should have crooked lines Oft-times the circumstance of an action marrs the substance in divine matters we must not onely look that the body of our service be sound but that cloathes be fit nothing hinders but that good advice sometime may fall from the mouth of wicked men A mans heart can best judge of it self others can best judge of his actions happy is that man that can be acquitted by himself in private in publique by others in both by God It is very safe for a man to look into himself by others eyes in vain shall a mans heart absolve him that is condemned by his actions It is certain that all indifferent actions and behaviour of a man have an extream holding and dependence either upon virtue or vice according as they are used or ruled for there is no middle betwixt them no more then betwixt their rewards heaven and hell It is not sufficient for a man to have refrain within himself never so many vertues and good qualities except he imploy them and set them on work for the benefit of others Virus enim latus omnis consistit in actione The actions and writings of every man take not-except in the matter subject and occasion some commending favoritie to happen to it All our actions upbraid us of folly our whole course of life is but matter of laughter we are not soberly wise We commonly measure and censure all actions and the doers of them by the event one is crowned for that which another is tormented as Caesar and Erachus Grievous Enormities and bitter Calumnies commonly follow renowned actions Present actions are not with safety related nor are they listned unto without danger The actions of our ancestors use to be examined not to be malignate for we not emulate but imitate them We willingly listen to the praise of such who gotten long since out of the reach of envy seem by their deeds of fame to raise the weakness of mortality and faults which are found in past actions displease not whilest they take from us the evil opinion of the present times The action is easie to be effected which hath nothing of fear in it but the act it self Great actions have need of help else they will be suffocated by simplicity It is easie to add to the greatness of actions by words to truth by appearances it is not amiss The government of a State is but a slippery path one only bad action is sufficient to ruinate a Prince who hath been raised up by a thousand good ones A present good action is able to make a past bad one to be forgotten when it is thought that the like will not again be done Actions are not alwayes done by their agents in an instant dispositions proceed them the truth of whose effects we do not know because the vertue of causes is unknown to us The sequell of every action dependeth for the most part upon the beginning Dimidium facti qui bene caepit habet So forceable continually is the beginning and so connexed to the sequell by the nature of a precedent cause that the end must needs erre from the common course when it doth not participate of that quality which was in the beginning In nature all violent actions are of short continuance and the durability and lasting quality of all actions proceedeth from a slow and temperate progression so that the resolutions of the mind that are carried with an untemperate violence and favour much heat and passion do vanish away even with the smoake thereof and brings forth nothing but leasurable repentance therefore it is best for men of such natures to qualifie their hasty resolutions with a mistrustful lingering that when their judgement is well informed of the cause they may proceed to speedy execution Fame is the spirit of a great action maketh them memorable or unworthy by report The actions of men would be none at all if they were not at first received in the mind Experience teacheth that no action is wisely undertaken whereof the end is not wisely forecast in the first place however it is the last in execution It is great justice that our actions should be measured by opinion not by reason The nature of man is forward to accept but negligent to sue for they can spend secret wishes upon that which shall cost them no endeavors Naturall Men. It is the fashion of naturall men to justifie themselves in their own courses if they cannot charge any earthly thing with the blame of their own sufferings they wil cast it upon heaven that a man pleads himself guilty of his own wrong is no common work of Gods Spirit Griefe Griefes increase exceedingly when they grow upon occasion which hapneth besides all reason Like as any accident which falleth beyond our expectation is more greievous then that whereof a reason may be rendred and which a man might suspect to follow Service Service which is received from an inferior argues weakness and challengeth great recompence to equalize the recompence to the benefit received is to equalize the receiver to the benefactor those benefits which are received from a superior are willingly acknowledged for acknowledgement is all he expects which witnessing the receivall of them obliges to an addition of more Compellation Sweetness of compellation is a great help toward good entertainment of admonition roughness and rigour many times hardens those hearts which meekness would have melted into repentance whether we sue or convince or reprove little good is gotten by bitterness Not onely the vocall admonitions but also the reall judgements of God are his errands to the world Adversaries Violent adversaries to uphold a side wil maintain that which they do not believe God provides on purpose for his Church mighty adversaries that their humiliation may be the greater in sustaining and his glory may be the greater in their deliverance Love It is no love that cannot make us willing to be miserable with those we affect the hollowest heart can be content to follow one that prospereth adversitie is the only furnace of friendship if love will not abide both fire and envie it is but counterfeit All adversity finds ease in complaining and t is a comfort to relate it Prosperity and adversity have ever tied and untied the affections of the Vulgar He that is fallen into adversity hath not only enemies to pursue him but his friends forsake him and become his foes Advancement Advancement is not alwayes a sign of love either to the man or to the place some men are raised up that their fall may be the greater there are no men so miserable as those that are great and wicked Behaviour Winning Behaviour advisedness and fierceness mingled together season any affair excellently wel when the winning behaviour appears sufficiently the advisedness not at al and the fierceness but a little Affections The affections of the body may be inculpable but not the mind 's There is no disposition so
incident and almost certain to all mens natures to behold with sore eyes the new grown felicity of others and to exact a sharp account of their Fortunes especially whom they have seen inferior to or equal with themselves Envy is curious and out of the best person or act will raise something to caval at It is a hard thing for a man willingly and gladly to see his Equals lifted over his head Nothing can more try a mans Grace then question of Emulation That man hath true light that can be content to be a Candle before the Lanthorn of others Any Superiority is a mark of Envy Nature in every man is both envious and disdainful and never loves to honor another but where it may be an honor to it self Envy though it take advantages of our weaknesses yet is ever raised upon some grounds of happiness in them whom it emulateth it is ever an ill effect of a good cause The malignity of Envy is thus well answered When it is made the evil Effect of a good Cause Envy when it is once conceived in a malicious heart is like fire in Billets of Juniper which is said to continue more years then one Envy is nothing else but sorrow for other mens good be it present past or to come and joy at other mens harms opposite to mercy which grieves at other mens mischances and mis-affects the body in another kind Every other sin hath some pleasure annexed to it or will admit of an excuse Envy alone wants both Other sins last but a while the gut may be satisfied anger remits hatred hath anend but envy never ceaseth That man is wife and well advised that incurreth the envy of men for matters of greatest weight and importance Envy is nothing else but grief for another man's good and joy for his ill and hath his root from malice Envy like poyson works not where it finds no hurt He whose Fortune or Valour hath made him higher then others let him not repose himself to eyes if he will shun hands otherwise he causeth envy in those who ought to be his Equals because he hath outstript them fear in him who should be his Superior because he equals him Equality is the producer of Envy The mixture of greater and less is good but that of Equals stark naught The continuance of Error doth ingraft depraved Opinions in the hearts of men Error is more tollerable in a Poet then in a Historographer The Errors of one man is a slippery place to cause others to fall Error is commonly join'd with Cruelty If Errors of practise should be stood upon there could be no true Church upon Earth Every Error doth not pollute all Truths No Truth can sanctifie all Errors Errors of judgement are more dangerous then Errors of practise but none so deadly as their's that were once in the Truth Errors are never the elder for their patching Corruption can do the same that age would do We may make age as well as suffer it The best may err but not persist in it When good Natures have offended they are never quiet till they have hastened a satisfaction There be two main defects of Wit Error and Ignorance to which all others are reduced By ignorance we know not things necessary by Error we know them falsly Ignorance is a privation Error is a positive act from Ignorance comes Vice from Error Heresie No man now a-days sheweth an Error and leaveth it man-kind is not so wise The Errors of sloathfulness are best discerned when all diligence is bootless They neglect their own Wisdom who without any judgement approve the invention of those that fore-went them and suffer themselves after the manner of brute Beasts to be led by them It oft times hapneth that an Error being once rashly committed through despair of remission admitteth no true penitence but either draweth on more grievous crimes Scelere scillus luendum est or maintaineth his Error by wilful obstinacy It is an old Rule among Soldiers that a great negligent Error committed by an Enemy is to be suspected as a pretence to Treachery There is no Error but hath some appearance of resembling Truth which when men find out they then publish to the World matter of contention and jangling not doubting but in the variable deformities of mens minds to find out some Protectors or Spectators the better by their help to nurse and cherrish such Libels as their own inventions have begot Pride and Luxury are the attendants of prosperous Estates The smallest Estates are to be governed with the greatest skill as small Barks in the midst of the wide Ocean There is no Estate so pure or ignoble as can keep a man from Fame An Estate gotten by lend means cannot be retained at first with sudden modesty and ancient gravity The worst Estate out of Hell hath either some comfort or at least some mittigation The best Estate requires careful menaging at home To the overthrow of an Estate oftentimes the inconveniences concur unthankful Friends decayed Friends bad Neighbors negligent Servants Casualties Taxes Mults Losses of Stock Enmities Emulations frequent Mutations Losses Surety-ship Sickness Death of Friends and that which is the worst of all Improvidence ill Husbandry Disorder and Confusion by which means we are drenched on sudden in our Estates and unawares precipitated insensibly into an inextrecable Labyrinth of Cares Woes Wants Grief Discontent and Meiancholly Essence is derived ab ipso esse to have a being All things have their value from our own estimationâ— The most precious things that are lose of their worth if they be not suted with our correspondent Natures whose sympathy addeth much more excellence then is discerned when they approve by themselves without such assistance as in the Diamond the Foyle and Gold It is never safe to measure Events by the power of the Instrument nor in the Causes of God to measure others by our selves In matters of judgement to be guided onely by the Event is the way to Error so Falshood may be Truth We commonly measure and censure all actions by the Event One is crowned for that which another man is tormented for as Caesar and Gracchus In future Events men look for help from Time and Fortune It oftentimes happens that a prosperous Event makes foolish Counsel seem wiser then it was The Evil that is ever in motion is not fearful That which both Time and Eternity finds standing where it was is worthy of terror It is a rare Evil that hath not something in it to sweeten it either in sence or in hope Evils and Sicknesses come on Horseback and go away on foot The best things ill used become evil and the worst things used well prove good Good and Evil in the Government of men hath this difference betweeen themselves That Good though it be brought forth by time and though by our studies and industries it be maintained corrupteth notwithstanding by degrees of it self and of it self also extinguisheth
neer bordered upon vice and leaning to it but by the reins of prudence may be restrained and kept in the right way so there is no nature so neer a-kin to vertue but may be corrupted by ill usage Therefore it is good to contemplate the affections of men as they are attended with good or ill and search how far they may be hurtful or valuable least we immoderately praise some and do unjustly undervalue others All living creatures by a secret instigation affect to be most doing of that thing in which they are best able Angels Angels when they appear are conceived to cloath themselves with the Elements Of all Creations that are so near us as Angels be God hath shut up the knowledge of them most from us in Scripture and no man yet hath given a satisfying reason for it Some hold that they be one of the three Invisibles to wit God Angels and the Soul of man all which the eye hath never seen their simple existence Angels are simple and abstract Intelligences and Substances altogether without bodies Antiquity Any man whatsoever may erre in matters of Antiquity The study of Antiquity is a fair knowledge which is most precious for the adoring of humane life and strong at least in pleading for humane oftentation The Order of Dignity is to be respected before the Order of Antiquity Apparel Apparel was first instituted by God for three causes first to hide our nakedness and shameful parts Next to make us more comely And lastly to preserve us from the injuries of heat and cold Apprehension Apprehension gives life to crosses The efficacy of Gods marvellous works is not in the acts themselves but in our apprehension Some are overcome with those motives which others have contemned for weak Appetite Our Appetite must be curbed our passions moderated and so estranged from the World that in the loss of Parents or Children Nature may not forget Grace Whosoever slackens the reins of his sensual appetite will soon grow unfit for the calling of God The concubisciple and irascible appetite are as the two twists of a Rope mutually mixt one with another both twining about the heart both good if they be moderate both pernicious if they be exorbitant If the Appetite will not obey let the moving faculty over-rule her and let her resist and compel her to do otherwise Forms God hath not appointed to every time and place those Forms which are simply best in themselves but those that are best to them to whom they are appointed which we may neither alter till he begin nor recal when he hath altered Apostacy An Apostate is an opposer of the Faith he once professed and is worse then he that opposeth that which he never profest Arts. The Fame of all eminent Arts is stained by the multitude of Artificers and the unskilfulness of them most of them being unable to do what they promise and seeking their commendation onely in the vain name of such an Art Art Military is despised in time of rest and quiet and Peace esteemeth alike of the Coward and the Couragious Practise brings or breeds Art and Art obtaineth Grace Beauty is more beholding to Art then Nature and stronger provocations proceed from outward Ornaments then such as Nature hath provided Art can never attain to Natures perfection imitate it never so near though our esteem prefers it and seeing it gets a little by emulation attribute much more unto it The practise of every Art is referred to the use or profit and thereby judged Art will be discovered if it be often used when that would be made seen which is not it must be curiously done if any good be expected Three things are sought in every Artist that is to say Nature Skill and Practise his Nature to be judged of by his Wits his Skill by his Knowledge and his practise by Use Edward the third brought Artisicers for mahing Cloth from Gaunt The strength of a battel consisteth in the Artillery and Shot Aristoeracy Aristocracy is a form of a Common-Weal wherein the less part of the Citizens with Soveraign Power command over all the rest Unthankful attempts are alwayes rewarded with grief and disgrace Harmless counsels are good for the innocent but in open and manifest villanies there is no hopes of safety but in audacious attempts Foul attempts are begun with danger and sometimes accomplished with reward Changes are the aptest times for greatest attempts delayes then are dangerous and soft quiet dealing draweth more evil then rashly hazarding All but Athiests however they let themselves loose yet in some things find themselves restrained and shew to others that they have a conscience Every thing hath a quantity that it cannot exceed and hath a power to attain to it from the generative causes whereof the thing it self is produced by which power if it be not hindered it dilateth it self gradually in time till it come to the fulness where it either resteth or declineth again as it grew up the manner of Augmentation proceedeth from the qualities that Nature hath infused into every thing and neither from matter or form Evil were as good not seen as not avoided To fore-know and not to avoid evil is but an aggravation of judgement Equal Authority where there is the self same power is commonly pernicious to all actions it being impossible to chuse two minds of so equal a temper that they shall not have some motions of dissenting It is the hard condition of Authority that when the multitude fare will they plaud themselves when ill they repine against their Governors Authority cannot fail of opposition though it be never so mildly swayed Soveraignty abused is a great spur to outrage The conceit of Authority in great Persons many times lies in the way of their own safety whiles it will not let them stoope to the ordinary course of nature There is no passion that doth eclipse the light of reason or sooner corrupt the sincerity of a good judgement then that of anger neither is there any motion that pleaseth it self in its own actions or followeth them with greater heat in the execution and if the truth chance to shew it self and convince a false pretended cause as the author of that passion it often times redoubleth the rage even against truth and innocencie The punishment of banishing offenders was first broght into this Island by Edward the Confessor Liberal modesty is decent but clounish bashfulness is disgraceful That no man should be too much discouraged for the baseness of his propagation even the base son of man may be lawfully begotten of God King Hnery the second was supposed to be begotten of Maud the Emâ—irsse some time before by â—tephen of Bloys before shee was married to Geffery Plantagenek Duke of Anjoy In the fifth year of Henry the eight was a battel fought neer Floddon-Feild between James the fifth King of Scoâ—s and the Kings Leivtenant of the North the Earle of Surrey in which the King