you may bee ennobled in heaven after your descent to earth Laus Deo Totum hoc ut à te veniet totur◠ad te redeat A Gentleman IS a Man of himselfe without the addition of either Taylor Millener Seamster or Haberdasher Actions of goodnesse he holds his supreme happinesse The fate of a yonger brother cannot depresse his thoughts below his elder Hee scornes basenesse more than want and holds Noblenesse his sole worth A Crest displayes his house but his owne actions expresse himselfe Hee scornes pride as a derogation to Gentry and walks with so pure a soule as hee makes uprightnesse the honour of his Family Hee wonders at a profuse foole that hee should spend when honest frugality bids him spare and no lesse at a miserable Crone who spares when reputation bids him spend Though heire of no great fortunes yet his extensive hand will not shew it Hee shapes his coat to his cloth and scornes as much to bee holden as to bee a Gally-slave Hee hath been youthfull but his maturer experience hath so ripened him as hee hates to become either Gull or Cheat. His disposition is so generous as others happinesse cannot make him repine nor any occurrent save sinne make him repent Hee admires nothing more than a constant spirit derides nothing more than a recreant condition embraceth nothing with more intimacie than a prepared resolution Amongst men hee hates no lesse to bee uncivill than in his feare to Godward to bee servile Education hee holds a second Nature which such innate seeds of goodnesse are sowne in him ever improves him seldome or never depraves him Learning hee holds not onely an additament but ornament to Gentry No complement gives more accomplishment Hee intends more the tillage of his minde than his ground yet suffers not that to grow wilde neither Hee walkes not in the clouds to his friend but to a stranger Hee eyes the Court with a vertuous and noble contemplation and dis-values him most whose sense consists in sent Hee viewes the City with a princely command of his affections No object can with-draw him from himselfe or so distract his desires as to covet ought unworthily or so intraunce his thoughts as to admire ought servilely Hee lives in the Countrey without thought of oppression makes every evening his dayes Ephemeris If his neighbours field flourish hee doth not envy it if it lie fit for him hee scornes to covet it There is not that place hee sees nor that pleasure hee enjoyes whereof he makes not some singular use to his owne good and Gods glory Vocation hee admits of walking in it with so generous and religious a care as hee makes Piety his Practice acts of Charity his Exercise and the benefit of others his sole solace Hee understands that neither health commeth from the clouds without seeking nor wealth from the clods without digging Hee recommends himselfe therefore in the morning to Gods protection and favour that all the day long hee may more prosperously succeed in his labour Hee holds idlenesse to bee the very moth of mans time Day by day therefore hath hee his taske imposed that the poison of idlenesse may bee better avoided Hee holds as Gods opportunity is mans extremity so mans security is the Divels opportunity Hoping therefore hee feares fearing hee takes heed and taking heed hee becomes safe Hospitality hee holds a relique of Gentry Hee harbours no passion but compassion Hee grieves no lesse at anothers losse than his owne nor joyes lesse in anothers successe than his owne peculiar Recreation hee useth to refresh him but not surprize him Delights cannot divert him from a more serious occasion neither can any houre-beguiling pastime divide him from an higher contemplation For honest pleasures hee is neither so Stoicall as wholly to contemne them nor so Epicureall as too sensually to affect them There is no delight on mountaine vale coppice or river whereof hee makes not an usefull and contemplative pleasure Recreation hee admits not to satisfie his sense but solace himselfe Hee fixeth his minde on some other subject when any pleasure begins too strongly to worke upon him Hee would take it but not bee taken by it Hee attempers his attractivest pastimes with a little Alloes to weane him all the sooner from their sweetnesse Hee scornes that a moment of content should deprive him of an eternity of comfort Hee corrects therefore his humour in the desire of pleasure that hee may come off with more honour Acquaintance hee entertaines with feare but retaines with fervor Hee consorts with none but where hee presumes hee may either better them or bee bettered by them Vertue is the sole motive of his choice Hee conceives how no true amity nor constant society can ever bee amongst evill men Hee holds it a blemish to the repute of a Gentleman and an aspersion to his discretion to make choice of those for his associates who make no more account of time than how to passe it over Conference hee affects and those hee admits onely into the list of his discourse whom hee findes more reall than verball more solid than complementall Hee will try him before hee rely on him but having found him touch they touch his honour that impeach him Moderation in his desires cares feares or in what this Theatre of Earth may afford hee expresseth so nobly as neither love of whatsoever hee enjoyes can so enthrall him nor the losse of what hee loves can any way appall him A true and generous Moderation of his affections hath begot in him an absolute command and conquest of himselfe Hee smiles yet compassionately grieves at the immoderation of poore worldlings in their cares and griefes at the indiscretion of ambitious and voluptuous Flies in their desires and feares Perfection he aspires to for no lower mound can confine him no inferiour bound impale him Vertue is the staire that raiseth to height of this Story His ascent is by degrees making Humility his directresse lest hee should faile or fall in his progresse His wings are holy desires his feet heavenly motions There is no sense which he offers not up as a sweet incense to expedite his course and refresh his conscience He holds it the sweetest life to be every day better till length of dayes reunite him to his Redeemer Hee hath plaid his part on this Stage of Earth with honour and now in his Exit makes heaven his harbour FINIS An exact TABLE or Directory leading to the Principall points contained in this BOOKE YOVTH Observat. 1. OVR youthfull yeares our Climactericall years with the dangers that attend on youthfull yeares seconded by an authentick story out of Eusebius p. 1.2 The vanity of Youth displayed in foure distinct Subjects 3 Two reasons why Young-men were not admitted to deliver their opinions in publike assemblies 6.7 Three violent passions incident to Youth 15 Two reasons why Youth is naturally subject to those illimited passions of Ambition Lust Revenge ibid. Especiall motives or
exposing their estate and name to a miserable hazard whose Youth as it addes fuell to desire so Age the truest Register of the follies of Youth will besprinkle those desires with the bitter teares of Repentance grieving to have committed what may hardly be redeemed For hee that surceaseth but then from sin when hee can sinne no more forsaketh not his sinnes but his sinnes forsake him It is one thing to fall into light sinnes through occasion onely or humane frailty and another thing to fall through affected negligence and security Farre be the latter from you Gentlemen whose aymes ought to be so much the more glorious as your Descents are noble and generous Though humane frailty move you to offend labour to redeeme that time wherein you did offend by vying sinnes with sighes those ungodly Tares with uncessant Teares for if you will live when you be dead you must die to sinne while you be alive And for as much as pardon cannot be procured but where repentance is renewed as wee are Omnium notarum peâ—catores so should we be Omnium horarum poenitentes as every houre sinning so every houre sighing as every houre committing so every houre bringing forth fruits of remission Thus like Hismenias the Thebane who would shew Musicians of all sorts to imitate the best and reject the worst have I proposed and set downe Recreations of all sorts making choice withall of such especiall and select ones as best sort with the quality of a Gentleman concluding how and after what manner he is to bestow himselfe in them Neither have I taxed any particular Recreation provided that it transgresse not the bounds of modesty but admitted it as indifferent for the use of a Gentleman Yea such Recreations as may seeme to undergoe the censure of Lightnesse have I not only not reproved but worthily approved being with decencie used Whereupon Gregory saith I admire King David a great deale more when I see him in the Quire then when I see him in the Campe when I see him singing as the sweet Singer of Israel then when I see him fighting as the worthy Warrior of Israel when I see him leaping then when I see him weeping when I see him dancing before the Arke then when I see him drawing forth his Armie to the field When David fought with others hee overcame others hee wounded others hee made others sicke But when hee danced before the Arke and delighted himselfe hee was overcome himselfe hee was wounded himselfe hee was sicke himselfe But this sicknesse did rather affect him then afflict him joy him then annoy him I will play still sayes hee that others may still play upon mee For it is a good sport when GOD is delighted though Michol be displeased Whence you see that it is not the Recreation but the circumstance tending to that Recreation which for most part giveth occasion of offence as the Time when Gods Sabbath is not to be dishonoured nor our serious occasions intermitted the Place where the Holy ground is not by the feet of Lightnesse to be profaned nor Places where Iustice is administred to the exercise of such delights inured the Persons who wee must take such heed lest the weakest of our Brethren bee scandaled or offence to any by our sports occasioned Doing thus wee shall glorifie God not onely in this life but in that best and blest life which is to come if wee fall not backe into the same sinnes but bid a long fare-well to the illusions of the Divell if with diligent attention to the Word of God earnest desire of conversion and continuall confession of our sinnes wee procure the carefull eye of the Almighty to watch over us For it sufficeth him in his great mercy that wee surcease from sinne whereby we shall be more easily moved to the practice of all good workes Wherefore to conclude this Observance with that exhortation of golden-mouthed Chrysostome to the end wee may render more honour to his Sabbath Let not any one hence-forth be seene trying masteries on Horse-backe nor spending any part of the day in unlawfull meetings Let not any one hence-forth consort himselfe in games at Cards or Dice or the tumultuous noise which ariseth from thence For I pray you answer me saith hee what profit is there in fasting if all the day eating nothing you game sport sweare and forsweare and so spend the day in worse then nothing Let us not I beseech you be so negligent in that weighty affaire of our salvation but rather let our communication be of Spirituall things And let every one take in his hand a godly booke and calling his Neighbours together water both is owne understanding and theirs who are assembled with Heavenly instructions that so wee may avoid the deceits of the Divell Performing this Gentlemen your Recreations shall be healthfull to your selves helpfull to your Countrey delightfull to the vertuous and beseeming men of your ranke nobly generous THE ENGLISH GENTLMAN Argument Of Acquaintance Of the choice of Acquaintance Of constancy in the choice of Acquaintance Of reservancy towards Acquaintance Of the absolute end of Acquaintance ACQVAINTANCE THE comfort of an Active life consists in Society as the content of a Contemplative consists in Privacie Intermission of Action in the former is a kind of death intention to Devotion in the latter is a pleasant life For solitary places are the best for prayer but publike for practice We read that Christ went out into a solitary place and there prayed but he entred into the Synagogue and there preached that such Libertines as were there trained might bee reclaimed And Wisedome cryeth without and uttereth her voice in the streets that her words might be practised As there is no publike State which can subsist without commerce trafficke and mutuall society so there is no creature living whose life would not be tedious being debarred from all use of company There are two Birds which are noted both in divine and humane writ to be lovers of solitarinesse the Owle in the Desart and the Pelicane in the Wildernesse Which two among divers other birds were accounted uncleane and therefore were not to be eaten by the Iewes As retirednesse from occasions abroad makes us more serious in occasions at home so this privacie or solitarinesse makes the memory more retentive in affaires usefull to our selves but withdrawes our hand from affording helpe or assistance to others But life should be communicative not only intending it selfe but labouring wherein it may doe good to any For whereas Saint Bernard saith that the affinity is neere betweene the dwellers in a Cell and in Heaven it is to bee understood that such whose mortified affections and regenerate will have concluded all worldly honours to be worldly tumours and all secular honour to be the Devils trafficke have stepped neere unto Heaven Neither are wee to conclude thence that such who have to deale
were our Northerne Borderers who have beene alwayes uncertaine friends in extremities and assured enemies upon advantage Of which it may be said as was spoken of the Philosophers cloake Pallium video Philosophum non video I see the cover of a friend but no friend For as nothing is more hatefull then a doubtfull and uncertaine man who now draweth his foot backe and now putteth it forward so there is nothing more distastefull to any man then these faire protesting friends whose hollow and undermining hearts make a shew of faire weather abroad when there is a tempest at home comming towards you with their feet but going from you with their hearts In briefe they are Danaus tubs or running sieves that can hold no water leave them therefore to themselves if you desire in safety to enjoy your selves Now to the end I may acquaint you likewise with the rest of such Motives to Love as are powerfully working in the affection of the mind as wee have touched the first Motive or inducement to Love to wit Parentage or descent which cannot so farre degenerate from it selfe but it must of necessity shew it selfe so it attracts other motives of love unto it as Benevolence in rewarding excellency or admiration proceeding from the fame of such redoubted Hero's as have their names charact'red and engraven in leaves of brasse to preserve their memory As Solomon for his Wisdome whom no doubt Nicaula Queene of Saba had a desire to see and bee knowne to through report of his wisdome so as her long journey seemed short having understood that to be true with her owne eare which shee had onely heard of before by report How much likewise was David affected for his Valour in discomfiting the uncircumcised Philistin So was Alexander whose report brought the Amazon Thalestris from her owne Countrey of purpose to be knowne to so invincible a spirit So Hercules Achilles Dardanus Diomedes Scipio Hannibal Constantine c. whose exploits purchased them Love to such as were never acquainted with their persons Pardoning likewise of injuries is an excellent motive of Love When Chyle's brother was angry that himselfe was not made Ephorus as well as hee O quoth hee I know how to suffer injuries so doest not thou Though Diogenes the Cynicke answered uncivilly to Alexander when he came to his poor Mansion in Synope his Philosophers Barrell yet hee replyed unto his Satyricall speech with no indignation but said to such of his attendants as derided the boarish and exoticke speech of Diogenes If I were not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes The like instance may be confirmed by holy Writ where Miriam for murmuring against Moses was stricken with a loathsome Leprosie hee could not suffer this condigne punishment to be inflicted on her but demanded of God that hee would cure her Another motive to Love is Hatred where an ill occasion procureth among enemies a reconciliation Herod and Pilate enemies before were reconciled in combining their powers together against Christ. Mastives if set together will fight till death but in the presence of a Bull will joyne together Sometimes mutuall affliction procureth mutuall affection Such resorted to David as were persecuted by Saul being such as were amaro animo Where Sauls enmity brought David to a triall of Hushai's faithfull amity where hee found the words of Ecclesiasticus to be true A faithfull friend is a strong defence and hee that findeth such a one findeth a treasure For when wee are in the greatest straights such an one sheweth the most strength So as the Apostles words may be verified strength is made perfect in weakenesse Where one afflicted friend supporteth another by joyning their strenghts together Another motive there is proceeding from some especiall delivery from danger for who will not esteeme him for a friend who will expose himselfe to danger to deliver his friend Iudith entred Bethulia with Holofernes head and by that meanes preserved her Countrey from ruine and desolation Esther procured the death of Haman repealed those severe and cruell lawes enacted proclaimed and even ready to be executed by Hamans suggestions in the kingdome of the Medes and Persians whereby shee purchased eternall honour love and memory in her Countrey The same love gained Moses for delivering the Israelites from the thraldome of Egypt The like may be said of Iosua Sampson Macchabeus and many others frequent in holy Writ The Romans so highly honoured and affected such as protected their Countrey and defended her Liberty as they bestowed no lesse style on them then Patres Patriae Another motive there is drawing one Enemy to love another induced thereto in respect of Compassion or some other princely vertue which he seeth in him When Saul understood that David might have taken away his life and would not Levavit vocem flevit his threats were changed into teares and his passion into a teare-swolne admiration to see his foe so full of compassion Wee are induced likewise to love them that tell and confesse sincerely their offences for an ingenuous acknowledgement of what is done moves us to commiserate his case by whom it is done yea quencheth all hate as if a small sparke were drenched in the Sea Likewise in the toleration of wrongs wee are enforced to love him who suffereth them and having power to revenge will not out of the noblenesse of his spirit doe what hee may To conclude Bountie is a motive to Love for giving gifts gathereth friends which Bountie is most worthy acceptance when done with cheerefulnesse Hilarem datorem diligit Deus Thus have we traced over such Motives as generally induce or procure Love Friendship or Acquaintance wherein observe the lesson of the Sonne of Sirach Depart from thine enemies and beware of thy friends for some man is a friend for his owne occasion and will not abide in the day of thy trouble Now if you would understand how a man may know a friend you shall find him described and by certaine infallible markes discovered in the twelfth Chapter of the same book But alwayes Beware saith he of deceitfull friends lest feeling the bitternesse of them you find the saying of the Prophet true All the men of thy confederacie have driven thee to the borders the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee they that cat thy bread have laid a wound under thee there is none understanding in him Make choice then of him for your Acquaintance whom you may worthily esteeme of as a second-selfe so may you communicate your counsels freely acquaint him with your griefes friendly and share in comforts and afflictions fully Thus much for the choice of Acquaintance wherein I have the rather enlarged my discourse because I know that as there is nothing more usefull to direction or instruction then where good ones are elected so there is nothing more hurtfull in the maine matter of discipline
faith by workes of charity and obedience which may any way tend to the glorifying of God edifying our neighbour or conforming our selves to him whose Image wee beare Now as there is no comfort comparable to the testimony of a good conscience being that inseparable companion which shall attend us to glory or confusion so there is no punishment torment or affliction so grievous as shame which deriveth the cause ground and beginning either from doing that which wee ought not or from not doing that which wee ought as the comfort we reape from the testimony of a good conscience deriveth properly the primary cause and effect from doing that which wee ought and abstaining from doing that which wee ought not And what be those workes which are principally commended unto us but workes of charity and devotion For to our owne soules saith a devout Father shall wee be right acceptable and gratefull if wee compassionate the estate of our poore brother by being mercifull yea there is nothing that commendeth more a Christian man or argueth a Christian-like affected mind then to shew compassion to those that are afflicted For in this there is a resemblance betwixt the Creature and Creator loving as he himselfe loved shewing compassion as hee shewed O let me commend this so commendable and generous a quality to your admittance Gentlemen for beleeve mee there is no one property that shall better accomplish you no armoury that may more truly deblazon you for it is a badge of Gentry to shew compassion towards misery What profit shall you reape if having onely superficially read some Treatise tending to the comfort of such as either in body afflicted or in mind perplexed or in both distressed if you apply not these directions of comfort to them thus miserably dejected What reward I say shall you receive upon the account by you given of the Sicke which you have visited when having knowne how to comfort men in their affliction you have not ministred the least comfort to them in their visitation Or when you shall be demanded where are the hungry which you have refreshed the thirsty whose thirst you have quenched the naked whom you have cloathed the miserable oppressed soule whose case you have not onely pitied but redressed And you shall answer how you did indeed visit them but minister small comfort unto them you knew them to bee oppressed and the way to redresse them but other occasions detained you as you could not releeve them Nay rather have you not added worm-wood to their affliction Have you not surfetted in their suffering fatned your selves in their famishing and raised your states by their ruine Were not your tables stored when they were starved did not you feast when they fasted did it not affect you to see them afflicted If at any time you felt this in your selves let the dolefull remembrance thereof produce torrents of teares from your distreaming eyes supply your manifold misdeeds with many almes-deeds your transgressions with compassions your oppression with foure-fold restitution that your sinne may no more be had in remembrance yea let mee use that exhortation to you which a learned Father used upon like occasion Let charity smite your bowels see not the Image of your Redeemer disgraced but forthwith labour to right him see him not oppressed but to your power redresse him see him not starve if you have bread to releeve him or thirsty if you have drinke to refresh him or naked if you have a garment to cloath him or in any sort distressed if you have meanes to succour him Oh consume not that on prodigality which might procure the prayers of many poore soules for you their prayers are your praises their morning and evening sacrifice way markes to direct you unto Paradise take heed then you offend none of these Little ones but cheere them bee not as thornes in their eyes or pricks in their sides but minister all necessary comfort unto them Now if this appeare a matter of difficulty pretending that the supportance of your state exacts so much of you as you can reserve nothing to exhibite upon these workes of charity heare mee whosoever thou bee that makest this objection Bee provoked O Christian bee provoked by the widow of Sarepta to this encounter Encounter I call it because the flesh suggests sundry occasions to avert thee from it That charitable Widow though shee had but a little meale shee imparted of that little to a Prophet though shee had but a little oile yet shee freely bestowed it to refresh a Prophet The woman of Samaria when IESVS said unto her Give mee to drinke answered How is it that thou being a Iew askest drinke of mee which am a woman of Samaria Sundry such like answers will flesh and blood make to dispense with workes of charity or like the answer of churlish Nabal Who is David and who is the sonne of Ishai There bee many servants now adaies that breake away every man from his master Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh which I have killed for my hearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they bee O let not these objections divert the current of thy compassion Eye not so much his Countrey whether neighbour borne or a stranger as his Countenance the expresse Image of thy Saviour But to descend to some reasons why the Active part of Perfection is to be preferred before the Contemplative this amongst others is the most effectuall and impregnable In that great day of Account when the sealed booke of our secreteâ—â— sinnes shall bee unsealed our privatest actions discovered our closest and subtillest practises displayed and the whole inside of man uncased it shall not be demanded of us what knew wee but what did wee Fitting therefore it were to preferre Action before knowledge in this life being so infallibly to be preferred after this life Howbeit greater is their shame and sharper doubtlesse shall bee their censure whose education in all Arts divine and humane hath enabled them for discourse fitted or accommodated them for managements publike or private yet they giving reines to liberty invert their knowledge to depraved ends either making no use of such noble and exquisite indowments or which is worse imploying them to the satisfaction of their owne illimited desires O happy had these beene if they had never knowne the excellency of learning for ignorance is to be preferred before knowledge loosely perverted â— Yea but will some object I cannot see how any one should observe a Law before they know it wherefore as I thinke Knowledge is to be preferred because by Knowledge is Action directed It is true indeed Knowledge directs and instructs for otherwise wee should grope in darkenesse neither doe I exclude all Knowledge but admit so much as may instruct man sufficiently in matters of faith put him in remembrance of Heaven whose joyes are ineffable of
such in this life as it rather consisteth in the remission of sinnes than Perfection of vertues Yea wee sinne daily so as properly we can attribute nothing to our owne strength but weaknesse to our owne ability but infirmnesse to our resolves but uncertainnesse to our wils but untowardnesse to our affections but depravednesse nor to the whole progresie of our lives but actuall disobedience But rather I say wee meane of that Christian Perfection which every one in this Tabernacle of clay is to labour for that wee may become perfect through him who became weake that wee might bee strengthned hungry that we might be nourished thirsty that wee might bee refreshed disgraced that wee might be honoured yea who became all unto all that by all meanes hee might gaine some But wherein may this actuall perfection bee properly said to consist In Mortification which like the swift gliding torrent of Hydaspes divides or dilates it selfe to two channels Action and Affection Action in expressing it Affection in desiring to expresse it Action in suffering Affection in desire of suffering The one actuating no lesse in will than the other in worke Where the Action being more exemplar and in that more fruitfull gives precedency to Affection which concurres with the act to make the worke more graciously powerfull For where a worke of Mortification is performed and a hearty desire or affection to that worke is not adjoyned that Action may bee properly said to bee enforced rather than out of a free or willing disposition accepted Now this twofold Mortification extends it selfe properly to these three Subjects Life Name Goods Life which even Humanity tendreth Name which a good man before the sweetest odours preferreth Goods on which the worldling as on the supreme good lieth For the first many excellent and memorable examples of sundry devout and constant servants of Christ Iesus are in every place frequent and obvious who for the confirmation of their faith and the testimony of a good conscience joyfully and cheerefully laid down their lives esteeming it an especiall glory to bee thought worthy to suffer for him who with all constancy suffered to become an example of patience to them which were easie to illustrate by the sufferings of many eminent and glorious Martyrs Prudentius writeth that when Asclâ—piades commanded the tormentors to strike Râ—manus on the mouth the meeke Martyr answered I thanke thee O Captaine that thou hast opened unto mee many mouthes whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Tot ecce laudant ora quot sunt vulnera Looke how many wounds I have so many mouthes I have to praise and laud the Lord. Ignatius words were these to witnesse his constancie at the time of his suffering Frumentum sum Christi per dentes bestiarum molor ut mundus panis Dei inveniar I am Christs corne and must bee ground by the teeth of wilde beasts that I may become pure manchet for the Lord. It is reported that blessed Laurence being laid upon the Gridiron used these words to his Tormentors Turne and eate it is enough Saint Andrew when he went to bee crucified was so rapt with joy as hee rejoyced unmeasurably in that blessed resemblance of his Masters death Blessed Bartholomew willingly lost his skin for his sake who had his skinne scourged that hee might bee solaced Iohn dranke a cup of poison to pledge his Master in a cup of affliction Thus Laurence's Gridiron Andrewes Crosse Bartholomew's Skinne Iohns Cup expressed their Mortification by a willing surrender of their life for his sake who was the Lord of life Yea should wee survey those strange invented torments during the bloudy issue of the tenne Persecutions which were contrived by those inhumane Assasinates whose hands were deepâ— died in the bloud of the Saints wee should no lesse admire the constancy of the persecuted suffering than the cruelty of the Persecutors infesting What rackes hookes harrowes tongs forkes stakes were purposely provided to torment the constant and resolute Professours of the truth wearying the tormentors rather with tormenting than abating any part of their constancie in the height and heat of their tormenting Yea they were solaced in the time when they suffered esteeming death to bee such a passage as might give them convoy to a more glorious heritage Neither did these blessed Professors of the faith receive comfort by the eye of their meditation firmely fixed on heaven but by the compassion and princely commiseration of divers eminent ad victorious Emperours bearing soveraignty then on earth Constantine the Great used to kisse the eye of Paphnutius which was bored out in Maximinas time The like noble and princely compassion wee reade to have beene shewed by Titus Trajan Theodosius and many other Princes graciously affected towards the poore afflicted and persecuted Christians Yea God moved the hearts of those who naturally are most remorselesse or obdurate in commiserating the estate of his afflicted Which may appeare by the Gaolor in the Acts who washed Saint Pauls stripes and wounds O how comfortable were these passions or passages of affliction these tortures or torments the trophies of their persecution the blessed memoriall whereof shall extend the date of time receiving a crowne of him who is the length of dayes So as King Alexanders Stagges were knowne and hundred yeares together by those golden collars which by the Kings commandement were put about their neckes or as King Arthurs bodie being taken up some what more than six hundred yeares after his death was knowne to bee his by nothing so much as by the prints of ten severall wounds which appeared in his skull so these glorious stampes of their passion shall appeare as trophies to them in the day of exaltation because as they lost their lives for the testimony of the Gospel they shall finde them recorded in the booke of life receiving the crowne of consolation for the deep draught which they tooke of the cup of affliction And reason there is we should dis-value our lives for the profession of our faith since forlorne and miserable is his life that is without faith For if the Heathen whose future hopes were fixed on posterity and not so much as the least knowledge of eternity dis-esteemed their lives to gaine them renown or propagate their countries glory much more cause have wee to subject our lives to the censure of death having hope after death to live in glory It is reported that the body of Cadwallo an antient King of the Britains being embalmed and dressed with sweet confections was put into a brazen image and set upon a brazen horse over Ludgate for a terror to the Saxons and Zisca the valiant Captaine of the Bohemians commanded that after his decease his skin would bee flayed from his bodie to make a drum which they should use in their battels affirming that as soone as the Hungarians or any other Enemies should heare the sound of