it was by the occasion that God spake to him from heauen Esay had fayth but it was because he had séene God in his maiestie Moyses had faith but it was for that God did communicate with him in a bush that burned and was not consumed Ezechiell had fayth but it was for that he had séene God enuironed with Seraphins Great sure was the faith of these holy personages but much greater no doubt was that of this sinfull théefe For if they beléeued in God it was because they had séene him and spoken face to face to him But so simple and resolute was the fayth of this théefe that he beléeued Iesus Christ to be God and had neither séene his maiestie nor yet to doe the workes of God yea though Christ did them yet he vnderstood them not In like sort touching his comparison with such as were then on liue We doubt not but Saint Peter had faith but it was for that he saw Christ march vppon the waues of the sea Mary Maudlein beléeued but it was for that he raysed againe her brother Lazarus The woman of Chanan had fayth but it was because she had séene him expulse the wicked spirit out the body of her daughter the Centurion beléeued because Iesus Christ had healed his seruant And Saint Iohn had fayth but it was because he had reapposed in the lap and bosome of Christ Right slender was the faith that these men had considering the wonders and miracles which they saw Christ do but oh blessed and happy théefe who notwithstanding he saw no action of these great wonders neither Christ to commaund the waues nor stay the wyndes nor chase out Deuils nor yet raise the dead to life yet with open voyce he durst confesse his creator and take him for a redemer yea in calling him Lord he acknowledged that he had created him and in crying to him to haue remembrance of him hée confessed that he had redéemed him and therefore as a good and faythfull Christian he beléeued with his hart and confessed with his mouth What habit or apparance of a Lord saw he in Christ when he sayd to him domine memento mei Yea what argument of confidence or assurance could he gather in him séeing that to whom so euer is called Lord it appertaines that he be frée which was farre frō Iesus Christ being bound to the crosse to be called Lord it behoueth to be mightie or at least compotently rich which appeared not in Iesus Christ being naked dismembred and crucified to the port and name of a Lord belongs great traine and seruice which was not expressed in the state of Iesus Christ who was forsaken euen of his owne followers And to the dignitie and place of a Lord belonges to be well obeyed and honoured which fell out contrary in the person of Iesus Christ for that euery one conspired against him and opprobriously crucfiied him betwéene two théeues yea by so much more worthy was the faith of this théefe by how much hée saw the Lord suffer imprisonment as a man and whipped and scourged as a man and yet confessed him to be God and called him God saying Lord haue remembrance of me Since this théefe was executed and Iesus Christ crucified great hath ben the number of saintes that beléeued in him greater the companie fellowship of Martirs that haue suffered for his fayth So that the example of the théefe beléeuing vpon so small occasion puts all posterities in remembrance how iustly we are boūd to fixe settle our fayth vpō the same son of God whom the théefe acknowledged to be the sauiour of the world In déede the writers of the gospell make no mencion of the race nation of this théefe neither what proportion of age he boare what offēces he had don nor what law he held for that to Pilate the iudge being a Romane belonged this prerogatiue to crucifie indifferenly the Gentils apprehend the Jews but what mystery so euer may be ascribed to the scripture for vsing scilence in this case let vs gather and beleue that God is no acceptor of persons but receiuing all sorts that beleue in him he makes no difference in his election whether they be noble or of base bloud pore or rich cōquerors or captiues infamous or well renowmed only it suffiseth that we repute Iesus Christ as our onely king obserue faythfully the precepts he hath left amongst vs so that of what sort of sinners so euer we be how late so euer we come to the crosse let vs not dispaire to be hard since we read not that to this thefe was ministred either baptisme or confession nor that he fasted vsed restitution nor had repentance vntill he was committed to execution when one sighe powred out in faith suffised to make him a christian and in one onely worde pronounced in hope was vertue to translate his soule into heauen To robbe in infancie to robbe in youth and to robbe in olde age the experience is dayly afore our eyes but to rob at the very article and instant of death we neuer red of any but of this théefe who then stole the kingdome of heauen Our originall Father Adam was a théefe when he stole the Apple in Paradise Fayre Rachell was a théefe when she Robbed the Idols from her Father Laban Achior was a robber in stealing the rod of Golde in Hierico Dauid was a théefe when he conueied the launce and flasket of water from the beds head of Saule Judas was a théefe in stealing the Almes of Iesus Christ And the seruauntes of Dauid were none other then theues when they stole the water in Bethelē But amongst them all none was more famous more suttle more notorious nor more cunning then this théefe who rob bed yea afore he was layd vpon the crosse and being crucified for Pilate taking from him his lyfe on the crosse he stole from Iesus Christ in the same place an other lyfe where vpon S. John Chrisostom speaking vpon that théefe sayth that for theft Adam was chased out of Paradise and for theft this théefe was bestowed in Paradise He that lost his lyfe by a trée went out of Paradise this entred into Paradise that recouered his lyfe vppon a trée he was chased out that beléeued not in God and this entred in because he confessed God to be God a Théefe was the first that issued out of Paradise and a Théefe was the first that entered into Paradise Yea at the houre of middaye GOD did iustice of the first Théefe and at noone tyde he Pardoned this Théefe wyth whom the Lord graunt vs to be Théeues not to steale the Apple as did Adam nor the Idols with Rachell nor the Flaskette as Dauid dyd nor the Golden Rodde with Achior but to steale for our selues the blessed fruition of the Maiestie of GOD which being the praye of this Théefe he is therby become perpetually happie euen in the bo-some of Abraham the
thinking from one day to another to giue reformation to our life so let vs be warned that the winges of old age being plumed with the fethers of death we shall find it too late to learne to liue when we are at poynt to die And therefore all men ought to examine in themselues how many deare seasons they haue past what perils they haue escaped how many friends they haue lost frō what perplexities they haue ben deliuered accōpting it not to their own merit that god hath taken thē out of so many daūgers but to the end they shuld haue further time to amend their life A man to liue soūd without diseases the regimēt of phisicke with our owne good gouernment are much helping but the stroke of death whether it come earely or late that depends more on the power and hand of God then on the will or disposition of men Therfore let all men be moderate in their exercise and vse temperance in their vniuersall actions making more estimation of their wisedome then of their olde age since otherwayes if they forget not to recken their yeres others will not forbeare to kéepe accompt of their vices Many learned men haue proued by many reasons that olde age is profitable and that the life of auncient men is good But God giue them better quiet and tranquilitie then that their opinions haue any societie with either experience or reason For now a dayes where is the retraite of infirmities but in an aged body or in what cōsistes the miserie of mans life but in the passions of age wherunto is appoynted no other cure but sufferance in paine and griefe without hope old age being none other thing then a disease without remedie and a sicknesse incurable But comming now to exhibit some priuileges and liberties which old men enioy I meane not to medle with the complexions and qualities of those whose wisedome agreeth with their age and their yeres conformable to their graue discretion and much lesse to giue libertie to my pen to contest against any of those graue honorable and vertuous auncients by whose direction common weales haue bene gouerned and in their wisedome young men haue found suretie of counsell But to set downe some customes of old men that be wanderers waspish bablers scoffers players dissemblers and such as are lead by amarous humors together with what familiar manners their sorowfull old age is accompanied I hold it neither against reason nor honestie It is a custome to old men to haue a short sight their eyes yéelding double iudgement comprehending two thinges for one and oftentimes to haue cloudes in their eyes when there is none in the skie by meanes whereof for the most part they misknow their friend and take him for an other It is a custome to old men to be thick of hearing by meanes whereof such thinges as they heare and do not well vnderstand they thinke is either spoken to the preiudice of their honour or detriment of their goods It is familiar with old men to haue their haires fall without combing wrinckles growing and no séede sowen and their head fuming without any fire made for remedie whereof when they would take the bathe it is forbidden them by reason of their weaknes Old men haue this priuilege to eat bread without crust for the ease of their téeth to haue their meat minsed for the helpe of disgestion to haue their drinke warmed for the cōfort of their stomacke and in case of infirmities in their legges they haue their oyles to supple them their rollers to wrap them their hoaze at libertie their buskins buckled and if any grudge at this brauerie they haue to aunswere that it is done more for the ease of the disease that troubleth them then for any glory they reappose in such attire It is a custome with old men to enquire after the disposition of the wether wherein they haue great sence and iudgement by the motion of their infirmities whose humors following the reuolution of the Moone and change distemper of the ayre bring the poore old man to be halfe a phisition and to haue a painefull science in Astronomie It is a custome with old men to cōplaine much of the trauels of the day and to kéepe reckoning of the houres of the night that their dinner is not resolued into disgestion and their supper would not suffer them to sléepe and yet it is no sooner day then they begin to murmure that their breakfast is not readie It is a priuilege to old men to search companie and either in temple tauerne or shoppes they enterteyne al that come enquiring of the newes of the world and whatsoeuer they heare be it true or false they will not onely beleue it for true but ad to it somewhat of their owne it is familiar to old men to be suspicious distrustfull obstinate intractable and subiect to selfe opinion by meanes wherof they lacke reason and liue in error and though they are not abused yet they wil be ielouse of their owne shadowe yea such men haue rather want of any other thing then of suspicion It is a custome with old men once a moneth to be lockt vp in their closet and compt their treasure deuiding their coynes and searching the lockes of their chestes such men will not deminish one denir of that that is heaped vp but loue to liue poorely to the end they may die rich To some old men it is a custome to haue familiaritie with phisitions and friendship with Potticaries but some delite more to haunt tauernes where is vent of good wine then in the conference of learned men by whom is ministred whole some regiments of health it belongs much to olde men to be fickle in all things but specially to be inconstant against the time commending much the ages past and complayning more of the season present which for the most part they do more of custome then by any reason and rather by authoritie then for necessitie It is due to old men to wrap and cherish themselues to haue their chamber hanged their fire ordinarie their bed warmed and yet for the most part they spend the nights in coughing and the dayes in complaints making their bed a place to debate the actiōs of their youth past and to féele the infirmities and weaknes of their present age the memorie of which thinges makes them oftentimes so ill contented that they are carelesse to prouide for death which they sée euen afore their eyes And it is one common propertie with old men to be angrie with such as enquire of their age and most familiar with those that will tell of the pleasures they haue past So that they would be honored by reason of their age and yet they are grieued when they heare a reckoning of their yeres and so old men delite in authorttie yet wish their age might be cōcealed To a noble personage touching the difference betwene the friendship
and dollor So that this part of the life so ouerladen with infirmities is that which we call state decrepit and the Latines senium béeing in déede the last age called olde age The best dayes of the life of men saith Virgill are those which passe first after the which succéede infirmities and diseases yea and olde age which leades with him fearefull death Thus doth Virgill cal old age a state troublesome and afflicted with infirmities wherein if he had knowne the state decrepit to be seperate from old age and that he had taken it for an age of it selfe he had geuen it communitie with those ils and infirmities whereof he speaketh and not to old age for that it is in the last and most extreme age that those miseries happen to man Yea he makes no reckoning of any age after old age for that next after it he makes accompt of death The same prouing sufficiently that the state decrepit is not an age seperate and distinct from old age but containes a part of the same which agréeth with the opinion of Isidore and holdeth consent with the scriptures and with the Poets In all which is no difference nor distinction betwene senectus and olde age A continuing of the discourse begon wherein is brought in an other opinion WE haue alreadie shewed two opinions touching the ages of the life of man whereof the one appoints seuen and the other establisheth but sixe But nowe will we adioyne an other which sets down in the life of man but fiue ages that is to say Jnfancie Paerilitie Mans estate Youth and old age Of this opinion is M. Terentius Varro in his Booke of the originall of the Latine tongue is also alledged by Seruius in his comment of Virgill vppon the fifth Booke of Aeneidos This opinion agréeth with the former and foure first ages which foure there is no meane to impugne séeing they haue taken their names of the foure diuerse estates which we féele in our life The first age is when by reason of our very few yeres and indisposition of our body we haue no vse of reason nor full knowledge of thinges this age we call Jnfancie or innocencie as an estate wherein man knoweth not yet what sinne is There is an other age wherein albeit man hath a certayne vse of reason yet by reason of the inhabilitie of his person hée is not yet hable to procreation this age is called Puerilitie or Childhode continuing from eight yeares to fourtene and it is the second age There is an other age which giues to man the vse of reason and power of procreation his body béeing not yet risen to his greatnes and perfect force but groweth still in strength bignesse This third age is called Mans ectate for that in it we take our greatnes and stature although we grow still in force There is an other age wherein man hath his strength accomplished and is apt to all actions possible to bée done in any age whatsoeuer this age is named Youth And for that these foure mutations are so manifest they are all resolued and concluded in these foure ages notwithstanding they haue not said so of the ages following and from thence is deriued the diuersitie of opinions M. Varro reckoneth but old age after these foure ages afore recited taking youth as I thinke for the age wherein man is perfect in his forces in his stature in his vertues naturall referring to olde age all the time of declination or decaying of the naturall forces of man So that according to Varro olde age should begin at fiftie yeares and endure vntil death This opinion diffreth from the former in that the first putteth virilitie amongest the nomber of ages seperating it from youth where this encloseth it vnder the name title of youth according to the iudgmēt of Jsidore And yet this opinion is contrary to the former which makes olde age and state decrepit two ages agréeing with the resolution of Jsidore who accomptes olde age for the last age and takes the state decrepit but for one part of it Notwithstanding Varro diffreth from Isidore who after youth establisheth the age of grauetie or vnweldinesse of the which Varro makes no mention following therin the first opinion which toucheth nothing that graue and heauie age VVhich of these opinions is most worthie ALbeit there is neuer one of these thrée opinions which bringes not with it his meane of defence and iustification as béeing al grounded vppon causes which haue their proper apparance and similitude with reason Yet there is differēce of authoritie betwene them one being more antentike then an other the same being the consideration why I hold the second best approued and most reasonable Touching the first opinion establishing two ages of old age and state decrepit it is contrary to all good authors who haue alwayes taken olde age for the last age of man not meaning that the state decrepit was an age distinct but a part of old age Wherein if it be alledged that the decrepit state is not taken for the last part of the sixth age for that it hath no beginning limitted nor any end determiminable but that it is taken for the last age which is limitted in his beginning notwithstanding it hath no end determinable as beginning at thréescore and ten yeares and lasting vntill death and that this age also is that which some call olde age It may bée aunswered that taking the termes and limittes in that sort thée agrée with the first and second opinion touching the two last ages and that there is no difference but in the names So that wée may conclude that the second opinion is more auayleable then the first for that it consents in names of the ages with the good authours and Poets Wherein truly for thinges that lie in act and haue bene inuented those opinions that holde most conformetie with the iudgements of good authors ought to bée reputed as most true The third opinion aduouched by M. Varo albeit it be in some sort supportable yet Jsidore satisfieth more at full for that he puts vnweldinesse for an age betwéene youth and old age For first in that age men feele a manifest mutation which deserueth well to deare the name of age Seeing that properly olde age may be called that time wherein the iudgement of man beginneth to fayle diminish both by the greatnes of age and indisposition of the body and person Touching youth it is the flower of the age of man since in that age hée is man compleat and perfect in his forces actions and naturall operations but that age being past al thinges that are in man begin to decline Then it is that the force of the body and vertues naturall begin to weare and wax weake Of which decay procéedes also a diminution of iudgement and vnderstanding All which are discerned dayly by ordinarie experience besides the reasons and arguments conducible to
proue them For first experience sheweth vs that as man falleth in corporall strength so his iudgement begins to growe weake and frayle but the sense and vnderstanding remayne in puretie and vertue The reason is for that the strength of the body and forces naturall are powers materiall and subiect to alteration and change But the sense and vnderstanding béeing not materiall can not therefore fall into mutation but by some accident and by the alteration of the body according to the Doctrine of Aristotle that the vnderstanding waxeth not olde although the body doth And therefore there may be sometimes wherein man may loase all his corporall forces afore the vnderstanding tast of any such infirmitie But to say that that time may bée reduced into an age to call it old age it can not well bée so for that the sense and vnderstanding are weakened in olde age So that that age may bée called vnweldinesse according to the Etymelogie of Isidore saying thus Some thinke the Latines called olde men senes because of the debilitie of sence falling vppon olde men whom the greatnes of age makes raue and subiect to incertaine fancies The naturall Philosophers say also that fond men and idiots haue for the most part their bloud cold as men wise and well compound haue it hot and sturring the same béeing the occasion that olde men hauing their bloud cold and young children in whom it is not yet hot enough are not resolute in their iudgements so that it is no great error to compare together old men and children as equall in temperature For doting olde men are foolish by the greatnes of their age and in young children is no power of iudgment by reason of their minoritie Secondly this second opinion which establisheth onely sixe ages is most commonly approued of wisemen and agréeth with the iudgement of Jsidore that the Philosophers haue distinguished the life of man by those sixe termes Thirdly this second opinion hath a similitude with the names which the Greekes haue attributed to ages calling that which followeth youth Presbiter and in place of olde age they vse geron so that Presbiter is an other age then olde age as also Jsidore calles it Vnweldinesse And sure those that stand in that estate and proportion of age may bée called neither young nor olde but occupie as it were a meane degrée betwene both according to the opinion of Jsidore speaking thus The sixth age saith hée which is called Vnweldinesse is referred to such as enter into olde age and is as the dekaye and declination of youth falling into olde age and yet in true propertie is neither olde age nor youth but it contaynes euen the selfe same which the Greeks call presbiter This age begins at fiftie and endes at thréescore and ten Wherein if any would dispute by the wordes of Isidore that the age of Vnweldinesse followeth olde ages and that it is an estate most neare vnto death by this Latine text of Jsidore qu 〈…〉 〈◊〉 senioris est grauiâ—â—s c. vsing the comparatiue seâ—â—â—ris It may hée aunswered that senioris is taken here for one that approcheth olde age euen as adolescentiâ— in Latine signifieth one that is yet in his childhode and not yet so sufficient as hée whom the Latines call adolescens This phrase and maner of speach is common and vsed for the most part amongest the Latine authors and Poeta as Ouid Terence with many others So that wée may heare applie senior to one that groweth neare olde age according to this iudgement of Jsidore He that the Latines call senior saith he is yet in his gréennes and hath not shaked of the dispositions and disportes of yourth by which occasion Ouid sayth such men are betwene young men and olde men For according to the Latines adolescantiar meaneth not him that is more then a young man but signifieth such one as is not yet entred into Mans estate euen as senior resembleth him that hath not yet challenged old age The conclusion of this discourse wherein the author is resolued that there bée but thrée ages THis hath bene the chiefest industrie of the Philosophers treating of ages to establish how many there were and how long euerie age that was to be limitted might endure But the Poets haiel gone further as deuiding euery age into their partes assigning properly his beginning his middle and his end according to the Doctrine of Aristoris that all thinges are drawne into those thrée These may bee referred to Puerilitas Adolescentia and Iuuentus assigning to euery part of them their names as in the pertition of Adolescentia wee may vse the first estate the perfect estate and the state declining Touching Juuentus which begins at eight and twentie yeres and continueth till fiftie contayning in reminder two and twentie there would fall to euery part seuen yeares and some what more And so the seuen first yeares continuing till two and fortie or thereabout may bée referred to youth perfect or thorowly growen And the seuen last yeares continuing to fiftie are attributed to youth declining or decreasing These ages thus distinguished by partes and manies are deuided euen as is the life of man which is reduced into these thrée yeares beginning middest and end The beginning containes the first part of the life in the which man riseth still growing and encreasing The second part which is the meane that largeth that estate of man that is fully growen which appeareth in his middell age In the last part lieth the state declining as in which man begins to decay and loase his naturall force This distinction is also obserued in all ages For they haue their beginnings which is the first part And the middest béeing an estate best disposed For then is man his his flower and perfection and the body hath then his best perfection when man is established in his middle age This maner of diuision of ages into thrée is very familiar wyth the authors who assigne to euen part his particuler names The thrée names afore recyted haue taken their beginning of M. varo to whom Seruius wroat them vppon the fifth booke of the Eneidos of Virgill But others vsing common phrases call these partes by these names first middle and last amongest whom Salust sayth that Mithrodoces comming to the Crowne in his laste puerilitye killed his Mother that age lasketh seuen yeares beginning at seauen and continuing till fourtéene and so deuiding it into thrée partes euery part conteynes two yeares and somewhat more and therefore we establishe the last Puerilitie betwéene twelue and thirtéene yeares that is to say about foure Monthes wythin the twelfth yeare and it may continue to the ende of the fourtéenth month in which age Mithridates began to raigne Some call verdure or gréenesse the beginning of all ages and that by the resemblance of trées who first appeare gréene afore they heare frente and in experience and operation of nature we sée euery beginning of the age is green
amorous dames geue to their seruaunts and friends 169 A letter aunswering certaine perticuler requestes from the Court and that it is not cōuenient to visite often those women whose husbands be absent 171 A discourse touching such as are in the ministerie and professe religion 173 Still touching the discourse of religion and of the professors of the same 178 The end of this discourse rebuking such Ministers as are wanderers 180 A resolution of certaine familiar and naturall questions with apparant coniectures and tokens of death 182 A discourse of the cononising of the Pagan Gods and why they are holden for Gods together with an exposition of sundrie poeticall inuentions tending to the same 187 A rebuke to ambicion vnder the speech of a sauage man vttered in the Senate of Rome 193 ¶ FINIS To the Gouernour Angulo declaring many good doctrines with other consolations to such as are Widowers THe fourth of Ianuary I receyued your letters which standing albeit more vpon varietie of wordes then necessitie of matter yet they well expressed your setled grauetie and no lesse resembled our auncient friendshippe Amongest other things bearing prayse to your behauiour I am glad you haue forsaken the warres and giuen ouer the regiment of Nanarre for that I hold those people hard to reclaime and not easie to gouern And in this common absence of oures albeit we could not cōueniently cōmunicate in the state and parts of our priuat conuersation yet for that you were employed out of the realme I remayned alwayes in desire to knowe howe you kept societie with fortune because such are the checkes and mutations which she bringes generally vppon the people of the world that she neither dissembleth with the straūger and much lesse pardoneth such as be naturall For which cause Cicero writing to his friēd Attiquus restrayneth one friend to wishe to an other more then these thrée things to enioye health to possesse honour and not to suffer necessitie the same well expressing a Christian modestie and truly agréeing with humaine reason For to him that hath sufficiencie to furnish the vse necessitie of his life what remaineth to be required more who enioyeth continuall health lacketh nothing to make vp the ful felicitie of his worldly delites what can that man haue lost in this worlde who neuer lost the reputation of honour Therefore neyther I for you nor you to me are bound to desire more one for an other then to haue health for the solace of our transitory time to enioye a compotent measure of wealth for the administration of our life and to be raised to honour by the which we may retayne reputation For as all other thinges are passed to vs by fortune not to honour vs but to affront vs So sir I wish you this moderation to rest contented with that which God hath bestowed of you and giue him often recompence of humble thankes for taking you out of so many daungers for as much do we owe to God for the daungers from which he deliuereth vs as for the great wealth dignities wherevnto he hath alwayes raised vs. God is so good and loues vs with so swéete affection that alwayes he requireth vs continually he doth vs good neuer ceasseth to visite vs and seldome spareth to aduertise vs yea he handleth vs not as our offences deserue but as his mercie willeth euill should it stand with vs sniners if with the rod of sinne God should do present iustice séeing that such is the horrer and infamie of sinne that if imediatly with the fact God would put vs to punishments our soules would be caried forthwith into the bottomes of hell As it is suffred in the high and hidden secretes of God to dissemble some things to pardon others and correct the rest so let vs remember that God vseth no small mercie to hym whom he chastiseth in this worlde since that to whome hée giues no affliction it séemes he is of him much forgotten Therefore when God administreth to vs diseases sorrowes deathes and infelicities they be not thinges wherewith hée chastiseth vs but necessarie matters by the which he visiteth our fraile condicion wherein his intention is not to loase vs but to admonish vs not to make vs stumble but to holde vs from falling not to poyson vs but to purge vs not to make vs slide into sinne but to call vs to amendement of behauiour so that with this full measure of bountie and mercie he giues vs not onely that which we aske but prepares vs more to that which he would we should demaund of him this giues me occasion to smile that our power being little our selues so small a thing and our knowledge so slender yet we thinke and conster to great importance all our enterprises when in déede that which in our opinion wée holde most profitable takes sometime a contrary habit and becomes most hurtfull and against vs. By meanes whereof the Lorde with good reason vsing his wonderfull mercie takes from vs those occasions wherewith we may offend him and leades vs in the exercise of such thinges as stand vs in most stéede to serue him God deales in one sort with the Christian sinner and in an other maner with the iust man to the sinner he pardoneth his offence and from the iust he takes away the occasions to sinne by which we finde that we stand more déepely bound to him which suffreth vs not to fal then to him that lendes vs his hand to helpe vs vp againe This much sir to instruct you in patience for the losse of so good a wife whose death if you lament in the office of a good husband I haue not ben without my sorow according to the dutie of a faithfull friend And albeit there is no doubt but your wife was a right worthy member of a noble house and therewithall plentifully replenished with euery condicion appertayninge to the vertue and modestie of a woman yet since in her creation she brought with hir a subiection to death I thinke your wisedome is too great to make that grieuous to you which nature ordeyneth common to all yea if in your wife were fully filled a full example of all perfection you can not in better sort expresse your zeale then to suffer God to haue his will without grudge And if you reioysed in the vse of so happie a wife whilest she liued let your gladnes still continue for that you hope she is now happely layde vp wyth God with whom this is one familiar propertie that the more honest we be the lesse while we liue for that being deare to him he doth the sooner drawe vs to his kingdome I knowe that in your wife God had expressed a spirit of great méekenesse to you made her very acceptable to her neighbours most plawsible to your parents very pitifull to the poore wherein by how much she was agréeable to all and her nature hurtfull to none by so much haue you to hope
the Prophet was culpable for vsing scilence and Cayn condemned because he spake by which we may gather the great necessitie we haue of wisdome to vse time to speake and time to suffer scilence For as the trée is known by his fruite the vertue of a man discerned by his workes so in his wordes and spéeche are disclosed the qualitie of his wisedome or simplicitie And as Iesus Christ in all his actions was no lesse pacient to heare then moderate in speaking so we finde not in scripture that he euer deliuered worde in vaine nor neuer helde his peace but for feare of slaunder And although it be a miserable compulsion to vse scilēce in things which we haue desire to disclose yet considering scilence bringes sewerty and conteines in it selfe many other goodly thinges let vs stand restrained to the two seasons which Socrates aloweth without reprehension the one is when we speake of that which we manifestly know and the other when we haue in hande thinges necessary In which two times onely as speache is better then Scilence so in all other Seasons experience approueth that we ought to preferre scilence afor speaking To what purpose or intentions tended all the speaches of Iesus Christ THe wordes of our Sauiour tended eyther to the prayse of his Father as when he humbled himselfe in this speach Confiteor tibi pater or to teach men what they ought to do when he sayd Beati mites or else to reprehend wickednesse and sinne when he cried vae vobis legis peritis So that when he was not occupied to giue prayse and glorie to his Father nor to preach doctrine nor to rebuke vices it was then he was setled in a deuout and holy scilence The Hebrewes led him to their consistories a fore thrée iudges that is to say they brought him to the Palaice before Herod to the Bishops house before Annas to the trée of the crosse before his Father at which place only he spake and in the others he vsed scilence and therefore afore the two first tribunals he was accused of crime because he held his peace standing as aduocate afore the thirde he spake And albeit right great infinit were the works which our Redéemer did from the time he was taken till he was crucified yet his wordes were fewe and his spéeches in very small number the better to teach vs that in time of tribulation and aduersitie we ought more to séeke our consolation in a holy and deuout patience then to preferre or expresse great eloquence Christ then being vpon the hill of Caluary not onely condemned to death but very nere the passion of the same hauing his flesh pearced with nayles his hart burning in zeale and loue cryed to his father Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt as if he had sayd Oh eternall father in recompence that I am come into the worlde and in consideration of the preaching that I haue made of thy name In satisfaction of the paynes and crucifying that I endure and in respect that I haue reconciled the world to thée I require no other reward but that it may be thy good pleasure to pardon these mine enemies who haue sinned to the end I should dye and I suffer death because they may liue Forgeue them since thou knowest and all the world séeth that in my bloud is payde and satisfied their crime with my charitie I haue raysed and put them in my glory so that let my death be sufficient to the end that no other death haue more place in the world Pardon them since thou knowest that the death which triumphed in the crosse and by the which I am nailed to the same is crucified heare in this trée by meanes wherof oh euerlasting Father I beséech thée estéeme more the charity wherein I dye for them then the malice by the which they prosecute my death Forgeue them Oh heauenly Father since if thou considerest these my enemies in the nature and merite of their sinnes there will not be founde in the furies of Hell tormentes worthye enough to punishe them Then better is it Oh gracious Father that thou Pardon them since that as there was neuer the lyke faulte committed so shalt thou neuer haue occasion to vse the like mercie And séeing my death is sufficient to saue all such as are borne or to bée borne those that are absent present deade and on liue It is no reason that these heare should be shutte out from that benefite being a thing of most equitie iustice and right that as my bloud is not spilt but with thy consent so also by thy hands it should be well employd In this we haue to note that Christ sayd not Lorde pardon them but he sayde Father forgeue them as discribing this difference betwéene those two estates that to a Lorde belonges properly to haue Bondemen Subiectes and Vassalls and the name of a Father presupposeth to haue children so that he required his Father not to iudge them as Lorde but besought him to pardon them as a Father Christ also sayde not condicionally Father if it be thy pleasure forgeue them but he prayed absolutely after himselfe had forgeuen them that his Father would Pardon them by which example we are put in remembraunce that the reconcilement which we make with our Enemies ought to be pure absolute and without affection Besides our Redéemer sayd not singulerlie Father Pardon him but he spake plurally by which we may be informed that as he prayed not particularly for any one in priuate but generally for all so his blood dispersed on the crosse was not only sufficiēt to redéem one onely Worlde but to satisfie the Raunsome of a Million of Worldes And out of this misterie may be drawne this construction that our Sauiour praying generally for all expresseth himselfe so liberall to geue and so mercifull to pardon that when he forgeues a sinner any offence he pardoneth with all his other crimes It is not also without misterie that Christ sayd not I forgeue them but besought his Father to Pardon them For that if the Sonne onely had pardoned them after his death the Father might haue demaunded the iniurie because that if the Sonne had forgeuen them he had done it as a man where the execution of the iustice remayned in God but as the deuine worde yea the liuing Lorde hath perfourmed this pardon with so true a hart so hath he not suffered that there remaine in it any scrupule And therefore he besought his Father to pardon them to the end that by the humanitie which he endured and diuinitie which suffered it his enemies might be at the instant absolued and we others haue hope to obteine remission ¶ That when CHRIST our Lord gaue pardon he left nothing to forgeue IN lyke sort we haue to note that Iesus Christ required not his Fathere to pardon them after his death but besought him to forgeue them at the instant
Father of fayth The good THEEFE hauing no other thing to offer to God offered him his hart and his tongue SAint Paule hauing séene the great secrets of god of which it belongeth not to man to speake being asked what we ought to do to please God Aunswered Commendat vobis Deus charitatem suam the chiefest thing saith he which God recommends vnto you is charitie which consisteth in this that you loue him as he loueth you which you shall more easely accomplish if you loue your Christian neighbour not so much for that he loueth you as for that he loueth and deliteth in god Wherein the Apostle doth not so expressely say that God recommends vnto vs his fayth his hope his patience his chastitie and his humilitie But aboue all things he enioyneth vs to haue charitie as therby to giue vs to vnderstand that that man that deliteth truly in God can not be reproued of any vice For what can be lacking to him that wanteth not charitie as also who wanteth charitie is imperfect in all other vertues Let the charitable man and he that delites to be pitifull be assured that God will alwayes lend him his hand to the end he decrease not in fayth loase not his hope defile not his chastetie dispise not humilitie nor forget patience For afore the tribunall and iudgement seat of God is neuer vsed crueltie to him the on earth hath exercised charitie si charitatem nō habeo factus sum sicut sonās aut cimbalē tynniens saith the Apostle though I speake sayth he as an Angell and all other vertues except charitie were familiar with me yet I should be but as a Bell that calleth the people to seruice yet entreth not therein it selfe The man then that is not charitable but taketh delite in his rigor is no way worthy of the name of a Christian and much lesse deserueth to be called friend because that in the hart wherein is not lodged charitie shall neuer be found fidelitie If we aske the scripture what thing charitie is we shal find by many texts that it is a vertue drawing to none other effect then to loue God for himselfe and our neighbour for the loue of God Wherevppon the loue of God and the feare of God ought alwayes so to be coupled within the harts of the iust that wee neuer ought to feare God only to the end he preserue vs from hell nor loue him altogether in this respect that he graunt vs Paradise but we ought both to loue and feare him because he is the Supreame and Soueraigne good and on whome doth depende and come all felicitie If men loue one an other it is eyther for benefites all readie receaued or for hope of good tournes to come But in the house of GOD there is no Sufferance nor Custome of suche affections For suche is the nature measure and proportion of Gods goodnesse towardes vs that the respect and intention of our zeale ought not to consist onely for that he is all in al for vs but because the greatnesse of his goodnesse deserueth it by which occasion the Prophete cryed oftentimes Paratum con meum the better to instruct vs that his hart was not onely ready to loue the creator but also to beare affection to the creature That man is ignorant in charitie who estemeth himselfe to loue God and hath no care of his neighbour and lesse is he a follower of charitie that is reputed to beare affection to his neyghbour and loueth not God since that all our Christian charitie consistes in this to doe seruice to Iesus Christ and worke some Good or benefite to our neighbour For the Lorde beares such a zeale to the Christian soule that in louing vs he will be onely and singuler and when we loue him he will be accompanied the same being contrary to the loue of the worlde with whom it is not suffered to haue the hart deuided into many partes but in the diuine loue and holy affection of the Lorde we are required to loue Iesus Christ and haue care ouer our neyghbour specially if he be a christian for otherwayes we ought to wish vnto him good eschew his conuersatiō This discourse haue I brought in to expresse testifie the wonderfull charitie which the good théefe had on the crosse who in the perplexitie of death in a small moment of time gaue good declaration of the affection he boare to Iesus Christ right published the zeale he had to saue his companion the wicked théefe Besides he was not without feruent desire to reléeue his sauiour of the paines he suffered which he wel testified in the seruice he did to him For dissembled loue is shewed in the propertie of spéech where the true frendship affection is expressed in the seruice gifts that are ministred the same appearing for the most part amongst our vaine worldlinges with whom swéet alluring words are familiar but the office effect of seruice are most commonly forgotten where in déede whose loue is chast ioyned with the holy loue of god there their mouthes kepe seilence their hands minister distributiō Cain offered to God fruits of the earth Abell brought firstlings of the fattest of his flocke Noe presented Muttons Abraham gaue Pigions Melchisedech brought Bread and Wyne Moyses Insence Dauid Golde Siluer Jeptha sacrificed his Daughter Annas Samuell his sonne All which offeringes presented by those holy personages beare great reckoning are much to be accompted of But farre more worthy was the seruice sacrifice of this théefe for that where they offered to God things apperteining to their houses he presented to the Lord his proper hart wherein he discouered a difference betwéene the oblation of things that we haue neare vs and to make an offering of our selues Therefore let no man maruell why I debate so much in prayse of this théefe For if I be asked what it was that he offered I may estsoones make a question what it was that he kept for himselfe When one man geueth to another his proper being ▪ doth he not geue by consequence his will and habilitie This théefe gaue not to God his eyes for the they were cloased vp shut he gaue him not Golde nor siluer hauing lost all by the iustice of his offēce he could not compart with him his cloths being riffeled by the executioners he offered him not his hāds féete for that the one were nailed the other bound And much lesse could he communicate with him his body for that it was crucified onely he offered that which he had remayning which was his hart wherwith he beleued his tongue by the which he confessed him to be god So that as he testified his fayth affection towards God with all that he had in his power so we haue to thinke that if there had remayned in him any propertie of more precious or greater thinges he would
discretion of the doers for that according to Aristotle all the operations and mocions of man procéede of the vnderstanding and will. And therefore it is hard to iudge of the workes and dispositions of litle children till by encrease of yeares they enter into the vse of reason a time when they haue habilitie to do well or ill The same béeing the cause why the Cannon speakes not indistinctly of all children but onely of such as are somewhat raysed into yeares and age For it impugnes nothing the opinion of such as saye that litle children are without sinne but meanes expressely of such as are ten or twelue yeares of age who in déede are not exempted from sinne Mans estate which is the third age begins at fiftene yeares and continueth till eight and twentie according to Isidores opinion This age the Latines call Adolescentia for two reasons the one for their possibilitie and nearenesse to engender the other for that they encrease and rise into strength Touching the first it is referred to the beginning of this age wherein young men approch the power of procreation which was further from them in their childhode as hath bene sayed The second consideration beholdes chiefely the end of that age according to the opinion of many who holde that man encreaseth till twentie or two and twentie yeares which is the end of Mans estate But Jsidorus sayth that Adolescentia lasteth till eight and twentie yeres notwithstanding man doth not alwayes rise in increasing till then and yet it séemes that that age tooke his name directly of encrease for that then man comes to his perfect growth In the ages afore rehearsed Jnfancie and Puerilitie man groweth still yea and in one part of the third age which is Adoloscentia But in the ages following he groweth nothing for that he hath taken his perfection afore And therefore seeing all growing endes in Adoloscentia for after that age man encreaseth nothing the name of encrease or growing doth most properly appertaine to him Youth which is the fourth age entreth at nine and twentie and endeth at fiftie as Isidore affirmeth The Latines call it Inuentus by reason of the helpes and aides that the world hath of men of that age as in deede that title is most proper to him by reason of the force and vertue which men of that age haue In the former ages men are not knit nor haue their forces accomplished But in this age they haue their full strength and are well hable to endure all impositions of paine burdens or trauell In this is discerned the difference of the two opinions the one establishing seuen ages and Isidore reckoning but sixe Such as make a nomber of seuen deuide youth adioyning vnto him an other part which they call Virilitie But according to Isidore there is but one age and that is called Youth which me thinkes is not to begin at the end of Mans estate at eight and twentie yeres as Isidore holdeth But it were better to determine Mans estate at one and twentie yeres a time wherein he hath taken his groath and thereto establish the beginning of youth which is to last vntill thirtie yeres or there about and after it may succéede Virilitie which may endure vntill L where Jsidore establisheth the end of youth According to this order the names of the ages may go properly with them For Junentus takes his name of this Latine Verbe iunare signifying to aide or helpe and in that age men are most conuenient to be employed and of most habilitie to giue aide And Virilitie deriueth from this Latine Noune Vires signifying strength as an age wherein men being compleate are in there greatest force And so as the youngman is good to minister aide and helpe so in the man accomplished is good habilitie to do things of himselfe For to haue necessitie of aide is referred to the forces yet weake and not accomplished but to do any thing of our selues is a true signe of strength fully furnished Besides it is of common proofe that a man comes not to his full strength till he be thirtie yeres olde and therefore by good reason that estate of age may be called Virilitie But Jsidorus thinking not to seperate virilitie from youth sets downe other termes and limits to ages establishing the end of Mans state at eight and twentie yeres and not at one and twentie and appoynting the begining of youth at nine and twentie a season that best makes perfect the strength of men he puts no difference betwene virilitie and youth The fifth age is called Grauetie or Vnweldinesse Touching this age the two opinions aforesayd do differ in name only Jsidore calling it vnweldinesse and the other giuing it no title at all They both séene to take the commoditie of the Latine word the one calling it senectus and the other seniam notwithstanding it concerne diuerse ages This age of vnweldinesse begins at fiftie yeres and ends at thréescore and ten as Jsidore holdeth who calleth it vnweldinesse because the qualitie of heauines or waight makes fall all things lower And as in the other foure ages afore men grow either in stature or in force so in this age their strength séemes to determine and their bodies and partes begin to decaye decline to debilitie For vntil fiftie yeres man mayntaines alwayes his strength and stature but after he begins to feint as one that had runne his course and doth nothing but heape infirmities and weaknesse euen vntill death According to the opinion of such as establish seuen ages this estate of yeres is called old age wherunto Isidore consents not but calles that old age which begins at thréescore and ten and continueth til death though man liue neuer so long So that all the other ages are restrained to certaine limits of yeares but this last age is subiect to no terme for that the day and houre of mans death are not knowne Jsidore speaking of this age sayth that old age béeing the sixth age can not bée limitted nor made subiect to terme for that there is attributed vnto it the residue of the life of man which passeth the first fiue ages But touching all that hath bene sayd heretofore that euery age of the life of man hath his certaine termes and limits except the last It is to be vnderstand that al is spoken of the ages of men of our time and not of such as were afore the floud since in those seasons the age of men were a thousand yeres Neither do we meane the men of the second age which begonne from the floud vntill Abraham for that in that age there were men that liued sixe hundreth yeares and some foure hundreth as appeareth by the Doctrine of Genesis And yet those men sayth Jsidore had no more age then we and all their yeares limitted to a certaine time and terme except the last age whereunto could bée ascribed no certaintie of terme for that as it is found in Genesis
some liued longer then others and therefore their ages were not compted in that fourme of yeares that wée recken oures For we take the beginning of our fifth age which is called Vnweldinesse at fiftie yeares Which could not bée in the men of the first times séeing the fifth age presupposeth in vs a debilitie of strength and naturall operations a thing which could not happen to the first men for that if they had begonne to decline at fiftie yeres they could not by any possibilitie haue endured so long séeing there were of them that liued more then fiftie yeres So that wée may establish the fifth age of those people to begin at thrée hundreth yeares or there about aspiring very neare the third part of their life In which respect this fifth age hauing an other beginning in them then in vs I thought it not out of purpose to touch somewhat those ages which had not the same termes whereunto wée are subiect at this present Here must bée considered the accompt that wée applie to the third age and other ages since vntill Dauid in whose time men liued no more then they doe now according to his owne testimonie the dayes of man are threescore yeares and if any liue till fourescore the residue of their life is but griefe and trauell Touching the ages of the men of the first and second worlde wée can not speake resolutely nor of the termes or limittes whereunto they were referred One reason is for that those thinges were not continued vntill these later times where were authors writers to record them And withall for that those thinges which were once past no more in nature the writers had no great care to dispose them to monument To this may bée also added an other reason more peremptorie that notwithstanding the authors had will to describe particularly those thinges as they had done the ages Yet they had no meane therevnto seeing experience sheweth vs the ages which are proper for procreation in what season man forbeares to grow in what time hée is in his flower and when hée begins to decline By which the wisemen tooke meane not only to Baptise and distinguish the ages of man but also to limitte such as were subiect to terme From the first and second age of the worlde wée are assured that the age of men was deuided into sixe as it is nowe For the men of that season felt the same mutations that wée féele and did not engender in all ages and yet in certaine ages they were hable to procreation They grew into stature and strength vntill certaine times and afterwardes their growing ceased In a certain age they were in their flower and in an other they began to wither and decline But wée knowe not in what terme nor in what tyme they suffred these mutations as now experience in our selues makes them easely knowne to vs That was the cause why the wise men of those times could not limit to certaine termes of yeres the ages of men of the first and second world as oures are Moreouer if any will dispute that there is more reason to establish seuen ages in the life of man then sixe for that the Scripture makes mention of senectus and senium that is old age and state decrepit it may be aunswered that the Scripture appoynts no more ages to the life of man then doth Jsidore For these two wordes senectus and senium as the two later ages of man which Jsidore calles by other names naming vnweldinesse that which the Scripture calles olde age and old age that which in the Scripture is called state decrepit There is also an other reason agréeing with the opinion of Isidore that senectus and senium be not taken in the Scripture for two ages but for one that to be the pouder or oust of the life of man Old age saith Isidore which is the sixth age is not limitted for that al that remaines of the life of man after the fiue first ages be past is layd and referred to olde age Touching the state decrepit it is the end of old age called senium as holding vpon the traine of the sixth age This last opinion semes not the least likely and most conformable to the saying of Isidore by whom is not ment that the decrepit state is the vttermost end of old age For so should it be one selfe thing with death and hold no part of life but it is ment that the state decrepit makes one part of the life of man and of the sixt age according to the testimonie of Jsidore So that we may conclude that it is not an age distinct and absolute but part of an age being as it were the dregges and pouder of old age and generally of all the life of man And for death much lesse that it is part of the life of man séeing we hold it a iust meane of priuation of life But if any disposed to cift straitly our opinion will aske this question that séeing the state decrepit is one part of our life why we make not an age of it as we do of the other partes of the life of man It may be aunswered that by so much is the question vaine by how much the matter is impossible For al the other ages are subiect to beginning and end and are determinable to a certain content proportion and nomber of yeres And touching old age albeit his end can not assuredly be determined yet it is knowne in what time he begins which is about threescore and ten yeres But the state decrepit drawes an other course as hauing neither beginning nor end certaine and terminable and therefore can not be called an age distinct and of it selfe The same being easely séene in this that it containes that residue of the life of man wherein the body is made vnweldie with many infirmities the which appeares after a man be entred into olde age and not afore notwithstanding we séeme to féele and suffer vnweldinesse So that that part of the life which is so grieuous hath no certaine beginning séeing those infirmities come sooner to one then to an other and endure either more or lesse according to the complexions of persons and therefore that can not well bée called an age compleate but rather part of an age This estate decrepit hath bene referred with great reason to the yeares of olde age béeing the last and extremest of all the other ages For that there remaynes no other thing to such as are come to it but death And for that such as liue so long are naturally subiect to many grieues and sorowes some men haue called the end of this last age senium An opinion fully conformable with the Scriptures For as it is here alleadged that the state decrepit is the last part of the life of man and followeth olde age So the Scripture accomptes the continuance and proporcion of our life to thréescore and ten yeeres referring the residue but to trauayle