the Kings side saw in a gallerie Allen Chartier a learned Poet leaning on a tables end fast asleepe which this Princesse espying shee stouped downe to kisse him vttering these words in all their hearings Wee may not of Princely courtesie passe by and not honour with our kisse the mouth from whence so many golden poems haue issued Frauncis the first French King in the yeere of our Lord 1532. made those famous Poets Dampetrus and Macrinus of his priuie Counsell King Henrie the eight her maiesties Father for a few Psalmes of Dauid turned into English meeter by Sternhold made him Groome of his priuie chamber and rewarded him with many great gifts besides Moreouer hee made Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chauncelour of this Realme whose Poeticall works are as yet in great regard Queene Marie for an Epithalamy composed by Verzoza a Spanish Poet at her marriage with King Philip in Winchester gaue him during his life two hundred crowns pension Her Maiestie that now is made Doctour Haddon being a Poet master of the Requests In former times Princes themselues were not ashamed to studie Poetrie As for example Iulius Cesar was a very good Poet. Augustus likewise was a Poet as by his edict touching Virgils bookes appeareth Euax King of Arbia wrote a booke of pretious stones in verse Cornelius Gallus treasurer of Egypt was a singular good Poet. Neither is our owne age altogether to bee disprayed For the old Earle of Surrey composed bookes in verse Sir Philip Sydney excelled all our English Poets in rarenesse of stile and matter King Iames the sixt of Scotland that now raigneth is a notable Poet and daily setteth out most learned Poems to the admiration of all his subiects Gladly I could goe forward in this subiect which in my stripling yeeres pleased mee beyond all others were it not I delight to bee briefe and that Sir Philip Sydney hath so sufficieÌ„tly defended it in his Apologie of Poetrie that if I should proceede further in the commendation thereof whatsoeuer I write would bee eclipsed with the glorie of his golden eloquence Wherefore I stay my selfe in this place earnestly beseeching all Gentlemen of what qualitie soeuer they bee to aduaunce Poetrie or at least to admire it and not to bee so hastie shamefully to abuse that which they may honestly and lawfully obtaine Obiection The reading of Catullus Propertius Ouids loues and the lasciuious rimes of our English Poets doe discredite the Common-wealth and are the chiefe occasions of corruptions the spurres of lecherie therefore Poetrie is blame-worthie Answere In many things not the vse but the abuse of him that vseth them must bee blamed The fault is not in the Art of Poetrie but rather in the men that abuse it Poets themselues may bee traitours and felons and yet Poetrie honest and vnattainted Take away the abuse which is meerely accidental and let the substance of Poetrie stand still Euerie thing that bringeth pleasure may bring displeasure Nothing yeeldes profit but the same may yeeld disprofit What is more profitable then fire yet notwithstanding wee may abuse fire and burne houses and men in their beds Phisicke is most commodious for mankind yet wee may abuse it by administring of poysoned potions To end this solution I conclude that many of our English rimers and ballet-makers deserue for their baudy sonnets and amorous allurements to bee banished or seuerely punished and that Poetrie it selfe ought to bee honoured and made much of as a precious lewell and a diuine gift Of Philosophie Chap. 43. â— PHilosophie is the knowledge of all good things both diuine and humane It challengeth vnto it three things first contemplation to know those things which are subiect vnto it as Natural Philosophy teacheth vs the knowledge of the world Geo oâ—â—trae of the triangle the Metaphysick of God and morall Philosophie of vertue and felicitie Secondly Philosophie chalengeth the execution and practise of precepts Thirdly the promotion of a good man * Which three concurring together in one man do make him a wise Philosopher The Iewes diuided Philosophie into foure parts namely into Historical Ciuill Naturall of the contemplation of sacrifices and into Diuine of the speculation of Gods word Of which I will at this time content my selfe with the natural and the ciuill Naturall Philosophie is a science that is seene in bodyes magnitudes and in their beginnings or ground workes affections and motions Or as others say Naturall Philosophie is a contemplatiue science which declareth the perfect knowledge of naturall bodyes as farre foorth as they haue the beginning of motion within them There bee seuen parts of it The first is of the first causes of nature and of naturall bodyes The second of the world The third of the mutuall transmutation of the elements and in generall of generation and corruption The fourth is of the meteours The fift of the soule and of liuing creatures The sixt of plants The seuenth of things perfectly mixed and of things without life as of Minerals and such like Ciuill Philosophie is a science compounding mans actions out of the inward motion of Nature and sprung vp from the fulnesse of a wise minde insomuch that wee may in all degrees of life attaine to that which is honest This ciuill Philosophie is diuided into foure parts Ethicke Politicke Oeconomicke and Monastick Ethick is the discipline of good maners Of Oeconomick and Politick I haue discoursed before Monastick is the institution of a priuate and a solitarie life But of the worthinesse of this ciuill Philosophie and by how much it goeth before the naturall I haue expressed in another booke Of the Art Magick Chap. 44. THe auncient Magicians prophesied either by the starres and then their Art was termed Astrologie or by the flying and entrailes of birdes and this they called Augurie by the fire and that they named Pyromancie or by the lines and wrinckles of the hand which was termed Chiromancie or Palmistrie by the earth called Geomancie by the water and that they termed Hydromancie or by the diuell and this we call coniuring or bewitching All which superstitious kindes of illusions I feare mee haue beene too often vsed heere in England witnesse of late yeeres the witches of Warboise witnesse figure-casters calculatours of natiuities witnesse also many of our counterfeit Bedlems who take vpon theÌ„ to tell fortunes and such like Now-a-dayes among the common people he is not adiudged any scholer at all vnlesse hee can tell mens Horoscopes cast out diuels or hath some skill in southsaying Little do they know that this Art if it bâ—e lawfull to call it an Art is the most deceitfull of all Arts as hauing neither sure foundations to rest vpon nor doing the students thereof any good but rather alluring them to throw themselues away vnto the diuel both body soule Wo be vnto theÌ„ that delight therein for it were better for them that they had neuer beene
so dutifull to please God except he be first throughly cleansed frō this sinne of Enuy. Repent therfore thou sensuall and enuious man and aske God forgiuenes from the very bottome of thy heart Repent I say and God will heale thy wound which Chirons hand can neuer do no nor Phoebus nor Aesculapius Phoebus his deare sonne no nor all the world besides Of Calumniation and slaunder Chapt. 63. EVen as they which lay siedge vnto cities do not inuade their enemies where they see the walles strong and massy but where they perceyue there is small resistance and where they see the place easie to be scaled so they that pretend to backbite slaunder others do note what is most pliable and weake in the hearers mind that thereto they may conueigh their artillery and bring in their weapons which are falshood craft and periury This done they tickle the hearers eares and rubbe them as it were with a pen so that most cōmōly the accusers are beleeued they that are accused are not called to giue answere But in my iudgement they that lend their eares to these curre-dogs barking are no lesse to be reproued then the barkers themselues because they winke at such imperfections will not exchange stripe for stripe I meane because they will not punish and correct such slaunderers Of this brood I reckon many of our raskall trencherknights who not onely wind themselues in by subtill deuices but also set their tongues to sale for a morsell fo pasty-crust and take a delight to sow dissention betwixt man and wife and betwixt brother and brother Examples I need not produce for our pillories beare euident witnesse of their slaunderous dealings Leaue therfore to accuse your brethren to snap honest men by the shinnes and to raile and scoffe at them that will not in any case intermeddle with you Be like vnto newe borne babes and couet the milke of loue that so you may not bee guilty of that sentence which the holy Ghost pronounced namely that whosoeuer hateth his brother is a man-slayer The eleuenth part Of the Intellectuall vertues Of Art and whether Art be better then Nature Chap. 64. THis name of Art hath foure significations First it is taken for the vniuersall perfection of Art which wee comprehend in GOD. So we say that the world and all that therein is were made by Gods art Secondly the name of Art is put for the similitude and shadow of that which shineth in beasts birds flies such like In this sence it is said that the spider shewed vnto vs the art of spinning The Bee taught vs to conforme things in order The fish learned vs the Art of swimming Thirdly the name of Art is extended to the general habit of the mind as farre forth as we do any thing by it that is seperated from nature So Grammar Rhetorick Musick Arithmetick Logick Geometry and Astronomy are called Artes. Likewise in this sence Prudence is named the art of composing mans actions Science the Art of discerning the truth Fourthly the name of Art is taken for that true forme of Art which is distinguished from the other habites of the mind as farre forth as it is defined an habit of the mind ioyned with true reason apt to effect In this signification I terme it here an intellectuall vertue Herehence ariseth that doubtfull question to wit whether Art be better then nature To this I aunswere negatiuely perswaded specially by these three reasons The first the essence of a thing is better then the accident of a thing Nature is an essence Art an accident therefore nature is better then Art The second nature worketh inwardly and altereth the inward habit of the mind but Art only effecteth outwardly chaungeth the outward forme therefore Art is not better then nature Finally nature is ioyned with God according to that common sentence God nature do make nothing in vaine but Art is ioined with man and by reason of mans weakenesse is subiect to innumerable errours therefore nature is farre better then Art Obiection That which is later in birth is first in excellency and perfection Art is in birth later then nature therefore it is more excellent in perfection Aunswere Your rule onely holdeth in corruptible things namely while that which is first stayeth for the next which followeth But when the essence is compared with the accident as now it is the essence is farre more excellent and by a consequence nature is better then Art and your sentence false Of Science or knowledge Chap. 65. THe name of Science is taken foure maner of waies The first it is vsed for euery certaine knowledge of a thing So wee say that the snow is white the crow black the fire hot The second the name of Science is taken for euery true habite of the mind separated from the knowledge of the sences in which signification Hippocrates proued Phisick to be a science The third it is vsed more properly for euery habit gotten by demonstration separated from the habit of actiō in this sence supernatural philosophy is named the chiefest science The fourth the name of science is takē more strictly for a habit gotten by demonstration separated from wisedome in which last signification Naturall philosophy the Mathematickes are called Sciences and supernaturall Philosophy is termed humane Diuinity The benefits that come by this intellectuall vertue are three First it aswageth mans mind beyng rude and barbarous and maketh it capable of true reason Secondly science setleth a mans mind in constancy and discretion that he may spend his life to the welfare and good estate of his countrey Thirdly it causeth a man to end his dayes honourably with an vndoubted beliefe of euerlasting life Of Vnderstanding Chap. 66. VNderstāding is an habit of the mind whereby as with an eye wee behold the principles aswell of practise as of contēplation I say with an eye because that the same which the sight is in the body vnderstanding is within the soule This vertue is the reward of faith the spirit of God y t sunne that giueth glorious light vnto all the world In a word this vertue is as it were the guide gouernesse of the soule And yet all mē are not endued therewith for now then it hapneth that we know more then we vnderstād And except we pray feruētly vnto God we cannot with all our paines worldly labours attaine vnto it Our eyes are blinded and must be opened Christ I meane must breathe on vs that we may receyue the holy Ghost The consideratiō of this moued Anaxagoras the Philosopher to affirme that vnderstāding was the cause of the world and of all order This likewise moued the Prince of Philosophers to proue the immortality of the soule by vnderstanding To be brief by the help of this vertue the soule seeth God and examineth the first causes of nature and vniuersall formes Of Prudence Chap. 67. ALl the
For giftes do blind the eies and peruert the words of the righteous No magistrates therfore must presume to take gifts vnlesse they be to be eaten or drunke vp within three dayes at the furthest that not of suters for they giue them to the intent they may corrupt their authority and so speed of their owne pleas and pursuites Let them rather imitate Cicero who as long as he was Pretour of Cilicia would neyther himselfe receyue nor permit any of his company to take presentes no not that beneuolence which by the law Iulia was due vnto him At Thebes the images of iudges were put up without hands wherby is meant that they ought not to receyue any rewards that were offered them There is at this present time a publique law amōg the Switzers that magistrates vnder paine of death should not take any thing eyther directly or vndirectly for iudging The fourth Plant. Of the Education of Gentlemen Chap. 32. MAn is by nature a gentle creature who with his happy nature getting good education becommeth diuinely disposed but if hee lacke this education he waxeth the most wicked of all creatures that are borne vpon the earth Many drops of water as wee see falling vpon the hard marble stone do pierce and make it hollow And the ground being well tilled and manured beareth goodly corne So in like maner a man well brought vp acknowledgeth his duty towards his Maker knoweth how to conquer his owne affections Whereas contrariwise Gentlemen being euill nurtured cā neuer vnderstand how farre the power and abilitie extendeth that God hath giuen them For they neuer read it themselues neither are they taught by them that know it Nay few that vnderstand it are admitted to their presence and if one bee yet dare he not instruct them in it for feare of displeasure or if happily at any time hee put them in minde thereof no man will abide him or at least he shall be accounted but a foole peraduenture also it may be taken in il part and so turne to his harme Howbeit the vertuous must not abstain from their godly admonitions seeing that they cannot benefite the common-wealth more then when they teach and instruct young mē especially in those times wherein they are so corrupted that they must needes by all well disposed persons bee refrained and restrained of libertie One saith I am an heire borne to a thousand pound land Another sayth I haue a fat farme and a house well furnished What cause haue I to feare Let the world chance as it will Another againe craketh and breaketh his lungs wel-nigh with windie bragges because he is a Knights eldest sonne fetching his pedegree by a thousand lines and branches from some worthie Lord and because some neere kinsman of his is made Censour Maior Iustice of peace or Lieutenant of the Shire to whom he may say Good morrow Cousin Infinite are the fooleries of youth which by due correction and diligent exhortation must bee rooted out I will therefore comprehend their education vnder foure lessons The first is instruction vnder which are cōtained foure rules The 1. wherof is to teach children the feare and loue of GOD and to shew them that they must not glorie too much in worldly goods Secondly to teach them how to bridle their tongues to bee modest and to embrace vertue for education properly is nothing else but a bringing vp of youth in vertue Thirdly to shew them the facultie of exercise which serueth to the maintenance of health and strength by ordering the body with light and gentle exercises Fourthly familiarly to declare vnto them examples as well of good men as of wicked men that thereby they may learne how the good are rewarded and the wicked punished The second lesson appertaining to the instruction of youth is prayse that is to commende them when they doe well that thereby they may bee incouraged the better to goe forwardes For youth is like vnto moyst and soft clay and for that respect is to bee egged on to glorie in well doing The third is counsell which must bee giuen by their sage Vncles or auncient men concerning their dutie towards their parents elders and teachers The fourth poynt of instruction is threatning and correction which is to bee vsed when they offend and neglect to follow the aduice of their teachers and when they beginne to bee headie stubborne and selfe-willed This the diuine Philosopher verie well noted saying that a boy not as yet hauing fully and absolutely giuen himselfe to vertue is a deceitfull cruell and a most proud beast Wherefore he must be bound with a schoolemaster as it were with a strong bridle The causes why so fewe Gentlemen no we adaies be vertuously disposed Chap. 33. I Find that there bee foure causes why so few Gentlemen in this age attaine to the knowledge of vertue The first is the corruption of the whole world for now are the abominations of desolation These be dayes of vengeance to fulfil althings that are written The minds of men are so peruerse and barren that they will not receiue the seed of true wisedome Their cogitations are too much bent to the pompes and follies of this transitorie world The second cause proceedeth of counterfeit and vnsufficient teachers whose onely occupation is couertly to woo yong scholers that come guidelesse and headlesse into the Vniuersitie and 〈◊〉 gotten them into their nets they afterward let them runne at randon But 〈◊〉 iudgement such youths as suffer 〈◊〉 to be snatched vp for haukes meate in this or the like maner do therin imitate sicke folkes who refusing the good Phisician by some braine-sicke mans counsell doe commit themselues to the tuition of such a one as by ignorance killeth them The third cause is the niggardize of parents who continually labour to gather the drossie and vnconstant pelfe of this world and in the meane time make no reckoning of their children but permitte them to grow old in follie which destroyeth them both bodie and soule The fourth and last cause is the indulgence and fond loue of the parents who take their sonnes from the Vniuersitie as fruite from a tree before it is ripe or rather as pullets without feathers to place them at the Innes of Court where as I haue written in my Commentarie vpon Persius they gad to Stage-playes are seduced by flattering coni-catchers Whether youths ought to be corrected Chap. 34. A Good huswife knoweth how hard a thing it is to keepe flesh sweete and sauorie vnlesse it bee first poudred and put in brine So likewise it is impossible for parents to reape any ioye of their sonnes except they bee first corrected Roses must needes wither when they be ouergrowne with briers and thornes and children that are assailed and ouertaken by whole legions of affections must at last fall if they be not accordingly succoured * Hee that spareth the
notwithstanding at last he loseth all so may put his winnings in his ere yea and which is worse hee hazardeth his soule which hee ought to hold more deare then all the world But because I haue largely confuted this vice in other places I will proceed to the other cause of the alteration of commonwealths Of superfluitie of apparell another cause Persi. of the alteration of Kingdomes Chap. 58. IN the beginning of the world men were clothed with pelts and skins of beasts wherby is to be noted that they were become as beasts by transgressing the cōmandement of God touching the fruit in Paradise Apparell was not giuen to delight mens wanton eies but to preserue their bodies from the cold and to couer their shame They had no Beuer hats sharpe on the top like vnto the spire of a steeple nor flatte crownde hats resembling rose-cakes They wore no embrodered shirtes nor garments of cloth of gold They knew not what meant our Italianated Frenchified nor Duch and Babilonian breeches They bought no silken stockins nor gaudie pantoffles Their women could not tel how to frizle and lay out their haire on borders They daubed not their faces with deceitfull drugs wherewith hiding the handi-work of God they might seeme to haue more beautie then hee hath vouchsafed to giue them They imitated not Hermaphrodites in wearing of mens doublets They wore no chaines of gold nor ouches iewels bracelets nor such like They went not clothed in veluet gownes nor in chamlet peticotes They smelt not vnto pomanders Ciuet Muske and such like trumperies And yet for all that they farre surpassed vs in humanitie in kindnesse in loue and in vertue Their onely cogitations were bent to decke the inward mind not the outward body which is nothing els sauing a liuing sepulcher They knew that if the mind were humble and lowly the raiment for the body must bee euen so Euerie seede bringeth forth herbes according to his kind as time seed bringeth foorth time and tare seede tare Such as the heart is such is the body if the heart bee proude the fruit thereof will be ill weedes and proud attires But why is the earth ashes proud to what end will our fine apparell serue when death knocketh at out doores and like a theefe in the night surprizeth vs vnawares Our yong gallants when they hire a chamber in London looking daily to bee sent for home by their parents will neuer trouble themselues with any charges or garnishing it as otherwise they would doe if they were assured longer to continue in it And what I pray you is the body but a chamber lent to the soule wherehence it expecteth continually to bee sent for by God our heauenly father and as Saint Paul speaketh to bee loosed and to be with Christ For what cause doe wee take such care to apparell the body seeing within a while after it must putrifie and returne to the dust of the earth from whence it came what reason haue wee to neglect the soule which neuer dieth why do we not follow King Henrie the sixt of this Realme who when the Earle of Warwicke asked him wherefore hee went so meanely apparelled answered It behooueth a Prince to excel his subiects in vertue and not in vesture Let vs call to remembrance the wife of Philo the Iewish Philosopher who wisely answered one of her gossips that demaunded of her why she went not as other matrons attired in pretious garmēts Because quoth shee I thinke the vertues of my learned husband sufficient ornaments for me Whereto consenteth that of the Comick z In vaine doth a woman goe well attired if shee be not also well manered But what neede I spend time in producing of examples when our Sauiour Christ scorned not to weare a coate without a seame Which kinde of apparell if a man now-a-dayes vsed heere in England presently one of our fine Caualeers would laugh at him and prize both him and his apparell scant worth a hundred farthings Oh what a shame is it that euerie seruing-man in England nay euerie common Iacke should flaunt in silkes and veluets and surpasse Gentlemen of worship I haue knowne diuers who would bestow all the money they had in the world on sumptuous garments and when I asked them howe they would liue heereafter they would answere A good marriage will one day make amends for all thereby implying that they hoped to inueigle and deceiue some widow or other Which pretence of theirs being frustrate they will bee driuen to commit burglaries and murthers In respect of which inconueniences I exhort euerie man to liue according to his vocation and to obserue her Maiesties decrees and proclamations whereby Caualeering groomes and dunghilled knaues are straightly prohibited to weare the same sutes and apparell as Gentlemen Obiection God hath created al things which are in this world for mans vse therefore any man may weare cloth of gold siluer or such like Answere True it is that God made all things in this world to be vsed of mā but herein I must distinguish men some men be noble some ignoble There is no reason why cloth of gold permitted onely to Noblemen should be equally permitted to earth-creeping groomes And again God hath appoynted men not sole cōmanders but bailies of his goods creatures with condition that they giue an account of the vtmost farthing of the same And in this regard Noblemē may gorgeously attire themselues so long as they clothe the needie and distressed members of Christ. But if Noblemen on the contrary clothe themselues sumptuously without reseruing meanes to furnish the poore members of Christ then will the Lord at the great day of iudgement pronounce this fearefull doome against them Depart frō me ye cursed into eternal fire for I was naked ye clothed me not To knit vp this briefely I say that God created al things for his owne glorie and to take occasion to extoll him but not for our pride to abuse them The seuenth Plant. Of the conseruation of a common-wealth Chap. 59. THere be many means to preserue a commonwealth but aboue the rest these ten are of most efficacy The first and chiefest is to liue vprightly in the feare of God The second to make no delay in executing of attainted and condemned persons The third to suffer euery man to enioy his owne and not lauishly to spend rake the priuat inhabitants goods The 4. to haue a great regard of mischiefs euils at the first budding how small soeuer it be for the corruptiō that creepeth in by little little is no more perceyued then small expenses be the often disbursing wherof vndoeth the substance of a house And as great rayne horrible stormes proceed from vapours and exhalations that are not seene so alteration changes breed in a commonwealth of light and trifling things which no man would iudge to haue such an issue The fift means is that Magistrates behaue themselues
one of the elements doth not interpose his vertue albeit one of thē is alwayes predominant ouer the rest And most certaine it is that Man is a creature made of God after his owne Image well disposed by nature composed of bodie and soule In this sort man had his beginning and being of the great and eternall builder of the world of whom likewise hee was created so noble for three reasons The first that by this meanes man knowing howe God hath placed him aboue all other liuing creatures he might be induced dayly to loue and honour him as is meete And therefore did the Lord place the eies in mans bodie to behold his wonderfull workes And for this cause also did he fasten eares to mans head that hee shoulde vnderstand and keep his commandements The second to the ende that acknowledging the noble place race from whence he came hee might feare to staine his name and fame with dishonest vnlawfull deeds The third that hee not being ignorant of his owne excellencie shoulde extoll himselfe in God and in him through him he should iudge himselfe worthy of heauenly felicitie What should I rippe vp the good discipline of liuing the lawes customs arts and sciences by man inuēted to furnish life with the three sorts of good namely honest pleasant and profitable According to which there be also three sortes of companies one for honestie as the learned and vertuous another for pleasure as yong folks and maried men a third for profite as Marchants Wherefore by good reason man holdeth the soueraigntie and chiefest roome in this world Of the soule Chap. 5. THe infusion of the soule into the bodie by God the Creator is a most admirable thing seeing that the soule which is inuisible is cōprehended within the body being palpable that which is light and of celestiall fire within that which is earthy cold corruptible that which is free within that which is base bound This alone is the instrument that can bring vs to the vnderstanding of God and our selues This is speculatiue and actiue at one and the same instant This is she that for her beautie hath the foure cardinal vertues for her actions reason iudgement will and memorie Briefly this is she about whom the wisest of the world haue occupied their curious and fine wits Pythagoras affirmed that the soul was a nūber moouing it self Plato said that the soule was a portiō taken frō the substance of celestial fire The prince of the Peripatetickes writeth that the soule is the motiō or act of a natural body that may haue life Our Diuines define the soule after this maner The soule of man is a spirit that giueth life and light to the bodie wherevnto it is knit and which is capable of the knowledge of God to loue him as being fit to be vnited vnto him through loue to euerlasting happinesse That a man hath but one soule Chap. 6. EVen as in euery bodie there is but one essentiall kind of nature whereby it proceedeth to be that which it is so in euery liuing creatures bodie there is but one soule by the which it liueth In the scripture we neuerread that one mā had mo soules thē one Adam being created by God was a liuing soule All the soules that came with Iacob into Egipt and out of his loines beside his sonnes wiues were in all threescore and six soules that is threescore and sixe persons Also the sonnes of Ioseph which were borne him in Egipt were two soules Steuen being stoned by the Iewes called on God and said Lord Iesu receiue my spirit Saint Paul raising Eutichu◠from death sayde his life is in him Our sauiour Christ likewise complained vnto his Disciples saying My soule is verie heauie euen vnto the death Hereby we may note that one man hath but one soule How greatly therefore are those Philosophers deceyued who affirme that one man hath three distinct soules to wit reasonable sensitiue and vegetatiue wherof these two last are in a bruit beast as well as in a man and the vegetatiue in plants in beastes and in man This opinion of pluralitie of soules seemed so damnable vnto the ancient fathers that Augustine Damascenus and the fourth Councell of Constantinople proclaimed them to be excommunicated which would hold one man to haue many soules Briefly to leaue this errour it falleth out with the soule as it doth with figures for euen as the trigon is in the tetragon and this tetragon in the pentagon so likewise the vegetatiue power is in the sensitiue and this sensitiue is in the reasonable soule Obiection We see yong infants hauing vegetatiue and sensitiue soules and not possessing the reasonable soule before they come to yeares of discretion Moreouer it is well knowne that a man liueth first the life of plants then of beasts and last of all of man therefore a man hath three soules distinct aswell by succession of time as in essence and formall property Answere I grant that the faculties of mans soule are by their operations successiuelie knowne as the vegetatiue power is knowne more plainly in the beginning then the sensitiue last of al the reasonable soule But frō thence to conclude that infants haue no reasonable soule I deeme it meere madnesse For the whole soule is infused within them in the beginning but by the sacred power of God it is not made as then manifest vntill they attaine to elder yeres Touching your proofe that a man liueth the life of plants then the life of beasts and last of a reasonable man I answere that it is meant of the vitall powers and not of the soule and so I yeeld that a man at first exerciseth the powers vegetatiue and sensitiue and then he hath the benefite of the reasonable soule Of the immortaltiie of the soule chap. 7. ATheists and the hoggish sect of the Epicures who would faine stay in their bodily senses as beasts do deride the holy scriptures saying that it is not known what becomes of their soules af-the deth of their bodies or to what coast they trauell by reason that none returned at any time backe from thence to certifie them This is their childish reason Which truly in my iudgemēt sprūg vp of their negligence in not ferreting out the end of the soule For to what end els was the soule created but that knowing God her Creator and worshipping him for that great benefite shee might stand in awe and loue of him and at length attaine to euerlasting life which is appointed for her end Al other liuing creatures God made for mans vse but man he created to the end that the light of his wisdome might shine in him and that hee might participate with him his goodnesse Admit therefore that mans soule were corruptible what difference then I pray thee would there bee betweene a man and a bruite beast nay then consequently it must follow that man was
subdue his cruell affectiōs not yoke himself to the foule liberty of vicious motiō In sūme h turne again euery mā frō his euil way frō his wicked imaginations i Submit your selues to God and resist the Diuell and hee will flie from you draw nigh vnto God and he will draw nigh vnto you Cleanse your hearts you sinners purge your hearts you wauering minded That a man must not delay to become vertuous chap. 10. THere bee many of our worldlings which seek to shrowd their vices vnder this cloake that they mean to amend al in time and this time is driuē from day to day vntil God in whose hands the moments of time are doth shut them out of all time and doth send them to paines eternall without time Little do they thinke that their vices are by wicked custome fortified and as it were with a beetle more strongly rammed into their harts midriffes It is an vsuall prouerbe that whatsoeuer is bred in the bone will neuer out of the flesh so likewise a wound being for a time deferred becōmeth infectious and past cure Why then O mortal men doo yee builde on such a weake foundation why doo yee not at this instant without any further procrastinations prostrate your selues before the most highest ere the darke night of death steale vpon you and ere yee stumble at that foule black hillock Oh imitate not those foolish virgines who because they gaue not good attendaunce were shut out of doores by the bridegrome We see by common experience that if a man deliuer a reasonable petition vnto an earthly King he may perhaps attend a yeere or two before he be fully satisfied What then shall yee expect of the heauenly King whom yee haue a thousand times most wilfully displeased Is it possible for you after you haue obstinatly resisted him all the dayes of your liues to sue vnto him at the period of your yeeres and to obtaine remission No no it is not presumptuous delay that worketh vnfaigned repentaunce You must beginne to day if you will heare his voice and speed of your suites God will not be limited and restrained according to your willes His wrath will come vpon you at the sodaine and you shall be thrust into hell like sheep Like as the Poetes say of Titius so shall you being as it were food vnto death confume in hell and yet reuiue againe so that still ye may be euer dying Then shall yee crie vnto the mountaines and say O you mountaines fall vpon vs you hilles couer vs. Then shall you repent to your paine but your repentaunce shall not at all auaile you If an husband-man for lazinesse deferre to sow in the winter he is like in summer to starue or begge Sow therefore O ye that are Christians while you haue time to sow euen this day conuert vnto the Lord and yee shall reap perpetuall happinesse for your reward Repentaunce that is done at the last day most cōmonly is done vpon feare of future tormentes Besides the Aethiopian can assoone chaunge his blacke skinne as you do well hauing learned all the dayes of your liues to do euill My selfe haue knowen a young Gentleman that sometime hauing bene disobedient to his parents and also misdemeaned himselfe diuers other waies besides was vrged to repentaunce by some of his well willers To whome he aunswered that now this was his full intent and by the grace of God quoth he assoone as I come home to my Father hee being as then about forty miles off I will vtterly renounce my former maner of liuing and will become a new man But see the ineuitable will of God He was scarce seuen miles on his way homeward when as it was his wofull chaunce to encounter with some of his enemies and by them to be slaine For which cause I say cut off all delayes least in a matter of such importaunce yee be sodainly surprized Yee haue not two soules that yee may aduenture one The night is past and the day is come the day of the Lord is come as a snare on all them that dwel vpon the face of the earth in which the heauens must passe away with a noyse and the elements must melt with heat and the earth with the workes therein must bee burnt vp Bee yee therefore sober watchfull in prayer for in the houre that ye thinke not will the Sonne of Man surely come to iudge the world Remedies against vice Chap. 11. THe roote of vice is the originall corruption wherewith mankind hath bene ouerwhelmed euer since the fall of Adam Which corruption in processe of time beyng growne by continuall custome into a sinfull habite becommeth damnable three maner of waies First by thoughts next by wordes as swearing lies lastly by deedes as murther adulterie Now for the curing of this Hydra-like malady sixe things are to be obserued First we must oft consider that the actes of vertues themselues cannot bee of any value with God except we continually exercise our selues therein For the longer wee delay the more is the kingdome and power of the Diuell established and confirmed in vs. Secondly wee must once or twice a day at least call to remembrance our vices with a contrite heart aske God forgiuenes Thirdly we must waigh with our selues how that we are wandring pilgrimes in this world and like vnto them that vpon their iourneys abide not in those Innes where they are well lodged but after their baite do depart homeward vttering these words of the Prophet * Woe is me that I remaine in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar The fourth remedy against vice is that we thinke on the manifold miseries of this life on the end thereof The fift wee must oftentimes repeat that fearful saying of the Apostle * If the iust shall scarce be saued where shal the wicked man and sinner appeare The sixt we must muse vpō the day of iudgemēt at which time euery one must beare his owne burthen and sinners must giue an account of euery idle word about them shall be their Iudge offended with them for their wickednes beneath them hell open and the cruell fornace ready boyling to receyue them on the right hand shall be their sinnes accusing thē on the left hand the Diuels ready to execute Gods eternal sentence vpon them within them their consciences gnawing them without them all damned soules bewayling on euery side the world burning Of Iustice. Chap. 12. JVstice is a thing belonging to policy sith the order of a ciuill society is the law iudgemēt is nothing els but the decision of that which is iust This vertue as the Diuine Philosopher writeth is the chiefest gift which God gaue vnto men For if she were not amongst vs what would our commonwealth be but a receptacle for theeues From whence the sect of Democritus
this is the reason why so many now-adayes liue riotously like beastes namely because they see noblemen and magistrates that gouerne the common-wealth to lead their liues wantonly as Sardanapalus did Therefore let noblemen be temperate and spend lesse in showes and apparell that they may keepe better hospitality then they doe and benefit the poore Let them I say imitate those famous wights who voluntarily resigned vp their large portions in this world that they might liue the more contentedly A murath the second Emperour of the Turkes after he had gotten infinite victories became a Monke of the straightest sect amongst thē in the yeere of our Lord 1449. Charles the 5. Emperour of Germany gaue vp his Empire into the hands of the Princes Electours and withdrew himselfe in the yeere 1557. into a monastery The like of late did the tyrant his sonne king Philip of Spaine What shal I say of Daniel and his three companions Ananias Azarias and Misael did they not choose to sustaine themselues with pulse when as they f might haue had a portion of the kings meate seeing therefore by these examples wee perceiue howe great the force of Temperance is ouer the greedy affections of the minde let vs deuoutly loue her and through her loue obserue a meane in our pleasures and sorrowes Of Intemperance and Incontinence Chap. 31. INtemperaunce is an ouerflowing in pleasures desperately constraining all reason in such sort that nothing is able to stay him from the execution of his lusts For that cause there is a difference betweene it and incontinence namely that an incontinent man knoweth full that the sinne which hee commits is sin and had intended not to follow it but being ouermastered by his Lordly perturbations hee yeeldeth in a manner against his will thereunto whereas the intemperate man sinneth of purpose esteeming it a goodly thing and neuer repents him once of his wickednesse Wherehēce I conclude that an intemperate man is incurable and farre worse then the incontinent for the incontinent man being perswaded with wholesome counselles will bee sorie for his offence and wil striue to ouercome his passions But to make both aswell the intemperate man as the incontinent hatefull vnto vs Let vs call to minde howe they do nothing else but thinke on their present prouender and rutting Also wee must consider how that intemperance is that goggle-eyed Venus which hindereth honest learning which metamorphozeth a man into a beast and which transformeth simple wretches into tosse-potted asses wherefore I wish all men of what qualitie soeuer they bee to take heede of this vice least they either be accounted beasts or aliue bee reckoned among the number of the dead Of Lecherie Chap. 33. LEcherie is a short pleasure bringing in long paine that is it expelleth vertue shorteneth life maketh the soule guiltie of abominable sinne This vice I feare mee is too rife here in England for howe many Vrsulaes haue wee like that princely Vrsula who with eleuen thousand Virgins more in her companie being taken by the Painime fleete as they were sayling into little Britaine for the defence of their chastities were al of them most tyrannically martyred In steed of Vrsulaes I doubt we haue curtezans and whorish droyes who with their brayed drugs periwigs vardingals false bodies trunk sleeues spanish white pomatoes oyles powders and other glozing fooleries too long to bee recounted doe disguise their first naturall shape onely sophistically to seeme fayre vnto the outwarde viewe of tame and vndiscreete woodcocks Yet notwithstanding lette a man beholde them at night or in the morning and hee shall finde them more vgly and lothsome then before and I cannot so well liken them as to Millers wiues because they looke as though they were beaten about their faces with a bagge of meale But what enfueth after all these artificiall inuentions the vengeance of God Insteede of sweete sauour there shall bee stinke insteede of a girdle a rent insteede of dressing the haire baldnesse insteede of a stomacher a girding of sack cloth and burning insteede of beautie What shal I do thē asketh the honest mā how shal I discerne a chaste woman from a baudie trull a diligent huswife from an idle droane a If she be faire she is most commonly a common queane if shee bee foule then is shee odious What shall I doe This thou shalt doe O honest mā b Choose thee not a wife aboue thine estate nor vnder lest the one be too haughtie or the other displease thee rather hearken vnto a wittie virgin borne of vertuous and wittie parents correspondent vnto thee both in birth and degree and no doubt but with thy good admonitions thou shalt haue her tractable No woman is so flintie but faire words and good vsage will in time cause her to relent and loue thee as shee should aboue all others in fine respect not dowrie for * If she be good she is endowred well Of Gluttonie and Drunkennesse Chap. 34 OF Gluttonie there bee foure kindes The first hapneth when a man causeth his meate to bee made readie before due and ordinarie time for pleasure and not for necessitie The seconde when a man curiously hunteth after diuersities and daintie meate The third when hee eateth more then sufficeth nature The last when wee eate our meate too greedily and hungrily like vnto dogs Now to come to drunkennesse I find that there bee three sorts thereof The first when wee being verie thirstie not knowing the force of the drinke doe vnwittingly drinke our selues drunke and this can be no sinne The second when we vnderstand that the drinke is immoderate and for all that wee respect not our weake nature which vnawares becommeth cup-shot and this is a kind of sinne The third when we obstinatelie do perseuere in drinking and this certainely is a grieuous and intolerable sinne The discommodities of drunkennesse Chap. 35. THe discommodities of drunkennesse are many first c it displeaseth God secondly it is vndecent and filthie for doth not a drunken mans eies look red bloudy and staring doth not his tongue falter doth not his breath stinke is not his nose fierie and wormeaten are not his wits dead according to that When the ale is in witte is out doth not his bodie shiuer In breefe What doth not drunkennesse signifie it discloseth secrets it maketh the vnarmed man to thrust himselfe into the warres and causeth the carefull minde to become quite voyde of care The third discommoditie of drunkennesse is that it shorteneth life defaceth beautie and corrupteth the whole worlde For howe can it otherwise bee when GOD blesseth not the meate and drinke within our bodies Fourthly drunkennesse i◠the cause of the losse of time Fiftly Hell gapeth and openeth her mouth wide that the multitude and wealth of them that delight therein may goe downe into it For proofe whereof I will declare one notable example taken out of the Anatomie of Abuses About twentie yeeres
earnestly charge some of their most faithfull followers to admonish them of their ouersights at conuenient seasons Of Indulgence Chap. 48. INdulgence is a fond vaine foolish loue vsed most commonly of parents towards their children There is no vice so abhorred of wise men as this For they find by experience that mo youths haue bene cast away through their parēts indulgence then either through violent or naturall death Yea I haue heard sundry Gentlemen when they came to yeeres of discretion grieuously exclaime and bitterly complaine of their parents fondnesse saying Wee would to God that our parents had heretofore kept vs in awe and seuerity for now lacking that instruction which we ought to haue wee feele the smart thereof Vndoubtedly God wil one day demaund an account of them and examine them wherefore they respected not better their owne bowels Shall he blesse them with children and they through blind indulgence neglect their education Truly it is a miserable case In times past parents were wont to place their sonnes with wise gouernors requesting them not in any case to let them haue their owne willes But now adaies it falles out cleane contrary For parents in these times when they hire a scholemaster will first hearken after his gentle vsage and then they will question with him touching the small salary which they must pay him for his industry so that forsooth now and then to be mindfull of this vice Indulgence they accept of a sow-gelder or some pety Grammatist that will not sticke in a foole-hardy moode to breake Priscians pate With such a one they couenaunt namely that hee must spare the rodde or els their children will be spild Within a while after assoone as their indulgent Master hath taught them to decline Stultus Stulta Stultum as an adiectiue of three terminations they bring them out of hand into the Vniuersity and there diligently do enquire after a milde Tutour with whome their tender sonnes might familiarly and fellow-like cōuerse And what then Mary before a tweluemoneths end they send for them home againe in all post haste to visit their mammes who thought each day of their sonnes absence to bee a whole moneth There they bee made sucklings during the next twelue moneth Well now it is high time to suffer their ready dādlings to see new-fangled fashions at the Innes of Court Where being arriued they suite themselues vnto all sorts of company but for the most part vnto shriuers Caualeers and mad-cappes insomuch at the last it will be their friends hard happe to heare that their sweet sonnes are eyther pend vp in New-gate for their good deeds or haue crackt a rope at Tiburn This is the effect of Indulgence This is their false conclusion proceeding of their false premisses Now you must vnderstand that if the parents had not thus cockered 〈◊〉 their sonnes in their childhood 〈◊〉 caused them to be seuerely looked vnto they would not in the floure of their age haue come to such a miserable end In the Chronicle of the Switzers mētion is made of a certaine offendour whom vpon his arraignement his owne father was compelled to execute that so by the indulgent author of his life hee might come to his death Hither likewise may I referre that common story of a certaine woman in Flaunders who liuing about threescore yeeres agoe did so much pamper two of her sonnes that shee would neuer suffer them to lacke money yea shee would priuily defraud her husband to minister vnto them But at last she was iustly punished in them both for they fell from dicing and rioting to stealing and for the same one of them was executed by the halter the other by the sword she her selfe being present at their wofull ends whereof her conscience shewed her that her Indulgence was the onely cause This ought to be a liuely glasse to all parents to prouide for their childrens bringing vp and to purge them betimes of their wild and wicked humours least afterwards they proue incurable and of litle sprigs they become hard withered braunches In briefe O parents correct your childrē while they be young pluck vp their weedes while they beginne lest growing among the good seed they hinder their growth and permit them not so rathe of prentises to become enfranchised freemen In so doing you may be assured that they will easily be brought to study the knowledge of heauenly wisedome and to embrace ciuility the onely butte and marke wherat the godly vertuous do leuell especially for Gods glory for their owne commodity and for the goodnesse that thereby ensueth vnto the commonwealth in generall Of Pride Chap. 49. PRide is a bubbling or puffing of the minde deriued from the opinion of some notable thing in vs more thē is in others But why is earth ashes proud seeing that when a man dieth hee is the heire of serpents beasts wormes Who knoweth not that GOD closely pursueth proud men who doubteth that he thūdreth and scattereth them in the imaginations of their hearts that he putteth downe the mighty from their seates and exalteth the humble and meeke In somuch that he which is to day a king to morow is dead Wherefore O wight whosoeuer thou art that readest this booke lay aside thy Peacocks plumes and looke once vpon thy feet vpon the earth I mean wherehence thou camest though thou thinkest in thine heart that thou art equall with GOD yet thou art but a man and that a sinfull man In summe wish not lordly authority vnto thy selfe for hee that seeketh authority must forethinke how hee commeth by it and comming well by it how hee ought to liue in it and liuing well in it hee must forecast how to rule it and ruling discreetly hee must oftentimes remember his owne frailty Of Scurrility of Scoffing Chapt. 50. EVen as I greatly commend affability and pleasant iestes so I vtterly mislike and condemne knauery in iesting For toungs were not giuen vnto men to scoffe and taunt but rather to serue God and to instruct one another And as a litle fire may cōsume whole villages so in like manner the toung which is a kind of fire yea a world of calamity polluteth the whole body if it bee not refrained For which cause though there be some merry and conceited wit in a iest yet we must beware that we rashly bestow it not on them whom we afterwards would not for any thing offend Therefore the respect of time consideration of the person is necessary in lesting For we must not giue dry floutes at meales least we be accounted Ale-knights wee must not taunt cholericke men least they take it in ill part we must not deride simple felowes because they are rather to be pitied nor yet wicked persons for it behoueth to haue them rather punished then laught to scorne Whether Stageplayes ought to be suffred in a Commonwealth Chapt. 51. STageplaies fraught altogether with scurrilities and knauish pastimes are
Histories For which cause The Diuine Philosopher found great fault with his countrymeÌ„ the Graecians because their Noblewomen were not instructed in matters of state policie Likewise Iustinian the Emperour was highly displeased with the Armenians For that most barbarously they prohibited women from enioying heritages and bearing rule as though quoth hee women were base and dishonoured and not created of God In the right of succession the sisters sonne is equall to the brothers sonne Whereby is vnderstood that women are licensed to gouerne aswell as men Moreouer there be two forcible reasons that conclude women to be most apt for Seignories First there is neither Iew nor Graecian there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for they are all one in Christ Iesus The minds and actions of men and women do depeÌ„d of the soule in the which there is no distinction of sexe whereby the soule of a man should bee called male and the soule of a woman female The sexe rather is the instrument or meanes of generation and the soule ingendreth not a soule but is alway permanent and the very same Seeing therefore that a womans soule is perfect why should she be debarred by any statute or salique law from raigning The body is but lumpish and a vassall to the soule and for that respect not to be respected Secondly vertue excludeth none but receyueth all regarding neither substaunce nor sexe What should I rippe vp the examples of sundry nations which preferred women before themselues And for that cause they did neyther reiect their counsels nor set light by their answeres Semiramis after the death of her husband Ninus fearing lest the late conquered Aethiopians would reuolt and rebell from her Sonne yet young of yeeres and ignorant of rule tooke vpon her the principality and for the time of his nonage ordered the kingdome so princely that shee passed in feates of armes in triumphs conquests and wealth all her predecessours Nicocris defended her Empire against the Medes who then sought the Monarchy of the world and wrought such a miracle in the great riuer of Euphrates as all men were astonished at it for shee made it contrary to mens expectation to leaue the ancient course so to follow her deuice to and fro to serue the citie most commodiously insomuch that she did not onely surpasse all men in wit but ouercame the elements with power Isis after the decease of her husband Osyris raigned ouer Egypt and tooke care for so much prouision for the common wealth that shee was after her death worshipped as a Goddesse Debora iudged Israel Iudith the Bethulians Lauinia after the death of Eneas gouerned Italy Dido Carthage Olympias Pirrhus his daughter ruled ouer Epire Aranea was queen of Scythia Cleopatra of Egypt Helena after the death of Leo the Emperour raigned in Constantinople ouer all Asia as Empresse Ioanna was queene of Nauarre marying with Philip Pulcher the French king made him king of Nauarre in the yeere of our Lord 1243. Margaret ruled ouer Flaunders in the yeere of our Lord 1247. And another Princesse of that name y e only daughter of Valdemare the 3. king of DeÌ„mark Norway gouerned those kingdoms after her fathers death in the yeere of our Lord 1389. she tooke Albert the king of Swethland captiue kept him in prison 7. yeeres Ioanna was queene of Naples in the yeer 1415. Leonora Dutchesse of Aquitaine was maried to Henry Duke of Gaunt and in despight of the French K. brought him Aquitaine Poiteaux in the yeere 1552. Queene Mary raigned here in EnglaÌ„d in the yeere 1553. What should I write of Elizabeth our gratious Queene that now is which by her Diuine wisedome brought three admirable things to passe First her Maiesty reformed religion that by the Romish Antichrist was in her sisters time bespotted Secondly she maintayned her countrey in peace wheÌ„ all her neighbour Princes were in an vprore Thirdly she triumphed ouer all her foes both domesticall and hostile traiterous and outlandish If a man respect her learning it is miraculous for shee can discourse of matters of state with the best Philosopher she vnderstandeth sundry kinds of languages and aunswereth forreine Ambassadours in their forreine tongues If a man talke of the administration of iustice all the nations vnder the heauens cannot shew her peere In summe her Princely breast is the receiuer or rather the storehouse of all the vertues aswell morall as intellectuall For which causes England hath iust occasion to reioyce and to vaunt of such a gratious mother To whome the Monarch of Monarches long continue her highnesse and strengthen her as he hath done hitherto to his perpetuall glory confusion of all her enemies and to our euerlasting comfort Of Tyraunts Chap. 9. SIr Thomas Smith termeth him a Tyraunt that by force commeth to the Monarchy against the will of the people breaketh lawes already made at his pleasure and maketh other without the aduise and consent of the people and regardeth not the wealth of his commons but the aduauncemeÌ„t of himself his faction kindred Also there be two sorts of Tyrants The one in title the other in exercise He is in title Tyrant that without any lawfull title vsurpeth the gouernment In exercise he that hath good title to the principality and commeth in with the good will of the people but doth not rule wel and orderly as he should And so not onely they which behaue themselues wickedly towards their subiects are called Tyraunts as Edward the second of this realme in the yeere of our Lord 1319. and Alphonsus of Naples that lawfully came to the crowne in the yeere 1489. but also they are named tyrants which albeit they behaue themselues well yet they are to be called tyraunts in that they had no title to the principality as Sâ—eno the King of Denmark that vsurped this realme of England in the yeere 1017. and Pope Clement the eight that now is who about two yeeres ago seysed on the Dukedome of Ferraria onely by pretence of a gift which Constantine time out of mind bequeathed to the papacy Furthermore there be sixe tokens to know a tyrant The first if hee sends abroad pickthanks talebearers and espies to hearken what men speake of him as Tiberius the Emperour was woont to do The second if he abolisheth the study of learning and burneth the monuments of most worthy wittes in the market place and in the assembly of the people least his subiects should attaine to the knowlege of wisedome As Alaricus king of the Gothes did in Italy in the yeere 313. and the great Turke in his Empire The third if hee maintaine schismes diuisions and factions in his kingdome for feare that men should prie into his doings As the Popes haue done alway from time to time and of late daies the Queene mother in Fraunce The fourth if hee trust straungers more then his
borne A man hauing in his furie killed one may by the grace of God repent and bee sorie for his offence but for the coniurer or magician it is almost impossible that hee should be conuerted by reason that the Diuell is alwaies conuersant with him and is present euen at his very elbow and will not once permit him to aske forgiuenesse Experience whereof Doctour Faustus felt who was at last torne in peeces by the diuell Cornelius Agrippa likewise a man famous for his great skill in Magicke and as yet fresh in some old mens memorie went continually accompanied with a Diuell in the shape of a blacke dōgge◠and when at his death hee was vrged to repent and crie GOD mercie hee pulled off the coller which was about the dogges necke and sent him away with these words Packe hence thou cursed curre which hast quite vndone mee With that the dogge went away and drowned himselfe in the riuer Arar Within a little after Agrippa deceased whose iudgement I leaue vnto the Lord. As touching the deedes of coniurers I confesse they bee wonderfull for the charmers of Egypt turned roddes into serpents in the sight of Pharao And there is nothing which good men doe but Sorcerers like Apes will assay to do the like Many of them among whome I meane Pope Siluester the second Pope Benedict the ninth and Pope Alexander the sixt were cunning in the scriptures professed holynesse of life and gaue pardons and indulgences as the Pope doth now vnto them that would buy them But in the end they were pitifully and openly tormented and deuoured by the Diuell their schoole-master My selfe haue seene about eleuen yeeres agoe a counterfeit dumbe fellow that could by signes and tokens foretell diuers things to come Hee could signifie what misfortunes a man hath suffered what yeeres hee was off what wife hee had maried how many children he had and which is most strange of all hee would finde out any thing which was hidden of purpose At last it was this yong Magicians happe to arriue at a zealous Gentlemans house who hauing before heard of his miraculous deedes eftsoone suspected him and made no more adoe but by violence and threatning enforced him to speake and to declare his dissimulation procured as hee himselfe confessed by the Diuell with whome hee had couenated to become dumbe on condition that he might performe such miracles haue heard and read of many Coniurers that wrought wonders and things almost incredible yet neuer haue I either heard or read of any that prospered but at the last they eyther came to the gallous or fagot or else they were preuented and miserably taken by the Diuell Which is the cause that wise men haue vtterly detested this blacke Arte as being admonished by other mens harmes to beware of it So that none but malicious simple and grosse-headed persons who eyther for reuenge or for couetousnesse are so seduced doe enter into league and confederacie with the Diuell To knit vp this discourse I aduise all persons and especially olde women to take heede of illusions and charmes seeing principally they bee damnable and forbidden by the lawes of God Secondarily Magicke is infamous abominable by the laws of man both ciuill and canon Finally men must abstain from sorceries coniurations witchcrafts and such kind of wickednesse for feare of punishment because if any sayth the Lord turne after such as worke with spirits and after southsayers to goe spiritually a whoring after them then will I set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people And in another place Thou must not suffer a witch to liue Looke therefore vnto your selues and bee prepared O simple wretches lest otherwise the siend finding you vnreadie will quickly surprize you and so inueigle your weake and shallow mindes Of Phisicke Chap. 45. MAny confound Phisicke and Philosophie together because both of them doe alike respect naturall bodies but our Ciuilians haue distinguished the one from the other For which cause I will at this time surcease the concordance and fall to the declaration of the goodnesse thereof There is no facultie saue law and Diuinitie comparable vnto Phisicke Insomuch as mightie Potentates haue not disdained to exercise it Gentius the King of Illyria found out the vertuous qualities of the herbe called Gentian Iuba King of Mauritania and Lybia found the herbe called Euphorbium Sabor King of the Medes Sabrel King of the Arabians Mithridates King of Pontus and Auicenna King Corduba were professed Phisicious The Angell Raphael caused blind Tobias with the gall of a fish to receiue his sight Luke the Euangelist was a Phisicion yea and * GOD himselfe is called the supreme Phisicion both of body and soule Wherefore see that you honour Phisicke O yee that bee rich and make much of the Phisicion for the Lord created him Of Law Chap. 46. THe law is the knowledge of things As wel Diuine as Humane and of that which is iust and vniust Of Ciuilians it is declared tripartite as it comprehendeth the law of nature the law of nations and the ciuill law The law of nature is a feeling which euerie one hath in his conscience whereby hee discerneth betweene good and euill as much as is sufficient to deliuer him from the cloudie cloake of ignorance in that hee is reprehended by himselfe Hence commeth the coniunction of male and female the Procreation of children and education The law of Nations is a prescription that all maner of people can claime as to resist violence was lawfull to defraud the wilie and subtill was no fraude to hurt a Herauld was not tolerable to pay euery man his owne was right and in a maner all contracts were brought in by this law as buying selling hiring gaging and infinite others The Ciuill law is that which is squared according to honestie and is termed euery priuate law enacted by one peculiar people There is also a Diuine law which is three-fold to witte the morall law the ceremoniall law and the Iudiciall law The morall law is that which is constituted for all Nations if they will obserue the commandements of GOD The Ceremoniall law was an instruction of infancie giuen to the Iewes to bee exercised vnder the obedience of God vntill Christs comming The Iudiciall law is that which was giuen them for politicke gouernement teaching them certaine Maximes of iustice whereby they might liue quietly without molesting one another Of the Common Law in England Chap. 47. AS soone as Brutus came into this Realme hee constituted the Troians lawes throughout all his dominions But when diuisions and ciuill broyles hapned a little after his decease those lawes decayed for a long time vntill Malmutius reuiued them enlarging them with many profitable more and were named Malmutius lawes vnto which Martia a Queene of this land added the decrees of her time and were called Martiaes lawes Besides these King Lud is reported to amend
Peter Thy money perish with thee because thou thinkest that the gift of God may be obtained with money Simony may be coÌ„mitted three maner of waâ—es First whosoeuer selleth or buyeth the word of God is a Simonist Wherefore the Lord said vnto his disciples Freely you haue receyued freely giue Secondly hee that giueth or taketh any thing for a Bishopricke Benefice Headship or for a fellowes or Scholers roome is guilty of Simony Thirdly The Minister that denieth to bury the dead or say Diuine seruice committeth Simony Now hauing declared how many waies Simony is committed I wil shew that it is the vtter ruine of the Cleargie and consequently of the whole commonwealth First Simony is condemned with excommunication the seuerest censure of the Church and therfore odious Secondly Simony hindreth house-keeping so that ministers cannot distribute almes Thirdly it breedeth the desolation and destruction of the state For commonly there ensueth a dissolution of the commonwealth when the fruits 〈◊〉 reueneâ—es therof are decreased Fourthly Simony discourageth parents to send their sonnes to the Vniuersity for what parents bee so foolish as to bestow in maintenaunce of their sonnes at least three hundred pound before they attayne to perfection and then to pay againe two hundred pouÌ„d for a benefice or foure hundred pound for a Chauncelorship surely it is a lamentable case I had rather saith one that my sonne be a colier then a scholer For what shall I put my sonne to schoole when he shall pay so much for a liuing Better it is for me to leaue my sonne an ingram foole then to buy him a liuing through vnlawfull meanes Besides who is so bluntish that knoweth not the great infinite labours of Scholers that seeth not their eyes weakned their bodies empaired which is worse their spirites decaied O stony hearts O wicked Simonists Doubtlesse this abomination portends some great calamity to follow Lastly Simony is an heresie and for that respect it ought to be reiected from all true Christians To wind this vp in a word I wish all Pastours and patrons of benefices and Chancelourships to looke more narrowly vnto themselues and to stand in feare of God who vndoubtedly is offended with their Simony and will one day requite the slacknes of their punishments with the weight thereof wil cast them downe headlong into the bottomlesse and tormenting pit of hell where euery sence of their bodies shall abide his peculiar punishment Their eyes shall haue no other obiects then Diuels and Snakes their eares shall bee afflicted with clamours and howlings their noses with brimstone and filthy smels their tast with poison and gall and their feeling shal be vexed continually with boyling lead and firy flames The sixt Plant. Of the alteration of a common-wealth Chap. 52. COmmonwealths euen as mortall men haue their infaÌ„cy childhood stripling age youth virility middle age and old age that is they haue their beginning vegetation flourishing alteration and ends And like as diuers innouations maladies do happen to meÌ„ according to the coÌ„stitutioÌ„ of their bodies or according to their diet and education so in like maner it falleth out with commonwealths as being altered eyther by domesticall ciuill wars or els by forreyne or perhaps by both together or by the death of the noblest inhabitaunts or to bee briefe by vices which are suffred to creepe in It is necessary that all things which are in this world should waxe old and hasten to the same end some sooner others later according to the will of God their Creatour and by his permission through the influence of the heauenly bodies from which this mutuall succession of life and death issueth Howbeit notwithstaÌ„ding I confesse that prodigious signes are not the causes of euents but rather foretokens of them Like as an Iuy bush put forth at a vintrie is not the cause of the wine but a signe that wine is to be sold there so likewise if wee see smoke appearing in a chimney wee know that fire is there albeit the smoke is not the cause of the fire God onely chaungeth the tymes and seasons hee discouereth the deepe and secret things and the light is with him The effects of all the Cometes and the chiefest Eclipses which hapned in this last age Chap. 53. FOrasmuch as the alterations of commoÌ„wealths are for the most part foreshewed vnto vs by heauenly signes I iudge it more meet for mee to declare those which chaunced within this last age rather then in any other especially for that they are neerer to our fathers memories and also more familiar vnto vs. In the yeere of our Lord 1500. there appeared a Comet in the North after the which followed many and straunge effects For the Frenchmen assaulted the kingdome of Naples the Tartarians the kingdome of Polonia Then was a great famine in Swethland and a cruell plague throughout al Germany besides ciuill warres amongst themselues in taking part with the Bauarians against the Bohemians TheÌ„ died Pope Pius the 3. together with the Archbishop of Treâ—ires and diuers other famous wights In the yeere 1506. appeared another Comet Whereupon died Prince Philip the father of Charles the fift and Ferdinand afterward Emperours Maximilian the Emperour made warre with the Frenchmen and Venetians In the yeere 1514. was an Eclipse of the sunne About which time George Duke of Saxony inuaded and spoyled FrizelaÌ„d King Lewis the 12. of FrauÌ„ce and Vladislaus king of Hungary Bohemia departed out of this world In the yeere 1518. was seene another Eclipse of the sunne Immediatly after the which died the Emperour Maximilian the first Christierne the 2. king of Denmarke fought a most bloudy battell with the Swethens within a while after he was deposed of his kingdome In the yeere 1527. appeared a great Comet the operation wherof the poorâ— Hungarians felt as being barbarously to the shame of all Christians martyred destroyed by the Turkes The prodigious disease of sweating was rife here in England The riuer Tiber ouerflowed the citie of Rome The sea also consumed away a great part of the low countries In the yeere of our Lord 1533. waâ— seene another blazing starre whereupoÌ„ a litle while after king H. y â— 8. was diuorced froÌ„ his brothers wife The sect of the Anabaptists begaÌ„ to rise Pope Clement the 7. departed out of this life and Pope Paul the 3. was inuested in his roome In the yeere 1539. chaunced an Eclipse of the sunne presently after appeared a Comet the effects wherof were many For there was a great coÌ„motioÌ„ in GauÌ„t which the Emperour not without much damage at leÌ„gth appeased took away their priuileges froÌ„ them Iohn the K. of Hungary ended his life And so did Henry Duke of Saxony The Duke of Brunswisk was by the young Duke of Saxony and by the Landgraue of Hassia driuen out of his countrey The English ouercame