bitious man. I would there were no more in England! He was, I heard say, a seditious man, a contemner of common prayer. I would there were no more in England! Well, he is gone. I would he

had left none behind him.

Remember you, my lords, that you pray in your houses to the better mortification of your flesh. Remember, God must be honoured. I will you to pray that God will continue his Spirit in you. I do not put you in comfort, that if ye have once the Spirit, ye cannot lose it. There be new spirits started up now of late, that say, after we have received the Spirit, we cannot sin. I will make but one argument. St. Paul had brought the Galatians to the profession of the faith, and left them in that state : they had received the Spirit once, but they sinned again, as he testified of them himself. He saith, "Ye did run well." Ye were once in a right state; and again, "Have ye received the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the righteousness of faith?" Once they had the spirit of faith, but false prophets came (when he was gone from them), and they plucked them clean away from all that Paul had planted them in; and then said Paul unto them, "Oh! foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?" If this be true, we may lose the Spirit, that we have once possessed. It is a fond thing, I will not tarry in it. But now to the passion again.

Christ had been with his Father, and felt no help; he had been with his friends, and had no comfort: he had prayed twice, and was not heard; what did he now? Did he give prayer over? No, he goeth again to his Father, and saith the same again.

Father, if it be possible, away with this cup." Here is an example for us; although we be not heard at the first time, shall we give over our prayer? Nay, we must go to it again, we must be instant in

prayer. He prayed thrice, and was not heard; let us pray three score times. Folks are very dull nowa-days in prayer, to come to sermons, to resort to common prayer. Ye housekeepers, and especially great men, give example of prayer prayer in your houses. Well, did his Father look upon him this second time? No, he went to his friends again, thinking to find some comfort there; but he findeth them asleep again, more deeper asleep than ever they were. Their eyes were heavy with sleep. There was no comfort at all, they wist not what to say to him. A wonderful thing! How he was tossed from post to pillar, one while to his Father, and was destitute at his hand another while to his friends, and found no comfort at them.

Almighty God beheld this battle, that he might enjoy the honour and glory, that at his name all knees should bow in heaven, earth, and hell. This, that the Father would not hear his own Son, was another punishment due to our sin. When we cry unto him, he will not hear us. The prophet Jeremy saith, "They shall cry unto me, and I will not hear them." These be Jeremy's words; here he threateneth to punish sin with not hearing their prayers. The prophet saith, "They have not had the fear of God before their eyes, nor, have regarded discipline and correction." I never saw, surely, so little discipline as is now-a-days: men will be masters, they will be masters and no disciples.

Alas! where is this discipline now in England? The people regard no discipline, they be without all order. Where they should give place, they will not stir one inch. Yea, where magistrates should determine matters, they will break into the place, before they come, and at their coming not move a whit for them. Is this discipline? Is this good order? If a man say any thing unto them, they regard it not.

Men, the more It is truly said, causeth us to forSurely, in Popery

They, that be called to answer, will not answer directly, but scoff the matter out. they know, the worse they be. knowledge maketh us proud, and get all, and set away discipline. they had a reverence, but now we have none at all; I never saw the like. This same lack of the fear of God, and discipline in us, was one of the causes that the Father would not hear his Son. This pain for us suffered our Saviour Christ, who never deserved it. Oh, what it was, that he suffered in this garden, till Judas came! The dolours, the terrors, the sorrows, that he suffered, be unspeakable. He suffered partly to make amends for our sins, and partly to give us example, what we should do in like case. What cometh of this gear in the end?

Well, now he prayeth again, he resorteth to his Father again; he was in sorer pains, in more anguish than ever he was, and therefore he prayeth longer, more ardently, more fervently, more vehemently than ever he did before. Oh Lord, what a wonderful thing is this! This horror of death is worse than death itself, and is more ugsome. He prayeth now the third time, he did it so instantly, so fervently, that it brought out a bloody sweat, and such plenty that it dropped down even to the ground. There issued out of his precious body drops of blood. What a pain was he in, when these bloody drops fell so abundantly from him! Yet for all that, how unthankful do we shew ourselves toward him, that died only for our sakes and for the remedy of our sins! Oh, what blasphemy do we commit day by day! What little regard have we to his blessed passion, thus to swear by God's blood, by Christ's passion! We have nothing in our pastime but, "God's blood," "God's wounds." We continually blaspheme his passion, in hawking, hunting, dicing,

and carding. Who would think he should have such enemies among those that profess his name? What became of his blood that fell down, trow ye? Was the blood of Hales* of it? Woe worth it. What ado was it to bring this out of the king's head! This great abomination of the blood of Hales could not be taken a great while out of his mind.

You, that be of the court, and especially ye sworn chaplains, beware of a lesson that a great man taught me at my first coming to the court. He told me

for good will, he thought it well. He said unto me, "You must beware, howsoever ye do, that ye contrary not the king: let him have his sayings, follow him, go with him." Marry, out upon this counsel ! Shall I say, as he saith? Say your conscience, or else what a worm shall ye feel gnawing; what a remorse of conscience shall ye have, when ye rémember how ye have slacked your duty! It is a good wise

verse,

"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed sæpe cadendo,” i. e. "The drop of water hollows out the stone By frequent falling, not by force alone."

*This was a famous relic at Hales in Gloucestershire, and it was pretended to be the blood of our Saviour, brought from Jerusalem, and there preserved for many years past. If any man was in mortal sin, and had not received absolution, he could not see the relic, which otherwise to any pious person was visible enough. To prepare therefore for a sight of the miracle, it was the custom to confess to a priest, and make a suitable offering at the altar, before the relic was shewn. This pretended blood of our Saviour was kept in a crystal vessel, very thick on one side, but thin and transparent on the other. If a wealthy person appeared, they turned the thick side, where the eye could discern nothing. This it is said was done to open both his heart and his pocket. For when he had bought as many masses, and made offerings as far as they thought fit, they turned the thin side, and then the blood was visible to the eye. And this, as William Thomas, clerk of the counsel to king Edward VI. says, was nothing more than the blood of a duck, renewed every week. Yet this mighty relic exeited the devotion and adoration of king Henry the Eighth !

Likewise, a prince must be turned not violently, but he must be won by a little and a little. He must have his duty told him, but it must be done with humbleness, with request of pardon, or else it were a dangerous thing. Unpreaching prelates have been the cause, that the blood of Hales did so long blind the king. Woe worth that such an abominable thing should be in a Christian realm! But, thanks be to God, it was partly redressed in the king's days that dead is, and much more now. God grant good will and power to go forward, if there be any such abomination behind, that it may utterly be rooted up. Oh, how happy are we that it hath pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe, that his Son should sweat blood for the redeeming of our sins! And again, how unhappy are we, if we will not take it thankfully, that were redeemed so painfully!

Alas, what hard hearts have we! Our Saviour Christ never sinned, and yet sweat he blood for our sins. We will not once water our eyes with a few tears. What an horrible thing is sin, that no other thing would remedy and pay the ransom for it, but only the blood of our Saviour Christ! There was nothing to pacify the Father's wrath against man, but such an agony as he suffered. All the passions of all the martyrs that ever were, all the sacrifices of patriarchs that ever were, all the good works that ever were done, were not able to remedy our sin, to make satisfaction for our sins, nor any thing besides, but this extreme passion and blood-shedding of our most merciful Saviour Christ.

But to draw toward an end, what became of this threefold prayer? At the length, it pleased God to hear his Son's prayer, and send him an angel to corroborate, to strengthen, and to comfort him. Christ needed no angel's help, if he had listed to ease himself with his deity. He was the Son of God, what