TO THE GODLY AND RIGHT WORSHIPFUL SENATE, THE MAYOR' AND HIS BRETHREN OF SANDWICH IN KENT, So oft as I consider the blessed state of your town, whereof God by his divine providence and unsearchable counsel hath made you rulers under the queen's majesty our sovereign and liege lady, I am entirely provoked and stirred up to give most entire thanks to the Prince of princes and Lord of lords, that mighty God of hosts, for his so great and singular benefits so bounteously and largely poured upon you and other the inhabitants of your town. For I do not well know if any thing may any where be found meet to beautify a commonweal, that justly may be counted to lack in you; so plentifully hath God poured his blessings upon you. Who is able to express what a goodly ornament, precious jewel, and noble ouche christian doctrine is to a christian commonweal? The sage and prudent philosophers, and other wise and expert men of this world, judged these commonweals most blessed, happy, and fortunate, most noble, beautiful, and flourishing, where the princes and rulers thereof were either philosophers or studious of philosophy. But how much is that commonweal to be counted happy and blessed, where not human philosophy, whether we respect natural or moral, but divine philosophy brought from the high heavens by him which is the Wisdom of the Father, prospereth, flourisheth, triumpheth; where also not vain and curious philosophers, but true, faithful and godly philosophers, reign and bear rule? Whatsoever the philosophers taught, although never so much enforced with sugared eloquence, probable reasons, and apparent arguments, it was the fruit of the earth and of man's brain; but that which Christ delivered unto us came out of the bosom of his Father; so that, look how much the noble heavens surmount and pass the vile and base earth in height and dignity, so much and incomparable wise more doth the heavenly philosophy, whereof the Holy Ghost alone is the author, exceed the earthy philosophy, whereof man is the deviser. "He that John iii. cometh from an high," saith that blessed Baptist, "is above all. He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all; and what he hath seen and heard that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." What other thing is this divine philosophy whereof we now speak than the holy word of God? And what other are these faithful and godly philosophers than the true preachers and professors of the sacred scriptures? All these are to be found among you plentifully. The christian philosophy, I mean the word of God, reigneth, ruleth, and triumpheth among you; so that according unto it all things are ordered among you in that your town. In other places this divine and christian philosophy is counted heresy, new learning, strange doctrine, the mother of errors, the cause of rebellion, sedition, insurrection, &c., and the plain subversion of commonweals; but with you, and that most justly, it is reputed and taken for the alone truth, for the ancient doctrine of the patriarchs, prophets, and ['The respectable magistrate, to whom this treatise is dedicated, was Sir Matthew Mennes or Mennys, who served the office of mayor of Sandwich, in 1563, 1571, 1587, 1600, and 1608. He was the son of Andrew Mennes, Esq., whose family was of Scottish origin. He died in his mayoralty in 1608. Sir Matthew Mennes had one son, Andrew, who de ceased during his father's life-time, leaving several Matt. xiii. Amos viii. Acts xvi. John xiii. apostles, for the mother of all godliness and virtue, for the only and alone cause of unity, concord, quietness, amity, obedience, and for the alone stay, upholding, and maintenance of all christian and well-ordered commonweals; so that, where this is' not, there is a chaos and plain confusion of things. This holy word of God among you swimmeth not in your lips only, but it also shineth in your life and conversation, unto the good example of all them that are conversant with you. By this word, according to the commandment of God given to Josua, ye do not only frame your own life, but ye also govern your town, and judge all causes that come before you, as a rule from the which it is not lawful for you by any means to depart. Of this word ye reverently talk, commune, confer, sing, and have continual meditation, as your chief joy and comfort. This word is unto you that noble "treasure hid in the field, the which a man found and hid, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth the field." This word is to you more sweet than the honey or the honeycomb, and more precious than gold or precious stone. And, as this most blessed and holy word doth occupy the principal and highest place among you, so have you both godly professors and faithful preachers of the same, unto the great joy and singular comfort of all the inhabitants of your town. For, as there cannot be a greater jewel in a christian commonweal, than an earnest, faithful, and constant preacher of the Lord's word; so can there not be a greater plague among any people than when they have reigning over them blind guides, dumb dogs, wicked wolves, hypocritical hirelings, popish prophets, which feed them not with the pure wheat of God's word, but with the wormwood of men's trifling traditions, and with the sour leaven of the papistical Pharisees: as Salomon saith: "When the preaching of God's word faileth, the people perish and come to nought." Verily, as there is not a greater blessing given of God to any nation than the gift of his word, so I know not if a greater curse from God can be cast upon any people than when the word of God and the true preaching thereof is taken away from them; as these words of God spoken by the prophet do manifestly declare: "Behold, the time cometh (saith the Lord God), that I shall send an hunger into the earth, not the hunger of bread, nor the thirst of water, but an hunger to hear the word of the Lord; so that they shall go from the one sea to the other, yea, from the north to the east, running about to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." In this behalf therefore are ye, the inhabitants of Sandwich, greatly blessed of the Lord our God, which hath not only very richly given you his word to be preached, taught, and read among you, but also hearts to receive and believe the same; as if we read of Lydia," whose heart," saith blessed Luke, "the Lord opened, that she attended to the things which Paul spake." Out of this your fervent zeal and brenning love toward this divine and heavenly philosophy, many godly and christian fruits of God's Spirit have issued and plentifully come forth, as brotherly concord and unfeigned amity among yourselves; not yourselves only, but also among all the inhabitants of your town; so that, all contention, strife, debate, discord, enmity, variance, tumults, quarrels, lawings, &c. banished and avoided, benevolence, love, concord, agreement, unity, amity, friendship, gentleness, humanity, and whatsoever maketh unto the bond of peace, ruleth and reigneth among you; which godly unity and concord doth so evidently declare you to be of God, as nothing more. "In this shall all men know that ye are my disciples," saith Christ, "if one of you love another." As discord bringeth all things to havoc, so doth concord conserve, keep in good order, and make to increase whatsoever is good and profitable to a commonweal, or to any part thereof. As Sallustius saith: "By concord small things increase and grow; but by discord mighty and great things decay and come to nought." It was very wittily and learnedly answered of Terence, when the noble senate of the most noble Romans demanded of him, after the destruction of Carthage, what he thought to be the cause of [1 Folio, it.] 12 Concordia res parvæ crescunt, discordia maximæ dilabuntur.-Sallust. in Bell. Jugurth.] the subversion of3 so ample, populous, and flourishing city, whether the puissance of the Romans, whose force seemed to be incomparable, or the feebleness of the Carthaginenses not being able to resist: "No," saith he, “neither your valiance nor our want of puissance was the subversion of our city, but the discord of the citizens." The mightiest fortress and strongest bulwark, that either city or town can have, is the concord of citizens, without the which all puissance, all force, all wit, all policy, all castles, all martial armouries, are vain and unprofitable: verily, in this behalf are ye also greatly blessed of God, which both in godly and worldly affairs are of one mind and of one meaning, without all dissension among you. O blessed fruit of God's Spirit! Moreover, how [is] idleness, that chief mistress of vices all, utterly exiled and banished out of your town! No man liveth there idly. All degrees of persons are godly, virtuously, and profitably occupied, every man according to his vocation and calling. All "study to be quiet, and to meddle with their own business, and to work with their own hands, that they may not only eat their own bread, according to the commandment of God, but also, through those their labours, have whereof they may give unto such as have need;" as Saint John saith: "He that hath two coats, let him give one to him that Luke iii. hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Certes diligent and virtuous travail upholdeth the city; but idle and sluggish hands root up the foundations thereof. Furthermore, who can enough praise and sufficiently commend your studious carefulness and painful travail in making provision for the poor members of Christ, which have not of themselves whereof to live? Verily ye have a fatherly care for your poor, that none of them should want. Ye count their lack your own lack. Neither are ye less moved with their miseries than if ye yourselves were touched with the same, according to this saying of Saint John: "He that hath the substance of this world, and seeth his 1 John iii. brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Unmercifulness toward the poor was one of the chief causes why that flourishing and too much wealthy city Sodom (as the prophet teacheth) was destroyed Ezek. xvi. with fire and brimstone from heaven. Verily, even so, contrariwise, where the works of mercy are diligently practised upon the poor, there is the blessing of God, conservation of the town or city, increase of goods, and fortunate success in all honest and godly travails. As Salomon saith: "He that giveth to the poor shall not want. He that lendeth to the Lord, that sheweth mercy to the poor, and it be recompensed him to the uttermost." As our Saviour Christ saith: "Give, and it shall be given unto you: good Luke vi. measure, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosoms." For he that giveth but a cup of cold water for Christ's sake shall not lose his reward. "If thou wilt break thy bread to the hungry," saith God by the Isai. Iviii. prophet, "and lead the needy wayfaring man into thy house, and cover the naked man, and not turn away thy face from the poor; thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy health flourish right shortly: yea, thy righteousnesses shall go before thee; and the glory of the Lord shall embrace thee. Then if thou callest, the Lord shall answer thee if thou criest, he shall say, Here I am." "O blessed is the man," saith the psalmograph," that considereth the poor and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord shall preserve him, and keep him alive, that he may be blessed upon earth, and not be delivered into the will of his enemies. The Lord shall comfort him when he lieth sick upon his bed, yea, and make his bed in his sickness." Again what shall I speak of your gentle and loving entertainment of strangers and foreigners, which, for the testimony of Christ's most glorious gospel, and for the quietness of their conscience, that they may the more freely serve God with a pure mind, are not only content to suffer unworthy banishment with the loss of their goods, but also day and night to labour with their own hands for their living, that they may be no burden to any man? These most willingly and gladly ye admit, receive, embrace, cherish, entertain, and comfort. These ye lodge and place among you, not as strangers, but as citizens, not as foreigners, but as your dearly-beloved christian brothers, for whom also ye are no |