by the swiftnesse of his motion would set all the world on fire so Mercy must ever be set near Justice for the cooling and tempering thereof In his mercy our King desires to resemble the God of heaven who measureth his judgements by the ordinary cubit but his kindnesses by the cubit of the Sanctuary twice as big yea all the world had been a hell without Gods mercy He is rich in having a plentifull exchequer of his peoples hearts Allow me said Archimedes to stand in the aire and I will move the earth But our King having a firm footing in his Subjects affections what may he do yea what may he not do making the coward valiant the miser liberall for love the key of hearts will open the closest coffers Mean time how poore is that Prince amidst all his wealth whose Subjects are onely kept by a slavish fear the jaylour of the soul. An iron arm fastned with scrues may be stronger but never so usefull because not so naturall as an arm of flesh joined with muscles sinews Loving Subjects are most serviceable as being more kindly united to their Sovereigne then those which are onely knock'd on with fear and forcing Besides where Subjects are envassaled with fear Prince and People mutually watch their own advantages which being once offered them 't is wonderfull if they do not and wofull if they do make use thereof He willingly orders his actions by the Laws of his realm Indeed some maintain that Princes are too high to come under the roof of any Laws except they voluntarily of their goodnesse be pleased to bow themselves thereunto and that it is Corban a gift and courtesy in them to submit themselves to their Laws But whatsoever the Theories of absolute Monarchy be our King loves to be legall in all his practices and thinks that his power is more safely lock'd up for him in his Law then kept in his own will because God alone makes things lawfull by willing them whilest the most calmest Princes have sometimes gusts of Passion which meeting with an unlimited Authority in them may prove dangerous to them and theirs Yea our King is so suspicious of an unbounded power in himself that though the widenesse of his strides could make all the hedge stiles yet he will not go over but where he may He also hearkneth to the advise of good Counsellers remembring the speech of Antoninus the Emperour Aequius est ut ego tot taliumque amicorum consilium sequar quam tot talesque amici meam unius voluntatem And yet withall our King is carefull to maintain his just Prerogative that as it be not outstretched so it may not be overshortned Such a gratious Sovereigne God hath vouchsafed to this Land How pious is he towards his God! attentive in hearing the Word preaching Religion with his silence as the Minister doth with his speech How loving to his Spouse tender to his Children faithfull to his servants whilest they are faithfull to their own innocence otherwise leaving them to Justice under marks of his displeasure How doth he with David walk in the midst of his house without partiality to any How just is he in punishing wilfull murder so that it is as easie to restore the murthered to life as to keep the murtherer from death How mercifull is he to such who not out of leigier malice but sudden passion may chance to shed bloud to whom his pardon hath allowed leisure to drop out their own souls in tears by constant repentance all the dayes of their lives How many wholsome Laws hath he enacted for the good of his Subjects How great is his humilitie in so great height which maketh his own praises painfull for himself to heare though pleasant for others to report His Royall virtues are too great to be told and too great to be conceal'd All cannot some must break forth from the full hearts of such as be his thankfull Subjects But I must either stay or fall My sight fails me dazell'd with the lustre of Majestie all I can do is pray Give the King thy judgements O Lord and thy righteousnesse to the Kings Sonne smite through the loins of those that rise up against his Majestie but upon him and his let the Crown flourish Oh cause his Subjects to meet his Princely care for their good with a proportionable cheerfulnesse and alacrity in his service that so thereby the happinesse of Church and State may be continued Grant this O Lord for Christ Jesus his sake our onely Mediatour and Advocate Amen THE PROFANE STATE BY THOMAS FULLER B. D. and Prebendarie of Sarum ISAIAH 32.5 The vile person shall be no more called liberall nor the churl said to be bountifull EZEK 44.23 And they shall teach my people the difference betwixt the Holy and the Profane CAMBRIDGE ¶ Printed by ROGER DANIEL for Iohn Williams and are to be sold at the signe of the Crown in S. Pauls Churchyard 1642. The Profane State THE FIFTH BOOK CHAP. 1. The Harlot IS one that her self is both merchant and merchandise which she selleth for profit and hath pleasure given her into the bargain and yet remains a great loser To describe her is very difficult it being hard to draw those to the life who never sit still she is so various in her humours and mutable 't is almost impossible to character her in a fixed posture yea indeed some cunning Harlots are not discernable from honest women Solomon saith she wipeth her mouth and who can distinguish betwixt that which was never foul and that which is cleanly wiped Her love is a blank wherein she writeth the next man that tendreth his affection Impudently the Harlot lied Prov. 7.15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face and I have found thee else understand her that she came forth to meet him not qua talis but qua primus because he came first for any other youngster in his place would have serv'd her turn yet see how she makes his chance her courtesie she affecting him as much above others as the common road loves the next passenger best As she sees so her self is seen by her own eyes Sometimes she stares on men with full fixed eyes otherwhiles she squints forth glances and contracts the beams in her burning glasses to make them the hotter to inflame her objects sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look But as those bullets which graze on the ground do most mischief to an army so she hurts most with those glances which are shot from a down-cast eye She writes characters of wantonnesse with her feet as she walks And what Potiphars wife said with her tongue she saith unto the passengers with her gesture and gate Come lie with me and nothing angrieth her so much as when modest men affect a deafnesse and will not heare or a dulnesse and will not
therefore bear the lesse weight never meddling with matters of Justice Can this be counted too low for a Lord which is high enough for a King our Nobleman freely serves his Countrey counting his very work a sufficient reward As by our Laws no Duke Earl Baron or Baronet though Justices of Peace may take any wages at the Sessions Yea he detesteth all gainfull wayes which have the least blush of dishonour For the Merchant Nobility of Florence and Venice how highly soever valued by themselves passe in other countreys with losse and abatement of repute as if the scarlet robes of their honour had a stain of the stamell die in them He is carefull in the thrifty managing of his estate Gold though the most solid and heavy of metalls yet may be beaten out so thin as to be the lightest and slightest of all things Thus Nobility though in it self most honourable may be so attenuated through the smalnesse of means as thereby to grow neglected Which makes our Nobleman to practice Solomons precept Be diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thine herds for the Crown doth not endure to every generation If not the Crown much lesse the Coronet and good husbandry may as well stand with great honour as breadth may consist with height If a weak estate be left him by his Ancesters he seeks to repair it by wayes thrifty yet noble as by travelling sparing abroad till his state at home may outgrow debts and pensions Hereby he gains experience and saves expence sometimes living private sometimes shewing himself at an half light and sometimes appearing like himself as occasion requires or else by betaking himself to the warres Warre cannot but in thankfulnesse grace him with an Office which graceth her with his person or else by warlike sea-adventures wisely undertaken and providently managed otherwise this course hath emptied more full then filled empty purses and many thereby have brought a Galeon to a Gally or lastly by match with wealthy Heirs wherein he is never so attentive to his profit but he listens also to his honour In proportion to his means he keeps a liberall house This much takes the affections of countrey people whose love is much warmed in a good kitchin and turneth much on the hinges of a buttery-doore often open Francis Russell second Earl of Bedford of that sirname was so bountifull to the poore that Queen Elizabeth would merrily complain of him that he made all the beggers sure 't is more honourable for Noblemen to make beggers by their liberality then by their oppression But our Nobleman is especially carefull to see all things discharged which he taketh up When the corps of Thomas Howard second Duke of Norfolk were carried to be interred in the Abbey of Thetford Anno 1524. no person could demand of him one groat for debt or restitution for any injury done by him His servants are best known by the coat and cognizance of their civill behaviour He will not entertain such ruffian-like men who know so well who is their Master that they know not who they are themselves and think their Lords reference is their innocence to bear them out in all unlawfull actions But our Lords house is the Colledge wherein the children of the neighbouring Gentry and Yeomanry are bred and there taught by serving of him to rule themselves He hateth all oppression of his tenants and neighbours disdaining to crush a mean Gentleman for a meaner offense and counts it no conquest but an execution from him who on his side hath the oddes of height of place strength of arme and length of weapon But as the Proverb saith No grasse grows where the grand Seignieurs horse sets his feet so too often nothing but grasse grows where some Great men set their footing no towns or tillage for all must be turn'd into depopulating pastures and commons into enclosures Nigh the city of Lunenberg in Germany flowed a plentifull salt spring till such time as the rich men engrossing all the profit to themselves would not suffer the poore to make any salt thereof whereupon God and Nature being offended at their covetousnesse the spring ceased and ran no more for a time Thus hath Gods punishment overtaken many great men and stopp'd his blessing towards them which formerly flowed plentifully unto them for that they have wronged poore people of their commonage which of right belonged unto them In his own pleasures he is carefull of his neighbours profit Though his horses cannot have wings like his hawks to spoil no grasse or grain as he passeth yet he is very carefull to make as little waste as possible may be his horses shall not trample on loaves of bread as he hunteth so that whilest he seeks to gather a twig for himself he breaks the staff of the commonwealth All the countrey are his Retainers in love and observance When they come to wait on him they leave not their hearts at home behind them but come willingly to tender their respects The holding up of his hand is as good as the displaying of a banner thousands will flock to him but it must be for the Kings and Countreys service For he knows that he who is more then a Lord if his cause be loyall is lesse then a private man if it be otherwise with S. Paul he can do nothing against the truth but for the truth Thus Queen Elizabeth Christâ—ned the youngest daughter of Gilbert Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury now Countesse of Arundell Aletheia Truth out of true consideration and judgement that the house of the Talbots was ever loyall to the Crown Some priviledges of Noblemen he endeavours to deserve namely such priviledges as are completely Noble that so his merits as well as the Law should allow them unto him He conceives this word On mine Honour wraps up a great deal in it which unfolded and then measured will be found to be a large attestation and no lesse then an eclipticall oath calling God to witnesse who hath bestowed that Honour upon him And seeing the State is so tender of him that he shall not be forced to swear in matters of moment in Courts of Justice he is carefull not to swear of his own accord in his sports and pleasures Other priviledges of Noblemen he labours not to have need of namely such as presuppose a fault are but honourable penalties and excuse from shamefull punishments Thus he is not to be bound to the peace And what needs he who hath the peace alwayes bound to him being of his own accord alwayes carefull to preserve it and of so noble a disposition he will never be engaged in any braules or contentions To give an instance of such a Nobleman seems to be needlesse hoping that at this time in one city of this Realm and in one room of that city many such Noblemen are to be found together CHAP. 13. The
of all other Orders and therefore by canon to go last will never go in Procession with other Orders because they will not come behind them Sometimes the Paternall inheritance falls to them who never hoped to rise to it Thus John sirnamed Sans-terre or Without land having five Elder Brothers came to the kingdome of England death levelling those which stood betwixt him and the Crown It is observ'd of the Coringtons an ancient familie in Cornwall that for eight lineall descents never any one that was born heir had the land but it ever fell to Younger Brothers To conclude there is a hill in Voitland a small countrey in Germany called Feitchtelberg out of which arise foure rivers running foure severall wayes viz. 1. Eger East 2. Menus West 3. Sala North 4. Nabus South so that he that sees their fountains so near together would admire at their falls so farre asunder Thus the younger sons issuing out of the same mothers wombe and fathers loyns and afterwards embracing different courses to trie their fortunes abroad in the world chance often to die farre off at great distance which were all born in the same place The Holy State THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. 1. The good Advocate HE is one that will not plead that cause wherein his tongue must be confuted by his conscience It is the praise of the Spanish souldier that whilest all other Nations are mercenary and for money will serve on any side he will never fight against his own King nor will our Advocate against the Sovereigne Truth plainly appearing to his conscience He not onely hears but examines his Client and pincheth the cause where he fears it is foundred For many Clients in telling their case rather plead then relate it so that the Advocate hears not the true state of it till opened by the adverse party Surely the Lawyer that fills himself with instructions will travell longest in the cause without tiring Others that are so quick in searching seldome search to the quick and those miraculous apprehensions who understand more then all before the Client hath told half runne without their errand and will return without their answer If the matter be doubtfull he will onely warrant his own diligence Yet some keep an Assurance-office in their chamber and will warrant any cause brought unto them as knowing that if they fail they lose nothing but what long since was lost their credit He makes not a Trojan-siege of a suit but seeks to bring it to a set battel in a speedy triall Yet sometimes suits are continued by their difficulty the potencie and stomach of the parties without any default in the Lawyer Thus have there depended suits in Glocester-shire betwixt the Heirs of the Lord Barkley and Sr. Thomas Talbot Viscount Lisle ever since the reigne of King Edward the fourth untill now lately they were finally compounded He is faithfull to the side that first retains him Not like Demosthenes who secretly wrote one oration for Phormio and another in the same matter for Apolidorus his adversary In pleading he shoots fairly at the head of the cause and having fastened no frowns nor favours shall make him let go his hold Not snatching aside here and there to no purpose speaking little in much as it was said of Anaximenes That he had a flood of words and a drop of reason His boldnesse riseth or falleth as he apprehends the goodnesse or badnesse of his cause He joyes not to be retain'd in such a suit where all the right in question is but a drop blown up with malice to be a bubble Wherefore in such triviall matters he perswades his Client to sound a retreat and make a composition When his name is up his industry is not down thinking to plead not by his study but his credit Commonly Physicians like beer are best when they are old Lawyers like bread when they are young and new But our Advocate grows not lazie And if a leading case be out of the road of his practice he will take pains to trace it thorow his books and prick the footsteps thereof wheresoever he finds it He is more carefull to deserve then greedy to take fees He accounts the very pleading of a poore widows honest cause sufficient fees as conceiving himself then the King of Heavens Advocate bound ex officio to prosecute it And although some may say that such a Lawyer may even go live in Cornwall where it is observed that few of that profession hitherto have grown to any great livelihood yet shall he besides those two felicities of common Lawyers that they seldome die either without heirs or making a will find Gods blessing on his provisions and posterity We will respit him a while till he comes to be a Judge and then we will give an example of both together CHAP. 2. The good Physician HE trusteth not the single witnesse of the water if better testimony may be had For reasons drawn from the urine alone are as brittle as the urinall Sometimes the water runneth in such post-hast through the sick mans body it can give no account of any thing memorable in the passage though the most judicious eye examine it Yea the sick man may be in the state of death and yet life appear in his state Coming to his patient he perswades him to put his trust in God the fountain of health The neglect hereof hath caused the bad successe of the best Physicians for God will manifest that though skill comes mediately from him to be gotten by mans pains successe comes from him immediately to be disposed at his pleasure He â—ansells not his new experiments on the bodies of his patients letting loose mad receipts into the sick mans body to try how well Nature in him will fight against them whilest himself stands by and sees the battel except it be in desperate cases when death must be expell'd by death To poore people he prescribes cheap but wholesome medicines not removing the consumption out of their bodies into their purses nor sending them to the East Indies for drugs when they can reach better out of their gardens Lest his Apothecary should oversee he oversees his Apothecary For though many of that profession be both able and honest yet some out of ignorance or haste may mistake witnesse one of Bloys who being to serve a Doctours bill in stead of Optimi short written read Opii and had sent the patient asleep to his grave if the Doctours watchfulnesse had not prevented him worse are those who make wilfull errours giving one thing for another A prodigall who had spent his estate was pleased to jeer himself boasting that he had cosened those who had bought his means They gave me said he good new money and I sold them my Great-great-grandfathers old land But this cosenage is too too true in many Apothecaries selling to sick
cannot see how their calling can be lawfull who for greater wages will fight on any side against their own King and cause yea as false witnesses were hired against our blessed Saviour money will make the mouths of men plead against their Maker so were the Giants now in the world who as the Poets feigned made warre against God himself and should they offer great pay they would not want mercenary Souldiers to assist them He attends with all readinesse on the commands of his Generall rendring up his own judgement in obedience to the will and pleasure of his Leader and by an implicite faith believing all is best which he enjoyneth lest otherwise he be served as the French Souldier was in Scotland some eighty years since who first mounted the bulwark of a fort besieged whereupon ensued the gaining of the fort but Marescal de Thermes the French Generall first knighted him and then hanged him within an houre after because he had done it without commandment He will not in a bravery expose himself to needlesse perill 'T is madnesse to holloe in the ears of sleeping temptation to awaken it against ones self or to go out of his calling to find a danger But if a danger meets him as he walks in his vocation he neither stands still starts aside nor steps backward but either goes over it with valour or under it with patience All single Duels he detesteth as having first no command in Gods Word yea this arbitrary deciding causes by the sword subverts the fundamentall Laws of the Scripture Secondly no example in Gods Word that of David and Goliah moving in an higher Sphere as extraordinary Thirdly it tempts God to work a Miracle for mans pleasure and to invert the course of nature whereby otherwise the stronger will beat the weaker Fourthly each Dueller challengeth his King as unable or unwilling legally to right him and therefore he usurps the office himself Fifthly if slaying he hazards his neck to the halter if slain in heat of malice without repentance he adventures his soul to the devil Object But there are some intricate cases as in Titles of land which cannot otherwise be decided Seeing therefore that in such difficulties the right in question cannot be delivered by the midwifery of any judiciall proceedings then it must with Julius Caesar in his mothers belly be cut out and be determined by the sword Answ. Such a right may better be lost then to light a candle from hell to find it out if the Judges cannot find a middle way to part in betwixt them Besides in such a case Duells are no medium proportionatum to find out the truth as never appointed by God to that purpose Nor doth it follow that he hath the best in right who hath the best in fight for he that reads the lawfulnesse of actions by their events holds the wrong end of the book upwards Object But suppose an army of thirty thousand Infidells ready to fight against ten thousand Christians yet so that at last the Infidells are contented to try the day upon the valour of a single Champion whether in such a case may not a Christian undertake to combat with him the rather because the treble oddes before is the reby reduced to terms of equalitie and so the victory made more probable Answ. The victory was more probable before because it is more likely God will blesse his own means then means of mans appointing and it is his prerogative to give victory as well by few as by many Probability of conquest is not to be measured by the eye of humane reason contrary to the square of Gods Word Besides I question whether it be lawfull for a Christian army to derive their right of fighting Gods battels to any single man For the title every man hath to promote Gods glory is so invested and inherent in his own particular person that he cannot passe it over to another None may appear in Gods service by an Atturney and when Religion is at the stake there must be no lookers on except impotent people who also help by their prayers and every one is bound to lay his shoulders to the work Lastly would to God no Duels might be fought till this case came into question But how many dayly fall out upon a more false slight and flitting ground then the sands of Callis whereon they fight especially seeing there is an honourable Court appointed or some other equivalent way for taking up such quarrells and allowing reparations to the party injured Object But Reputation is so spirituall a thing it is inestimable and Honour falls not under valuation Besides to complain to the civil Magistrate sheweth no manhood but is like a childs crying to his father when he is onely beaten by his equall and my enemies forc'd acknowledgement of his fault enjoyn'd him by the Court shews rather his submission to the laws then to me But if I can civilize his rudenesse by my sword and chastize him into submission then he sings his penitentiall song in the true tune and it comes naturally indeed Answ. Honourable persons in that Court are the most competent Judges of Honour and though Credit be as tender as the apple of the eye yet such curious oculists can cure a blemish therein And why I pray is it more disgrace to repair to the Magistrate for redresse in Reputation then to have recourse to him in actions of trespasse The pretence of a forced submission is nothing all submissions having aliquid violentum in them and even the Evangelicall repentance of Gods servants hath a mixture of legall terrour frighting them thereto Object But Gownmen speak out of an antipathy they bear to fighting should we be rul'd by them we must break all our swords into penknifes and Lawyers to inlarge their gains send prohibitions to remove suits from the Camps to their Courts Divines are not to be consulted with herein as ignorant of the principles of Honour Answ. Indeed Honour is a word of course in the talk of roring boyes and pure enough in it self except their mouths soil it by often using of it But indeed God is the fountain of Honour Gods Word the Charter of Honour and godly men the best Judges of it nor is it any stain of cowardlinesse for one to fear hell and damnation We may therefore conclude that the laws of Duelling as the laws of drinking had their originall from the devil and therefore the declining of needlesse quarrels in our Souldier no abatement of Honour I commend his discretion and valour who walking in London-streetes met a gallant who cryed to him a pretty distance beforehand I will have the wall Yea answered he and take the house too if you can but agree with the Landlord But when God and his Prince calls for him our Souldier Had rather die ten times then once survive his credit Though life be sweet it shall not flatter the pallat of his soul
as with the sweetnesse of life to make him swallow down the bitternesse of an eternall disgrace He begrutcheth not to get to his side a probability of victory by the certainty of his own death and flieth from nothing so much as from the mention of flying And though some say he is a mad-man that will purchase Honour so dearly with his bloud as that he cannot live to enjoy what he hath bought our Souldier knows that he shall possesse the reward of his valour with God in heaven and also making the world his executor leave to it the rich inheritance of his memory Yet in some cases he counts it no disgrace to yield where it is impossible to conquer as when swarms of enemies crowd about him so that he shall rather be stifled then wounded to death In such a case if quarter be offered him he may take it with more honour then the other can give it and if he throws up his desperate game he may happily winne the next whereas if he playeth it out to the last he shall certainly lose it and himself But if he be to fall into the hand of a barbarous enemy whose giving him quarter is but repriving him for a more ignominious death he had rather disburse his life at the present then to take day to fall into the hands of such remorslesse creditours He makes none the object of his cruelty which cannot be the object of his fear Lyons they say except forc'd with hunger will not prey on women and children though I would wish none to try the truth hereof the truly valiant will not hurt women or infants nor will they be cruell to old men What conquest is it to strike him up who stands but on one leg and hath the other foot in the grave But arrant cowards such as would conquer victory it self if it should stand in their way as they flie count themselves never evenly match'd except they have threefold oddes on their side and esteem their enemie never disarmed till they be dead Such love to shew a nature steep'd in gall of passion and display the ignoble tyrany of prevailing dastards these being thus valiant against no resistance will make no resistance when they meet with true valour He counts it murther to kill any in cold bloud Indeed in taking Cities by assault especially when Souldiers have suffered long in an hard siege it is pardonable what present passion doth with a sudden thrust but a premeditated back-blow in cold bloud is base Some excuse there is for bloud enraged and no wonder if that scaldeth which boyleth but when men shall call a consultation in their soul and issue thence a deliberate act the more advised the deed is the lesse advised it is when men raise their own passions and are not raised by them specially if fair quarter be first granted an alms which he who gives to day may crave to morrow yea he that hath the hilt in his hand in the morning may have the point at his throat ere night He doth not barbarously abuse the bodies of his dead enemies We find that Hercules was the first the most valiant are ever most mercifull that ever suffered his enemies to carry away their dead bodies after they had been put to the sword Belike before his time they cruelly cut the corps in pieces or cast them to the wild beasts In time of plenty he provides for want hereafter Yet generally Souldiers as if they counted one Treasurer in an army were enough so hate covetousnesse that they cannot affect providence for the future and come home with more marks in their bodies then pence in their pockets He is willing and joyfull to imbrace peace on good conditions The procreation of peace and not the satisfying of mens lusts and liberties is the end of warre Yet how many having warre for their possession desire a perpetuity thereof Wiser men then King Henry the eights fool use to cry in fair weather whose harvest being onely in storms they themselves desire to raise them wherefore fearing peace will starve whom warre hath fatted and to render themselves the more usefull they prolong discord to the utmost and could wish when swords are once drawn that all scabbards might be cut asunder He is as quiet and painfull in peace as couragious in warre If he hath not gotten already enough whereon comfortably to subsist he rebetakes himself to his former calling he had before the warre began the weilding of his sword hath not made him unweildie to do any other work and put his bones out of joynt to take pains Hence comes it to passe that some take by-courses on the high-wayes and death whom they honourably sought for in the field meets them in a worse place But we leave our Souldier seeking by his virtues to ascend from a private place by the degrees of Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Colonell till he comes to be a Generall and then in the next book God willing you shall have his example CHAP. 20. The good Sea-Captain HIs Military part is concurrent with that of the Souldier already described He differs onely in some Sea-properties which we will now set down Conceive him now in a Man of warre with his letters of mart well arm'd victuall'd and appointed and see how he acquits himself The more power he hath the more carefull he is not to abuse it Indeed a Sea-captain is a King in the Iland of a ship supreme Judge above appeal in causes civill and criminall and is seldome brought to an account in Courts of Justice on land for injuries done to his own men at sea He is carefull in observing of the Lords day He hath a watch in his heart though no bells in a steeple to proclaim that day by ringing to prayers S r Francis Drake in three years sailing about the world lost one whole day which was scarce considerable in so long time 'T is to be feared some Captains at sea lose a day every week one in seven neglecting the Sabbath He is as pious and thankfull when a tempest is past as devout when 't is present not clamorous to receive mercies and tongue-tied to return thanks Many mariners are calm in a storm and storm in a calm blustring with oathes In a tempest it comes to their turn to be religious whose piety is but a fit of the wind and when that 's allayed their devotion is ended Escaping many dangers makes him not presumptuous to run into them Not like those Sea-men who as if their hearts were made of those rocks they have often sayled by are so alwayes in death they never think of it These in their navigations observe that it is farre hotter under the Tropicks in the coming to the Line then under the Line it self in like manner they conceive that the fear phancy in preparing for death is more terrible then death it self which makes them
is unlawfull in any Christian Church to play upon the sinnes and miseries of others the fitter object of the Elegies then the Satyrs of all truly religious But what do I speaking against multiplicity of books in this age who trespasse in this nature my self What was a learned mans complement may serve for my confession and conclusion Multi mei similes hoc morbo laborant ut cum scribere nesciant tamen à scribendo temperare non possint CHAP. 19. Of Time-serving THere be foure kinds of Time-serving first out of Christian discretion which is commendable second out of humane infirmity which is more pardonable third and fourth out of ignorance or affection both which are damnable of them in order He is a good Time-server that complyes his manners to the severall ages of this life pleasant in youth without wantonnesse grave in old age without frowardnesse Frost is as proper for winter as flowers for spring Gravity becomes the ancient and a green Christmas is neither handsome nor healthfull He is a good Time-server that finds out the fittest opportunity for every action God hath made a time for every thing under the sunne save onely for that which we do at all times to wit Sinne. He is good Time-server that improves the present for Gods glory and his own salvation Of all the extent of time onely the instant is that which we can call ours He is a good Time-server that is pliant to the times in matters of mere indifferency Too blame are they whose minds may seem to be made of one entire bone without any joynts they cannot bend at all but stand as stiffly in things of pure indifferency as in matters of absolute necessity He is a good Time-server that in time of persecution neither betrayes Gods cause nor his own safety And this he may do 1 By lying hid both in his person and practice though he will do no evil he will forbear the publick doing of some good He hath as good cheer in his heart though he keeps not open house and will not publickly broch his Religion till the palat of the times be better in taste to rellish it The Prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time Though according to S. Peters command we are to give a reason of our hope to every one that asketh namely that asketh for his instruction but not for our destruction especially if wanting lawfull Authority to examine us Ye shall be brought saith Christ no need have they therefore to run before Princes for my sake 2 By flying away if there be no absolute necessity of his staying no scandall given by his flight if he wants strength to stay it out till death and lastly if God openeth a fair way for his departure otherwise if God bolts the doores and windows against him he is not to creep out at the top of the chimney and to make his escape by unwarrantable courses If all should flie Truth would want champions for the present if none should flie Truth might want champions for the future We come now to Time-servers out of infirmity Heart of oke hath sometimes warp'd a little in the scorching heat of persecution Their want of true courage herein cannot be excused Yet many censure them for surrendring up their forts after a long siege who would have yielded up their own at the first summons Oh there is more required to make one valiant then to call Cranmer or Jewell Coward as if the fire in Smithfield had been no hotter then what is painted in the Book of Martyrs Yet afterwards they have come into their former straightnesse stiffnesse The troops which at first rather wheeld about then ran away have come in seasonable at last Yea their constant blushing for shame of their former cowardlinesse hath made their souls ever after look more modest and beautifull Thus Cranmer who subscribed to Popery grew valiant afterwards and thrust his right hand which subscribed first into fire so that that hand dyed as it were a malefactour and all the rest of his body dyed a martyr Some have served the times out of mere Ignorance Gaping for company as others gap'd before them Pater noster or Our Father I could both sigh and smile at the witty simplicity of a poore old woman who had lived in the dayes of Queen Marie and Queen Elizabeth and said her prayers dayly both in Latine and English and Let God said she take to himself which he likes best But worst are those who serve the times out of mere Affectation Doing as the times do not because the times do as they should do but merely for sinister respects to ingratiate themselves We reade of an Earl of Oxford fined by King Henrie the seventh fifteen thousand marks for having too many Retainers But how many Retainers hath Time had in all ages and Servants in all offices yea and Chaplains too It is a very difficult thing to serve the times they change so frequently so suddenly and sometimes so violently from one extreme to another The times under Dioclesian were Pagan under Constantine Christian under Constantius Arian under Julian Apostate under Jovian Christian again and all within the age of man the term of seventie years And would it not have wrench'd and spraind his soul with short turning who in all these should have been of the Religion for the time being Time-servers are oftentimes left in the lurch If they do not onely give their word for the times in their constant discourses but also give their bands for them and write in their defence Such when the times turn afterwards to another extreme are left in the briers and come off very hardly from the bill of their hands If they turn again with the times none will trust them for who will make a staff of an osier Miserable will be the condition of such Time-servers when their Master is taken from them When as the Angel swore Rev. 10.6 that Time shall be no longer Therefore is it best serving of him who is eternity a Master that can ever protect us To conclude he that intends to meet with one in a great Fair and knows not where he is may sooner find him by standing still in some principall place there then by traversing it up and down Take thy stand on some good ground in Religion and keep thy station in a fixed posture never hunting after the times to follow them and an hundred to one they will come to thee once in thy lifetime CHAP. 20. Of Moderation MOderation is the silken string running through the pearl-chain of all virtues It appears both in Practice and Judgement we will insist on the latter and describe it first negatively Moderation is not an halting betwixt two opinions when the through-believing of one of them is necessary to salvation no pity is to be shown to such
for a Paragon of his age and place having the fewest vices with so many virtues Indeed he was somewhat given to women our Chronicles fathering two base children on him so hard it is to find a Sampson without a Dalila And seeing never King or Kings eldest sonne since the conquest before his time married a subject I must confesse his Match was much beneath himself taking the double reversion of a subjects bed marrying Joan Countesse of Salisbury which had been twice a widow But her surpassing beauty pleads for him herein and yet her beauty was the meanest thing about her being surpass'd by her virtues And what a worthy woman must she needs be her self whose very garter hath given so much honour to Kings and Princes He dyed at Canterbury June the eighth 1376 in the fourty sixth yeare of his age it being wittily observed of the short lives of many worthy men fatuos à morte defendit ipsa insulsitas si cui plus caeteris aliquantulum salis insit quod miremini statim putrescit CHAP. 21. The King HE is a mortall God This world at the first had no other Charter for its being then Gods Fiat Kings have the same in the Present tense I have said ye are Gods We will describe him first as a good man so was Henry the third then as a good King so was Richard the third both which meeting together make a King complete For he that is not a good man or but a good man can never be a good Sovereigne He is temperate in the ordering of his own life O the Mandate of a Kings example is able to do much especially he is 1 Temperate in his diet When Aeschines commended Philip King of Macedon for a joviall man that would drink freely Demosthenes answered that this was a good quality in a spunge but not in a King 2 Continent in his pleasures Yea Princes lawfull children are farre easier provided for then the rabida fames of a spurious ofspring can be satisfied whilest their Paramors and Concubines counting it their best manners to carve for themselves all they can come by prove intolerably expensive to a State Besides many rebellions have risen out of the marriage-bed defiled He holds his Crown immediately from the God of Heaven The most high ruleth in the kingdomes of men and giveth them to whomsoever he will Cujus jussu nascuntur homines ejus jussu constituuntur Principes saith a Father Inde illis potestas unde spiritus saith another And whosoever shall remount to the first originall of Kings shall lose his eyes in discovering the top thereof as past ken and touching the heavens We reade of a place in Mount Olivet wherein the last footsteps they say of our Saviour before he ascended into heaven are to be seen that it will ever lie open to the skies and will not admit of any close or covering to be made over it how costly soever Farre more true is this of the condition of absolute Kings who in this respect are ever sub dio so that no superiour power can be interposed betwixt them and heaven Yea the Character of loyalty to Kings so deeply impress'd in Subjects hearts shews that onely Gods finger wrote it there Hence it is if one chance to conceive ill of his Sovereigne though within the cabinet of his soul presently his own heart grows jealous of his own heart and he could wish the tongue cut out of his tell-tale thoughts lest they should accuse themselves And though sometimes Rebels Atheists against the Gods on earth may labour to obliterate loyalty in them yet even then their conscience the Kings Aturney frames Articles against them and they stand in daily fear lest Darius Longimanus such a one is every King should reach them and revenge himself He claimeth to be supreme Head on earth over the Church in his Dominions Which his power over all persons and causes Ecclesiasticall 1. Is given him by God who alone hath the originall propriety thereof 2. Is derived unto him by a prescription time out of mind in the Law of Nature declared more especially in the Word of God 3. Is cleared and averred by the private Laws and Statutes of that State wherein he lives For since the Pope starting up from being the Emperours Chaplain to be his Patron hath invaded the rights of many earthly Princes many wholsome Laws have been made in severall Kingdomes to assert and notifie their Kings just power in Spiritualibus Well therefore may our King look with a frowning face on such whose tails meet in this firebrand which way soever the prospect of their faces be to deny Princes power in Church-matters Two Jesuites give this farre-fetch'd reason why Samuel at the Feast caused the shoulder of the Sacrifice to be reserved and kept on purpose for Saul to feed on because say they Kings of all men have most need of strong shoulders patiently to endure those many troubles and molestations they shall meet with especially I may well adde if all their Subjects were as troublesome and disloyall as the Jesuites The best is as God hath given Kings shoulders to bear he hath also given them armes to strike such as deprive them of their lawfull Authority in Ecclesiasticall affairs He improves his power to defend true Religion Sacerdotall Offices though he will not doe he will cause them to be done He will not offer to burn incense with Uzziah yet he will burn Idolaters bones with Josiah I mean advance Piety by punishing Profanenesse God saith to his Church Kings shall be thy Nursing-fathers and their Queens thy Nursing-mothers And oh let not Princes out of State refuse to be so themselves and onely hire others it belonging to Subjects to suck but to Princes to suckle Religion by their authority They ought to command Gods Word to be read and practised wherein the blessed Memory of King James shall never be forgotten His Predecessour in England restored the Scripture to her Subjects but he in a manner restored the Scripture to it self in causing the New Translation thereof whereby the meanest that can reade English in effect understands the Greek and Hebrew A Princely act which shall last even when the lease of Time shall be expired Verily I say unto you wheresoever this Translation shall be read in the whole realm there shall also this that this King hath done be told in memoriall of him He useth Mercy and Iustice in his proceedings against Offenders Solomon saith The throne is established by Iustice and Solomon saith The throne is upholden by Mercy Which two Proverbs speak no more contradiction then he that saith that the two opposite side-walls of an house hold up the same roof Yea as some Astronomers though erroneously conceived the Crystalline Sphere to be made of water and therefore to be set next the Primum mobile to allay the heat thereof which otherwise
the Pope that these Antipodes were not subject to his jurisdiction which much incensed his Holinesse against that strange opinion We will branch the description of an Heretick into these three parts First he is one that formerly hath been of the true Church They went out from us but they were not of us These afterwards prove more offensive to the Church then very Pagans as the English-Irish descended anciently of English Parentage be it spoken with the more shame to them and sorrow to us turning wild become worse enemies to our Nation then the Native Irish themselves 2. Maintaining a Fundamentall errour Every scratch in the hand is not a stab to the heart nor doth every false opinion make a Heretick 3. With obstinacy Which is the dead flesh making the green wound of an errour fester into the old soare of an Heresie It matters not much what manner of person he hath If beautifull perchance the more attractive of feminine followers If deformed so that his body is as odde as his opinions he is the more properly entitled to the reputation of crooked Saint His naturall parts are quick and able Yet he that shall ride on a winged horse to tell him thereof shall but come too late to bring him stale news of what he knew too well before Learning is necessary in him if he trades in a criticall errour but if he onely broches dregs and deals in some dull sottish opinion a trovell will serve as well as a pencill to daub on such thick course colours Yea in some Heresies deep studying is so uselesse that the first thing they learn is to inveigh against all learning However some smattering in the originall tongues will do well On occasion he will let flie whole vollies of Greek and Hebrew words whereby he not onely amazeth his ignorant Auditours but also in conferences daunteth many of his opposers who though in all other learning farre his superiours may perchance be conscious of want of skill in those languages whilest the Heretick hereby gains credit to his cause and person His behaviour is seemingly very pious and devout How foul soever the postern and backdoore be the gate opening to the street is swept and garnished and his outside adorned with pretended austerity He is extremely proud and discontented with the times quarrelling that many beneath him in piety are above him in place This pride hath caused many men which otherwise might have been shining lights prove smoaking firebrands in the Church Having first hammered the heresie in himself he then falls to seducing of others so hard it is for one to have the itch and not to scratch Yea Babylon her self will alledge that for Sions sake she will not hold her peace The necessity of propogating the truth is errours plea to divulge her falshoods Men as naturally they desire to know so they desire what they know should be known If challenged to a private dispute his impudence bears him out He counts it the onely errour to confesse he hath erred His face is of brasse which may be said either ever or never to blush In disputing his Modus is sine modo and as if all figures even in Logick were magicall he neglects all forms of reasoning counting that the onely Syllogisme which is his conclusion He slights any Synod if condemning his opinions esteeming the decisions thereof no more then the forfeits in a barbers shop where a Gentlemans pleasure is all the obligation to pay and none are bound except they will bind themselves Sometimes he comes to be put to death for his obstinacy Indeed some charitable Divines have counted it inconsistent with the lenity of the Gospel which is to expect and endeavour the amendment of all to put any to death for their false opinions and we reade of S. Paul though the Papists paint him alwayes with a sword that he onely came with a rod. However the mildest Authours allow that the Magistrate may inflict capitall punishment on Hereticks in cases of 1. Sedition against the State wherein he lives And indeed such is the sympathy betwixt Church and Commonwealth that there are few Heresies except they be purely speculative and so I may say have heads without hands or any practicall influence but in time the violent maintainers of them may make a dangerous impression in the State 2. Blasphemy against God and those points of religion which are awfully to be believed For either of these our Heretick sometimes willingly undergoes death and then in the Calendar of his own conceit he canonizeth himself for a Saint yea a Martyr CHAP. 11. The rigid Donatists THe Donatists were so called from a double Donatus whereof the one planted the sect the other water'd it the devil by Gods permission gave the increase The elder Donatus being one of tolerable parts and intolerable pride rais'd a Schisme in Carthage against good Cecilian the Bishop there whom he loaded unjustly with many crimes which he was not able to prove and vexed with this disgrace he thought to right his credit by wronging religion and so began the heresie of Donatists His most dominative tenet was that the Church was perished from the face of the earth the reliques thereof onely remaining in his party I instance the rather on this Heresie because the reviving thereof is the new disease of our times One Vibius in Rome was so like unto Pompey ut permutato statu Pompeius in illo ille in Pompeio salutari possit Thus the Anabaptists of our dayes and such as are Anabaptistically inclin'd in all particulars resemble the old Donatists abating onely that difference which is necessarily required to make them alike The epithet of rigid I therefore do adde to seperate the Donatists from themselves who seperated themselves from all other Christians For there were two principall sides of them first the Rogatists from Rogatus their teacher to whom S. Augustine beareth witnesse that they had zeal but not according to knowledge These were pious people for their lives hating bloudy practices though erroneous in their doctrine The learned Fathers of that age count them part of the true Church and their brethren though they themselves disclaim'd any such brotherhood with other Christians Oh the sacred violence of such worthy mens charity in plucking those to them which thrust themselves away But there was another sort of Jesuited Donatists as I may say whom they called Circumcellions though as little reason can be given of their name as of their opinions whom we principally intend at this time Their number in short time grew not onely to be considerable but terrible their tenet was plausible and winning and that Faith is easily wrought which teacheth men to believe well of themselves From Numidia where they began they overspread Africa Spain France Italie and Rome it self We find not any in Brittain where Pelagianisme mightily reigned either
no Christians and those who have a grain of grace under a load of imperfections would be counted reprobates thirdly because Gods vessells of honour from all eternitie not as yet appearing but wallowing in sinne would be made castawayes fourthly because God by the mixture of the wicked with the godly will try the watchfulnesse and patience of his servants fifthly because thereby he will bestow many favours on the wicked to clear his justice and render them the more inexcusable lastly because the mixture of the wicked grieving the godly will make them the more heartily pray for the day of judgement The desire of future glory makes the godly to cry Come Lord Iesus but the feeling of present pain whereof they are most sensible causeth the ingemination Come Lord Iesus come quickly In a word as it is wholsome for a flock of sheep for some goats to feed amongst them their bad sent being good Phisick for the sheep to keep them from the Shakings so much profit redounds to the godly by the necessary mixture of the wicked amongst them making the pious to stick the faster to God and goodnesse Fifth Position That the efficacie of the Sacrament depends on the piety of the Minister so that in effect his piety washeth the water in baptisme and sanctifieth it whereas the profanenesse of a bad man administring it doth unsacrament baptisme it self making a nullity thereof Herein the Anabaptists joyn hands with them as 't is generally known by their re-baptizing Yea some tending that way have maintained that Sacraments received from ignorant and unpreaching Ministers are of no validity Reason It is written Matth. 7.18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Confutation This is true of mens personall but not of their ministeriall acts that Minister that can adde the word of institution to the element makes a sufficient Sacrament And Sacraments like to shelmeats may be eaten after fowl hands without any harm Cum obsint indigne tractantibus prosint tamen digne sumentibus Yet God make all Ministers pious painfull and able we if beholding the present age may justly bemoan their want who remembring the former age must as justly admire their plenty Sixth Position That all learning and eloquence was to be condemn'd Late Sectarists go farther Greenwood and Barrow moved Queen Elizabeth to abolish both Universities Which we believe and wish may then be done When all blear eyes have quite put out the sunne Reason Because learning hath been the cause of many Heresies and discords in the Church Confutation Not learning but the conceit thereof in those that wanted it and the abuse thereof in such as had it caused Hereticks Seventh Position That Magistrates have no power to compell people to serve God by outward punishment which is also the distill'd position of our Anabaptists thus blinding the Ministers and binding the Magistrate what work do they make Reason Because it is a breach of the liberty of the creature The King of heaven gave not men freewill for the Kings of the earth to take it away from them Confutation God gave men freewill to use it well if they abuse it God gave Magistrates power to punish them else they bear the sword in vain They may command people to serve God who herein have no cause to complain better to be compell'd to a feast Luke 14.23 then to runne to a fray But these men who would not have Magistrates compell them quaere whether if they had power they would not compell Magistrates The Donatists also did mightily boast of miracles and visions they made nothing to step into the third heaven and have familiar dialogues with God himself they used also to cite their revelations as arguments for their opinions we will trust the coppy of such their visions to be true when we see the originall produc'd herein the Anabaptists come not behind them Strange was the Donatists ambition of Martyrdome they used to force such as they met to wound them mortally or violently to stab and kill them and on purpose to fall down from steep mountains which one day may wish the mountains to fall on them For Martyrs are to die willingly but not wilfully and though to die be a debt due to nature yet he that payes it before the time may be called upon for repayment to die the second death Once many Donatists met a noble Gentleman and gave him a sword into his hand commanding him to kill them or threatning to kill him Yet he refus'd to do it unlesse first they would suffer him to bind them all for fear said he that when I have kill'd one or two of you the rest alter their minds and fall upon me Having fast bound them all he soundly whipt them and so let them alone Herein he shewed more wit then they wanted and more charity then wit denying them their desires and giving them their deserts seeking to make true Saints by marring of false Martyrs These Donatists were opposed by the learned writings of private Fathers Optatus Milevitanus and S. Augustine no Heresie could bud out but presently his pruning-hook was at it and by whole Councells one at Carthage another at Arles But the Donatists whilest blessing themselves cared not for the Churches Anathema's being so farre from fearing her excommunications that they prevented them in first excommunicating themselves by separation and they count it a kindnesse to be shut out who would willingly be gone Besides they called at Carthage an Anti-councell of their own faction consisting of two hundred seventy Bishops to confirm their opinions Let Truth never challenge Errour at the weapon of number alone without other arguments for some Orthodox Councells have had fewer suffrages in them then this Donatisticall conventicle and we may see small Pocket-Bibles and a great Folio-Alchoran But that which put the period to this Heresie for after the six hundredth yeare of Christ the Donatist appears not I looked after his place and he was not to be found was partly their own dissensions for they crumbled into severall divisions amongst themselves Besides the honest Rogatists of whom before they had severall sects some more some lesse strict called from their severall masters Cresconians Petilians Ticonians Parmenians Maximians c. which much differed amongst themselves Thus is it given to all Heresies to break out into under-factions still going further in their tenets and such as take themselves to be twice-refined will count all others to be but drosse till there be as many Heresies as Hereticks like the Ammonites so scattered by Saul 1. Sam. 11.11 that there remained not two of them which were together But chiefly they were suppressed by the civill Magistrate Moses will do more with a frown then Aaron with a blow I mean with Church-censures for Honorius the godly Emperour with his arm above a thousand miles