresoever or whosoever, go to the Pismire.  
There be many Gentlemen also that must be scholars to this schoolmaster: 
Gentlemen  for it is a common thing amongst them to say, I can live of my lands, as though his lands were only to help him to live, n●●king no matter how he live: or as though any man were borne to himself, & not to the soc●eie and comfort of others. And what though they be able to live of their lands? yet God abhorreth this idleness, and spending that they have gotten, idly, at play, & pastime: For when it shall be said unto them, 
Luk. 16. ●.  Give account of thy stewardship▪ how hast thou spent that which I lent thee? What will they answer? I have spent it in play, shall they say▪ And will this go for pa●ment? God placed Adam in the garden of Eden, not to live idly, but to dress it, and till it, etc. Adam was as well to live as any gentleman (for th● all was his) & yet he was not permitted to live idly. Let no gentleman say, he hath no calling: for all have a calling. If he hath no calling, he may busy himself in teaching his servants & children to know God, as joshua did: or in visiting and relieving the poor, 
josh. 24. 15.  and distressed, 
job. 31. 8.  in being an eye to the blind, a father to the fatherless, etc. as job was.  
And this is also for them that spend their days and revenues in voluptuousness & carnal delights, as at cards & dice, hunting & hawking, and bowling, and dancing, and chambering, and wantonness, etc. smoking it out in the excessive pride of apparel, and spending of other men's labours: Surely they must needs to school. Therefore go thou noble sluggard, or thou gentle sluggard, Go to the Pismire, behold her ways, and be wise.  
A number of Citizens likewise must be sent after the rest of their fellows, for that they have taken pains heretofore, but now sit down, and study how to live idly with their families: some by usury, and some by brokerage, the one is the devil himself, the other the devils huntsman: some by promoting, & some by extortion, and all because of a more easy life, that it may be said of them as it is said of Issachar, who seeing that ease was good, & the land pleasant, 
Gen. 49. 14.  he became as a strong ●sse couching down between divers burdens: that is, he gave himself to ease, and let all alone. So these men perceiving that ease is good, & the gain of usury, and iniquity to be pleasant, they are become very beasts, and are content to lie down under divers burdens: that is, to let all their duties be unperformed, which they own to God and the Commonwealth. Now, for that idleness and laziness hath drawn them to live a monkish life, this Pismire shall stand up to give judgement against them, if they do not the sooner go to her Lecture, and learn to be wiser.  
Besides all these, the Pismire hath a great number of scholars more, which if they should come altogether the school would not h●ld them, & they are scattered abroad in every country, some in every shire, some in every town, and in every village, in every fair and market some, and in every alehouse some, and upon every high way some: and therefore the Pismire hath set up her school in every field, and in every wood, in every pasture, in every lane, and in every high way almost through the world, that they might not miscarry for want of teaching. And these be idle Players, and Fiddlers, and Rhymers, and jesters, and cozeners, and Alehouse-hunters, and whorehunters, and tipplers, and tosspots, and Bearwards, and walking mates, with a number of counterfeit Soldiers, and peddlers, and tale-bearers, with a company of prattling gossips, & a crew of good fellows, besides legions of idle Servingmen, and retainers, that be crept into Bishop's houses, noblemen's houses, Knights houses, and Gentlemen● houses, which for any great business that many of them have to do, might very well intent it to go to the Sluggards school. Now to every one of these is this spoken: Go to the Pismire O sluggard, etc. that is, up, and away to school. Me thinks▪ I hear them all called at school by their names, and some body answering for them to excuse their absence: Some (saith he) I saw on the stage at midnight, teaching youth and servants, and all that came how to play the Cozener, the Lecherer, the Bawd, the Th●e●e, the Traitor, and how to scorn and deride the preacher, and religion, and how to practise all kind of impiety and wickedness, and all to maintain a poor living. Some are at the Alehouses set at tables, that they cannot come yet: and besides that, they are so filled with drink, and so emptied of wit and reason, that if they should be brought to school, (for come alone they cannot) yet they should not be able to learn any thing, for they would fall fast asleep at the Antheape before the Pismire, as they do at Church before the preacher. Then others were called: but answer was made again, that some are gone to the fair, and some to market to cut purses, and some are keeping the high way to take men's purses from them, that they might not be rob before they come home: Some are at the Tavern drinking with their friends: some are stepped aside to divide the spoil, and therefore they cannot come. Then another was called, and one answered for him and said, agr●tat, he is sick of the dropsy, or laid of the new disease, called the French disease, and so is she too, his beloved companion. Then others were called, and answer was made, that they would come, but they cannot: for some of them be in prison, and some be at the Bar to answer for themselves, and some be fast in the stocks, some Bee upon the pillory, some be dancing about the market before the whip; and therefore cannot come yet: and some are executed at the gallows, and therefore never look▪ for their coming. So they were discharged▪ a●d others came in their stead.  
Now these we see have their excuses when they are sent to school: like the worldlings in the Gospel, who (being called to the feast of the Gospel) could not come, because of their farms, or their oxen, or their plough, or their wives, or some what else, and therefore were shut out when they would have come. And yet though they could not, that is, would not come to the feast, the feast was furnished with other guests: so though this crew of good fellows cannot, that is, will not go to the Pismire, yet her school is furnished with other scholars. And the sum of all her reading is this, All that thy band shall find to do, 
Eccle. 9 10.  do it with al● thy power: for there is neither works, nor invention, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest.   

The Second Sermon.  
AS this diligence and painfulness in the Pismire doth reprove those that live idly, for want of a calling, and negligently in their calling: so doth it also specially and generally condemn all of us for the contempt of the word, 
Contempt of the word reproved by the Pismire.  and the neglect of the glorious means of our salvation, which the Lord offereth most kindly, and graciously unto us. Now is the market of our spiritual food, and the harvest of our souls, wherein every one may and aught to provide against the time of penury. And that we should not think it a matter of liberty, God hath commanded us to redeem the time, that is, 
Ephes. 5. 16  to ransom the time that we have lost, with some loss of pleasure, and profit, and ease, that we might not always be behind hand like bankeroupts in religion.  
But we sell away the time, and truth and all, in stead of redeeming it. And is not this worse profaneness then that of Esaw? for he sold his birthright for hunger: we sell away ours for a wink of sleep, or a game at bowls, or cards, or tables, or any thing else. Nay, we are more▪ baseminded than judas: for he would not sell Christ under 30. pence▪ we are content to let him go for 30. halfpence, or three halfpence, or a pennyworth of pleasure, or profit.  
We are commanded to preach in season, and out of season, and yet some think they are not bound to hear so often, but think that we ought to wait and attend their leisure: whereas indeed if we come at any time, they should leave all, and come and hear in season, & out of season, as they account it. 
Exod. 16. 2●. 22.  The Israelites were commended for gathering Manna in the morning, because if they tarried till the sun was up it did melt. If the sun be up once, I mean if hot persecution come, that we can not, nor dare not go to hear the Word, and will not hear it now while we may in the cool of the day: shall not the Pismire stand up in judgement against us, & condemn us? Our Saviour Christ said, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: 
joh. 9 4.  the night cometh when no man can work. Then it were best for us to hear the word of God while it is day: for we have more need than he had, that is, while we have peace, for the night cometh, it is to be feared, when no mq can hear: and as the night succeed●th the day, so persecution commonly succeed peace, to sco●re off the ruft that men gather in time of peace.  
Some use this as a reason to hinder reformation, and going forward in religion: for say they, the time may come when we shall be called to account for putting down Images, for desacing idolatry and superstition, and for going to sermons, etc. The fear of these men that do thus reason, is like the hope of Esaw, if it be not the very same: for Esaw said, The days of mourning for my father Isaac will co●● shortly, 
Gen. 27. 41.  and then I will kill my brother jacob. So say they, the days of mourning for Queen Elizabeth will come one day, and then we may be called to an account for all the idolatry that we have defaced, and for all the profession that we have made of the Gospel. But as jacob needed not fear Esaw, so long as his father Isaac lived: so (thanks be to God) we need not fear the threatenings of such ill affected men, so long as our mother Elizabeth reigneth. The Lord prolong her days as the days of heaven, (if it be his blessed will) to the utter rooting out of all idolatry, and impiety, and to the further advancement of his Gospel. And happy are we, that have such golden opportunity. As Solomon therefore builded the Temple in his rest, so God give us grace to build his Church in our peace.  
Our Saviour, the Lord jesus, did not teach us to reason so. Yet if he had been of worldlings minds, he would have said, The night co●●●th when no man can work●: yea the night cometh when I shall answer that which I have done, therefore it is best to let all a●●ne & save one. But he frameth his argument clean contrary: I must do the works of him that s●●t me, while it is day: for the night cometh when no man can works. And if these days should alter, what then? Yet then shall we hau● comfort in the obedience of our faith. 
Pro. 15. 15.  And a good conscience (saith Solomon) in the days of affliction is a continual feast. Therefore in these matters, let us be resolute with H●ster, who knowing the goodness of her cause, 
Hester. 4. 16.  said If I p●rish▪ I perish: so say we, If I lose, I lose▪ if I answer, I answer, I must look to lose more than this, and to answer for more than this, but I shall lose nothing by it in the end Therefore now while we may, let us be gathering store of knowledge, and comfort, or else the Pismire shall condemn us: For she 〈…〉 governor, nor ruler, gathereth her 〈◊〉, etc. We have both guides, etc. God make us wise to take the benefit of them whil● we have them.  
Ios●ph being warned before hand of a dearth that should come upon the land of Egypt, 
Gen. 41. 47. 48. 54.  made provision before the dearth came: 
Psalm. 105. 16. 17.  so would we do also to save our bodies: but the soul which is the most precious thing▪ yea the Lady and mistress of the body, as though she were dead, and lived not in us, is not regarded, no m●n makes any provision for her: although the Prophet Amos hath told us that we must look ●or a famme, 
Amos. 8. 11  and that of the word of the Lord, in so much as men shall go from sea to sea, that is, from one part of the world to another, and shall not find it. joseph providing in time of plenty had to serve his turn, and to comfort many more withal in time of scarcity, and what did joseph lose by that? So if we provide food for our souls now in time of plenty, we shall have comfort in store both for ourselves and many others when scarcity come, or when persecution come, or when temptations come, or when old age come, or whe● sickness come, or when death come, or when all come▪ and what shall we lose by that? 〈◊〉 said, 
Psam. 119. 50. 92.  The word of God was his comfort in his affliction, or else he had perished: So let us say, (for we may be sure of it) if the word of God be not our comfort, when affliction come, or when sickness, or death, or persecution come, we ●hal perish, we shall despair, and go to hell. And how shall it be our comfort then, if we provide not store of it now while we may? Therefore let us provide, and gather, and lay up now as much as we can, & all will be little enough, if not too little: for as there is a time of 〈◊〉, so there will be a time of spending, and we cannot gather so much do what we ca●, as we shall spend.  
But seeing as we are now come to 〈◊〉 with the spiritual Sluggard, who hath as much need to be to wsed as any other, that he may be awakened indeed, we will take this coarse: first, I will show what must be gathered for the soul: secondly, when it is to be gathered.  
But what is it that we must gather in summer, 
What is to be gathered.  which cannot be had in winter? The Pismire telleth us, it is meat, or food, that is, matter of nourishment for the 〈◊〉 to feed vpo●, and to preserve the life of God in the soul, and that is another point to be observed in 〈◊〉 Emmots Lecture to the Sluggard. Many gather, but it is not meat 〈…〉, but not of food for the soul: which 〈◊〉 the Prophet Esay found out and condemned in his time: 
Esay. 55. 2. 3  Wherefore do y● lay out 〈◊〉 and not for bread? and your labour without be●●g satisfied? he arken diligently unto me, and 〈…〉 which is good, and let your soul● delight 〈…〉. Incline your ●ares, and come unto me: 〈…〉 your souls shall line. To show that a man may labour and be never the more satisfied, he may eat and his soul be never the fatter, but lie pining and languishing for all that in the shadow of death. S. Paul showeth Titus in what things the Minister must chief labour, 
Titus 3. 8. 9  and the people must be most careful to follows, and that is faith in God, and good works amongst men. His reason is, because these things are profitable. But foolish questions, want her meat and food. There be many that be masters in Israel, and will take upon them to know much, as the Laodicians took themselves to be rich, and to have need of nothing, when in truth they were poor, and blind, and naked: & in many grounds of Christian religion, are as gross as Nicodemus, 
joh. 3. 4.  who thought that a man could not be borne again; except he went into his mother's womb again. And deal with them in any of the Principles, as of regeneration, or mortification, or sanctification, or justification, or faith and repentance, or about the use of the law, or the meaning of any Commandment, or Article of faith, and many things more most necessary to be known and practised; and they are to seek, yea so strange they are unto them; that sometime they are driven to answer, as the Disciples at Ephesus answered Paul, 
Act. 19 2.  when he asked them if they had received the holy Ghost: they said, We have not so much as heard whether there be an holy Ghost.  
But some have heard something, and do know more than others, and be as it were awakened, & a little enlightened: Like Agrippa that was almost a Christian: and now they think themselves safe enough, like Micah, 
judg. 17. 13  who thought that he could not do amiss when he had a Levite in his house. And then they cast off all care of using holy means for the increasing of their faith, or knowledge, or zeal, or repentance: but give their minds to toys and ●anities, and to idleness, and pleasures. But these men do fearfully deceiu● themselves: for the house well built, will fa●l to the ground, except it be continually repaired: and the field well tilled and sown, (if it be not still weeded, and manured) will prove barren: so will the soul prove ruinous & barren in the graces of God's spirit, if it be not continually said, with the solide● and wholesome meat of Christian doctrine: and the talon not used to increase, 
Mat. 25. 28.  shall be taken quite away▪ Therefore as Christ said, 
Math. 9 23. 24.  when he had revived jairus his daughter which was dead, give her meat: 
Luk. 8. 55.  he said not▪ give her music but 〈◊〉 her meat, lest she die again. So, when the Lord hath put his life into thy soul, which wa● dead before, and hath in some measure quickened thee in faith, in repentance, in love▪ in zeal, in patience, etc. give thy soul meat ●●musicke; sound food, not fond fancies. And as Paul said to Timothy, 
2. Tim. 1. 6.  Stir up the gifts of the holy Ghost in thee, least in the end tho● lose thy store, with stock and all, till thy sou● prove bankrupt in all the graces of the hol● Ghost. And withal let us know that there 〈◊〉 in every one of us a main stream of natu●●● corruption: against which if we do not 〈◊〉 continually, but stand at a stay, it will carri● 〈◊〉 away, and all our merchandise: as a 〈◊〉 standing lose upon the river is carried backward, if it be not rowed forward.  
Some are of mind, 
Servants.  that if they gather to increase their own store, they have done well: but for their families they take no care, whether they sink or swim, whether they know God or be ignorant of his ways, pray or pray not, or whether their souls be clothed or go naked, go to hell or to heaven, it is no matter, they never remember their wants: Like Pharaohs Butler, who thought himself safe when he was out of prison, but never regarded the affliction of joseph his fellow prisoner. If a man should demand the food of knowledge and understanding at their hands for their servants and children, or other their friends: they will answer as Nabal did, when David's servants requested something of him for David and his company when they were wearied with travailing, 
1. Sam. 25. 10. 11.  Who is David? and who is the s●●ne of Is●ai? there be many servants now a days that break away from their masters. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I ha●e killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? So say many masters, and householders, who is my servant, and what is my family? there are many now a days leave their work, and fall too much to the scriptures. Shall I then take my knowledge, and my learning, and my notes, & give to them? Shall I hinder my work to feed their humour, who● I know not whence they are? or what reason there is for it? It should seem that if Nabal had known David, he would have given him some part with him. S● if thou knewest who are thy servants, and children, or thy neighbour, or friend; or Christian acquaintance, it may be thou wouldst give them part with thee of thy gifts, and suffer them to work by thy pattterne, and to light their candles at thine. But dost thou not know, who they be? Are they not thy brethren aswell as thy servants? Are they not fellow members of Christ his body with thee, aswell as they are thy servants? Have not they and thou all one father, all one master, and all one Saviour in heaven? Hath not the Lord jesus shed as many drops of his precious heart blood for them as for thee? and d●est thou not know what they are, that thou shouldest have a care to provide meat for their souls? If thou keepest a beast, thou wilt give him that which is necessary for this life: and are those of thy family no better than beasts, that thou shouldest provide no more for them then thou dost for thy beast? When the Disciples wished (without all mercy) to have fire come from heaven upon the Samaritans; 
Luk. 9 54.  the Lord jesus told them that they knew not of what spirit they were▪ So when men (without all mercy and compassion) suffer their families to run into th● fire of hell: saying, if they perish▪ they perish what is that to me, so I have my work don●▪ We may say they know not of what spirit they are. If the Disciples were 〈◊〉 reproved, the● these are most justly condemned: for they had yet some cloak for their desire of so severe a revenge, because the Samaritans refused ●ost unkindly and contemptuously to let their Lord and master, the Lord jesus our Saviour▪ into their city; But for the careless cruelty, & cruel carelessness of these men, there is no pretence: for their servants do not shut them out of their doors, as the Samaritans shut Christ out of the city: but they receive them, and labour for them. And if they did offer thee such unkindness (which God forbidden) yet is it not lawful for thee so to be revenged, by suffering them to perish in their sins, but to pray for them rather. The spirit of God doth not use to speak on that manner: for that is a spirit of love, 
1. Cor. 13. 5  and l●ue (saith the Apostle) seeketh not her own things: that is, it is not all for itself: but as it is careful to edify itself in the most holy faith, by using such means as are appointed by God to that purpose: so hath it also compassion of others, 
jude. 22. 23  as S. Jude saith, labouring in all holy wisdom to pull others out of the fire. But these are all for themselves, therefore they have not true love: they have not true love, therefore not true faith: for faith worketh by love, as Saint Paul teacheth the Galathians. If they have neither faith not love, them have they not the spirit of God in them▪ if they have not the spirit of 〈◊〉 them, th●● are they 〈…〉 children of GOD, but hypocrites, 〈◊〉 themselves, and so consequently they neither provide for their own souls, 〈…〉 of other: but as they suffer their 〈◊〉 souls to perish for want of the meat & 〈◊〉 which they should have; so do they suffer their own souls likewise to perish, for want of that which they suppose they have, but have it not indeed.  
That we may be thoroughly moved with that which hath been said, and touched with compassion towards our own souls, and the ●oules of others that depend vpo● us: it shall not be amiss to hearken a little unto the piteous moan and cry of the godly, in behalf of their souls. 
Psal. 42. 1.  david ●ayth, his soul 〈◊〉 after God, as the Hart braieth for the rivers o● water: to show that our souls are as it were i● a continual chase, and therefore must have provided for them the living waters of God's word, or else they will perish. In another place he saith, that his soul thirsted after God in ● dry and barren land where no water was. This moan did David make to God for his soul, and yet he had more abundance of God's g●●ces then ot she have: to show, that if we had a● good provision for the keeping, and strengthening, & defending, and comforting of our poor souls, as David had, yet all is too little: for still they lie thirsting and panting for more grace, for more ●aith, for more zeal, for more repentance for more love, for more knowledge, and for more understanding, etc. for the temptations and assaults of the soul are so many, so continual, so strong, so mighty, and so hot, that it is not a little provision of knowledge, or understanding, or ●aith, or patience, that will serve the turn to make resistance: for the ●●●ell shooteth his darts thick, and burning for they befierie darts. But as soldiers in a ca●tle besieged, must have day ●e a new supply of powder and sho●, of men, and munition, of money and victual, or else they will yield up the castle: so must our souls have a daily supply of the graces of God's spirit from the word of God, or else they will faint, and yield up their h●ld: For the soul fighteth aswell as the body. And therefore Deborah said, 
judg. 5. 21.  her soul had marched valiantly: to show that there is a marching, and a fight of the soul aswell as of the body: and therefore there must be good provision made for that as well as for the body, or else it will not march valiantly, but fight faintly, and yield most cowardly, and perish most miserably. Which daily and woefully appeareth by that fearful staggering and yielding of so many, when any scoffing Papist doth but as it were breath upon them. And what else doth this show but a great emptiness in the knowledge? there is no preservative of the word against the infection.  
Besides that, in regard of thy brethren thou shouldest labour to store thyself with the comforts and counsels of God's word, and to be strong in the heavenly graces of God's spirit▪ for such a famine of the food of souls may come, that one man may be glad to seeks to another for counsel and comfort. And if thy house be empty, or have but a little, thou wilt be ready to say to thy neighbour, as the widow of Sarepta said to Eliyah, when he asked, a morsel of bread of her in the great famine that was in Israel, 
1. King. 17. 12.  I ha●e not a cake but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little ●yle in a cruse, and behold I am gathering of stickes●to dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat● thereof, and die. So if any man troubled in conscience, come to thee for comfort and resolution of his doubts, thou wilt say, Alas, I have not for you, I am no Divine, I am troubled aswell as you, I have nothing but the lords prayer, and the Belief, and the Commandments by heart, but I understand none of them, and some good prayers and lessons I have in a book beside: And if those will not serve my turn when the tempte● cometh, I may go hang myself, or despair, I must die, or do● as it please God.  
Now what cruelty is this so carelessly to neglect the means of thy soul's health, who was bred and brought up with thee from thy conception, and hath in thy service spent her self, ministering strength and relief to thy body, to every part of thy body, yea to every member, to every joint, to every vain and sinew in thy body. And more service than that too: for it hath made thee to differ from the beast, in that it hath ministered to thee▪ both reason, and understanding, and judgement, & memory, and affections, (for it is a reasonable soul) which the beasts want: it hath taught thee to speak, and to speak sensible, & wisely, and to conceive things quickly, and to use all other of God's creatures comfortably, and to rule over them all, which the beasts cannot do: And wilt not thou oh sluggard find so much leisure as to gather heavenly meat and food for thy soul, that in the day of affliction and judgement, it may save both itself, and thy body too? Nay further consider, how the Lord hath shut it up in thy breast, that it might be always in a readiness to supply thy wants, and wilt not thou be ready again to supply her wants? If it should departed from thee but a foot, for a minute of an hour, it were present death unto thee, how canst thou then miss her? nay, how canst thou not in pi●ie & compassion provide for her safety? Nay further, that it might be always ready to minister unto thee, the Lord hath made her which is immortal, and divine, and spiritual, and heavenly, and the most principal commander of all, nay all in all, and all in every part of thee, to be enclosed within thee, as thy close prisoner, and art not thou then bound to look unto her as her keeper? Say not as Cain said, Am I my brother's keeper? So, am I my soul's keeper? for thy soul is thy prisoner, therefore thou art her keeper: & if thou either drive her out of thee▪ or suffer her to perish within thee, for want of good keeping, her blood shall be required at thy hands. Take pity then, O sluggard, upon thy poor prisoner: which maketh as pitiful a cry for her provision, if it be wanting, as any prisoners in the world. In London, and other such places, it would move a stony heart to hear one crying up and down the streets. Bread and meat, Bread and meat for the poor prisoners of Newgate, for Christ jesus sake, & the prisoners crying out of their grates and holes, one penny or halfpenny, for Christ his sake, to buy some bread, to buy some bread▪ But thy poor soul lieth in a worse prison than Newgate, there is no Gatehouse, nor coalhouse, no Bocardo, no Little ease, no Dungeon, no channel, nor Duckpit is so vile a prison for thy body, as thy body is for thy soul: for it is neither lightsome nor beautiful, but dark, and most dirty, disquiet and ●ustie, frail, and filled up with much venom, and venomous vipers, I mean it concerning our affections. By reason whereof the souls of God's children have been constrained to cry, lament, and bewail their long being in it. Oh (saith David) ha● long shall I lie in this prison? 
Rom. 7. 24.  Oh wretch that I am (saith Paul) who shall deliver me out of this body of sin? Oh that I were dissolved, 
Philip 1. 23  and had out of this earthly and frail tabernacle. 
Luk. 2. 29.  Now let thy servant departed in peace, saith Simeon. Take me unto thee, (saith David again) and bring my soul out of this prison, that it may give thanks unto thee O Lord. For so long as it is in this body it cannot see the Lord, yea it is an heavy habitation, and presseth down s●re the spirit from that familiarity, which else it should 〈◊〉 with God.  
Now all this while there are none that go about to gather for these poor prisoners, but as the preachers cry out to men to remember their souls: but oftentimes they speak but to the belly which hath no ears. Oh that thy poor soul had but a grate to look out at▪ and leave to speak for herself to those that pass by thee, then would it appear how thou hast kept her, nay how thou hast starved her, oppressed her, and rob her of her spiritual exercises, her heavenly comforts, and christian conference with her godly friends & acquaintance: nay, that she hath not been allowed a good meal in a year, but now and then a few cold, idle, sluggish prayers, or a little blown milk from the breasts of an old Homely: and when any good matter was in hand indeed, thy poor soul was so oppressed with surfeiting & riot, that it was not able to receive any comfort: And yet thou wilt say, thou hast as good a soul to Godward as any body. But thy soul may say to thee, as Queen Elizabeth said to Sir Henry Bennifield her Vein (as she called him) from such a keeper good Lord delitier me.   

The third Sermon.  
But yet some will say (for all that hath been said) if there be no remedy but the soul must have provision made for her, they will look out for it: but it shall be hereafter when they are old, 
Of the time to gather.  or sick, or troubled, or imprisoned, or persecuted, it is time enough then: and it is not good to be too holy, or too religious betimes, for fear of young saints we prove old devils? Now all this is the devils counsel, and who would think it that he should be so careful of men that they prove not devils Now the effect of his counsel is but thus much: Be not too hasty in these matters, it is enough if thou be a Protesta●e at large, and play the good fellow, and make provision for thy soul when thou art full of pain, when thy senses be gone, when thy body is dead, and thy soul be in hell: and then thou mayest cry for water to cool thy heat, than father Abraham, father Abraham, as the rich glutton in hell cried: and then thy friends shall sing a Mass of Requiem for thy soul, say the Papists, and then by thy good works, and prayers of holy Church (if thou pay well for them) thou shalt be redeemed out of hell well enough. But (to let this popish trash go) what is this but to shut the door when the horse is stolen? or to fetch the Physician when the party is dead? or to seek for oil to thy lamps when the Bridegroom is past, as the foolish Virgins did? and to seek for the blessing with tears, when there is no place to repent, 
Hebr. 12.  as profane Esaw did? and to cry for thy goods when they be lost, at fools do? Is this the wisdom of a Christian? Then what is that wisdom that saith, Remember thy maker in the days of thy youth? 
Eccl. 12. 1. 2  If he were a wiseman that said so, then are they but fools that ●ay▪ In youth it is too soon. If thou be no wiser than so, go thou sluggard to the Pismire, behold her ways and be wise▪ 〈◊〉 she in summer, and harvest, gathereth her food against winter time: to reach thee what a fool thou art if thou let pass the gold opportunity, & dost not provide for thy soul in time.  
want nothing: as husbandmen in the field to till it, and weed it: as planters and waterers to set it, and dress it: as pillars of brass in salomon's temple, that are mighty to uphold thee: as Elisha with his staff ready to revive thee: as guides with their lights ready to conduct thee: and for thy safety, and all their safety, behold the Lord & his Angels attending upon thee, and them too, serving them which serve thee, and defending them which defend thee, and guiding them which guide thee: & therefore doth he serve, and defend, and guide them, that they in him, and by him, may serve thee, and defend thee, and guide thee. And as the Lord from heaven provided for joseph, that joseph from Egypt might provide for his father and his brethren in Chanaan: So doth the Lord still from heaven minister to our Princes, & to our Magistrates, & to our Preachers, and to our Captains, and to all the friends & maintainers of his Gospel, that they in their places may provide both for their own souls, and thine too. So that now thou needest not go in fear, nor hear in fear, nor read in fear, nor pray in fear, as they did in Queen Mary's days, when they could not read a good book, but still they must be looking who came to see them: like the silly Hare and Conie, that at every bit she taketh is still pricking up her ears to hear if the dogs come: or rather like the jews which were feign to build the wall of jerusalem with their trowelles in one hand, and their swords in the other hand, for fear of their enemies. But now, if thou be not too sluggish, and fearful of thy own shadow, thou mayest gather the food of thy soul in peace & security, & work with both hands, because the Lord himself fighteth for thee, & watcheth for thee, & keepeth thee while thou dost work, and that thou mayest gather: As Solomon saith, He preserveth the state of the righteous: 
Prou. 2. 7. 8  he is a shield to them that walk uprightly, that they may keeps etc. Thou seest what blessed means and helps thou hast now for thy soul's health. Now consider with thyself (O sluggard) what monstruous and intolerable ingratitude thou committest, if thou give the Lord leave thus to wait and attend upon thee, with all his servants, in heaven and earth, and with all his blessings ready for thee, and thou in the mean time lie down and sleep, and say with thyself, It is not yet time to go, and gather. Besides that, consider further how hard a thing it will be for thee (if not impossible) to make provision for thy soul, when all these means are gone, and this summer turned into winter. If thou wilt not ply it for thy soul in time of health & peace, what canst thou do when thou are beset with troubles, and sickness, and pain? when all thy mind shallbe of thy pain, and all thy wits and senses shall be taken up, and gathered together to devise some remedy against thy disease, and to prevent, or to sustain the pangs of death: yea nothing will be so fearful unto thee then (thou sluggard) as the remembrance of death, and all thy study will be how to live still, for fear of going to hell, if thou die.  
Remember again the proverb, When the belly is full the ●ones would be at rest, not at work. Now if the mind hath no list to work when thy belly is full of meat and drink, & ease, I pray thee consider what mind thy soul shall have of heavenely things, when thy body is full of pain, and grief, and torment, if thou dost not provide before hand spiritual and heavenly comfort? Therefore, Go to the Pismire, O sluggard, behold her ways, and be wise: for she gathereth her meat in summer, and provideth her foody in harvest.  
But some will for all this still put off the evil day, and say as the evil servant said in the Gospel, Tush, 
Luke. 12. 45.  my master will not come yet: so the sluggard saith, Tush, winter will not come yet, we are yet but young, saith the young sluggard. And the old sluggard saith, What need we care for persecution, or fear our enemies, so long as Queen Elizabeth liveth. And both of these, if they were sure that the winter time of persecution, and trouble: or that the storms and tempests of sicknesses & common calamities were at hand, they would perhaps awake and get them to work, that they might not be without provision at th●● time. But alas poor souls, what charter hath the former of his life: or the latter of his peace? do we not see young die aswell as old? and many both young and old die suddenly, when they thought to have lived long? Some dropping down in the streets: some at board: some in bed: some at sea: some at work: some at play: and some cut off by murder in frays: some by thieves murdered in travailing by the way: & some sitting at table, are murdered with the meat in their mouths. Woe worth the time, and the trees that ever brought forth such fruits of savage cruelty, and brutish barbarism in the peaceable government of England, under the Gospel of Christ. And yet for all this, and many more such like, thou are not warned, but thinkest thou shalt live still: as though thou heldest thy life by Letters Patents from the Lord: and still thou forgettest: [Thou fool this night shall thy soul be fetched away from thee:] And wherefore hath the Lord left us certain of our death, and uncertain of the time of our death, but that we should be always ready for the coming of death?  
And as for this summer time of peace and plenty, which under the government of our sovereign Queen, the Lords handmaid, we enjoy now, it cannot be denied but it hath been, and is great, and wonderful. And therefore great and fearful will be the Sluggards judgement, when the winter of trouble and penury shall come, with the famine of the word into the land, because he hath not gathered any riches for his soul, but is bare, and barren in all the heavenly graces of God's spirit, yea in all this time, wherein any man might have stored himself for many winters, and all weathers. And when that time cometh, thou shalt lie and think upon the time past, yea and burst thy heart with grief, when thou shalt think how many golden occasions thou hast omitted: how many sweet sermons thou hast lost for a little sleep, or one vanity or another. And the burden of thy doleful and woeful song will be then, the fools Had I witted.  
But if we speak of Popery and persecution, or alteration of religion, or coming of enemies, etc. some make a jest of that, as they do of all the judgements of God: No, no, say the secure sluggards, we shall never see those days: and if they should come, thousands and thousans would die before they would turn: and as for the Spaniard, let him come when he will, or when he durst, he shall be met withal I warrant him: oh one Englishman will be too hard for ten Spaniards: and if we all be true amognst ourselves and hold together, we need not care how many, or how mighty they be. Thus we see how foolishly foolish men talk, and how vain their confidence and hope is, which is builded only upon ifs, and ands. As if one should say, If it doth not rain, it will hold up: But is he sure it shall not rain? so, are they sure the enemies shall not come? or if they come, are they sure that all will be true amongst ourselves? or is it likely? And what reason have any man to stand so much upon the strength and valour of an Englishman, as that one should be too hard for ten outlandish men? seeing God giveth strength, and victory where it pleaseth him, and sometime armeth his enemies against his church, yea and the very flies, and louse, and frogs, and caterpillars, & grasshoppers, and all his creatures he can arm when he pleaseth, to humble proud flesh, and to subdue the pride and power of Kings and kingdoms.  
Oh but God will never suffer them to prevail so far against us (say some) they are most wicked Idolaters, and we profess his Gospel, etc. As if the Lord were more bound to us, then to them: or as though it were for our goodness sake that the Lord had preserved us hitherto, and not for his own name sake, because it was his pleasure to make us his 〈◊〉. David was once of that mind, 
●. Sam. 12. 22.  that th● Lord had made his hill so strong, that it should never be moved: but that was David's error. So we think that the Lord hath made our hill so strong, that it shall never be moved: but that is our error. And pride was the mother of it both in David, and in us. But David was moved, and his kingdom sorely shaken as strong as he was: so we may be moved, and shaken too, as strong as we are. But seeing as the sluggard hath sealed himself a quittance, and thereupon hath promised unto himself a continual peace: we will consider a little of these two points. 
Two points very necessary.  First, whether it be a thing likely or no, that after this long and blessed possession of the glorious Gospel of Christ, a winter time of trouble may come, or not come. Secondly, if it prove a thing likely, how we may know whether it be far off, or nigh at hand. And by that time, it may be the sluggard will awake. I dispute not of God's power, and what he is able to do, for he is almighty: nor of his mercy, and how he may renew it with us still: for he is infinite in mercy, and his mercy is over all his works: but what his justice requireth to be done, which is no way disannulled by his mercy. And now the question is, what is likely to ensue, by all circumstances, and probable conjectures, in respect of the manifold and wonderful blessings which the Lord hath so long heaped upon our nation with his Gospel; and the manifold unkindnesses, and daily rebellions which his majesty hath received continually at our hands for the same: And if his spirit should still strive with man, to put our sins out of his remembrance: or for Noah's sake a while longer to spare the world: or for some Lots sake to save the city from burning▪ and to draw out the thread of our peace & happiness yet longer: it is no more than his majesty may do, and can do if it please him, and (that it may so please him) we do all most instantly beseech his divine majesty, for his mercy's sake: which if he grant, shall be no less wonder, then to command the Sun to stand still, and the Moon to go back again, as in the days of Amaleke: or to divide the sea again, as in the days of Pharaoh: or to forbid the fire to burn again, as in the days of Nabuchadnezzar. But this is not likely, and therefore it shall be no part of wisdom for us to presume upon it.  
Now then let us come to the point, and see why it is not likely. We use to say, that after a great time of heat, there will come a cooler, and it is so for the most part. And as it is in the state of times and seasons, so is it also in the state of the Church: and therefore it is not unlikely, that after this long time of peace and ease, there may come a cooler: for so it hath been commonly seen from the beginning, and not without cause: for if nature should not sometimes be corrected, it would in time be wholly corrupted: the standing water that is never troubled, we know by experience doth breed the most filth. And if the air should still be calm, and never be cleansed by the winds, by thunder, and lightning, it would prove infectious: the body that is not exercised, aboundeth most in ill humours, and the iron that is not scoured still gathereth rust, and the child that is continually fed, and hath whatsoever he craveth, and crieth for, at last playeth with his meat, and casteth it to the dogs: and therefore it is necessary that sometime he should be abridged and pinched. And so doth the Lord also (by interrupting the peace and ease of his Church) purge the ill humours of pride and contempt growing in the body of his Church: so doth he use to scour off the rust of impatience, and distrustfulness which grow upon our iron hearts with the graces of God's spirit. So doth he by storms and tempests, by thunderings, & lightnings of troubles and persecutions, cleanse the corrupt air of his Church, lest the good graces of faith and of repentance, and of love, and of zeal, and of patience, and of charity, should through continual calmness be infected with infidelity, or impenitency, or hardness of heart, or profaneness, or pride, or vainglory, or self-love, or coldness, or Apostasy, or with one spiritual disease or another: and so doth the Lord use to pinch, and abridge his Church of the food of his heavenly word, now and then, and sometime for a long time, when it is loathed, and played withal, and trod under foot, and all this the Lord doth in singular wisdom, because the worth of benefits is not so well known, as by the want of them. That our hearts and souls are cankered and rusty it is most evident, and therefore a scouring is to be thought upon at the least: that there are many ill humours of unthankfulness, of pride, of contempt, of cruelty, and oppression, of swearing and forswearing, of whoredoms, and drunkenness, of all kind of profaneness and abominations abounding in the body of the Church, it is not to be denied. And therefore a time of purging and exercise is to be thought upon. That Manna is loathed, and the pure preaching of Gods most holy word despised, and the faithful Prophets of the Lord hated, and molested, for doing the Lords message, and the feet of the● which bring glad tidings counted most soul, which should be esteemed as most beautiful, all this is too visible, and palpable, and therefore Amos his famine is to be thought upon, 
Amos 8. 11. , if not to be looked for. When the Lord had planted a vine in Israel, 
Esay. 5. 1. 2. etc.  and watered it, and hedged it, and dressed it, he looked for grapes b●● found none, but the wild grapes of oppression and iniquity. But what then? Then he purposed to take away the hedge thereof, to break down the wall thereof, and to lay it waste▪ that it might be devoured of wild beasts: 
vers. 3. 4. 5. 6  but first he told them that he would deal th●● with them, and themselves should be iudg●● whether he did them any wrong or no. Th●● the Lord hath done as much for his vineyard in England, as ever he did for his vineyard in Israel, (if not a great deal more) no indifferent body will deny: that the grapes of England's vine be as wild, and as sour, as ever were the grapes of Israel's vine (if not much worse) the branches themselves can testify. But what then? And is not now a breaking down of the wall, a plucking up of the hedge, and a laying waste of the vine in England to be thought upon (O sluggard) if not to be looked for? Hath not the Lord told us of his purpose and determination herein, again, and again? And are we not rather worse then better for all that? Now if these things come to pass, we ourselves shall be judges whether the Lord hath done us any wrong or no. Now consider further with thyself (O sluggard) what privilege hath England more than Israel had? How much is the Lord beholding to us, more than to them? surely neither to them nor to us, nor to any was ever the Lord beholding, for if a man be righteous, he is righteous for himself, saith job. But what promise or warrant have we more than they had, 
job. 35. 7.  or any Church from the beginning of the world? Hath there not been in nature a continual intercourse and change of winter and summer, of night and of day, of fair weather, and of ●owle wether, of cold and of heat, of the spring and the fall? And hast thou not observed the like in the state of grace? Surely if thou hadst not closed up thy eyes of purpose (O thou sluggard) thou couldst not ch●se but see the Lords work therein. Well, yet thou canst not deny, but that there have been many alterations, and sundry changes in the world, and thyself sometime (between waking and sleeping, but without any feeling) wilt sit and tell of them, and what thou hast seen in thy time, which shall be sufficient to condemn thee: for it is more than a dream that thou speakest of. But if thou wilt now (besides thy own drowsy experience) a little listen unto the word of God, and pray unto God that he may open thy eyes, thou shalt see that which yet thou didst never so much as dream of▪ like the servant of Elisha, which saw 〈◊〉 mountains covered with heavenly soldiers, when the Lord opened his eyes, which before he saw not. Mark it well I say, and thou shalt see, both how often the Lord hath turned, and as it were wheeled about his Church, and the cause thereof to be still the Church's iniquity. 
Note that well.  And thou shalt see, if not confess, that the continual starting of men from GOD, hath broken the course of his grace, which otherwise had been continually The truth whereof may appear almost from the beginning of the world. For first, when the true worship of God was in the cursed of spring of Cain almost utterly decayed, 
Gen. 4. 26.  〈◊〉 Lord restored it again in the days of Seth, and his son Enos, that it might thrive and flourish in the world. Now it was summer time with them: but how long did it last? Surely not long, for scarce eight generations were passed, when all the posterity of them whom God had separated for his own children, 
Gen. 5. 2.  did mingle themselves with the sons and daughters of men at their pleasure without the fear of GOD, throwing themselves in such wise into all manner of wickedness, that (having defiled themselves, and the whole world with their abominations) the Lord brought a flood upon them, 
Noah.  to destroy them all, that they which had drowned themselves in sin, might be also drowned in water: and so they were twice drowned; and now was winter come. When the Church was brought to eight persons, it seemed then so purged, that the little seed which remained, should of itself bring forth nothing but pure holiness: and yet anon after it diminished almost by the fourth part. afterward the Lord renewed his covenant with Abraham 
Abraham.  and his seed, for whom he wrought many wonderful things: for first, with a mighty hand and stretched out arm, he brought them out of Egypt: then he led them through the red sea: then he fed them with bread from heaven: then he destroyed many Kings for their sakes, and made their very name famous and fearful full whatsoever it came, and thus they we●● going towards the land of promise: now, 〈◊〉 would not of such happy beginnings 〈◊〉 judged that there should have ensued a co●●● nuance of a happy state? Notwithstanding the very same people, (in whose deliverance the Lord had showed so manifest a proof 〈◊〉 his power and mercy) did not cease continually to provoke the Lord with their impati●●● murmurings, and unkind rebellions, until by fearful, and horrible judgements they were all destroyed in the wilderness. 
1. Cor. 10. 5.  At length the children of them took possession of the said● land, but yet such a possession as well near in 600. years after, had no stability, because they themselves through their own falseness, and inconstancy did continually trouble it: and still (by shaking off the yoke of God) they procured new mischiefs to themselves. Moses had told them before, how it would come to pass, 
Deut. 8. 10. 11.  that when they were fat and full, they would lift up the heel, and forget the Lord▪ And what doth the story of the judges rehearse, but continual backslidings? When 〈◊〉 kingdom of David was erected, there seemed a more certain and grounded state of a church to have been established, for a long continuance. But that lamentable slaughter of the pestilence, 
2. Sam. 24. 15.  which for three days space raged most mo●sterously in the world, did greatly abate 〈◊〉 felicity. When Solomon came to the Crown, summer came again to the Church: for God gave him great peace on every side, and in his rest he builded the Temple of the Lord in jerusalem. 
1. King. 4. 24.  But by and by, after the death of Solomon, the body of the realm was divided, and the torn members ceased not afterward to bite one another. And both the kingdoms, I mean of Israel, and judah, 
Esay. 9 20. 21.  were miserably turmoiled by foreign wars. Shall we say that this came unto them by fortune and chance? Nay rather they themselves, through their sins enforced, & hastened the vengeance of God: for even when they seemed most innocent, namely, while David goeth through with numbering of them, because it was the peculiar fault of one man: yet the holy story saith plainly, that God was wroth with them all. 
2. Sam. 24. 1.  At length followed that great eversion, little differing from utter destruction, when all the whole nation was led captive to Babylon: but after 70. years they were restored home again: which joyful return was unto them another birth. Notwithstanding, so soon as they were returned home, strait ways forgetting so great a benefit, they degenerated again into sundry kinds of naughtiness: Some defiled themselves with heathen marriages: some defrauded the Lord of his tenths, and first fruits: othersome neglecting the building of the Temple, 
Mal. 3. 8.  were wholly occupied in making of brave houses, 
Hag. 1. 2. 4.  and bestowed excessive cost thereon: whi●●●oule unthankfulness of theirs was such, as every man must confess (the Sluggard and all) that it ought not to escape unpunished. Neither did it escape: for after that, the Lord brought them in subjection to the Romans, who burned their Temple, and made hauock● of all.  
When Christ, 
Christ.  the Prince of peace, and author of all good things, showed himself to the world, men might sensibly have felt how certain and well grounded the felicity of his eternal kingdom is, if they would have suffered him to rest among them: but the world was never shaken with more cruel tempe●● of war, nor never drowned in so deep a sink of manifold evils. But what was the cause? Surely when Christ was borne, there was singular peace and quietness every where. Abo●● 40. years after his Gospel was spread through divers costs of the world: After it was published far and near, suddenly things began to be on a turmoil every where. And whereof came so sudden alteration, but that God 〈◊〉 the contempt and refusal of his Gospel, wa● now bend to be revenged of so great unthankfulness? and that most justly. For when Kings and their people had despised the peace which God offered them, 
Note that.  was it not right and reaso● that they should be set together by the ears, that one of them might wound another to th● death? And what can continue in order amongst them, who refuse to submit themselves to God? I speak not only of the open enemies, which have wilfully striven against the wholesome doctrine of godliness, but also of them that have professed themselves Christians. For how coldly, and disdainfully have many of them, how falsely, and dissemblingly (like judas) have othersome kissed Christ? It is not unknown that jerusalem 
jerusalem.  was once the fountain from whence salvation flowed into the uttermost bounds of the earth: but at the coming of Christ, it retained scarce a thin shadow of the ancient worthiness: and within a while after, it not only lost that that remained, but was utterly cast down also, and made a waste wilderness: which made the Lord jesus shed tears when he looked upon the city. What is the reason that no man travaileth in seeking out the cause of so monstruous a ruin: but that the desperate wickedness of that nation doth openly cry out that the same was the cause thereof?  
Rome 
Rome.  was never plagued with so many cruel slaughters in so short a time, as it hath been since the Gospel came thither. But what was the cause thereof? Open thy eyes (sluggard) and thou shalt see the cause plain enough, that when God brought the medicine of his Gospel thither, as the uttermost remedy against so many deadly diseases of lawless lust, wicked partake, and intolerable tyranny which reigned in that city, they (like persons that had sworn their own destruction) proudly rejected it, and ceased not to fall from worse to worse.  
The very self same thing we may observe in this our age, both in the kingdom of France, and elsewhere: For when the Church was as it were new borne again, and had a glorious beginning, like the rising of the Sun, it hath been seen soon after to slide down and carried back again. And yet before the Lord laid those fearful punishments upon them, of civil dissensions, and of bloody massacres, accompanied with many horrible mischiefs more, the Gospel was seen divers and sundry ways every where filthily abused: in so much that the sudden turning up of things that happened, is not so greatly to be wondered at, as Gods long sufferance, in bearing with the prodigious wickedness of our time.  
And in England, amongst so many thousands as to outward appearance had very gladly denied the Pope, and professed themselves Gospelers: how few (I pray you) do fall to amendment of their vices? Nay rather, what do the greater part pretend, but that when the yoke of superstition was shaken off, they might more licentiously give themselves to all carnal liberty? And albeit they confess the doctrine of the Gospel to be true, yet where is there one among many that submitteth his neck unto the yoke and discipline thereof? That Christ shall be abased for their advancement, they are content: That he shall be pinched with poverty and penury to make them rich, they are content: That Christ shall be betrayed for them, if not by them too, they are also content: That Christ shall be whipped for them, and imprisoned for them, and buffered for them, and mocked at for them, and crucified for them, they are very well content, and like it well: but that Christ shall be the King of their souls, and rule them, and censure them, and order them, by his own laws and ordinances, they will none of that; because that is against our pleasure▪ and against our profit, and against our honours, and dignities: Like the young man in the Gospel, that would do any thing that Christ bade him, 
Mat. 19 22.  saving selling away his goods for the use of the poor: but that he could not abide, because he was rich; and it was not for his profit.  
Now than what is to be looked for, or likely to ensue, but a most sharp punishment answerable to such wicked, & wilful contempts? And if any thing be to be wondered at, here is the wonder, that (considering our great unthankfulness) any part of the work remaineth which God hath begun. And (to conclude this point) we see how the Lord hath tossed and turned his Church from time to time: how he hath from the beginning of the world both summered it, and wintered it, eased it, and pinched it, pardoned● it, and plagued it, for the abuse of his grace, and contempt of his worde● we see the print of his steps in all pla●●●● before the flood, and since the flood: in Israel, and in judah, and in jerusalem, and in Rome, and in Chanaan, which is now Turkey, and in France, and in Scotland, and in Germany, and in England too, which hath been overrun sometime by the Danes, and sometime by the normans, and sometime by the Britain's, and now inhabited with Englishmen, that can scarce tell of whom, or whence they came. And in England we know what changes and alterations have happened: one while Popery, another while the Gospel: now peace, and ano● persecution: and like the sea, our peace still ebbing and flowing, but never certain, and now more envied, and threatened, then ●uer it was. This we see, I say, and this may the sluggard see if he will awake. And seeing ●his course which God hath continually thus taken, what reason hath the sluggard to lie still snorting and sleeping in his sins, as he doth, both in the Court and country, in the cities & villages, and in every place else, as he doth? And what reason hast thou (oh sluggard) to dream still of a dry summer, as it is in the Proverb, and not to think of a winter aswell as of a summer? What charter hast thou 〈◊〉 than thy fellows that are gone before thee? 〈◊〉 thou better than they? I tell thee, nay the Lord jesus tells thee, thou art not better whatsoever thou art, but worse: Except thou repent 〈◊〉 shalt likewise perish. Think no longer therefore with thyself, that thou shalt never be awakened: for by all likelihoods and probable conjectures, a winter will come, with such storms and tempests, that shall awake thee, and pinch thee, & starve thee too, if thou provide not in time for thy safety. And take this withal, that the longer it be in coming, she sharper will it be when it cometh: because, to whom much is given, of him much shall be required. Therefore, Go to the Pismire, O sluggard, behold her waits and be wise: for she etc.   

Whether this winter be near, hand, or far off and how we may know it.  
The fourth Sermon.  
But all this will no awake the Sluggard. 〈…〉 with himself, 〈…〉 for though it 〈…〉 winter may come, yet now it is summer, & winter will not come yet: Like the evil servant in the Gospel that said, My master will not come yet and so fell to beating of his fellows still, as the sluggard falleth to sleep still, and still puts off the day of his turning to God. And it seemeth that this is no news devise of the sluggard: for he hath learned it of the scornful men of jerusalem, and it is a common answer of all sluggards that mean to dwell still in their sins: It will not come yet▪ 
Esa. 28. 15.  When the Lord by his Prophet sent word to jerusalem that a scourge was coming upon them for their sins, they cared not for it: for they had made a covenant with death, and were at agreement with hell, that is, they had a shift for every thing. And admit, say they, that a scourge do come, and run over us, and pass through us, yet it shall not come at us: for We have made falsehood our refuge, and under vanity are we hid. A goodly refuge, and a covering suitable, and best beseeming the scornful sluggard. And what other refuge, or covering have all the sluggards of our time, but a refuge of falsehood, and a covering of vanity? that is a false refuge, and a vain covering, which is as good as none at all. But because the sluggard is at that point, to think that it is yet a great way off: like the fool in the Gospel, who told his soul of pulling down his old barns, 
Luk. 12. 20.  and building bigger, and of living many years, even that night when his soul was to be fetched away from him: we will now go a little further, and as we have proved it a thing very likely to 〈◊〉 a winter come after this fune-shine summer of the Gospel: so we will also prove, by the grace of God, that it is not far off, but very likely to come shortly upon us. I set neither hour, nor day, nor month, nor year: but would have the sluggard to know that it is at hand, and nor so far off as he doth imagine. And let not this caveat be to dismay, or terrify any man, except it be the drowsy sluggard, whom nothing will awake: but as a voice going before the bridegrooms shout, 
Matth. 25. 6  that they which now want oil for their lamps, may in time provide against his coming. But how shall we know that the winter storms of trouble and persecution are approaching, that we may make our provision? Surely, as Christ taught his Disciples to know when summer is at hand: so by the same rule we may learn to know when winter is at hand And by the fig three both may be learned: 
Mat. 24. 32.  Learn the parable of the fig tree (saith Christ) when her bough is yet tender, and it bringeth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: Therefore by the rule of contraries, when the fig trees bough hath lost her tenderness, and cast her leaves, we may know that winter is near. The fig tree shall be the Church of England, the boughs the members of the Church, or professors of the Gospel; the tenderness of the boughs, the love of the Gosped; the leaves, the profession of the Gospel; the fruits of the tree, the fruits of the Gospel; as love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, godliness, patience, charity, sobriety, faith, repentance, mortification of fleshly lusts, 
Gal. 5. 22.  and such like, which are called in Scripture the fruits of the spirit: which should be in all the true professors of the Gospel, because they are led by that spirit which is a spirit of love, and of joy, and of understanding, 
Esay. 1. 12.  and of counsel, and of courage▪ and of the fear of the Lord, as Esay showeth: The hardness of the boughs may show the contempt of the Gospel, which argueth (where it is) a departing of the grace of God: the fall of the leaf may resemble the falling away from the sincericie of the Gospel: which Saint Paul calleth a departing from the faith: which he prophesied of to come in the latter end of the world: which also argueth, that the end of the world is at hand. Now, to know whether the fig tree hath any fruit, or be casting off of her fruit, leaves and all, great search need not to be made with a candle, as if it were a thing hidden in darkness: for it is so evident that a man may see it a far off. When jeremy was set to make search in jerusalem for one righteous man, that it might be spared: he was not willed to stand still in every place that he came at, and narrowly to look into every corner, as though he should else have wanted matter: but to run to and fro in the streets, 
jere. 5. 1.  and it was enough: for their wickedness was so openly professed, that a man might see it as he ran. So a man need not stand prying into every corner of England, and leisurely to take a narrow view of every man's life, that were too much: but let him run to and fro in the streets, and open places of the land, and it is enough: so openly is wickedness professed, and so manifestly is our filthy nakedness laid open. Ieremi● ran through the streets of jerusalem, but he could not find one that executed judgement, and that sought the truth: So they that execute judgement justly, and seek the truth unsainedly in the Church of England, are lest in sight, and must not do it openly, lest they be noted for Puritans. Many say, the Lord liveth, yet swear falsely: there was swearing, and false swearing, and common swearing in the streets, and in the houses, and in the shops, and in the markets, and in the courts of jerusalem: and the same is to be ●eene in England, and all under the cloak of religion too. And for these things the Lord hath stricken us, but we have not sorrowed: and some hath he even consumed to the terror of others: but neither they, nor others have returned to the Lord. If we go along with jeremy from the common people to the great men, what shall we find? Surely they should know the way of the Lord, and the judgement of their God should not be hidden from them. But alas, none more ignorant than many of them, they have altogether broken the yoke of discipline, and burst the bands of godliness. If a man look into the Court, is not there also the fall of the leaf? for how else is the time spent? but (as the Apostle said of our forefathers) in sitting down to eat, and drink, and rising again to play, studying who shall exceed and excel others in vanicie; pride, and bravery, in flattering, and dissembling, in ●●●hing, and scoffing, in chambering, and wantonness: but alas, there is no leisure to look upon the book of God. If Amos the rough h●wen herdman come thither to preach, there is no place for him, he must go again to Bethel, what should such a fellow do there to awake the sluggard, and trouble the devil in his sleep? As for the often preaching of the Word, which was wont to be there, how is it eclipsed, and abridged? and that which remaineth, alas what is it for the most part, but a swee●e pleasing song, to rock them fast asleep in their ●innes, which were asleep before? and happy were it for England if that kind of preaching were not made a pattern for the most preachers in the land to follow. But how else s●ould the people (when winter cometh) be found frozen up in their dr●gs (as the Prophet speaketh?) how else should ●hey be ●ardenedhin their sins, and have their condemnation sealed up unto them? As for the Prelate, and great men of the Church, have not their fig tree also lost her tenderness, and cast her leaves aswell as others? Verily it is to manifest, that it cannot be denied: or 〈◊〉 what is become of that ancient diligence and painfulness in preaching, of that zeal and faithfulness in professing, of that courage and boldness in reproving, and of that lovingness 〈◊〉 lowliness in entertaining that was in many of them before they were exalted?  
Before 〈◊〉 was King of Aram, the Prophet Elisha looked earnestly upon him, an● wept: & being asked of Hazael why he wept, he told him the cause, 
2. King. 8. 12  and that was because Hazael coming once to the kingdom, should do much evil to Israel, and told him that he should burn their cities with fire, that he should slay their young men with the sword, that he should dash their infants against 〈◊〉 stones, and rend in pieces their women with child: which Hazael then took in such ill part, that he asked the Prophet if he thought him to be a dog, that he should do such vile things. But yet when he was promoted to the kingdom he did it. So if Elisha had come to some when they were students in the universities, and afterwards zealous preache● else where in King Edward's day●s, and perhaps in our time too, and told them that they being then 〈◊〉 should lose their fatness, that they should prove cold and negligent in preaching the word, that they should deny that which they then maintained, that they should silence, and trouble their brethren, and strengthen the hands of the wicked, would they not have been offended as Hazael was? but have not promotion and preferment made i● prou● too true? Look into the state of the Church, and behold her ministers and watchmen, ar● they not for a great part of them, either blind and ignorant, of negligent, or unfaithful, 〈◊〉 fearful or rash and heady and 〈◊〉, or ungodly, and profane? And if any be otherwise, and approved for their learning, and painfulness, and wisdom, and courage, and godliness: is there be some such, and (thanks be to God many such) yet how are they hated, and molested and made wonderments to those that are round about them? If we come to the ancient prosessors of the Gospel, such as in Queen Mary's days were zealous, and in the beginning of our Queen's reign were forward to set up the Gospel of Christ, what shall we find but in the most of them through the land, a general numbnes, and Apostasy, having put off the shoes of preparation for the Gospel, and put on the shoes of preparation for all kind of vanity, preferring plays before preachings, tables and cards before the old and new Testament, resolving to be just of the King's religion, and to stand to nothing for fear of alteration. These men have been made so drunken with prosperity and ease, that they are fallen fast a sleep, not caring who standeth and laugheth at their nakedness, having nothing left but their beards, and their budges, signs of gra●itie, like an ivy bush at a Tavern door, where there is no wine: but as for their love, and zeal, and charity, and piety, and religiousness, etc. the date of them is out long ago, and their copies altered. And if these things be any where, are they not generally resting in the younger sort? Others there be which of late years have also made a glorious show of zeal to the word, and o● lo●● to the ministers there of, which are also 〈◊〉 aside like a broken bow: for as untimely fruit they were ●oone ripe, and soon rotten. At the first so far in love with the preachers, that they would build their salvation upon them. But by degrees (God cursing their pride, and preposterous zeal) they fell quite away, insolently condemning the church, for no church the ministry for no ministry, the Sacraments for no Sacraments, but all to be worse than nought, like the Barbarians, who one while took Paul for a murderer, 
Act. 28. 4. 6.  and another while esteemed him as a God. And with their preposterous proceed, have both hurt themselves, and hindered the whole Church of many good things, which otherwise might have been obtained, the Lord lay it not to their charge. Other some at the first coming of their pastors amongst them, have (in show) given forth good, testimonies of love to the truth who afterward have also lost their tenderness, & cast their leaves, (but fruit they never bore) To these men the preaching of the word hath been acceptable at the first: and as a flash of lightning did a little dazzle their eyes for the present time, but after a while, when it began to rub upon their beloved sins, and the mocks of the wicked began to encounter them, they gave over: and with Demas betook themsenues to the world again, like men that repent them of their bargains. And not staying there, have proved the ●orest and sharpest enemies to their power that might be against their ministers, and the wholesome doctrine of the Gospel, in whom is fulfilled that fearful saying in the Gospel: 
Luk. 8. 18.  From him that hath not, shall be taken away, even that which he seemeth to have. I say nothing all this while of the infinite swarms of Papists, & of Atheists, and of Neuters, and of Libertines, and of Epicures, and of Machiuels, and of Hypocrites, & time-servers, and false brethren, and scoffers at Religion, & Protestants at large, & Schismatics, and worldlings, and priury whisperers, & backbiters, and ruffians, and cozeners, & cutters, and many more of that crew, besides whoremongers and bawds, and thieves, and rogues, & a company of rakehells which cannot be numbered, all which are permitted and suffered for money, & bribery, by baseminded under officers to jet it, & brave it up & down in the land, yea, with countenance & credit too, perhaps more than shall be aforded to better men. And where is he that dare speak almost against them, much less bridle them: for fear of many displeasures, and dangers? And is it not come to pass, that a man may with more safety & credit commit sin then control sin, which is most lamentable? It was once said of Rome, (so far was it degenerate from all grace & goodness) that Omnia cum liceant, non licet esse bon●●. 〈◊〉 was lawful to be any body, and to do any thing in Rome, but not to be a good man. And is it not almost come to that pass in some places of England, that it is more tolerable for a man to be what he will, saving a good man indeed? For that can hardly be without some trouble. Dost thou see now how the poor Church of GOD is pestered, and ou●●runne with weeds and wilderness? And 〈◊〉 thou not marvel that the Lord hath let it ●lone so long? When thou seest the Church of God thus pained, (though in respect of others of her sisters very blessed) imagine thou seest job alive again, sitting down upon his ash heap and breaking out with botches & sores, from the top to the toe, 
job. 2. 7. 8. 13.  and his grief increasing so, that his friends begin to sit aloof from him, being so grieved with the sight, that they know no● well what to say to his comfort. And what doth all this foreshow, but that the Lord is hard at hand to visit the land with scourges, and to feed his people with the bread of affliction?  
And further, it is to be observed, how the enemies of the Gospel, and the Church of Christ do increase, how bold they grow, how disguisedly they go, and how they can fit themselves to the present time, and frame themselves to every company, having change of suits, and vizards wherein they mask it at the●● pleasure, that the Church of Christ hath 〈◊〉 a do to 〈◊〉 her friends and foes as●●der: neither doth she know with whom to 〈◊〉 for piety, or whom to tr●st for safety. All our comfort (under God, whose 〈◊〉 still watcheth over the righteous) ●s, that our Mother is yet living, I mean her 〈…〉, on whose lap the poor Church of the Lord jesus may lay her head, whose tender love and care doth still revive the fainting spirits of Christ's little ●●ocke, which otherwise were even ready 〈◊〉 yield up the ghost: but that their trust is in their great shepherd▪ who will both keep and defend them that they miscarry not: No not o●e of his will 〈◊〉 lose. This is some comfort yet, (God make us truly thankful for it to his divine Majesty) This is some comfort yet, I say, that our tender Mother is yet living amongst us, and Lord, for thy mercy's sake▪ long prolong her days ●o the comfort of 〈◊〉 Church. But yet in this blessed comfort there appeareth sufficient matter to humble us, and to make the sluggard look about him: For is not the Church now very sick, & weak? Is not her Mother, our gracious Sovereign, in continual danger of 〈◊〉 hangbies; and bloody traitors? Are not hollow hearted, and false hearted subjects admitted to her gracious ●●●sence many times▪ more than she or her friends know of? But that the Lord hath still 〈◊〉 them, as cunningly as they masked it, (blessed be his name.) And do not the bloody Papists (for that is their brand) stand be 〈◊〉 the cloth as it were, with their sword's draw●●, ready every hour to step upon the stage & to play their parts? do they not only wait for a day, like Esaw who purposed to kill his brother when his father was gone? Well, 〈◊〉 Lord is in heaven & laugheth them to scorn, and knoweth how to dispose of their purposes and intents well enough, and can prevent them if it please his Majesty (as he hath done): but this may greatly humble us, and awake us. Again, as we have observed in the preaching of the Word where it is, a great defect in respect of the manner which is too pleasing: so also may we observe (if our eyes be in our head●) some corruption in respect of the matter in many places, though not so general as the former. And that is not lightly to be passed over, but we should learn in the fear of God to make some use thereof. And let the sluggard consider well of it, that when any shall now in so great and clear a light of the Gospel, popishly maintain the 7. deadly sins: or call in question our justification by faith in Christ alone: or deny to the Church the assurance of her salvation by Christ: or discourage men 〈◊〉 the reading of the scriptures: we are to 〈…〉 of these things. Last of all (to conclude 〈◊〉 point) when any shall teach that we must believe as the Church believeth, without examining the doctrine by the word: and if any man be deceived, that it is sufficient for him to say before the Lord, that the Church deceived him: as if it had been sufficient for, Adam to say, his wife deceived him, and the serpent deceived her. When thou Hearest (I say) of these things day them to heart, & take them as prognostications of further matters, and forerunners of greater evils to ensue: especially seeing the people are as greedy to drink, as othery 〈…〉 broach whatsoever it be. Therefore the 〈…〉 his rich mercy open our sluggish ey●● 〈…〉 of our 〈…〉 curitie. And as Christ said, 
Mat. 24. 1●.  When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, let him that readeth consider: So I say, when you see the corruption of sound doctrine, and the abomination of popish filth stand in the holy place, let him that heareth consider: for it is Gods doing, though it be the devils suggestion, and that justly▪ for our sins.  
Thus have we run about the streets, 〈◊〉 jeremy did, and in casting our eyes here and there, we have found that which you see: much more is behind that we see not. But this is sufficient to prove unto the sluggards face, that as a winter is likely 〈◊〉 come: so (if God be not exceeding merciful) by all signs and token's it is hard at hand: for the fig tree hath lost her tenderness, and there is generally a fall of the leaf in all places: and wh●n we see that, we may know for a certain that winter is near. Therefore (O Sluggard) put off the time no longer: but while it is yet summer provide against winter, lest thou repent it too la●e. By this time the Sluggard might have been awakened, but he sleepeth still▪ and therefore now let us hear the. Lord calling 〈◊〉 him, and what answer he will make when he is called.   

The fift Sermon.  9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard wh●● 〈◊〉 thou arise out of thy sleep 10 Yet a little sleep, etc. 
THis question demau●ded of the Sluggard, doth most 〈…〉 set forth his nature, which ●●lighteth in sleeping long, which loveth ease and idleness, which hates labour and diligence, and yet 〈◊〉 all 〈…〉 little though he hath been long idle● and finally▪ is so far from amendment, being admonished, that he resolveth still to 〈…〉 he began, excusing it by a little, and 〈◊〉. Whereby we may see, that whatsoever 〈…〉 said to the Sluggard, that wanteth the spirit of God to quicken him, is but as so much water powered on a Blackamoor, the water is spilled, and the Blackamoor is never the whiter.  
In this demand to the Sluggard, the Lord expostulateth the matter with all of us for our duties, & rouseth us up out of our dead sleep, to show that we are all too careless in our duties commanded of God: So loath is the Lord to leave us unto ourselves, that when he hath called once, he calleth again, and debateth with us for our carelessness, as he did with Israel his own people for their unkindness and wilfulness, in refusing the means of their salvation: saying, Why will you die O house of jacob, 
Ezec. 18●1  why will you die? That both they and we might see the great goodness of the Lord towards us, and that the Lord might be justified when we are judged, 
Psal. 51. 4.  and cleared when we are condemned: because our destruction is of ourselves, which sleep on still when we are called, and yet count all but a little. And this may serve as a notable pattern of love for Christians to follow, in reclaiming their brethren that go astray: whereby we are taught not to give them over at the first: but when we have taught, to teach again, and though we have called once and often, yet to call again, and not to leave teaching, and instructing, and calling, and expostulating with them till they hear, and return, if there be any spark of hope left unto us: like those that blow at a coal till it hath set all the wood a burning. And in dealing thus with our brethren, let us but imagine that we are labouring to fetch one again that is fall●● into a swoon, who with often rubbing and chafing, with much pinching, boxing; and wring, may be recovered again, or else not.  
The former pattern of diligence in the Pismire was sufficient to control us all, and to humble us, for our slothfulness in our calling, (if we were wise indeed, for a word to a wise man is sufficient) and very effectual is that doctrine which the Lord hath taught us by it: yet it pleaseth God to go on still in expostulating and debating the matter with us (as we see) whereby we may learn, what a hard matter it is to awaken our sluggish nature, & when we are awake, as hard it is to keep us awake: for our eyes are no sooner open, but we fall to nodding again: Like the Disciples of Christ, who slept on still, though their master called them, though he called them loud, and often, though the tempter were near, and they in danger of falling into the pit of temptations; yet could they not watch so much as one hour, so heavy were they: And so is it with us, if we be as good as Christ's disciples. Now if the best be so heavy and sleepy, what are the worst? The experience hereof we have daily: Let us go but to the Temple where the word is preached, and there we shall see men no sooner set down, but fast asleep. And the like we find at home in performing our spiritual exercises, whether it be of prayer, or reading, or singing Psalms, or instructing our families, though God's spirit doth sometime touch us, and awake us, yet are we soon forgetful, and sleep creepeth on again. Therefore the Lord giveth us to understand, that we have need of many words to rouse us, and all little enough. For sin is stubborn, like a monster whose face is of brass, whose neck is of iron, and his heart as hard as an Adamant. And therefore when the Prophets had to deal with the stubborn jews, the Lord told them they should deal with a stiff-necked people, whose necks had finewes of iron, 
Eze. 3. 7. 8. 9  and therefore would not easily bow to the yoke, and their faces were of brass, and therefore would not blush at any thing, and their hearts were harder than the flint stone, and therefore would not easily relent. They were even such as the preachers now adays speak unto. 
Philip. 3. 18.  Paul saith he spoke often against belligods, which are enemies to the cross of Christ, telling them that their glory would be their shame, and their end damnation, if they repent not: and yet they continued still in their sin, as if it had never been touched, and Paul continued still in beating upon them for it, as if he had never touched them: to teach us, that it is not enough to glance at sin a far off, (as the manner of many is) and to touch it lightly and away, a● some would have it: but to hammer him, and never to leave beating and calling upon him, till he made either to yield, or to flee: which cannot be done with glancing, and touching: for he hath a thick skin, and hard scales, under which he lieth fast asleep. And this the servants of God have well understood: therefore David (being guilty of his own slothfulness in the service of God) made vows, and bound himself by band as it were, to a more constant course in the service of God: 
Psalm. 119. 106.  I ha●● swor●e (saith he in one place) and will perfor●● it, that I will keep thy righteous judgements. I● another place, the Church prayeth God to ●●member David: that is, his covenant made with David, 
Psalm. 132. 1. 2. 3.  and all his troubles: And amongst other special virtues that he is described by▪ this is one, that he swore unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of jacob, saying, and vowing, that he would not enter into the tabernacle of his house, nor come upon his palace, or bed, nor suffer his eyes to sleep, not his eyelids to slumber, nor the temples of hi● head to take any rest until he found out a place for the Lord, and an habitation for the mighty God of jacob. Thus that holy man (perceiving his zeal to faint) would bind himself in many obligations. And thus also in the exercise of prayer, the servants of God do use many words, not because they delight in many words, and vain babbling, (as Pharisles and Papists, which labour it with their lips, thinking to be heard the sooner for their lip-labour) but thereby labouring to amplify their grief: and because they do not yet sufficiently see the wants that be in themselves, therefore they use many words, as bellows to blow up their minds, and to kindle their fainting spirits in zeal, and fervency. And for this cause likewise the servants of God have set themselves to their task of reading, and praying, and studying, that so much they will read (if God will) every day, and so often they will pray every day, 
Dan. 6. 10.  as David and Daniel set themselves to pray three times a day at the least. And thus Isay in these and all other things belonging both to their calling, and to their profession, they have still tasked themselves, and applied their task through the grace of God, which (as S. Paul saith) worketh and laboureth in them, fearing least otherwise they should do but little or nothing. And in the doing of their tasks, it is a wonder to see how sluggish they are, and what a number of lets, and lions lie in their way (as the Proverb saith) that they be constrained to prick themselves forward, and then they drag their legs after them too.  
In this demand we are (as we see) accused, and indicted of making great delays of those duties which we own to God. A matter surely very worthy to be expostulated: 
Note that.  for it is a true token of a soul that feareth not God, to drive off so long the doing of that which the Lord by his word requireth to be done: for if they feared God, they would be more diligent, knowing that God is able every minute to cast them down to hell, and to press them with his judgements. Some go on (for all this) and say, the time of their calling is not yet, they are not called yet: although they hear the word, and know in their own conscience that they do evil, yet they go on like desperate wretches, making a mock at the judgements of the Lord, and say they are not called yet, when they are most evidently convicted in themselves, & by themselves. And being told of it, they tell us, that they must pray to God to be merciful to them in that, and so they continue still in their rebellion, bathing and rotting in their sins, like Naaman the Assyrian, who said, God be merciful to me in this: for though he knew it to be a sin to go into his Rimmon, yet he must go in and do as his master did, and God must dispense with him in that. Many such naaman's there are still, which have one Rimmon or other that they know of, and yet they sleep on still in their beloved sins: some in usury, some in whoring, some in stealing, some in swearing, some in oppressing the poor, some in deceiving both poor and rich, some in scoffing at Religion, some in profaning the lords sabbath, some in persecuting their brethrens, some in their ambitious and vainglorious attempts, and some in one sin, and some in another, every one hath his Rimmon. And thinketh in his base conceit, that the Lord is as negligent in punishing of their presumptuous rebellions, as they are in obeying his holy commandments: but let them take heed of dallying too long with his Majesty, for he will not be mocked, though they be deceived.  
The Children of God are commended (in the word) for their diligence in obeying the will of God, when once they know what was his pleasure: 
Gen. 17. 23.  When Abraham was commanded to circumcise himself, and all the male that were in his family, he might have sought many toys to drive off the time, as that he had many souls in his house, himself was 99 years old, but he circumcised them all presently that self same day. 
Gen. 21. 12. 13. 14.  So when he was commanded to cast out his son Ishmael over night, he gate up early in the morning, and did it, as he was commanded, which might be a hook to pull out his very bowels: to cast out his son was grievous unto him (as the story showeth) yet he did neither deny, nor delay the doing of it. So in the 22. of Genesis we read, that when he was commanded to offer up in sacrifice his only son Isaac, (which might have cut his heart strings in pieces) yet he delayed not the time, but rose up early in the morning, and went speedily about it: I am persuaded that Abraham loved his sons, (and he had cause so to do) as dearly as we love our sins, and yet when God commanded him to cast out one, and to kill the other, he was ready to do both: how ready then should we be to obey the Lord when he commandeth us to cast out, not our children, but our iniquities, and to sacrifice not ou● sons, but our sins, which else will cast us out of God's favour, and sacrifice us in the valley of Gehinnom, that is, in the pit of hell fire? Surely, if we believed the promises of God, and feared the judgements of God as Abraham did, we would no more stick at the matter than he did. Many have received as good a warrant from God and her Majesty, both of Magistrates, and Prelates, and Pastors, and people, for the casting out of many abuses and corruptions, both in the Church & commonwealth, and in their private families, as Abraham had for that which he did, but they are not yet half so forward as Abraham was, nay would to GOD they were not backward: which showeth, that though Abraham were the father of the faithful, yet he is not their father, because they are unfaithful.  
If men cannot like that duty which cometh slowly from us, much less is it acceptable to God. We must first serve ourselves, and then obey GOD, as he that would first go home and bury his father, 
Matt. 8. 21.  and then come and follow Christ. But this obedience loseth the favour of GOD, therefore what reward can ●hey look for, which have a purpose indeed to leave their sin, but not till their sin leave them? That will serve, God, but that is when for want of ability, or occasion they can serve the devil no longer? That will measure out the Lord a part, but yet with a false balance? That will give the Lord the cup, but it shall be whe● the devil hath drunk the best of it, and nothing is left but the dregs of old age in the bottom? Oh let us consider what 〈◊〉 pray when we say: Thy will be done in earth by us, 〈…〉 Angel's do it in heaven. The Angels never 〈◊〉 their business, but do it 〈◊〉, and therefore the scripture doth gi●● 〈…〉 note their swiftness: now if we say● his: 〈◊〉 and do not 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉, ●hat do we else 〈…〉 with his 〈◊〉▪  
How long wilt thou sleep O Sluggard? How long shall God dance attendance upon thee? As the Lord in this demand doth charge us with delays in his service, so in the same words he doth likewise teach a way to redress the same▪ And that is to consider how long we have slept, or ●ow long we have made the Lord to wait our leisure in every thing. And in the Scripture we shall find that by this means the children of God have been much stirred 〈◊〉 to do their duty. In the 119. Psalm 〈◊〉 60. David saith, He considered his wai●●, 〈◊〉 then made haste to keep the Commandments of GOD, which he did not befo●● he considered his ways, that is before he considered how long he had gone out of the rig●● way, and wandered in his own crooked 〈◊〉 to show that the cause why we put off the k●●ping of God's commandments is, because we consider not how long we have dwelled in 〈◊〉 sins. But if we do consider how long God hath forborn us, and swallowed up our sins in his mercies, this would make our 〈◊〉 hearts to relent, except we were past all goodness. To consider (I say) how long the Lor●● hath spared us when he might often most 〈◊〉 have punished us: how he hath every ●o●ning renewed his mercies with us, when 〈◊〉 might have consumed us in our sins: & how long we have disobeyed him, and provoked his majesty to wrath, except we were desperate, and given up to a reprobate mind, these things would wring bitter tears from 〈◊〉 eyes. He hath wooed us, and besought us this 36. years, by his word, to be reconciled ●●to him, and still we provoke him. Then let the sluggish Magistrates consider of this: How long will they neglect the glory of God to set up their own? How long by their evil examples shall the people stumble and fall into 〈◊〉 How long shall the poor cry out for justice? How long will they continue in discountenauncing of good men and good causes, and many fowl faults more would be considered of them, how long they have continued? This is also for the slothful minister to think upon: How long will they keep the door of Heaven shut? For if they had preached diligently and faithfully, it had been impossible for popery to have crept into so many minds as it hath done. How long will they betray God's cause, and let the people perish for want of instruction? So to the Adulterer also, how long shall the Lord bear thy filthiness, and how long wilt thou abuse thy body and thy ●oule in his sight as thou dost? And how long will the Usurer eat up the lords people, as o●e eateth bread, and grind the faces of the poor like a millstone? This must also come to the quarreler, and malicious person to be considered of: how long will they 〈◊〉 in their hatred, biting one of another? is there no end of their malice? will their rash judging, and condemning one of another never come to an end? This is also spoken to Parents: how long shall the Lord call upon you to bring up your children in the fear of his name? How long will you suffer them to live so wanton, and so loosely as ye do? How long shall they go up and down the streets with such filthy songs, oaths and ribaldies in their mouths to bewray their filthy education withal? Consider of this question also, yo● that be servants, How long shall the world complain of your idle and unfaithful service? When will you begin to adorn the doctrine of the Gospel, with your good conversation? This is also for unthrifty gentlemen, that spe●● their da●es in play, and ●iotting: How long will you be unfaithful 〈◊〉? how long shall the Lord wait for your conversion? Thi● is also to occupiers, which live by false oaths, by false weights, and false lights, & false 〈◊〉 how long shall the Lord dance your attendance for the reformation of these abominations? There be many mo● that are also to consider of this point: but that which the Lord speaketh to one, he speaketh to every one, 〈◊〉 long wilt thou sleep O sluggard? Though 〈◊〉 woman of Samaria dallied and jested long 〈◊〉 the words of the Lord jesus▪ yet at the last, 
joh. 4. 29.  〈◊〉 Christ told her what she did, and she perceived him to be the Messiah indeed, she believed, and ran into the city, and called her neighbours to come and see. Christ hath told us all that we have done, and all that we ought to do, and yet we believe not his words: but put them off with scoffs and iest●: and those that would go to Christ we do not further them, but hinder them. Now, if we continue at this stay, shall not the woman of Samari● condemn us? In the 18. of Luke the 4. and 5. verses, we read of a wicked judge, which feared neither God nor man: yet when a poor woman was importunate with him, at the last he heard her. The Lord by his ministers (poor men I confess) hath been importunate with us to hear his suit, and to reform ourselves by his word, which is not for his good, but for our own, as he saith in Deut. 
Deut. 5. 29.  Oh that there were such a heart in my people to hear me, and obey me, that it might go well with them, & their children. But yet we hear him not. Now, if we still shall give him the deaf ear, hardening our hearts when we should hear his voice, shall we not show ourselves worse than he that feared neither God, nor man? When Christ forbade the devil to torment and vex a man, he trembled at his word, and obeyed his commandment. There be many that devise with themselves how to molest and vex the children and servants of God, for professing the truth, and discharging a good conscience: The Lord jesus hath often forbidden them, crying to them as he did to Saul: 
Act. 9  Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? thou dost but kick against the prick: and yet they still persist in their purpose. By which it should seem that they have less ●eare of God in them then the devil himself: and if they still continue so, shall not the very devils of hell condenme them?  
When the Lord spoke the word, the flies, 
Psal. 105. 31  and the louse came, and were obedient to his commandment. GOD hath spoken many words to us, and yet we obey not: therefore they also shall condemn us. When God spoke, the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars innumerable upon the land of Egypt, and when he spoke the word, they went away too. There be many caterpillars come amongst us, before they were called, and all the words in the world will not drive them away again: therefore the caterpillars of Egypt shall condemn the caterpillars of England, in the day of judgement. Though Peter did three times deny his master: 
Luk. 22. 61  yet at the last, when Christ looked upon him he remembered himself, and went out and wept bitterly. We have oftener than three times denied our master, Christ hath both looked upon us, and spoken unto us, but yet we remember not ourselves: nay, we are so far from weeping and grieving at the matter, that we rather rejoice & laugh it out. Therefore if we still so continue, what weeping and wailing will there be at the last? For it is said in the Gospel, 
Luk. 6. 25.  Woe be to them that laugh and rejoice now: for they shall weep and lament. When God had both warned Pharaoh to let Israel go, and plagued him for detaining of them still: at length he asked him this question, 
Exod. 10. 3.  How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? So the Lord hath warned us often to let our sins go, and hath also in some measure plagued us for keeping them still. Now he asketh us also the same question, How long will you refuse to humble yourselves before the Lord? which argueth that we are grown as hard & as desperate as Pharaoh was, which is also a sign of greater plagues yet to ensue. Now this is fearful and grievous, when the Lord cometh upon us with such questions: for that showeth that he doth not onel● note our sins, but the long time that we have provoked him by them, and that he is even weary in bearing them any longer, and mindeth to unburden himself of them, and to bear no longer. And commonly we may observe in the scriptures, that when the Lord cometh with (How long? and how often?) there is some great judgement following: as in the 14. of Numbers the 11. verse, The Lord said t● Moses, How long will this people provoke me, and how long will it be, ye● they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed amongst them? Then mark what followeth in the next verse, I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, etc. to show, that though the Lord beareth long, yet he will not bear always. When Christ said, O jerusalem, jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee, as a hen g●thereth her young ones, and thou wouldst not? So great was his grief conceived with the remembrance of those mischiefs that were to come upon jerusalem, that he could not utter his speech without shedding of tears. Therefore when the Lord cometh, expostulating the matter with us in this sort, with How long, and how often, etc. then let us beware, if ever we beware, whether it be spoken in general to all, or in particular to any one man, that hath been often warned by the hand of God upon him.  
Had not Moses prayed for the Israelites, 
Exod. 32. 10 11.  they had perished oftentimes in their sins: so if some did not pray for us, (whom yet we can as hardly abide, as they could abide Moses when they would have stoned him) surely we had perished yet this time. When the Lord swore in his wrath that the jews should not enter into his rest, he set them down the causes which moved him thereunto, and those were in number five: They tempted him, to try what he could do: then they provoked him by their often murmurings, etc. then they grieved him with their continual unkindnesses and rebellions: then their hearts were filled with error. And how could it be otherwise? for they cared not for the knowledge of his ways. And to aggravate the matter, & make their sin appear in his full ripeness, he sets down the time how long they had continued at that stay, saying, Forty years long have I been grieved with this generation, etc. Forty hours had been much to grieve the Lord, but forty years was intolerable. Now the same sins are we also to be indited for: and if no jury will find the indictment, our own consciences will cry guilty. And how long have we grieved, and tempted, and provoked the Lord? Hath it not been ever since the Gospel came among us? waxing every day worse and worse? And what doth that now lack of forty years long, have I been grieved with this generation? surely but a little. Thus the Lord we see marketh well enough every thing, not only what we do, and how we live, and how we sin: but how long we have sinned, and how often we have been warned, & how long we have refused to return, & to humble ourselves: yea the Lord marketh how many years, how many months, how many weeks, how many hours, how many sermons, & how many sentences in every sermon we have passed over in careless contempt, without trembling at the word of the Lord, or profiting by his corrections. And according to the time of his long suffering & patience, & of our stubbornness & disobedience, shall his judgements be powered upon us, if we do not prevent them by true and speedy repentance. Long did the old world sleep in their sins: long did Noah preach against their sins, and at last the flood came and awakened them to their cost. Long did Sodom and Gomorrha sleep, and long did they vex the soul of righteous Lot amongst them, & at last the fire of God's wrath awakened them. Long slept jerusalem in security, but at the last their enemies awaked them. So Nabuchadnezzar heard his dream as a dream, and Daniel told him what would come of it long before it came, but he fell a sleep again: and at last the Lord turned him out amongst the beast, and then he remembered himself: but he was seven years first in learning his lesson.  
And this is most certain, The longer the blow be in fetching, the heavier will the wound be when it cometh: And the deeper the arrow be drawn in the bow, the deeper it pierceth when it is let fly. Now in truth, all this time the Lord hath forborn us, he is but bending of his bow, and whetting of his sword, and aiming at the mark: and because he doth not yet let go at us, we think there is no such matter. But we deal with the Lord (oh miserable wretches that we are) as birds play with a skare-crowe standing in a corn field with a bow and arrow in his hands, as though he would shoot, but doth not: and therefore they even wax bold by little and little, and at last even fly to him, and sit down upon him, and pick upon him. In all holy reverence of God's unspeakable majesty be this comparison made, which serveth only to declare the base, and brutish conceit that the wicked have of God, and his long suffering of them. But who knoweth the force of the Lords wrath? 
Psal. 90. 11.  (saith the Psalmist) for after as a man feareth, so shall his wrath be: and when it cometh, it shall burn like mountains of fire, which no sea of water shall be able to quench, if once his wrath be kindled, yea but a little.  
And on the other side, (for the comfort of the godly and faithful, which have a sanctified desire to awake out of their sleep, and to serve the Lord at the last in all holy obedience, and careful diligence) though we have long tempted the Lord, and tried him: yet if now at the last we awake in truth, we shall find, that as he hath been long in suffering, so he will be as rich in mercy. The prodigal child was long absent, and at last (returning truly humbled) was welcome to his father, and joyfully received: and so shall we be to our heavenly father, if we make such a return, and that betimes. Therefore let none be so desperately minded as to continue still his old course, as though there were no hope of grace at his return. And let none be so discouraged with the remembrance of his long sleep, as to run quite away from the Lord: for God will find us out wheresoever we become, as he did Adam when he had hidden himself (as he thought) among the trees of the garden. The devil indeed will be ready to show thee what a great way thou hast to go back again, what a number of duties neglected thou hast to repent of while thou didst lie asleep, and how hard a thing, & impossible it is for thee to perform all this; and all to discourage thee, and to keep thee still fast asleep, but believe him not: for wherefore doth the Lord else put thee in mind of the same things, but to have thee awake and be diligent in doing thy duty hereafter? And wherefore else doth he thus reach forth the hand of his grace unto thee, but to help thee up, which canst not help up thyself? Therefore give over now at the last, & be resolute in the work of the Lord, and the Lord hath promised, that all that is past shall be forgotten. Let us therefore in the fear of God, leave our delaying, and descanting, and lay this doctrine to our hearts, that it may appear in our lives, that we be truly awakened, and all will be well: if not, but our purpose be to sleep still, than the Lord by his Apostle doth give us to understand, that custom of sin will bree●e hardness of heart, and hardness of heart will bring forth impenitency in the end, that thou shalt not be able to repent if thou wouldst. And thus have we heard the Lord calling to the Sluggard, and expostulating with him for his long sleeping. Now we will hear what answer the Sluggard maketh unto the Lord.   

The Sluggards answer.  
The sixth Sermon.  10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. 
IN this answer the spirit of God doth so lively describe the condition of the Sluggard, that he may know he is in his bosom, to show us that he can paint out our sins as plainly as we do commit them: for he is in our hearts, and waiteth upon us, and can tell what we do, and though the wicked cannot see them, because the devil hath blinded their eyes, yet God's spirit doth search them out, because all things are open in his sight, be they in respect of men never so secret.  
Now the Lord in causing the Sluggard to speak for himself, doth make it known to all the world, that he hath no wrong offered him, because his own mouth hath testified against himself, and openly shamed himself, and therefore his condemnation must needs be when it cometh both great, and just. For whereas other sinners being called to their answers, were both afraid of God and ashamed of themselves, the Sluggard clean contrary as a beast that is past all fear of God, and shame of the world, resolveth still to continue in his old course, counting all but a little. When Adam and Eve saw their nakedness they blushed, and feared, and ran away for fear, thus wrought their pride and disobedience: when Cain saw his wickedness, he knew not what to do, except despair, but wished it undone again, and thus did murder bestir himself, when he was awakened: when David was roused for his adultery and murder, he said that he had offended: when Paul was called to his answer for persecuting Christ, he fell to the ground astonished, and took a new course: when Peter was awakened for denying his Master, he went out and wept. And thus we see that when pride and disobedience have been called, they have feared the judge, and when murder and adultery were called, they feared the judge, when persecution and treason were called, they feared the judge: And all other sins being roused out of their holes, have startled at the call, seeking either how to yield, or how to fly. And being convicted, have all cried like the prisoner at the bar, O my Lord be good unto me now, and I will never do the like again. But when sloth and negligence were called, and indited by the name of careless his children, they (in stead of submitting themselves to the mercy of the judge,) stand to the defence of their fault, and like beasts both careless, shameless, and graceless, in stead of saying, pardon O Lord that which is past, and we will take a new course, they cry out to the wonder of all the world, and the utter shame of themselves, Yet a little more sleep, and a little slumber, etc. We have not enough yet, and all is but a little, so that shameful was pride, and rebellion, and murder, and whoredom, and persecution, and treason, and all other sins, but shameless is the Sluggard, and passeth them all in wickedness.  
Here than we are taught to make a reckoning of our sluggishness: and it argueth that we count all too little, to give unto sin and Satan: as though they were two such dear friends of ours, that we could not do too much for them. And the devil on the other side who hath taken up his lodging in the wicked, and gotten like a fawn guest into the minds of the godly, he crieth still, a little more, a little longer, and though we have suffered him with his imps to lie sleeping in our Churches, in our common wealths, and in our shops, and markets, in our houses, and families, and in our souls almost forty years, and in some twice forty years: yet he hath taught us to say, yet a little, and a little, and still he must have a little more, like Achsah in 15. of joshua: 
josh. 15.  who when she had begged of her Father an inheritance of the South countries, than she must have certain grounds with wells and springs. Such a shameless beggar is sin, and Satan, that they never leave begging, like hungry courtiers, and covetous worldlings, which will not stick to beg their own brethren for fools, to have their lands: and not rest there neither, but would beg the garment from the King's back, and the King himself too, with a good will, if they thought they might have them for the begging; & yet count all but a little. So playeth the devil too, he will still have a little, and a little, and never leave till by little and a little he getteth both body and soul into hell. And so sweet hath he made s●n to the taste of the wicked, that they cry still a little more of it, and find no fault with it: but that there is too little, and they cannot have enough of it; like little children which know not what is good for them: if they begin to taste honey once, they will not leave eating by their good wills, till they be sick with eating. And so greedy of sleep is the Sluggard, that as Esau would sell his birthright for a mess of pottage; so he will sell his souls right for a mess of sleep, and a little more of sin.  
But as for religion, and things pertaining to the worship and service of God: as the knowledge of the ways of God, and the graces of the spirit of God: they think that of such things they have enough, when they have nothing, like the lukewarm Laodiceans, 
Apoc. 3. 17.  who thought they were rich, and increased with goods, and had need of nothing: when they were wretched, & miserable, & poor, & blind, & naked. And here now appeareth the difference between the wicked and the godly: for the servants of God having a little mortified themselves through the grace of God, they are come to this point: that all they can do is too little for the service of God, but are desirous still to serve him more, & better, & still to bring more and more knowledge, more faith, and more repentance, and more love, and more zeal, and more holiness, and more courage, and more good works, to the glorifying of their heavenly father, So free hearted are the true children of God, 
joh. 8. 36.  whom the son of God hath made free indeed, that they think they can never do enough, like the free hearted jews, which still brought either gold or silver, or silk, or hair, or one thing or another to the building of the tabernacle, and as they left not bringing till they were stayed by proclamation: So in building the spiritual tabernacle of the Lord the children of God leave not coming, and going, to the exercises of religion, preaching and reading, and hearing, and meditating, and practising till they be stayed by death: for proclamations, and laws, and statutes, have been made; but all that could not stay them: nay it hath made them more diligent, and painful like the Pismire, because they perceived winter to approach: yea they do also encourage their own souls, and their brethren with them, saying as Elia● said to 
1. King. 18. 41.  Achab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of much rain: so say they one to another, get thee up, read and study, preach and pray, and lose no time, for there is a sound of much trouble: and all their fear is that they shall be stopped and stayed by the way, when troubles arise, as Eliah feared lest he and Achab should be stayed by the rain. They can scarcely have any rest in their hearts, but are still panting with David for breath, 
Psal. 42. 1.  like the Heart in continual chase. They think they have done nothing, they can see nothing but their sins and wickedness, their rebellious motions, and corrupt cogitations of their own false hearts, do still appear unto them, and affright them: they suspect all their doings like job that holy man, who feared all his ways. And when they have done the best they can, they still condemn themselves for unprofitable servants, still crying out to their souls, as Christ said to the young man that was so forward in the Gospel▪ yet one thing is wanting: so they say, yet my soul, either for the matter, or for the manner something is wanting. It is not then with the godly christian, as it is with the superstitious Papists, which think they may serve God enough, by their own devices, and stintes of matins & their even songs, and their Orisons, and their Kyrileysons, and their Masses, and their Lady's psalters, and their jesus psalters, and their often belabouring the name of jesus, and their pattering of beads, besides their pipe, and singing, and perfuming, and abundance of draff more to fill up the tub withal, that let the hogs come home never so hungry, yet there is meat enough for them, and some to spare for their friends that will give any thing for it, which they call works of supererogation. Now when their t●skes are done, all must be set upon the sco●●, and the Lord must be beholding to them for their devotions, and Heaven they must have of duty not of favour: like the merit-mongers of jerusalem, who going to Christ in the behalf of the Centurion's servant that lay sick, 
Luk. 7. 4. 5.  told him that he had deserved to be healed at his hands, because the Centurion had built them a synagogue. And not much unlike is the service of Atheists and Protestants at large, living under the Gospel, though they defy popery with open mouth, and wide throats, yet they are too popish in this point: for do they not think that God is well served of them, if they go to Church when 〈◊〉 comes, and hear a few cold prayers read, and after dinner spend the time at Cards, or Tables, or Bowls, or Church aling, or in one ●●nitie or other: but if they have been at Church in the forenoon, though it were but to sleep at the sermon, the Lord is much beholding to them. But to come at the beginning, and continue waking, & attentive to the ending, both forenoon and afternoon, that they think may serve for a great while: but to have preaching every Sabbath day, and in the week too, that is counted an unreasonable serving of God. But the godly think they have never enough of the service of God, and his worship: and for this cause have they desired to liu● still, 
Esa. 38. 18. 19  not for fear of death, which indeed is a vantage unto them: but for that they have not s●●ued God enough, and in the grave they ca●not praise his name. 
Psal. 118. 17  So David desired to live still, that he might declare the works of the Lord. And in the 119. Psal. he saith, 
Psalm. 119. 175.  Let my soul li●● & it shall praise thee. This he craved, because he had not praised God enough. And upon this Paul discussed this question in his heart, For myself (saith he) it is better to die: 
Philip. 1. 22. 23.  but for 〈◊〉 (meaning the Church) it is better that I live still: to show, that if we have any desire to live longer, it must be that the Church of God may be the better for us: for the godly are of that mind that they cannot do enough for the good of the Church of God▪ They are like Abraham, who when 〈◊〉 began to speak with God, would have still one question more: And like the Disciples, who when they heard Christ commend the bread of life, 
I● h. 6. 34.  said Lord evermore give ●s of this bread. Now if this be the affection of the godly, all too little: then what shall we say to the wicked, which count all too much that is given to God? like I●das that grudged at the cost that was bestowed upon Christ, counting is more than needed. But this was because I●das had the bag and was a thief to Christ: and so the wicked have the bags, and would fill their bags with the spoils of Christ and his Church. They say, they have heard a sermon once in a year: what so many say they? hear one and follow that well, etc. This is the voice of a wicked heart, that knoweth not what he oweth to God: If he knew that he oweth him all his life, he would not speak in that sort. Concerning the things of the world, they play the Horseleech that lie sucking still, and never crieth ho. And they are of Achabs' humour, when he had a kingdom, yet he wanted a vineyard, and a little was still wanting. So wordling professors of the Gospel, when they have much, and that which they desired, yet they must have a little more, another house, or another lease, or another Benefice: but as for the Lords part he shall have the offal, or refuse of their crooked old age, when they can serve the devil no longer: but then the Lord will none, except he give them great repentance. Therefore, seeing as the Lord is the beginner, and continuer, and ender of our life: let us offer him all for a sacrifice, and yet say, we are ●nprofitable servants, and have done but 〈◊〉 duty.  
Again, here we are to note further the cunning of the devil: for he bringeth men by degrees to the top of sin: yet a little, and a little, saith he, and all is but a little: yet all these littles being laid together make a great deal. And as a covetous man gathereth his farthings and his halfepenies together, till they come to a pound, and so becometh rich in the world: so the devil teacheth the wicked, to gather now a little and then a little, till at last they become rich in sin, but bankrupt in the grace of God: for there is never a sin that is let in to the soul, but it lettern out many graces of God's spirit. It is no dallying with the Lord: for in Rom. 2. 5. the Apostle saith, They that abuse the long suffering of God, do in the hardness of their heart heap up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Therefore let us take heed of this little: for by little and little the devil creepeth upon us. The wicked go scoffing at the children of God: oh there go Puritans, and Precisians, etc. And, what? are you so precise? Why? this is but a little oath, a littl● merriment, a little of the fashion, & a little must be borne withal, and still they go on pouring out themselves to all kind of wickedness, till they be so drunken with sin, that they know not what they do, nor where they be.  
The devil playeth the labourer that riveth wood, who having a great piece to cleave, hath also divers wedges for the purpose, and every one bigger than another, and entereth with the lest first, and that maketh way for a bigger, and that again for the biggest of all, and so by little and little the great tree is split in many small pieces, and made fit for the fire. So 〈◊〉 Satan purposeth to make a spoil of the graces of God in the soul, he hath divers devices for the purpose, and every one of them differing from another: for the liar he hath a pack ●●ll of lies: for the swearer he hath a pack full of others: and for the scoffer he hath a pack full of frumps and flouts: and so for others: but he will enter with a little one in show, as first to teach men to swear by their faith and troth, or by cock and pie, or by some other counterfeit o●●e, and tells them that it is nothing: and after, by little and little, when it is grown into a custom with them, they come even to blaspheme the most holy name of God, like devils incarnate, not being able to leave it though they would. So doth 〈◊〉 draw 〈◊〉 to adultery, and so to m●●ther, and to ●o drunkenness, by 〈◊〉 and a little: first, by circumstances a far off, as of dalliance, and ●●sting, & quarreling, and carousing, and at last they grow to the very substance of the matt●●. And so by little and little doth he draw 〈◊〉 quite from hearing of the word, to schism, & Apostasy: first, he breedeth in them a misliking of the preacher, for his plainness, 〈…〉 roughness, or his tediousness, or his li●●, or one thing or other, and then there is way made 〈◊〉 a loathing of the doctrine, and at last they fall quite away from that sincerity which they professed at the first, especially by means of such company as the devil can fit them withal for the purpose. And if one sin creep●●● into our conscience, it will not leave till it hath made a hole for the entering, and a place for the lodging of horrible and outrageous sins.  
Then let us say, that is great, which ●hey call little, and aggravate our ●innes now, a●d condemn them now, that they be not made great, and condemned of the Lord at the last day. The devil is contented with a little, and a little will please him: he will (if he can) bring thee to all sin: but when he cannot do so, he 〈◊〉 play at small game rather than sit our▪ As if thou be a Protestant, and traua●●est beyond the seas amongst idolaters and massmongers, i● is sufficient for him if thou do but salute the cross as it is carried through the streets, or bow the knee to Baal, though thou dost 〈◊〉 them in thy heart. So, if thou be a Papist in England, and go to Church according to law, it is no matter, so thy heart be at Rome, and thou keep thy conscience to thyself, that's enough for the devil, and pleaseth him very well: for by the outward gesture of the one, and by the inward affection of the other, he doth (as it were by the ring of the door) take possession of the whole house, knowing that if he hath the body, the soul will come too: for God will have all or else none. Worldly men will say now adays, If they be not notorious offenders, they are not Satan's prisoners: which is all one, as if a malefactor, being fastened with a chain but by the foot to a post in the street, should brag that he is not the jailers prisoner, because all his body is at liberty saving his foot. Alas poor souls, how wise we are to deceive our own souls. Though we can see nothing but great beams, yet that is not the way to be discharged. The Papists can see none but 7. deadly sins that will hurt them: but David prayeth both against presumptuous sins, 
Psal. 19 13.  and secret sins, which would prove presumptuous in time.  
The Papists have a question which cannot be answered, as they think: Show us the time (say they) when Popery came in, and when we sell away, if we be fallen from the truth. Alas poor souls, they are not acquainted with the custom of Satan: for he cometh in by little and little. If then a Papist would know how Papistry came in, I will say by 〈◊〉 custom of the devil▪ by little and little: for th● devil will not get all at once. The Apost●● Paul saith, 
2. Thes. 2. 7  The mystery of iniquity began 〈◊〉 work in his days, & to creep into the Church by little and little: So for worshipping of Angels, 
Colos. 2 18.  the Apostle saith, they worshipped Angels then, and thought it to be a part of insti●●cation▪ Also for will worship, and human traditions, as taste not, touch not, eat not, and beating of the flesh, Paul spoke of it in his time, and called it voluntary religion, 
vers. 20, 21, 22, 23.  which had a show of wisdom and humbleness of mind●, but indeed were to no purpose. And the 〈◊〉 part of Popery, namely, merits, and satisfaction by our own works, began when Antichrist was borne: for Paul spoke of it, and against it in his Epistles to the Romans, and the Galathians, and almost in all his Epistles. So for fasting on their Saints ●●ues, as they call them, their Ember days, and their popish Lent●● fast, they have made it a painted garment, and very proditorious, and so by little and little they have made up this monster of many coto●●. So came in Idolatry at the first into the Church: first, the images of the godly were o● a good intent brought into the Temples, and afterwards superstition crept in like a Ringworms, and men fell to worship them, as in time the Israelites worshipped the brazen Serpent in the wilderness. Then the supposed pictures of Christ were worshipped, where of there grew to be very many, and never any one like another, but even as it pleased master Painter: And then the Cross by the high ways side, and then the very letters of the name of jesus: and when the painter had made a picture like some foul Mawkine, or some foolish gameplayer in disguised colours, and set it up in a glass window, or some stone wall, and a toy took ignorant men in the head (for strong is imagination) that must be our Lady forsooth, and so to be worshipped. Then further, when men began to neglect the most sacred scriptures of God, which are the only pillar and ground of all truth, they began to build upon Counsels, and Fathers, and Doctors, and the interpretation of the Church, without any trial of the same to be made by the scriptures: and at last the word of God (which should have sit as judge) was brought down, and set at the bar to be judged by men, yea by his enemies too. And by little and little it came to this paste, that the Church could not err in any thing: and that the Church of Rome must be that only privileged Church which could not err. And then they thrust upon us what they listed, as the Philistims made Samson do what they would, when they had put out his eyes. But this was done by degrees: for first, the Bishops and teachers waxed rich and wealthy: then they grew to be proud and lordly: then covetous and greedy▪ than idle and lazy: and then cruel and bloody, as also subtle and crafty, to cover all withal. And when the stars thus began to fall from heaven, (that is, from the heavenly doctrine, and from heavenly conversation, to become so carnal and earthly minded) the sun of righteousness also the Lord jesus Christ himself, that true light began to be darkened, and his Gospel to be depraved, & then the Moon (that is) his Church must needs lose her light: for she hath no light but from the sun: and then (as the Prophet joel speaketh) 
joel. 2. 31.  was the Church also turned into blood: for upon these things grew most horrible persecutions in the Church, through the malice & cruelty of the Prelates, so that she failed both in light and life together. And so it is to be feared, that (for our sins) it may fall out again: for as by little & little the candle goeth out: so by little & little darkness cometh in. And after the same manner came in such monstruous abuses in apparel, both in men and women, such excess and riot in eating and drinking, such idleness and profaneness, as is every where to be seen: & so grew tumults and rebellions in the common people: so groweth stubbornness in servants, and disobedience in children, through sufferance and too much foolish cockering, till by little and little many of them come to shame and confusion. And thus have all ill customs grown up from time to time, both in the Church, and in the Commonwealth, & all by the custom of the devil, that is, by little and by little: yea, and that so softly and slily he creepethinto men, that they can hardly either see him, or feel him when he cometh: As we see the weeds grow up amongst the corn while men sleep, but so softly that no man can perceive how they grow, or how much they grow at once: but that they do grow, and in time (if they be not plucked up) overgrow the corn, every man may see that: Or as the ivy by little and little creepeth upon the oak, till at last he doth overgrowe and destroy the oak: So doth sin by little and little get up, and get the strongest and the mightiest men sometimes under him: as it did Solomon, and David, and Peter, and divers others, for all their wisdom, and learning, and judgement, and experience, which they had both of themselves, & of the world. Now, to save ourselves from this usurping and encroaching enemy, it shall be our best course still to pray unto our God, for the help of his grace, and holy spirit, and still to persuade our souls and our friends by the word of God, to make resistance at the very first entry, and continually to withstand the beginnings and first motions of Satan unto any sin, lest by little and little now a stone and then a stone, now a basket full, and then a basketfull, he cast up his mount, and fortify himself against us, until he hath battered and spoiled all the good things that were in our souls. And that the danger of these same littles may the better appear unto us, let us remember that sin is like leaven, a little whereof will sour the whole lump of dough: It is like fire, whereof but one spark is sufficient to kindle a great fire, and to burn down a whole city: It is like a tree, whose stubbes remaining in the ground are enough to give one a fall: It is like jezabel that painted harlot, whose very remnants, as the skull of her head, & the palms of her hands, must be buried, lest they infect the air. A mote in the Sun is but a little thing, and yet enough to hinder the sight, to pain the eye, and to trouble the whole body. A hair is but a little thing, yet enough to stifle a man. The ●lies of Egypt were but little things, yet none of the least plagues. The louse were less than the flies, yet one of the greatest plagues that came unto Egypt. And such be our sins, which we call little sins, and the Papists call them venial sins, that may be washed away with a little holy water, etc. we count them little and nothing, and not to be stood upon, nor once to be touched: but in time we may prove them to be the greatest plagues that will trouble us, if securely & rashly we venture upon them. For though the occasions and motions perhaps be but small in respect of gross sins, and heinous crimes, yet there is a hidden corruption in our nature, (whose very froth doth continually annoy the children of God) and that may threaten some heinous downfall in time to come: which hath made even men of very good report and conversation to hang down their heads, still fearing their secret hypocrisy, as that which may break forth to the shame of all the former in time to come. In regard whereof, Gods children have such a jealousy, that they tremble at the very first motions, and the least occasion to sin that can be. And the rather too, because they see many excellent men in gifts, and constant in profession, for a long time, whose end hath not answered their beginnings. And this is very true, whether we look into the word, 〈◊〉 o the world, & is a thing that may much humble us. For though we may remember what we have been, and what we are, yet who can tell what may come to him hereafter, especially if they yield to a little and a little.  
But alas there be some too venturous, which think it no mastery to offer themselves to ma●king, and minstrelsy, and dancing, and wanton company, nor to run into quarrels, and brawls, and contentions, as though they had their ear●s, and their eyes, and their hands at command●ment: But God's children are afraid of these occasions, as knowing that their eyes may be provoked to lust, their ears may quickly listens to unchaste delights, and their hands may suddenly strike a deadly blo●●● etc. Therefore both men and women are 〈◊〉 beware how they venture upon such small occasions, for though thou meanest no su●● matter, yet for thy venturing without warr●●● thou mayest be over thy shoes before thou b● aware.  
And yet because vice is so near unto virtue, we must also beware of superstition, fo● the enemy still laboureth either to make 〈◊〉 too hardy and venturous, or else to fear it to● superstitiously. And to these temptations our nature is very pliable. First to presumption, and over much hardiness, as may appear●hy our common speech. Tush the preacher i● but a man as I am, he hath his infirmities as well as others: we are no Angels, our nature is corrupt, we are but men, and I am sure you will not make us Gods, a little is not so much, and if God were so hard as you would make him, that were hard indeed, etc. Thus Satha● cometh to tempt men unto presumption: but when he would drive men to despair▪ then he appareleth himself in another suit, and then of a fly he maketh an Elephant, and of a moat a mountain. If he cannot bring men to make conscience where they should▪ he will labour to bring them to make conscience where they should not. As we see the● manner of many is either to be profane in thei● mirth, or to allow no mirth at all, either too gawish & new-fangled in their attire, or to allow no ornament at all, and so in many things ●ce: he careth not, whether thou be remiss, or superstitious, so thou be one. God's children therefore must labour for a measure, and that must be sought for in the word, which will guide them in the narrow way: showing inevery thing what is the virtue, and what is the vice; what is the mean, and what is the extreme on either hand. In these extremities, if any man hath been overtaken by little, and a little, (as who hath not) let him imagine himself to be sick, either of a spiritual consumption, or a spiritual burning fe●er: and let him from henceforth keep that diet which is prescribed unto him in the word, and carefully abstain from such occasions hereafter: and by the grace of God he shall redover himself again, though not by and by, but by little and little, like the man that hath been very sick, who first feeleth a stomach to meat, and then hath some taste of his meat● which before was unsavoury unto him: and then he beginneth to sit up in his bed, then to rise out of his bed, and then to walk in his chamber: and after that abroad by a staff, and by little and little, (through the blessing of God) cometh to his full strength again. Neither let any willing mind be discouraged, by the hardness of his heart, which he now feeleth wrought by the custom of Satan: but let him ply the means appointed by God and he shall see, that as the water droppeth 〈◊〉 the flint until it be worn hollow, so the w●●ter of God's grace shall be still dropping vpo● thy hard heart, until thou be recovered. And thus we have seen the custom of Satan, and how it may be broken.  
Another note is this: That the wicked do still extenuate, and lessen their sins, crying: Yet a little, and it is but a little: but the children of God do say their sins are great, and cannot aggravate them enough. And this is their grief, that they cannot lay out their sins enough: 
job. 1. 5.  job setteth blasphemy upon the sins of his children, when they were banqueting together: and it might be some idle word● or unsavoury jesting might pass their lipp●● when they were set to be merry: but Iob g●●ueth it no less name than blaspheming of God. Christians in their feastings and meetings▪ power out rivers of idle words: and if a ma● call them rebellion or blasphemy: what? th●● is too full mouth, we must seek some 〈◊〉 words to colour them withal: like the 〈◊〉 which will not say they stole it, but they took it. If the Preacher shall labour to lay out the ouglesomenes of sin, he is called a rayl●● for his labour. Paul called himself a blasphemer, a persecuter, and the chief of sinners; though he were not so indeed, yet thus 〈◊〉 laboureth to beat down himself, and to 〈◊〉 humbled with true repentance, and he had the spirit of God. Therefore they that will not be lanced, and have sin touched, it is a sign that they have not the spirit of God. The world calleth covetousness good husbandry: but the word calls it idolatry, 
Col. 3. 5.  and the ●ote of all evil. 
1. Pet. 5. 5.  The world calleth pride cleanliness and handsomeness, but the word calls it fight against God: the world calleth their painting of faces, the frizzling of hair, the wearing of false hair, and other such disguisinged deformities, and ugly inventions, both seemly and comely ornaments: the word calls them whotish attire. 
2. Kin. 9 30.  The world calleth malice and hatred, 
1. loh. 3. 15.  manhood: the word calls it manslaughter. The world calleth excessive eating and drinking, and rioting and idleness, and chambering, good fellowship: the word calleth them the sins of Sodom, 
Ezc. 16. 49.  and Gomorrha: the world saith that fornication is but a trick of youth, and a common infirmity: the word saith it is to make the members of Christ, the members of a harlot: the world calleth that honest recreation, which the word saith, 
Ephef. 5. 6.  bringeth the wrath of GOD upon the children of disobedience. The world saith they take but their fees, when the word saith they play the thieves: the world calleth that duty, which the word calleth robbery. And so it is in many things more. But as the word speaketh of sin, so doth the godly speak of sin; for they speak 〈◊〉 the spirit of God, which is not contrary 〈◊〉 the word of God, And thus we so how very foul sins having gotten a livery of the●● Master the devil, and stolen the cloak of virtue, do jet it, and brave i● up 〈◊〉 down, like fiddlers, and players, undernoble men's coats: which (when their coats are taken away) are butrogues by statute: and the other when their coloured cloaks are taken 〈◊〉 way, are most foul, and ugly devils by the word of God: yet no man must say so, but at his peril. For the devil when he hath brought up a fashion, will follow the fashion himself: and the fashion is amongst hunters, that if any body do call a hound or a spaniel by the name of a dog, he must be punished, because the hawk hath no tail, but a train, as if she were some state: and two be not a couple, but a cast, and a brace, and I know not what: So, if a man come when the devil is at hunting, and call the wicked his dogs, by the name of hell hounds; as they are indeed, he must be punished: for they are neither dogs nor hell hounds, but good fellows: and their hunting of virtue and godliness, is good fellowship: And hereupon a common harlot is commonly called a good fellow. And still the devil followeth the fashion: for amongst men of trade, & manuel occupations, they have words of art belonging to every tool and instrument in their shops: and if a man come into their shops, and do but touch any of them, or call them by other names then the occupation doth call them by, (as to call a spade a spade a spade) is a forfeit called for by and by. So if a man come into the devils warehouse, and do but touch a piece, except it be to buy it; and do but call his tools and implements by other names than he and the occupation doth call them: as to call a knave a knave, you shall straightway have one or other at you for a forfeit, which do serve for nothing else, but to watch for such booties: and are as glad of them too as summoner's are of citations: or as choristers in Cathedral Churches, when they see a man come into the choir with his spurs on his heels: because than they hope to get something to increase their commons, by a law of their own, such as Christ was put to death by, But that ●oule that lieth so wide open that he cannot see his sins, but maketh great sins small, and calleth sour sweet, and darkness light, as Esay speaketh, Woe be unto them saith the same Prophet: They shall one day feel the greatness of their sins to their cost and pain: for it is a true ●aying of Christ in the 5. of Matthew, He that breaketh the least of God's Commandments, and teacheth men so to do; shall be the least in the kingdom of heaven: that is, he shall have no place at all there: for Christ speaketh of it, but according to that opinion▪ which men had of it. Thus have we spied the devils craft in mincing of sin, now let us learn to make some use of it. The Magistrate may learn hereby to take heed, that he yield not so much as a little to the wicked, because they watch at an inch for the least advantage that can be: like the servants of Benhadad King of Aram, when they were parling with Achab the King of Isra●ll about their master: of whom it is said in the holy history, that they took diligent heed, if they could catch any thing of him: & when they heard Achab but call their master his brother, they made haste, and said thy brother Benhadad: to show how the Magistrate is watched: & if the wicked perceive any coldness, or fearfulness, or negligence in him, or hear but a word of comfort from his mouth that makes for them, they work upon that, like the stream against a bank, if there be but a little hole made through it. Hereby the Minister also is taught to take heed how he straineth his conscience against the truth in any thing, though never so small, lest in time he swallow down camels, as some do steeples, and make shipwreck of all: like Demas, and Hermogenes, with their fellow Phygellus, of whom Paul speaketh: and like Diotrephes, against whom Saint john giveth evidence. It is the policy of the world to lay baits and snares for the Ministers of Christ: it must be therefore their wisdom to hold out the world at the swords point. For covetousness is like aquafortis upon steel, and if it take the heart once, it will not leave till it hath eaten out the spirit of GOD there, and all goodness there. And therefore the Apostle doth well call it the root of all evil: for so it is, for wheresoever it taketh root, it rooteth out all goodness, causing to err from the faith & pierceth the ●oule through with many sorrows: so doth she reward her master for giving her lodging, like the viper that eateth out her mother's belly, and so getteth his own being with the destruction of another.  
Here also may parents learn not to feed their children's humours too much, nor to suffer them over long, as the manner of many is to do, nor to enure them to such wantonness, niceness, and pride, as we see in many: for they will grow to such things fast enough without teaching: and by little and little it may turn them to shame, and their parents to smart and grief, as too woeful experience doth daily teach. As Absalon being suffered a little, first killed his brother Amnon: then abused his father's concubines: then stole a way the hearts of his father's subjects, and at last rose up in arms, and drove his father out of his own kingdom: and this came by little and little. And if the twig be suffered to grow crooked, it will be crooked when it is come to bea ●●ee, and then it will sooner be broken then ●owed. To some parents and masters it is a pastime to see their children and servants run colting about the streets with open mouth, like a kennel of hounds: but to the godly and wise it is both a grief, and a shame, because they know that by little and a little, they may prove impudent, and shameless, and thieves, and harlots: for then do such seed take deepest rooting. Hence may worldlings also take warning, and learn to come to the word preached when they are called, lest if they listen but a little unto the enchantments of worldly commodity, they fall quite away: like the unworthy guests in the Gospel, who trifled away the time so long with excuses, that at length they were quite excluded. And in the hearing of the word, take we heed how we hear: for then by little and by little the devil will rob us of all, or fill our heads with so many toys and by-matters, that we shall be never the better, but the worse. And lastly, he● let all Christians learn not to feed upon v● kindnesses, lest by little and little it grow to ● mortal hatred, and an utter mislike one of 〈◊〉 other, without any likelihood of sound reconciliation for ever. And this that teacheth some, may teach all to beware of the devils dangerous custom. But whosoever taketh warning the Sluggard will take none: for he crieth still, Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, and a little folding of the hands to sleep: therefore now let him hearken unto his judgement.   

The Sluggards judgement.  
The seventh Sermon.  11 Therefore thy poverty cometh as one that traveleth by the way▪ and thy necessity like an armed man. 
HEre is now the Sluggards judgement, and the fruit of idleness, and negligence. The wicked man (saith David) traveleth of mischief, and bringeth forth a lie. And the Sluggard (saith Solomon) traveleth of idleness, & bringeth forth poverty, and necessity: two twins borne both at a burden, but such ill favoured ones, that every one is out of love with them so soon as they are borne. A poor, and a needy birth, without beauty, or comeliness, o● shape, or strength, or any thing to live upon o● his own. And surely a fit birth for the Sluggard to beg withal. The sluggard and the sluggards birth, are feign to live upon other men's labours, and yet are still poor, and necdie: like Pharaohs seven lean kine which ●●uoured seven fat kine, and yet were lean: now that was but a dream, but this is a truth. And no ●●●uaile: for it is just and 〈…〉 which will not sow in summer, for fear of a shower, should beg in winter when showers do fall. And he that will not work when he may, and is able, must be put from his meat when he would eat.  
Therefore thy poverty cometh, etc. As if he should say, thou art the cause of thy own poverty thyself, which is more than the sluggard would willingly confess. For by nature we would be rich, and idle too: and when 〈◊〉 are most dissolute and careless, yet then 〈◊〉 look to be relieved aswell as if they had ●●uer been the cause of their own poverty: 〈◊〉 profane reprobates, which look to come to heaven aswell as any body, and yet care not for the ordinary means which God hath appointed to bring men thither by.  
By this than we may see what a hard matter it is for flesh and blood to see what is the crew cause of God's hand upon men, especia●●● when the fault is in ourselves: for self-love is blind. And though we bee-plagued through our own default, yet commonly we think not so: but we make that the cause which is not the cause: sometime most wickedly accusing the Lord of hard dealing against us, who is most just in all his ways, and holy in all his works: sometime crying out upon the hardness of the weather, and unseasonableness of the year: sometimes condemming others for wā● of charity, and compassion, as is to be seen when any dearth, or scarcitio cometh upon us: sometime with one thing, and sometime with another: but as for ourselves we can never intend it, to search out the cause there: but still put it off from ourselves, though indeed our own sins have moved the Lord to deal in this and that sort against us. Wherein we show ourselves to be the right children of Adam 〈◊〉: for so played they when the Lord came to examine them about the eating of the forbidden fruit: Adam layeth his fault upon his wife, 
Gen. 3.  and his wife puts it off to the serpent: but neither of 〈◊〉 would be known 〈◊〉 in't in fa 〈◊〉. So when any plague or calamity came upon the heathen, they cried out against the Christians, and ●ayd, that they were the cause of 〈◊〉, which indeed was 〈…〉: for ●od plagued the heathen, because they 〈◊〉 the Christians. By which we may see 〈◊〉 heathenish trick this is among 〈◊〉, to blame, othery f●● that which themselves are the causers of: 
I. King. 18. 17. 18.  like Achab, who said that Eliah troubled Israel, when it was himself that troubled Israel, as Eli●● truly told him. Though Achab be dead, y●● his peevish and perverse opinion still liveth amongst us, and the wicked keep it fast, and plead hard for it, as though it were Ahabs legacy bequeathed unto them, which no man may take from them. For when any be fallen into decay, and proved bankeroupts, as many are through their own folly: as some by vn● advised suretyship: some by play and gaming: some by feasting: some by negligence: some by cozening, and other ungodly practices: Then they cry out upon the preachers, or against the preaching of the word, or against the professors of the Gospel, or against their creditors: like d●gges which bark at the Moon, when it giveth 〈◊〉, and n●ue● did hurt them, more than Eliah did hurt Achab, when perhaps he told him of his fa●●●, and bade him look to his soul. And being thus bewitched and besotted, they sleep 〈◊〉 out in all security, and bravery, shrouding themselves under false pretences, and vain ●llegations: as lonas did under the hatch●●, when both himself and the wholeship were ready to petish with him. And so do wicked men lie still in their unthriftiness, and idleness, and vain life, when they be ready 〈◊〉 ●ink themselves, and many others with 〈◊〉 Therefore the Lord doth here pull out the sluggard, and set both his sin and the fruit thereof before his face, and telleth him plainly that himself is the cause of his own poverty, and misery, and none but himself.  
Again, we are to note that God doth not say supply [poverty shall come upon thee] but he saith, [Thy poverty] teaching us thereby to distinguish of poverty, and the causes thereof: for sometimes good men are in poverty, aswell as bad: Christ was poor in the world, bu● his poverty was to make us rich: job was stricken with poverty, & yet a good man, fearing God, and painful to do any good that he could to all men: but his poverty was sent him to make trial of his patience, and to set forth the riches of God's spirit in him, which else could not have so well appeared. Lazarus was poor, but his poverty was to try the rich man's charity withal, and to make the hard hear●●dnes of rich gluttons to appear. And as the blind● m●n in the Gospel, was made blind, 
john 9 3.  neither for his own sin, nor his parent's sin, but that the work of God might be made manifest in him: so some are made poor, neither through their own fault, nor through their pa●ents fault, but that the work of God might appear in them, as it did in job: and that in other● either the work of God, or else the work of the devil may be made manifest, while s●me show compassion in relieving the poor, and others shut up all compassion from the poor. All men shall die, but not all of one disease. Many have suffered, but not all fo● one cause: some have suffered as evil doers, and some for well doing: and true it is, that not the death, but the cause makes a martyr. Therefore to make this point more plain, we will consider of two things.  
First, how many kinds of poverty there be. Secondly, what be the true causes of the sa●●.  
Of poverty than we will make two 〈◊〉, according to the parts of man consisting of body and soul, as by the same rule we 〈◊〉 both the Sluggard temporal, and the Sluggard spiritual: So that there is the 〈◊〉 of the body, and the poverty of the soul●: ●●dily poverty is bodily want, and that is when a man wanteth such necessaries as belong to this life, as health, and food, and apparels, and money, and lodging, and household 〈◊〉, and sufficient to pay every man his 〈◊〉. And of this bodily poverty there be also two kinds: some belonging to the godly; and some to the wicked, for both good and bad have oftentimes their part in these wants. So that good men, and honest men may 〈◊〉 poor, and yet good and honest still: for goodness and honesty goeth not by riches, for oftentimes worldly riches are means to the wicked to make them worse and 〈◊〉, having wealth to corrupt themselves and others, authority to do violence, and health makes them lusty to do mischief. Neither do dishonesty and wickedness always go● by poverty and want, though these things be counted the only evils of this life: yet we see sometime they are means to good men to make them better, as poverty to bridle lust, baseness to humble them, and encumbrances to drive them to God, and to teach them to secure others: by which we may see that the poverty of La●arus is better than the riches of Dives: The sickness of a wise man, with his wisdom, is better than the health of a fool with his folly. And what goods soever a man hath, he cannot be a good man so long as he himself is evil: and if a man may be termed a good man for having riches, than a fool may be termed a wise man when he hath on a wise man's gown. The Scriptures speak much in the commendation of godly poor men, and preferreth them before ungodly rich men, as there is cause: ye see your calling 
1. Cor. 1. 26. 27.  (saith the Apostle to the Corinthians) How that not many wisemen after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise: and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty things: and vile things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, etc. To show of what person● for the most part God's Church doth consist: now what greater preferment then to be chosen of God, and who are counted more foolish, and more weak, and more vile, and more despised in the world than the poor, especially whom God hath chosen, and set his mark upon? Among other great matters which Christ sent to john to show the power of Christ; 
Mat. 11. 5.  this was one thing of special note, that the poor received the Gospel, which was as great a work, & as much to be rejoiced at as that the halt did walk, or that the lepers were cleansed, or that the deaf did h●are. The rich were most bound to receive the Gospel, but the poor received it, & it was as much as if he had said, the poor are become rich, & the rich are poor, for the gospel is true riches.  
Solomon saith, Better is the poor man that walketh in his uprightness, 
Prou. 28. 6.  than a rich man that perverteth his w●●es: to show that a poor man may be an upright man, and an upright man may be a poor man, and yet is to be preferred before the wicked rich man. And in an other place he saith, 
Eccle. 4. 13.  Better is a poor and a wise child, than an old & a foolish King which wil●●● more be admonished: to show that wisdom and lowliness do not always go by years and riches, though the riches of a king, and that some men's poverty is more blessed, than some men's riches: and as the poor which are godly, are more blessed than the ungodly rich: so are they in more account with the Lord, and always more dear unto him. And therefore hath the Lord laid down so many charges in his word concerning the poor, which are as so many letters sent unto the rich in their behalf. Remove not the bounds of the fatherless, 
Pro. 23. 10.  (saith the Lord) for he that is more mighty will surely defend them. And again, ●ob not the poor, 
Pro. 22. 22.  because they are poor, neither oppress the afflict in i●dgement, for the Lord will, etc. To show that the poor have as good friends to stand by them, as the rich: for the Lord himself doth promise to take their part, especially (as S. Paul saith) If they fear God, & be of the household of faith. And not without special cause in his singular wisdom hath his majesty so ordained, that there shall always be some poor mingled among the rich in this life, & one reason is: thereby to try the rich men's charity, as appeareth by the Lords own testimony, because there shall be ever some poor in the land, therefore I command thee, saying: Thou shalt open thy hand unto thy brother, 
Deut. 15. 11  (that is, thou shalt be liberal, and not close-fisted unto thy brother) to thy needy, and to thy poor in thy laud: calling them our poor, and our needy, etc. As if they were of our family and charge, to be provided for by us. And to this doth the Son of God, the Lord jesus also give witness: 
Mat. 26. 11.  The poor (saith he) you shall always have with you, but me you shall not have, (meaning in bodily presence) and look what 〈◊〉 would do for me, do it for them: to show that if the poor were wanting, the rich should not have whereupon to exercise the works of liberality, and christian compassion.  
Another reason why there are poor in the world aswell as rich, is, that by such a difference God's bountiful liberality might appear to the rich, as he would have the liberality of the rich appear to the poor. God could have made all alike, and enriched all alike, if it pleased him: but he saw this inequality to be more for his glory; wherein appeareth so many singular arguments of his unspeakable wisdom, and power, and mercy, and goodness towards all men, and all his creatures. For if all were head, where were the comeliness of the body? And what doth show the height of the mountain but the valley that lieth under it? And if the rich consider well of the work of God in this point, they shall find great cause to love the poor, and not to disdain them. We see how proud and insolent many are if they get up a gorgeous house over their heads, or a velvet coat upon their backs, or a gold chain about their necks: and as for their poor neighbours, they count them but as peasants and slaves in respect of themselves. But alas poor souls, what is it that setteth out the bravery of their building, but the poor cottage that standeth by it? And in what estimation would their velvets and silks be had, if some did not wear freeze, and go plainly appareled? And again, if none were unlearned, then who would reverence the learned? or what account would there be of Arts and Scicoces, if the knowledge of them were equally given to every one? And where doth wisdom shine most in her glorious beauty, but in the midst of fools? Therefore men should leave admiring of themselves, and despising of others which come short of them, whether it be in the riches of the body, or in the riches of the mind, and learn to praise the wisdom and goodness of the giver and disposer of them, and in all humbleness of mind use them to the glory of the giver, and the benefit of their brethren. And further, how could the rich live without the poor and base sort of people, whom God hath made their servants to supply their wants? For as it is not meet the ploughman should wear the Crown: so is it as unfit for the King to hold the plough. And therefore as in the body natural God placed divers members, and all differing one from an other, that one might be serviceable to an other: so in the body political he hath in no less wisdom made divers degrees & estates of men, that one might be serviceable & helpful unto another. And thus we see that for divers causes the Lord will have the poor still amongst the rich, and that good men have been in poverty aswell as bad: and yet the Lo●●● hath still supplied their wants, and not 〈◊〉 them to lack what he saw good for 〈◊〉 neither will he, but will either give them bread, or abate their hunger, or give such a blessing with their little portion, that it shall go as fa●●e, and content them aswell as if it were gre●●●, and withal makes them rich in the heavenly graces of his spirit, wherein many very 〈◊〉 rich men of the world are both bare and barren.  
As there be good poor men, so be there also wicked poor men, which are become poor and miserable through their own negligence, and slothfulness: such are they 〈◊〉 Solomon speaketh unto in my text. And to such persons, poverty is both a reproach of men, and a judgement of God: for as it is no shame to suffer, but to suffer for evil doing: so it is no shame to be poor, but to become poor through our own negligence and wilfulness. Of those that bear the burden of poverty in that sort there be some in the Church, and some in the common wealth: of Church men that be in poverty, some are of the popish and antichristian Church, and some of the christian Churches. In the popish church there are a company of idle Monks and 〈◊〉 ers, and hedge priests, and cloisterers, which profess wilful poverty, making the worlds believe that it is a step to happiness, and a degree of christian perfection, and if that be ●●ue, what need the Sluggard care for such a judgement? Nay then it is no judgement at all, but a blessing and a happiness: and so by that reckoning the Sluggard were a blessed and a happy man, and the Sluggards life were the only happy life that could be devised in this world, but that cannot be; for here we see poverty and necessity set upon the Sluggard to punish him for his slothfulness. In our christian Church also we have seen some both in the ministery and otherwise, who lived in good estate: and yet afterward through their covetousness and ambition have fallen into great decay: for when they were not content with that which was convenient for them, but still would have more: it hath happened oftentimes to them as it did to the dog, that having a piece of meat in his mouth, would snatch at the shadow of the meat in the water, and so when he thought to have both, he lost both.  
In the scriptures there are divers causes of poverty set down, and poverty is made a punishment for divers kinds of offenders, and is a whip for the back of many fools: it is a whip for the Sluggards back, that in time will whip him to death if he repent not, for Solomon saith, The desire of the Sluggard ●layeth him▪ for his hands refuse to wor●e. 
Pro. 21. 25.  It is also a scourge for the wasting unthrift, and prodigal spender, 
Luke 15.  as may appear in the example of the prodigal son, who having spent all, was driven to feed among the swine. When it hath scourged the unthrift, it will also serve to scourge the niggard, that knoweth not how to use his goods, as appeareth by the parable of him that hide his talon, 
Luk. 19 20. 26.  and therefore had all taken from him in the end, to show that it is not the best way to thrive, for a man to live to himself. 
Pro. 11. 24. 25.  And Solomon saith, There is that scattereth and is more increased, but he that speaketh more than is right, shall surely come to poverty. The liberal person (sa●●h he) shall have plenty, and he that watereth shall have rain. When it hath punished the niggard, and the miser, it shall also punish the ●●uell man, & the oppressor: for it is set down by Solomon 
Pro. 22. 16.  as a definitive sentence against him in this manner: He that oppresseth the poor to enrich himself, and to give to the rich, shall surely come to poverty. And the Prophet Esay as one in the same commission confirmeth the sentence, and goeth a little further and faith, 
Esa. 33. 1. 2.  W●e he to thee that spoilest and wast not spoi●●, for when thou shalt cease spoiling of others, th●● shalt he spoiled by others, and when thou hast deals wickedly against others, than others shall deal● wickedly against thee. The truth whereof i● not hard to be seen in some that have gotten up by prizes, and many that have lived by usury, brokerage, promoting, bribing, extorting, cozening, and such like means. As it punisheth the cruel oppressor, so will it also punish those which are rash and profane in their affairs: as Esau, 
Heb. 12. 17.  who (without any more ado) when he was hungry, sold away his birthright for a mess of pottage, and when it was gone, cried to have it again, but could not get it. The sentence is recorded by salomon thus: 
Prou. 21. ●.  The thoughts of the diligent dee surely bring abundance, but who soever is hasty, cometh surely to poverty. Which is also verified in many sureties which have in a vainglorious heat, passed their words, neither regarding for whom, nor for what, and after ward have repent them too late: and surely this is a point not unfit for noble men, and great gentlemen to consider of, whom God hath blessed both with great livings, and also beautified with a liberal and free heart, lest being (as many are) attended upon and haunted by hungry horse leeches, and fawning parasites, they impeach their estate and honour before they be aware. As it punisheth the rash and heady fool, so doth it also help to plague fornicators and adulterous fools: as may appear by that woeful complaint of such as have been brought into the fools paradise by the alluring ba●tes of harlots. And therefore Solomon, 
Prou. 5. 8. 9 10.  that great man of experience, adviseth all that fear God, to keep their way far from the harlot, & not to come near the doors of her house, and giveth this as a reason: lest (saith he) thou give thy honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: and le●t the strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be found in the houses of strangers. And last of all it is a piece of a punishment for the contemners of the word, and those that obstinately disobey the laws of the almighty. 
Deuter. 28. 15. 23. 24.  For (saith Moses) If thou wilt not obey the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep and to do all his commandments, and his or 〈◊〉, which I command thee this day, The hea●●● shallbe brass, and the earth iron: The Lord shall give thee for the rain of thy land, dust and ashes, until thou be destroyed. So that poverty and necessity, be like a common gallows at the towns end, which hang up both thieves, and murderers, and traitors, and witches, and all that are brought to be executed. Then it is not a part of happiness, nor a degree of perfection as papists hold, but a very sore judgement of God.  
Here is now the Sluggards poverty, and the niggards poverty, and the unthrifts poverty, and the hasty man's poverty, & the whoremongers poverty, and the cruel man's poverty, and the ungodly man's poverty, and poverty is a whip for them all. By which we are taught not to blame others (as many do) if they be fallen behind hand, but let every man examine himself in these points: and if thou canst clear thyself of one, suspect thyself in another, and try thy heart in all, till thou hast found out the cause, as thou wilt try every key of the bunch until the lock be opened. And say to thy soul as David said to the woman of Tekoah, who came to the King about Absalon, 
2. Sam. 14. 19  Is not the hand of loab in all this? So is not the hand of flouth, or negligence, or the hand of cruelty, or the hand of incontinency, or of niggardliness, or of rashness, or of ungodliness in this my poverty? And this may suffice for the poverty of the body.  
And now a little of spiritual poverty. Where of the Scriptures speak sometime in the better part, and sometime in the evil part: in the better part it is attributed to the children of God to their great commendation, and as a special virtue, and grace of God, and that is when they be humble & lowly in their own eyes, and think poorly and basely of them themselves in respect of others. And this is that spiritual po●ertie which our Saviour 〈◊〉 speaketh of, and calleth it blessed po●●itie, in Ma●th. 5. ●. ●hen he saith: Blessed 〈◊〉 ●oore in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of 〈◊〉: To show that it is not only a blessed, but a rich poverty, because the kingdom of Heaven doth follow it. And this is a grace found aswell in Kings and great rich men of this world sometimes, as in the pooret 〈◊〉 when God doth sanctify their hearts, and teach them to know themselves: such a one was Abraham a rich 〈◊〉, and job a rich man and David a King: yet were they poor in 〈◊〉 rite, and therefore blessed: the contrary whereof is found in those that are wise in their own conceit, and wedded to their own wai●r, whatsoever can be said to the contrary, 
Pro. 26. 10.  whether they be rich or poor, of such Sal 〈◊〉 saith, There is more hope of a fool then of 〈◊〉  
Again to be poor in spirit is sometime taken in the evil part, not as a virtue, but 〈◊〉 fowl vice: not as a grace but as a disgrace● and that is when men a bound in their own spirits, and in their own judgements, and ●●ing altogether carnal, and 〈◊〉, are 〈◊〉 of the spirit of God, and barren in the gr●t●● of the same spirit, abounding in pride, and ba●re● in humility, abounding in ma●●ce, and barren in love, abounding in ignorance, and barren in knowledge, abounding in 〈◊〉 ●ie, but barren in 〈◊〉, and so i● the rest and yet think not so, ● precedent of which poverty we have in theminister and 〈◊〉 of Laodicea, to whom Christ speaketh in 〈◊〉 sort: 
reve. 13. 17.  Thou sayest thou are rich and 〈◊〉 with goods, and baste needs of not ●ing, and 〈◊〉 est not that thou art wr●●●●ed, and 〈◊〉 and poor, and blind, and naked. And in 〈◊〉 do the soul that is destitute of the heavenly 〈◊〉 c●s of the holy ghost, is a poor soul, although he jest it up and down in his silks and velvets: yea and in cloth of gold too. But the soul that hath them is rich indeed, though otherwise for want of worldly necessaries they be constrained to lie begging in the streets. Therefore the holy ghost doubteth not to call them riches, 
Ephe. 2. 7.  saying that God sent the Gospel of his son amongst the gentiles that he might show thereby to the ages to come, the exceeding riches of his grace, through his kindness towards us in Christ lesus. To show that the gifts of the holy ghost sanctified to the children of God, are riches, and more than riches, for they are exceeding riches. And in the same Epistle, the Apostle saith, that he preached unto the gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ, 
Ephe. 3. 8.  to show that whosoever hath Christ, is rich enough. Therefore is the Gospel of Christ compared to a pearl of inesti●nable value, which could not be bought, except a rich man sold all his substance to buy it, to show how rich they are that have that pearl. Many rich men want these riches: Therefore let no man say, oh I am rich and well increased in worldly goods, therefore I am not guilty of the sluggards sin, for through thy slothfulness thy soul may be poor enough in the riches of God's spirit, how rich soever thou be in the things of this world. And if any man would have these riches, he must earnestly desire, and long after them: 
Luk. 1. 53.  for the Lord filleth the 〈◊〉 griewith good things, but the rich, that is the full stomach, he sendeth empty away. In the 2. of Prou. Solomon propoundeth two things and showeth what course must be taken of those that will obtain them. The 〈◊〉 the understanding of the fear of God, and the knowledge of God: the way to get them is to receive the word, and to hide it: then he must hearken with his ears, and incline his heart, then to calland cry af●er them, as if they were going away, for fear they should not beint●● reigned as they are worthy: ●nd if they cannot be had with calling and crying, than he must fall to seeking, and searching, as if they sought for silver, and searched for treasure. This being done, then shalt thou understand, and fi●●● &c. to show that these things sent from God, must be earnestly sued unto, and will not marry, but with such as will use them well, and 〈◊〉 count of them as special guests. Unto whi●● hunger and longing, must also be joined 〈◊〉gence, and painfulness: for A slotfull 〈◊〉 (saith the holy Ghost) maketh poor, 
Pro. 10. 4.  but 〈◊〉 hand of the diligent maketh rich: So a slot 〈◊〉 ear to hear, and a slothful heart to bele●●● maketh poor in heavenly things: but the ear and the heart of the diligent maketh rich. Some say they have been diligent in hearing, etc. and yet are poor, and that may well 〈◊〉 for it is not our diligence, but the blessing of God that maketh rich, which blessing is not given always at the first, but is promised to those, that in faith and patience, and by earnest prayer are continual sum 〈◊〉 and seekers for the same, 
Gen. 32. 26.  like lacob, who could not obtain a blessing of the Angel, without great stri●●ng and wrestling. And sometime it is utterly denied, and not given at all to some, because the Lord seethe in them a false heart, and a wicked affection that set them a work, and knoweth that if the wicked should have those excellent graces and ie●●els, they would abuse them filthily and proudly, to the dishonour of the giver, like swine which trample pearls under their feet, and dig up filth out of the dunghilk and to speak indifferently, what should the Lord do reucaling his secrets, and his counsels to them that mean not to follow them? Of such kind of seekers, and gatherers of spiritual riches, is that speech of Saint james verified, 
jam. 4. 2.  which he useth against some, that seek fo● temporal riches: Ye lust and have not, ye 〈◊〉 others, go fire 〈◊〉 derately, 〈◊〉 cannot obtain, ye ●ight and ●arr●, and get ●●●hing, because ye ask not. 
verse 3.  Then to those that ask he saith: Ye ask and receive not, because ye asks amiss, that you might lay the same out upon your pleasures. So in seeking for heavenly riches, many 〈◊〉, and have not, and no body doth pity their longing, because they are not with child traveling, 
Apoc. 12. 1. 2.  nor traveling in paine●● be delivered as the true church doth. Against they envy the gifts of other men, they des●● immoderately, they would attain to gre● matters, but they cannot obtain, they stri● and keep a stir and get nothing, because they ask not. And when they ask, they 〈◊〉ceiue not, because they ask amiss, to spend their knowledge and their learning, and the●● utterance in maintaining of contentions, and quarrels, and in defending of superstitions, and sin, and in perverting the strait wai● of the Lord, and all at their own pleasure, but nothing to the glory of GOD, or to the good of God's Church. Now it is well, if 〈◊〉 poverty cometh not for want of diligence and painfulness but than God may curse 〈◊〉 unsanctified affections, and his gifts that h●● gaveus may be given in his wrath, as Saul was to the Israelites, and the wicked may peri●● with all their knowledge and excellent graces, for want of God's grace, as the Iewes●● ed with the meat in their mouths, for want of God's blessing: and this may likewise 〈◊〉 fice for the matter of spiritual poverty. Now further (to increase the pain) besides poverty there cometh necessity, to show that the time willcome, when the sluggard shall be● glad of that which before he despised and ca●● away, and shall not get it, like the rich glutton who while h●● lived amongst his delicates scorned to drink water, yea perhaps wind exceptit were the best, but being in hell, he called for water: yea but for a drop of water▪ and could not get it. Or as the prodigal child, who was at last glad of pease hulls amongst the swine, when in his fullness he scorned bread And so is it in spiritual necessity, the time will come when many will be glad to hear the meanest of those Sermons, and instructions, and books, which now they neglect, and loath, and censure at their pleasure, and will think themselves happy too, if they may ●●●ue but a drop of that water to drink, which now they power down the streets and channels, for God must needs be reuen●●d of such horrible contempts.  
Now for the manner of this judgement, it ●●●ery fearful, for it is said in my text, first, that it shall come upon him as one that trauai●●h by the way, which ●eeteth with a thee●e on a sudden, before he looked for his coming. 〈◊〉 hath 〈◊〉 out with ●any dealers and occupiers in the world, who for want of diligence, and careful circumspection, have gone 〈◊〉 still, as if they were on a journey, and suddenly have been overtaken with poverty, and set upon by necessity before they have 〈◊〉 aware, and where as they were taken before, to be in very good case, it hath been ●ounde, that when every man hath taken his share, they have been left very poor and naked. And so shall God's graces waste in v 〈◊〉 one after another, if we suffer them to di 〈◊〉 us for want of renewing, and continual 〈◊〉 pairing: And at the last when we think●● have the most use of them, our faith will 〈◊〉 gone, and turned into infidelity; our repentance shall be turned into impenitency 〈◊〉 hardness of heart, our zeal will be blasted, 〈◊〉 our love we shall find abated, and also 〈◊〉ted up, as if all the hogs in the tow●e 〈◊〉 been in our garden. And then we shall 〈◊〉 and do nothing but weep for them, as 〈◊〉 chel wept for her children, and shall not 〈◊〉 comforted because they are not, nor can●●● be had or else we shall hardly kno● them, ● take them again, nay they will hardly know● us, or take us again, we shall be so altered, 〈◊〉 if we had r●●ne away from out masters, 〈◊〉 lain long abroad in ditches, or as though w●● had been newly taken out of our sti●ck●● graves.  
And lastly, as this execution shall be so●●●●ly served upon the Sluggard, so shall it 〈◊〉 mightily assisted with necessity, which shall come against him as an armed man: so 〈◊〉 no rescue or resistance can be made. And 〈◊〉 the Sluggard then make any, it will not se●●● his turn, for he shall be so over matched, that he shall not be able to recover himself, 〈◊〉 new supply of strength and grace come from God. And this point may serve notably t●● verthrow the folly of Papists, and secure gospe●●ers, which think to command God, and to repent when they list, or believe, or hear, or work when they list. No, no, well mayest thou strive, but it shall be against an armed man, and thyself naked: yea thou must then yield and confesle thy folly in spite of thy teeth. 
Gen. 49. 14.  The Sluggards are of kindred to Isbachar, who seeing ease to be good, and the land pleasant, became secure, and careless, and like a strong ass cou●hing down between divers ●●●hens: to show that the Sluggards are like asses, which have some strength indeed, but all their strength is in couching down, but not in rising up: when he goeth to sleep, and betakes himself to idleness, & slothfulness, he shall find himself strong enough: but when he thinketh to rise up to work, and to make resistance against poverrie and necessity, the Lords sergeants sent to arrest him; he shall then find himself weak enough, and too weak. For as the drun●ard drinketh till he hath drunk all the money out of his purse, and all the wit out of his head, and all goodness out of his heart, that there is no difference between him and the beast, except it be in this: that the beast can go and keep his way which the drunkard cannot do: so the Sluggard sleepeth in all security, and neglecteth all his business, and puts off all care, for doing of all his duties, until he hath slept all thri●t out of his shop, and all his friends out of his 〈◊〉 panie, and all God's gra●●● out of his 〈◊〉 and all comfort out of his ●oule▪ & all 〈◊〉 out of his body, and all conscience out of 〈◊〉 dealing, till his stock be spent, and his 〈◊〉 pying decayed, and his customers gone, 〈◊〉 God's spirit gone, and all be gone: and 〈◊〉 nothing be left but fear, and shame, with 〈◊〉 vertic, and penury, and a bare head and 〈◊〉ble shoulders to bear off the blows. And in● word, till there be no difference between hi● and the ass, except it be in this: that the 〈◊〉 can rise again when he is down, which th● Sluggard cannot do: For his poverty is 〈◊〉 like one that travaileth by the way, and his 〈◊〉 cessitie is set upon him like an armed man. And thus have you heard the Sluggardrowsed. If ● hath roused any of us, let us thank God for it if it hath not, let us pray that it may, and when we are gone, let us take heed we fall not asleep again, lest a worse thing happen unto us.  
FINIS.  Soli Deo gloria.   

A Table wherein are set forth the principal points that are handled in the Treatise following.