as by the verdict of Twelue men euery cause of some nature must be tried So by the Direction of the Law causes of some other nature are to be descided and adiudged by the sentence of the twelue Iudges of the Land Is it not of worthie consideration a very resonable course that reason hath set downe that the trial of Land shal be by men of the same neighborhood that they knowing the right may execute the worke of the Law Lex suum cuique tribuit the Law giueth to euery man his owne Then the common opinion of them that say the fault is in the law is erronious by condemning the Law for the peruerters of the Law and Iustice of whom there are too great a number Looke further into the true sinceritie of the Law and you shal finde that Reason hath made Lawes to reforme those errors and to punish the offenders according to the qualitie of their transgressions What can she do poore dumbe thing she is not able to speake in her own behalfe and few wil do her right either in woorde or action Comes shee not neere the Court when she punisheth treason to preserue the Kinges person Embrace her and vse her worthily for she is of great honor and the principall worke that euer Reason brought to effect in causes of this world The Souldier and man at Armes will confesse that without the Lawes of warres and martiall Discipline there is no possibillitie of keeping things in order The diuines and professors of holy Writ in all countries and in all ages haue made alowance hereof muth endeuoured the performaunce of some things in that behalfe All the Emperors Monarks and Kings of the world depend hereupon and hereby their gouernments are preserued and kept from confusion the least fraction whereof worketh great anoy as appeareth by the stories written by Cornelius Tacitus of the liues of Nero Galba Vetellius and others in the Romane Empire This consideration offereth it selfe though something abruptly that if the offences errors and transgressions of men in these points did consist of substantial matter as the bodies of the offenders do and were for their vnworthines appointed to bee consumed with fire All the water in the great Ocean would not extinguish the flame This being true it shall agree well with Reason and bee very conuenient that men looke into themselues before it be too late correct their errors whilest they haue time lest in the end for the faults of their materiall bodies and sensuall and loose dispositions their Soules which consist of immateriall and vncorruptible substance bee sett on fire and burne in hel with vnquenchable fire that no water of what abundance soeuer can put out And so hauing drawne to thy remembrance these short notes I send thee to consider for the worthines of the law that Moses from whom the grounds of all lawes are receiued did in his time publish the law to the people himselfe vntill the people grew to great numbers and infinite disorders and then by the perswasion of Iethro his Father in lawe hee appointed ministers and officers vnder him The law put in execution by those officers was not the law of the officers but the law of Moses And the law vttered by Moses was not Moses own law but the law of God Such is our case the multitude of offences and euills committed amongst vs are too great and ouer many for our Queene to order in her person therefore Reason hath set downe meane authoritie vnder her The lawes they put in execution are not the lawes of the Iudges but the lawes of our Queene and countrie The sentence they pronounce is her Maiesties they only giue it a voyce and the maine point is this both the lawes and determination thereupon if they be truly executed and obeyed are the lawes and sentence of God himselfe Was there not in Moses time a chiefe head aboue men was there not a mongst mē one aboue the rest were there not vnder him others that took paines to sit in Iudgement to heare the peoples causes was there not thē a chiefe Magistrate and inferior Magistrates some in authoritie to order and gouerne others vnder them to obey were there not men that sustained wrong and others that did the iniurie was not Miriam that gallant Lady punished with leprosie for murmuring against the authoritie of Moses And is not this the antientest gouernment in the world And was not this a kind of Monarchie Doth not our state and gouernement resemble this we haue the same GOD they had a sole gouernor as they lawes as they had Liuetenants Deputies Officers and Magistrates as they people to be kept in obedience as they murmurers against the head as they If they had Corah and his company that rebelled this land hath not bin free from such but God haue the honor they haue had their punishment as well as Miriam and Abiram If the Magistrates in that gouernment found store of busines to punish offences and right the oppressed our countrie is not altogether vnlike them therein If Moses had Aron for Church matters our head hath vnder her mē authorized for that purpose Behold all these things which cōtaine within them a thousand other branches and consider whether Reason hath not preuailed far in this our country and God bin very fauorable to the successe thereof what impiety inhumanitie and bestialitie were it to peruert the good that hath bin attained vnto in these pointes And what doe the contemners resisters disobeyers peruerters and abusers of this so sacred and holy an ordinance of God deserue lesse then those that were punished in Moses time Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri quibus acquiruntur ijsdem praeseruantur modis by diligence labor studie endeuour and obedience haue these bin brought to order and by the like must bee preserued In which office euery member hath a share the chiefe head in gouerning and the rest in obeying which is a dutie to be performed by euery subiect And wherevnto right and true Reason will leade euery man if he carefully obserue his duetie The omitting wherof was a fault in the time of Saint Paul and Saint Peter The one writing to Titus willed him to put men in remembraunce that they be subiect to principalities and powers The other requireth that men should submitt themselues vnto all maner of ordinances of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the king as to the superior or vnto gouernors as vnto them that are sent of him for the punishment of euill dooers and for the praise of them that do well Besides Saint Paul saith in an other place be subiect to the higher powers for who so resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 2. resisteth the ordinance of God With which sayings I conclude desiring that euery man will put himself in remembrance of his dutie in those points and according to his calling beare a faithfull and true heart to his Queene and Country and obedience to authoritie as the key that openeth to all happines and is the closing vp of Reasons gouernement in these worldly causes and a great inducement to eternitie Finis The Minds priuiledge Who can restraine the freedom of the mind Or banish thoughts from grieued harts perplex Or who can shew what limits are assignde To Sorrowes griefes which do poore soules sore vex Mind keepe thee free from euer being bound Fast from ' Despaire and feast on good Content Yet surfet not on too secure a ground Lest Time let passe Remissenesse make repent Seeme not to be but be as thou dost seeme Thy conscience saue what euer thee befall It forc'th not much what other men do deeme Thy guilt or guiltlesse conscience swayeth all In things that taste of good is good delight Thou mansion for thy God to take repose Keepe pretious things wherein he may delight Then secrets all he will to thee disclose In all restraints yet thou art still at large In all exiles thou still remainst at home The secret matters thou dost take in churge Seruant like thee diuine Virtue knows none The pollisht Temple of Dianaes shrine Did not delight the viewers halfe so much As counsels good layd vp in storch-house thine Which will abide the hammer deft and tuch Keepe farre from thee the praue and euil things The sanctimonies for thy turne are fit Thou harbour hast among the Peers and Kings Thy Chaire was made thy maker there to sit Thou cloth of gold of state and richest price To clad thy God the high and mightest one In thee therefore beware let raigne no vice An equall mate thy King abideth none Let none come in keepe fast the vtter gate Deceipt is rife and thou art in great danger Take heede beware there is a subtile mate That presseth in yet ought to be a stranger Shee le offer faire both words and deeds of gaine She saies she will be gone and will but view But keepe her out it will be to thy paine The words she speakes is neither of them true The Bridebed once defilde the Bridegroom leaues It is a place he doth detest and hate See to thy selfe when once she thee deceaues Thy Glorie 's gone thy Honor 's out of date Friend to thy selfe be thou for to be frended Needs curious choise I speake as reason bindeth Faire shews of loue with faint effects are ended When fruitles words shew what the speaker mindeth The matter meant the mind must needs containe That secret is to him that dooh intend Al pleasing words and speeches that are vaine Gainst truths supports by no means may contend That ample walke within so large a field Would well permit my pen a ranging scope But yet my will to Reason now must yeelde To end this cause my Muse doth stand in hope In fewest words but words of great respect The minding well and well affecting spirit Eternizd Ioyes with Angels shall amplect And endlesse blisse by promise shall inherit That blissed place and place of highest blisse Without cōpare Compare what needs that word God hath ordained for seruants that are his Blessed are they that euer serue the Lord. Finis
If we shall grow a little neerer to this matter and peruse an example or two in the holy Booke of God consider whether it were corrupt false and sophisticated perswasions and Reasons that the serpent vsed to Eue what Reason was that that led Caine to kill Abell or the Children of God to be bewitched with the beautie of the daughters of men or the Caldeans to erect the tower of Babel The effect and issue will shewe what kinde of reason it was By the first came the destruction and ouerthrowe of all the perfection of man By the second a perpetuall curse to the murtherer and a continuall anguish sorrow and griefe to his heart and soule By the third an vniuersall deluge vppon the face of the whole earth And by the fourth an vtter confusion of languages God in the creation made al things in order and Order would that our wit should obey God and our senses and appetites obey Reason But we see apparantly that for breaking this order these confusions haue ensued If we desire a plaine demonstration let vs looke into our selues by the rule afore prescribed into things inferior to vs and into what is aboue and greater then our selues As the inferior creatures whereof the sensitiue are the chiefest come not neere man in excellency vnderstanding capacitie nor Reason neither do they striue therein but abide in their first state So hath God left in himselfe a fulnesse of perfect and absolute power wisedome and vnderstanding not to be conceiued nor comprehended by the wit nor reason of man in a farre greater measure then mans vnderstanding and reason can attaine vnto as mans vnderstanding or reason was at any time aboue the beasts of the earth These things he kept absolutely to himselfe to be a Creator to be obeyed and to haue none equall and to keepe all his creatures vnder his subiection This order must man needes be doing withall it was not inough for him to enioy and know the good but he must know euill also And in truth and no doubt but he extended his reason and will to a good end for he got such a knowledge of euill and so entangled himselfe therewith that he abandoned all that was good and became himselfe a very masse of euill Cōsider this reason what would a man think if his horse shuld turne his master to eate grasse and lodge in the field he to feed of the best meats and stay in the house Nay come neerer what if a mans feruant nay his friend or to be short his owne sonne would participate in worthinesse with the father take dignity from him and become the absolute owner of the fathers possession in his life and make him liue like a seruant I referre the censure to the reader because I know not how neere it may touch him being matters so rife in practise To drawe towards the conclusion of this parte it is greatly to be considered that in the estimation of the Creator the reasonable soule of one man is of more value and price then all the territories of the world euen then the whole earth and whatsoeuer is in the bowels thereof Reason will compell thee to confesse this whether thou wilt or no in regard of the immortalitie of the one and corruption and finishing of the other The earth was the thing giuen and man the donee the possessor is more worth then the thing possessed man is much better then money in that money was made for the vse of man and not man for the vse of mony but see how the vsage thereof agreeth with right and true Reason which is the marke we shoote at Looke into some particulars and obserue how many men thou knowest that for some small parte of the earth in comparison of the whole but a crumme that had rather see the destruction of many christian soules then to loose any part therof making more of a penny then of the life of his brother Nay looke into the will of men and obserue therein whether they regard the shedding of blood murther so much as the satisfying their will What hath bene the cause of warres and slaughters of men whereof there remaine so many histories but the breach of Order and making a fraction of Reason In the ciuill gouernment of countries what hath beene the cause of iniuries wrongs violence oppressions peruerting and corruption of Iustice vntrue suggestion periuries subordinations theftes robberies and cruelties but that men exceede the bounds of right and true Reason Aske the great man and the rich to haue cōmiseration of the needy and his hart will be rather enclined to crueltie then pitty he had rather haue his poore debtors bones to make dice then become pittifull Aske the needie and him that is in distresse how he findeth it and hee will say and truely that the world hath forsaken him friends fall off those of his owne house will vse him not much better then poore Iob was vsed But by the way poore man take this for thy comfort thy reasonable soule is better then all the rich mans treasure yea then all the earth beside if thou haue patience for a season To conclude let euery man repaire home to his conscience and closet of his owne heart and examine himselfe before the seate of this Empresse Reason how much hee esteemeth and valeweth the landes riches and transitorie things of the world aboue the price of his poore brothers Soule and life nay to end in a word then his owne Soule examine thy selfe well how farre thou wouldest extend thy mind thy word thy trauell thy othe and thy very Soule to procure and get a small part of this base transitorie and corrupt world thou shalt need no other satisfaction but that right and true Reason is corrupted impaired and become subiect to that which it ought to gouerne Sect. VIII Reasons particular gouernement HAuing furnished the former arguments with some matters the more liuely to expresse what they are namely the Soule of man immortall the excellent quallitie of right and true Reason and the corruption thereof It shal agree with Reason to reremember that man is said to bee an abridgement as it were of God and the world and as a mirror of the whole worke of God reduced into a little compasse For which cause he is called a little world of himselfe Now if by obseruation we finde an orderly kind of gouernment obedience and disposition in diuers parts of the other creatures how necessarie it is for euery particular and priuate man that wil chalenge himselfe to be endued with Reason to descend into himselfe and examine how this little world of his soule his reason his senses and his body is ordered And how and in what maner reason doth gouerne and will appetite affections and passions do obey Let a man pervse himselfe and he shall finde in his body a part of those creatures that want sense and Reason As his haire and finger
purpose was otherwise howsoeuer men regarde it If thy purpose be in accompanying with men and hauing societie with them respice finem to what end it is whether for thy present pleasure or profit or the endlesse happinesse of immortalitie In these matters there are three speciall things to bee considered First the intent and purpose of thy minde and the conference and conclusion there before any words vttred The second is the words which are the minds messengers to make knowne hir intent The third is the actions practicke parts thereof Consider therefore whether thy mind and thy wordes agree and whether thy words actions agree And in them all haue regarde that thy purpose be honest for nothing is agreeing with right reason that is not truely honest and nothing truly honest which a man desireth to an other and would not haue the same befall to himselfe Now if in thy mind thou conceiue mischiefe fraude and deceit and thy mouth pronounceth smoothe and pleasing wordes send Reason to inquire who it is that sitteth betweene thy minde and thy mouth that causeth this iarre betweene thy heartes intent and thy voyced speech and she will finde there placed that subtil sophister that beguiled Eue with an Apple neuer intending more mischiefe than vnder smoothe wordes Mel in ore verba lactis fel in corde fraus in factis If thy actions and performance accomplish not thy promises thy reason will shew there was corruption in thy minde or weakenesse in thy vnderstanding that wouldest a duenture to promise matters aboue thy abilitie If thy mind be discontēted which is a generall thing among men some in wishing to chāge their sex as men to be women women to be men old men to be yong children to bee of ripe age the single to be married the coupled to bee asunder the seruant to be Master the Maister to be seruant the rich to be more rich the poore to be as rich the needy to haue the wealth of his neighbour the man subiect to obediēce to rule the gouernor oft times to be freed of his great burthen And this which is a generall fault in euery man of aduancement and preferment to excel and to beare Rule insomuch that oft times the subiect vniustly contendeth for the kingdome A thousand other things there are in seeking of nouelty exchange of trades and courses of life of health and libertie and such like which I leaue to rehearse and send thee to thy selfe for resolution Peruse thy whole body and thou shalt finde diuers necessary parts and members as the feete the legges the hands the armes the head the eyes the teeth the liuer stomake lungs yeines sinewes arteries such like Al which tend to the performance of seueral duties and offices to the heart and the life therein placed And as none of these can be wanting to make a perfect bodie so none of thē enuy another nor desire to change being made for these seueral vses cannot exchange places nor offices So is it thy case to be a part or member of another world And as thou wouldest not bee a stone to bee the richest Iewell nor a tree to bee the greatest Cedar a beast to bee the great Behemoth a fish to bee the great Leuiathan nor a Diuell to be Belsabub himselfe So Reason teacheth that thou canst not be Moses nor Elias Salomon nor Dauid not borne of the roote of Iosse no Romane Itulian nor German thou canst haue no other Father nor Mother then thine owne If thou be not borne of the blood Royall it is not Gods fault But if thou rashly aspire to that wherto thou art not borne it is thy fault And the same reason whereby thou requirest to haue dominion ouer thy inferior requireth thou shouldest obey thy superior For the powers that are ordained of God among whom the king is the most excellent carrying representation of the maiestie iustice and mercie of God If thou send forth as thou must of necessity any of thy appetites affections or passions Then giue them their Commission for feare of offending and omitting the rest I will particularly touch these And first concerning necessarie things if thou suffer thy affection or passion of thirst at libertie let her not riott so farre as to ouer-maister thy Reason be as carefull in thy greatest drought to keepe moderation therein as thou art fearefull to burne thy selfe with fier when thou art most colde be as wary in that point as thou woldest be to put a sword into a madde mans hand If thy passion of hunger craue libertie set her boundes that she surfett not nor waste as much in one day as would satisfie thee a moneth If the affectiō of cold require clothes giue her a law that she exceede not hir bounds by putting on thy whole wealth in a sute of apparrell If thy affection of Loue or rather Lust be extraordinarily busie take order in time that shee ouer-runne not her compasse And as Loue is properly said to be a desire of things faire goodly and beautifull so lett her not extend them further then to things honest profitable and possible For if the thing thou loue bee not honest it will be a clogge to thy conscience if not profitable it wil be wearisome to thy life if not possible it will turne into griefe and so either into a desperate or mad humor For if Plato conclude rightly that all things in this world are engendered by loue thou hast Reason to take heede thou abuse it not and it become thine owne confusion If thou hate see it bee vice not vertue for there is none so impudent but will confesse that vertue is a good of the soule and vice beeing the contrary is an euill If Reason be thy medicine the contrary must needs be the sicknes of the Soule If thou feele sadnes or sorrow cōming fast towards thee set Reason stoutly and valiantly to defend thee from it remembring Salomons conclusion that a sorrowfull hart drieth vp a mans bones yet mistake not my meaning for godlie sorrow for thy misdeedes is a good protection against the other In the case of friendship take Aristotles Moral for thy direction perfect friendship is among good men that loue vertue and in all things avoide rashnesse out of this Reason Darius acknowledged he had rather haue one Zopirus then the conquest of twentie Babilons If the thing thou hope for bee grounded vpon Reason and depend vpon a possible attaining the same it will in it selfe protect thee from despaire And if thy hope be rightly in God Reason will teach thee to depend on his prouidence and not to hope for vain or impossible matters And seeing that hope is the fountain trade of al sortes of mens employment in this life there is great cause it should depend vpon Reason not rashly consume that a man hath and foolishly hope for more Many vaine things follow vaine hope which commonly worke confusion As the hope and
necke to the intent if his law were for the vnworthinesse thereof reiected hee should presently be strangled Such consideration must be takē of the law saith Isiodore that we must not iudge of it but according to it nor saith Cliton the people must not hearken so much to the orator or aduocates of the law as to the truth of the law it selfe Pausanias Reason wherfore the lawes among the Lacedemonians ought not to be altred was for that the lawes ought to bee rulers ouer men and not men maisters ouer the law If Mercurius Tresmegistes tooke great paines and labor to compose lawes for the ordering gouerning of the Egiptians Phoroneus among the Greetians Solon among the Athenians Lycurgus among the Sithians Numa Pompilus among the Romans Pharomond among the Frenchmen Charles the great amōg the Almans Iulius Caesar and others among the English that were as lightes to their feuerall gouernments wherby their subiects might liue in obedience to the state and haue Iustice ministred distributed among them according to their equall rights which to their immortall honor haue continued in those countries for the reasonable guiding of the people what do the infringers violaters corrupters or contempners of those lawes whereof there are many deserue Ignorance ignorantly is holden to be the Mother of Deuotion which opinion hath bred a wonderful confusion in the world for if it bee the Mother and Deuotion the childe they know not one another and for want of knowledge must needs erre Concerning thēselues Partus sequiturventrem the Danghter followeth the Mother Ignorance hath no acquaintance much lesse alliance with Reason and therefore cannot apprehend nor embrace things grounded on Reason Ignorance is the opposed enemy of Reason and leadeth to all outragious and vnlawful attempts Blind Deuotion her Daughter inciteth and stirreth vp the minds of men to sensualitie selfe-will rashnes intemperance foole-hardinesse stubbornnes contempt and the vtter subuersion of the lawes ordinances and directions that Reason hath prouided This Ignorance and her brood hath spred abroad many seditious and slāderous reproches of indignitie insufficiencie and grosse defects to bee in the Lawes whereby this countrie wherein we liue is gouerned And this Ignorant and foule error hath dispersed it selfe into many quarters and gotten strong hold in the world To set downe the particular errors in that behalfe and to answer them fully woulde require a great volume woorth the writing and woorthy the reading wherein I will not now insist The like may I say of the continuall and daily euasions and slidings from the true tuch and period whervnto the practise and execution of the Lawe should tend Which fault in the abusiue practisers of the lawe hath beene a great cause that the burthen of that reproach although vntruely is layd so heauy vpon the lawe it selfe I may not giue way to the scope of this Discourse at large And therfore to satisfie the ignorant hereof in some measure I send him to behold and view these speciall poyntes concerning the course of gouernement established and set downe by reason and law The Maister of a house ordereth his housholde agreeing with the conditions thereof as the Babe newely borne is nourished with the mothers milke the elder children at schoole to learne rudiments how to be disposed at riper age those grown to mans state are employed in other busines the seruaunts labour for all and the maister careth and prouideth for all The apprentice is bound for yeares which hee must serue out before hee can haue his freedome The Schoole maister hath ordinaunces not to be broken and hee dealeth with those whome hee teacheth according to their capacities first he teacheth letters then sillables then wordes and after languages and the congruitie of them and after the knowledge of the tongues he teacheth Artes and thus by degrees proceedeth in a reasonable and a temperate manner to the furnishing of that which belongeth to his place The Vniuersities haue lawes and ordinances to approoue trie and examine the woorthinesse sufficiencie and honesty of those whom they intend to grace with Titles or Dignities of learning as the seuerall professions whereunto they bend themselues leade out of which proceede our reuerend Diuines learned Ciuilians and necessary Physitions besides the woorthy storage of the famous Innes of Court royall court and other places In Citties and Townes corporate they haue orders for the election and choyse of men from office to office and by degrees to loke into the sufficiencies abilities discretions and vnderstandings of men before they be admitted to beare the principall gouernment And therein is likewise to be obserued that Reason hath imposed a fit ordinance that by a common and generall election the chiefe officer is to be chosen In which corporations as there are many Companies whereof these gouernments doe consist So hath each of these Fraternities speciall orders and ordinances in their peculiar and particular offices In this behalfe there are many orders ordinate and subordinate and which were ouer-tedious to recite to be short therfore in that point Reason hath giuen them abilities and powers to make ordinances and constitutions within themselues but limited with within bonds That they be not contrarie to the lawes of the land The Innes of Court haue orders both to constraine study and to trie and examine the studients as well for the sufficiencie of learning as congruitie of manners and to commend and giue grace to the well deseruing and stoppe the course of peruerse and disordered persons Out of this courtly Academie what good this Commonwealth hath receiued appeareth in that the Kings and Queenes that raigned ouer the same haue alwayes chosen their seruants and ministers of iustice and authoritie from those places Of the Lawe it selfe it is worthily said Lex Regi quod Rex legi The lawe is to the King as the King is to the lawe As the King vpholdeth and maintaineth the lawes priuiledges and rights of the Land so the lawe keepeth men in subiection and obedience to the King and thereby giueth glorie and safetie to the King with peace and dignitie to the kingdome That in the desciding of controuersies and questions growne among men the lawe hath a most equall and indifferent course drawne downe by reason appears in this First the smaller matters are to be tried before the Lord of a manor where the cause is between those of his homage wherein as in the causes of greater moment in higher Courts the triall is appoynted per probos legales homines by a Iurie of approoued and lawfull men per testes fide dignos by witnesses not attainted of notorious crimes but deseruing credite In which behalfe is to be obserued what care the Lawe hath of indifferencie in that it hath admitted many challenges for kindred aliance affection fauour or displeasure and such like lest by corruption iniustice might bee ministred And as the cause may require so that it goeth to the Iudges thēselues For like