any thing is to disproue the same There are two sorts of people in the Court which hate one the other each knowing of it notwithstanding there is alwayes an emulation betwixt them which should first attempt any point of Honour to doe the other seruice and bee the last that should end it But such ridiculous complements are like vnto Anticke actions Enuy which doth supplant and deceiue his neighbour or that doth snarle in secret is there perpetually and to appease it there is no way but by miserie Vices and degenerate actions are esteemed among Courtiers as precepts and part of their composition Not to bee corrupted by them there requireth more faith then a graine of Mustard-seed As Crowes build their nest among the highest boughes so doth the diuell among the highest of men where spreading his wings he clocketh for his little ones which are his Vices because there they remaine more exposed to the sight and neuer appeare but vvith authoritie There also shall you see Caualiers who out of their gallant disposition will kill one the other vpon the interpretation of a word a manifest confession that their life is not much worth sith they will sell it so good cheape Notwithstanding these kinde of men that are in these occasions so valiant do fly away when they should suffer the least thing for Gods cause Surely many such are required to make one good Martyr for the holy Gospell There be some kinde of Courtiers so subtill and crafty that they doe play as the Fisherman who as soone as he hath gotten any thing in his Net giueth ouer the Court and goeth his way Other some there be that play all out and other that remaine vntill they become wondrous rich and in the end they are made to restore all backe againe There are also others that doe nothing but inuent meanes to inlarge their owne treasures and become vvealthy with spoiling poore people Princes doe by them many times as wee doe by our hogges wee let them fatten to the end we may eate them afterwards so likewise are they suffered many times to enrich themselues to be disposed afterwards when they are fat and one that is new come oftentimes is preferred in their places By this you may see that Courtiers oftentimes doe sell their liberty to become rich for they must obey all commandements they must frame themselues to laugh when the Prince laugheth to weepe when hee weepeth approue that which hee approueth and condemne that which he condemneth They must alter and change their natures to bee seuere with those that are seuere sorrowfull with those that are sorrowfull and in a manner transforme themselues according to the nature of him whom they will please or else they shall get nothing To bee briefe they must frame themselues according to his manners nature and yet many times one little offence stayneth all the seruice they haue done in the life before Many in Princes Courts put off their caps to them whom they would gladly see cut shorter by the head and often bow their knees to do them reuerence whom they wish had broken their neckes Here you may see the life of a great number of vicious Courtiers which is no life but rather a lingring death heere you may see wherein their Youth is imployed which is no youth but a transitory death for when they come to age they bring nothing from thence but gray heads their feet full of Gouts their backes full of paine their hearts full of sorrow and their soules filled with sinne CHAP. V. The life of Magistrates and wicked Iudges NOw our discourse of Courtiers being past it is requisite we speake of things done in the ciuill life and to how many miseries it is subiect For although it be at this day a degree most noble necessary for the peace of mans life yet shall we finde that it deserues to haue his part in this Pilgrimage as well as others and if there be any delectation pleasure or Honour depending thereon yet it is transitory and inconstant First knowing that all the actions of Magistrates passe before the eyes of the common people whose iudgements in matters of State be but simple yet haue they a certaine smell or sauour to know the good from euill Wherefore those that be Iudges and Magistrates be subiect as in a Play to bee hissed at and chased away with shame and confusion For the haire-brain'd people vvhich is compared to a Monster with many heads are mutable vncertaine fraudulent apt to wrath and mutinie ready to praise or dispraise without wisedome or discretion variable in their talke vnlearned and obstinate Therefore it behooueth that the life of a Iudge or Magistrate bee sincere and vertuous For as he iudgeth openly so shall hee be iudged of the people seuerally not onely in matters of waight and importance but in those of small consequence For alwayes the rude people will find somewhat to reforme as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at their Law-maker Licurgus for that he went alwayes holding downe his head The Venecians defamed wise Cato in his eating and accounted Pompeius vnciuill for that he would scratch with one finger onely yet these are but few in comparison of other good men that the common sort haue persecuted banished and in the end put to death If that great Oratour Demosthenes were aliue hee could say some-what who after he had a long time been a iust and faithfull Gouernour of the Common-wealth of Athens was in the end without cause vniustly banished Moses and many other holy men haue so many times tasted the fury of the common people that if they were this day liuing they would powre out most grieuous complaints against them Now wee haue shewed and set forth the miseries that proceede from common people so must wee in like sort put into the ballance the errours and corruptions that are found in wicked Iudges of the which sort some are corrupted with feare for such feare they haue that rather then they will displease a Prince or a great Lord will violate Iustice like Pilate that condemned Christ for feare that hee had to displease the Emperour Tiberius Other Magistrates are corrupted by loue as was Herod who for to please the foolish loue of a Damsell that danced condemned Saint Iohn Baptist although that hee knew that hee was iust and innocent Some are many times corrupted by hatred as was the chiefe Priest that condemned Saint Paul to bee stoned to death though he deserued it not Some Magistrates are corrupted by siluer and gold and other gifts presents as were the children of the Prophet Samuel and this disease is so contagious that I feare at this day many are infected with it They all loue rewards saith the Prophet they all looke for gifts they doe not right to the Orphane and the Widdowes complaint commeth not before them And in another place Woe be to you that are corrupted by money by hatred
other mortall creatures Kings are most liberally prouided for for what maketh man appeare more happy in this world then Goods Honors Dignities and Rule licence to doe good or euill without controulement power to exercise liberalitie and all kinde of pleasure as well of the body as of the minde all that may be wished for to the contentation of Man either in varietie of meates magnificence in seruice or in vestures to raise at their pleasure the meanest man to high place and with a frowne disgrace the mightiest All which is continually at a Princes command there is nothing that may please the memory or flatter the desires of the flesh but is prepared for them euen from their cradles onely to make their liues more happy and full of felicitie But now if wee iudge of their liues vprightly and weigh them in a true ballance wee shall finde that the selfe-same things that make them happy in this world are the very instruments of vice and the cause of greater sorrowes for what auaile their costly ornaments honorable seruices and delicate meates when that they are in continuall feare to bee poisoned wrong seduced and often beguiled by their seruitors Haue wee not had experience thereof many times Doe not Histories report that some men haue beene poisoned with Pages and with the smoake of Torches Wee may reade likewise of certaine Emperours that durst not lye downe to rest in the night before they had caused their beds to be lyen in and all the corners of their chambers to bee searched lest they should bee strangled or murthered in their sleepes Others that would not permit any Barbers to touch their faces for feare that in trimming of their heads or beards they would cut their throats and yet to this day they are in such feare that they dare not put meat into their mouthes before their taster haue tasted thereof What felicity can a Prince or King haue that hath many thousands of men vnder their gouernment when he must watch for all heare the complaints and cryes of euery one procure euery mans saufeguard prouoke some â—o doe well by liberall gifts and others by terrour feare He must nourish peace amongst his Subiects and defend his Realme against the inuasion of forraine enemies besides many other calamities that are depending vpon a Regall Crowne But now touching the vnhappy states of wicked Princes vnto whom three kindes of people are most agreeable and familiar The first are flatterers which be the chiefe enemies to all vertue and they that impoison their soules with a poison so pestiferous that it is contagious to all the world their Princes folly they call Prudence their crueltie Iustice their wantonnesse Loue their fornications Pleasures and pastimes if they be couetous they call it good husbandry if they be prodigall they call it liberalitie So that there is no vice in a Prince but they cloake it vnder the shadow of some vertue The second sort are such who neuer rest night but in the morning they bring in some new inuention or other how to taxe and draw money from the poore people and generally all their study is imployed to bee wastefull and prodigall in the exactions and misery of the poore Commons The third and last sort are such that vnder the cloake of kindnesse and honestie counterfetting good men haue alwaies their eyes fixed vpon other mens liuings and make themselues reformers of Vices They inuent wicked false deuices not only how to get other mens goods but oftentimes their liues who before God are most innocent Behold heere you may well see the manifold miseries that compasse Scepters and States of Princes Heere are the thornes that they receiue in recompence of their brightnesse and royall dignity which ought like a Lampe to giue light to all the world but when it is eclipsed or darkened with any vice it is more reproachfull in them then in any other priuate person whatsoeuer for they sinne not onely in the fault which they commit but also by the example which they giue The aboundance of honours pleasures that Princes enioy serueth as a bait to induce them to euill and are the very matches to giue fire to vice What was Saul before hee was made King whose life is shewed in the holy Scriptures whom God did elect Yet hee made a sudden eclipse or changing How wonderfull was the beginning of the raigne of King Salomon the which being ouercome with royall pleasures gaue himselfe as a prey to women Of two and twenty Kings of Iudah there is found but fiue or sixe that haue continued in their vertue If we consider the estate of the Assyrians Persians Grecians Egyptians we shall finde more of them wicked then good If we consider what the Romane Emperours were which hath been the most flourishing CoÌ„mon-wealth in the vvorld vvee shall finde them so ouercome with vices and all kinde of cruelties that I doe almost abhortre to speake of their corrupt and defiled liues What was the estate of their Common-wealth before that Scilla and Marius did murmure against it before that Cataline and Catulla did perturbe it before that Caesar and Pompey did slander it before that Augustus and Marcus Antonius did destroy it before that Tiberius and Caligula did defame it before that Domitian and Nero did depraue it For although they made it rich vvith many Kingdomes yet were the vices they brought with them greater then the Kingdomes they gained For their goods and riches are consumed yet their vices remaine vnto this day What memory remaineth of Romulus that founded the Citie of Rome Of Numa Pompilius that erected the Capitoll Of Aurus Marius that compassed it with walles Did not they shew what felicity remaineth in high estates who are more subiect to the assaults of Fortune then any other earthly creature For many times the thred of life breaketh when they thinke least of death and then the infamy of those that bee wicked remaineth written in Histories for a perpetuall memorie thereof The which thing all estates ought more to regard a thousand times then the tongue that speaketh euill which can but shame the liuing but booke record a perpetuall infamie for euer which thing beeing duely considered of by many Emperours Kings in times past forsooke their Scepters and Royall Empires and betooke them to an obscure life resting better contented with a little in quiet then to enioy with full saile the crooked honors of the world CHAP. IIII. The life of Courtiers BVt aboue other vanities and miseries which corruption doth continually attend there doth appeare in Princes Courts a certaine Noble captiuitie where vnder the colour of Greatnesse is the highest Seruitude and those gilded chaines that fetter mens minds He which will liue heere must alwayes be masked and prepared in one houre to conuert himselfe into twenty seuerall shapes to entertaine many seruants but no friends Their innocency is accounted meere simplicitie and to affirme
seekest by thy inticing flatteries to deliuer vs to an enemie farre vvorse then the Philistims which is the Diuell himselfe Such pleasures are like vnto guilded pils which vnder their externall beauty include bitternesse They are also like vnto fresh Riuers that end their course in the Sea losing their sweet rellish in an ocean of saltnes True zeale cannot flourish vnder so nice and delicate a gouernment nor can the perfect knowledge of God which is a celestiall gift be subiected to the belly it cannot remaine amongst swine that habitation is onely agreeable to the diuell who by the permission of Iesus Christ hauing entred into a Herd of swine compelled them to runne headlong to their owne ruine and who as it is recorded in the holy Writ nourisheth prodigall children vvith the husks of pleasures in stead of their parents bread It behooueth the Husbandman when the trees are yong to vphold them and to lop the o're-weighty branches if afterwards he intends to gather any fruit Likewise it is necessary for Parents to reforme correct the vices that raigne in Youth lest afterwards it returne to their shame and reproach But there are at this day many fathers and mothers who for not hauing well instructed their children in their youth doe receiue much sorrow and griefe in their age a iust reward for such Parents who although they be said to be nourishers of the bodies are the destroyers of the soules of their children If Ely was grieuously punished vvith his children for that hee did not so sharpely chastice them as their offences did require what shall become of those fathers and mothers which in stead of correcters are the childrens corrupters Such Parents may well bee compared to Apes which kill their yong ones by too much clasping them between their armes and keeping them so deare and this is the cause that so many fall into the hands of the Hangman which is to them reformer and correcter Many there bee that in stead of giuing good exhortations to their Family doe shew them first themselues naughty and wicked examples For the first commandement that they giue them how to liue well is to blaspheme sweare exercise gluttony and drunkennesse to spoile the substance of their youth to bee fornicators and to kisse women and maidens in their presence There bee also many mothers heere that learne their Daughters to Dance to vse Rhetorick termes to haunt companies to scoffe and flout to paint and colour their faces to decke their fingers with Rings and their necks with Iewels as though they were Iewel-sellers pretending to keepe a shop but in the end it will happen to them as it did to the Prophet Dauid 2. King 13. 15. whose sinne was punished in his children which were most of them so wicked that the one of them defloured his owne Sister and the other killed his Brother and afterwards sought the death of his owne Father and chased him out of his Kingdome The ancient Philosophers maintained this argument that all sinnes committed in this world vvere punished in the World to come except the sinne that Man committed in the bringing vp of his children and for that hee suffereth punishment in this world for the father can giue nothing to his child but fraile and mortall flesh by the corruption whereof the life taketh end but by good learning and knowledge eternall praise memory is gotten Therefore to conclude if children haue been in great misery being nourished with spotted milke yet the misery doubleth in those that should cause them to bee instructed for the food of the body is more vile then the food of the soule CHAP. III. Of Mans ripe Age. HAuing finished this our second discourse Man is growne to his full perfection both of strength and discretion and his heat being allayed by age behold other vanities which attend on him although not altogether so violently scorching yet more opinionated and troublesome for hee entreth into deeper cogitations and trauell in the spirit It is requisit therefore that hee frequent publike places that he haunt the company of those that are touchstones for to know the good from euill If he be come of a great and Noble stocke hee must make many enterprises of Warre put himselfe in perils hazzard his life and shead his bloud to die in the way of Honour or else hee shall bee reputed a dastardly Coward and vtterly despised of all men If hee be of base estate and that hee be called to the knowledge of Arts Sciences and needfull trades yet for all that he runneth into a thousand dangers trauailes paines and troubles as well of the body as of the soule hee toileth day and night and sweateth water and bloud to get a maintenance during his life and oftentimes it is seene that what paines soeuer man taketh for his liuing yet it is scant sufficient to serue his necessitie Let him be of any Vocation or Calling whatsoeuer there come vnto him irremoueable cares domesticke troubles or the knowledge of husbandry or contentions in Law or the labour of painfull Mechanick Arts all to the end that he may get somwhat for his children who sucking from him it may be all that he hath is onely requited with ingratitude and reproch These infelicities are the occasion that man is alwayes wearied with the things present desiring onely things to come and continually endeuouring to catch at somewhat that is already escaped whereas if by chance they obtaine it it dissolueth to nothing as it is in their hands or if they enioy it yeelds no contentment nor doth any wise appease their feare or satisfie their desire It is not therefore without cause that M. Aurelius was wont to say when hee considered the misery of mankinde I mused in my mind said he whether there might bee found in any age a man that could vaunt that in all his life-life-time he neuer tasted aduersitie and assuredly if there might bee such a one found he would be such a fearfull monster vpon earth that all liuing things would bee amazed to behold him Then he concluded after this sort saying And in the end I found my owne thoughts true for hee that vvas yesterday rich was to day poore hee that was yesterday in health was to day sicke he that laughed yesterday did to day weepe he that was yesterday in prosperitie was to day in aduersitie and he that was yesterday aliue was to day dead But let vs now returne to our former matter and set downe our discourses in order What liuing man is he in al the world that hath giuen himselfe to any Science or otherwise to liue but that at one time or other hee disliked of his owne profession and is weary thereof And for the better vnderstanding of the same we will particularly discourse the miseries and troublesome liues of all the principall estates liuing vpon the bosome of the sinfull earth Searching into all estates of men we shall finde that aboue all
or loue and which iudge the good to be euill and the euill good making the light darknesse and the darknesse light Woe bee to you that haue not respects to the secrets of things but to the deserts of men that regard not equity but gifts that are giuen that regard not Iustice but money You are diligent in rich mens causes but you deferre the cause of the poore you are to them most cruell rigorous Iudges but vnto the rich kinde and tractable The Prophet Ieremy cryeth out against wicked Iudges and saith they are magnified and become rich they haue left the Orphanes and haue not done Iustice for the poore Shall not I therefore punish these things saith the Lord and my soule take vengeance on such manner of people Heere also the sentence that S. Iames pronounceth against them at the day of Iudgement You haue condemned and killed the iust you haue liued in wantonnesse in this world and taken your ease Now therefore saith the Lord of Hosts weepe and howle in your wretchednesse that shall come vpon you your garments are moth-eaten your gold and siluer is cankered and the rust thereof shall be a witnesse against you and it shall eate your flesh as it were fire for the complaints of the poore are ascended vpto my Throne These are the complaints that the Prophets and Apostles made against wicked Iudges and Magistrates and likewise the Censures that our good God hath thundered against them CHAP. VI. Of Mans estate being in wedlocke MAny hold there is no ioy nor pleasure in the world which may bee compared to marriage for say they there is such fellowship betweene the parties coupled that they seeme two mindes to be transformed into one and likewise that both their good fortune and bad is common to them both their cares to be equall and their ioyes equall and to be briefe that all things are in common betweene them two Truely if wee account it pleasure to commit our secrets to our friends and neighbors how much greater is the ioy when we may discouer our thoughts to her that is ioyned to vs by such a knot of affinitie that we put as much trust in her as in our selues make her whole treasurer or faithfull keeper of the secrets of our minde What greater witnesse of feruent loue and vndissolueable amity can there be then to forsake Father Mother Sister and Brother and generally all their kinred till they become enemy to themselues for to follow a Husband that doth honour and reuerence her and hauing all other things in disdaine she only cleaueth to him If he be rich she keepeth his goods if he be poore she is companion with him in pouertie if he be in prosperitie his felicitie is redoubled in her if he be in aduersitie hee beareth but the one halfe of the griefe and furthermore she comforteth him assisteth and serueth him If a man will remaine solitary in his house his wife keepeth him company If he will goe into the fields she conducteth him with her eye so farre as she can see him she desireth and honoureth him being absent shee complaineth and sigheth and wisheth his company being come home he is welcommed and receiued vvith the best shew and tokens of loue And for to speake truth it seemeth that a Wife is a gift from heauen granted to a man as vvell for the contentation of Youth as the rest and solace of Age. Nature can giue vs but one Father and one Mother but marriage presenteth many in our children the which doe reuerence and honour vs and are more deare vnto vs then our own selues for being yong they prattle play laugh and shew vs many pretty toyes they prepare vs an infinite number of pleasures and it seemeth they are giuen vs by nature to passe away part of our miserable life If wee be afflicted vvith age they shew the duty of children cloze vp our eies bring vs to the earth from whence we came They are our bones our flesh bloud for in seeing them we see our selues The father beholding his children may be vvell assured that he seeth his liuely youth renued in their faces in whom wee are almost regenerate and borne againe Many are the ioyes sweet pleasures in mariage which for breuities sake I omit passe ouer But if we doe well consider it and weigh it in a iust ballance we shall finde that amongst these Roses are many Thornes growing and amongst these sweet showres of raine there falleth much Hayle But with reuerence now I craue pardon of all vertuous Ladies and Noble women that with patience I may discouer my intent and that my presumption may not gaine the least frowne from their chaste browes for to the vicious I speake and not to them whose brests harbour the liberall Fountaines of vertue and wisedome The Athenians being a people much commended for their prudence and wisedome seeing that Husbands and Wiues could not agree because of an infinite number of dissentions that chanced were constrained to ordaine certaine Magistrates in their countrey whom they called Reconcilers of the married ones the office of whom was to set agreement betweene the Husband and the Wife The Spartanes and Romanes had also such like lawes and orders amongst them so great was the insolence and rashnesse of some women towards their Husbands In this age there are but few I thinke can beare patiently the charges of marriage or can endure the vnbridled rage of some women and to speake truth vvithout flatterie if thou takest her rich thou makest thy selfe a bond-slaue for thinking to marry thine equall thou marriest a commanding Mistris If thou takest her foule thou canst not loue her if thou takest her faire it is an Image at thy gate to bring thee company Beauty is a Tower that is assailed of all the vvorld and therefore it is a hard thing to keepe that when euery one seeketh to haue the key This is the conclusion riches causeth a woman to bee proud beauty maketh her suspected and hard-fauourednes causeth her to be hated Therefore Diponares hauing tasted the Martyrdomes of marriage said that there were but 2. good dayes in all the life of marriage vvhereof the one was the wedding day vpon which is made good cheere the Bride fresh and faire and of all pleasures the beginning is most delectable The other good day is when the woman dyeth for then the Husband is out of bondage and thraldome Yet for all this a woman is to a man a necessary euill and one vvhom hee cannot well liue without seeing that there is nothing more hard to find in this world then a good woman a good Mule a good Goat being three vnhappy beasts And to conclude there is nothing more piercing then her outragious words more to bee feared then her boldnesse more cruell then her malice nor more dangerous then her fury besides many hurtfull discommodities of their Huswifery CHAP. VII The vanity and inconstancie of
Pill Within a sweet and ciuet lurking body often is imprisoned a loathsome stinking soule Murther is accounted but manly reuenge and the desperate Stabber cares no more to kill a man then to cracke a Flea Vsurie and Extortion are held laudable vocations Couetousnesse is stiled thrift Luxury and whoredome are reputed but youthfull trickes And as for Drunkennesse why that 's a tolerable recreation Doe not men pursue it with such inordinate affection that they oft neglect their functions bid farewell to that domesticke care they ought to entertaine dislodge that humane prouidence which should be shut vp in the Cabinet of their reasonable part and solely prostitute themselues to quotidian carousing till their breaths smell no sweeter then a Brewers apron whilest their families are wrung and grip't in the clutches of pouerty lockt vp and imprisoned from those necessarie supplements which should keepe both breath and body together at vnion This is a worthy Fathers opinion That a man possessed with a Diuell may be thought to be in a more hopeful state then a Drunkard for albeit that he be possessed yet is it compulsiuely and against his will but the Drunkard wholly adopts and dedicates himselfe with all the powerfull faculties of his soule voluntarily to the seruice of Satan S. Augustine likewise describes three fearefull properties in a Drunkard It confounds nature saith he loseth grace and consequently incurres Gods wrathfull indignation to be powred out vpon the imbracer thereof Swearing and blaspheming Gods great and glorious Name is reckoned for a morall vertue the grace of birth and honour the cognizance of an high-bred spirit What Christian can refraine that hath any sparke of Diuine intellect in him to vnsluce the flood-gate of his eyes and let his melting heart gush through with teares when in the streets he shall heare little Children scarce able to goe or speake to be vnderstood volley foorth most fearefull oathes and with such procliuitie as if they had bin tutored in their mothers wombes whilest their parents standing by offer not to check them with so much as a sowre reproofe but seeming rather to solace themselues in their Childrens sinnes and delight in their owne damnations like those who dye in a Sardinian laughter If the penall Law of Lodovicus were put in practice who hearing one sweare seared vp his lips with an hot iron scarce ten in as many Parishes but would be glad to be in league with the Apothicaries lippe-salue How many miraculous Iudgemēts hath God shot out against the blasphemers of his sacred Name whose instances would be too prolixious What sinne can be more damnable yet more practised None can sooner plunge the soule into the implacable gulfe of perdition and yet no sinne by intentiue endeuour more easie to be cropt off and weeded vp for that it is no incidentall issue of naturall corruption but an accidentall monster inegndred of corrupted custome A learned Father confesseth That at euery other word he once vsed to sweare but at length endeuouring to locke vp the doore of his lips to set watch before his tongue imploying diuine assistance therein and entreating moreouer his friends to smite him with the rod of reprehension in forty daies he vtterly lost the abusiue vse thereof So that now saith he nothing is more easie to me then not to sweare at all It is recorded that Lewis the 7. King of France diuulged an Edict that whosoeuer was knowne to warr against heauen with oathes should be branded in the forehead as a capitall offender Should not then euery Christian labour to set a watch before his mouth keep the doore of his lips that no rebellious words salley forth against his Creator If not for feare of temporall Iustice yet lest the God of Iustice should brand his soule with the dreadfull stigme of eternall damnation which no salue can heale Haliacmons Floud wash out nor length of time weare off O lamentable when the Turkes and Ethnicks out-strip vs in their cloudy and ignorant zeale they will dispute in the heart of their highest Streets about their Alcoran and Mahometish religion with holy intended deuotion But what voice is heard in our Streets Nought but the squeaking out of those obsceane and light Iigges stuft with loathsome and vnheard-of ribauldry suck't from the poisonous dugges of sinne-swelled Theaters controuersall conferences about richest beere neatest wine or strongest Tobacho wherein to drowne their soules and draw meager diseases vpon their distempered bodies And tell them moreouer that by their nocturnall superfluities and insatiable quaffings they set but feathers in Times wings and as a worthy home-bred Author saith spurre but the gallopping horse hasten on their speedy deaths and digge their owne vntimely graues More haue recourse to playing houses then to praying Houses where they set open their eares and eyes to sucke vp variety of abominations bewitching their minds with extrauagant thoughts and benumming their soules with insensibility whereby sinne is become so customary to them as that to sinne with them is deem'd no sinne at all consonant to that Theologicall Maxime The custome of sinning taketh away the very sense and feeling of sinne And semblable to Pythagoras his conceipt of the Sphericall harmony Because saith he we euer heare it wee neuer heare it Many set faire out-side colours vpon their professiō of religious honesty but beeing strictly lookt into by the penetrating eye of practise and performance proue seldome di'de in graine Some glitter like gold in their conuersation but put once to the Touch are found but counterfeit Alcumy Others will needs seeme a substantiall body in integrity of life but shaken and sifted with the hand of tryall become but an Anatomy of bones To giue almes is thought but a phantasticall ceremony and to refresh the comfortlesse Lazarus is deem'd but the maintenance of idle and exorbitant vagabounds O where is Charity fled Is she not whipt foysted out of great mens Kitchens glad to keepe Sanctuary in straw-cloath'd Cottages Are not larger beneuolences often distributed at the doore of one russet-clad Farmer then at ten mighty mens Gates The Magnificoes of this world reare vp sumptuous buildings onely for shew and ostentation whiffing more smoke out of their noses then their chimneys and it begets more wonder to see them shake downe their bounty into the poore mans lap then to see a Court-Lady vnpainted or to finde an open-fisted Lawyer that without a Bribe will faithfully prosecute his Clients cause Notwithstanding al this so parcimonious are they in their domesticke prouision that not a Rat of any good education but scornes to keepe house with them In those golden times of yore Charitie was the rich mans Idoll for they did emulate each other in supplying the Widdowes want in comforting the Orphanes misery and in refreshing the Trauellers wearinesse And it was their earthly Summum bonum to be open-hearted and handed to each hungry stranger This inscription commonly engraued vpon the front of their gates O gate