THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT Compiled BY SIR VVILLIAM VVISEMAN Knight FOR THE PVBLIKE WEALE AND HAPPInesse of England Scotland and Ireland EPHES. 6. Induite vos armaturam Dei Printed at London by Iohn Legatt 1619. Good Reader I Haue heard of a discourse the other yeare betweene two Frenchmen the one a Souldier the other a Ciuilian against the vices of their times and country The Souldier was the Duke de Mercury a right noble and valerous Captaine late Lieftenant generall to the Emperour against the Turk in Hungarie and yet a great enemy to Duells The Ciuilian was a Companion of his and vndertooke against coueting as it appeares by the Preamble following And I am sorie wee haue no more of theirs but the Preamble since the times and vices be as well ours as theirs What the rest of their method was J haue not seene but by the qualitie of their persons by their learning we may imagine The argument could not be but profitable and J set downe what I thinke probable to come neerest their meaning and the good of our nation and I speake English to English For heere is first set vp the marke or white which wee must all shoote at and is done in two Orations Paranaeticall to heauen-ward The one shewing vs our way thither The other our happines when we come there Here are secondly discouered two potent impediments in our way that hinder our sight and leuell and these are our Irascible and Concupiscible parts The abuse whereof is touched in two Charges the one shewing the iniustice of Duell the other our common iniustice in buying and selling and neglect of common good And lastly here be two Homages or thanks-giuings to God The one of a Soule truely conuerted the other of one proceeding in his grace with signes of both There be many things here delightfull to be thought of nothing hard to be done and wee shall blame our selues most desperately if we haue not done Read therefore I beseech thee and make vse of It which if thou doe thou wilt finde much comfort and if all doe they will make as flourishing a common-wealth as euer was There will scarce be any poore in it or any vnquietnes Kings will glorie in their Subiects and Subiects in their Soueraigne and all in each other as it is in Heauen Farewell THE DVKE AFter the ceasing of our Turkish warres and twenty yeares peace concluded with Acmath king of Turkie 1608. our faces were all turned homeward and my voluntaries not a few were impatient of idlenesse seeking to bee dismissed for some other imployment They had followed mee indeede many hundred miles out of France for which I was not onely willing to listen to them but also ready to gratifie them in some sort with a finall testimony of my loue vpon our parting I sent therefore for my Chaplaine to come to mee Mounsieur Iohn Faber Licenciat in Diuinity to be aduised by him who as hee was a man both learned and discreete so could hee best satisfie me in any thing I should desire And when hee was come none being with me then but Mr. Doctor Petroneus my assistant a Ciuilian of great vnderstanding and Lancelot Mott my Comptroller second of my Councell Sir said I to my Chaplaine wee haue a resolution to discharge our companies and to licence our voluntaries which you know are many in this towne of Vienna for we loose but time in these parts our busines being now at an end We came not hither to chase the Stagge or wilde Boare and nothing else you see is heere to bee done A great many of them came freely to vs and I would send them away with honour howbeit while I bethinke mee of our departure hence and of our long separation that will bee hauing beene heretofore so long accustomed together I remember the saying of Christ and I am touched with some part of his compassion saying misereor super turbam so say I in my affection towards them Mark 8. that I haue pitie ouer my company and as Christhereupon did feed their bodies miraculously so these that haue no corporall need I would they were spiritually fed before their going that aboue all things in these dangerous times they may not faint in their way to heauen may be profitable in their countries where they are to goe They are to me as children I know we shal not part asunder without teares on both sides I would haue them to doe well some instructions I wish they had with them such as your selfe thinkes best Both is your authority among them such as they will easily beleeue you and your learning and Methode such as they will delight to heare you and beare it in mind I haue beene often bold with you as my inward friend yet neuer so bold as to giue you your text Neither will onely thus much I would entreate you against the feast following which is now at hand that ye will be ready to say somewhat against the enormities of our countrey by anger and auatice The one proper to men of warre the other to men of peace yet both to much vsed by both and haue made our Country ill spoken of and disioyned many families with ciuill dissention I am well aduised what I speake There be in this citty diuers that may doe much in their countrey by their good example and I doubt not will come to such preferment there as may amend many matters that are much amisse Our single challenge and combats there are growne so common and vpon so slight occasions fiue thousand haue bene slaine vpon it in France alone within these twenty yeares and so many pardons of record to be seene for it at this day and againe our grating is so extreame vpon the poorer sort that I know not what will come of it in the end but the ruine of vs all The commons will be glad of the least quarrell against the rich and daily factions betweene families will lay vs open to any potent enemy to doe vs wrong But what should I speake thus to you who know it as well as I. There bee those that come to see vs euery day right worthy persons and great friends but when they come home they will bee enemies I feare me if they haue not some warning and be not stored with the greater grace Of the two vices I speak of I know not which is the cause of most iniustice well I am assured none doth iustice in the heate of anger or coueting more angry sometimes for a small matter then a great will kill a man for speaking of a word amisse and will spare a man that pickes his purse will not spend three pence vpon a poore body and will haue hundreds instore to circumuent a poore gentleman All the world is misled with these two vices and were it not for these two there would neede no Officers in a kingdome I know no sinne almost but one of these is
and left themselues little else but what they wore on therr belts and buckles and rings on their fingers An other time they of Marseiles did the like vnasked Iust 43. to aide the Romanes at a need and left not themselues a peece of golde either in publike or priuate Neither is it fit for vs to iudge the State at our pleasure when matter of burthen is propounded our Soueraigne being wise and bearing conscience towards vs. They sitte neere the Sunne and know what must bee better then wee They are wise and more experienced then wee and their part is in the burthen as well as ours It belongs to vs to listen willingly and performe gladly 2. Cor. 9. Hilarem datorem diligit deus God loues a cheerefull giuer and blesses him no doubt accordingly And the reason why our ancestours thriued better then wee and liued more plentifully Saint Augustine imputeth to this Quia deo decimas Hom. 48. de Sanctis regi censum dabant Because tithes they paid to God and tribute to the king Others pay also at this day but they doe it not willingly and God regards more what the heart doth then what the hand doth And therefore whosoeuer bee Iustices or Assessours on the bench our loue and conscience must bee of the quorum Let mutiny and turbulency finde no place with ingenuous spirits Christ himvelfe made meanes to contribute to superiours for our example hauing himselfe neither lands nor goods And so would wee if we had but loue in vs. A dead horse is no horse no more is dead loue any loue And where should wee shewe it more then to our Prince in whom all causes of loue concurre together most commonly Some weare their kings in their hat some in a iewell about their necke and wee set vp his picture in our eye where we eate and drinke we praise him and set out his vertues and run out to see him and bidde God saue him as if wee had neuer seene him before Wee pray for him in priuate and publike and hee is all our glory till wee come to part with any thing and then the king knowes not mê say they I shall neuer haue thankes of him I haue children and charge the king had more neede giue mee Some say it some thinke it and wee see not who lookes on the whilest Euen he that iudgeth both subiect and Soueraigne and will not suffer his annointed vnreuenged of any indignity But I will goe forward I come now to your Superfluum I spake of A thing that is not ill in it selfe if men doe not loue it too much and seeke it not so eagerly as they doe I will tell you in a word what your Pastours thinke of it and then conclude The scripture bids you Tobit 4. If ye haue much giue much Abundanter tribue If yee haue little giue little but let it bee volenter willingly Christ saith Mat. 25. we shall be damned for not doing some things Which all the fathers vnderstand to be the workes of mercy both spirituall and temporall The spirituall are comprehended in these verses Aduize reprooue good comfort giue Beare with him pray for him and forgiue All which sixe as well temporall persons as spirituail are bound to doe especially the second which is brotherly correction No man may forbeare to admonish his neighbour of his offence if yee bee not more likely to doe hurt by it or bee likely enough to doe him good and no body else will Which rule alone I must tell you when I well considered it made mee the bolder to aduenture on this daies charge though better becomming other manner of persons then my selfe if they were at hand But beeing so that my happe aboue others hath beene heere to speake about such businesse although I haue no cause to admonish or touch in particular any one for the enormities aforesaide yet by the way of praemonition I giue a brotherly warning to all as by this rule I thinke my selfe bound that they fall not into the same For according to this rule I finde it written in another place vnicuique mandauit Deus de proximo suo Eccl. 17. euery man hath charge in charity ouer his neighbour That is to say either by preuenting euill before it come as I doe now or by correcting euill if it bee past which I haue no cause in any of you And this I holde to bee the chiefe or onely spirituall worke that all persons alike are bound vnto But as for temporall workes which was the other part of my diuision wee are bound to more And therefore for our better memory they are put into verse thus Feede visit sicke redeeme out of thrall cloath harbour harbourlesse giue buriall All set downe by our Sauiour himselfe but the last Mat. 25. which is buriall and all these or most of them wee must doe vpon paine of hell fire Ite in ignem eternum saith hee Goe yee into euerlasting fire For yee visited me not ye cloathed me not c. Of spirituall workes more then I haue said I say nothing they belong to Diuines and Preachers who are the best instruments with learning and spirit to mannage our soules Of corporall workes also I haue not much to say more then of the instrument and meanes for them which is gold and siluer and which we either haue or lay for more then they and therefore are bound to doe them more then they For there is not a corporall worke except that of visiting but requireth some charge and outward ability Euery body cannot redeeme prisoners yea who make prisoners but rich folke An hundred dye in a yeare sometimes out of one prison as many ready to starue without shirt to their backe or bread to eate Many are ashamed to begge or to complaine and bring in their winding sheet when they come in vnable to buy necessaries and much lesse to pay debts But this is their manner of redeeming prisoners to lay them faster if they can or to abridge them any comfort that a prison may affoord Let rich men and prison-keeprs take heede of this if euer they looke to prosper with that they haue For if any should perish thus through their wilfullnesse it is murther before God and if they want maintenance they are bound by this precept to maintaine them The rich men I say for deteining the vnable if they think them so Prison keepers for looking no better to their hospitalls for euery Iaile is an hospitall as well as a prison And if begging will not serue they must finde them bread and drinke at least or giue vp their office God will charge vs one day that wee did not some of these things which wee were able to doe and had good meanes for Vnicuique mandauit Deus as I said before And mandauit implies a duty It is not as we will but wee are bound to it as it appeares by the penaltie which is laid vpon it
to ease me of a burthen as I said before who am born for burthens Psal 65. for as Dauid saith God hath laide his people vpon our necks and yet if such a one as you can doe more with a word then wee with ten pardon mee Sir I beseech you I know not how you will bee excused But I say no more your will shall be done Well Sir saide my Assistant since you bee in good earnest you shall not take offence at me but what if I deceiue your expectation and shall not performe so well as the matter importeth Surely Sir saide my Comptroler that was not wont to bee your fault and for my owne part I must say what I thinke I had rather heare but halfe from my Lord and you concerning these matters then the whole matter from another for both in the one case my Lord being a man of Sword and honour it is not like but hee will respect what hee may the honour of gentlemen vpon falling out so on the other side your selfe beeing also noble and of great expence who must haue much comming in to beare your charge there is none will feare or doubt partiality in you to speake against coueting or keeping more then you must needes but rather will extend your selfe as farre as you may and your learning will giue leaue Spirituall men speake learnedly of their matters and whatsoeuer yee bring vs I suppose yee fetch it from their groundes but if the temporall also and men of action concurre with the same as I know not well yet whether they doe or no and I would gladly learne surely this will make a double barre against all impugners that the euill disposed will not haue a word to say wee haue a ghesse sufficient what our Prelates will say But since the motion hath beene made and to my seeming very fitly I should bee a petitioner to you both and many more yee shall haue if neede bee that it may bee so Wee are true Jsraelites Exod. 20.19 that had rather heare Moses speake then God almighty whereat when wee had laughed a little while It is not vnusuall with mee said I to speake to my fellowes and followers and yet it is more then I dare promise you neither will vnlesse my Assistant doe as much I will take a pawsing time and if I can thinke of any thing worth your hearing you shall know and my Assistant vndertooke in like manner And so beeing ready to depart I tolde them that for teaching I would not intermeddle but leaue them wholly to their Pastours whom I would exhort what I could to beleeue and follow in all such matters as I should giue them in charge and but a charge I would make of it No more shall I said my Assistant And my charge my Lord said my Comptroler shall be to put your Excellency to charge for the time and to bidde them all welcome with the best cheere wee can make them This was the end of our Parlance and when the times came we performed accordingly whereof I haue heere set downe the dead letters but whosoeuer had heard my Chaplaine would haue loued the world the worse as long as they liued My Assistant likewise deliuered it with much grace and grauity and my selfe did my good will My Chaplaine began as followeth THE CHAPLAINE vpon Panis Viatorum THE FIRST ORATION RIght honourable worshipfull and well beloued yee are come hither I perceiue to heare somewhat for your edification but I feare mee you shall finde a souldier of mee rather then a diuine for so my many years employment in the campe hath made me beeing a place of all others vnfit for study and a mortall enemy to Muses My scarres ye see make mention of some wounds and my blood hath testified my loue to you that haue seldome failed to beare you company in your thickest perills with target in one hand and my booke in the other I haue assisted many a gasping spirit in their agony to heauen-ward where I doubt not now but they see and sit with God for euer and euer and you whom his heauenly prouidence hath reserued from slaughter hee hath preserued ye must thinke for his further seruice if your sword rust yet your action may not which must euermore bee doing and working of your weale ye haue peace now and ye haue put vp your weapons what then peace giues rest to temporall and not to spirituall fight we may neuer stand still in our way to heauen and thither I was wished to exhort you to day by one whose authority I may in no wise decline I will do my best God willing to set you in your way and in your way I will leaue you it will be no new matter I shall tell you but what ye haue euery day cause to thinke of and are able to teach others Your yeares and daies haue beene long time neere death as neere as Canon shotte and daily death before your eies hath beene enough to mortifie you and hasten you to another world I shall not therefore be ouer tedious to you that are so well prepared already neither will I dazell your vnderstanding with darke matters nor weary your wittes with points of learning but onely admonish you what encounters ye are like to haue and what glory will attend you if ye be conquerours This will be the last time wee shall all meete thus and if I shall any thing say worth your hearing I beseeh you also let it be worth your following Quare appenditis argentum non in panibus et laborem vestrum non insaturitate Esay 55. Intending therefore to exhort you or rather to hasten you in your way to heauen I thought it fitte to lay before you the saying of Esay the Prophet Why spend ye siluer saith he and not in breads your labour and not in saturity A short speach but full of mistery why spend yee siluer and not in bread your labour and not in saturity or fulnesse we will speake first of the first part and afterwards of the second as touching the first part it is well enough known there is nothing more needful for the sustentatiō of man thē bread It is that we pray for in our Pater noster as the needfullest foode and most vniuersall that is kings themselues cannot be without it and the poorest haue it though they haue nothing else euery body loueth it no one dish that euery body loueth yet euery one loues bread And besides the loue we all haue to it God hath giuen it this prerogatiue that as it is most necessary so is it best cheape and easiest to come by And therefore most iustly the Prophet cries out saying why spend yee siluer and not in bread as who should say why spend ye money vpon trifles your patrimony vpon pastimes and all the meanes you haue vpon merriments and are content to sit a hungred for them But what I pray you is this siluer that men
one in a manner that left heauen to dwell in the world hath left the world to dwell in vs. A noble possession keeper a noble protector of all wee haue if wee can hold him By this being of God in vs wee shall not looke to prophecy or do miracles or great wonders in the world which are more for others good then our owne But all that is sure to better our soules wee shall be sure to haue God will neuer see vs want happinesse Wee are possest of God with receiuing of God and wee are often possest with receiuing him often And if it be miserable to be possest of euill and wicked spirits how happy is it then to be possest of God who brings all good things with him And lastly if this temple of his this body of ours do chance to perish or bee wronged or ruined for his greater glory our trial in tribus diebus Suscitabit illud Ioh. 2. he wil build it again quickly much fairer then it was There bee of you heere that haue tasted the good of this bread of Trauellers and often receiuing it it hath made you hardy and resolute in your businesse and to such as haue dyed in the field it hath beene their Viaticum as the fathers call it to bring them to God Such viaticum or voyage prouision God send vs neere our death if we dye on a suddaine Yee haue hitherto heard what necessity there is of this heauenly bread and some part of the benefit of it and what cause our Prophet had to cry out vpon vs as hee doth for misbestowing what wee haue so vily and not vpon these breads for heaping vnworthy things in this world and neglecting the worthiest that will sticke by vs for euer If the Prophet were now liuing and saw our grossenesse in this behalfe hee would thunder more plainely against vs then he doth Behold he is yet liuing in his writings and spirit Let not the letter lye dead in the booke take it and beate it in a mortar Bruise it well and powne it into spice that the fragrancy of it may fill euery corner of your house make a sheafe of wheate of it and thrash it out for a grist to serue at your board and feede your soule It followes in the same place your labours and not in Saturitie Esay 55. or fulnesse Now since we haue done with the bread of trauellers we ought of right to speake next of the bread of Angels which was the other part of my deuisiō before we leaue bread go to anew matter Howbeit because we haue reserued this of Angels to be spoken of last wee will breake order a little and goe forward first with our Prophets owne words as they lye and the other bread we shall finde oportunitie for God willing at an other time Why spend yee your siluer saith hee and not in bread your labour and not in saturity Hee said before your Siluer now your labour He said before and not in bread now and not in Saturity Before he found fault with misspending our goods now for wasting our bodies for so is to bee vnderstood this word labour which is as much to say as toyle of body and minde Gods curse it was vpon Adam that the earth and creatures should rebell against him and nothing he should haue without labour and toyle Gen. 3. in labore comedes If thou wilt eate thou must labour for it and in the sweat of thy brow shall bee thy foode He hath shewne before how prodigally wee spend our substance vpon euery thing but that wee should Our will vpon selfe-liking our wit vpon fancies our vnderstanding vpon things fading and transitory our learning if we haue any vpon sensuality our stile or tongue in setting foorth a lye assoone as a true tale our health in pastime and play and all that we haue in idle vanities for the most part with little respect of God or of his holy seruice for which onely we were created insinuating vnto vs that if it were not in bread or in order to God it must needs be in one of these Now comes he to our bodies also and the actions thereof how we bestowe our strength how our labour how our hands and feete how our sences and finding them all no better bestowed then the other were that is to say in hope of ease and yet no true ease in hope of pleasure and yet no true pleasure in hope of filling and yet empty in hope of Saturity and yet no true Saturity hee asketh this question as before of our money and other outward things so now of our labours and cares of life saying why bestow yee all these things as ye doe and not in Saturity Saturity yee must thinke is as much to say as fulnesse of contentment It is as much to say as I haue enough Lord Satis est I aske no more in this life It is written of holy Ephraim and others Luk. 22. Plat. lib. 3. that were much addicted to prayer and meditation that they found such extraordinary comfort therein sometimes that they brake forth into these words saying Satis domine enough Lord as much to say as hold thy hand Lord I haue enough Let mee not haue heauen before I come there I haue enough And this is not onely their contentment that are perfect but it is euery good bodies that loues vertue and delights in prayer and although he haue not extraordinary comforts nor can expect those rare illuminations which some haue had yet if hee vse but an ordinary deuotion in his ordinary course of prayers and resigne himselfe wholly to God he shall finde no doubt so much quickening hope that hee shall rise from his knees very contentedly with Satis domine and such compleate satisfaction as in his humility and acknowledgement of his vnworthinesse hee would thinke is much more then he could expect I confesse and let this be our ground that there is no absolute content in this life all our content euen a Saints content vpon earth is but in enigmate or like the sunne in a cloude vpon a gloomy day and therefore holy Dauid saith Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua he saith not Satior in the present Psal 16. but Satiabor in the future tense Signifying hereby that there is no saciety in this life no perfect filling or saturity here it must be in heauen not here it is in vision of God not in fruition of creatures wee are here but in expectation there in possession here in hope and promise there in deede and performance here in fight there in victory here like hunters and souldiers there wee deuide the spoiles The souldier in his fore-age is glad of any thing he can get and saith Satis The faulconer likewise or hunter is well pleased for the time at a poore mans house and saith Satis for it as if he were at home in richer fare And this is the best of
also by the greatnesse of mans vnderstanding which is able to conceiue all things in the world but not the least things in heauen What is nôt in heauen I haue also shewne you Nothing there to offend or that can offend a priuiledged place from all arest of trouble or of least molestation as by the seuerall names it is called by and the price that hath beene giuen for it and by the fewnesse of Buyers it may appeare and I haue there alleadged And in this abundance of compleate happinesse yea haue heard also what estate wee shall haue not for a yeare or yeares life or liues or to vs and our heires but to vs and our selues for euer And least haply we should make voide our faith in any sort with ouermuch curiosity faith being no faith if we beleeue not without eye knowledge I haue importuned you not to be too busie in matters aboue your reach as to know how what or when and how long first Which I haue lastly prooued vnto you not to be long at the longest and is most commonly as neere vs as we can wish Tract 110. in Ioh. Hoc modicum longum videtur dum hic agitur saith Saint Augustine This little seemes long to vs heere Sed cum finitum fuerit sentiemus quam modicum fuerit but when it is ended saith he wee shall see how little it was And so no doubt we shall finde when we come once to that heauenly Sanctuary that city of refuge that hauen of all our hopes where a hundred yeares shall seeme as nothing if wee liued heere so long in feare of God and vertuous life Verily we shall wonder at our selues then that we could thinke the time here long beleeuing heauen as we did to be so long in lasting and so neuer toward ending What 's a stones cast of foule way to a world of faire way Is it to be stucke at What 's a spoonefull of gaule to a sea of Rose water Is it to reckon of For shame of our selues let vs thinke no time lost or long in Gods seruice For if we doe must we not looke to be punished for it and that by so much the more by how much the more mercifull hee is vnto vs in tempering as he doth our length of daies with so many delights and pleasing businesse in the world while either we recreate our selues moderately sleepe and rest our selues temperately conuerse with others familiarly bestirre our selues in our vocation commendably see the fruits of our labour not without comfort We are not alwayes at our deuotions not alwayes praying reading and mortifying our selues Yea the yeere it selfe which is the measure of our age is also distinguished for vs into seuerall seasons Winter comes but once a yeare Then comes the spring bedeckt with violets below and blossomes ouer head Then the summer full of day-light and ripening sunne Then haruest with all inticing fruits to fill our mouthes and hands full all the yeere long till new come in and euery season hath his lawfull pleasures Which if we abused hitherto or haue spent our time vnprofitably or haue liued badly so mercifull is God that he will not exact of vs to beginne all our time anew as tradsemen doe by their apprentises but will take the rest for good payment that wee haue to liue though it be but a yeare so we pray hard and will yet resolue to amend Haply hee will content himselfe with two houres in a day or with lesse so it be with feruour And this is not the tenth part of our life nor eight houres of the day as king Alfred vsed notwithstanding his warres and common-wealth affaires What cause haue we now to complaine If we be weary of kneeling we may stand or sitte Gen. 24. if weary of sitting wee may walke Isaack went into the fields to meditate Againe when God sends crosses hee interlaces them with promises our vnhappinesse hee delayes with comforts our mischances with assurance of his presence and assistance if we forsake him not In Mat. 8. Psal 91. Rebus mestis iucunda permiscuit saith Saint Chrysostome And holy Dauid What measure wee haue in sorrowes the like measure wee haue in comforts All these helpes hee allowes vs against wearinesse all these fauours against tediousnesse of life In hell they would bee glad of the least of them Yet thus God doth by vs as it were stealing away time from vs that wee may not feele it or thinke it long Let no man say therefore hereafter it will bee long first I will thinke of these matters tenne or twenty yeares hence No let them not say I will begin to morrow yea why not euen now Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Saith an olde Poet Thinke euery day to be thy last Take hold of time ere time be past Let vs learne of an heathen what danger is in protracting and dallying with God If we haue beene slacke and mistrustfull of Gods promises hitherto euen now let vs beginne and turne ouer the leafe I haue spoken many words to day if any of them be to the purpose I beseech you let it not fall or come againe emptie Let vs make our confession with holy Dauid Psal 54. and say with him ecce elongani fugiens Not heauen farre off but wee farre off with flying it and making our selues strange to it with our guilty consciences Yea although in respect of our sinnes wee may cry with him otherwhiles saying Ne reuoces me in dimidio dierum meorum Psal 101. Cut vs not off in the middest of our daies before we amend and in zeale of Gods seruice Non moriar sed viuam Psal 117. et narrabo opera domini I will liue still and will not die but will tell the workes of God yet in via virtutis as there he saith in the way of vertue patience and penitence in this life it is profitable for vs to thinke of our short life and to make that our daily prayer and comfort saying Paucitatem dierum meorum nuncia mihi Let mee alwaies haue these tydings in my eare that my daies be short and soone at an end And let vs not onely say it but also thinke it and hope it to be very true Oh that we might amend hereafter and spurre the faster that we may one day all of vs meete and neuer depart againe If any difficulty bee in it it is all in the beginning All our paines will be at the first A little vse will make it easie and the hardest that is will breake no bones It will breake a sleepe indeed to pray as we should pray and to force our willes at the first to the rule of reason Make hast I beseech you for I haue showne you the way Let no impediment stoppe you no time or temptation weary you in so important a businesse Waken your soules that reason sleepe not Diet your bodies that it rebell not Rom 1. Abac.
anothers burthen and doe as we would be done to we doe the contrary heape coles one vpon another deeme the worst of euery bodie as we list neuer reflect vpon Gods Law or mans Law but how to wreake our anger and make our humors therein both Iudge and hangman Thankes be to God our hand hath not bin hitherto in our neighbours bloud We haue spent our anger and fury where it can neuer bee ill or better bestowed vpon the grand-enemies of God our new Philistims Whom to strike is duty to kill is Honour and to bee killed of them a sacrifice There to fight wee are sure is Gods battell there to bee valiant is true valour there feare wee no iniustice in the worst wee can nor neede to bee ouer scrupulous to thrust our swordes in vp to the hilts There to turne our backes is cowardize there to bee afraide is to bee white liuered there to shew pitty were impiety and they that should bee fainting or faulty therein might be truely charged with dishonour The cause iust and honorable the quarrell Gods not ours commanded by lawfull authority not by humane leuity The honour ours if wee winne no dishonour if wee loose so we doe our indeauour There bee men too fewe for ought I see to bee imployed in that honourable seruice And yet wee fight and wrangle and kill vp one another at home and robbe the Christian common-weale of their interest in vs without mercy pitty or true manhood indeede as I shall prooue vnto you If our idle spirits at home did but see what we haue seene the inundation of hell-hounds that haue come downe vpon vs by hundreds of thousands at once their noise of armour horses and howling their pride and fury against vs the ayre filled with trumpet fife and drum as if it were doomes day our voyce crying out the whilest to God and Christians to come helpe vs men would not bee so idle and home-bredde as they bee for want of an enemy to poke and push at one another as they doe but would couet to fight where men fight and dye where men dye and shall haue glory and renowne for it When yee come in your countrey againe yee shall finde those euen such as yee left behinde you when you came hither that neuer sawe army in their life and yet will giue lawes of chiualry know not how to trayle a pyke like a souldier and yet will braue a souldier to his face were neuer officers in the field and yet if they haue beene at the Vniuersity a while and haue read a little of Liuie or Plutarks liues and then come new to court or Innes of court they thinke themselues straight to bee Scipioes or Hannibals and fall to practising and doe as they see others doe learne to giue the lye brauely or to vse the fist or poynard at the entring It is the fault of youth and of the times and there bee too many of them at this day but I hope there will bee fewer Yeares time and better knowledge of themselues and of their owne woorth will bring them more discretion Meane time I would there were not so many also of iudgement sufficient and of elder sort that thinke it valiant to bee stirred quickly a word and a blow with them or spit in his face and in the field next morning to kill or to bee killed And this not onely they doe but thinke it lawfull to doe and thinke it base and cowardly not to doe It is vndoubted that Honour is a great ornament to him that hath it and euery one seekes it in his degree and ranke And our countrey is as fruitfull of Honorable and well indued persons as any nation in the world and as quickly it is seene by them as soone almost as they haue cast off their long coates And as well furnished yee shall finde them with matter fitte to support their honour when they come to yeares as either for manhood valour strength actiuity or noblenesse of minde All which as they bee vertues well beseeming gentlemen and men may doe much to vphold them so is it a most vnworthy thing and worthiest of punishment that they should receiue blemish by any wrong The most of you as I said before are men of sort and as yee haue all deserued well and none of you the contrary so is it necessary yee should maintaine your Honour in places where yee come But how In Honorable sort without dishonour to God or disgrace to your countrey or Soueraigne And it will be expected in these corrupted and maleuolous times yea God will aske it at your hands beeing men at armes and neuer yet touched with the least cowardize no not when they haue beene fiue to one I will not say ten to one that yee should shew good example to your countrey-men and that your actions should bee their instructions your good experience their better learning and your carriage their rule that haue not such cause to know what you know or not so well as you in regard of the long time and place yee haue serued in where questions of Honour haue daily risen and were seldome suffered by superiours to come to blood if they had authority to restraine them The world is full of wrangles and the good and patient are abused and abased euery where Pride and disdaine haue filled all things with debate One backbites another is incensed one doth vnkindly another taketh it ill one meanes well the other mistaketh it one giues a contumely another deales a blowe and in all these is wisedome required to carry an euen hand And because I would not wishe you to take so much wrong nor yet to right your selues with any vnrighteousnesse I thinke it good to let you knowe and it is fit yee should alwaies remember your duty to God and the world and to forget your selues as little as yee can in hot bloud or in colde By hot blood I meane all suddaine things before wee can well deliberate By colde I meane when the heate is gone but desire of reuenge remaineth To the first belongeth iangling brawling blowes foule speeches and multiplying To the second belong the dregges of the former after they bee parted The first hath commonly present execution while the fire is yet hotte The second hath time to pause and if hee doe amisse the fault is the greater The first can neuer bee without offence in the cause giuer whether it come of heate mistaking or scorne For how can yee miscall one or giue approbious words without sinne neither is it without offence in the answerer though not so great He is more then a man or lesse then a man that can put vp a contumelie on a sudden Cap. 7.8 And therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes Calumnia conturbat sapientem A disgrace or contumely will trouble a wise man S. Act. 23. Paul himselfe might seeme humanum pati when he called him whited wall that made him be smitten
forgotten how little care of vs when we be dead and put into a hole to reuenge our quarrell euery one is not Patroclus who had an Achilles to reuenge him It hath beene comfort to many that their death should cost many deaths Epaminondas died ioyfully of his deadly wound when hee heard that hee had wonne the field Wee neither winnne field nor shield by it but content our selues with a little fearefull honour which is no honour Wee little remember that our life is all our stocke and what merchant will aduenture all at once to make but owne of owne If I kill I kill but one if I be killed also I loose two What is gotten by this if a man had many liues hee might hardly spend one idlely Hauing but one life then and to spend it so prodigally I would thinke he had too much of one And I cannot but here while I thinke of it digresse a little from the matter although not much And great Princes I hope will not blame me if I remēber them of an intolerable abuse of their Jrascible part if they take not heede And their fault therin is the greater and commoner the more absolute their authority is where no man is to controle them in the power that is giuen them by Gods assignment They are appointed by God or rather put in trust to bee his vindices ad iram Reuengers for God to execute his wrath vpon those that bee euill Rom. 13. and wrong doers ijs qui mali sunt I speake not of the power they haue ouer their subiects which is meant directly in this place but of that they haue ouer their equals in other countries if they or theirs be wronged may right themselues by the sword if cause require It is seldome seene that right is on both sides And therfore how many battels we reade of or heare of so many wrōgs most cōmonly yea so many massacres or wilfull murthers on t 'one side which is horrible to thinke that it should be amongst Christians Some goe to it with as slender pretences as may be Some with iustice enough but vniustly Our Charles the eight will neuer be forgotten who ranne through Italy like a fury for recouery of Scicilie and Naples set townes and people on fire where he came robbed Churches and profained them rauished women and cutte their throates when they had done In a towne of Tuscane where they had nothing to do but to passe it through yet spared they not man or woman poore innocent people till they had slaine seauen hundred of them How farre was this from Charles the wise his grandfather a most peaceable and powerful Prince Charles of Burgundy likewise had the name of a worthy Prince yet not to be excused for the malice he bare to them of Leodes where he made his souldiers carry firebrands in t 'one hand and their swords in t'other throughout his army He left not a stone of their walles one vpon an other to wreake his will on them for a very small cause And against the Switchers soone after what outrage committed he where he hung fiue hundred captiues at once without all redemption brake promise foulely with those of Granson demanded of his subiects a sixt of their goods but they would not yeelde him a penny vnlesse he would come home and leaue those idle they might haue said pernicious warres And to goe no further then our next neighbours what a diuelish fight was that betweene the Switchers and some of the Cantons because they would not leaue their league with Austria They grew to that rancour and mortall feud that when they had vanquished them in a sore battel they were not thus content but made stooles and tabels of their dead bodies to sit on and feast vpon And that which is more they opened their breasts and drunke their blood to one an other and pulled out their hearts to teare them with their teeth Would ye thinke this were in Christendome I giue but a few examples in stead of many and am ashamed to tell what hath hapned neerer our time The like not read of scare in all the Bible that faithfull were against faithfull Yet with vs daily Christians against Christians and suffer their faith to sleepe the whilest There want not prelates and clergie-men to forward Princes in such businesse and to sowe pillowes to euery bedde There want not histories great plenty to extoll their doings Ezech. 19. and magnifie their names for executing brauely vpon their owne tribe Pom. Let. and alliance without all respect of nature and pitty He that kils most is extolled most saith one A Christian is but a dogge to him if he be angry And if a Prince be of quiet disposition and peaceable and thinkes he hath enough of his owne to gouerne in peace and feare of God as Numa and Salomon did they count them scarce worth writing of because there be no battles nor conquests in his time Where contrary they should thinke him wise for sparing and not spending so much treasure and blood vpon that which they cannot keepe no longer then they be stronger and haue no more title to most commonly then is sealed with an edge on their next neighbours flesh It is a wonder to see what paines and eloquence our writers bestow in this kinde to set forth the glory they thinke but indeed the sinne and shame of their countries if it were not apparantly iust and honourable which they tooke in hand We reade in the booke of Iudges how ten tribes fought against one which was Beniamin The quarrell was iust the reuenge approoued of God for a horrible crime committed in Beniamin and the whole tribe ouerthrowne by them except a few Yet when they had done their worst doluerunt they were pittifully grieued at it and penitentiam egerunt Iudg. 21. their sorrow was expressed in deedes and care to make them amends as it their appeares They vaunted not of their valour nor made bragges of the blood they spilt but lamented with teares and with wringing of hands for that was past and could not now be recalled How many Princes haue wee knowne in Christendome that haue shewne much sorrow for twenty or forty thousand slaine on a day of the same tribe themselues were of and bought with the same blood Yea haue they not made tryumphs and bonefires for it when they came home and Te deum sung in Churches for them when they had more neede of a miserere There haue beene thrice fiue hundred yeares since the comming of Christ and the fourth is begunne In the first fiue hundreth began our greatest Monarchies In the second they grew Christian and were of great example In the third they beganne to neglect religion and to preferre their owne ends pulling from each others greatnesse and abiding no equals which caused much warre What will become of this fourth fiue hundreth we know not yet But if the rest holde out like the
is more to be spoken of then I meane to trouble you with Contracts for money stocke or cattell let out together or apart are infinite Wherin the learned discouer to vs much corruption whether with sauing or loosing the principall whether with aduenture or without in nature of pawne or morgage or absolute by direct bargaine or condition or billes of exchange In these and many other are many shiftes and deuises for profit extraordinary which passe for currant daily yet are vnlawfull and lyable to restitution Wherein I doe not particularize for holding you too long But wee may know them partly and shall haue cause to doubt them and to inquire of them by the greatnesse of the gaine and ignorance will not excuse vs when it is grosse And two things make it grosse One is if it bee like sinne or extorsion for the excessiue gaine as to get a commodity for fiue that is worth tenne why should not a man doubt and aske in this case The other is when wee haue ready meanes to informe our selues by those that bee learned and will not but liue close and worke by our selues Wee aske our selues whether we bee able to deale with it or no wee aske Lawyers for our title and security And where should wee seeke for the right and iustice of it before God but of Diuines whom God calles his Angell by the mouth of his Prophet Mal. 2. Ier. 18. and saieth wee must aske his Lawe at their mouth Et legem requirent ex ore eius And wee should neuer aduenture vpon any thing that our Charity doubts of without their counsell Who are as ready at hand for our spirituall good as others are for our temporall Yet if it bee so that doctors doubt of the case yee may practise whether ye will though indeede the safest opinion be the best for vs. If it please you to listen to them seriously remembring alwaies what snares hang about you as thicke as ycesickles in the chill of your Charity beleeue me ye will finde much good of it They will helpe you in the very game you play at that yee may not bee vndone by it But they will not allow you to play away aboue the twentieth part of your commings in by the yeare More then this they hold wastfull or auaricious Not that they know iust when it begins to bee sinne but by some notable decay it makes in your estate and therefore will put a conscience in you to waste no more If the twentieth part bee spent there bee but nineteene left If another part or t 'one halfe bee spent there is but so much left and so much weaker yee grow to doe your selues good or any of yours and yee must come to sell land for it which they will by no meanes allow They holde it little lesse then damnable to play away such a deale in a night as many doe or to haue other ende of gaming then for good companies sake or passing away the time And if yee intice one to play that hath no skill or winne of a seruant his masters goods or of a wife her husbands money or of a childe that which is his parents without consent or conniuence all yee get thus is none of yours but must bee restored They giue vs a caueat likewise against Alchumy or chymike art for the knowne idlenesse of it and the apparant hurt to mens estates that haue followed it and spent long time in it whereof nothing hath come but smoake and expence and fruitlesse effects It is a wonder to tell what gold and siluer it hath cost to make gold and siluer and how many haue bin consumed by it Whether it were the charge of workemanship or cosening in vndertakers or Gods curse vpon the auaricious attempt especially of late yeares since common experience hath prooued it idle and the censure of Diuines hath declared it sinnefull which of all these is the true fault I know not But if they bee true professours of it they come to beggery in the ende which our prouident pastours would not that wee should fall into This art hath beene much vsed in the kingdome of Fez Leo. Afer where they were very skilfull both in making the Elixer and multiplying of mettall But they turned in the ende to coyning and lost both their hands for it by which marke they haue beene commonly knowne Two sayings more our learned haue to Lawyers and Atturnies and all their appendants vnder the degree of Iudges For of Iudges and Clergy men I can say little or rather nothing Psal 81. They are Gods vpon earth The one may say Si mei non fuerint dominati Psal 18. 1. Reg. 2.16 If I winke not too much at Ophni and Phinees in my place but haue an eye to their abuses that daily presse the poore subiect tunc immaculatus ero 1 Cor. 13.5 Then shall I bee vnspotted The other if they seeke not their owne but the good of their flocke both spiritually and temporally what can wee aske more But of Counsellors and Aduocates it is required that first and foremost they take not excessiue fees nor fee at all but what they doe somewhat for In a late Parliament of France they were limited what to take and no more which thing so displeased them that they gaue ouer their practise three or foure hundred of them at once and men could haue no lawe for their money vntill they were brought backe againe with a deuice Lib. 11. It may seeme by Tacitus that the Romane Lawyer tooke no fee vntill hee had wonne the cause Which made them I thinke more carefull of their matters and better studied For their Clyents cause was now become their owne and they would follow it no doubt though their Clyent were asleepe Neither durst they very easily entertaine a bad cause for feare to haue nothing for their paines Onley their fault was in taking excessiuely hundreds of poundes for a see and sometimes thousands vntill they were stinted by the Emperour Claudius to take but a hundred markes at the most or thereabouts An vnworthy thing it is that Lawyers should neede Lawes 1 Tim. 5. Dignus est operarius mercede sua If they bee learned they deserue more and their desert must bee answerable to their paines I say no more but this There be many of knowne conscience and graue of whom I would wishe the younger sort to learne conscience as well as Law But the second fault is the greater in my opinion and that is their entertaining and aduising of bad causes or causes of smal moment For bad causes I haue known some learned men that would giue no counsell with vsurers or bargaines of vnlawfull gaine Likewise for slight matters and trifling quarrels that stood more vpon will then reason I haue knowne others that would not be of counsell with such nor take their mony by any means But what the centumviral authority was in Augustus his time to
for vs hee will not aske so much of vs but onely in proportion to our abundance and by no other title but of our abundance And it standeth greatly with naturall reason if we marke it For as the waters of Nilus doe ouerflowe and diuide themselues once or twice a yeere vnto all the vallies and meddowes thereabouts to make them fruitfull out of their abundance euen so it is where superfluum is and where plenty ouerflowes the bankes of our owne neede it is made for the leuelling and making vp of lowe places and poore mens wants either publike or priuate are but channels and trenches to direct it and leade it where it should goe And no doubt but if God out of his Lordly power ouer vs should but vse the ministery of an Angell about this so needfull a leuell his iustice would fetch it out againe as fast as we hold it that euery man and woman might haue enough and yet the owner neuer want it God did the like once as we reade in Exodus and it had beene our case right Exod. 16.18 if Manna there had beene money and and not meate For he that gathered most of that Manna had vse of no more then he that gathered least and he that gathered least had as much as he Wherein God shewed vs then in a figure what hee would nôw haue vs to doe with our money He shewed it vs then indeede by miracle But this miracle in the old law Saint Paul would haue vs supply by conscience in the new law to make this equalitie between rich and poore as I touched in the beginning The thing which he requires of vs is this and no more voluntas prompta secundum id quod habet 2. Cor. 8.14 A readie will saith he according to that we haue This is the conscience he requires of vs and commands And as it was with them that gathered Manna He that had most had not Superfluum and he that had least wanted not Qui multumhabuit non abundauit qui modicum non minorauit this is Saint Paules owne allusion ibid. euen so it must be with vs. Our will is the miracle must do it to make a leuell betweene the poore and vs. Our readie will is it that must deuide it Our compassionate heart must be Gods Angel heere to distribute it before it come to rust For as Saint Basill and S. Ambrose say very well Ser. ad diuites auaros Ser. 81. Aquin. q. 66 art 7. If they that abound were not bound to bestow it againe vpon them that are needie and poore God were vniust in his diuision of things amongst vs to giue some more then ynough and to some nothing or lesse then ynough when all had ynough in the beginning and none had more then other but all was common And of this minde I verily think there is not a couetous man in the world but would be of if he came to taste once what pouertie is whereupon the learned argue thus No man can say that God is vniust therefore no man can say that this is his owne if it be more then ynough Not that any man can take it from him perforce for that were villanie and theft but that the owners are bound to dispence it or dispose it where there is neede Farre be it from God to be vniust For though he giue too much one way yet he makes it euen an other way Like to a tender father who leaues all he hath to the eldest with charge notwithstanding that he be a father to the rest and that his brothers and sisters want not who notwithstanding if they chance to want and the eldest forget himselfe yet the father did his part and woe be to the elder Euen thus it fareth with euery rich man I see no difference God giues a purse in his hand and a precept in his heart with it I was naked I was hungry I was harbourlesse or friendlesse and in a word I was poore and comfortlesse and yee looked not at me These be his yonger brothers that must not want by him And therefore looke what wee swell by Gods gift wee come downe againe by his law How much the gift raiseth vs the law curbeth vs. And many a worthy body in the world hath beene most glad to bee ridde of the one that hee might bee eased of the other Like honest receiuers and collectours for the king who to quit themselues of care and cumber haue been content to loose their fees and to resigne to others Now what could God doe more for this equalitie but make a law what can Princes and policie doe but innact and command And if men will not obserue whose fault is it God giues not mans Law but conscience-Law the greatest binder that is And we reade it euery day in our poore brothers and sisters forehead that we may not forget it And therfore if we will not do it at our perill be it True it is this law hath beene better knowne to our consciences then now it is and yee should seldome haue heard of coffers and bagges full when one was dead And good people would haue lamented and wept ouer them that dyed so as we are wont to doe ouer them that kill themselues Hence come so many vaes from godly people against rich folke and hourders that scrape and rend and are pittilesse Hence groanes and plaints of many a pious person for there friends and kinsfolke that leaue no better comfort behind them then such a damnable signe And therefore Saint James giues vs warning of it aforehand Agite nunc diuites plorate vlulantes Now weepe ô yee rich folke and howle in your myseries Iac. 5. which yee cannot auoyd Yee heape anger against your selues in the latter day And he telles vs the cause of this anger which is keeping of Superfluum by vs. For thus hee concludes his inuectiue The ruste of your golde Ibid. v. 3. and siluer shall bee witnesse against you saith hee And how comes this rust but of long lying by vs Behold heere an other Iudgement against hourding Yee hard an other euen now out of Saint Iohn A third iudgement may bee deduced out of Saint Paul where he calleth it Idolatry to be a hourder His words are auarus quod est idolorum seruitus Eph. 3.5 And I call this word auarus in this place an hourder in english because it is meant by hourders and Scripture hath no proper word for hourding but auaritia Theft which is a kind of couetousnesse is called furtum Vsurers are properly called Fenoratores extortioners are heere called Rapaces Luc. 7. 1. Co. 5.11 Euery one of these hath his proper name but hourding which is heere therefore called by the generall name auarus for want of another word And to this interpretation S. Pauls comparison leades vs very fitly when hee cals it Idolatry For an Idoll is set vp and stirres not no more does