Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	good_a	witness_n	witness_v	2,329	5	9.9757	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19802	True and Christian friendshippe With all the braunches, members, parts, and circumstances thereof, Godly and learnedly described. Written first in Latine by that excellent and learned man, Lambertus Danæus, and now turned into English. Together also with a right excellent inuectiue of the same author, against the wicked exercise of diceplay, and other prophane gaming.; Tractatus de amicitia Christiana. English	Daneau, Lambert, ca. 1530-1595?; Newton, Thomas, 1542?-1607.	1586 (1586)	STC 6230; ESTC S114067	45,848	120

which burneth alike in the breastes of either partie Neither yet doth friendship ceasse or vtterly perish through absence growing vpon iust and reasonable causes as we may see in Dauid and Ionathan whose friendship cōtinued and lasted still the one notwithstanding being absent from the other for such deepe rooted goodwill and such ardent affection can not be easely quenched Therefore Friendship being first well and surely grounded betweene persons present continueth still euen betweene them being absent and the further they be asunder the greater commonly is the longing desire of either partie to other and the more vehemently doth their enflamed myndes encrease But if this absence and discontinuaunce be long deferred protracted or delayed or if this Friendship were not at the beginning well and throughly settled and grounded then truely such is the fickle condition and inconstancie of the worlde now adaies it is wont commonly either to slyde quite away and take his leaue or at least to waxe cold and not to haue such great heates and desires as before For Aristotle saith and that very truely Silence and absence dissolueth many friendships What is therefore this true and Christian Friendship whereof wee now speake Many men doe bring many reasons whereby they goe about if not altogether and plainly to explicate and at large to displaye yet at least wise to depaynt and somewhat to shadow out the force and nature thereof Some therfore define it with too large circumstaunces and some againe hemme it in within too narrowe a compasse For they which say that Friendship is a consent of mindes in all causes and all matters whatsoeuer doe not well aduise themselues what they say for that they doe stretch the force of Friendshippe further then they ought to doe For there may bee many things wherein two men or moe doe not alwaies agree together in one but be of diuers and sundrie opinions As namely they may at some tymes agree together to doe some good thing and oftentymes againe they may consult together to do some things naughtie and wicked So that in such a case this consent of mindes in them ought rather to be termed a secrete compact a whispering assemblie or a close conference rather then true and stedfast Friendship For they that so define Friendship that they make it to be a consent of goodmē among themselues touching their priuate affayres and dealings onely doe make of Friendshippe as it were a kinde of Merchandize But wee doe thinke that Friendship may very well be thus defined if wee say that it is a Pact or Couenaunt made betweene two persons God himselfe beeing called to witnesse wherein they faithfully promise th' one to th' other mutually to loue cherish and entierly to conserue protect maintaine and defend one the others person estate and goods so farre foorth as it may lawfully bee done without breach of God his lawe or dishonour to his worde Which definition being particularly examined shal the better appeare and be found to carie in it the more certaintie and trueth Hierome in his 5. Epistle doth thus define it Friendshippe is a mutuall loue engraffed in the mynde and a strong linking of the harts together chast sincere and without emulation And first it is called a Pact or Couenant because in Friendshippe this seemeth to be a thing thereunto singularlie and peculiarlie appropriate that there is alwaies betweene faithfull vowed Louers a certaine bargaine or agreement solemnely made So did Ionathan and Dauid agree and consent betwene themselues making a Couenaunt betweene them and that not only once but many times renewed and repeated For as loue and charitie doth generally commaūd and will euery one of vs to bee knit together in a most firme consent of myndes and agreement of iudgements so specially namely in true Friendship it is among Friends most chiefly required that their faithfull hearts and true affections may not bee smoothered in secrecie or kept vnknowne but be apparaunted made open and manifested For such is the force and efficacie of this loue and affection which knitteth and linketh them together that it will not in any wise bee hidd but will breake foorth into open shewe Wherby it commeth to passe that the one vttereth and testifieth to the other what affection raigneth in him and what desire he hath to bee loued againe of the other whom he so ardently fauoureth Among other kindes of men the mutuall goodwill that one beareth to an other may many tymes be kept secrete and vnuttered But betweene Friends it can not in any case so be Therefore they doe vse this testification of their mutual affection and will as it were the liuely voyce of both their hearts and the firmer bond and strōger Buttresse for perpetuitie and continuaunce Now the name of God is vsed and in this case called to witnesse because he is the true Author and very Fountaine of al firme faithfull and stedfast Friendship without whom no maner of Friendship can be good godlie or commēdable For a higher greater mightier or surer witnesse pledge or token of their inward minde and will then God himself is can they haue none and therefore doe they reuerently in this behalf and for this purpose call him as Witnesse to their Cōscience and protestatiō And what better witnesse of their professed promise can they bring then God himselfe Whose name or authoritie can they vse that can and wil more seuerely and sharply punish their breach and contempt then he For their desire and wishe is that the couenant pact league promise vowe protestation agreeement and consent so betweene them mutually made and enterchaungeablie receiued and taken should not be for a tyme but for euer not momentanie but perpetuall not fleeting and fading but permanent and stable For this intent therefore I say doe they vse and enterpose the name of God building their matters vpon him who is the strongest and surest foundation And thus doe we reade that Ionathan and Dauid knit their Friendship made their couenaunt before the Lord. It is further also written of the same Ionathan that he gaue vnto Dauid as a pledge bonde or pawne of their newe begon Friendshippe not onely the solemne cyting of the name of God but also other visible giftes and outward testifications to wit his Robe Girdle Sword Bowe and such other garments and furniture as at that tyme he had for such heartie curtesies maketh men not onely the mindfuller but also more religious keepers and obseruers of their promise and couenant It is said in the definition to be betweene two because neuer or very seldome is firme and fast Friendship among moe then twaine And therefore for the preseruing of it stable stedfast and vnuiolated there must not a third be taken into this knot of true Friendshippe Now whereas it is written of Dionysius King of Sicile that he earnestly requested to be taken into the perfect bond of sincere amitie together with Damon Pythias it

then he doth vnto that his newe chosen Friend For if there should bee allowed neuer so little difference herein the name of Frendshippe were vtterly gone and quight quayled and might no longer enioye that title as the same Cicero no lesse eloquently then truely hath set downe For such is the force of Friendship that whensoeuer a man wisheth any better happe to himself then he doth to his friend it by by ceasseth and dyeth And such effect doth this Loue worke in the mynds of faithful frendes that the one reioyceth at the prosperous estate and welfare of the other and contrariwise soroweth and is greatly greeued at his mishap and aduersitie euen as wee see came to passe in Ionathan who greatly sorowed at the calamitie and affliction of Dauid Yea so mightie is the force of this Loue and coniunction of myndes that they weepe together and reioyce together Finally when a man is faithfully professed in this league of sincere and true Friendship he preferreth and more esteemeth his friende then he doth any other whomsoeuer and beareth vnto him a farre greater affection and zeale then to all other men for so seemed Ionathan to preferre his deare friende Dauid before his owne naturall father so farre forth as Gods glorie is not thereby eclipsed nor his holy will and commaundement wilfully transgressed For he be wrayed and opened his fathers secrete counsell vnto Dauid and tried out by deuises what his fathers purpose sayinges and meaninges were toward him yea this Ionathan feared not a whit to discouer and opē vnto him such practises as greatly sounded to the shame and reproach of his owne father King Saule This so vehement mutuall Loue breedeth likewise among friendes a mutuall consent and an holy agreement of mynds in al things yea it ingendreth also betweene thē a sweete pleasure and lōging desire of the one toward the other And the further that they bee asunder by distaunce of place the more ardently do they desire and long the one for the other as it were one entier Soule being separated and vehemently desiring the other halfe of it selfe being absent Finally the neerer they be together the more is the flame of their inward mutuall affection inkindled and through daily conuersing together is still made sweeter and pleasaunter This kinde of vehement Affection is not lightly seene among any other persons for it commonly falleth out that this daily conuersation and frequent familiaritie together breedeth and soweth among them either flat hatred or at least apparant contempt But betweene Frendes it is the meanes that bindeth and tyeth them the surer and the faster together For their naturall dispositions so rightly agree together that what the one thinketh good the other thinketh not amisse and in all things they commonly retaine one and the selfe same iudgement striuing within themselues whether of them may surmount and ouercome the other in curtesies and benefites They drawe moreouer in one equall yoke they haue one will one minde one purpose and meaning whereby their mutuall consent in all respects is not onely inuiolably conserued but also much the more encreased Therfore there is no iarring no dissension no brawling no chyding no contention no froward ouerthwarting betweene them that be friendes in deede but the one beareth with the other the one yeeldeth to the other in giuing of honour the one goeth before the other the one not so wedded to his opinion but that he suffreth himself to be easily persuaded or dissuaded by the other so farre as the honor of God is not thereby any way empayred or emblemished The third and last effect of true Friendship is the interchangeable curtesie defence protection assistaunce ayde maintenance and conseruation to the very vttermost of abilitie and power of one Friend for an other with no lesse care for his preseruation safetie preferment commoditie and all other benefites whatsoeuer both touching himselfe and also all them that depend vpon him For if by that societie loue which ought to bee betweene all the godlie among them selues we accoumpt those that by nature are ioyned and lincked vnto vs as our owne and doe studie which way wee may doe them any good either in mainteyning them with necessaries or defending them frō extremities how much more ought one Frend to be carefull for the good estate and welfare of an other and to accoumpt him as his owne yea as himselfe specially hauing vowed and promised and that with an oth so to doe Therfore he will bee readie in trueth to say and to promise the same that Dauid spake and vowed to Abiathar He that seeketh thy life shall seeke my life also Their Guestes their familiars their friendes and their enemies shal be common betweene them and no more to the one then to the other And to conclude All things among friendes according to the olde Prouerbe are common Chiefly principally and afore all thinges the one ought to haue an especiall care for the saluation and soule health of the other next for the safetie and welfare of the bodie and thirdly for their other goodes ioyntly appertayning vnto them either in common in the right of faithfull Friendship of which sorte be worldly goodes Cattaile money wealth and the francke vse thereof at either of their pleasures or els priuately and singularly belonging vnto the one of them as for example his wife Therfore if the one shall vnderstand of any conspiracie or practise deuised imagined or intended to the hurte and hinderaunce of the other he will discouer and reueale it For so dealt Ionathan toward Dauid They will also hazard themselues the one for the other and put themselues in present daunger for their defence and rescue aswell in their absence as in their presence For so did Ionathan put himselfe into most apparant perill for his faithfull friend Dauid In al respects and at all assaies they are helpfull and assistaunt the one to the other To conclude by their most friendly and syncere admonitions aduises assistaunce and ayde so farre as by the warrant of the Word of God and of a good Conscience is lawfull they vnfaynedly relieue succour helpe cherish comfort encourage maintaine nourish cheere vp and sustaine the one the other For Friendes doe mutually helpe the one the other either with their wealth and goodes or els with their aduise and counsell or finally with their trauaile and labour In their giuing of counsaile and aduise or in their admonitions and frendly directions one Friend doth not flatter an other neither doth he cōceale and hide from him if he espye and knowe in him any faultes worthie of reprehension For Christian Friendship tendeth vnto and respecteth the aduauncement of Gods glorie and not the fostring and nourishing of men in their errors He that is a godly friend remembreth and vseth this notable sentence of Phocion the Athenian Thou canst not haue mee to bee both a Flatterer and a Friend to thee also For a Flatterer

by them without relieuing and succouring them can finde in our hearts to saue our money this way and to spende and consume the same vpon Playe and other trifling Guegawes Woe vnto this vnmercifulnesse sensualitie and vaine pleasure which we shall hereafter without earnest and speedie repentance most greeuously smartingly pay for Woe vnto this wilfull loosing of money which not onely God himself but those poore Creatures also whom wee in their miserie and necessitie contemned and regarded not because wee would satisfie our owne wicked lustes in Playing shall before all the blessed Angels cast in our teeth and lay to our charge as it is euidently written and plainly set forth in the Gospell What shame is it for those whom GOD hath blessed with store of worldly wealth and are called Christians not onely daintilie to wallowe in all pleasures and delightes but also for fulfilling of their sensuall lustes and affections ryotously and disorderly by Playe to spende and consume aboundant riches and wilfully in vanitie to cast away huge Sūmes of Money dealing therein not vnlike vnto that miserable rich Glutton whereof Saint Luke speaketh Whereas in the meane while poore afflicted and diseased Lazarus our brother lying at their gate begging reliefe and making pitifull mone for foode is nothing at all regarded but rather vtterly contemned and despitefully rahated and suffered miserably to sterue for hunger Vpon whom the very Dogges by licking his woundes shewed a kind of humaine affection and bestowed on him that almes that belonged to their nature any way to yeeld Shall wee that bee men and Christians shewe no maner of compassion no succour no relief to our Christian brother distressed with want and afflicted with pouertie as Lazarus was What a shame is it that we should haue money to waste and consume vpon Play to haue none charitablie to bestow vpon the seelie poore members of Christ to relieue them in their neede and extremitie Let vs therefore brethren followe that counsell or rather commaundement of our Sauiour Christ that is of the vnrighteous Mammon to make vs friendes not those which winne our money so catch our Mammon from vs by Play for such kind of persons are neuer a whit the more our friendes neither doe they thinke themselues any thing the more bounden to thanke vs therefore but the poore Creatures of God the members of Christ and our brethren for which bountie to them shewed God himselfe will become our Paymaister and restore vnto vs an hundreth folde And certainly very excellent is that sentence of Lactantius It skilleth much saith be what maner of persons they bee that helpe thee to spende thy thrift whether Makeshifts Dycers and Bawdes do catch it from thee or whether thou doe bestow the same vppon godly vses and for Gods sake and whether thou prodigally spend it in gluttonie and cramming thy belly or els laye it vp for store in the Treasurie of Righteousnesse Therefore as it is a vice wastfully for ill purposes to spende and consume our wealth so is it a vertue to bestowe the same to good vses Augustine forbiddeth vs to bestowe any money for the seeing of Stage Playes and Enterludes or to giue any thing vnto the Players therein and yet these kinde of persons doe after a sorte let out their labour vnto vs and their industrie many times is laudable What shall we say then to our selues if we lash out the same vpō these iolly Gamesters and frolick companions whose humour we feede and delight aswell as they do ours and from whom wee receiue none other maner of thing but losse of tyme and wasting of our life All these things being most true wee may boldly thus conclude that all this kinde of gaine and aduauntage gotten by Playe is no whit better then plaine Theft and that whatsoeuer we detayne and keepe to our selues beeing thus gotten is in trueth none of ours neither can it bee iustly and with good conscience by vs possessed The third Chapter Of Games Playes and publique Exercises and of the Rewardes thereunto assigned by the Common wealth BVT least hereby any man mistaking our meaning should thinke wee went about to binde clogge and ensnare the conscience we wil here in this case set downe two exceptions The first whereof is this That those publike Exercises Games which are appoynted by authoritie of the Magistrate although they bee tearmed and knowne by the name of Playes yet are not comprehended within the compasse of that generall Rule before by vs set downe deliuered neither that the gaines and rewardes publiquely appoynted and assigned by authoritie of the Magistrate for benefite of the Common wealth to bee thereby condemned For such Games and Exercises are lawfull for vs not onely to followe and frequent and for the same to striue and doe our vttermost deuoyre but also if wee can in the same winne the victorie we may honestlie carie the prize away and detaine and reserue it to our selues and lawfully keepe it as our owne well and truely gotten goodes Neither needeth any doubt thereof to bee made but that it is both lawful and may also be done with a good and safe conscience For such maner of Prizes and rewardes are proposed and appoynted by the Magistrate and not by priuate persons And if they were as many times they bee assigned and set out by priuate persons yet are they warranted by publique authoritie Againe these Exercises of minde and bodie are profitablie meant and appoynted for the whetting sharpening and encreasing of mens industrie whereby both the priuate person is solaced and recreated and also a publique benefite to the Countrey and Common wealth procured and prouided For these publique Exercises and euen Shewes Games Sportes and Prizes bee as it were certaine preludes preparatiues assaies and traynings of Warfare and may stande in great steede for sundrie occasions that when the Commonwealth shall haue any neede of our helpe wee may be the readier to serue and the riper in our charges therefore the trayning vp of the people therein to helpe when neede is their Countrey is a thing not onely tolerable but also very necessarie and commendable To this ende and for this purpose is it at this day in most Countries vsed to traine and exercise their seruiceable persons in hādling their Pieces their Caliuer their Muskee or the Harquebuse to prime charge or shoote in great Ordnaunce to traile and tosse the Pike to shoote in the long Bowe or Crossebowe because these bee the things that haue many times stoode the Countrey in notable steede when it hath by forraine inuasion or inward garboyles bene endaungered And to the end the people should the more willingly frame themselues to the same exercises there are Prizes rewards by publike authoritie proposed and set out yet not of any great summe but rather of some small valew and to bee as it were a certaine cheering or honest allurement vnto them for their

industrie or as a token of an open praise and commendation giuen vnto them for their well doing which is a thing greatly profitable for the Common wealth For honor preferment reward and dignitie nourisheth Arts and encreaseth knowledge Glorie is the Spurre that pricketh all men forward to wel doings And therefore in all Ages such kinde of publique Exercises and Wagers haue bene appoynted allowed and practised And albeit those which were in the old time exercised were farre differing from such as we now adaies haue in vse yet were they ordeyned and had a respect vnto the maner of Warfare and Martiall seruice then among them vsed For although they then had deuises and Engines to throwe Darts and Iauelins to annoye their Enemies a farre of yet had they no Gunnes but fought it out man to man with downe right blowes ioyning foote to foote and hand to hand And among them also they had sundrie sortes of publique Exercises and Games for wagers but yet especially these fiue Wrestling hurling a Coyte who could hurle it farthest or highest of length or height Running or leaping Cōbating with leatheren bagges hauing plummets hanging at the endes thereof Barriers and Torneaments on Horsebacke all which are mentioned aswell by Homer as also by Virgill and Pausanias Vnto these did the Romaines afterwards adde an other which was fighting with Ships on the water exhibited and solemnely kept specially in the Raigne of Augustus Caesar to conserue in fresh memorie his noble victorie at Actium and the shew thereof was on the Riuer of Tyber Afterward there was also added an other kinde of warlike exercise on Horsback which in the old time was tearmed Troye and was accustomed to be openly shewed in the vsuall Fielde of Exercise called Campus Martius but the name of this kinde of Exercise was afterwarde called Torneyments which for that there grew many times much harme and daunger thereof and also was found to be an occasion to drawe aspiring mindes vnto ambicious desiers it was afterwards by publick authoritie of the Lawes worthilie put downe and discontinued But to returne again to our purpose those Rewards Wagers Prizes and offers which were publickly set out proposed for such mē as should put forwarde themselues in these kinds of exercises to play striue for the same were cōmonly and for the most part of small value so that they might seeme to bee rather as a token of victorie and a praise to the partie that wanne the same then any great gaine For our forefathers as Plutarch writeth vsed for Rewardes and thought the same very large and bountifull at publique Shewes and open Games none other things then these fower viz an Oliue a Pyne tree Parselie and Apples Which small giftes trifeling Prizes were for very long space accoumpted for a great rewarde of praise as the same Plutarch in the life of Cato Vticensis witnesseth in these wordes The rewardes that were publiquely giuen at Games in the olde tyme and deemed as right bountifull and large amōg the Greekes were Beete Lettice Radish and Peares among the Romaines flagons of Wine Porke Figges Cucumbers Faggots and bundelles of Woode But these haue in processe of time through Ambition and Couetousnesse beene chaunged and altered For in place of them there are now other things grow● 〈◊〉 ●se and customablie giuen to the winners The fourth Chapter Of them that bestowe their winnings gayned by play vpon a Banquet or good cheare for the whole Companie THE other exception from our former Rule is this That no man should thinke vs so hardly to meane as that we flatly condemned or misliked the custome of hauing some small summe of money gayned by Play not with any intent of the winner to kéepe it to his owne vse to be freely bestowed vpon common cheare betwene them For such winning may not be construed to be meere gaine and priuate profite seeing it is forthwith lated out and bestowed vpon a continuation of friendlines maintaynaunce of neighbourhood and wherby also after a sort the looser hath some kinde of benefite For although he be the looser yet hath he his part and share of the gaine it self because he eateth and drinketh his portion And all that is this way gotten is and may well bee called Expence and not the gaine of the Winner because hee courteously and friendly therewith entertaineth the whole companie and for the more confirmation of friendship and mutuall good will among themselues francklie bestoweth the cheare vpon them Which curtesie and custome among Christians may doubtlesse without any scruple of Conscience bee lawfully done forseene that there be no lauish expence or wilful wast but onely some small summe of money that is played for and the same to be conuerted to these vses But if either the Summe of it self be bigge or in respect of the estate of the Players and Gamesters excessiue and too much in such case both the winner and the looser ought by the Magistrate to bee punished and in such persons both such cost as I haue spoken of and such Playe also is by vs in this place flatly forbidden and vtterly as vnlawfull condemned The fifth Chapter What kinde of Games and Playes bee lawfull and what be forbidden and vnlawfull BVT now let vs came to speake of such Games Playes as are lawful and permitted or vnlawful and prohibited least otherwise all this our discourse and treatise might seeme vainlie enterprised and to small purpose taken in hande The question surely is hard and difficult and diuersly by diuers persons maintained and decided Whereunto when any question is mooued vnto mee for my opinion therein to bee had my custome and order is this to answere If wee first set downe and shewe what kindes thereof bee forbidden it shall be an easie matter to pronounce of al the rest to wit that all others hee lawfull and directly permitted to a Christian Of Games and Playes therefore which are vnlawfull the sortes bee sundrie and diuers For first whatsoeuer Games or Playes are prohibited and forbidden by the lawes and customes of that Countrey or Citie wherein we liue are generally to bee accoumpted vnlawfull although otherwise in respect of their action they bee not dishonest yet for so long time as we shall dwel or seiourne in that Countrey and place wee must and ought of refraine them For such is the condition to Christian libertie concerning things of them selues meerely indifferent that according to the diuers circumstances of matters places times and persons it may be restrayned Neither ought wee to violate and breake such lawes as particular Countreyes Seigniories and Cities haue established enacted and made concerning the same specially if therein we may keepe a good and cleare conscience without stooping or yeelding to any Superstition We must be sure therfore that such Decrees Lawes Statutes Permissiōs or prohibitions be grounded vpon some good reasons and iust cause and applyed for the better gouernement of the state of that