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
change confess that the Bread and Wine are made Sacraments which effectually by the vertue of the holy spirit do signifie present seale and give unto us as touching the soul by the means of faith the body and blood of the Lord. Occasion of contention may be given to those that will contend when he concerning whom it is himself is not contentions Continencie in Clergie men is not of the substance of their order nor appointed by the law of God Continency is when reason ruleth concupisence Content lyes not in the things we possesse but in the mind that values them Content is a rare blessing because it arises either from a fruition of all comforts or a not-desireing of some which we have not God knowes how to disperse his favours so that every man may have cause both of thankfullness humiliation while there is no one that hath al no one but hath some if envy and contempt were not thus equally tempered some would be over-haughty others too miserable but now every man sees in himself that which is worthy of contempt and matter of emulation in others and contrarily sees what to pitty and mislike in the most eminent and what to applaud in himself and out of this contrariety arises a sweet mean of contentation Mis-observancy differs from contempt the one reflects upon the institution the other upon the institutor he who covertly transgresses the Laws leaves the reputation of him that made them untoucht he who openly offends against them aimes more to weaken the Prince then the Laws errors which are occasioned by whatsoever other affection may be great or little those which are occasioned by contempt are Gyant-like Frandulent conventions bind not Seven or eight persons assembled together made a conventicle and were prohibited first by act of Parliament in the fifth year of Richard the second The partiall conversion of men to God is but hatefull hypocrisy There are some men that take no heed what hapneth to others by bad conversation and therefore overthrow themselves in the same manner through the same fault not foreseeing dangers manifest The direction and correction of a fault ought to be in secret It must be strong evidence that will make a sinner convict himself Nature hath so many shifts to cosen it self in a spirituall verdict that unless it be taken in the manner it will hardly yield to a truth either she will deny the fact or the fault or the measure Henry the sixth in the tenth year of his Raign was Crowned the 17th day of December King of France in the City of Paris Our naturall courage cannot bear us out against spirituall objects There is nothing more easie then to be valiant when no peril appeareth but when evils assail us upon unequal tearms it is hard commendable not to be dismayed Much is in a mans courage and discreat carriage of himself All private considerations must be extinguished when the question is of the good of a mans Country The covetous man in all things doth affect secresie and propriety Govetousness and riot dissolve the bonds of all respect our will ever carrying us from our selves from all awefulness and fear of lawes covetousness and pride are impatient of loss Cruelty is seldom without avarice by which if it be not caused it causeth it In the 4. year of William the Conqueror he instituted the courts of Chancery and Exchequer and appointed the Jury of r2 men to go upon causes criminall and to deside controversies At the same time he appointed four terms to be kept in the year at such places as he should nominate also he constituted Sheriffs over every County In the 19th year of Henry the seventh the Court of Star-Chamber was erected to punish such as offended against penal lawes which Court made informers and promoters to swarme and abound In the raign of Henry the third one William of York Rishop of Salisbury was he that caused the custom to be received for a law whereby the tenants of every Lord-ship are bound to do sute service to their Lord on whom they hold their land The Star-Chamber Chancery and court of Request have power in criminall cases to give oathes to the Defendant Princes ears and eyes are in every place courts being full of spies and nothing is hid from emulation Courtcarriages are riddles which though seen cannot be resolved without exceeding patience and judging experience The Court is a common Inne for flatterers time-servers and polititions and the Courtiers life is a Gally-maufry of pride lust ambition fraud imposture dissimulation distraction and envy A common counsel in Henry the sixth his time at first in London consisted of 180 persons Counsel ought not to be held holly but secret also therefore the Alter of the God Consus who was God of counsels was hidden in the earth Counsel given shews what we should do and not what we can do Generall Councils may erre and have erred Against greif it is as hard to chuse the season to give counsel as to give it the season should be after the first disgestion of sorrow and before the last All councils us well in publique as private deliberations require a reposed spirit free from wrath and fear all perturbations or particular interest for as a troubled mind is more apt to erre then to advise justly and hath more need of proper medicines for it self then it hath in it self to apply any comfort to others and is fitter to receive then to give counsell from which as from a great and violent currant are carried al those errors and disorders which are brought upon mature deliberations the which have commonly long repentances and disasters but he that can restrain himself from being transported by intemperate appetites and can rule his passions and give a just rule to himself and to his desires doth give the best time to all deliberations by mitigating heat and fury so altereth all counsel from that nature which is received from an unquiet and troubled mind No wise men can hold good counsel disparaged by the means of the Author if we be glad to receive any treasure from a servant why not precious admonitions Those that can least act are oft times best to give counsel Particular discontents and greivances are either of the mind the body or fortune which as they wound the soul of man produce many inconveniencies but Drunkenness utterly subverteth the same and astonisheth the body The perpetual custom of Drinking grows by using it into a perpetual pleasure stirring up the desire of the palate which is ever afterwards either overflown or thirsty The Drunkards stile begins in lawlesness proceeds in unprofitableness ends in misery and all shuts up in the denomination of this Pedigree A Son of Belial Drunkenness is a communicative Vice and requires the emulation of Companions wherein they strive for victory In Drink men discover their Dispositions which they dissemble being sober In the sixth year of Richard the