one of the elements doth not interpose his vertue albeit one of thē is alwayes predominant ouer the rest And most certaine it is that Man is a creature made of God after his owne Image well disposed by nature composed of bodie and soule In this sort man had his beginning and being of the great and eternall builder of the world of whom likewise hee was created so noble for three reasons The first that by this meanes man knowing howe God hath placed him aboue all other liuing creatures he might be induced dayly to loue and honour him as is meete And therefore did the Lord place the eies in mans bodie to behold his wonderfull workes And for this cause also did he fasten eares to mans head that hee shoulde vnderstand and keep his commandements The second to the ende that acknowledging the noble place race from whence he came hee might feare to staine his name and fame with dishonest vnlawfull deeds The third that hee not being ignorant of his owne excellencie shoulde extoll himselfe in God and in him through him he should iudge himselfe worthy of heauenly felicitie What should I rippe vp the good discipline of liuing the lawes customs arts and sciences by man inuēted to furnish life with the three sorts of good namely honest pleasant and profitable According to which there be also three sortes of companies one for honestie as the learned and vertuous another for pleasure as yong folks and maried men a third for profite as Marchants Wherefore by good reason man holdeth the soueraigntie and chiefest roome in this world Of the soule Chap. 5. THe infusion of the soule into the bodie by God the Creator is a most admirable thing seeing that the soule which is inuisible is cōprehended within the body being palpable that which is light and of celestiall fire within that which is earthy cold corruptible that which is free within that which is base bound This alone is the instrument that can bring vs to the vnderstanding of God and our selues This is speculatiue and actiue at one and the same instant This is she that for her beautie hath the foure cardinal vertues for her actions reason iudgement will and memorie Briefly this is she about whom the wisest of the world haue occupied their curious and fine wits Pythagoras affirmed that the soul was a nūber moouing it self Plato said that the soule was a portiō taken frō the substance of celestial fire The prince of the Peripatetickes writeth that the soule is the motiō or act of a natural body that may haue life Our Diuines define the soule after this maner The soule of man is a spirit that giueth life and light to the bodie wherevnto it is knit and which is capable of the knowledge of God to loue him as being fit to be vnited vnto him through loue to euerlasting happinesse That a man hath but one soule Chap. 6. EVen as in euery bodie there is but one essentiall kind of nature whereby it proceedeth to be that which it is so in euery liuing creatures bodie there is but one soule by the which it liueth In the scripture we neuerread that one mā had mo soules thē one Adam being created by God was a liuing soule All the soules that came with Iacob into Egipt and out of his loines beside his sonnes wiues were in all threescore and six soules that is threescore and sixe persons Also the sonnes of Ioseph which were borne him in Egipt were two soules Steuen being stoned by the Iewes called on God and said Lord Iesu receiue my spirit Saint Paul raising Eutichu◠from death sayde his life is in him Our sauiour Christ likewise complained vnto his Disciples saying My soule is verie heauie euen vnto the death Hereby we may note that one man hath but one soule How greatly therefore are those Philosophers deceyued who affirme that one man hath three distinct soules to wit reasonable sensitiue and vegetatiue wherof these two last are in a bruit beast as well as in a man and the vegetatiue in plants in beastes and in man This opinion of pluralitie of soules seemed so damnable vnto the ancient fathers that Augustine Damascenus and the fourth Councell of Constantinople proclaimed them to be excommunicated which would hold one man to haue many soules Briefly to leaue this errour it falleth out with the soule as it doth with figures for euen as the trigon is in the tetragon and this tetragon in the pentagon so likewise the vegetatiue power is in the sensitiue and this sensitiue is in the reasonable soule Obiection We see yong infants hauing vegetatiue and sensitiue soules and not possessing the reasonable soule before they come to yeares of discretion Moreouer it is well knowne that a man liueth first the life of plants then of beasts and last of all of man therefore a man hath three soules distinct aswell by succession of time as in essence and formall property Answere I grant that the faculties of mans soule are by their operations successiuelie knowne as the vegetatiue power is knowne more plainly in the beginning then the sensitiue last of al the reasonable soule But frō thence to conclude that infants haue no reasonable soule I deeme it meere madnesse For the whole soule is infused within them in the beginning but by the sacred power of God it is not made as then manifest vntill they attaine to elder yeres Touching your proofe that a man liueth the life of plants then the life of beasts and last of a reasonable man I answere that it is meant of the vitall powers and not of the soule and so I yeeld that a man at first exerciseth the powers vegetatiue and sensitiue and then he hath the benefite of the reasonable soule Of the immortaltiie of the soule chap. 7. ATheists and the hoggish sect of the Epicures who would faine stay in their bodily senses as beasts do deride the holy scriptures saying that it is not known what becomes of their soules af-the deth of their bodies or to what coast they trauell by reason that none returned at any time backe from thence to certifie them This is their childish reason Which truly in my iudgemēt sprūg vp of their negligence in not ferreting out the end of the soule For to what end els was the soule created but that knowing God her Creator and worshipping him for that great benefite shee might stand in awe and loue of him and at length attaine to euerlasting life which is appointed for her end Al other liuing creatures God made for mans vse but man he created to the end that the light of his wisdome might shine in him and that hee might participate with him his goodnesse Admit therefore that mans soule were corruptible what difference then I pray thee would there bee betweene a man and a bruite beast nay then consequently it must follow that man was
doores yet for all his begging cannot come by the crumbes of the rich mans table Wherefore extend your bounty vnto the poore O yee that be rich according to the proportion of your wealth and as your good conscience shall lead you so giue Remēber that your daies be short vpon earth and that you haue but a smal time to liue Distrust not Gods promise who said that whatsoeuer is giuen to the poore is lent to himself and looke what you lay out shall be payd you againe Obiection A mā that hath a great charge of children cannot well giue almes vnto the poore therefore he may be excused Aunswere Marke what Christ saith He that loueth his father and mother aboue me is not worthy of me The loue of God is not with them who will not benefit the poore The widow of Sarepta preferred not her sonne before Elias in the time of famine neither was that lost which shee bestowed on Elias In a word no man must despayre of Gods reward I have beene yoūg quoth the Prophet Dauid and now am old and yet saw I neuer the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread publickly with vtter shame and discredit Circumstaunces to be obserued in giuing of almes Chap. 28. HOwbeit for all this I am not so indulgent and fond that I would haue men to distribute almes without exception and without due regard of circumstaunces For herein fiue things are to bee respected whereof the first is that they giue their almes for the Lords sake and that voluntarily of their owne proper motion The second that they argue with them touching their religiō before they giue them any thing to the end they may vnderstand whether they be true Protestants or froward Papists or Atheists The third that they dispute with thē concerning their conuersation The 4. that they giue their almes vnto religious men and to them that be old blind lame or crazed and sicke of body The fift circumstāce to be noted and followed in distributing of almes is that men giue them not for a brauery and vainglory to be praysed and extolled of the world but rather of pure zeale deuotion not expecting any recompence againe Of Fasting That an housholder should obserue fasting dayes Chap. 39. EVen as learned and wise Physicians in euery fluxe of the belly occasioned of surfet and repletion do for the most part prescribe an exquisite diet and also a purgation to wit of Rheubarb or such like to the end that not onely the superfluous substaunce of the belly may be drawne out but also that nature may be strengthened by the secret property and vertue of the Medicine so expert and wise householders ought in time of famine specially to haue regard that they lay downe a limited order of fasting vnto their families whereby they may not onely purge the rebellious humours of the flesh but likewise in after-clappes sustaine themselues the better from pouerty and dearth Oh what is it for a man to spare two meales in a weeke and bestow the estimate vpon the poore Alasse it is not much out of their way Wee read that the Iewes so oft as they would pacifie or aske any benefit of GOD vsed most commonly to fast By fasting Moses saw God Elias after his fasting was entertained of God The Niniuites fasted with repentance and were pardoned By fasting Daniel reuealed Nabuchodonozors dreame But if these examples can worke no charity in the adamant and steely hearts of our English Rookes yet ciuill policy me thinkes and her Maiesties commaundement might preuayle so much with them that they obserue Frydaies Saturdayes Lent and Ember dayes so neere as they may as fasting dayes both for the preseruation of meates ordained for their owne sustenaunce and for the safegard of their consciences and for the supplying of their neyghbours wants Obiection Good meates do nourish bloud and do reuiue aswell the vitall as the animall spirites As for fish figges and such like they bee slimy windy and make a man to bee ill complexioned And againe fasting is more daungerous for it weakneth and enfeebleth the whole body therefore a man ought not to obserue fasts Answere Al the commodities which you bring on the behalfe of meats are nothing in comparison of the good that spring of fasting for by it men become capable of visions and of the word of God by it many sicknesses are alayed Wheras on the contrary by flesh the body is enflamed and tormented with hot burning agues with innumerable maladies besides So that the commodities of fasting do farre exceed downewaigh the discōmodities thereof Yet notwithstāding I verily beleeue that old persons and cholerick folkes may be licensed to eat flesh In like maner women with child scholers and they that by study and care haue annoyed their spirits might be authorized from fasting In briefe I am perswaded that fasting is hurtfull for them which haue not attained to their perfect growth and strength Of the true fast Chap. 30. NEuerthelesse I am of this mind that those men obserue not the true fast which hypocritically forgo a meale or two of purpose colourably to hunt for worldly prayse and to be accounted religious in the sight of man but they rather are the true and allowed fasters that strongly leane to the euerliuing God that shunne as the horrour of hell al earthly vanities and that mortifie the filthy appetites of the flesh Albeit the other I confesse is a coadiutour to that thing and auayleth much for that purpose Whosoeuer therefore is willing to fast vprightly and according to the ordinaunce of GOD must fast with all the members of his body First hee must fast with his eyes and not pry too much into the pompeous shewes dazeling beauty of this world lest at the sight thereof as of a Cockatrice he be wounded to death both of body and soule Next he must fast with his eares that is hee must not consent to the alluring speeches of Seminarie Priests heretikes flatterers slaūderers and such like lest Sirenlike they entice him into their snares Thirdly he must fast with his toung and beware of blasphemies lies and vngodly communications Fourthly he must fast with his mouth that is he must take heed that he eat and drinke no more then sufficeth nature and that he abstaine from meats at conuenient seasons whereby as with a wing he may fly into heauen Fiftly he must fast with his heart and refraine from sinfull and idle thoughts Sixtly hee must fast with his feet and bridle them from being too swift to shead bloud or from trudging to London for proces against his brethren The end of the second booke THE THIRD booke of the Golden-groue moralized The first Plant. Of a Common-wealth Chap. 1. A Common-wealth is a societie of free mē vnited together by a generall consent to the end to liue well and orderly not onely in regard of iustice but also
created without cause Wherefore did God create man of stature straight and erected towardes the aspect of heauen the originall place of his true pedegree but that he should perswade himselfe that he is of a heauenly nature surely the conscience which discerning betweene good and euill answereth the iudgement of God is an vndoubted signe of an immortall soule For how could a motioÌ„ without essence come to the iudgement seate of God throwe it selfe into feare by finding her owne guiltinesse Further if the soule were mortall what rewarde is left to the iust what punishment to the wicked Also if this were true the wicked haue that which they most desire and the iust that which they most abhorre But shall punishment bee inflicted on the iust whereas it ought to bee executed on the wicked Many reasons I could alleadge but of all others this is most forcible which God hath giuen vs in the resurrection of his sonne our sauiour Iesus Christ whereby his soule was vnited againe to his body and taken vp into heauen in the sight of his Disciples Likewise we reade that God sayde to Moses I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob wherhence our sauior Christ concluded that AbrahaÌ„ Isaac Iacob do liue yet after their death seeing that * God is the God of the liuing and not of the dead Now to be breefe I may fitly compare these Epicurian hogges vnto drunkards who so long being drunke vntil they haue by sleepe sufficiently alayed the furious force of the wine which they drunk know not whether they haue any wit or conscience any soule or sence Obiection Men as Plinie writeth breathe no otherwise then beasts do for wee see nothing of the soule of either of them therfore the soule as wel of men as of beasts being nothing els but a breth is mortall Answere Plinie seeing smoake come out of the mountaine Vesuuius iudged that there was fire within although hee behelde it not also he knew by his nose that there was brimstone issuing out of the same albeit hee sawe it not howe chanceth it then that when by his sences he perceiued somewhat more in men then in beasts hee was not brought thereby to beleeue that consequently there must be somewhat within which causeth men to differ from bruit beasts Furthermore men discourse learnedly of all naturall things they are endued with reason and their speech followeth reason which are such things as haue a resemblance of Gods spirit shining in them but beastes haue not in them this apprehension for that they are produced out of the power of that matter whereof they are ingendered Finally the soule of man is bred in the bodie by God aboue all the matter of the same The third part Of Vertue Chap. 8. WHosoeuer meanes to sowe a godly field with corne must first rid the same field of thornes and shrubs and cut away the fernes with his sithe that the new corn may grow with ful cares so likewise O mortall man thou hauing beene all the daies of thy life as it were in a goldeÌ„ dreame awake at last and withdraw thy selfe from that fonde delight that vertue which is surer better then all Arts may the sooner enter into thy minde Be not like vnto a child who seeing a bable wherwith he plaieth taken out of his hand powtingly throweth away that which he hath in his other hand although it bee far better then the former Al worldly things be they neuer so glorious do fade away yea worldlings themselues are so soone suffocated and choaked with euerie small moth that they are ready to stumble at euerie straw and to become daunted at euerie trifling cause But coÌ„trariwise they which are bedewed with the sweet droppes of Vertue wil neuer be ouerturned eyther with worldly guiles or with the losse of life and bloud Vertue is alway permanent shee is quiet in most stormie times shineth in the darke beeing driuen from her seate she neuerthelesse remaineth in her couÌ„try she giueth continual light and neuer becoÌ„meth spotted with any filth Euerie thing that is atchieued by her meanes is good and soueraigne For her loue Anacharsis the Philosopher left his kingdom of Scythia to his yonger brother went into Athens to find her there This also moued the Emperor Maximiliâ— the 2. in the yeere of our Lord 1574. to answer a Dutchman that craued his Letters Patents to make him a nobleman It is in my power quoth he to make thee rich but Vertue must make thee noble Happy therfore is he that wooeth her thrise happy is he that is contracted to her for euen as the prowesse valour of a horse maketh him apt and fit for his rider to attend couragiously the onset of the enemy so vertue strengthneth her owner against coÌ„cupisceÌ„ce restoreth him ready to abide any bruÌ„ts of variable fortune Moreouer a vertue is said to be three manner of waies in man either infused by God or planted by nature or gotten by pains and industrie Vertue is infused by God when we call her either faith hope or charitie b she is by nature wheÌ„ we terme her nobilâ—tiâ— Shee is saide to bee gotten through paines and industrie when wee name her either morall as iustice truth magnanimitie fortitude temperaunce magnificence liberalitie clemencie modestie affabilitie friendship patience or intellectuall as Art science vnderstaÌ„ding prudence and wisedome al which together with their extremes and subordinate qualities I wil decipher hereafter Wherfore to be breefe let vs embrace vertue so pretious and manifold a palme tree which the more it is pulled downe the more it returneth vpward let vs I say follow her who hath this singular propertie in al-her actioÌ„s namely that c she maketh the man that knoweth her so to affect her that forthwith hee liketh all her actions and desireth to imitate them that are vertuously disposed Of Vice Chap. 9. EVen as a vertue is the beautie of the inward man the way to attain vnto an happie life so vice is the sicknes therof and fighteth against nature d All things that are borne haue vices as it were sowen in their minds He is best that is least troubled with them For we see that neither fire nor feare doth carry a man away so violently as vices They onely haue beene the vndooers of all coÌ„mon-wealths and as soone as they once haue entred into the mind they wil neuer forsake it vntil they ouerwhelme it with al kinds of sin f hurt it with their griping and ouerthrow al things which are next vnto them vnhappie man is he that is vexed with them farre better it were for him not to liue at al or els liuing g to be throwne into the sea with a milstone about his neck Although a man bee fast loden with irons yet his captiuitie is nothing to him y t is enuironed with vices He then that will bee mighty must
Peter Thy money perish with thee because thou thinkest that the gift of God may be obtained with money Simony may be coÌ„mitted three maner of waâ—es First whosoeuer selleth or buyeth the word of God is a Simonist Wherefore the Lord said vnto his disciples Freely you haue receyued freely giue Secondly hee that giueth or taketh any thing for a Bishopricke Benefice Headship or for a fellowes or Scholers roome is guilty of Simony Thirdly The Minister that denieth to bury the dead or say Diuine seruice committeth Simony Now hauing declared how many waies Simony is committed I wil shew that it is the vtter ruine of the Cleargie and consequently of the whole commonwealth First Simony is condemned with excommunication the seuerest censure of the Church and therfore odious Secondly Simony hindreth house-keeping so that ministers cannot distribute almes Thirdly it breedeth the desolation and destruction of the state For commonly there ensueth a dissolution of the commonwealth when the fruits 〈◊〉 reueneâ—es therof are decreased Fourthly Simony discourageth parents to send their sonnes to the Vniuersity for what parents bee so foolish as to bestow in maintenaunce of their sonnes at least three hundred pound before they attayne to perfection and then to pay againe two hundred pouÌ„d for a benefice or foure hundred pound for a Chauncelorship surely it is a lamentable case I had rather saith one that my sonne be a colier then a scholer For what shall I put my sonne to schoole when he shall pay so much for a liuing Better it is for me to leaue my sonne an ingram foole then to buy him a liuing through vnlawfull meanes Besides who is so bluntish that knoweth not the great infinite labours of Scholers that seeth not their eyes weakned their bodies empaired which is worse their spirites decaied O stony hearts O wicked Simonists Doubtlesse this abomination portends some great calamity to follow Lastly Simony is an heresie and for that respect it ought to be reiected from all true Christians To wind this vp in a word I wish all Pastours and patrons of benefices and Chancelourships to looke more narrowly vnto themselues and to stand in feare of God who vndoubtedly is offended with their Simony and will one day requite the slacknes of their punishments with the weight thereof wil cast them downe headlong into the bottomlesse and tormenting pit of hell where euery sence of their bodies shall abide his peculiar punishment Their eyes shall haue no other obiects then Diuels and Snakes their eares shall bee afflicted with clamours and howlings their noses with brimstone and filthy smels their tast with poison and gall and their feeling shal be vexed continually with boyling lead and firy flames The sixt Plant. Of the alteration of a common-wealth Chap. 52. COmmonwealths euen as mortall men haue their infaÌ„cy childhood stripling age youth virility middle age and old age that is they haue their beginning vegetation flourishing alteration and ends And like as diuers innouations maladies do happen to meÌ„ according to the coÌ„stitutioÌ„ of their bodies or according to their diet and education so in like maner it falleth out with commonwealths as being altered eyther by domesticall ciuill wars or els by forreyne or perhaps by both together or by the death of the noblest inhabitaunts or to bee briefe by vices which are suffred to creepe in It is necessary that all things which are in this world should waxe old and hasten to the same end some sooner others later according to the will of God their Creatour and by his permission through the influence of the heauenly bodies from which this mutuall succession of life and death issueth Howbeit notwithstaÌ„ding I confesse that prodigious signes are not the causes of euents but rather foretokens of them Like as an Iuy bush put forth at a vintrie is not the cause of the wine but a signe that wine is to be sold there so likewise if wee see smoke appearing in a chimney wee know that fire is there albeit the smoke is not the cause of the fire God onely chaungeth the tymes and seasons hee discouereth the deepe and secret things and the light is with him The effects of all the Cometes and the chiefest Eclipses which hapned in this last age Chap. 53. FOrasmuch as the alterations of commoÌ„wealths are for the most part foreshewed vnto vs by heauenly signes I iudge it more meet for mee to declare those which chaunced within this last age rather then in any other especially for that they are neerer to our fathers memories and also more familiar vnto vs. In the yeere of our Lord 1500. there appeared a Comet in the North after the which followed many and straunge effects For the Frenchmen assaulted the kingdome of Naples the Tartarians the kingdome of Polonia Then was a great famine in Swethland and a cruell plague throughout al Germany besides ciuill warres amongst themselues in taking part with the Bauarians against the Bohemians TheÌ„ died Pope Pius the 3. together with the Archbishop of Treâ—ires and diuers other famous wights In the yeere 1506. appeared another Comet Whereupon died Prince Philip the father of Charles the fift and Ferdinand afterward Emperours Maximilian the Emperour made warre with the Frenchmen and Venetians In the yeere 1514. was an Eclipse of the sunne About which time George Duke of Saxony inuaded and spoyled FrizelaÌ„d King Lewis the 12. of FrauÌ„ce and Vladislaus king of Hungary Bohemia departed out of this world In the yeere 1518. was seene another Eclipse of the sunne Immediatly after the which died the Emperour Maximilian the first Christierne the 2. king of Denmarke fought a most bloudy battell with the Swethens within a while after he was deposed of his kingdome In the yeere 1527. appeared a great Comet the operation wherof the poorâ— Hungarians felt as being barbarously to the shame of all Christians martyred destroyed by the Turkes The prodigious disease of sweating was rife here in England The riuer Tiber ouerflowed the citie of Rome The sea also consumed away a great part of the low countries In the yeere of our Lord 1533. waâ— seene another blazing starre whereupoÌ„ a litle while after king H. y â— 8. was diuorced froÌ„ his brothers wife The sect of the Anabaptists begaÌ„ to rise Pope Clement the 7. departed out of this life and Pope Paul the 3. was inuested in his roome In the yeere 1539. chaunced an Eclipse of the sunne presently after appeared a Comet the effects wherof were many For there was a great coÌ„motioÌ„ in GauÌ„t which the Emperour not without much damage at leÌ„gth appeased took away their priuileges froÌ„ them Iohn the K. of Hungary ended his life And so did Henry Duke of Saxony The Duke of Brunswisk was by the young Duke of Saxony and by the Landgraue of Hassia driuen out of his countrey The English ouercame
notwithstanding at last he loseth all so may put his winnings in his ere yea and which is worse hee hazardeth his soule which hee ought to hold more deare then all the world But because I haue largely confuted this vice in other places I will proceed to the other cause of the alteration of commonwealths Of superfluitie of apparell another cause Persi. of the alteration of Kingdomes Chap. 58. IN the beginning of the world men were clothed with pelts and skins of beasts wherby is to be noted that they were become as beasts by transgressing the cōmandement of God touching the fruit in Paradise Apparell was not giuen to delight mens wanton eies but to preserue their bodies from the cold and to couer their shame They had no Beuer hats sharpe on the top like vnto the spire of a steeple nor flatte crownde hats resembling rose-cakes They wore no embrodered shirtes nor garments of cloth of gold They knew not what meant our Italianated Frenchified nor Duch and Babilonian breeches They bought no silken stockins nor gaudie pantoffles Their women could not tel how to frizle and lay out their haire on borders They daubed not their faces with deceitfull drugs wherewith hiding the handi-work of God they might seeme to haue more beautie then hee hath vouchsafed to giue them They imitated not Hermaphrodites in wearing of mens doublets They wore no chaines of gold nor ouches iewels bracelets nor such like They went not clothed in veluet gownes nor in chamlet peticotes They smelt not vnto pomanders Ciuet Muske and such like trumperies And yet for all that they farre surpassed vs in humanitie in kindnesse in loue and in vertue Their onely cogitations were bent to decke the inward mind not the outward body which is nothing els sauing a liuing sepulcher They knew that if the mind were humble and lowly the raiment for the body must bee euen so Euerie seede bringeth forth herbes according to his kind as time seed bringeth foorth time and tare seede tare Such as the heart is such is the body if the heart bee proude the fruit thereof will be ill weedes and proud attires But why is the earth ashes proud to what end will our fine apparell serue when death knocketh at out doores and like a theefe in the night surprizeth vs vnawares Our yong gallants when they hire a chamber in London looking daily to bee sent for home by their parents will neuer trouble themselues with any charges or garnishing it as otherwise they would doe if they were assured longer to continue in it And what I pray you is the body but a chamber lent to the soule wherehence it expecteth continually to bee sent for by God our heauenly father and as Saint Paul speaketh to bee loosed and to be with Christ For what cause doe wee take such care to apparell the body seeing within a while after it must putrifie and returne to the dust of the earth from whence it came what reason haue wee to neglect the soule which neuer dieth why do we not follow King Henrie the sixt of this Realme who when the Earle of Warwicke asked him wherefore hee went so meanely apparelled answered It behooueth a Prince to excel his subiects in vertue and not in vesture Let vs call to remembrance the wife of Philo the Iewish Philosopher who wisely answered one of her gossips that demaunded of her why she went not as other matrons attired in pretious garmēts Because quoth shee I thinke the vertues of my learned husband sufficient ornaments for me Whereto consenteth that of the Comick z In vaine doth a woman goe well attired if shee be not also well manered But what neede I spend time in producing of examples when our Sauiour Christ scorned not to weare a coate without a seame Which kinde of apparell if a man now-a-dayes vsed heere in England presently one of our fine Caualeers would laugh at him and prize both him and his apparell scant worth a hundred farthings Oh what a shame is it that euerie seruing-man in England nay euerie common Iacke should flaunt in silkes and veluets and surpasse Gentlemen of worship I haue knowne diuers who would bestow all the money they had in the world on sumptuous garments and when I asked them howe they would liue heereafter they would answere A good marriage will one day make amends for all thereby implying that they hoped to inueigle and deceiue some widow or other Which pretence of theirs being frustrate they will bee driuen to commit burglaries and murthers In respect of which inconueniences I exhort euerie man to liue according to his vocation and to obserue her Maiesties decrees and proclamations whereby Caualeering groomes and dunghilled knaues are straightly prohibited to weare the same sutes and apparell as Gentlemen Obiection God hath created al things which are in this world for mans vse therefore any man may weare cloth of gold siluer or such like Answere True it is that God made all things in this world to be vsed of mā but herein I must distinguish men some men be noble some ignoble There is no reason why cloth of gold permitted onely to Noblemen should be equally permitted to earth-creeping groomes And again God hath appoynted men not sole cōmanders but bailies of his goods creatures with condition that they giue an account of the vtmost farthing of the same And in this regard Noblemē may gorgeously attire themselues so long as they clothe the needie and distressed members of Christ. But if Noblemen on the contrary clothe themselues sumptuously without reseruing meanes to furnish the poore members of Christ then will the Lord at the great day of iudgement pronounce this fearefull doome against them Depart frō me ye cursed into eternal fire for I was naked ye clothed me not To knit vp this briefely I say that God created al things for his owne glorie and to take occasion to extoll him but not for our pride to abuse them The seuenth Plant. Of the conseruation of a common-wealth Chap. 59. THere be many means to preserue a commonwealth but aboue the rest these ten are of most efficacy The first and chiefest is to liue vprightly in the feare of God The second to make no delay in executing of attainted and condemned persons The third to suffer euery man to enioy his owne and not lauishly to spend rake the priuat inhabitants goods The 4. to haue a great regard of mischiefs euils at the first budding how small soeuer it be for the corruptiō that creepeth in by little little is no more perceyued then small expenses be the often disbursing wherof vndoeth the substance of a house And as great rayne horrible stormes proceed from vapours and exhalations that are not seene so alteration changes breed in a commonwealth of light and trifling things which no man would iudge to haue such an issue The fift means is that Magistrates behaue themselues