Master Bezaes sermons upon the three chapters of the canticle of canticlesMaster Bezaes sermons vpon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles

6 And therefore neither these goodly father Hermits, nor these cloistered Monks, nor these rabbles of religions which pester & fill every city, may help themselves with this place. For if we speak of ancient Hermits (that is to say, inhabitants of deserts) there is great difference between those and these which are now. For some of them were constrained by persecutions to seek after woods & rocks, as did Elijah & Elisha, where they abode, as we see by their pains & labours, nothing less then idle, or spending their time in dreaming and doting contemplation. Others withdrew themselves aside for a time, for quiet-sake, the better to prepare themselves to all good exercises of study, and of prayers, and of serving the Churches whereunto they should be called. And yet we must confess that many even among these, keeping no mean or measure, neither in their solitude, nor in their austerity of life, did both themselves and the Churches great wrong. But wherein do these sinks of Sodom and of Gomorrah resemble this desert? These plaunches and sties of superstition and impiety? These harbours and lurking-holes of all cursed idleness, the stinking vapours whereof infect both the heaven and the earth? But what mean we to speak here of the deserts of these holy fathers? Let a man but look upon their steeples, their towers, their cloisters, their oratories and dormitories, their garden-plots and orchards, and especially of these of the latter crew, these who spoil all men besides of the name of Jesuits, which is as much to say, as Christians, to appropriate the title thereof unto themselves, and what royal palace shall a man find comparable unto their deserts? What man is there who by his honest pain and travel for the benefit of this Church and common weal, in what vocation of his soever, hath gotten in all his life the hundred part of that which these honest vowers of poverty have raked and yet rake together every day, by doing all things as they say Gratis, and for Gods sake?

6 And therefore neither these goodly father Eremites, nor these cloistered Monks, nor these rabbles of religions which pester & fill euerie city, may help themselues with this place. For if we speake of ancient Eremits (that is to say, inhabitants of deserts) there is great difference betweene those and these which are now. For some of them were constrained by persecutions to seeke after woods & rockes, as did Elias & Elizeus, where they abode, as we see by their paines & labors, nothing lesse then idle, or spending their time in dreaming and doting contemplation. Others withdrew themselues aside for a time, for quiet-sake, the better to prepare themselues to al good exercises of studie, and of praiers, and of seruing the Churches whereunto they should be called. And yet we must confesse that many euen among these, keeping no meane or measure, neither in their solitude, nor in their austerity of life, did both themselues and the Churches great wrong. But wherein doe these sinks of Sodom and of Gomorrha resemble this desert? These plaunches and sties of superstition and impietie? These harbours and lurking-holes of all cursed idlenesse, the stincking vapours whereof infect both the heauen and the earth? But what mean we to speake here of the deserts of these holy fathers? Let a man but looke vpon their steeples, their towers, their cloisters, their oratories and dormitories, their garden-plots and orchards, and especially of these of the latter crew, these who spoile al men besides of the name of Iesuits, which is as much to say, as Christians, to appropriate the title thereof vnto themselues, and what royal pallace shal a man find comparable vnto their deserts? What man is there who by his honest paine and trauell for the benefit of this Church and common weale, in what vocation of his soeuer, hath gotten in all his life the hundreth part of that which these honest vowers of pouerty haue raked and yet rake together euery day, by doing all things as they say Gratis, and for Gods sake?