fire or water for the cleansing and purging away of filth and dross: So doth God make use of afflictions to take away that of our sins. And it is deservedly a scourge upon us at this time Lipsius; for we Belgians had before offended; and being corrupted with wealth and pleasures, we Ran on Headlong in the Way of Vice. But our God gently warnes and recalls us; and scourges us with some stripes, that forewarned by these, we may return to our selves and to him. He takes away our Estates, we abused them to Luxury; our liberty, because we enlarg'd it to licentiousness? And with this gentle Ferula of Calamities, he doth (as it were) expiate and purge away our offences. A gentle one indeed, for how slight a satisfaction is this? They say the Persians when they are to punish some Illustrious and great Person, use to stripp him of his Robes and Tiara; and hanging them up
