The Rousing of the Sluggard, Sermon 3
The third Sermon.
BVt yet some will say (for all that hath been sayd) if there bee no remedie but the soule must hauehave prouision made for her, they will looke out for it: but it shall be hereafter when they are olde,Of the time to gather. or sicke, or troubled, or imprisoned, or persecuted, it is time enough then: and it is not good to bee too holie, or too religious betimes, for feare of young saints wee proue old diuels? Now all this is the diuels counsell, and who would thinke it that he should bee so carefull of men that they proue not diuels Now the effect of his coūsell is but thus much: Be not too hastie in these matters, it is enough if thou bee a Protesta…e at large, and play the good fellow, and make prouision for thy soule when thou art full of paine, when thy sences be gone, when thy body is dead, and thy soule bee in hell: and then thou maiest crie for water to coole thy heate, then father Abraham, father Abraham, as the rich glutton in hell cryed: and then thy friends shall sing a Masse of Requ…em for thy soule, say the Papists, and then by thy good workes, and prayers of holy Church (if thou pay well for them) thou shalt bee redeemed out of hell well enough. But (to let this popish trash goe) what is this but to shut the doore when the horse is stolen? or to fetch the Phisition when the partie is dead? or to seeke for oyle to thy lampes when the Bridegrome is past, as the foolish Virgins did? and to seek for the blessing with teares, when there is no place to repent,Hebr. 12. as prophane Esaw did? and to crye for thy goods when they be lost, at fooles doe? Is this the wisedome of a Christian? Then what is that wisedome that sayth, Remember thy maker in the daies of thy youth? Eccl. 12. 1. 2If he were a wiseman that sayd so, then are they but fooles that …ay▪ In youth it is too soone. If thou be no wiser then so, goe thou sluggard to the Pismire, behold her waies and be wise▪ … she in summer, and haruest, gathereth her food against winter time: to reach thee what a foole thou art if thou let passe the golde opportunitie, & doest not prouide for thy soule in time.
page missing want nothing: as husbandmen in the field to till it, and weede it: as planters and waterers to set it, and dresse it: as pillars of brasse in Salomons temple, that are mightie to vphold thee: as Elisha with his staffe readie to reuiue thee: as guides with their lights readie to conduct thee: and for thy safetie, and all their safetie, behold the Lord & his Angels attending vponupon thee, and them too, seruing them which serue thee, and defending them which defend thee, and guiding them which guide thee: & therefore doth he serue, and defend, and guide thē, that they in him, and by him, may serue thee, and defend thee, and guide thee. And as the Lord from heauen prouided for Ioseph, that Ioseph from Egypt might prouide for his father and his brethren in Chanaan: So doth the Lord still frō heauen minister to our Princes, & to our Magistrates, & to our Preachers, and to our Captaines, and to al the friends & maintainers of his Gospell, that they in their places may prouide both for their owne soules, and thine too. So that now thou needest not goe in feare, nor heare in feare, nor reade in feare, nor pray in feare, as they did in Queene Maries daies, when they could not reade a good book, but still they must be looking who came to see them: like the sillie Hare and Conie, that at eueryevery bit she taketh is still pricking vp her eares to heare if the dogges come: or rather like the Iewes which were faine to builde the wall of Ierusalem with their trowelles in one hand, and their swords in the other hand, for feare of their enemies. But now, if thou be not too sluggish, and fearefull of thy owne shadowe, thou maiest gather the food of thy soule in peace & security, & worke with both hands, because the Lord himselfe fighteth for thee, & watcheth for thee, & keepeth thee while thou doest worke, and that thou maiest gather: As Salomon sayth, Hee preserueth the state of the righteous: Prou. 2. 7. 8he is a shield to them that walke vprightly, that they may keeps &c. Thou seest what blessed meanes and helps thou hast now for thy soules health. Now consider with thy selfe (O sluggard) what monsterous and intollerable ingratitude thou committest, if thou giuegive the Lord leaue thus to waite and attende vponupon thee, with all his seruants, in heauen and earth, and with all his blessings ready for thee, and thou in the meane time lye downe and sleepe, and say with thy selfe, It is not yet time to goe, and gather. Besides that, consider further how hard a thing it will be for thee (if not impossible) to make prouision for thy soule, when all these meanes are gone, and this summer turned into winter. If thou wilt not plie it for thy soule in time of health & peace, what canst thou doe when thou are beset with troubles, and sicknes, and paine? when al thy mind shalbe of thy paine, and all thy wits and sences shall be taken vp, and gathered together to deuise some remedie against thy disease, and to preuent, or to sustaine the pangs of death: yea nothing will be so fearfull vntounto thee then (thou sluggard) as the remembrance of death, and all thy studie will be how to liue still, for feare of going to hell, if thou dye.
Remember againe the prouerbe, When the bellie is full the …ones would be at rest, not at worke. Now if the minde hath no list to work when thy bellie is full of meate and drinke, & ease, I pray thee consider what mind thy soule shall hauehave of heauenely things, when thy bodie is full of paine, and griefe, and torment, if thou doest not prouide before hand spirituall and heauenly comfort? Therefore, Goe to the Pismire, O sluggard, behold her waies, and be wise: for she gathereth her meate in summer, and prouideth her food… in haruest.
But some will for all this still put off the euill day, and say as the euill seruant sayd in the Gospell, Tush,Luke. 12. 45. my master will not come yet: so the sluggard sayth, Tush, winter will not come yet, wee are yet but young, sayth the young sluggard. And the olde sluggard sayth, What neede wee care for persecution, or feare our enemies, so long as Queene Elizabeth liueth. And both of these, if they were sure that the winter time of persecution, and trouble: or that the stormes and tempests of sicknesses & common calamities were at hand, they would perhaps awake and get them to worke, that they might not bee without prouision at th… time. But alas poore soules, what charter hath the former of his life: or the latter of his peace? doe we not see young dye aswell as olde? and many both young and old die suddenly, when they thought to hauehave liued long? Some dropping downe in the streetes: some at boarde: some in bed: some at sea: some at worke: some at play: and some cut off by murther in frayes: some by theeues murthered in trauailing by the way: & some sitting at table, are murthered with the meate in their mouthes. Woe worth the time, and the trees that euer brought forth such fruites of sauage crueltie, and brutish barbarisme in the peaceable gouernment of England, vnderunder the Gospell of Christ. And yet for al this, and many moe such like, thou are not warned, but thinkest thou shalt liue still: as though thou heldest thy life by Letters Patents from the Lord: and still thou forgettest: [Thou foole this night shal thy soule be fetched away from thee:] And wherefore hath the Lord left vsus certain of our death, and vncertaine of the time of our death, but that we should be alwaies readie for the comming of death?
And as for this summer time of peace and plentie, which vnderunder the gouernment of our soueraigne Queene, the Lords handmaide, we enioy now, it cannot bee denied but it hath been, and is great, and wonderfull. And therefore great and fearefull will be the Sluggards iudgement, when the winter of trouble and penurie shall come, with the famine of the Worde into the land, because he hath not gathered any riches for his soule, but is bare, and barren in all the heauenly graces of Gods spirit, yea in all this time, wherein any man might hauehave stored himselfe for many winters, and all weathers. And when that time commeth, thou shalt lye and thinke vponupon the time past, yea and burst thy heart with griefe, when thou shalt thinke how many golden occasions thou hast omitted: how many sweete sermons thou hast lost for a little sleepe, or one vanitie or another. And the burden of thy dolefull and woful song will be then, the fooles Had I wist.
But if we speake of Poperie and persecution, or alteration of religion, or comming of enemies, &c. some make a iest of that, as they doe of all the iudgements of God: No, no, say the secure sluggards, we shal neuer see those daies: and if they should come, thousands and thousans would dye before they would turne: and as for the Spanyard, let him come when hee will, or when he durst, he shall be met withall I warrant him: oh one Englishman will be too hard for ten Spanyards: and if we all be ture amognst our selues and hold together, we need not care how many, or how mightie they bee. Thus we see how foolishly foolish men talke, and how vaine their confidence and hope is, which is builded onelyonly vponupon ifs, and ands. As if one should say, If it doth not raine, it will hold vp: But is he sure it shall not raine? so, are they sure the enemies shall not come? or if they come, are they sure that al wil be true amongst our selues? or is it likely? And what reason hauehave any man to stande so much vponupon the strength and valour of an Englishman, as that one should be too hard for ten outlandish mē? seeing God giueth strength, and victory where it pleaseth him, and sometime armeth his enemies against his church, yea and the very flyes, and lice, and frogges, and caterpillers, & grashoppers, and all his creatures he can arme whē he pleaseth, to humble proud flesh, and to subdue the pride and power of Kings and kingdomes.
Oh but God will neuer suffer them to preuaile so farre against vsus (say some) they are most wicked Idolaters, and wee professe his Gospell, &c. As if the Lord were more bound to vsus, then to them: or as though it were for our goodnes sake that the Lord had preserued vsus hetherto, and not for his owne name sake, because it was his pleasure to make vsus his …. Dauid was once of that minde,…. Sam. 12. 22. that th… Lord had made his hill so strong, that it should neuer bee moued: but that was Dauids error. So we thinke that the Lord hath made our hill so strong, that it shall neuer bee moued: but that is our error. And pride was the mother of it both in Dauid, and in vsus. But Dauid was moued, and his kingdome sorely shaken as strong as he was: so we may bee moued, and shaken too, as strong as we are. But seeing as the sluggard hath sealed himselfe a quittance, and thereupon hath promised vntounto himselfe a continuall peace: we will consider a little of these two poynts.Two points very necessarie. First, whether it be a thing likely or no, that after this long and blessed possessiō of the glorious Gospell of Christ, a winter time of trouble may come, or not come. Secondly, if it proue a thing likely, how wee may knowe whether it be farre off, or nigh at hand. And by that time, it may be the sluggard will awake. I dispute not of Gods power, and what he is able to doe, for he is almightie: nor of his merciemercy, and how he may renew it with vsus still: for he is infinite in merciemercy, and his merciemercy is ouer all his workes: but what his iustice requireth to bee done, which is no way disanulled by his merciemercy. And now the question is, what is likely to ensue, by all circumstances, and probable coniectures, in respect of the manifolde and wonderfull blessings which the Lord hath so long heaped vponupon our nation with his Gospel; and the manifolde vnkindnesses, and daily rebellions which his maiestie hath receiued continually at our hands for the same: And if his spirite should still striue with man, to put our sinnes out of his remembrance: or for Noahs sake a while longer to spare the world: or for some Lots sake to saue the citie from burning▪ and to draw out the thred of our peace & happines yet longer: it is no more then his maiestie may doe, and can doe if it please him, and (that it may so please him) we doe all most instantly beseech his diuine maiestie, for his mercies sake: which if he graunt, shall bee no lesse wonder, then to command the Sunne to stand still, and the Moone to goe backe againe, as in the daies of Amaleke: or to diuide the sea againe, as in the daies of Pharaoh: or to forbid the fire to burne againe, as in the daies of Nabuchadnezzar. But this is not likely, and therefore it shall be no part of wisedome for vsus to presume vponupon it.
Now then let vsus come to the poynt, and see why it is not likelie. We vse to saie, that after a great time of heate, 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 vnlikely, that after this long time of peace and ease, there may come a cooler: for so it hath been commonly seene from the beginning, and not without cause: for if nature should not sometimes be corrected, it would in time bee wholly corrupted: the standing water that is neuer troubled, we knowe by experience doth breede the most filth. And if the ayre shoulde still bee calme, and neuer bee clensed by the windes, by thunder, and lightning, it would proue infectious: the bodie that is not exercised, aboundeth most in ill humours, and the yron that is not scoured still gathereth rust, and the childe that is continually fed, and hath whatsoeuer he craueth, and cryeth for, at last playeth with his meate, and casteth it to the dogges: and therefore it is necessarie 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 bodie of his Church: so doth he vse to scoure off the rust of impatience, and distrustfulnes which growe vponupon our yron hearts with the graces of Gods spirite. So doth he by stormes and tempests, by thunderings, & lightnings of troubles and persecutions, clense the corrupt ayre of his Church, least the good graces of faith and of repentance, and of louelove, and of zeale, and of patience, and of charitie, should through continuall calmenes be infected with infidelitie, or impenitenc…e, or hardnes of heart, or profanenes, or pride, or vaineglorie, or selfe-louelove, or coldenes, or Apostasie, or with one spirituall disease or another: and so dooth the Lord vse to pinch, and abridge his Church of the foode of his heauenly worde, now and then, and sometime for a long time, when it is loathed, and plaied withall, and trode vnderunder foote, and all this the Lord dooth in singular wisdome, because the worth of benefites is not so well knowne, as by the want of them. That our hearts and soules are cankred and rustie it is most euident, and therefore a scouring is to be thought vponupon at the least: that there are many ill humours of vnthankfulnes, of pride, of contempt, of crueltie, and oppression, of swearing and forswearing, of whordomes, and drunkennes, of al kind of profanenes and abominations abounding in the bodie of the Church, it is not to be denied. And therefore a time of purging and exercise is to be thought vponupon. That Manna is loathed, and the pure preaching of Gods most holy word despised, and the faithfull Prophets of the Lord hated, and molested, for doing the Lords message, and the feete of the… which bring glad tidings counted most soule, which should bee esteemed as most beautifull, all this is too visible, and palpable, and therefore Amos his famine is to be thought vponupon,Amos 8. 11., if not to be looked for. When the Lord had planted a vine in Israel,Esay. 5. 1. 2. &c. and watered it, and hedged it, and dressed it, hee looked for grapes b… found none, but the wilde grapes of oppression and iniquitie. But what then? Then hee purposed to take away the hedge thereof, to breake downe the wall thereof, and to laye it waste▪ that it might be deuoured of wilde beastes:vers. 3. 4. 5. 6 but first hee tolde them that hee would deale th… with them, and themselues should bee iudg… whether hee did them any wrong or no. Th… the Lord hath done as much for his vineyard in England, as euer he did for his vineyard in Israel, (if not a great deale more) no indifferent bodie will denie: that the grapes of Englands vine bee as wilde, and as sower, as euer were the grapes of Israels vine (if not much worse) the branches themselues can testifie. But what then? And is not now a breaking downe of the wall, a plucking vp of the hedge, and a laying waste of the vine in England to be thought vponupon (O sluggard) if not to be looked for? Hath not the Lord tolde vsus of his purpose and determination herein, againe, and againe? And are we not rather worse then better for all that? Now if these things come to passe, wee our selues shall bee iudges whether the Lord hath done vsus any wrong or no. Now consider further with thy selfe (O sluggard) what priueledge hath England more then Israel had? How much is the Lord beholding to vsus, more then to them? surely neither to them nor to vsus, nor to any was euer the Lord beholding, for if a man be righteous, he is righteous for himself, saith Iob. But what promise or warrant hauehave wee more then they had,Iob. 35. 7. or any Church from the beginning of the world? Hath there not been in nature a continuall intercourse and change of winter and sommer, of night and of daye, of fayre weather, and of …owle wether, of colde and of heate, of the spring and the fall? And hast thou not obserued the like in the state of grace? Surely if thou haddest not closed vp thy eyes of purpose (O thou sluggard) thou couldest not ch…se but see the Lordes worke therein. Well, yet thou canst not denye, but that there hauehave beene many alterations, and sundry changes in the worlde, and thy selfe sometime (betweene waking and sleeping, but without any feeling) wilt sitte and tell of them, and what thou hast seene in thy time, which shall bee sufficient to condemne thee: for it is more then a dreame that thou speakest of. But if thou wilt now (besides thy owne drousie experience) a little listen vntounto the word of God, and praye vntounto God that hee may open thy eyes, thou shalt see that which yet thou diddest neuer so much as dreame of▪ like the seruant of Elisha, which sawe … mountaines couered with heauenly souldiers, when the Lord opened his eyes, which before hee sawe not. Marke it well I saye, and thou shalt see, both how often the Lorde hath turned, and as it were wheeled about his Church, and the cause thereof to be still the Churches iniquitie.Note that well. And thou shalt see, if not confesse, that the continuall starting of men from GOD, hath broken the course of his grace, which otherwise had been continual… The truth whereof may appeare almost from the beginning of the world. For first, when the true worship of God was in the cursed of spring of Caine almost vtterly decayed,Gen. 4. 26. … Lord restored it againe in the dayes of Seth, and his sonne Enos, that it might thriue and florish 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 posteritie of them whom God had separated for his owne children,Gen. 5. 2. did mingle themselues with the sonnes and daughters of men at their pleasure without the feare of GOD, throwing themselues in such wise into all manner of wickednes, that (hauing defiled themselues, and the whole world with their abhominations) the Lorde brought a floud vppon them,Noah. to destroye them all, that they which had drowned themselues in sinne, might bee also drowned in water: and so they were twise drowned; and now was winter come. When the Church was brought to eyght persons, it seemed then so purged, that the little seede which remained, should of it selfe bring forth nothing but pure holines: and yet anon after it diminished almost by the fourth parte. Afterwarde the Lorde renewed his couenant with Abraham Abraham.and his seede, for whome hee wrought many wonderfull thinges: for first, with a mightie hand and stretched out arme, hee brought them out of Aegypt: then hee led them through the red sea: then hee fed them with breade from heauen: then hee destroyed many Kinges for their sakes, and made their very name famous and fear…full full whatsoeuer it came, and thus they we… going towards the land of promise: now, … would not of such happie beginnings … iudged that there should hauehave ensued a co… nuance of a happie state? Notwithstanding the very same people, (in whose deliueranc… the Lord had shewed so manifest a proofe … his power and merciemercy) did not cease contin… ally to prouoke the Lord with their impati… murmurings, and vnkinde rebellions, vntill by fearefull, and horrible iudgements they were all destroyed in the wildernes.1. Cor. 10. 5. At length the children of them tooke possession of the said… land, but yet such a possession as well neere in 600. yeares after, had no stabilitie, because they themselues through their owne falsenes, and inconstancie did continually trouble it: and still (by shaking off the yoke of God) they procured new mischiefes to thēselues. Moses had tolde them before, how it would come to passe,Deut. 8. 10. 11. that when they were fatte and full, they would lift vp the heele, and forget the Lord▪ And what dooth the storie of the Iudges rehearse, but continuall backslidings? When … kingdome of Dauid was erected, there seemed a more certaine and grounded state of a church to hauehave bin established, for a long continuance. But that lamentable slaughter of the pestilēce,2. Sam. 24. 15. which for three daies space raged most mo… sterously in the worlde, did greatly abate … felicitie. When Salomon came to the Crowne, summer came againe to the Church: for God gaue him great peace on eueryevery side, and in his rest he builded the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem.1. King. 4. 24. But by and by, after the death of Salomon, the bodie of the realme was diuided, and the torne members ceased not afterward to bite one another. And both the kingdomes, I meane of Israel, and Iudah,Esay. 9. 20. 21. were miserably turmoyled by forraine warres. Shall wee say that this came vntounto them by fortune and chaunce? Nay rather they themselues, through their sins enforced, & hastened the vengeance of God: for euen when they seemed most innocent, namely, while Dauid goeth through with nū bring of them, because it was the peculiar fault of one man: yet the holie storie sayth plainlie, that God was wroth with them all.2. Sam. 24. 1. At length followed that great euersion, little differing from vtter destruction, when al the whole nation was led captiue to Babilon: but after 70. yeres they were restored home againe: which ioyfull returne was vntounto them another birth. Notwithstanding, so soone as they were returned home, straight waies forgetting so great a benefite, they degenerated againe into sundrie kinds of naughtines: Some defiled themselues with heathen mariages: some defrauded the Lord of his tenths, and first fruites: othersome neglecting the building of the Temple,Mal. 3. 8. were whollie occupied in making of braue houses,Hag. 1. 2. 4. and bestowed excessiue cost thereon: whi… …oule vnthankfulnes of theirs was such, as euerie man must confesse (the Sluggard and all) that it ought not to escape vnpunished. Neither did it escape: for after that, the Lorde brought them in subiection to the Romanes, who burned their Temple, and made hauock… of all.
When Christ,Christ. the Prince of peace, and author of all good things, shewed himselfe to the world, men might sensiblie hauehave felt how certaine and well grounded the felicitie of his eternall kingdome is, if they would hauehave suffered him to rest among them: but the worlde was neuer shaken with more cruell tempe… of warre, nor neuer drowned in so deep a sinke of manifolde euils. But what was the cause? Surely when Christ was borne, there was singular peace and quietnes eueryevery where. Abo… 40. yeares after his Gospell was spred throug… diuers costes of the world: After it was published farre and neere, suddenly things began to be on a turmoyle eueryevery where. And whereof came so sudden alteration, but that God … the contempt and refusall of his Gospell, wa… now bent to be reuenged of so great vnthankfulnes? and that most iustly. 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 bee set together by the eares, that one of them might wound another to th… death? And what can continue in order amongst them, who refuse to submit themselues to God? I speake not onelyonly of the open enemies, which hauehave wilfully striuen against the wholesome doctrine of godlines, but also of them that hauehave professed themselues Christians. For how coldly, and disdainfully hauehave many of them, how falsely, and dissemblingly (like Iudas) hauehave othersome kissed Christ? It is not vnknowne that IerusalemIerusalem. was once the fountaine from whence saluation flowed into the vttermost bounds of the earth: but at the comming of Christ, it retained scarce a thinne shadowe of the ancient worthines: and within a while after, it not onelyonly lost that that remained, but was vtterly cast downe also, and made a waste wildernesse: which made the Lord Iesus shed teares when he looked vponupon the citie. What is the reason that no man trauaileth in seeking out the cause of so monsterous a ruine: but that the desperate wickednes of that nation doth openly crye out that the same was the cause thereof?
RomeRome. was neuer plagued with so manie cruell slaughters in so short a time, as it hath beene since the Gospell came thither. But what was the cause thereof? Open thy eyes (sluggard) and thou shalt see the cause plaine enough, that when God brought the medicine of his Gospel thither, as the vttermost remedie against so many deadly diseases of lawles lust, wicked partakings, and intollerable tyrannie which raigned in that citie, they (like persons that had sworne their own destruction) proudly reiected it, and ceased not to fall from worse to worse.
The very selfe same thing wee may obserue in this our age, both in the kingdom of France, and elsewhere: For when the Church was as it were newe borne againe, and had a glorious beginning, like the rising of the Sunne, it hath been seene soone after to slide downe and carried backe againe. And yet before the Lorde layde those fearefull punishments vponupon them, of ciuill dissentions, and of bloudie massacres, accompanied with many horrible mischiefes moe, the Gospell was seene diuers and sundry waies eueryevery where filthilie abused: in so much that the sudden turning vp of things that happened, is not so greatly to bee wondered at, as Gods long sufferance, in bearing with the prodigious wickednes of our time.
And in England, amongst so many thousands as to outward appearāce had very gladlie denied the Pope, and professed themselues Gospellers: how fewe (I pray you) doe fall to amendment of their vices? Nay rather, what do the greater part pretend, but that when the yoke of superstition was shakē off, they might more licentiously giuegive themselues to all carnall libertie? And albeit they confesse the doctrine of the Gospell to bee true, yet where is there one among many that submitteth his necke vntounto the yoke and discipline thereof? That Christ shall be abased for their aduancement, they are content: That he shall be pinched with pouertie and penurie to make them rich, they are content: That Christ shall bee 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 soules, and rule them, and cēsure them, and order them, by his owne lawes and ordinances, they will none of that; because that is against our pleasure▪ and against our profite, and against our honours, and dignities: Like the young man in the Gospell, that would doe any thing that Christ bad him,Mat. 19. 22. sauing selling away his goods for the vse of the poore: but that he could not abide, because he was rich; and it was not for his profite.
Now then what is to be looked for, or likely to ensue, but a most sharpe punishment answerable to such wicked, & wilfull contempts? And if any thing be to be wondered at, here is the wonder, that (considering our great vnthankfulnes) any part of the worke remaineth which God hath begun. And (to conclude this poynt) wee see how the Lord hath tossed and turned his Church from time to time: how he hath from the beginning of the worlde 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… wee see the print of his steppes in all pla… before the floud, and since the floud: in Israel, and in Iudah, and in Ierusalem, and in Rome, and in Chanaan, which is now Turkey, and in France, and in Scotland, and in Germanie, and in England too, which hath been ouerrunne sometime by the Danes, and sometime by the Normanes, and somtime by the Britaines, and now inhabited with Englishmen, that can scarce tel of whom, or whence they came. And in England we knowe what changes and alterations hauehave happened: one while Poperie, another while the Gospell: now peace, and ano… persecution: and like the sea, our peace still ebbing and flowing, but neuer certaine, and now more enuied, and threatned, 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 lye still snorting and sleeping in his sinnes, as he doth, both in the Court and countrey, in the cities & villages, and in eueryevery place els, as he doth? And what reason hast thou (oh sluggard) to dreame still of a drie summer, as it is in the Prouerbe, and not to thinke of a winter aswell as of a summer? What charter hast thou … then thy fellowes that are gone before thee? … thou better then they? I tell thee, nay the Lord Iesus tels thee, thou art not better whatsoeuer thou art, but worse: Except thou repent … shalt likewise perish. Thinke no longer therefore with thy selfe, that thou shalt neuer be awakened: for by all likelihoods and probable coniectures, a winter will come, with such stormes and tempests, that shall awake thee, and pinch thee, & starue thee too, if thou prouide not in time for thy safetie. And take this withall, that the longer it be in comming, she sharper will it bee when it commeth: because, to whom much is giuen, of him much shall bee required. Therefore, Goe to the Pismire, O sluggard, b…hold her waits and be wise: for she &c.