The Way to Wealth

By what means Sedicion may be put away, and what destruction will follow if it be not put away speedily. Consultatio Robert Crolei

COnsidering that all mē may plainly perceive the great hurt y ^t (of late days) Sedicion hath done in this realm, & that all wise men may esilye gather, what greater hurt is like to ensue, if it be not speedily seen unto: it shall be every true Englyshmans duty forth with to employe his whole study to the remouynge so great an evil out of so noble a realm and commone wealth, leste haply (if through negligence it grow and take deper rote) it be shortly to strong and more surely grounded, thā that it may be rooted out, without the utter destruction of the whole realm. For what can be more true, then that which the truth it self hath spoken? Every kingdom (saith Christ) that is divided in it self, shall be brought to naught. Intendynge therefore to play the parte of a true Englyshman, and to do all that in me shall lie to pluck this stinking wede up by the rote: I shall in this good business do as in their evil exercise the diseplayars (that gladly would, but have nothing to play for) do. Hold the candle to them that have wherewith, and will set lustily to it. And so doing, I shall be no less worthy the name of a true herted Englishman then the trumpettar is, worthy y ^e name of a man of war, though he do not in deed fight, but animate and encourage other.

Sedition therefore being a dangerous disease in the body of a common wealth: must be cured as the expert Physicians do use to cure the dangerous diseases in a natural body. And as the moste substantial way in curinge diseases, is by puttinge away the causes whereof they grew: so is it in the pullinge up of Sedition. For if the cause be once taken away, then must the effect needs fail. If the rote be cut of: the branch must needs die. The boughs cannot bud, if the tree, have no sap.

Geue ear therefore (o my countrymen) give ear. And do not disdain to hear the advise of one of the lease of pour brethren for the matter requireth every man's counsel, and God revealed unto young Daniel, that which the whole counsel of Babylon perceived not. Geue ear, I say, and if I tell you truth, be not ashamed to do y ^t I bid, though ye know me to be at youre commandment. For Abraham was contented to do at the biddinge of Saraie his wife, because he knew that hir biddinge was gods will. And y ^e Ninevites did at the biddinge of pore Jonah, sit in sackcloth & ashes, because they perceived that he told them the truth. Yea cruel Herod did not refuse to hear John Baptist, because the thing which he told him was true. Leaste you therefore should be more lofty then the Babylonians, more shamefast then Abrahā, more stubborn then the Ninevites, & more cruel then Herod, give ear and patientlye hear what I shall say.

The causes of Sedition must be roted out. If I should demand of the pore man of the country what thing he thinketh to be the cause of Sedition: I know his answer▪ He would tell me that the great fermares, the grasiers, the riche but hares, the men of law, the merchants, the gentlemen, the knights, the lords, and I cannot tell who, Men that have no name because they are 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 doares in all things that ani gain hangeth upon. Men without conscience. Men utterly void of gods fear. Yea men that live as though there were no God at all. Men y ^t would have all in their own hands, men that would leave nothing for others, men that would be alone on the earth, men that be never satisfied, Cormerauntees, gredye gulles, yea men that would eat up men women & children: are the causes of Sedition. They take our houses over our headdes, they bye our growndes out of our hands, they reyse our rentes, they leauie great (yea unreasonable) fines, they enclose our commens. No custom, no law or statute can keep them from oppressyng us, in such sort, that we know not which way to turn us to live. Very need therefore constrayneth us to stand up against them. In the country we cannot tarry, but we must be their slaves and labor till our hearts brast, and then they must have all. And to go to the cities we have no hope, for there we hear that these vnsaciable beasts have all in their hands. Some have purchased and some taken by leases, whole allyes, whole rentes, whole rouse, yea whole streats and lanes, so that the rentes be reysed, some double, some triple, and some four fold to that they were within these .xii. years last past. Yea there is not so much as a gardē ground free from them. No remedy therefore, we must needs fight it out, or else be brought to the like slavery that the french men are in. These Idle bealies will devour all y ^t we shall get by our sore labor in our youth, and whē we shall be old and impotent, thē shall we be driven to beg and crave of them that will not give us so much as the crowmes tha • fall from their tables: Such is the pytie w • se in them. Better it were therefore, for us to die like men, then after so great misery in youth to die more miserably in age.

Alas poor man, it pitieth me to se the miserable estate that thou art in. Both for that thou art so oppressed of them by whō thou shouldest be defended from oppressiō: and also for that thou knowest not thy duty in this great misery. Thou art not so much oppressed on the one side, but thou art more destituted on the other side. They y ^t should norish and defend thy body in thy labor do oppress the: & they y ^t should feed thy soul & strengthen thy mind to bear all this patiently, do leave y ^e alone. If thy shepherd had been a diligent watchman, & had espied the woulfe coming upon the, before y ^u hadst been w ^t in his reach he would, have stepped between y ^e & thine enemi, & enstructed y ^e in such sort y ^t though he had come in nine sheep skins, yet he should not have deceived thy sight. The devil should never have persuaded the y ^t thou myghtest revenge thine own wrong. The false prophets should never have caused the to believe that thou shouldeste prevail against them with the sword, under whose governance God hath appointed the to be. He would have told the that to revenge wrongs, is in a subject to take and usurp the office of a king and consequently the office of God. For the king is gods minister to revenge the wrongs done unto the innocent. As he that taketh in hand therefore, or presumeth to do any office under a king, not being lawfully called unto it, presumeth to do the office of a king: so he that taketh in hand to do the office of a king, taketh gods office in hand. We read that our savior Christ being in the estimation of the world but a private man, would not walk out of the bounds of that vocation. But whē a certain mā came unto him & desired that he would command his brother to devide the enheritaūce with him: he axed who had appointed him to be judge in such matters. And again when the woman takē in adultery was brought unto him: he should not give sentence of the law against her, but axed hir if any man had comdemned hir, and upon hir denial let hir go. If these examples, with the terrible stories of Corah, Dathā, Abira and Absalom had ben diligently beat̄ into thine head: thou wouldeste (no doubt) have quieted thyself, and have suffered thyself rather to have been spoiled of all together yea and thy body toren in pieces rather thē thou wouldest have taken on the more then thou art called unto. For no cause can be so great to make it lawful for the to do against gods ordinance: But thy shepeherde hath been negligent as (alas the while) all shepeherdes be at this day, and hath not enstructed the aright. He espied not the wolf before he had woried the, or happlye he knew him not from a sheep. But it is moste like he was but an hirelinge, and cared for no more but to be fed with the milcke & fatlinges and clad with the woule, as the greatest number of thē that bear the name of shepeherde in England be at this day. Yea perchance he had many flocks to keep & therefore was absent from them all, leaving with every flock a dog that would rather worye a sheep then drive away the woulfe, well, brother, these be great plages, & it behooveth the sins to be great that have deserved these so great and intolerable plages at gods hand. Return to thi conscience therefore, and se if thou have not deserved all this and more to. Consider first if thou have loved thy neighboure as thyself, consider if thou have done nothing unto him that thou wouldeste not that he should do unto the. Loke if thou have not gone about, to prevent him in any bargen that thou hast seen him about, loke if thou have not craftily undermined him to get something out of his hand, or to deceive him in some bargein. Loke if thou have not labored him out of his house or ground. Se if thou have not accused him falsely or of malice, or else given false evidence against him: Se if thou have not given evil counsel to his wife or servants which might turn him to displeasure. Consider if thou have not desired and wished in thine heart to have his commodity frō him, if thou mightest without blame of the world have brought it about. For God looketh vpō the heart and if thine heart have been infected with ani of these evils then haste thou been abominable in the sight of God, and haste deserved these plages at gods hand. Now if y ^u befoūd abhominable in thy be hauoure towards thy neighboure what shalt thou be found trowest thou in thy demaners to god ward? God requireth thine whole hert, thine whole mind, and all the powers of thy body and soul. Thou shalt love thy Lord God with all thy life, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. That is to say, there shall be nothing in the which thou shalt not apply wholly to the love of thy Lord God. But how was it possible for the to love God (whom thou seest not) sith thou lovest not thy Brother whom thou seest? God requireth the to love him ever. And how often hast thou gone whole days together, whole weakes, yea whole years, and never thought once to love him aryght? How many and how great benefits hast thou received at gods hand, and howe vnthanckful hast thou been for them, thynckynge that thou haste gotten them by thine own labor and not received them freely at gods hand? As though God had not given the thy life, thine health, and thy strength to labor. Yea and as though it were not God only that giveth the increase of every man's labor. But knowing by thine own creation and bringing up, and also by the young fruit that God sendeth y ^e of thy body, & further by the fruits y ^t God sendeth and causeth yearly to grow out of y ^e earth, y ^t there is a god almyghty; yet y ^u hast not honored him as God, but hast turned the glory of God into an Image made after the shape or similitude of mortal man, renuinge and ridinge from place to place to seek and to honor things of thine own makeinge, crienge and calling upon them in thy need and paying unto thē thy vows and thancking thē for thine health received doing them daily worship and reverence in the temples, and bestowinge thine alms upon them in deckinge thē and setting lights before them. Biside this thou haste put confidence of salvation in pardones that y ^u haste bought, in prayers that thou hast hiered or mumbled up thyself, in masses that thou hast caused to be said, and in works that thou thyself haste fantasied, and haste not thanckefullye received the free mercy of God offered unto the in Christ in whom only thou maiste have remission of thy sins: and therefore God hath given the up in to a reprobate mind to do the thing that is not beseminge. Even to stand up against God and gods ordinance, to refuse his holy word, to delight in lies and false fables, to credit false prophets and to take weapē in hand against gods chosen ministers, I say his chosen ministers. For be they good or bad they are gods chosen. If they be good: to defend the innocente▪ If they be evil: to plage the wicked. If thou wilt therefore that God shall deliver the or thy children from the tyranny of them that oppress the: lament thine old sins, and endeavor emendment of life. And then he that caused King Cirus to send the Jews home to Jerusalem again: shall also stire up our young king Edward to restore the to thy liberty again, and to give straight charge that non shall be so bold as once to vex or trouble the. For the heart of a king is in gods hand, & as he turneth the rivers of water, so turneth he it. Besure therefore, that if thou keep thyself in obedience and suffer all this oppression patiently, not geueing credit unto false prophecies that tell the of victori but to the word of God that telleth the thy duty: thou shalt at the time, and after the manner that God hath already pointed, be delivered. Perchaunce God will take frō thine oppressors their hard stony hearts & give them hearts of flesh, for it is in his power so to do. Let him alone therefore. Read the prophecy of Jeremiah, and especially the seven and twenty Chapter, the eighte and twenty and the nine and twenti, and therein thou shalt learn thy duty in captiuitye, and howe vain a thing it is to credit the prophets that Prophecy vyc-torie to them that have by their sins deserved to be led away captive, yea and to remain captive till such time as the time be complete duringe which God hath determined to punish them. And know thou for certainty, that if thou be still stouberne, God will not leave the so. He will bring the on thy knees, he will make the stoop. If the gētlemen and rulars of thy countreie should be to weak for the, he would bring in strainge nations to subdue the (as the Babylonians did the Jews) and lead the away captive. So that refusing to serve in thine own country, thou shalt be made a slave in a strainge contrei. Quiet thyself therefore, & strive not against the stream. For thi sins have deserved this oppression, and God hath sent if the as a just reward for thy sins: & be y ^u never so loath, yet needs sustain it thou must. Apointe thyself therefore to bear it. Let it not be laid upon the in vain let it do the thing y ^t God hath sent it for, let it cause the to acknowledge thy sin, reap̄t it and become altogether a new man. That in the day when God shall deliver the, his name may be glorified in the. And thē God shall send y ^e plenty of true prophets, y ^t shall go before y ^e in puriti of life, and godli doctrine. They shall not come or send .iiii. times in an yere and no more, neither shall they set one togather up the tenth of thine increase to their behoufe, and leave the destitute of a diligente guide (as thy shepherds do now a days) but God hath promised by his prophet to take a way these shepeherdes from the, and to commyt the to the keeping of David his fayethful servant, that is to say to such as will be as diligent in feadyng the, as David was in gouernyng the people of whom he had gouernaūce. Geue ear therefore ye shephardes of this church of England. Ye Bishops, ye Deans, Archdiacons and Canons, ye Persons and ye Vicares whatsoever ye be, that receive any parte of the tenth of men's yerelye increase or any other patrimony of preachers give ear to y ^e prophet Ezekiel, for y ^e same Lord y ^t bad him speak unto y ^e sheperdes of Judah, byddeth him speak unto you now also. Thou son of man saith the Lord: prophecy against the shepherds of England, prophecy and say unto those shepheardis: thus saith the Lord God. Woe be to the shepherds of England, that have fed them selves. What ought not those shepherds to have fed those flocks of England. Ye eat the fat, and decke youre selves with the woule, & the mutton that is fat, ye kill to feed vpō, but these silli sheep ye feed not. The soroweful & pensive ye have not comforted, the sick ye have not healed, y ^e broken ye have not bound up, the stray sheep ye have not brought again nor sought for y ^e lost. But w ^t extreme cruelty ye have played the lords over them &c. I need not to rehearse more of this prophets saying unto you, for ye know where to have it and have leisure enough to seek it, for ought that I se you busied withal unless it be with purchaisinge lands for youre heirs & find fingered ladies, whose womanlike, behavior and motherlike housewifry ought to be a light to all womē that dwell about you, but is so fare otherwise that unless ye leave them lands to Mary them withal, no man will set a pin by them whē you be gone. Well loke to this gear be time, lease perhaps it beede a scabbe emonge you. I would not your wives should be taken from you: but I would you should keep them to the furtherance of gods truth whereof ye profess to be teacheares. Let youre wives therefore put of their fine frockes and frenche hoodes & furnishe them selves with all pointes of honest housewifery, and so let thē be an help to youre study and not a let. S. Paul teacheth you not to make them ladies or gentlewomen. Neither doeth he teache you to be so gredie upon liueings, that for the liueinge sake ye will take upon you the duties of twenty men and yet do not the duty of one, no some of you be not able to do any part of one duty. If gods word do alow it that one of you should be a dean in one place, a canone in another, a parsone here and a parsone there, a master of an house in Oxford or Cambridge and an officer in the kings house, and yet to do none of the duities hereof thoroughly: thē set your pens to the paper and satisfy us bi gods word and we will also help you to our power to satisfy the consciences of them that be offended at youre doings herein. If you cannot do so: then give over youre pluralities and make your vnsaciable desires give place to gods truth. Content yourself without competent liueinge, and fail not to be diligente in doing the duty thereof. But if ye will do neither of both: trust to it ye shall hear more of it. Youre checkinge of one or two in a corner cannot stop every mannes mouth in a matter of truth being so great an infamy to y ^e gospel of god which ye profess. And if ye will needs hold still your pluralities for your lordlike liueing sake doubt ye not ye will be charged with that which ye would seme to be clear of. For a great number of youre unworthy curates have been the stirrars up of the simple people in the late tumults that have been, where as if you had not robbed thē of that which thei pay yearly to have a learned and Godly teachar, they had been better enstructed, as appeared by the quietness that was emonge them that had such shepeherdes. Well brother. Thou I say that art thus oppressed on the one side and destituted on the other: take mine advise with the. Submit thyself wholly to the will of God. Do thy labor truly, cal upon God continually. I mean not that thou shuldest be ever muttering on thy beads, or y ^t thou shouldest have any beads, but my meaning is, that thou shouldest ever have thine heart lifted up unto God, for so meaneth Sainte Paul when he saith. I would men should pray always and in all places, lifting up their pure hands. &c.

And in all thy doings let thy desire be that God's will be fulfilled in the, and what so ever God sendeth the, hold the content w ^t all and render unto him most hertie thanckes for that he dealeth so mercifully with the, acknowledginge that bi his justice he might pour out upon the mo plages then ever were heard of. And when thou commeste to thy parish church, if thy curate be an evil live ar, then remember what Christ said unto his disciples. When the scribes and pharises do set them down upon Moses seat, then do all that they command you to do, but do not as they do, for they say & do not. Remember this I say, and what so ever thi curate biddeth the do whē he sitteth on Christ's seat, that is, when he readeth the bible unto the: that do thou. But follow not his examples. Do not as thou seest him do, but at thy first entrance into the church, lift up thine heart unto god, and desire of him that he will give the his holy spirit to illumine and lighten the eyes of thine heart that thou mayest se and perceive the true meaning of all the scriptures that thou shalt hear read unto the that day. And so shalt thou be sure, that though thy curate were a devil and would not that any man should be the better for that which he readeth: yet thou shalt be edified and learn as much as shall be necessary for thy salvation. And for thy sake god shall make thy curate (that otherwise would mumble in the mouth & drounde his words) to speak out plainly, or else he shall give the such a gift that thou shalt understand him plainly. Of such power is God, for when the Apostles spake in the Hebrew tongue only, all that were present heard every man his own language. Doubt thou not therefore but if thou be desirous to learn thy duty out of that thy curate readeth to the: God will make it plain unto y ^e , though it be not plainlye read. For he that could make the Hebrew tongue (which sowndeth far otherwise thē other tongues do) sownd all manner of languages, to every man his own language: can also make thine own language sound plain unto the, though it were not spoken any thing plain. Thus seeste thou that the cause of Sedition is not where thou laiest it, for I have declared to the that thine own sin is the cause that thou art Sedicious. For Sedition is poured vpō the to plage thy former sin withal. Because thou knewest God bi his creatures and yet didest not honor him as God, he hath given the over into a reprobate sense to do the thing that is vnsemelye, even to stand up against God and gods ordinance, as I have said before.

Now if I should demand of the gredie cormerauntes what thei think should be the cause of Seditiō: they would say, the paisāt knaves be to wealthy, provēder pritheth thē. They know not thenselves, they know no obedience, they regard no laws, thei would have no gentlemē, thei would have all mē like thenselves, they would have all things commune. Thei would not have us masters of that which is our own. They will appoint us what rent we shall take for our grounds We must not make the best of our own. These are ioly fellows. Thei will caste down our parches, & lay our pastures opē, thei will have the law in their own hands. They will play the kings. They will compel the king to grafit their requests. But as they like their fare at y ^e break fast they had this last somer, so let thē do again. They have ben metely well coled, and shall be yet better coled if they quiet not thē selves. We will tech thē to know their betters. And because they would have all cōmone, we will leave thē nothing. And if they once stir again or do but once cluster together, we will hang thē at their own doors. Shall we suffer y ^e vila • nes to disprove our doings? No, we will be lords of our own & use it as we shall think good.

Oh good masters, what should I cal you? you y ^t have no name, you y ^t have so many occupaciōs & trads y ^t there is no on name mete for you. You vngētle gentlemē. You churles chikens I say. Geue me leave to make answer for the pore Ideotes over whom ye triumph in this sort. And this one thing I shall desire of you that ye report me not to be one that favoreth their evil doings (for I take God to witness I hate doeth theyre evil doings and yours also) but give me leave to tell you as freely of your faults, as I have alreadi told them of theires. And for as much as you be strong and they weak, I shall desire you to bear with me though I be more ernest in rebuking your faults, then I was in rebuking theirs.

True it is, the pore men (whō ye cal paisaunte knaves) have deserved more thē you can devise to lay upon them. And if everyone of them were able and should sustain as much punishment as thei all were able to sustain yet could thei not sustain the plages y ^t thei have deserved. But yet if their offense wer laid in an equal balaunce with yours (as no doubt thei are in y ^e sight God) do •• t not but you should sone be ashamed of yo • re parte. For what can you lay unto their charge, but they have had examples of the same in you? If you charge thē with disobedience: you were first disobedient.

For without a law to bear you, yea contrary to the law which forbiddeth all manner of oppression & extortiō, & that more is contrary to conscience, the ground of all good laws, ye enclosed from the pore their due commones, leauied greater fines thē heretofore have been leauied, put them frō the liberties (and in a manner enheritaunce) that they held up custom, & reised their rentes. Yea whē there was a law ratified to the contrary, you ceased not to find means either to compel your tenantes to consent to your desire in enclosinge, or else ye found such maistership y ^t no man durst gain say your doings for fear of displeasure. And what obedience shown you, when the kings proclamations were sent forth, and commissions directed for the laying open of your enclosures, and yet you left not of to enclose still? Yea what obedience was this which ye shown at such time as the kings moste honorable counsel perceiueinge the: grudginge that was emong the people, sent forth the second proclamation concerning your negligence or rather contempt in not laieinge open that which cōtrari to the good estatutes made in parliament you had enclosed? It appeareth by your doings that there was in you neither obedience to your prince and his laws, nor love to your contrei. For if there had bē obedience in you: you would forthwith have put all his laws in executiō to the uttermost of youre power. And if you had loved your contrei, would you not have prevented the great destructiō that chanced bi the reason of your vnsaciable desire: I am sure you be not rulars in your country, but ye can se before what is likely to follow upon such oppression, & especially in a realm that hath heretofore had a noble and a valiaunte enmminalti. But grant ye were so beastish: yet have you not lacked thē that have told you of it both by words and writtinges. You have ben told of it I say, and have had the threatenings of God laid plainlye before your eyes wherein you must needs se the vēgeaunce of God hanging over your heads for your lack of mercy. Ther is not one story of the Bible that serveth to declare how readi God is to take vengeance for the oppression of his people: but the same hath ben declared unto you to the uttermost, beside the notable histories and cronicles of this realm, wherein doeth most plainly appear the justice of god in the revenging of his people, at such time as they have kept thenselves in quiet obedience to their prince & rulers & their destruction when they have rebelled.

Wittinglye and willingly therefore ye have both disobeied youre king and his laws, and also brought youre contrei into the miseri it is in, bi pulling vpō yourself y ^e vengeance of god which of his justice he cannot hold back from such people as do wyllinglye and wittynglye oppress him in his members, in such sort as ye have done. Howe you have obeyed the laws in rukeinge together of fermes, purchaisinge and prollynge for benefices, robbing the people of good ministers thereby, all the world seeth and all godly hearts lament. Loke the estatutes made in the time of our late souerayne of famous memory Henry the .viii. & say if ye may by those estatutes (taken in their true meaning) either being no priests nor students in the universities have benifices, or other spiritual promotions (as you call them for ye are ashamed to call them, ministracious because ye neither will nor can minister) or being priests have pluralities of such ministrations. Well I will burden you no more with youre faults, lease perhaps you cannot well bear thē But this I shall say unto you. You shall never the sooner be gentlemen for your shout oppression, nor the later have things in private for that ye let youre tenauntes live by you upon theyre labor. And think not to prosper the better in youre insatiable desire for that you tryumphe so Lordelyke over the poor Captyfes, that being seduced by the vain hope of vyctorye promised them in piuyshe Prophecies have greatly offended God by rebellion: for the greater their offense is, the greater shall your plage be when it cometh. For you have been the only cause of their offense. If he therefore that is the occasion of one man's falling unto any kind of vice, were better have a mylstone tied about his neck and be cast into the depe sea withal: what shall be thought of you that have been the occasiō of so many men's falling into so detestable sin and trespass against God, as to distrube y ^e whole estate of their contrei with the great peril and danger of their anointed Kyng in his tender age, whose blood (if he had perished) should have been required at your hands as the blood of all them that have perished shall? Oh merciful god, were it not that gods mercy is more then your sins can be: there were no way but to despeyre of forgiveness. But god is not only mighty in mercy & able to forgive all y ^e sins of the whole world: but he is also redye to forgive all that return frō their wicked ways, and w ^t a constant faith & sure believe to obtain do call on him for mercy. I advertise you therefore, & in the name of Christ (whose name you bear) I require you, that w ^t out delaye ye return to your hearts & acknowledge your grievous and manifold offenses, committed in your behavior to wards the poor members of Christ (youre brethren both by religion and nation) whom you have so cruelly oppressed, wish even from the bottom of your hearts, y ^t you had never done it. Be fully determined to make restituciō of that ye have miss takē, though ye should leave yourselves nothing. For better is a clear conscience in y ^e hour of death in a beggars bosom, then mountains of gold w ^t a conscience y ^t is gilty, Wishe that you had contented yourselves w ^t that state wherein your fathers left you, and strive not to set your children above the same, lest god take vengaunce on you both suddenly, when ye be most hasty to clime. And if for youre worthiness god have called you to office so that ye may with good conscience take vpō you y ^e state that ye he called unto: then se you deal justly in all points, & follow not filthy lucre to make your children Lord's, but study to furnish them w ^t all knowledge and godly manners, that they may worthily succeed you. Grudge not to se y ^e people grow in wealth under you, neither do you invent ways to keep thē bare: lest haply it chance unto you as it did to Kinge Nabuchodonozer and his servants when they diuised ways to keep the Hebrews in slavery still,

They rebelled not but quietly did their labor, referrynge their cause to God. They prepared not for wars neither had any confidence in their own strength, but when the Egyptians thought to have had a fair day at them: God drowned them all in the red sea, and drave their dead bodies on land in such sort that they whom they thought to keep still in slauerye might easyly take the spoil of them. Thincke not therefore, but if the people quiet thenselves in their oppression and cal unto God for deliverance: he will by one mean or other give them the spoil of their oppressors. He is as mighty now as he was in those days and is now as able to flea both you and yours in one night, as he was to flea all the first borne of the Egiptyans: And then who shall have the spoil? Be warned betime, least ye reap̄te to late leave of your gredie desire to pul away the liueynge from the clergy, and seek diligently to set such ministers in the church as be able and will enstruct the people in all pointes of their duty, that you with them and they with you may escape the wrath of God that hangeth presently over you both. The king & Citizens of Neniue were not ashamed to fit in sackcloth and in ashes lamentynge their sins and there upon found mercy. Wherefore if ye will • ynde mercy, ye must not be ashamed to do the like, for certenlye the greatness of your sins importeth as present destruction to you as if ye were the same Ninevites y ^t Jonah was sent unto. Be not ashamed therefore to proclaim a solemn fast thorough out the whole realm, y ^t all at once w ^t one voice we may cry unto god for mercy. Leave of your cōmunions in a corner, & come to y ^e opē temples y ^t men may se y ^t ye regard y ^e Lord's institution. Break your bread to the pore, y ^t all men may se y ^t ye regard fasting. For y ^t is the true fast, to refrain the meat & drink y ^t accustomably we were wout to take & give the same (or the value thereof) to the needy. So shall you both fele & know their disease, and ease it also. Trust not to your great mumber of valiant warriors, neither to your mighty provisions, but remember what befell to Holofernes y ^e stout captain of king Nobuchoddnozer, when he would not hearken to the right advice of Achior his vndercaptaine.

For certainly I say unto you, god was never more ready to deliver his people of Israel frō oppressiō at all times when they walkinge in his ways committed their cause unto him: then he is now ready to deliver all christen mē that do with like confidence cal upon him, If you therefore will not he arken unto Achior his counsel, but determine to torment him when ye shall triumpth over the rest: doubt you not but Judith shall cut of all your hedes on after another & god shall strike youre retinew w ^t such a fear, y ^t none shall be so bold as once to tourne his face. Yea if there were no men left on live to put thē in fear, they should be feared with shadows. And though there were no gonnes to shote at thē, yet the stones of the strete should not cease to fly emonge them, by the mighty power of God, who will rather make of every grass in the field a man, then such as trust in him should be ouerrun or kept in oppression. Be warned therefore, & seek not to keep the commones of England in slavery. For that is y ^e next way to destroy yourselves. For if thei commit their cause to God & quiet thē selves in their vocation, being contented with oppression, if gods will be so: then shall ye be sure that God will fight for them, and so are ye over matched. But if they will needs take in hand to revenge their own wrong God will fight against you both, so that you both consumynge one the other shall shortly be made a pray to thē that ye doubt least of all the world.

As you tender your own wealth therefore and the public wealth of this noble realm of England, which God hath enriched with so many and so great commodities, & as you desire to use and enjoy the same, and not to be led away captive into a straynge nation, or else be cruelly murdered among your wives, kinsfolk and children, and finallye to be damned forever: so loke upon these causes of Sedicion, and do your best endeavor to put them away. You that be oppressed, I say, refer youre cause to God. And you y ^t have oppressed, lament your so doing and do the office of your calling, in defendinge the innocente and fedinge the nedye. Let not couetyse contstrain you to rob the people of that portion which they pay to have godly ministers to enstruct thē in their duty, and to releue the unwieldy that be not able to labor for their food Be careful and diligent to seek for such ministers, and when you have found them let them have all that the people pay yearly out of their increase, that they may live there on and minister unto the pore, out of y ^e same.

Thus doing, ye shall not only escape the vengeance that hangeth presentlye over you but also be rewarded at gods hand both with excedinge plenti of all good things in this life, & also with life everlasting when nature shall ende the same. Whereas if ye will not take counsel but remain still in your wicked purpose▪ Pharaoh nor y ^e Sodomites were never so hardened as you shall be, neither is the remembrance of their distruccion so terible to us, as the distruccion of you shall be to others that shall come after. The spirit of GOD work in youre hearts that ye being admonished of the sword that is coming, may by repentance of your syn escape the danger thereof.