decked thyne altars therwith, wherupō thou mightest fulfill thy whoredome of such a fashion as neuer was done, nor shall be. Which whoredome can in no wyse be expounded for carnall, but spirituall whoredome. And therfore, see how liuely he hath paynted out the corruption and falling of the Church.

And therfore followeth now the correction and punishment of the Church. It followeth: Behold, I will stretch out my hand ouer thee, and wyll diminish thy store of foode, and deliuer thee ouer into the wyls of the Philistines,Marginalia4. The correction of the church. and of such as hate thee: And they shall breake down thy steues, and destroy thy brodell houses (that is, the place wherein thou didst exercise this wickednes) they shall strippe thee out of thy clothes: All thy fayre & beautifull ieuels shall they take from thee, and so let thee sit naked and bare, &c.MarginaliaEzec. 16. Here is plainly to be sene what shal happen to þ^e church and followeth more in the sayd chapter. Thine eldest sister is Samaria. she and her doughters vp? thy left hand: But thy yongest sister that dwelleth on thy right hand is Sodoma with her daughters, whose sinnes were these: pride, fulnes of meat, aboundaunce, and idlenes, neyther retched they their hand to the poore. And yet neither Sodoma thy sister with her daughters, hath done so euill as thou & thy daughters: Neither hath Samaria (that is the sinagoge) done halfe of thy sinnes, yea thou hast exceded them in wickednes. Take therfore and beare thine owne confusion, &c. Agayne, in the 23. chap. of Ezech.MarginaliaEzec 23. After the Prophet had described at large the wickednes, corruption, and punishment of the sinagoge, turnyng to the Church, sayth: And when her sister sawe this, shee raged and was madde with lust more then before: she was mad, that is, wyth fleshly lust, loue of riches, and followyng voluptuousnes. Her fornication and whoredome she committed with Princes and great lordes, clothed with all maner of gorgeous apparell: so that her pappes were broosed, and her brestes were marred. And then speakyng of her punishment, sayeth: Then my hart forsoke her, lyke as my hart was gone from her sister also. And moreouer repeating agayne the cause therof, addeth: Thy wickednes and thy fornications hath wrought thee all this. &c.

The lyke we finde also in Esay, Ieremy, Ezechiel and in all the other Prophetes, who prophecying all together in one meanyng: and almost in one maner of wordes: Do conclude with a full agrement and prophecy to come, that the Church shall fall, and then be punished for her great excesses, and to be vtterly spoyled except she repent of all her abhominations. Wherof speaketh Oseas chap. 2. Let her put away her whoredom out of her sight, and her aduoutry frō her brestes, least I strppe her naked and set her euen as she came naked into the worldMarginaliaOsee. 2. (that is in her primitiue pouerty) So if she do not, it shall folow of her as is in the Prophet Nahum, chap. 3.MarginaliaNahum. 3. For the multitude of the fornication of the fayre and beautifull harlotte, which is a maister of witchcraft, yea and selleth the people through her whoredom, and the nations through her witchcraft. And followeth vpon the same: Behold I will vpon thee, sayth þ^e lord of hostes, and will pull thy clothes ouer thy head, that thy nakednes shall appeare among the heathen, and thy shame among the kingdomes. &c.

Marginalia5. The reformatiō of the Church. Wherfore by these it is to be vnderstand, that vpon this church the primitiue iustice of God is to be reuealed hereafter. And thus much of the first of the foure members aboue fore touched.

Now to the second member of my theame, Iuxta est: cōcernyng the nerenes of the tyme. Although it is not for vs to know, the momentes and articles of tyme:MarginaliaCertaine notes & signes, that the tribulation of the Church draweth neare. yet by certain notes and signes peraduenture it may be collected and gathered, that which I haue here to say. For the tractation wherof, first I ground my selfe vpon the saying of the Apostle Paule. 2. Thessal. 2. where he writeth: That vnlesse there come a defection first. &c.Marginalia1. Signe.
2. Thes. 2.
Except there come a defection first: how it is to be vnderstanded. By the which defection, Ierome vltima quæst. ad inquisitiones Ianuarij, gathereth and expoundeth allegorically, the desolation of the monarchy of Rome: Betwene the which desolation, and the persecution of þ^e Church by Antichrist, he putteth no meane space. And now what is the state of that common wealth, if it be compared to the maiesty of that it hath bene, iudge your selues. An other glose there is that sayth, how by that defection is ment: that from the Church of Rome shall come a departyng of some other churches.

Marginalia2 Note or token. The second note and marke is this, when the Church shalbe worse in maners then was the sinagoge: as appeareth by the ordinary glose vpon the 3. of Ierem. where it is written. The backslider Israell, may seme iust and righteous in comparason of sinfull Iuda.MarginaliaThe Sinagoge and the church compared together in maners. That is, The Synagoge, in comparison of the church of God. Whereof writeth Ori genes saying: Thinke that to be spoken of vs what þ^e lord sayth in Eze. 16. Thou hast exceded thy sister in thine iniquities. Wherfore now (to compare the one with the other) First ye know how Christ rebuked the Phariseis, who as Ierome witnesseth were then the clergy of the Iewes: of coueteousnes, for that they suffred doues to be sold in þ^e temple of God. Secondly, for that they dyd honour God wyth their lips and not with their mouth, & because they said, but did not. Thirdly, he rebuked them, for that they were hypocrites. To the first then let vs see, whether it be worse to sell both church and Sacraments, then to suffer doues to be sold in the temple or not. To the second, where as þ^e pharisies were rebuked for honoring God with their lips, and not with hart: There be some, which neither honour God with hart, nor yet with lips: And which neyther do well, nor yet say well, neither do they preach any word at all, but be domb dogs not able to barke, impudent & shameles dogs þ^t neuer haue inough: such pastors as haue no vnderstā;ding declining and straying all in their own way, euery one geuen to couetousnes from the highest to the lowest. And thirdly, as for hypocrisie there be also some, whose intolerable pride and malice is so manifest and notorious, kyndled vp lyke a fire: that no cloke or shadow of hypocrisie can couer it, but are so past all shame, that it may be well verified of them which the Prophet speaketh: Thou hast gotten thee þ^e face of an harlot, thou wouldest not blush. &c.

Marginalia3. Note or token. The 3. signe and token of tribulation approchyng nere to the Church, may well be taken of the to much vnequall proportion sene this day in the church. Where one is hūgry and starueth, an other is drōke. By reason of which so great inequalitie, it cannot be that the state of the Church as it is now, can lōg endure. For lyke as in good harmony to make the musike perfect, is required a moderate and proportionat inequalitie of voyces, which if it do much excede it taketh away all the swete melody: So according to the sentence of the Philosopher, by to much immoderate in equalitie or disparietie of citisens, the common wealth falleth to ruine. Cōtrary, where mediocritie, that is, where a meane inequalitie with some proportion is kept, that pollicy standeth firme & more sure to continue. Now amōg all the politike regimēts of the gentiles, I thinke none more is to be found in histories, wherin is to be sene so great and excedyng oddes, then in the policy of priests: Of whom some be so high, that they excede all princes of the earth, some agayne be so base, that they are vnder all rascals, so that such a policy or common wealth, may well be called Oligarchia.MarginaliaOligarchia, is where a fewe beare all the sway, and all the reast be nothing worth.

Thys may we playnely see and learne in the body of mā;, to the which Plutarchus (writing to Thraicinus) doth semblably compare the common wealth. In the which body, if the sustinaunce receaued should all runne to one mēber, so that that member should be to much exceedingly pā;pered, and all the other parts to much pyned, the body could not long continue: So in the body of the wealth ecclesiasticall, if some who be the heads be so enormely ouergrowne in riches and dignitie, that the weaker m?bers of the body be scant able to beare them vp, there is a great tokē of a dissolution and ruine shortly. Wherupon commeth well in place the saying of the Prophet Esay. Euery head is sicke, euery hart is full of sorow,MarginaliaEsay. [illegible text] of the which heads it is also spoken in the Prophet Amos. chap. vi. Wo be to the secure & proud wealth in Sion, and to such as thynke themselues so sure vpon the mount of Samaria, takyng themselues as heads and rulers ouer other. &c.MarginaliaAmos. And moreouer in the saide prophet Esay it foloweth: From the top of the head to the sole of the foote, there is no hole part in all the bodye, to witte: In the inferiours, because they are not able to lyue for pouertie: in the superiours, because for there excessiue riches, they are let from doyng good. And foloweth in þ^e same place: But all are woundes, botches and stripes, behold here the daunger commyng, the woundes of discorde and deuisiō, the botch or sore of rankor and enuy, the swelling stripe of rebellion and mischiefe. &c.

Marginalia4 Signe The 4. signe is the pride of prelates. Some there haue bene which fondly haue disputed of the pouerty of Christ, and haue inueyed agaynst the Prelates,MarginaliaPride of prelates noted. because they lyue not in the pouerty of the saintes. But this phantasy commeth of the ignoraunce of morall Philosophy and diuinitie, and of the defect of naturall prudence: for that in all natiōs, and by common lawes, priestes haue had and oughte to haue wherewyth to sustayne themselues more honestly thē the vulgar sorte, and Prelates more honestly then the subiects. But yet hereby is not permitted to them theyr great horses, their troupes of horsemen, their superfluous pompe of their wayting men and great families, which scarcely cā; be mainteyned wythout pride, neither can be susteined with safe iustice, and many not without fightyng and iniuryes