behaueth himselfe vertuously and liueth modestly The part of a wise man is not to wish for that he hath not but to vse well that he hath Anaxagoras also seemed not to thinke him happy that was rich or of great power because himselfe despised worldly wealth and possessions for the which being scorned and mocked of the people he said He maruelled not that he was of the coÌ„mon and base sort of men accounted a foole vnwise because such iudge according to externe things as they can coÌ„prehend with their senses And they that by their industry haue attained to wisdome and knowledge are for the most part lesse contented then they were before they had gotten that wisdome and also then they that be vnlearned not greatly wise For the simple ignorant because they cannot looke thorowly into the estate of things nor know how they should be managed are not troubled and vnquieted in mind so much as the wiser sort are that cannot endure with patience to see things euill done though they be not their owne which bringeth much trouble and vnquietnes to their minds which made Salomon say I gaue my heart to the vnderstaÌ„ding of wisdom learning of errors foolishnes I perceiued that in these things also is paine affliction of spirit because into much wisdom entreth much griefe and he that getteth knowledge getteth sorrow by which words it seemeth that Salomon would giue vs to vnderstand that he liued more contentedly being ignorant then when he had receiued wisedome For true it is that the ignorant liue with lesse vexation of spirit and suffer things to passe without any great griefe because their heads are not occupied with any deepe imaginations or coÌ„ceits supposing that no man knoweth more then themselues neither are they so much vnquieted with ambition desire of honour For they that be of the greatest wit deepest conceit are for the most part giuen to vice because they suffer themselues to be guided by their naturall inclination and are more subiect then others to this humor of ambition reposing their felicity in honour and glory to the attaining whereof by their excellency of wit they finde better meanes then the rest For experience teacheth vs that men commonly of sharpe iudgement are not alwayes of sound condition The consideration where of moued Aristotle aske whereof it came to passe that man being so greatly instructed was the most vniust of all creatures To which probleme he answereth that a man hath much wit and great imagination and therefore he findeth many wayes to doe euill and because by his nature he desireth delights and to be superiour to all others and of greater felicity he must of necessity offend for that these things cannot be attained without doing iniury to many The estate of Kings and Princes in the common opinion of the world is taken to be a most happy estate but to those that looke into the matter with a sound and vpright iudgement many of them seeme to be further from felicity then meaner men except they vpon whom God bestoweth his graces in greater measure as vpon some he doth For as their dignity is high and their charge great so are they more subiect to the assaults of fortune then all other earthly things and haue many occasions to mooue their affections to sorrow sometime to anger sometime to feare sometime to the inordinate desire of pleasures and such like passions more then the inferiour sort hath and therefore they need a mind strongly fortified with all manner of vertues and prepared to resist the violent assaults of those vnruly affections and temptations which hauing once gotten the vpper hand their felicity is cleane ouerthrowne as hath beene shewed before by many examples with the dangerous estate of principality by the confession of wise and mighty Emperours and Princes themselues If it bee bâ—…rd as Hesiodus saith for a man to bee good then must it bee likewise hard for a Prince without Gods speciall grace to be good For the abundance of honours and pleasures and delights whereof they see themselues possessed inflameth and allureth many of them to vice As the Romane Emperours which commanded the most flourishing common-wealth in the world after they had attained to that dignity many of them grew to be more like monsters then men The like may be said of the Assyrians and other Monarchies But to leaue the Heathens that knew not God what was Saul before he was chosen King how is his goodnesse exalted in the holy Scripture whom the Lord himselfe did elect and yet how soone was his vertue eclypsed How maruellous was the beginning of Salomons raigne who being drowned in Princes pleasures gaue himselfe within a little while a prey to women Of two and twenty Kings of Iuda there were not aboue fiue or sixe that continued in their vertue and goodnesse The like may be found in the Kings of Israel and there wanteth not examples in Christian kingdomes And what profiteth it a Prince to be Lord of many Kingdomes if he become subiect to many vices Many Princes saith a Philosopher beginne well because their nature is good and end euill because no man doth gainesay them and they commit such follies because there is great store of flatterers that deceiue them and great want of true men that should serue them And therefore Demetrins Phal aduised King Ptolomie to reade those bookes in which precepts are giuen to Princes and great States because those learned men did write those things which no man dare at any time say to Princes Agapet wrote to Iustinian aduising him that they who had need might haue easie accesse to him by reason of his exceeding high estate that he would open his eares to them that were afflicted with poverty that he might find the accesse to God open to him For a Prince should consider in what degree of dignity he is and how much he is of God preferred before others and for what cause and to what end The conversation and maners of a good Prince his court standeth with his people for so many lawes for every one frameth himselfe to follow the examples of his Prince and his Court. A Princes Court is as a Theater upon which his subjects cast their eyes Theodericus king of the Gothes writeth thus to the Senate of Rome Facilius est errare natur am quà m dissimilem sui princeps possit Rempublicam formare It is more easie for nature to erre than for a Prince to make his people to be unlike to himselfe for whether it be good or bad men wil follow their Prince In the reigne of Alexander the great most part of men gave themselves to be men of warre under Augustus Casar every man would make verses under Nero Rome was full of singers players of 〈◊〉 conjurers and juglers Adrian made all men love ancient writers In the time of Pope Leo all things at
conversation as neere as thou mayst and let them goe under the name of welwillers rather than of friends except thou bee assured of their fidelity So shall not honestie bind thee to performe more to them to whom a common custome and the malignity of this time hath given a Supersedeas to discharge the duty of friendship then thou shalt see cause or they will performe to thee for in so great pennury of friends corruption of manners thy fortune must bee very good if thou chance upon a faithfull friend for in these daies men hold friendship by indenture And that thou maist bee better instructed in thy choice hearken to Guevarra his counsell to one that asked how one man may know another to the end he may be either accepted or eschewed First obserue what affaires he taketh in hand what works he doth what words he speaketh and what company he keepeth for the man that by nature is proud in his businesse negligent in his word a lyer and maketh choice of evill men for his companions deserves not to be embraced much lesse to be trusted for that in men in whom is laid no foundaton of vertue is no expectation of faith or honesty And one of the things saith he that men thinke they haue when they have them not is many friends yea say I one faithfull friend For by my experience if thou wilt beleeve me I know not any thing wherein thou maist sooner bee deceived Fortie yeares and more I may with some judgement remember the world in which little time I have found such a metamorphosis and alteration in mens minds and manners that if they should decline so fast from evill to worse after forty yeares more it will bee a hard matter any where to finde out a faithfull friend or an honest man For as the same Authour further saith that which one friend doth for another in these dayes is eyther to excuse or hide himselfe when there is neede of him being more ready to lend him his conscience than his money And hee that will compare the number that professe friendship unto him with them that have performed the true office and part of friends for one faithfull hee shall discover an hundred dissemblers Of such friends as they are most common so we may esteem it no smal felicity to be divided from them being more prodigall of their conscience than liberall of their goods or ready to performe any other duety of friendship Isocrates counselleth us to chuse that friend which hath beene faithfull to his former friends for he is like to prove constant in friendship and if thou wilt follow mine advice enter not into friendship with a covetous man for his mind is so possessed and overcome with the love of money and greedy desire to encrease his riches and possessions that there is no hope of performance eyther of friendship or honesty at his hands Plautus saith Vt cuique homini res parata est firmi anuci sunt Si res lassae labant itidem amici collabascunt As our substance is so are our friends if that faile they fall from us The minds and manners of men in these latter daies are much like to the manners used by the old Romanes when they triumphed the Romanes as they were very politike in all their government so did they well consider that there was no better meanes to excite their young men to vertue than by rewarding their noble acts with honour Therfore they had a custome when any Generall of their Armies had wonne any notable victorie to suffer him at his return to Rome to triumph which was done with very great pompe and solemnity and when the triumph was ended the triumpher had prepared a sumptuous feast and invited the chiefe men of the citie to supper and among the rest the Consuls also which were the principal Magistrates of Rome yet meaning nothing lesse than to have their company for they were no sooner returned to their houses but the Triumpher would send a messenger presently to desire the Consuls not to come to supper that there might be no man to whom he might give place So many invite men to their friendship with faire words and friendly offers when they meane nothing lesse that they may seeme to give place to none in humanity and courtesie but his back is no sooner turned but they revoke within themselves their friendly offers and are ready if they thinke he look for performance to forbid him to make triall of their friendship being done for forme and not with plaine meaning as the triumphers maner was This time seemeth to resemble that whereof Galen complaineth that he happened into a most wicked age in which hee thought them onely wise and of a sincere mind that having espyed the generall infidelity subtiltie dissimulation and dishonestie of men withdrew themselves speedily from the assemblies and companie of people as from a vehement storme and tempest into the safe port of a solitarie life which agreeth with the Poet Benê qui latuit benè vixit Hee lives well that lives warily There have bin times when he that knew most was esteemed best but now reputation growes not by knowledge nor is measured by the worthinesse of vertue but by the abundance of riches and possessions Heu Romae nunc sola pecunia regnat Alas now onely money reignes in Rome One of the things that Ecclesiasticus said grieved his heart was That men of understanding are not set by In time past learned men were sent for out of farre countries but now if they knocke at our doores we will not let them in Vnfruitfull pastimes and vaine toyes draweth our delights None was advanced to honour but such as deserved it but now none climbe so fast to high dignities as those that bee least worthy In that golden age no Senate or Councell was established but there was resident some excellent Philosopher but now in stead of them and of learned Divines who should supply their roomes among Christians are brought in some excellent Machiavellians as the meetest counsellers for this corrupt time Kings and Emperours were wont to be singularly learned and thought learning a great ornament to their dignitie Alexander the great and Iulius Caesar were wel learned and also the Emperour Adrian which Iulius in the middest of his campe would have his speare in his left hand and his pen in his right hand hee never unarmed himselfe but hee would presently fall to his booke The title of Philosopher was given to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius for his excellent learning who would say that hee would not leave the knowledge hee might learn in one houre for all the gold he possessed and I saith he receive more glorie of the bookes I have read and written than of the battels I have wonne and of the kingdomes which I have conquered Ptolomy King of Egypt and Hermes before him and of latter yeares Alphonsus
the second who summoned him before the Tribunall seat in heaven 203 A contention betwixt the Abbot of Fulda and the Bishop of Hildeseme ibid. Of Pope 〈◊〉 a woman 204 Of the Popes scrutiny 205 The pride of king Herod and 〈◊〉 205 Divers examples of the Divels 〈◊〉 answers to the ruine of those that trust in him 206 A worthy example in one 〈◊〉 207 The insuffrable ambition of 〈◊〉 Magus 208 Of a 〈◊〉 in Constantinople 209 Of the Magician 〈◊〉 ibid. The Abbot 〈◊〉 a great Nocromancer 210 His Art shewed before the Emperour Maximilian 211 Albertus 〈◊〉 a Monke and Necromancer 212 Pope Gragory the seventh a Magician 213 A letter of 〈◊〉 to the Clergy 214 The Earle of Mascon a Magician ibid. A strange story of a Spanish woman of Corduba called 〈◊〉 215 Her hypocrisie disclosed and confest 218 The history of the false Prophet 〈◊〉 219 His miserable and wretched end 226 An Epitaph of a tyrannous Viceroy in Sicilia 227 Of Salmoxes 228 The strange ambition of an Hermite in Affrica 229 Who in three yeares became Monarch of six Kingdoms pag. 230 The miserable ends of him and his Councell 232 Of 〈◊〉 Adella sonne to the Hermit 233 The resolute end of those Turkes which starved the Hermit ibid. Of a blasphemous Iew 234 Of George 〈◊〉 a new Prophet 235 A strange history of a child borne in Babylon 236 A strange history extracted out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 237 Of the instigation of evill 〈◊〉 241 〈◊〉 IIII. A curious policy prosecuted by the King of France against the Duke of Guise 242 The Sacrament made a colour for murder 244 The death of the Duke of Guise 〈◊〉 The death of the Cardinal the brother to the Guise 245 The complaint of the 〈◊〉 of Guise 246 A great justice upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Genoway 248 Philip King of Macedon 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 249 Of Herostratus that burnt the Temple of 〈◊〉 and others ib. The great ambition of the Duke of Alva 250 The old Duke of Guise 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 251 Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who would have slaine the Prince of 〈◊〉 252 Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who slew the Prince of Orange His 〈◊〉 255 Of 〈◊〉 Clement a Dominican Monke who slew the 〈◊〉 King Henry the 〈◊〉 256 Of Pope 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 after the French Kings death 258 A Friar canoniz'd for a Saint because he was a 〈◊〉 259 The story of a Spanish Priest 260 Of the Lady Mary de 〈◊〉 261 That all glory is but vanity 263 Of 〈◊〉 a Portugall 264 Of 〈◊〉 ibid. Of Arsaces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probus 〈◊〉 Agelmund 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 Of 〈◊〉 of Leyden 266 The originall of the Amazons 267 Of 〈◊〉 King of 〈◊〉 268 Of c. 269 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Q 〈◊〉 270 A custome in the Indies 273 Of true nobility ibid. The rich are of true 〈◊〉 274 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 276 Of Beauty ibid. Of vanity in apparell 277 Of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Bernard 278 The excellency of learning 279 The modesty of Alexander 〈◊〉 Philip k. of Macedon pag. 280 Of Queene 〈◊〉 ib.d. 〈◊〉 and Heliogabalus 281 Of Proculus a Romane Emp. 282 The fable of the Boycs and the Asse 283 Envie attendeth honour 284 The frailty of glory 285 The Contents of the fourth Booke VVHerein the felicitie of man doth consist according to the ancient Philosophers Cap. 1. pag. 188 Three things required to attaine to true felicitie 289 Of vertue wisedome and knowledge 290 How a man may fall from blessednesse to infelicity 291 The Gordian knot dissolved by Alexander 292 Wherein true felicitie consisteth 293 Of Sydrach Mysach and 〈◊〉 294 The effects of vertue 295 Temples crected to vertue and honour 296 Detraction murder punisht 297 Vain-glory derided in 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 king of Sparta 298 Of Romane Regulus 299 Of divers who preferred their Countries before their own lives 300 Of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 king of Sparta 302 〈◊〉 Iustice in 〈◊〉 Cap. 2. 304 A remarkeable Act in Charondes 305 Severe Iustice in 〈◊〉 casar ibid. Great justice in 〈◊〉 306 Examples of Iustice and Policie in Trajan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Alexander 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 307 Marous 〈◊〉 concerning the choyce of Magistrates 308 Gregory 〈◊〉 concerning the same 310 Of Favorites to Princes 311 The counsell of Vegetius and vegetins to Princes 312 Good Lawes 〈◊〉 and Peace the three daughters of Honesty 313 Duties belonging to a Prince ibid. An Invective against 〈◊〉 314 Of Alexander 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 315 The remarkeable death of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Of three observable 〈◊〉 316 Divers 〈◊〉 reformed by Henry the 3d of France Cap. 3. pag. 318 The French nation reproved for many vices pag. 319 Miseries attending the neglect of 〈◊〉 318 The rare Temperance of Scipioâ—… 319 The Temperance of Alexander 320 〈◊〉 the Tyrant against adultery 321 Agapete to 〈◊〉 ibid. The rare friendship of 〈◊〉 and Everitus 324 The rare friendship of 〈◊〉 and Everitus ibid. Friendship without wisedome in Hading and Hunding two kings of Denmarke and 〈◊〉 325 How vices apparell themselves like vertues 326 Of Duke Valentine the Popes son 327 Italianisme deciphered with the danger of travell 328 The finnes of ancient times 329 In new Count eyes are learned new fashions 330 What Rome was and what it now is ibid. Marcus 〈◊〉 concerning the vices of Rome and Italy 331 King Memon an inventer of delicacy 333 An history out of plutarch to the fame purpose ibid Strange justice done upon Lueius 〈◊〉 by the Romane senate 334 Against drunkennesse ibid. Of the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 336 Against pride in apparell 337 The 〈◊〉 that carried the Image of 〈◊〉 338 A taxation of vanity in attyre and 〈◊〉 gesture 339 Due prayses conferred upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 340 Gaine getteth friendship 341 A discourse of friendship 342 The Story of a Beare ibid. Another of a Dogge 343 A french dogge the dogge of 〈◊〉 and the dogge of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 344 The Horse of 〈◊〉 345 Of an Oxe ibid. The history of Androcles and a Lyon 346 Of a Boy an Eagle Cap. 4 p. 349 Of a Boy and a Dolphin ibid. A witty and ingenious Host 350 Of riches 352 An aspersion layd upon dice-players 353 A custome in China and against new fashions 354 A Law amongst the Thebans 355 Forreine manners interdicted with perfumes c. ibid. Against excesse in 〈◊〉 and garments 356 The rare modesty of the ancient times 357 Of Regulus and 〈◊〉 the Dictator c. ibid. The Magnanimitie of 〈◊〉 the Philosopher pag. 358 The maners of this age compared with the former 359 Artaxerxes to Teribarus the Persian 360 To thinke our selves wise the greatest folly 362 The life contemplative preferred before the civill 363 Fortune hath no power over the life contemplative 365 3. bodily worlds concatinated 366 Examples of divers who forsooke the world for a life contemplative 367 Of Paul an Hermit c. 368 The Contents of the fifth Booke CHAPTER I. Simonides the Poet unto King Cyrus pag. 368 The true property of Felicity 369 Distinction betwixt the
as I was considering with my selfe what to write the occasion that moved me to take my penin hand min stred also matter whereof to write For medisating with my selfe upon the variable and uncertaine state and condition of men calling to minde many things written thereof by divers Authors and being wiâ—…ing for my ease as a woman in travell to bee delivered of the burdeâ—… wherewith my head was overladen I could not find a more apt subject for my purpose than to discourse crassiori Minerva upon the Felicitie of man Which kinde of exercise I perceived might be profitable to me as well by the comfort I should receive by perusing the sayings and opinions of wise and learned men as also by renewing the memory of divers things which I had long sinceread almost forgotten and of a multitude of matter to draw out so much as I thought necessarie and the same for my recreation and to make it more favoric to my taste sometimes to interlarde with mine owne opinion and conceit And joyning to the things I have read the observation of mens maners and experience I have had of worldly matters I might see 〈◊〉 in a glasse that besides the â—…cles to which by externall causes and the ordâ—…nery course of nature men are subject much unquietnesse both of body and mind happencth to them by then owne fault by an unsatiable desire of such things as are hâ—…nderance to the happinesse they seeke after their minds many times being tormented with a suspended hope of that which when they have obtained utterly overthroweth them Some desire to passe their life in Epicures pleasures others would have Croesus riches the rest Caesars fortune all Nestors years which varietie of motions in mens minds having undertaken to discourse upon this subject occasioned mee to use the helpe of learned Authours in searching out wherein the felicitie and Summum bonum of man doth consist And as I was seeking for this felicitie and the way to it I fell into the company of certaine Philosophers who directed me to the branch that riseth on the right side out of Pythagoras letter which said they would conduct me to the path that leadeth to the thing I sought But some of them better advised taught that the Felicitie of man his soveraigne good and beatitude is to bee joyned with God in the life to come cannot be enjoyed in this life the meanes thereunto is the purgation and perfection of life by entring into our consciences and searching our sins and confessing them to God Which caused me not a little to wonder how men by reason only and by instinct of nature could bee capable of so divine knowledge But when I saw them there to stay and could proceede no further and except I left their companie and followed a better guide they would leave me in the middle of the way for of the confession of our sinnes followeth damnation except God bee pacified and made mercifull to 〈◊〉 I tooke my leave of the Philosophers and followed another path unknown to them which leadeth directly to felicity and beatitude by the grace of God through his Sonne our Saviour Christ Iesus I have therefore rejected the Philosophers opinions of whom neverthelesse I think reverently as not sufficiently conformable to Christianity though I have applid many of their sayings to my purpose And I have laboured to discover the error of them by many examples that in the course of their life seeme to set their felicity in those things that bring men to infelicity And I have enlarged the narration of some histories more than the due method of writing requireth which I might with lesse labour have abridged it may serve neverthelesse to that common end of the Poets either to profit or delight Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare Poetae Every man hath not been brought up in the knowledge of tongues And it chanceth often to the Reader as it dâ—…th to diceplayers that gaine more by the bye than by the maine It may bee profitable also to see the errours and passions of them discovered by the disordered course of their life and extraordinary kinde of death that have set their felicity in pleasures riches honour glory and such like worldly vanities which to all except they be well used are hinderance to feliâ—…ty and have brought many to extreme misery I have omitted the names of many authors whose aâ—…thority and sayings I do vouch and alledge not with meaning to decke my selfe with stolen feathers but because many of them are fallen out of my memory and to avoid a confusion of superfluous words by the multitude of names and yet divers were noted by me in the margent that are left out by the writer I wish they were all knowne to you that their authority might give the more credit to the matter I desire rather to be taken for a Relator of other mens sayings and opinions than to arrogate such sufficiency as to be Author of any thing my selfe Many things written by divers Authors dispersed into sundry volumes serving to divers ends I have simply collected and applyed to my purpose without any affected stile For as Terence saith Nothing is spoken that hath not been spoken before So men use to alter the forme and order and set forth the matter with other words and diversity of application which maketh their writings seeme to bee a new invention whercâ—… ndeed hardly can any thing bee written that hath not beene though in another sort and application written before For how is it possible among such an infinite number of bookes which daily increase beyond measure that any thing can be alledged though it come to him from his owne invention but the same by some man hath been written before though in another forme order and to another purpose But a collection of things that lye dispersed in many authors with an apt application to one speciall purpose may be both profitable and delightfull to the Reader The Cooke the Aâ—…oshecary the servant goe all to one garden where one gathereâ—…h hearbes and flowres for his pot the other for his poâ—… the third to dresse up the house all making the same thing serve to severall purposes So have I walked in the Muses garden and perusing divers sorts of things applyed by the Authors to divers uses I have gathered together some of those which I thought most fit to serve my purpose and although they were good as they lay scattered yet being gathered together and applyed to some speciall use they are made more profitable than as they lay dispersed For this is not the least fruit that may bee gathered of learning to select the sayings and opinions of learned men with examples of life out of histories that lye dispersed and apply them to some speciall use and purpose Hee bath a great advantage to the providence and foresight of things to come that joyneth the knowledge of things past with his experience of
under the water a long time And as soone as he was under the water the sea began to worke in the place where he leapt in of a great height as though there had bin a tempest After he had staied under the water longer than he used to do the people cryed out Thou Cynops art the onely man of the world thinking he would shew himselfe to them againe as he did before But Saint Iohn prayed to God that hee might be no more seene among men which prayer tooke such effect that Cynops could be no more seene Which when the people perceived they turned their admiration to Saint Iohn who then sayd to the three spirits I command you in the name of Iesus Christ that was crucified that ye depart and be seene no more in this Island Which words were no sooner spoken but they forthwith vanished away The fame of this art being blown abroad was the cause that a great many bookes of Necromancie in divers places were burnt This desire of vaineglory through singularity of knowledge was not wrought in the minds only of Cynops and other Infidels by the instigation of the divel whose helpe they used in aâ—…ayning the same but in our Christian Prelates also who used the like means being overcome with the same desâ—…es to what perill of their soules I leave to the judgement of others Tâ—…itemius the Abbot an excellent learned man and worthy of fame if by adding Necromancy to the rest of his learning he had not made himselfe infamous by his owne confession burned with an execâ—…ive desire of vaineglorie For saith he as I went up and downe musing devising with my selfe how I might finde some thing that never any man knew before and that all men might wonder at and layd my selfe downe to sleepe in an evening with the same cogitations there came one to me in the night that I knew noâ—… and excited me to persever in my intended purpose promising me his helpe which he performed What kind of learning hee taught him he sayd was not meete for the common sort but to be knowne onely of Princes whereof hee sheweth some examples denying the same to be done by the divels helpe but by naturall meanes to which hee will hardly perswade any man of judgment And though he would cover some of his strange feates under the pretext of nature yet his familiaritie with the Divel in many things was apparent The Emperour Maximilian the first married with Marie the daughter of Charles Duke of Burgundy whose death loving her dearely he took gâ—…evously This Abbot perceiving his great love towards her told him that he would shew him his wife againe The Emperour desirous to see her went with the Abbot and one more into a chamber The Abbot forbad them for their lives to speake one word whilest the spirit was there Mary the Emperours wife commeth in and walketh up and downe by them very soberly so much resembling her when shee was alive in all points that there was no difference to be found The Emperour marvelling to see so lively a resemblance called to mind that his wife had a little blacke spot a Mole some call it behind in her necke which he determined to observe the next time shee passed by him and beholding her very earnestly hee found the Mole in the very same place of her necke Maximilian being much troubled in minde with this strange sight winked upon the Abbot that hee should avoyd the spirit Which being done hee commanded him to shew him no more of those pastimes protesting that hee was hardly able to forbeare speaking which if hee had done the spirit had killed them all The Divell was so ready at the Abbots commandement that as hee travelled on a time in the company of a man of account who reported this story they came into a house where was neither good meate nor drinke the Abbot knocked at the window sayd adfer fetch Not long after there was brought in at the window a sodden pickerell in a dish and a bottle of wine The Abbot fell to his meate but his companions stomacke would not serve him to eate of such a Caterers provision Albertus Magnus being a notable Necromancer besides his other learning that had beene Bishop of Regenspurg and after became a Monke at Collen at such time as William Grave of Holland was chosen Emperour and returned from his Coronation at Aquisgraven to Collen with many Princes and great estates where in the night was made him a sumptuous banquet Albertus being there also to shew the Emperour and the Princes some pastime after their journey by his skill caused the chamber where they were in their sight to be like a forest the floore seemed to be ground covered with greene grasse and beâ—…bes and flowers planted with trees of divers sorts the Larke singing in the ayre the Nightingale and the Cuckow singing in the trees and haw-thorne bushes as though it had been in the middest of May. In the which pastime the Emperour tooke such delight that hee rewarded the house whereof Albertus was Monke with land priviledges thinking that no sinnefull act which was done by so famous and holy a Monke in the presence also of so many Prelats But what their reward shall be at the day of judgement the Lord onely knoweth But to excell in these prohibited sciences is not sufficient glory to these kind of men except they also leave their knowledge in writing to the prejudice of posterity which argueth their desire of glory to bee agreeable with that of the Poet that sayth Vade â—…tur felix liber long ssâ—…ma vive Tempora quumque meos tellus obduxerit artus Tu varios populos diversaq regna superstes Quaere studeque meum late diffundere nomen Goe happy booke live long and when i' th dust My bones are layd as sure I am they must Be thou still safe and wander the world round With all thy care my name abroad to sound Among the rest Pope Gregorie the seventh an excellent Necromancer by the report of the Cardinall Benno would by shaking his sleeves make sparks of fire leape out of them to the judgement of men by which strangething he sought to win an opinion of great holinesse By these examples of Popes and Prelates with the rest it appeareth how ready the Divell is to stirre up mens mindes where he seeth any inclination to the desire of vaineglory whose helpe and service they never lacke untill he hath brought them to destruction of bodie or soule These kind of men be they it should seeme to whom Beelzebub is supposed to write an Epistle reported by an old author thus Beelzebub the prince of Divels and Duke of darknesse with his guard and all the potentates of hell To Archbishops Bishops Abbots and other Prelates rulers of Churches his welbeloved friends now and for ever Infernall salutations and a league of inviolable society which can never
bull being placed not far off hearing his voyce came running to him through the presse of peoply overthrowing divers of them and layd his head in Mahomets lap having the book tyed between his horns wherein the law was written called Alcoran the people beleeving the rather by Sergius perswaâ—… that God had sent the bull with the booke of the law because about the pigeoÌ„s necke they had fastned a little schedule wherein was written in golden letters he that can put a yoke upon the buls neck let him be king Sergius fetched a yoke and delivered it to Mahomet who put it â—…fily upon the buls nocke and was of the foolish people called King and sergius a Prophet By these kind of devices hee seduced the people and after hee had reigned tenne yeare being about foure or fiâ—… and thirtie yeares old it happened that one of his 〈◊〉 proofe whether or not whether he would 〈◊〉 againe the third day after his death and 〈◊〉 up to heaven as he had ofâ—…old told them he would doe after he had reigned ten yeares he 〈◊〉 gave him poyson to 〈◊〉 which when Mahomet had drunke his colour began to change and the poyson went presently to his heart and dispatched him as hee had well deserved A just judgement of God to punish the wicked by the wicked His body was diligently watched by his disciples looking for his reâ—…rre the third day as he had said But when the third day was past and that they saw he would not rise againe that his body began to stinke they let him lye 〈◊〉 and departed And the eleventh day after his death 〈◊〉 that poysoned him came againe to see how he lay and as one Lucas reporteth hee found his body eaten with dogges And gathering his bones together he tooke them with him and buryed them in a towne called Madinaraziell When the Arabians and others perceived how he had deceived them and that he rose not againe according to his promise many of them fell from him and would no longer hold of his religion But in his life annexed to his Alcoran some of his disciples 〈◊〉 strange things of his death and resurrection and 〈◊〉 that his body of himselfe after a miraculous fort hangeth on high under a vault of the Church at 〈◊〉 where indeed it is done by art a Load-stone 〈◊〉 up the Iron Coffen wherein his body or bones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it did hang in the ayre But the Turkes and â—…hough of his sect beleeving that he hangeth there by â—…vine power goe thither yearely in pilgrimage as Christians doe to Ierusalem to the Sepulcher This was 〈◊〉 beginning and end of this glorious Apostle of 〈◊〉 whose holinesse was in his youth such that the Citiâ—… of Mecha condemned him to death for these whom now they adore for a high Prophet of God Such fruits the desire of glory wherein he put his felicity brought forth to the perpetuall torments of his owne soule and of infinite thousands besides But such an Epitaph had bin more meete for him than to be so exalted as was engraven upon the tombe of a Vice-roy of Sicilia by the people of that countrey in revenge of his tyrrannous governement Qâ—…i propter nos homines Et propter nostram salutem Descendit adinferos That is Who for us men And for our salvation Is gone downe into hell Salmoxes device to perswade the Gothes that the soule was immortall was more tolerable being done with better meaning Hee taught those people that neither himselfe nor any that lived nor they which were to be borne should dye for ever if they lived vertuously but they should goe into such a place where they should alwayes live and enjoy all good things and leade for ever a most happy life And when he had thus perswaded his followers he conveyed him secretly out of their sight into a building under the ground which he had before prepared for the purpose where hee remained three yeares leaving his followers lamenting sorrowing as if he had bin dead the fourth yere he returned to them againe they being sufficiently satisfied of the eternitie of the soule and the perpetuall reward of vertue By which device hee wan to himselfe such reputation and glory that he was accounted equall with the king who made him his companion in the governement of his kingdome But the death of Mahomet was not the end of much troubles and mischiefe that arose through his false doctrine in divers parts of the world For thereof ensued sundry sects according to the severall inclinations of the fantasticall heads of his disciples and followers in whom the Divell stirred up such a desire of glory that imitating their masters example and treading in his path some of them became little inferiour to him in riches and dominion Among the rest in our age Affrica that according to the old proverbe is accustomed alwayes to bring forth some new and strange thing raised up one of Mahomets disciples from a poore Hermit to be a Monarch of many goodly kingdomes and countries This man was borne among the famous mountaines of Atlas of very base poore parentage and became an Hermit which the Affricans call Morabuth that is a holy man This fellow began to preach his vaine doctrine in the yeare of Grace one thousand five hundred fourteene and would admit no glosse or interpreter of the Alcoran but followed simply the text He playd the hypocrite so kindly that by a counterfeit shew of holinesse and simplicity and austerity of life he was greatly esteemed and honoured And when hee saw himselfe well followed of the people of Fez Maroque where he made himselfe strong and that the multitude depended upon his word hee told them whom he best favoured that he had a desire to visit the King of Taphilletta because hee lived not according to the sinceritie of their law The cause 〈◊〉 he desired this kingdome was that if his deviâ—… tooke not that effect hee looked for it might serve him for a place of retreyt As hee travelled towards Taphilletta there was no village that hee passed by but he preached his doctrine into the great townes they would not suffer him to enter because of his 〈◊〉 and for feare of some tumult His travell was alwayes by the sea coast because that countrey was well peopled insomuch that within short time his traine resembled a huge army of above threescore thousand men strong The simple king of Taphistetta would needs heare this Hermit and talke with him of matter touching his conscience who was not so intentive in his Sermon as he was circumspect in viewing the kings forces and the meanes he had to defend himself At length he told his followers God had revealed to him that he must expell this king out of his kingdome as unworthy to reigne For confirmation whereof hee shewed them certaine false miracles By meane whereof they slue the king and made the Hermit
become bound from liberalitie to fall into covetousnesse from truth to learne falshood shifts and of a quiet man to become a vexer of others so that I see no other difference betweene the tenne plagues that scourged Egypt and the miseries that afflict suitors then that the calamities of the one were inflicted by Gods providence and the torments of the other are invented by the malice of men who by their owne toyle make themselues very Martyrs Peter de la Primandaye thus noteth and reprehendeth the abuses of this time in suites of law in his country of France Cicero complaineth of his time that many notable decrees of law were corrupted and depraved by the curious heads of the lawyers what would he doe if he were now aliue and saw the great heapes and piles of bookes with our practice in the law If he saw that holy temple of lawes so shamefully polluted and miserably prophaned where a thousand cavils and quiddities are continually coyned by such writings according to the saying of the Comicall Poet that through craft and subtilty one mischiefe is begotten vpon an other But times have beene when there were but few lawes because men thought that good manners were the best lawes and that naturall sense holpen with an vpright conscience and ioyned with due experience was the right rule to iudge by But after that men became so skilfull in suites and that offices of iustice that were wont freely to be given to them that deserved them became to bee gainefull and free from yeelding any account of their doings and set forth to sale as marchandisc for them that offered most after that men began to spice their suites with great summes of money after that lawyers began so greatly to gaine and slightly to consider of their clyents causes because they would make hast to another that waited for them with gold in his hand after that they began to write with seuen or eight lines on a side and to disguise matters with frivolous answers after that Proctors and Atturneys who in former time were to be had for nothing and appointed for certaine causes became hirelings and perpetuall after that sollicitors were suffered in the middest of them all to be as it were the skum gatherers of suites with all that rabblement of practitioners who devoure the substance of poore men as drones eate vp the hony of Bees Lastly after that the Chauncery did let loose the bridle to all sorts of expeditions and went about to teach the Iudges After these things saith he began to be practised we fell into this miserie of long suites gainfull to the craftie and wicked and very preiudiciall to plaine meaning and good men who many times had rather lose their right then hazzard their vndoing by following a suite so long by way of iustice for that commonly wee see the rightest cause frustrated by delaies by affection or by corruption We see how suites are heaped vp one vpon another and made immortall that nothing is so certaine which is not made uncertaine that no controversie is so cleare which is not obscured no contract so sure that is not vndone no sentence or judgement so advisedly given which is not made voide all mens actions open to the slanders craft malice redemptions and pollings of Lawyers the Majestie and integritie of ancient justice lost last of all that in the dealings of men now-a-dayes no shew of upright justice but only a shadow thereof remaineth This evill is become so great and growne to such extremitie that it is unpossible but that according to the course of worldly things the ruine thereof must bee at hand or at the least it is to receive some notable change within some short space For as Plato saith In a corrupt Common-wealth defiled with many vices if a man should think to bring it back againe to his first brightnesse and dignitie by correcting small faults and by curing the contagion thereof by little and little it were all one as if he should cut off one of Hydraes heads in whose place seven more did spring up But that alteration disorder whereby all evill vice was brought into the Cōmon-wealth must be plucked up by the roots For an extreme evill must have an extreme remedy And true it is that there haue bin times when both Lawyers and Physicions have bin banished out of divers countries as men rather hurtfull then profitable to the Common-wealth which argueth the same to bee no happy estate And some reason they had to maintaine their opinion because men being more temperate in their life diet not so cōtentious malicious in those dayes countries as they have bin since they needed not so greatly Physicions nor Lawyers But since that time the luxuriousnesse and intemperancie commonly used and the contentious and malicious minds of men growne to extremity have brought forth a necessary vse of both their skils Of the one to cure the disease engendred by disordered life or some way to ease the paine Of the other to helpe minister matter of contention and at length to decide the controversie for such is the necessitie of our humane condition that in many things they are driven to seeke remedie there from whence their harme commeth As the oyle of a Scorpion is a present remedie for the stinging of the Scorpion Chilo said Comitem aeris alieni ac litis esse miseriam But why Lawyers and Physicions should be coupled together in such a cōgruence I see not except because they have one cōmon end that is gaine and the manner of both their proceedings in their faculties is by evacuation Sine Causidicis satis olim fuere futuraque su◅ urbes And may not we say to these men as Accius said to the Augures Nihil credo auguribus qui aures verb◅ ditant alienos suas ut auro locupletēt domos But Princes where the abuses of this profession begin to grow to an extremity that shall see their people impoverished and thereby the lesse able to doe them service have meanes ynough to reforme them and to reduce the professors to their first integritie There is no art or science facultie or profession that in processe of time be they of thē selves ever so good or necessary that may not be corrupted by abuses and neede reformation Humanum est errare Councels were ordained to reforme errors and abuses crept into the Church Parliaments to redresse the abuses slipt into the Cōmon-wealth the authority of Princes sufficeth to reduce their subjects into good order And Princes should foresee and beware lest their Cōmon-wealths that were founded upon lawes be not overthrowne by lawes Baldus a famous man an interpretor of the civil law noteth-that Lawyers oftentimes are oppressed with sudden death But though the abuses in that facultie make the professors subject to obloquy yet they that speak worst if they yeeld them their due must confesse them to be malum necessarium
seeme to you happy or vnhappy I know not because I was neuer conuersant with him but what if you had had his company would you then know him Can you take knowledge of his felicity by no other meanes No truly Then it seemeth ô Socrates that you will say likewise I cannot tell whether the great King of Persia bee happy or not and so it is true for I know not how he is instructed with learning or with iustice Doth all felicity consists in this Truly by mine opinion for I account that man or woman that is honest and good to be happy and him that is vniust and vnhonest vnhappy Then according to your words Archelaus is vnhappy Yea surely if he be vniust and vnhonest Thus much of Socrates Yet negligence is to be auoided and prouidence without ouermuch care and possession without feare is necessary and requisite It is a wise mans part to put aside dangerous things before they come to do hurt for the losse or harme a man receiueth by his own fault is more grieuous then that which happeneth to him by another man Thucidides saith It is no shame for a man to confesse his pouerty but it is a shame to fall into it by his owne fault He must haue all things premeditate that happeneth to men and thinke the same may fall vpon him for the things that are foreseene before pierce not so deepely as that which commeth suddenly and taketh a man vnwares He that will make his life pleasant must not take ouermuch care to prouide for it neither can any man take full pleasure of any thing except he haue a minde prepared for the losse of it One proâ—…steth by long study to haue learned this to contemne mortall things and not to bee ignorant of his ignorance Death is to all men by nature terrible but to a Christian that knoweth with how great an aduantage hee changeth his estate it ought to bee had in contempt whereof the heathens that knew not God nor what should become of them made little account who for friuolous causes would offer themselues voluntarily to die whose examples though they be not to be followed but auoyded as an vnlawfull and vnnaturall act yet they may serue to perswade men the rather to discharge themselues of all feare of death that haue an assured hope certaine knowledge to possesse the vnspeakable ioyes of heauen when the Infidels through a vaine hope of a better life wherein neuerthelesse they were deceiued would often make choise of a voluntary death CleoÌ„brotus hauing read Plato his booke of the immortality of the Soule wherein he disswadeth men from the ouermuch loue of this life thinking he had found the ready way to deliuer his soule out of prison cast himselfe downe headlong from a high wall and brake his necke They haue a custome in Narsinga that when the men die their wiues be buried aliue with them that with great solemnity and ioy when the king is dead there is a pile of wood of a most pleasant sauour set on fire the kings carkeise carried into it and then all his concubines whereof he hath great store and all his familiar friends and fauourites and such of his seruants as were in estimation with him are likewise carried into that pile of wood to which place they go with such haste ioy to be burnt that to accompany their king in that kind of death they seeme to esteeme it the greatest honour and felicity that can happen to them The Indians by custome doe marry many wiues and when the husband is dead there is great contention among his wiues which of them he loued best that she may be buried with him then she that hath iudgement with her with great ioy merry countenance is led by her friends to the place and casting her selfe into the fire vpon her husband is burnt with him as a most happy woman the rest remaining leading a sorrowfull life There hath been a people dwelling by the mountaines called Rifei who hold this for a custome when they come to the age of 50 They make great piles of wood and put fire to them there burne themselues aliue and sacrifice to their gods and the same day the kinsfolke children make a great feast and do eate their flesh halfe burnt and drinke with wine the dust of their bones How much lesse then should Christians feare death when it pleaseth God to send for them that hope for a crowne of glory after this life They make a good bargaine that with the death of the body seeke the saluation of their Soule Plato saith All the life of wise men is the meditation vpon death that men ought not to be carefull to liue long but to liue well For the honourable age saith Saâ—…mon is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And Euripides saith This life is life by name but in very deed labour Death is not a torment but a rest and end of all mans miseries and labours And Seneca Before old age come a man should learne to liue well and in old age to die well But the day of our death saith Gregory our Creator would not haue knowne to vs that the same being alwayes vnknown may be alwayes thought to be at hand and that euery man should be so much the more feruent in operation by how much hee is vncertaine of his vocation that whilest we be vncertaine when we shall die wee may alwayes come prepared to death And because that is so certaine a thing that no man can escape it shall bee good alwayes to thinke vpon death especially in the time of prosperity â—…or the thinking often thereof will bridle and restraine all other cuill thoughts and desires of worldly vanities for in prosperity we forget humane srailty It is reported that the Emperour Charles the fift fiue yeeres before he died euen when he was occupied in his greatest affaires caused a sepulcher to be made with all things appertaining to it that was necessary for his buriall being dead and that secretly lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisie which things he had closely carried with him whithersoeuer he went fiue yeeres together some thinking there had been some great treasure in it some other that there had been bookes of old stories some thought one thing some another but the Emperour smiling said that he carried it about with him for the vse of a thing to him aboue all others most precious In that sort he seemed to set death alwayes before his eyes that the coÌ„tinuall remeÌ„brance therof might driue from his heart the vaine pompe pride of this world Let vs imagine that we see a maÌ„ of mean estate whose mind is cleansed from all perturbations vnquietnes that hath
the world and divided it into foure parts The first age they likened to gold and called it the golden age the next so decayed that they compared it unto silver the third abased to brasse the fourth worst of all was become like iron of lesse value and price than any of the rest and if there were a more base metall wee might compare our age to it In consideration whereof they with other writers in these latter ages both divine and prophane doe bewaile the decay of vertue of true faith of charity of mutuall love and fidelitie of good conscience of honesty yea of devotion and prayer and of the love and feare of God and of heavenly contemplation whereof as from his proper root should spring all the rest For how many doe wee see live as though they had no need of God hoped for no better nor mistrust no worse than they finde here As though God were not the rewarder of vertue and punisher of vice nay rather as though there were no God at all no resurrection no heaven nor hell Who feareth to offend God or spareth to blaspheme his holy name Who taketh any paine to please him Who forbeareth to hate envie and to slander Who laboureth to subdue his flesh to the spirit sensualitie to reason reason to faith and faith to the service of God Who letteth not loose the reines to his affections and suffereth not his will and wicked inventions to take the bitte in the teeth and runneth away against the rule of reason Subjects rebell against their Prince and Gods anointed and are sometime excited unto it by them that should set forth obedience by word and example of life Children disobey their parents contemne them and laugh them to scorne Servants make small estimation of the trust committed unto them by their masters Labourers hunt after idlenesse Artificers are deceiptfull in their wordes and workes Merchants and others in uttering the wares that they sell. No man lendeth without hire Vsurie was never so generall nor so extreame And if wee should after this sort run over the other estates of life wee should finde all sorts of men degenerate from the simplicity and goodnesse of their forefathers No man seeketh after vertue nor laboureth to reforme or amend much lesse to mortifie himselfe So as we might never more truly pronounce these old verses Heu vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Et velut infernus fabula vana foret Alas men live as they should never dye And Hell were a meere tale and fantasie To doe these things what is it but as though there were no Gospell to forbid it nor God to punish it nor lawes nor authority to reforme it We have small regard and compassion to the reliefe of the poore lesse conscience wee make to deceive or oppresse our neighbours And this is a thing to be marvelled at that if the Merchant bee taken with a counterfeit measure the Gold smith with a false weight the measure shall bee burnt the ballance broken and the offender delivered to publike justice but if a man be knowne to be a blasphemer a drunkard an adulterer yea an atheist whereof it may be doubted there bee over many in these daies he shal be so far from being punished that he shal be rather of many favoured and supported regarded as a jolly fellow that will be coÌ„manded of none which encourageth him to offend further to the evill example of others for wicked acts and misdemeanours are allured by impunity as it were by rewards and he hurteth the good that spareth the wicked If we heare of any sinful or wicked act committed we sigh and grone and looke up to heaven as though it pierced our hearts with detestation both of the man and the fact whereas if the like occasion were offered wee are as ready every day to doc the same or worse Wee are notable censurers of other mens faults and cunning dissemblers of our owne We behold our owne faults with spectacles that make things shew lesse and other mens faults wee behold in the water where things shew greater Wee follow sermons like Saints with great shew of devotion as though we were very religious but that we practise in our life rather resembleth infernall spirits And thus we dissemble with God and play the hypocrites with men When our life is seene to bee contrary unto our profession we are a slander to the Gospell And it may be said to us as I heard a plaine man of the Low-countrie say to a Gentleman that commended the Spaniards for their devotion and often blessing and crossing themselves No doubt quoth hee they are holy men Cruzes de fuera diablâ—… de dentrâ—… Crosses without and the divell within The iniquity of this time is almost growne to this that a man godly and honestly given is laughed to scorne â—…nd had in contempt and the wicked is had in estimation and reverenced as though it were a shame to doe well and a commendable thing to live unhonestly so as nothing is more common in these dayes among us than false friendship dissembled honesty manifest iniquity and counterfeit holinesse And who is he if hee separate his mind a while from worldly cogitations that he may the better looke into the generall wickednesse of these dayes that will not say with Saint Paul Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ when he shall see in use and dayly practice every where all kinds of vice but almost no where any kind of vertue When he shall see no wisedome without craft no justice without corruption no faith without dissimulation no godlinesse without hypocrisie no friendship wiehout gaine no lending without hire no promise without suspition and all things corrupted with covetousnesse and sensuality shal he not find cause to cry out with Policarpus Deus ad quae nos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God to what times hast thou reserved us But they that by word or writing shall go about to reprove the generality of vice lately crept into mens manners may looke for that answer that king Antigonus made to one that presented to him a booke written of Iustice Thou art a foole said the King to present a booke to mee of Iustice when thou seest mee besieging and making war upon other mens cities so shall they bee accounted fooles that so farre out of season in this common exercise and generality of all manner of vice will perswade or speake of vertue of godlinesse of honesty and reformation of manners they shall but sing to the dease as the proverbe is O wicked age and ungratefull peopleâ—… Hath God dispersed the darke clouds from our understanding and sent us the light of his Gospel to the end wee should runne into the dirt and mire and soyle our selves with all manner of vices Hath hee bestowed so many benefits upon us and yet cannot find us thankfull Hath
arrogant to take upon him to enter into the knowledge and secrets of God as to prescribe a rule by which God is to be worshipped We must flye unto God for his helpe poore wretches as we are to whom wee are not able to goe except hee vouchsafe to come downe unto vs. The Sunne cannot be seene without the Sunne no more can God be knowne without his helpe and light No man can worship God except he know him and no man can know him except hee discover himselfe to him And therefore what worship is meete for him can be knowne of none except hee vouchsafe to reveale himselfe in his word and oracles For that God cannot be worshipped but by the prescript of his owne will both the consciences of all men and God himselfe in his holy word doth testifie Esay and Matth. In vaine doe they worship mee who teach the doctrines and commandements of men And this therefore is the second marke that the religion teacheth the worshipping of God leaning upon the word of God and revealed of God himselfe But this neither is sufficient that the religion we seeke for teacheth us to worship the true God and that by Gods word and appointment for God gave us a law out of his owne mouth according to his holinesse and justice that wee might be holy like him But if we cannot of our selves know God nor how to worship him how can we after he revealed himselfe to us and gave us a law to worship him performe our duty to God and fulfill the law We ought to loue God above all things and for his sake whatsoever beareth his image though wee never knew or saw him before But who dare arrogate to himselfe such a perfect charity to love his neighbour as hee ought and for his sake that hee ought that is no otherwise than for himselfe and for God But if wee examine our coldnesse in the love of God wee shall perceive the reflexion thereof to our neighbour to bee frozen And therefore the third marke is that the religion we seeke must helpe us to a means whereby Gods justice must be satisfied without which not only all other religions are vain and of none effect but that also which seemeth to have the keeping of the worshipping of God So that the Heathens saw by instinct of nature and by reason that there is a God and that mans soveraigne good is to bee joyned with God and that some way to the same was necessary which they thought to bee any religion which they had invented to worship and adore him And hereof came their magicke and idolatry and superstitious ceremonies of their owne invention But the right way is beyond their reach and a great deale higher than it can be found out by men for there is a great difference betweene to know that God must bee worshipped and to know how hee should rightly bee worshipped Hierocles saith that religion is the study of wisedome consisting in the purgation and perfection of life by which we are joyned againe and made like to God And the way saith he to that purgation is to enter into our conscience to search out our sinnes and confesse them to God But here they are all gravelled and at a stand for of the confession of our sinnes followeth death and damnation except God that is Iustice it selfe and most good and to evill most contrary be pacified and made mercifull to us sinners But we seeke for the true and everlasting life in religion and not immortall death Seing then that the end of man in this life is to returne to God that hee may bee joyned with him in the other life which is his soveraigne good and felicity or beatitude and that the way to returne to God is religion and that as there is one true God so there can be but one true religion whose markes be to worship the true God and that by the appointment of his owne word and such as reconcileth man to God let us see what religion hath the same markes and meanes That the Israelites worshipped the true God the Creator of heaven is apparant by the confession also of some of the learned Heathens Seneca said the basest people meaning the Iewes gave lawes unto all the world that is they onely worshipped the true God the Creator of all things for the Israelites onely of all the world worshipped the true God the knowledge of whom they received from hand to hand even from the first man and how hee would bee worshipped among which people hee wrought wonderfull matters But the Painims worshipped goddes of their owne making sometimes men and sometimes divels that are enemies to God Such was the blindnesse of man in the matters of God and his vanitie and negligence in the matters pertaining to his salvation after the corruption received by his fall But it is certaine and manifest by that which hath beene said that man was placed in this world to worshippe God his Creatour which worshippe wee call religion and therefore as soone as man was in the world there was without doubt also religion for mans band and covenant towards God was made even with man the very same day that hee was created that is the duty of man towards God which is religion or godlinesse And because it is not doubted but that the first habitation of men was in the country about Damasco wee may also with reason beleeve that there the first man was created which Countries thereabout have beene of great antiquitie the habitation of the Israelites and even from the beginning of them from whom they descended who alwayes 〈◊〉 from age to age certaine bookes those which wee call the Bible or old Testament which they followed and had in great reverence as the true word of the true God in which hee did vouchsafe to reveale himselfe to men and to give them a law how to bee worshipped which bookes bee continued without intermission from the creation of the world and by little and little leadeth us even to Christ which have alwaies beene of such authority with the true 〈◊〉 that they have given no credit to any other books neither could they bee drawne from their beleese in them by no warres calamities exiles torments nor slaughter which cannot be sayd of any other people All the bookes histories or chronicles of the Romanes Grecians Egyptians or of any other nations be as yesterday in respect of the antiquitie of the Bible Therefore wee are assured in that booke is contained the true religion that is the true worshipping of the true God and Creator of the world in which hee hath revealed unto us himselfe by his owne word In the religion also contained in that book is the third marke that is the means by which men may be reconciled to God And because this is the principall part of religion to make it more plaine wee must make a repetition of some thing that hath
Their pride parallel'd with the 〈◊〉 of Peter and Iobn 89. Of Pope sixtus the fourth and a Friar 89. Of a 〈◊〉 husbandman and the Arch-bishop of Cullen 90. The great humility of Origen his entertainment by Alexander Severus 91. His learned Sermon 92. Contempt of riches oftner found amongst Heathen than Christians cap. 3.97 Of 〈◊〉 a Senator of Abderita ibid. His excellent apprehensions 98. Diogones against rich men and riches 99. Bias his contempt of riches 100. A golden table drawne out of the Sea by fishermen ibid. The modesty of the Sages 101. Ferdinando King of Spaine against Lawyers ibid. The modesty of Agasbooles King of Sicilia 102. Of Philip King of 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 her report of covetousnesse ibid. The covetousnesse of Cardinall Angelos 103. 〈◊〉 Maria Duke of Millaine and a Priest ibid. Of the envious and the covetous man 104. An excellent Law made by 〈◊〉 King of Egypt ibid. Alexander severms against usurie ibid. The story of an Advocate of Venice and his Father 106 Of money bestowed as it ought to be 107 How king 〈◊〉 dealt with a rich man ibid. A Caliph of Persia slaine in his treasure house 108 Renowne better than riches ibid. Wisedome the greatest riches and ignorance the worst poverty 109 A strange story of 〈◊〉 a covetous Emperour ibid. The first supremacy of the Church of Rome given by 〈◊〉 Emperour 110 Gonstantine first inriched the Church of Rome ibid. Riches first kindled the fire of purgatorie ibid. None can be truly good and very rich at one time 111 Riches and honesty seldome dwell together ibid. The Philosophers and Sages concerning povertie and riches 112 The great temperance of pbocionâ—… and Diogenes 113 The bold answer of Diomedes the Pyrate to king Alexander 114 Of 〈◊〉 and king philip 115. Magicians punished in seeking hidden gold 116 Of Mark 〈◊〉 his Concubin 〈◊〉 Caura and his death 117 CHAP. IIII. The bounty of one 〈◊〉 118 The 〈◊〉 against riches 119 A rich Cardinall of England His death ibid. Of men 〈◊〉 for their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cardinall c. 120 Examples of continent men 〈◊〉 the Philosopher 〈◊〉 a Theban A knight of Malta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 121 A character of Pope 〈◊〉 the fifth His Charity with the great 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 122 Charity liberally rewarded ibid. An Epigram of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 123 Observable Answers of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 124 A rich man compared to a Peacocke ibid. Contempt of riches in 〈◊〉 the Philosopher 〈◊〉 c. 125 〈◊〉 the cause of 〈◊〉 ruin ib. 〈◊〉 accuseth 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 126 〈◊〉 apology and submission to Nero 127 The admirable continence of Roman 〈◊〉 128 Of the Emperour 〈◊〉 the proverb verified in him Honours 〈◊〉 manners 129 〈◊〉 censure of the rich 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 the great Turkes justice upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 130 Vsurers compared to the fish fifth pag. 131 An excellent discourse drawn from Sir Thomas 〈◊〉 Vtopia reproving pride 132 The covetousnesse of the French and Portugall Nations reproved 133 The covertousnesse of the Spainard ibid. The great cruelty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spaniard 134 His barbarous cruelty reproved by a Prince of Florida ibid. No felicitie can consist 〈◊〉 in riches 135 The Contents of the third Booke HOnour and glory no part of true felicity Cap. 1 pag. 137. Honour followeth those which fly it 138 Alexanders ambition being a child ibid. Cyncas excellently reproveth the ambition of King 〈◊〉 139 Ambition the ruine of king Pyrrbus 140 Ambition the subversion of Kingdomes and Common-weales ib. Ambition without limit 141 The unnaturalnesse of Adolphbus Duke of Geldria ibid. 〈◊〉 Henry the fifth Emperour Frederick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all bloudy murderers and parricides 142 A strange history betwixt 〈◊〉 K. of Denmarke and 〈◊〉 K. of Succia and Gothland 143 The inhumanities of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Queene of Naples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cardinall of Valentia c. 144 Examples in the same kinde of Richard the third 〈◊〉 of Egypt 〈◊〉 c. 145 â—…he nature of the water of the 〈◊〉 Styx ibid. The Church of Millaine opposed against Rome 200. yeares ibid. The aâ—…bition of Henry King of France after slaine by count Montgomery 146 Strange predictions before his death 147 Seventie Emperors of Rome came to untimely ends ibid. The rising of 〈◊〉 from a slave to the Empire 148 〈◊〉 slaine by 〈◊〉 150 The Empire set to sale by the 〈◊〉 souldiers ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 buyeth the Empire his wretched death 151 The noble 〈◊〉 of King 〈◊〉 of France being presented a Prisoner to King 〈◊〉 the third 152 The like of 〈◊〉 King of the 〈◊〉 presented before the Emperour 〈◊〉 pag. 153 The ambition of King 〈◊〉 modestly 〈◊〉 154 The modesty of 〈◊〉 in his 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 life ibid. Men in great place rather to bee 〈◊〉 than envied 155 Of many miseries that seeme happy 156 〈◊〉 King of 〈◊〉 reproveth greatnesse ibid. 〈◊〉 doth the like to 〈◊〉 157 The 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tyrant ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him in his poverty 158 The modesty of 〈◊〉 the Romane Emperour ibid A speech to the like purpose of 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 159 The modesty of 〈◊〉 ibid. The 〈◊〉 of a Prince 166 The Emperour Trajan concerning Empire and government Cap. 2 pag. 162 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his letter to a friend concerning the 〈◊〉 163 The Emperour 〈◊〉 slaine by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of 〈◊〉 the dictator and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 167 〈◊〉 being 〈◊〉 private 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 168 His retyred life 170 〈◊〉 the second deposed by 〈◊〉 172 〈◊〉 deposed by 〈◊〉 173 〈◊〉 deposed by the former 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 slaine by 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 deposed by 〈◊〉 174 〈◊〉 deposed by 〈◊〉 ibid. Contention betwixt 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 for the 〈◊〉 ib. The inhumane tyrannie of Pope 〈◊〉 the 13th His death 175 Three Popes at one time 〈◊〉 the Popedome equally together 176 Of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 ibid. Of Alexander and King 〈◊〉 ibid. Of Alexander and k. 〈◊〉 178 The horrible treason of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 ibid. The observable death of 〈◊〉 Alexanders 〈◊〉 over him 180 The horrible death of 〈◊〉 181 The horrid death of Abraham k. of Marocco with his wife ibid. Of 〈◊〉 Cossa Pope deposed and cast in prison 182 The 〈◊〉 ends of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 183 Of 〈◊〉 who 〈◊〉 Asia 184 〈◊〉 against flattery ibid. The ridiculous 〈◊〉 of king 〈◊〉 185 Of divers strange Tenents held by the Pope 186 Of Popes that have beene profest Magicians 188 Pope Clements Ball ibid. A parish Priests Sermon 189 A notable trick put upon the Cardinall of Lorreine 190 Of one 〈◊〉 a Necromancer 191 The speech of Erasmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 192 CHAP. III. Paulus Iovins of the Councell of Trent 194 The strange death of Benedict the ninth 195 The miserable end of Sylvester the second 196 A 〈◊〉 of Bonicasius the eighth to become Pope 197 Of Cornelius Agrippa concerning the Augustine 〈◊〉 198 Examples of insuffrable pride in the Clergie 199 The proud letters of Pope 〈◊〉 to Philip K. of France 201 The kings Answer 202 The witty answer of Henry
felicitie of this life and the future 371 The first step to felicity 372 Timon of Athens 〈◊〉 373 Timons death and Epitaph c. 374 A meditation of Marcus Aurelius c. 375 David Esay and Salomon upon the same 376 Plato of the estate of mans life 377 The estate of a seafaring man 378 The estate of an husbandman 379 The condition of a Merchant 380 The estate of a Souldier 381 Of sundry calamities incident to the warres 382 Of the famine in Ierusalem 383 Inhumane cruelty in the â—…ews 384 Barbarous cruelty in the Numantians 385 〈◊〉 conquer'd by Scipio 386 Of Hading King of Danes and vsfo King of Suecia ibid. The miserable extremities of famine c. 387 The insolencies of war c. 388 The siege of Sanserra 389 The siege of Paris 390 Barbarous inhumanity in souldiers 391 Blasphemy inhumanity against God 392 The estate of a souldier truely deciphered 393 The estate of the Lawyer 394 A difficult Law-case 395 The miseries of the Client c. 397 Lawyers and Physicians banished 399 Lawyers and Physicians have one common ayme 400 Lawyers are necessary evils 401 The Lawyers penance c. 402 CHAP. II. The estate of â—…udges and of Magistrates pag. 403 The poverty of 〈◊〉 generall to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 404 Charg that belongs to 〈◊〉 405 A dialogue betwixt a Philosopher and Iustice 409 The Senators of Athens heard causes only in the nights 410 The estate of a Courtier 411 How farre their estate differeth from felicity 412 The manner and fashion of the Court what 's cheap in it 413 Queen Zenobia's answer unto Marcus Aurelius Emperour 414 The estate of Princes 415 Their supposed Felicity cause of their unhappinesse 416 The history of Cleandor under the Emperour Commodus 417 The history of Planitanus under the Emperour 〈◊〉 419 Too much grace often begetteth ingratitude 420 The great care that belongeth to Princes 421 CHAP. III. The estate of Prelates 422 Pope Adrian concerning Popes Bishops 423 A Citizen of Romes bold speech to Pope Innocent 424 The Archbishop of Salisburg of the government of the Popes 426 St. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. 〈◊〉 of their pride avarice 427 Of the ambition and 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 430 Gregory the great 432 The charge of the Clergy with the estate of Friars c. 433 Diversity of sects begetteth Atheisme 434 The estate of mariage 435 A loving Husband exprest in a Neapolitan 436 Examples of conjugal love c. 437 A man that had had 20. wives marrieth one that had had 22. husbands 438 Of a most remarkeable pieticibid Inconveniences that belong unto mariage 439 〈◊〉 concerning women ibid. 〈◊〉 of mariage 440 The trouble of children 441 A disputation betwixt Tbales and 〈◊〉 concerning mariage 442 Of needlesse jealousie 443 Pleasant and witty husbands ibid. The time seems tedious spent with a bad wife ibid. Xantippe the wife of Socrates 446 Of a Law observed amongst the Massagates ibid. The witty answer of woman 〈◊〉 to his mother 448 The counsell of 〈◊〉 in the choyce of a wife 449 Metellus the 〈◊〉 concerning mariage 450 The witty answer of a woman to her jealous husband 451 The opinions of divers concerning mariage 452 Felicity consists not in mariage 452 The effects of peace the mother of idlenesse 453 Peace the mother of persecution 454 Of calamities hapning by diseases and other accidents 455 CHAP. IIII. Of sundry kinds of pestilences 456 Three hundred several diseases belonging unto man 457 Gods judgment on Popielus 457 Vpon the Emperour Arnolphus and Hatto Bishop of Mentz 458 Of Harold king of Denmarke and 〈◊〉 459 The history of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry 460 Three fearful judgments strange stories to the same purpose 461 The dreame of Atterius 〈◊〉 462 Examples of feare and joy ib. Examples of sorrow the strange effects of joy 463 Of barbarous cruelty and extream tyranny 464 Necessary considerations of the miserable condition of man 465 Of the generall judgment and the account of Lawyers Iudges and Souldiers 466 The account of Vsurers 467 Of imaginary felicity 469 All Felicity depends upon God 472 Of two sorts of ends precedent subsequent 473 Earthly felicity is only in name 474 Foure things that are not to bee bought with gold 475 That no man lives contented with his owne estate 476 No prosperity but attended by adversity 477 Of Amasis King of Egypt and Polycrates King of Samos ibid. No man happy before his death 479 Foure sure Anchors to trust unto 480 The joyes of the future life the true beatitude 482 The contrarietie of mens inclinations 483 The use of Gods afflictions 484 What gratitude we owe unto God 486 The counsell of David to salomon and Tobit to his sonne 487 How to examine ones selfe to finde whether we be happy or not 488 The vanity of feare 489 Diogenes concerning patience 490 The benefit of a quiet and contented minde 491 Of a limitation for pleasures 492 Riches in poverty and povertie in riches 493 The Avarice of King 〈◊〉 and Pitbens 495 Richest men the greatest slaves 497 No true Felicity can consist in riches 498 Saint Gregory and others of riches and povertie pag. 499 CHAP. V. The modesty of c. 500 The contempt of honour in 〈◊〉 pompus agesilans King of Sparta c. 501 Honour an hinderance unto Felicitie 502 The best riches not to fall into povertie 503 The great moderation of King Calvicius 504 Three kinds of men in every common-wealth 505 Plato's dialogue of Socrates and another 507 Death no way terrible unto a godly Christian 508 Of the women of Narsinga and India 509 The contempt of death in the people of the mountaine called 〈◊〉 510 Charles the fifth his preparation to death 511 Things above the power of fortune 513 Pride and vaine-glory beget confusion 515 The greatest part of felicity consisteth in the mind 516 Our life compared by Plato to table-play 517 Moderation to be used in prosperitie and patience in adversity 518 False felicity consisteth in 5. things 519. The gifts of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are used or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The necessity of industry industry Of wisdome and a wise man 603 The ignorant live with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 604 Empire maketh men monstres 606 The Princes Court a Theatre 607 The expression of a good King 608 The counsell of a good King 609 Truth necessary to bee whispered in Princes cares 611 The education of the Persian Princes 612 The Courts of good Princes are schooles of vertue 613 Whom good Princes should 〈◊〉 their familiars 614 Gifts ought to bee given onely to the worthy 615 The Majesty of God honoured in the Prince 617 The office of a Prince 618 CHAP. VI. The felicity of the mean estate 619 Good fortune the greatest riches 621 Concerning law-suites 623 Three things to be avoided 624 Three things to bee practised 625 To beget commendable envie 626 Who it is that may bee esteemed happy in this world 629 Man participates both of