AS the Synnes of Man are innume­rable and dyuerse, gentle Reader, so the plagues & pu­nishmentes of God are sundrye: and he sharpely scour­geth manye, that wee the resydue myghte the better bee warned. And though he suffer and beare with our wicked deedes and dealings a while, yet without amendement, and oure repentaunce, hee will stryke at laste, with so heauie and greuous a stroke that our frayle bodyes may not nor cānot sustayn his heauy hande. Let therefore euery true Christian enter into his own heart, & consyder how mercyfull God is, how he warneth vs, howe he spareth vs, and gyueth daily examples for our amendement, how he plageth the offēdor, thoughe mercifull to a great sorte of sinners. [Page] If we woulde consyder this transi­torie worlde howe tickle it standeth, howe vncertayne the lyfe of man is, howe we can assure vnto our selues nothyng certayne but death, howe our toyles, our laboures, oure cares, our inuentions, oure pollicies and subtilties passe with our mortall bo­dies: vndoubtedly the verie horrour of our consciences, woulde cause vs to bee more carefull to refrayne oure naturall bodies from such filthy, de­testable and abhominable liuing, as they are most prone and ready to fo­lowe and imbrace: yea it woulde so moue our myndes to deuotion, that therby the vayn industries, lewd at­temptes, and wycked imaginations of our hearte myght be altered and chaunged to true Religion, to con­stantnesse of Faith, and to true and syncere dealyng one with an other. Let vs therfore searche and examine [Page] our selues, and lyke the loste sonne come home & crie Abba father, and then vndoubtedly, with spreaded ar­mes, hee will bee ready to receiue vs to his great mercye, whereas on the contrarie hee will shewe hymselfe a fierce and terrible god, pronouncing a most sharpe iudgement vppon the offendor, yea he wil steale vpon him on a day whē he loketh not for him, and in an houre that he is not ware of, and shall hewe him in peeces, and giue him his portion with the hipo­crites, where there shall be weepyng and gnashing of teethe. After which sorte, God in his iustice, stroke the persone of whom we nowe speake: who maye well bee a myrrour and spectacle to vs all, that we knowing and seeyng the ende of hys wycked life, may renewe the olde man graf­fed in our harts, glorifying our hea­uenly Father whiche is in Heauen, [Page] whiche God graunte of his mercye. Amen.

The seuenteenth daye of Ianua­rie this presente yeare of our Lorde God a thousand fiue hundred seuen­tie and sixe, one Simon Pembroke dwelling in Sainct Georges parish in Southwark, beyng cōuented be­fore the ordinarie iudge of that place as vehemētly suspected to be a Con­iurer, and the proces beeing serued vpon him to appeare in the Parishe Churche of Sainct Marie Ouery, at the Court there vsually holden by the sayde Iudge, to aunswere vnto suche obiections, as he myghte bee charged wythal, touching his diuel­lishe trade, and to receyue condygne punishment if he were founde culpa­ble therein: albeit somewhat sickely before, as it must truly be confessed, neuerthelesse chosing rather to come than to vse any excuse of absence, [Page] he fayled not at his appoynted daye to appeare, shewing him selfe ready in euery respect to cleare him selfe of all suche matters as should or might in any wise be obiected against him, saying, that he had gret wrong to be troubled for any suche false surmyse, Wherevpon comming to a Proctor of the Arches, & mynding to retaine hym to bee of his counsell touchyng the defence of the obiections layde a­gainst him, being refused by the said Proctor, & with his fee in his hande, the Iudge comming into the Chur­che, he sank down sodeynly amongst them starke deade, not hauing space or grace to saye once, the Lord haue mercie vpon me: to the great amaze of al the standers by. The Iudge se­ing what had chaunced, and that by no meanes his lyfe coulde be recoue­red, he commaunded that he shoulde be serched, to the intent that if he had [Page] money or other chardge about him, it might not bee embeselled, but re­stored to his poore wife, beeing there present, lamenting hir late husbande in moste pitifull sorte, whiche done there were found about him certain diuelishe and wicked bookes of con­iuration, a peece of tinne with a pic­ture engraued, & a lttle blacke sticke like vnto Iette, aboute two inches long, with other toies, instrumentes no doubt of his diuelish arte.

Wherfore let this iust & sodain exe­cutiō of gods iudgement, be a terror vnto those, that setting apart y^t cle­mēcy & great mercy of our heauenly father, haue practised this or the like wicked trade, & let al other that are infected with any notable crime, as no doubte none of vs can excuse our selues, take example by thys deade carkas, whose manner of lyfe as it was abhomynable, and odyous in [Page] the sighte of god, so the order of hys death no lesse fearful, and terrible in the sight of men. I say after so ma­ny warnyngs, let vs not be senslesse as bruite beastes, neither lette vs de­ferre our repentaunce vntill to mor­row, least at midnight, or at the dau­nyng of the day our time be shorte­ned, whereby to late, wee are to call for repentaunce: but while we haue time and space, let vs call for mercy, that we may assure our selues of his comfortable promisse, which is, that at what tyme soeuer a synner dothe repent him of his sinnes frō the bot­tome of his harte, I will put all his wickednes out of my remembrance, and so glorifying him in this life, we may bee partakers of the heauenlye ioyes, prepared for his elected, whi­che God graunte, for his sonne Iesu Christes sake. Amen.