SO;

sword, and divide the child between them." When the mother of the child that accused the other heard him say "Nay, for God's sake, said she, let her have the whole child, and kill it not." "Nay, quoth the other, neither thine nor mine; but let it be divided." Then said Solomon, "Give this woman the child, this is the mother of the child." What came of this? Audivit omnes Israel, "When all Israel heard of this judgment, they feared the king." (1 Kings iii.) It is wisdom and godly knowledge that causeth a king to be feared.

One word note here for God's sake, and I will trouble you no longer. Would Solomon, being so noble a king, hear two poor women? They were poor, for as the scripture saith: They were together alone in a house; they had not so much as one servant between them both. Would King Solomon, I say, hear them in his own person? Yea, forsooth. And yet I hear of many matters before my lord protector, and my lord chancellor that cannot be heard. I must desire my lord protector's grace to hear me in this matter, that your grace would hear poor men's suits yourself. Put them to none other to hear, let them not be delayed. The saying is now, that money is heard every where; if he be rich he shall soon have an end of his matter.

Others are fain to go home with weeping tears, for any help they can obtain at any judge's hand. Hear men's suits yourself, I require you in God's behalf, and put it not to the hearing of these velvet coats, these upskips. Now a man can scarce know them from an ancient knight of the country. I cannot go to my book, for poor folks come unto me, desiring me that I will speak that their matters may be heard. I trouble my lord of Canterbury, and being at his house, now and then I walk in the garden looking in my book, as I can do but little good at it. But something I must needs do to satisfy this place. I am no sooner in the garden and have read awhile, but by and by cometh there some one or other knocking at the gate. Anon cometh my man, and saith: Sir, there is one at the gate would speak with you. When I come there, then is it some one or other that desireth me I will speak that his matter might be heard, and that he hath lain this long at great costs and charges, and cannot once have his matter come to the hearing;

but among all other, one specially moved me at this time to speak. This it is, sir.

A gentlewoman came to me and told me, that a great man keepeth certain lands of hers from her, and will be her tenant in the spite of her teeth; and that in a whole twelvemonth, she could not get but one day for the hearing of her matter; and the same day when the matter should be heard, the great man brought on his side a great sight of lawyers for his counsel, the gentlewoman had but one man of law; and the great man shakes him so, that he cannot tell what to do; so that when the matter came to the point, the judge was a mean to the gentlewoman, that she would let the great man have a quietness in her land.

I beseech your grace that ye will look to these matters. Hear them yourself. View your judges, and hear poor men's causes. And you, proud judges, hearken what God saith in his holy book: Audite illos, ita parvum ut magnum. “Hear

them, saith he, the small as well as the great, the poor as well

as the rich." Regard no person, fear no man; why? Quia Domini judicium est, "The judgment is God's." Mark this saying, thou proud judge. The devil will bring this sentence at the day of doom. Hell will be full of these judges, if they repent not and amend. They are worse than the wicked judge that Christ speaketh of, that neither feared God, nor the world.

There was a certain widow that was a suitor to a judge, and she met him in every corner of the street, crying, I pray you hear me, I beseech you hear me, I ask nothing but right. When the judge saw her so importunate, "Though I fear neither God, saith he, nor the world, yet because of her importunateness, I will grant her request." (Luke xviii.) But our judges are worse than this judge was, for they will neither hear men for God's sake, nor fear of the world, nor importunateness, nor any thing else. Yea, some of them will command them to ward, if they be importunate.

I heard say, that when a suitor came to one of them, he said, What fellow is it that giveth these folk counsel to be so importunate? He would be punished and committed to ward. Marry, sir, punish me then; it is even I that gave them counsel, I would gladly be punished in such a cause. And if ye amend

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SECOND SERMON BEFORE KING EDWARD, &c.

not, I will cause them to cry out upon you still: even as long as I live. I will do it indeed: but I have troubled you long. As I began with this sentence: Quæcunque scripta sunt, &c., “ All things that are written, &c.," So I will end now with this text: Beati qui audiunt verbum Dei, et custodiunt illud, "Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." There was another suit, and I had almost forgotten it.

There is a poor woman that lieth in the Fleet, and cannot come, by any means that she can make, to her answer, and would fain be bailed, offering to put in sureties worth a thousand pound; and yet she cannot be heard. Methink this is a reasonable cause, it is a great pity that such things should so be. I beseech God that he will grant, that all that is amiss may be amended, that we may hear his word and keep it, that we may come to the eternal bliss, to the which bliss I beseech God to bring both you and me. Amen.

THE

THIRD SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE KING EDWARD,

MARCH 22d.

ROMANS xv. 4.

Quæcunque scripta sunt; ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt.

All things that are written, are written to be our doctrine.

ALL things that be written in God's holy book, the Bible, were written to be our doctrine, long before our time, to serve from time to time, and so forth to the world's end.

Ye shall have in remembrance, most benign and gracious audience, that a preacher hath two offices, and the one to be used orderly after another. The first is, Exhortari per sanam doctrinam, "To teach true doctrine." He shall have also occasion oftentimes to use another; and that is, Contradicentes convincere," To reprehend, to convince, to confute gainsayers, and spurners against the truth." Why? you will say, will any body gainsay true doctrine, and sound doctrine? Well, let a preacher be sure that his doctrine be true, and it is not to be thought that any body will gainsay it. If St. Paul had not foreseen that there should be gainsayers, he had not need to have appointed the confutation of gainsaying. Was there ever yet preacher, but there were gainsayers that spurned, that winced, that whimpered against him, that blasphemed, that gainsayed it? When Moses came to Egypt with sound doctrine, he had Pharaoh to gainsay him. Jeremy was the minister of the true word of God, he had gainsayers, the priests and the false prophets. Elias had all Baal's priests, supported by Jezebel, to speak against him. John Baptist, and our Saviour

VOL. I.

I

Jesus Christ, had the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the priests gainsayers to them. The apostles had gainsayers also, for it was said to St. Paul at Rome, Notum est nobis quod ubique secte huic contradicitur. "We know that every man doth gainsay this learning." (Acts xxviii.) After the apostle's time the truth was gainsayed with tyrants, as Nero, Maxentius, Domitianus, and such like; and also by the doctrine of wicked heretics. In the popish mass-time, there was no gainsaying, all things seemed to be in peace, in a concord, in a quiet agreement. So long as we had in adoration, in admiration, the popish mass, we were then without gainsaying. What was that? The same that Christ speaketh of, Cum fortis armatus custodierit atrium, &c., "When Satan, the devil, hath the guiding of the house, he keepeth all in peace that is in his possession." When Satan ruleth, and beareth dominion in open religion, as he did with us when we preached pardon matters, purgatory matters, and pilgrimage matters, all was quiet. He is ware enough, he is wily, and circumspect for stirring up any sedition. When he keepeth his territory all is in peace. If there were any man that preached in England in times past, in the Pope's times, as peradventure there was two or three, straitways he was taken and nipped in the head with the title of an heretic. When he hath the religion in possession, he stirreth up no sedition, I warrant you.

How many dissensions have we heard of in Turkey? but a few I warrant you. He busieth himself there with no dissen sion. For he hath there dominion in the open religion, and needeth not to trouble himself any further. The Jews, like runagates, wheresoever they dwell (for they be dispersed, and be tributaries in all countries where they inhabit) look whether ye hear of any heresies among them? But when fortis supervenerit, when one stronger than the devil cometh in place, which is our Saviour Jesus Christ, and revealeth his word, then the devil roareth, then he bestirreth him, then he raiseth diversity of opinions to slander God's word. And if ever concord should have been in religion, when should it have been but when Christ was here? Ye find fault with preachers, and say, they cause sedition. We are noted to be rash, and undiscreet in our preaching. Yet as discreet as Christ was, there