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A CHRISTIAN ALMANACKE.
NEEDEFVLL AND
TRVE FOR ALL
Countryes, Persons
and times.
Faithfully Calculated by the course of ho
Written by I. M.
LVKE 21. VER. 36.
Watch and Pray continually, that you may be coun
LONDON
Printed for Iohn Budge, and are to be sold
at the Great South doore of Pauls, and
Britaines Bursse, 1612.
Dauid, and with Moses the man of
God, pray vnto the Lord to teach vs,
so to number our dayes,et vers ▪
12Ieremy,
Sunne, Mars and Mercurius
shall raigne: Now whereas other men
Sunne a mighty Lord ouer heauen
and earth,The
brightnes of his glory,
This Iesus Christ the euerlasting
word of his heauenly Father,Alpha
and Omega,
the beginning and the
ending,
which is, and which was, and
which is to come, euen the Almighty, and
sheweth vs his Fathers will, comming
into this world, brought with him Mars,
that is the Gospell euen out of the
bosome of his Father. But wonder
not that I call the Gospell Mars.
Thinke not that I
come to send peace vppon earth, I come
not to send peace but a sword; for I am
come to set a man at variance against his
Father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter inlaw against her
mother inlaw, and a mans enemies shalbe
them of his owne house-holde, is not
this a battell And of all
people shall ye be hated for my name
sake.
Mars, for where it is preached,
there is y• sword, there is trouble & perMercurus
the Poets fayne him to be the mesIohn saith in his EPaule saith, The
fashion of this world passeth away,
Mercurius from the Sunn and Mars,
least we be corrupted with this deMercurius, let him not follow the world,
and the beautifull lust thereof,He is the way the truth and the life.
THe Sunne sheweth playnely
that All such as feare God shall
haue a very fruitfull yeare,in so much that though Christ send
without shooes, yet will he so prouide
for them, that they shall lacke nothing,
for he saith himselfe.
Who so now will
labour shall eate,
but whosoeuer will
not worke ought not to eate,
now if
we labour I say, we shall eate also. And
God said to Adam,in the sweate of
thy face shall thou ea
Therefore though
our hands should be alwaies occupied
in some good labour, yet ought not our
harts to take thought what we shall
eate or drinke,
but first to care how to
seeke the kingdome of God, and so shall
all things necessary be ministred vnto vs.
And if you would care or take thought,
follow the Counsell of the Apostle, And
this I say brethren, because the time is
short hereafter,And
why should we not care? because Man
liueth not by bread onely, but by euery
word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God:which thing Christ our Sauiour
declared manifestly,
in that he fedde
so many people with so few loaues and
fishes: like as he had done before vnto
the Children of Israel by the space of
forty yeares in the wildernes, where
they wanted no thing: for he himselfe
fedde them and blessed them in all the
works of their hands.
And Christ forWherefore insomuch
as God our mercifull father
taketh such care for vs,
and his Apostle
Peter his bidding was,
as also the
Psalmist Dauid, Cast thy burden vpon
the Lord and he will nourish thee, he will
not sée the righteous to fall for euer, as
also the holy prophet Dauid in another
place,
wée should then by right cast all
our care vpon him and faithfully to
cleane vnto his word in our harts, so
that we neither mistrust his Godly
prouision, nor leade an Idle life,
and if we meane well in our harts,
and deale truely with our hands,
doubtles he shall send vs necessary
meate by some body, as he did to Elias
the Prophet, first in sending y • Rauens
to féed him,
for the Rauens brought him
bread and flesh in the Morning, and
bread & flesh in the Euening, and he
dranke of the Riuer: and secondly he
fedde him by the widdowe of Sarepta,
Cap. eodem. And like as he prouided
a breakfast for Daniell amongst the
Lyons by y • ministration of Abacuck.This I say, they that feare God shall
haue plenty and aboundance of all
things this yeare: As for the multitude
of the vngodly in generall, there shall
come a great dearth vppon them, according
to the words of a certaine true
Astronomer:
But because they receiue
not the loue of the truth, that they
might be saued,
and therefore God
shall send them strong Illusions, that
they might beléeue lies;
so that the
dayes will come when ye shall desire
to sée one of the dayes of the sonne of
man,
and ye shall not sée it. I passe
ouer many other plauges that Mars
threatneth vnto them, because they
will not know the time of their visitation.
THe Eygptians had a manner & vse
ni their banquets to carry about
an Image of death, and to say to euery
man that was at the Banquet, LookSunne we shall haue
few diseases, except Mars bring some
other thing to passe that we misknowe
not our selues, as for such as follow
Mercurius, liuing night and day in
Sunne haue great
Diseases in all the members of their
bodies, in the Lungs, Liuer, Hands,
and Féete, yea, and perils of their
Keepe no company saith Salomon
with drunkards nor with gluttons:
for
the drunkard and the glutton shalbe
poore,
Pro. 23. 29. ad finem.and the sleeper shalbe cloathed
with Ragges, and in the same Chap. he
saith. To whom is woe, to whom is sorrow?
to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring?
to whom are woundes without
cause? and to whome is the rednesse of
the eyes? euen to them that tarry long at
the Wine, to them that goe and seeke
mixt Wine: and therefore he subioyneth
looke not thou vppon the
wine when it is red, and when it sheweth
his coulour in the Cuppe, or goeth
downe pleasantly in the end, therefore,
saith he, it will bite like a Serpent, and
hurt like a Cockatrice, and thou shalt be
and though
drunkenesse make them more insensitake heed,
saith he, to your selues, least at any time
your harts be oppressed with surfetting,
and drunkennes, and cares of this life, &
least that day come vpon you vnawares.
There is doubtlesse a maruelous sore
punishment to come vpon the whole
world of the wicked, sword, warres,
hunger, not only spiritual, as I said beThou hast much
goods layed vp for many yeares, liue at
ease, eate drinke, and take thy pastime,
but God shall say, O foole, this night will
they fetch thy soule from thee, then
whose shall these things be, which thou
hast prouided? But oh death, how acPaule an auncient and true Astronowe be all sinners,
if we say that we haue no sinne,
we deceiue
our selues,
and the truth is not in
vs.
if we
acknowledge our sinnes,
hee is faithfull
and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes, and to
clense vs from all vngodlinesse: for the
Sunne hath such vertue, that whosoeuer
can sée his disease and will comPaule sayeth
playnely,Christ Iesus came into the
world to saue sinners. And Saint Iohn
giueth vs a good comfort,if
any man sinne, we haue an aduocate with
the Father euen Iesus Christ the iust, and
he is the reconciliation for our sinnes, and
not for ours onely, but also for the sinne
Whosoeuer therefor his yoake, saith he, is easie, & his burden
light, if thou be sicke goe vnto him:
he hath to giue thee a well of
water,
springing vp vnto euerlasting life.
If thou be hungry for righteousnes sake
and thirst,blessed shalt thou be for thou
shalt be filled:
euery one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and
ye that haue no siluer, come, buy, and
eate, come, say, buy Wine, and milke,
without siluer, and without money, he
will feed his sheepe,
and bring them to
rest, though thou be lost, he will seeke
thee; though thou hast gone astray, he will
bring thee again; though thou be wounded
he will bind thee vp; though thou be
sicke and weake he will make thee whole
and strong. Seeke him therefore this
yeare and as long as thou liuest, for
with the Lord is mercy and with him is
great redemption.
THe sword that I spake of partly
in the first Chapter, is like to be
drawen this yeare; for why the
Sunne, Mars, and Mercurius cannot aSunne, they
will not consent to the works of darkSalomon saith,) loueth not him that
rebuketh him,Babylon, to make
her desolate and naked, and shall eate
her flesh and burne her with fire, and
vtterly to set her out of her soyle, so that
it appeareth euidently, that Sathan
shall no more haue so great dominion,
as he hath had in times past, and now
because that he séeth that his kingdome
shall haue a fall, he worketh and shall
Madianites,
Iesuites, Seminaries, excommuPapists, and Catholike Romaines,
as they terme themselues, to stirre vp
warres, seditions, secret treasons,
and vtter defiances, both amongest
Princes, and Communities, for such
aduersaries of the truth doe wickedly
resiste the ordinance of God, in the auIeremie the prophet, for they say plainethe word that thou hast spoken to vs in
the name of the Lord, we will not heare it
of thee, but we will doe whatsoeuer thing
goeth out of our owne mouth, as to burne
incense vnto the Queene of heauen, and
to powre out drinke-offerings vnto her,
as we haue done, both we & our Fathers,
our Kings, and our Princes in the Citties
of Iuda, and in the streets of Ierusalem,
and what is our peoples saying, I pray
the Ministers and
teachers must not
therefore thou louer of God and of his
word, when any trouble happeneth vn(for great are the troubles of the
righteous,
but the Lord deliuereth him
out of them all,) maruell not at it, as
though it were a strange thing, but rewho when he was reuiled,
reuiled not againe, when he suffered, he
threatned not, but committed it to him
that iudgeth righteously, for there is no
disciple aboue his Master, nor the seruant
aboue his Lord, it is sufficient for the disciple
to be as his Maister is, & the seruant
as his Lord,
if they haue called the Maister
of the house Belzebub, how much
more, them of his houshold. So these
that in him thou
maist haue affliction,
but be of good comfort,
for he hath ouercome the world.
THe influence of the Sunne and Mars,
declareth euidently by all coniecSalomon which
was a King himselfe, and that of great
experience, saith these words, take away
the wicked from the King and his throne
shalbe established in righteousnesse.
• God beginneth so gratiously
to worke in Princes, who haue not oc• law of righteousnes,Ezechias brakIsraell worshiped so long, and let it not
gréeue him, that the vertuous King
Iosias expelled South-sayers,Iuda and in Ierusalem,
Hilkaah the
Priest found in the house of the Lord,
let euery man rather giue thanks vnto
GodBel is deliuered
iDaniels power, that the falshood of
Bels ▪
Priest is come to light, and that
for he beareth not
the sword for nought, for he is the Minister
of God, to take vengeance on him
that doth euill, and be yee subiect, not because
of wrath onely, but also for conscience
sake, and as the wise man saith.
The wrath of a King is the messenger of
death,
WHen I consider the corrupt naMercurius & how he hath
bin & is, and euer shalbe, contrary vnot
Mars, & the Sune, I find by all experience
that he shall be cast a great &c. darke,
for though that the light shine in darkMercurius,
for because they doe euill,
therefore shall they hate the light and
not come to it, least their deeds should be
reproued, and as Paule saith, if the Gospell
shall
that is, of the infidels,
that the light of the glorious Gospell
of Christ, which is the Image of God,
should not shine vnto them. But where
the Children of God are, there shall be
FOrasmuch as Almighty God hath
charged by Moses, that we alwayes
should haue his Commaundements in
our sight in our minde, in our hart,
and that we should rehearse them continually
vnto our Children,
and should
talke of them when as we tarry in the
house,
and as we walke by the way,
and when we lye downe, and when we
rise vp, and we should binde them for a
signe vpon our hands, and they should
be as frontlets betwixt our eyes, and we
should write them vpon the posts of our
houses, and vpon your gates, to the in
To day if yee will heare his voice,
harden
not your harts,
• vncor• word of God, it is the foode of
the soule,the word
of God is quick and mighty in operation,
and sharper then any two edged sword,
and entreth elen vnto the diuiding asunder
of the soule and the spirit, and of
the ioynts, and of the marrow, and is
discerner of the thoughts, and intents of
the heart, it is good indéed to learne
Gods word,are they blessed
that heare the word of the Lord, and
keepe it, it is good to beléeue the word of
God, for he that beleeueth, and is Baptized
shalbe saued, yea God giueth them
power to be his children, that beléeue
in his name, wherefore he that cometh
vnto God must beléeue,for without
saith saith the Apostle, it is not possible
to please God, and what soeuer thing
is done without faith is sinne, it is
good to kéepe the word and commaunfor he that loueth me,
saith Christ,will keepe my commaundements,
and my father will loue him, and
we will come vnto him, and make our
dwelling with him, he that hath my
Commaundements and keepeth them, is
he that loueth me, and he that loueth me,
shall be loued of my father, therefor it is
good for euery one of vs to kéepe Gods
Commaundements,to loue our enemies,
and to doe good for euill, not to commit
adultery, to breake no lawfull wedloue is patient and
courteous,
loue enuieth not, loue doth
not frowardly,
loue is not puffed vp, it disdaineth
not,
seeketh not her owne, is not
prouoked to anger, thinketh not euill, reioyceth
not of iniquitie,
but reioyceth in
the truth, it suffereth all things, beleeueth
all things, it hopeth all things, it endureth
all things, whosoeuer now hath the
spirit of God, and hath truly receiued
the light of his word, will vse these
works, these fruits of the spirit, and this
Armour of light, this is the new Commaundement
that our Master hath giuen
vs,
for by this shall euery man know, that
we are his Disciples, if we loue one another,
to distribute
to the necessity of the S
to feed the
hungry, to minister drinke to the thirstie,
to lodge the harbourlesse, Esai. 58. 7. to visit the
sicke,
to doe to euery man euen
as we would they did vnto vs. It is
good for euery one of vs to tell another
his fault, and that louingly after a broThou shalt
not hate thy brother in thy heart, but
thou shalt plainely rebuke thy neighbour,
and suffer him not to sinne; Thou shalt
not auenge, nor be mindfull of wrong against
the children of thy people, but
shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe,
That if any man be fallen by occasion
into any fault,
they which are spirituall,
should restore such an one with the spirit
of meekenesse, considering themselues
what is their own nature, least they also be
tempted. If thy brother trespasse against
thee, saith Christ, goe and tell him his
fault betweene him and thee alone: if he
heare thee thou hast woon thy brother,
but if he heare thee not, take yet with
thee one or two, that by the mouth of
two or three witnesses euery word may
be confirmed, and if he will not vouchsafe
to heare, then tell it vnto the Church,
and if he refuse to heare the Church also,
then let him be vnto thee as an heathen
man and a publican. Now if any that is
of the number of the brethren in Christ,
and would be taken for a Christian
man indéed, be a whoremonger or coPaule is plaine, that we
should not eate nor kéepe company
with such, this day it is good to be ware
of false prophets, of mens owne imagi& beware of false prophets,
which come
to you in sheepes cloathing,
but inwardly
are rauening wolues,
we
loue the Lord our God with all our heart,
and with all our soule, or not. wherefore it
shalbe good for vs, not onely this day, but
as long as we liue, to walke after the
Lord our God, and to feare him, and to
kéepe his Commandements, his statutes,
his lawes, and his constitutions, to harIt is good for euery subiect
to be obedient,
and to submit himselfe
vnto all manner of ordinance of man ▪ for the
Lords sake;
for there is no power but of
God, and the powers that be, are ordained of
God; whosoeuer therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God, & they
that resist, shall receiue to themselues iudgement,
for Princes are not to be feared for
good works, but for euill, wilt thou then be
without feare of the power, doe well, so
shalt thou haue praise of the same, for he is
the Minister of God for thy wealth; but if
thou doe euill, feare, for he beareth not the
sword for nought, for he is the minister of
God, to take vengeance on him that doth
euill, wherefore we must be subiect, not because
of wrath onely, but also for conscience
sake.
Salomon, that the Kings displeasure is a
messenger of death. At is good for Kings,
Princes & temporall Iudges,to iudge euery man righteously without any
wresting of the law,
to know no mans
person in iudgement, to take no gifts, but euer
to haue the lawes of God, and to doe
thereafter by them, and to reade therein all
the dayes of their liues, that they may learne
to feare the Lord their God, and to keepe
all the words of his law, and to doe thereafter,
that his hart be not lifted vp aboue his
brethrē, that he may prolong his daies in his
kingdome. It is good for seruants to be obedient
vnto them that are their Maisters, according
to the flesh,
with feare and trembling,
with singlenes of their harts,
as vnto
Christ,
not with seruice to the eye, as men
pleasers,
but as the seruants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the hart. &c. as also
Peter: Seruants be subiect to your Maisters
with all feare, not only to the good & courteous,
but also to the froward. And therPaul so earnest to sée this
ordinance of God kept,that as
many seruants as are vnder the yoake, should
count their Maisters worthy of all honour,
that the name of God and of his doctrine be
not euill spoken of. It is good for such men
as haue sto put away threatnings
doing vnto their seruants that which
is iust and equall, and know that they also
themselues haue a Maister in heauen, and
vse the counsell of the wiseman, whereas
thy seruant worketh truely,Salomon saith, he
that delicatly bringeth vp his seruant from
his youth, at length he wilbe euen as his
Sonne. It is good for women to be obedito submit themselues vnto their
husbands, as vnto the Lord, for the husband
is the wiues head,
euen as Christ
also is the head of the Church, and
the same is the Sauiour of his body, therethe Church is in subiection to Christ,
euen so let the wiues be vnto their husbands
in euery thing, as it is comely in the Lord,
that euen they which obey not the word,
may without the word, Col. 13. 18. be woon by the conuersation
of their wiues,1. Pet. 3. 1. while they behold
their pure con
and let not their appareling be vntoward,
as with brodered haire, & Gold, put about
theSarah obeyed
Abraham and called him Lord:that he might make it vnto himselfe
a glorious Church, not hauing spot or
wrinckle, or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blame, so ought
men to loue their wiues as their owne
bodies, he that loueth his wife, loueth him• Lord doth the Church, therefore ought
euery man to doe, so that he loue his wife
euen as himselfe,and not to be bitter vnto
them, but to dwell with them as men of
knowledge, giuing honour vnto them as vnto
the weaker vessell, euen as they that are
heires together of the grace of life, that
your prayers be not interrupted.It is
good for childre ̄ to obey their parents in the
Lord,
for that is right and well pleasing vnto
the Lord, yea the Lord will haue the
father honoured of the Children, and hath
confirmed the authority of the mother oHe that honoreth his mother
is like one that gathereth treasure, whoso
honoureth his Father shall haue ioy of
his owne children, and when he maketh
his prayer, he shalbe heard, he that honoureth
his father shall haue long life, and
he that is obedient to the Lord shall comfort
his mother: he that feareth the Lord
honoureth his parents, and doth seruice vnto
his parents as vnto the Lord, honour thy
father and mother in deed and word, and in
all patience, that thou mayest haue Gods
blessing, for the blessing of the father establisheth
the house of the Children, and the
mothers curse rooteth out the foundations:
reioyce not at the dishonour of thy father,
for it is not honour vnto thee, but shame,
seeing that mans glory cometh by his Fathers
honour, and the reproach of the mother
is dishonour to the children, helpe thy
father in his age, and grieue him not as long
as he liueth, and if his vnderstanding faile,
haue patience with him, and despise him not,
when thou art in thy full strength, for the
good entreaty of thy father shall not be forgotten,
he that forsaketh his father shall
come to shame, and he that angreth his
mother is cursed of God. My Sonne performe
thy duty with louing meeknes, and
so shalt thou be beloued of them that are
approued: Ephes. 6. 4. It is good for fathers not to prouoke
their children to wrath,Col. 321. but to bring
them vp in instruction and information of
the Lord: for as the wiseman saith, whoBishop or other spirituall
Shepheard to be vnreproueable, the husband
of one wife, watching, sober, modest, harborous,
apt to teach, not giuen to wine, no
striker, not giuen to filthy lucre, but gentle,
no fighter, not couetous, one that loueth
goodnes, wise, holy, temperate, holding the
faithfull word according to the doctrine,
that he may be able also to exhort with
wholesome doctrine, and reproue them that
say against it, & aboue all things, it is good
for a Bishop or spirituall Shepheard, to
leade an holy and Godly life, going before
others, as the Ensigne-bearer, and to be
vnto others the good salt of the earth, the
light,