ABAC. 2. 4. His minde swelleth and is not right in him: But the iust by his faith shall liue.

THE nature of man beeing much
more delighted to bee led then
drawne, doth many times stubornely
resist authoritie when to
perswasio~ it is easily yeeldeth. Wher
vpon the wisest Law-makers haue
endevoured alwaies that those
lawes might seeme most reasonable
which they would haue most inviolably kept. A
law simply commaunding or forbidding is but dead in
comparison of that which expresseth the reason where
fore it doth the one or the other. And surelie even in
the Lawes of God, although that hee hath given commandement,
be in it selfe a reason sufficient to exact all
obedience at the handes of men: yet a forcible inducement
it is to obey with greater alacritie and cheerefulnesse
of minde, when wee see plainely that nothing is
imposed more then we must needes yeeld vnto, except
we wilbe vnreasonable. In a word, whatsoever we be
taught, be it precept for direction of our manners, or
article for instruction of our faith, or document anie

A2

way for information of our mindes, it then taketh root
and abideth when wee conceiue not only what God
doth speake, but why. Neither is it a small thing which
we derogate as well from the honor of his truth, as fro~
the comfort, ioy, & delight which we our selues should
take by it, when wee loosely slide over his speech as
though it were as our owne is, commonly vulgar and
triviall: wheras he vttereth nothing but it hath besides
the substance of doctrine delivered a depth of wisdome
in the verie choise and frame of words to deliver it in:
the reason whereof being not perceived but by greater
intention of braine then our nice mindes for the most
part can well awaie with, faine wee woulde bring the
world if we might to thinke it but a needlesse curiosity
to rip vp anie thing further then extemporall readinesse
of wit doeth serue to reach vnto. Which course if
here we did list to follow, we might tell you that in the
first branch of this sentence God doth condemne the
Babilonians pride, and in the second teach what happinesse
of state shall grow to the righteous by the consta~cie
of their faith, notwithstanding the troubles which
now they suffer; and after certaine notes of holesome
instruction herevpon collected, passe over without detaining
your mindes in any further removed speculation.
But as I take it there is a difference betweene the
talke that beseemeth Nurces amongst children, & that
which men of capacitie and iudgement doe or shoulde
receiue instruction by.
The minde of the Prophet being erected with that
which hath beene hitherto spoken, receiveth here for
ful satisfaction, a short abridgement of that which is afterwards
more particularly vnfolded. Wherefore as
the question before diputed of doeth concerne two
sorts of men, the wicked florishing as the Bay, and the
righteous like the withered grasse; the one full of pride
the other cast downe with vtter discouragement: so the
answere which God doth make for resolutio~ of doubts
herevpon arisen hath reference vnto both sorts, & this
present sentence containing a briefe abstract thereof,
comprehendeth summarily as wel the feareful estate of
iniquity over exalted, as the hope laid vp for righteousnesse
opprest. In the former branch of which sentence,
let vs first examin what this rectitude or streightnesse
importeth which God denieth to be in the minde
of the Babylonian. All things which God did create he
made them at the first, true, good, and right. True, in respect
of correspondence vnto that patterne of their being,
which was eternally drawne in the counsell of
Gods foreknowledge; Good, in regarde of the vse and
benefit which each thing yeeldeth vnto other; Right, by
an apt conformitie of all partes with that end which is
outwardly proposed for each thing to tend vnto. Other
things haue ends proposed, but haue not the facultie
to know, iudge, and esteeme of them, and therefore
as they tend therevnto vnwittingly, so likewise in the
meanes whereby they acquire their appointed endes,
they are by necessitie so helde, that they cannot divert
from them. The ends why the heavens do moue, the
heavens themselues know not, and their motions they
cannot but continue. Only men in all their actions
know what it is which they seeke for, neither are they
by any such necessitie tied naturally vnto any certaine

A3

determinate meane to obtaine their ende by, but that
they may, if they will, forsake it. And therefore in the
whole world no creature but only man which hath the
last end of his actions proposed as a recompence and
reward: wherevnto his mind derectly bending it selfe,
is tearmed right or straight, otherwise perverse.
To make this somewhat more plaine, we must note,
that as they which travell from city to citty, enquire ever
for the straightest way, because the straightest is
that which soonest bringeth them vnto their iourneies
end: So we having here as the Apostle speaketh no abiding
Citty, but being alwaies in travell towardes that
place of ioy, immortality, and rest, cannot but in every
of our deeds, words, and thoughts, thinke that to be best
which with most expedition leadeth vs therevnto, and
is for that very cause tearmed right. That Soveraigne
good, which is the eternall fruition of all good, being
our last and chiefest felicitie, there is no desperat despiser
of God and godlinesse living which doth not wish
for. The difference betweene right and crooked minds,
is in the meanes which the one or the other do eschew
or follow. Certaine it is, that al particular things which
are naturally desired in the world, as food, rayment, honour,
wealth, pleasure, knowledge, they are subordinated
in such wise vnto that future good which we looke
for in the world to come, that even in them there lieth
a direct way tending vnto this. Otherwise wee must
thinke that God making promises of good things in
this life, did seeke to pervert men & to lead them from
their right minds. Where is then the obliquitie of the
mind of man? His mind is perverse, cam, and crooked,
not when it bendeth it selfe vnto any of these things,
but when it bendeth so, that it swarveth either to the
right hand or to the left by excesse of defect from that
exact rule whereby humane actions are measured. The
rule to measure and iudge them by is the law of God.
For this cause the Prophet doth make so often and so
earnest sute, O direct me in the way of thy commandements:
As long as J haue respect to thy Statuts I am sure not
to tread amisse. Vnder the name of the Lawe wee must
comprehend not only that which God hath written in
tables and leaues, but that which nature also hath engraven
in the hearts of men. Else how shall those heathen
which never had bookes but heaven and earth to
looke vpon be convicted of perversenesse? But the Gentiles
which had not the law in bookes, had, saith the Apostle,
the effect of the law written in their harts.
Then seeing that the heart of man is not right exactly
vnlesse it be found in all parts such that God examining
and calling it vnto account with all severity of rigor
be not able once to charge it with declining or suarving
aside, which absolute perfection when did God ever
find in the sons of meer mortall men? Doth it not
follow that all flesh must of necessity fall downe and
confesse, wee are not dust and ashes but worse, our
mindes from the highest to the lowest are not right?
If not right, then vndoubtedly not capable of that
blessednes which wee naturally seeke, but subiect vnto
that which wee most abhorre, anguish, tribulation,
death, woe, endlesse misery. For whatsoeuer misseth
the waie of life, the issue thereof cannot bee but perdition.
By which reason all being wrapped vp in sinne,
and made thereby the children of death, the mindes of
all men being plainely convicted not to be right: shall
we thinke that God hath indued them with so many excellencies,
mo not only then any, but then all the creatures
in the world besides, to leaue them in such estate
that they had beene happier if they had never beene?
Here commeth necessarily in a new waie vnto salvation,
so that they which were in the other perverse, may
in this be found straight and righteous. That the way
of nature, this the way of grace. The end of that waie
salvation merited presupposing the righteousnesse of
mens works, their righteousnesse a naturall habilitie to
do them, that habilitie the goodnes of God which created
them in such perfection. But the end of this way
salvation bestowed vpon men as a gifte presupposing
not their righteousnesse, but the forgiuenesse of their
vnrighteousnesse, iustification; their iustification not
their naturall habilitie to do good, but their hearty sorrow
for not doing, & vnfained beliefe in him for whose
sake not doers are accepted, which is their vocation;
their vocation the election of God taking them out
from the number of lost children; their election a mediator
in whom to be elect; this mediation inexplicable
mercie, his mercie their miserie, for whom he vouchsafed
to make himselfe a mediator. The want of exact
distinguishing between these two waies, and observing
what they haue common, what peculiar, hath been the
cause of the greatest part of that confusion whereof
christianity at this day laboureth. The lacke of diligence
in searching, laying downe, and invring mens
minds with those hidden grounds of reason, wherevpon
the least particulars in each of these are most firmely
and strongly builded, is the only reason of all those
scruples and vncertainties wherewith wee are in such
sort inta~gled that a number despaire of ever discerning
what is right or wrong in any thing. But we will let this
matter rest whereinto wee stepped to search out a way
how some minds may be and are right truly even in the
sight of God, though they be simplie in themselues not
right.
Howbeit there is not only this difference betweene
the iust and impious, that the mind of the one is right
in the sight of God because his obliquitie is imputed,
the other perverse because his sinne is vnrepented of:
but even as lines that are drawn with a trembling hand,
but yet to the point which they should, are thought
ragged and vneven, neverthelesse direct in comparison
of them which run cleane another way; so there is no
incongruitie in tearming them right minded men, who~
though God may charge with many things amisse, yet
they are not as those hideous and ougly monsters, in
whom because there is nothing but wilfull opposition
of mind against God, a more then tolerable deformitie
is noted in them by saying that their mindes are not
right. The Angell of the Church of Thyatira vnto who~
the sonne of God sendeth this greeting, I know thy works
and thy loue, and service, and faith: Notwithstanding I haue
a few things against thee , was not as he vnto whom St
Peter, Thou hast no fellowship in this businesse, for thy heart
is not right in the sight of God. So that whereas the orderly
dispositio~ of the mind of man should be this, perturbations
and sensuall appetites all kept in aw by a moderate

B

and sober will; will in all things framed by reason;
reason directed by the law of God and nature; this Babylonian
had his mind as it were turned vpside downe.
In him vnreasonable cecitie and blindnesse trampled al
lawes both of God and nature vnder feet; wilfulnesse
tyrannized over reason, & brutish sensualitie over will.
An evident token that his outrage would worke his overthrow
and procure his speedie ruine. The mother
whereof was that which the Prophet in these wordes
signifieth; His mind doth swell.
Immoderate swelling, a token of verie eminent
breach, and of inevitable destruction; Pride, a vice
which cleaveth so fast vnto the hearts of men that if we
were to strippe our selues of all faultes one by one, wee
should vndoubtedly finde it the very last and hardest to
put of. But J am not here to touch the secret itching
humor of vanitie wherewith men are generally touched.
It was a thing more then meanely inordinat wherewith
the Babylonian did swell. Which that we may both
the better conceaue, and the more easily reape profite
by the nature of this vice which setteth the whole
world out of course, and hath put so many even of the
wisest besides themselues, is first of all to be inquired into;
seco~dly the dangers to be discovered , which it draweth
inevitable after it, being not cured; and last of al the
waies to cure it.
Whether we looke vpon the gifts of nature, or of
grace, or whatsoever is in the worlde admired as a part
of mans excellency, adorning his body, beutifying his
mind, or externally any way commending him in the
account and opinion of men, there is in every kinde
somewhat possible which no man hath, and somewhat
had which few men can attaine vnto. By occasio~ wherof
there groweth disparagement necessarily; and by
occasion of disparagement, pride through mens ignorance.
First therfore although men be not proud of any
thing which is not at the least in opinion good, yet every
good thing they are not proud of, but only of that
which either is common vnto many, and being desired
of all, causeth them which haue it to be honored aboue
the rest. Now there is no man so void of braine, as to
suppose that pride consisteth in the bare possession of
such things; for then to haue vertue were a vice, and
they should be the happiest men who are most wretched,
because they haue least of that which they would
haue. And though in speech wee doe intimate a kind of
vanitie to be in them of whom we say, They are wise me~
and they know it, yet this doth not proue that every wise
man is proud which doth not thinke himselfe to bee
blockish. What we may haue and knowe that we haue
it without offence, doe wee then make offensiue when
we take ioy and delight in having it? What difference
betweene men enriched with all abundance of earthly
and heavenly blessings, and Idols gorgeously attired,
but this, the one takes pleasure in that which they haue, the
other none? If we may be possest with beautie, strength,
riches, power, knowledge, if we may be privie what we
are every way, if glad and ioyfull for our owne welfare
and in all this remaine vnblameable, neverthelesse some
there are who granting thus much, doubt whether it
may stand with humilitie to except those testimonies
of praise and commendation, those titles, roomes, and

B2

other honours which the worlde yeeldeth as acknowledgements
of some mens excellencie aboue others.
For in as much as Christ hath said vnto those that are
his; The kings of the Gentiles raigne over them, and they
that beare rule over them are called gratious Lords: Bee yee
not so; The Anabaptist herevpon vrgeth equalitie amongst
Christians, as if all exercise of authoritie were
nothing else but heathenish pride. Our Lord and saviour
had no such meaning. But his Disciples feeding the~
selues with a vaine imagination for the time, that the
Messias of the world should in Ierusale~ erect his thron,
and exercise dominion with great pompe and outward
statelinesse, advanced in honour and terrene power aboue
all the Princes of the earth, began to thinke how
with their Lords condition, their owne would also rise:
that having left and forsaken all to follow him, their
place about him should not be meane: & because they
were many it troubled them much, which of the~ should
be the greatest man. When sute was made for two by
name, that of them one might sit at his right hand, and
the other at his left, the rest began to stomacke, each taking
it grievously that any should haue what all did affect.
Their Lord and Master to correct this humor turneth
aside their cogitations from these vaine and fansifull
conceits, giving them plainely to vnderstand that
they did but deceaue themselues. His comming was
not to purchase an earthly but to bestowe an heavenly
kingdome, wherein they if any shalbe greatest whome
vnfained humilitie maketh in this world lowest, & least
amongst others: Yee are they which haue continued with
me in my temptations, therefore I leaue vnto you a kingdome

10

as my father hath appointed me, that yee may eate and
drinke at my table in my kingdome, & sit on seats, & iudge
the twelue tribes of Israell. But my kingdome is no such
kingdome as yee dreame of. And therefore these hungry
ambitious contentions are seemlier in heathens the~
in you. Wherefore from Christs intent and purpose
nothing further removed then dislike of distinctions in
titles and callings annexed for orders sake vnto authoritie,
whether it be Ecclesiasticall or civill. And whe~ wee
haue examined throughly what the nature of this vice
is no man knowing it, can be so simple as not to see an
vglie: shape thereof apparent many times in reiecting
honours offered, then in the very exacting of them at
the hands of men. For as Iudas his care for the poore
was meere covetousnesse, and that franckhearted wastfulnesse
spoken of in the Gospell, thrift; so there is
no doubt but that going in ragges may bee pride, and
thrones be challenged with vnfained humilitie.
We must goe farther therefore and enter somwhat
deeper before we can come to the closet wherein this
poyson lyeth. There is in the heart of every proud man,
first an errour of vnderstanding; a vaine opinion where
by he thinketh his owne excellencie, and by reason
thereof, his worthinesse of estimation, regard, and honour,
to be greater then in truth it is. This maketh him
in all his affections accordingly to raise vp himselfe, &
by his inward affections his outward acts are fashioned.
Which if you list to haue exemplified, you may either
by calling to mind things spoken of them whom
God himselfe hath in Scripture specially noted with
this fault, or by presenting to your secret cogitations

B3

that which you daily behold in the odious liues & manners
of high minded men. It were too long to gather
together so plentifull an harvest of examples in this
kind as the sacred Scripture affordeth. That which wee
drinke in at our eares doth not so percingly enter, as
that which the mind doth conceaue by sight. Is there
any thing written concerning the Assyrian Monarch in
the 10. of Esay, of his swelling mind, his hawtie lookes,
his great and presumptuous vaunts; By the power of mine
owne hand I haue done all things, and by mine owne wisdome
I haue subdued the world? Any thing concerning the
dames of Sion in the third of the Prophet Esay, of their
stretched out neckes, their immodest eies, their pageantlike,
stately, and pompous gate ? Any thing concerning
the practises of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram; of their
impatience to liue in subiection, their mutinies, repining
at lawfull authoritie, their grudging against their
superiours Ecclesiasticall and Civil? Any thing concerning
pride in any sort or sect which the present face of
the world doth not as in a glasse represent to the viewe
of all mens beholding? So that if bookes, both prophane
and holy, were all lost, as long as the manners of
men retaine the state they are in: for him which observeth
how that when men haue once conceaved an overweaning
of themselues it maketh them in all their
affections to swell how deadly their hatred, how heavy
their displeasure, how vnappeaseable their indignation
and wrath is aboue other mens, in what manner they
compose themselues to be as Heteroclites without the
compasse of all such rules as common sort are mesured
by; how the oathes which religious hearts do tremble
at they affect as principall graces of speech; what felicitie
they take to see the enormitie of their crimes aboue
the reach of lawes and punishments; how much
it delighteth them when they are able to appale with
the cloudinesse of their looke; how far they exceed the
tearmes wherewith mans nature should bee limited;
how high they beare their heades over others, howe
they browbeat al men which doe not receaue their sentences
as oracles with marvelous applause and approbation;
how they looke vpon no man but with an indirect
countenance, nor heare any thing saving their
owne praise with patience, nor speake without scornefulnesse
and disdaine; how they vse their servants as if
they were beasts, their inferiours as serva~ts, their equals
as inferiours, and as for superiours acknowledge none;
how they admire themselues as venerable, puissant,
wise, circumspect, provident, every way great, taking all
men besides themselues for ciphers, poore, inglorious,
silly creatures, needlesse burthens of the earth, ofscourings,
nothing: in a word for him which marketh howe
irregular and exorbitant they are in all things, it can be
no hard thing hereby to gather, that pride is nothing
but an inordinate elation of the minde proceeding fro~
a false conceit of mens excellencie in things honored,
which accordingly frameth also their deeds and behaviour
vnlesse there bee cunning to conceale it. For a
foule scarre may be covered with a faire cloath. And as
proud as Lucifer, may be in outward appearance lowly.
No man expecteth grapes of thistles: nor from a
thing of so bad a nature can other then sutable fruites
be looked for. What harme soever in private families
there groweth by disobedience of children, stubbornes
of servants, vntractablenesse in the~, who, although they
otherwise may rule, yet should in consideration of the
imparitie of their sex bee also subiect; whatsoever by
strife amongst me~ combined in the fellowship of greater
societies, by tyrannie of potentates, ambition of nobles,
rebellion of subiects in civill states; by heresies,
schismes, division in the Church; naming pride wee
name the mother which brought them forth, and the
only nurse that feedeth them. Giue me the harts of all
men humbled, and what is there that can overthrow or
disturbe the peace of the world? Wherein many things
are the cause of much evill, but pride of all.
To declaime of the swarmes of evils issuing out of
pride is an easie labour. I rather wish that I could exactly
prescribe and perswade effectually the remedies
whereby a soare so grievous might bee cured, and the
meanes how the pride of swelling mindes might be taken
downe. Wherevnto so much we haue already gained,
that the evidence of the cause which breedeth it
pointeth directly vnto the likeliest and fittest helpes to
take it away: diseases that come of fulnesse, emptinesse
must remoue. Pride is not cured, but by abating the error
which causeth the minde to swell. Then seeing that
they swel by misconceit of their own excelle~cy; for this
cause al which tend to the beating down of their pride,
whether it be advertiseme~t from men, or fro~ God himselfe
chastisment, it then maketh the~ cease to be prowd,
when it causeth them to see their errour in overseeing
the thing they were prowd of. At this marke Iob in his
apologie vnto his eloquent friends aimeth. For perceiving
how much they delighted to heare themselues
talke, as if they had given their poore afflicted familiar
a schooling of marvelous deepe and rare instruction, as
if they had taught him more then all the world besides
could acquaint him with, his answer was to this effect.
Yee swell as though yee had conceaued some greater
matter, but as for that which yee are delivered of who
knoweth it not? Is any man ignorant of these things?
At the same marke the blessed Apostle driveth; yee abound
in all things, yee are rich, yee raigne, and would
to Christ we did raigne with you. But boast not. For
what haue yee or are yee of your selues? To this marke
all those humble confessions are referred, which haue
beene alwaies frequent in the mouthes of Saints truely
wading in the triall of themselues: as that of the Prophet,
we are nothing but soarenesse and festered corruption,
our very light is darknesse and our righteousnes it selfe
vnrighteousnes; that of Gregory, Let no man ever put confidence
in his owne deserts, Sordet in conspectu iudicis, quod
fulget in conspectu operantis, In the sight of that dreadful
Iudge it is noysome, which in the dooers iudgement
maketh a beautifull shew; That of Anselm, I adore thee,
I blesse thee Lord God of heaven and redeemer of the worlde
with all the power, abilitie, and strength of my heart and
soule for thy goodnesse so vnmeasurably extended, not in regard
of my merits wherevnto only torments were due, but
of thy meere vnprocured benignity. If these fathers should
be raised againe from the dust and haue the bookes laid
open before them wherein such sentences are found as
this, Workes no other then the value, desert, price, and worth
of the ioyes of the kingdome of heaven; Heaven in relation

C

to our workes as the very stipend which the hired labourer
covenanteth to haue of him whose workes he doth, a thing equally
and iustly answering vnto the time and waight of his
travailes rather then to a voluntarie or bountifull gift. If I
say those reverend sore-rehearsed fathers whose books
are so full of sentences witnessing their Christian humilitie
should be raised from the dead, and behold with
their eies such things written; would they not plainely
pronounce of the authors of such writ, that they were
fuller of Lucifer then of Christ, that they were proud-hearted
men, and carried more swelling minds then sincerely
and feelingly knowne Christianitie can tolerate?
But as vnruly children with whom wholsome admonition
prevaileth little, are notwithstanding brought to
feare that ever after which they haue once well smarted
for: so the mind which falleth not with instruction, yet
vnder the rod of divine chastisement ceaseth to swell. If
therefore the Prophet David instructed by good experie~ce
haue acknowledged, Lord I was even at the point
of cleane forgetting my selfe, and so straying from my
right mind: but thy rod hath beene my reformer, it hath
beene good for me even as much as my soule is worth
that I haue beene with sorrow troubled: if the blessed
Apostle did neede the corrosiue of sharpe and bitter
strokes least his heart should swell with too great abundance
of heavenly revelations, surely vpon vs whatsoever
God in his world doth, or shall inflict, it cannot
seeme more then our pride doth exact, not only by way
of revenge, but of remedy. So hard it is to cure a sore of
such qualitie as pride is, in as much as that which rooteth
out other vices, causeth this, and which is even aboue
all conceit if we were cleane from all spot & blemish
both of other faults and of pride, the fall of Angels
doth make it almost a question whether we might
not need a preservatiue stil least we should happily wax
proud that we are not proud. What is virtue but a medicine,
and vice but a wound? Yet wee haue so often
deeply wounded our selues with medicines, that God
hath beene faine to make woundes medicinable, to cure
by vice where vertue hath striken, to suffer the iust man
to fall that being raised he may be taught what power it
was which vpheld him standing. I am not afraid to affirme
it boldly with S. Augustine, that men puffed vp
through a proud opinion of their owne sanctitie and
holinesse receaue a benefit at the hands of God and are
assisted with his grace, whe~ with his grace they are not
assisted but permitted & that greevously to transgresse,
whereby as they were in over great liking of themselus
supplanted, so the dislike of that which did supplant
them may establish them afterwards the surer. Aske the
very soule of Peter, and it shall vndoubtedly make you
it selfe this answer; my eger protestations made in the
glorie of my ghostly strength I am ashamed of, but
those christall teares wherewith my sinne and weaknes
was bewailed haue procured my endles ioy, my stre~gth
hath beene my ruine, and my fall my stay.

FINIS.