life of Grindal, "Many upon this were sequestered, and afterwards some deposed and deprived-Whittingham and Becon refused at first, but afterwards subscribed and were preferred." It does not clearly appear what preferment he obtained after this; but he was appointed to preach at Paul's cross in the following year, and the lord mayor petitioned archbishop Parker, requesting his grace to prevail upon Becon to preach one of the Spital Sermons. After this time he seems to have resided chiefly at Canterbury, where he held a prebend, and from whence he dated the preface to his collected works, and to his Postills, or plain sermons upon the gospels appointed to be read throughout the year. In that city he died about 1567. Becon was one of the most laborious and useful writers and preachers among the British reformers. His publications exceed forty in number; some are of considerable length. The earliest was printed in 1541, and the latest in 1566. They embrace a much wider range of subjects than the works of any other writer of that day. Several of them are upon the Romish controversy, and manifest a thorough knowledge of the subject, but the greater part of them do not directly relate thereto. Their contents are also exceedingly scriptural; frequently for pages together, they exhibit a collection of passages from holy writ, illustrating in a very striking manner the subjects upon which the author is treating. All the reformers were "mighty in the scriptures," but Becon, especially, " abounded" therein. Most of his publications were originally printed as separate tracts, and widely circulated in that form. Day, the printer, in 1549, applied for a license, which was granted, authorizing him to reprint all the writings of Becon, which evidently shows that the demand for them was considerable. A uniform and corrected edition of his works was printed in 1564 under his own superintendence, dedicated to the archbishops and bishops of the realm. They form three volumes in folio, and are now among the scarcest of the writings of the Elizabethan reformers. Few of them have been reprinted since that time; and the numerous and excellent writings of this pious and learned divine have been suffered to fall into unmerited oblivion, although highly commended by archbishop Parker and other writers. The most complete list of Becon's works which can be ascertained, is as follows: 1. News from Heaven. 2. The Christmas Banquet. 3. A Potation for Lent. 4. The pathway to Prayer. 5. A pleasant Nosegay. 6. The Policy of War. 7. David's Harp newly stringed; an exposition on Psalm cxv, 8. A New Year's Gift. 9. An Invective against Swearing. 10. The Governance of Virtue. 11. A new Catechism. 12. Preface to the book of Christian Matrimony. 13. The Jewel of Joy. 14. The Principles of the Christian Religion. 15. A Treatise of Fasting. 16. The Castle of Comfort. 17. The Solace of the Soul. 18. The Fortress of the Faithful. 19. The Christian Knight. 20. Homily against Whoredom. 21. The Flower of godly Prayers. 22. The Pomander of Prayer. 23. The Sick Man's Salve. 24. Dialogue between the Angel and the Shepherds. 25. An Invective against Whoredom. 26. A comfortable Epistle to the afflicted People of God. 27. A Supplication unto God for restoring of his holy Word. 28. The displaying of the Popish Mass. 29. Common-places of the Holy Scripture. 30. Comparison between the Lord's Supper and the Pope's Mass. 31. Proofs from the Fathers against the popish errors relative to the Sacrament. 32. The monstrous Merchandise of the Romish Bishops. 33. The Reliques of Rome. 34. The diversity between God's word and man's invention. 35. The Acts of Christ and antichrist. 36. Christ's Chronicle. 37. The Summary of the New Testament. 38. The Demands of the Holy Scripture. 39. The glorious Triumph of God's blessed Word. 40. The praise of Death. 41. Postills, or Sermons upon the Gospels for the Sundays and Holy Days throughout the year. There are a few other pieces ascribed to Becon, and some translations. He also assisted in the Bishop's Bible. Only a small part of Becon's writings could be included in the present collection-a preference therefore has been given to those which are upon the subjects the least noticed by other reformers. Some omissions have been made where Becon was unnecessarily diffuse. To each of his tracts is prefixed a short preface or epistle, addressed to some individual of note at that period; a few of these have been retained. Such is a brief sketch of this excellent reformer, who was "justly celebrated for his great learning, his frequent preaching, his manifold sermons and excellent writings"-WHEREBY HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH. THE NEWS OUT OF HEAVEN, BOTH PLEASANT AND JOYFUL, LATELY SET FORTH TO THE GREAT CONSOLATION AND COMFORT OF ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS. BY THOMAS BECON. A. D. 1541. Oh, how beautiful are the feet of them which bring the glad tidings of peace, and show good and joyful news.-Rom. x. Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy that shall come to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.-Luke ii. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own praise; but whosoever seeketh his praise that sent him, he is true and no unrighteousness in him.-John vii. He that is of God, heareth the words of God.-John viii. GABRIEL THE ANGEL AND AMBASSADOR OF GOD SPEAKETH. * WHEREFORE are ye sad, O ye mortal men? Wherefore do ye walk as persons desolate, dismayed, and altogether comfortless? Wherefore do ye sigh, weep, sob, and take thought? Wherefore do ye wring your hands and tear your hair? Why, rather, do ye not rejoice? Why do ye not elevate and lift up your heads, walking pleasantly? Why do ye not look with smiling countenances? Why do ye not * Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. Luke i. 26; ii. 9. put out of your hearts all anxious thought and care? Why do ye not so compose and set yourselves, that all the gestures of your body may frankly, and with a lusty courage, declare your joy, mirth, gladness, felicity, and pleasure? There is, believe me, not one cause of sadness, but of gladness many, yea and innumerable. For God is now no more an enemy unto you, but a dear friend. He is become, of a severe Judge, a merciful Saviour; of an austere and fierce Lord, a bounteous and gentle Father; of an extreme Revenger, a tender Forgiver. To be short, he is now become the very same unto you, that a most tender, most gentle, most loving, most bounteous, most kind, most beneficial, most liberal, and most benign father is to his own son, whom he most entirely loves, and tenderly enhales* above all the others. How therefore can ye be sad? How can ye do any otherwise than rejoice and be merry? seeing that all dolour, all sorrow, all care, all grief, all pain, all peril, all trouble, all danger, all disquietness, all hatred, all malice, all enmity, all malevolence, all ill will, all wrath, all displeasure, all desire of vengeance, and all that ever is contrary to your joy and pleasure, to your health and comfort, to your rest and tranquillity, is utterly extinguished; and so put away for ever and ever, that you who are of God's faithful congregation, obedient to his word, and ready to accomplish his most holy and divine will, shall never after this perish and fall out of favour, but have eternal life. And all this is come to pass through God's grand mercies, by the glorious nativity and most blessed birth of his well-beloved Son Jesus Christ; who this day is born of a pure virgin in Bethlehem, a city of David, through the miraculous and wonderful operation of the Holy Ghost; that he should be a Saviour, yea and an allsufficient Saviour, to save his people, that is to say, so many as believe in him, from their sins, and from the danger of Satan, that they may be made inheritors of eternal glory. These NEWS OUT OF HEAVEN, am I, Gabriel, the angel and ambassador of God, sent to declare unto you, that ye may unfeignedly rejoice, not in vain and worldly things, but first in the Lord God your Saviour, and afterwards in celestial and heavenly things, and evermore be thankful for them; walking worthy this inestimable benignity and unspeakable goodness of God the Father through Jesus * Enhances, esteems. Christ; that these singular benefits may not at any time seem to be showed to ungrateful and unthankful persons. Methinks I see you now begin to rejoice and leap for joy, yea, and seriously to triumph, as persons full of frank courage at the hearing of these most pleasant and joyful news, which is to me certainly no common delight and small pleasure. But that ye may rejoice unfeignedly, and know that ye have an urgent and weighty cause to be glad, yea, and that with a continual mirth, and such a joy as ought to be immortal and never die; I will rehearse to you what a damnable state ye were in, before these most comfortable news were sent unto you from the most glorious and imperial seat of the most blessed Trinity; that you, perceiving your own miserable condition, may the more seriously rejoice in these sweet and delectable news. God, in the beginning, as the Holy Scriptures testify, created man according to his own similitude, likeness, and image. That is to say, He endued him with immortality, wit,* reason, sapience,† justice,‡ free will, mercy, goodness, holiness, truth, and all perfection, and gave him empire and rule over all living creatures; placing him in a joyful paradise, a garden full of pleasure, that he should work in it and keep it; giving him also authority, power, and liberty to eat of every tree in the garden, save only of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If man did eat of that ever so soon, God told him before that he should die the deaththat is, fall from the glorious state wherein then he was, and become mortal, wretched, sinful, miserable, servile, thrall, captive, and a very bond-slave to satan-hated of God, void of all goodness, bent to all mischief, the son of perdition, a firebrand of hell, a vessel of ire and wrath. All these things did God tell before unto Adam, that he might be prudent, wise, and circumspect, and the better arm himself with courageous valour to fight against the crafty and subtle assaults of his enemy. Not long after, Satan, whom God before had thrown out of heaven for his proud disobedience, and disobedient pride, envying man that blessed and glorious state wherein he did remain; desiring also his perdition like his own, full craftily and like a wily serpent, attempted the woman as the more frail vessel, and ready to be subdued and overcome; so that at the last, through his subtle and * Understanding. BECON. 3 + Wisdom. |