of Suppliants written amongst the alwes of Heralds they adiorned vnto them many Princes and people in amitie friendshippe But peraduenture some will aunswere that the french Catholiques did not breake any law of armes in vsing pollicie against their enmmies for saint Augustine in hys questions vpon Iosua sayth When warre is iust lawfull he swerueth not from iustice that pursueth his enimies either by strength or pollicy And euen so Antigonus when one asked him howe he shoulde deale with hys enimies answered Eyther with fraude or dinte of sworde eyther openly or secretly And Virgil. Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat Saint Hierome alleageth that verse as seculer but liketh very well therof so farre forth as no fayth troth geuē be byolate But I thinke the word Dolus in the verse to be taken of honest and lawfull pollicies in war And that all subtill cauilátions fraudes and periuries are excepted For the word no doubt signifieth Prudens Stratagema The king of Denmarck vsing fraud and periury agaynst his subiectes is much discommended for that when hee coulde not bring in by maine might certaine pernicious outlawes and pirates hée brought it to passe by pollicy for he pretending open war agaynst forreyn enimies sommoned his men os war to come and serue him and among the rest sent also vnto those theeues both graunting them pardon for all theire offences committed agaynst him and also promised them for their seruice large and liberall wages And when they were commen he straight way put them to death Such pollicyes hauing periury anexed vnto them ought to be detested of al good men and chiefly of Princes whome verity and constancy in words of promises haue alwayes singulerly commended The french Stratagemes are not much vnlike the danish dealings sauing the their pertury was more heynous in Fraunce for that the aduerse part were already come in and had layd down their arniour and weapon and had on their part giuen out infallible and euident signes of their loue and fidelity to their Prince The cruell deede of Peter Arrogon is much detested who slew eyght thousande french men in Cicil for that they had surprised that I le in his abscnce and yet he excercised his cruelty vpon forreyners and straungers but these vpon their own nation and nere kinsnien They seemed to haue set before their eyes the dissimulation of Antonius Cōmodus whose maners they haue exactly expressed For when he was wearyed with filthy pleasures where 〈◊〉 he was exceedingly geuen lest he mighte séem◠to spend tune in dooing nothing hee deuysed with him selfe how he might murder the Nobles of his Empire especially he caused one Iulianus to be slayn suddenly and horribly in his bedde and yet in the sight of men he woulde kisse and embrace him calling him his sweete hart and welbeloued father Or hapely they looked nerer home and bchelde the pollicies of some of their Auncestors We reade of Charles the vy king of Fraunce that after long and greeuous troubles in that country he entered into league and affinity with the duke of Burgondy and promised most constantly to bury all auncient quarrels and grudges ther vpon they both receiued at the priestes handes the host consecrated as the manner was in those dayes in confyrmation of their othes and promyses yet notwithstanding when as the sayd king hadde inuited the duke to come to Montrell pretending to entertayne him most frendely and to exhibit vnto him spectacles and triumphes he suffered the duke to be murdered vppon the bridge there as they werein communication together Some may aunswere that how these men kept their fayth they wil not examin but by these doinges there followed tranquility and quietnesse vnto those Regions and country I answere let it be so accounted for y presēt time but if we cōsider the consequence of such truce breakings immayne cruelties we shall finde in the ende vtter subuersion to haue ensewed greate houses and families therefore Surely all good men imbrace that saying There is nothing profitable vnlesse it be also honest And therefore Aristides did openly in the audience of the people reiecte the polliticke counsell of Themistocles concerning the burning of the Lacedemonians Nauy because being profitable it was not thoughte honest Furius Camillus receiued not the children of the Lords of Phalice betrayed to him by their Schoolemaster but stripped him naked and deliuered him to be whipped home wyth roddes by the same Chyldren Kingly vertues in times past haue bene reported to be these Iustice gentlenesse and clemencie but crueltie and outrage haue bene misliked Scipio hath in all ages bene praysed who was wonte to say that he had rather saue one citezen then sley a thousand enimies which sentence the Emperour Antonius surnamed Pius did often repeate Contrariwise it was a shamefull byworde vsed against yong Tiberius to be called Clay tempered with bloud It is no sufficient allegation to say that kings haue absolute power of lyfe and death ouer their subiectes There cannot be alleaged anye greater authoritie then that the Dictators hadde at Rome in whome was the soueraigne power of peace and warre and of lyfe and death and that without appeale Yet might they not execute a Citisen hys cause vnheard and without condemnation by order of law Onely murderers and théeues doe take awaye mens lyues without order of law without hearing the partie pleade his cause and to speake for hymselfe but what neede many wordes It is cléerer then the noone day that cruelty periurie and filthie adulterie are the verie proper noates and badges of Papistes in these our dayes It is much to be lamented that the noble and famous Nacion of Fraūce shold learn of Pope and Turck vnto whom they linck themselues in legue to care for no promise fayth or oth and I pray God in the ende they be not scourged by Antichrist whom they trust and distrust God with whome whiles they seeke to concerue peace and concorde they cānot chuse but be at discord and open warre with god The old Poets doe feine that the proud Giauntes waged battaile agaynste heauen whereby they ment vndoubtedly those that despise laws and breake their oaths most blasphemously abusing Gods name And those that easily commit such offences the Deuel doth wholy possesse their harts by litle and litle and bréedeth in thē a deadly hatred against God wherby they ronne into foule and heynous facts and so at the laste fall into tragicall paynes both in this world and in the world to come Which the Poets ment also to expresse in Iupiter his conquests ouer the sayd Giauntes called Philegians who were caried quick to Hel with a floud sent out by Neptune of whom Uirgil writeth thus Phlegiasque miserrimus omnes Admonet et magna testater voce per vmbras Discite insticiā moniti et nō temnere diuos How gréeuously and odiously men doe prophane Gods
people nor with the gratulacions of the Senate but alwayes confessing his crime and declaring howe his mothers Ghoast appeared vnto hym vnished his speedie destruction And moreouer offering his heathenishe sacrifice by the hanâ—â—s of his Southsayers he wylled them to call vp his mothers soule and to make attonement betweene hir and hym that he might liue in â—eace rest Richarde the thirde king of Englande of that name who with great tyranny came to the kingdome murdering not onely his enimyes but suche as had beene hys faythfull assistants neyther sparing his Nephews king Edwarde sonnes nor his owne wife but imbruing himselfe in bloud on euery side that hee mighte sette hym selfe sure in hys Throne When he came to a vilage cales Bosworth not far from Leycester where he ment to encounter his enemies The same wente that the mghte before the fielde was sought he had a dreadfull terrible dreme For it séemed to him being a sléepe that 〈◊〉 saw diuers Images like terrible deuilles which pulled and haled him not sufferinge him to take any quiet or rest The whithe straunge vision not so stroke his harte wish a suddayne feare as it stuffed his head and troubled his minde with many busie infaginations For incontinent after his harte being almost damped he pregnosticated before the doubtfull chaunce of the battalle to come not vsing such chearefulnesse and â—orage of mind and countenaunce as he was accustomed to doe before he came towarde the battayle Wherevnto Polidore addeth thys fitte and excellent Sentence I verily thinke this was no dreme but a punction and sting of of his sinfull Conscience which being so much more wounded as the offence is more heynous in degree which surely if at any other time yet principally at the hower of death it calleth freshly to our rememberaunce mischiefes conâ—icted and paynted forth before our eyes punishementes imminent so that in the momente of death we are pricked in spirite for oure euell life and euen then we depart this world with intollerable vexation and griefe Moyses veraly doth most liuely expresse the misery of a guity Conscience after this maner And thy life shall hang before thee and thou shalt feare both night and day and shalt haue no asurance of thy life In the morning thou shalt say would God it were euening and at the Eueuing thou shalt say would Got it were morninge for the feare of thine harte which thou shalte feare Deut. 28. Howe breefely and playnely doeth Moyses paynte oute the dayly and continuall straites and agonies of a troubled Conscience Semblably speaketh Salust of Cateline For that impure minde of his detested of God and man could not be quieted night nor day Therefore his couloure was pale and wanne his eyes were foule and his pace sometime swift sometime slow in his face and countenaunce there appeared Tiranny To this ende serueth y out of the booke of the Origin of y world where Moyses wryteth that our first parentes after their transgression did hide them selues and shonne the sighte of God theire fearefull conscience without all doubte condeinning them therevnto accordeth that in the same booke of Iosephes bretheren fearing leste now theire Father being deade he would remember 〈◊〉 â—ruell dealing with him and reuehge the â—â—ct â—â—id euen so was it with the traytor Iudas who weary of his life by meanes of a wounded Conscience strangled himselfe But I cease from gathering any moe examples for it is moste euidente that as the sincere Conscience amonge the greatest sorrowes and miseries of this world ministreth an incredible plesure and as it were taste of the heauenly blisse so the impure and corrupte Conscience recordeth his guiltes and transgressions tormenteth man in this worlde and in some maner representeth vnto him the furies sorrowes and cruell tormentes of Hell. And as we see it come to passe in those that haue bene incombred with a long consumption albeit they dye at their appointed tyme yet lyuing they séeme to dye leysurely rather then to lyue so it fareth with the gaulled minde and scared conscience albeit they shall perishe euerlastingly vnlesse they repent yet they cannot vpon this earth go skotfree but receiue a taste of their appointed fayre in the worlde to come Nowe if a merie and contented minde according to the wise mans saying procureth a florishing age and if a sorrowfull spirite dryeth the bones it cannot otherwise be but the inward agony of the mind breaketh out into the body as well impayring the health as the strength thereof The Philosophers and Phisitions holde this opinion that through auxitie griefe of minde man pyneth awaye waxeth olde quickly and is taken away with vntimely death And therfore they prescribe in their dyets and ordery vsuals that all men desirous of manye yeares and long lyfe ought to auoyde great pensiuenesse and gréeuous cares as cause thereof Whereby it maye easely appeare howe pestelent and consuming a plague it is which weakeneth and in the ende vtterly destroyeth bodye and minde whereof Fabius speaketh excellently if I can Iudge anye thing in this wyse There is nothing so busied and variable noching so rent and torne with dyuers affections as is the euill and vncleane minde For when it attempteth anye thing it is wonderfully distract with hope care and labor and atchiuing his desire it is wrong and racked with carefulnes fearefulnes and an expectation of al mischief The same is confirmed by the holy Father S. Ambrose The corrupte Conscience starteth at euery cracke and the raw woundes cannot be corrected with any playster whatsoeuer it heareth red or spoken it accounteth as spoken againste it selfe If a man eate if he studye if he praye his crime is straighte waye before him the Conscience witnesseth agaynst him pleadeth against him condemneth him Which thing considered by the Prophete caused him to speake in this sort The wicked are lyke the raging of the Sea that cannot rest whose waters cast vp mire and dyrte there is no peace sayth the Lorde to the wicked The heathen wryting of â—he manifolde tormentes of Hell spake of the rauening byrde called a Gryffon which should gnaw vpon mans lyuer by the which they signiâ—â—e nothing else but the gnawing of the conscience mangling as it were manne wyth dreadfull remembrances of euill committed in this lyfe Of a verie lyke opinion are some Deuynes who thinke that men shall abyde the greeuous tormeÌ„ts of Hel in their Conscience which our Sauiour calleth the worme gnawing the conscience of the wicked neuer dying But as that opinion of theirs is not true that the paynes of Hell are tollerated in the conscience onely For out of doubt al parts of man internall and externall shall perticulerly abide vntollerable payne so I will not denie but that to other tormentes thys of the conscience is added as a principall weight or heape whereby with great bytternesse of minde the wicked recognise and set as it were present before their eics
know sayth he that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise agayne at the last day and shal be compassed agayn wish my skinne and shall see god in my flesh Ioseph that Godly and chaste young man being chayned in she stockes what solace had hee in the déepe dungeon but his sincere mind and vnspotted Conscience And euen so it was with Eliazarus with Paule and with all the Apostles in their distresse for Eliazarus sayth O lord I am piteously tormented in my body but I willingly suffer all these thinges for thy names sake Paule being certified by Agabus of the afflictions which he should suffer at Ierusalem I â—â— he am ready not only to be bound but also to suffer death for the name of the Lord Iesus The Apostles likewise being scorged for preaching the Gospel Went away with Ioy that they were found worthy to beare infamy for the name of the Lord Iesus The principal cause of these thinges was doubtlesse a good conscience which writeth sorrowe into ioy calamity to felicity and to conclude death into lyfe it selfe OF THE EVELL AND CORrupt Conscience AS THERE IS IN GOD that supreme and nigh maiest is of God a wisedome descerning betwene good euil things and also a will wishing goodnesse with a deuine delectation pleasure contrariwise nylling that which is naught and with great indignation and anger reiecting and punishing the same Euen so hath he created the lyfe of man that there shoulde be certaine lawes as it were notices or admonitions of the mind commaunding thinges honest and forbidding the contrary besides these he hath appointed magistrats that they should defend the good and punishe the euill And to this ende were thinges thus ordered and disposed in the creation that men might learne that there is both a God being a wise and iust Iudge and there withall that manne should knowe and perceyde himselfe to be the ymage of God whome he ought to imitate and followe For God is neyther knowne of heauen nor of earth of plants neyther yet of beastes although they obey him in theire kinde but Aungelles and men onely hath he so created that he might he obeyed knowne worshipped of them and that they being fashioned lyke vnto God might not pyne away and dye wyth impietie and vexation of minde but hauing their hartes agréeable to right reason and iudgement might reioyce in good actions as well before as after the facte But in this corrupt and wounded nature mans hart burneth as it were wyth flames méere contrary to right iudgement and at the first trembleth not to runne into mischiefe Nowe for that it concerneth Gods iustice to punishe and route out obstinate and rebellious natures therefore hath he conioyned the dolor and anguishe of the Conscience following wicked and mischeuous deedes that might as it were an hangman punishe and execute offenders And although this sorrowe he somewhat dull nowe and then in persons yet at the last God doth so kindle it in the wicked that they tremble and quake and are oppressed as it were with the noyse of the thunder as it is sayde in the Psalme In thy anger thou shalt vexe and trouble them Whereof Plato wryteth excellently in this wise When an euill man draweth towarde his ende he is sodainely striken with a foure and care of such thinges as he once thought not of before and those talke of Deuils of Hell and of paynes which the wicked suffer there where of he made a scoffe and stale iest doe then miserablye encoumber his minde wherby he faleth into an examination of his former life And recording his vile and filthy actes hee is quyet neyther waking not sleeping often times he sturteth in his sleepe as it were a fearefull childe out of his dreame and so lyuing awhyle he droupeth away in euill hope Sophocles wryteth that Oedipus beyng olde and blynde was ledde to Athens by his daughter Antigona Who dying there was buried in the Temple of Erinnyus By the which fable he signifieth the vnquiet Conscience at the hower of death of all such as haue ledde an vnhonest lyfe For Erinnyus by interpretatioÌ„ are nothing else then contentious perturbations of the minde by reason of an euill Conscience which alwayes wayte vpon vnhonest actes and déeds And they are sayd to be mindestill for that condigne punishment for sinfull actes are neuer forgotten whiche although they be for a time prolonged yet this is the very property and effect of Eriunius that when mischiefe and payne is least looked for then it falleth moste gréeuously Thus much I thought good to note touching the occasions of doloures and gréefe in the euell conscience now lette vs consider the difinition of the same An euell Conscience is a heauy and vexing motion of the hart conioyned with perfect knowlege of a detestable fact For assuredly furies doe alwayes pursue and chase the wicked not with burning torches and fire brandes as inter Iudes and playes sette out but with horâ—â—res of Conscience and anguish of minde wayting alwayes vpon mischieuous men euen as the shade we foloweth the body not suffering them to beeath and as it were to pause one â—â—â—iuente from trembling and feare And for this cause onely Seneca commendeth that saying of the â—pienre The gilty man may happily hide himselfe sometime but he hath no assured confidence to escape Whiche thinges as they are true so are they confirmed with Histories throughâ—ute all tymes and ages Tacitus reporteth that Tiberius vexâ—d with such tormentâ—a 〈◊〉 vnto the Senatâ— in this wise What should I write vnto you my Lordes or how should I write or rather what shoulde I not wryte I at this instant All the Gods of heauen at ons rather distroy the then to pine awaye dayly thus as I doe Such plagues and tormentes had Tiberiâ—s inwardly by his monstrous â—dings Neyther is that â—odnâ— the purpose which a certayne man vtâ—ered If the wicket of Titaunts minds might be vnlocked â—â—midsi shoÌ„ld 〈◊〉 see their mangled woundâ— for as it fareth with the body by reason of â— stripes and blowes euen so it the minde at â—oil resite and torne with cruelty filthy lust fâ—â—udo malice and such like For 〈◊〉 Tiberius had â—o wante of anyâ— worldly thinges â—â— that might serue to solace and comford 〈◊〉 afflicted mind yet was he hot able by any of meanes to ease or consâ—ate the tormentes â—â— and paynes of his Conscience Suetonitis wryteth of Caligula who seemed neyther to care for God nor man yet at the least roumbling and glauneing of thundering and lightning he would winke and couer hys face when with greater terror heauen and earth seemed both to shake to burne with fâ—â—e he woulde runne into corners and hyde himselfe The same Author also noteth home Nero after he had murdered his naturall mother was so greeuouslye veâ—ed in conscience that he could not be coÌ„forted neyther with ioyfull showâ—es and acclamations of the
their foule facts and detestable deedes done in their lyfe And to shutte vp this matter whereas â—ayth is the vnely Instrument whereby man obteyneth iustification and immortalitie which can not be liuely in anye man hauing a guplly conscience hereby we may cafely gather how detcstable and horrible a mischiefe that is Therefore whosoeuer séeketh saluation by faith it standeth them vpon to brydle their affonions and concopiscences and to commyt nothing against the commaundements of god For he that transgresseth his conscience accusing hym howe can he perswade himselfe that God will be mercyfull vnto him The faythfull in déede nowe and then stumble and stagger it cannot be denied but oute of all doubt a true and lyuely fayth hath no fellowship with the workes of darkenesse Moreouer seing that death in it selfe of all terrible thinges is most terrible it must néedes be much more horrible in those who through the accusation of their owne conscience looke for a spéedie passage into hell tormentes For nathelesse doath it selfe is not so terrible as the â—ugsome opinioÌ„ therof for euen thereafter as the conscience is good or badde so doth shee wyllingly embrace or dreadfully eschewe the same The godly receyue death wyllingly and gladly which they knowe to be sent vnto theÌ„ from God as a delyuerance and passage out of the miseries of this troublesome worlde into the porte of eternall rest but the wicked declyne the same as the perillous rocks and sandes where they must needes make shypwracke of eternall lyfe Therefore it was truely and comfortably uttered by a certaine writte We haue no cause to feare any thing in death if our life haue not committed any thing procuring cause of feare For it is not possible that he should dye impenitently that hath lyued well That a pure Conscience is to be respected in all humane actions wherewith a man may content hymselfe WHERE AS there are manye thinges notably written by Cicero which argue his great wisedome and knowledge yet amongest them all hath he left no saying more excellent and deuine then that in his booke intituled Of olde age to wyt That a conscience of a lyfe well spent and a remembrance of many good deedes is a thing most comfortable Which worthie and memorable sentence is not onely agréeable with the secret iudgement of anye good man but is also consonant to the opinions of auncient Sages and good Deuines who with one mouth doe wich their voyces confirme the same And it is worthy to be obserued that Tully maketh not a common person to vtter that senteÌ„cc but Cato surnamed that Sensor a vcric graue and wise father Whose vprightnesse in cyuill RegimcÌ„t long experience in worldly affayres worthie vertues and singuler wisedome all the Romayne hystories doc at large proposse and expresse Cato without al controucrsie spake so of his owne experience contenting himselfe with that inwarde testimonie when he susteyncd the checkes of his superiors the enuye of hys equalles and the obloque of his inferiors an vnthankfull rewarde for that hys vigelant and fatherly care for the prosperous and happie estate of his Citizens and countrie men And it were to be wished that all men whether they liue priuately or publikely woulde in all their doinges set that paterne before their eyes wherein they beholding themselues daylie as it were in a cléere glasse might euidently sée what â—eutefieth or blemisheth their vocation or condition of lyfe And that these things may be the better considered it shall not be amisse perticulerly to open vnfolde the duetyes of some functions in the common weale whereby men maye passe from the partes to the whole and by a fewe to vnderstande what is conuenient for all Thou art called to be a Iudge or chosen an Arbyter to composse controuersies sée that therein thou doe nothing against law and conscience respecting any person Let neyther threttes neyther flatterie draw thée one heare breadth from vprightnesse RemeÌ„ber in that matter thou ought neyther to haue friend nor enimie Coosen nor straunger For all these thinges ought to be set a side in iudgement Yeelde nothing to fauour nor consanguinitie nothing to hatred or displeasure nothing to hope or feare which things commonly stricke men starke blinde in iudgement to be short suffer not anye affection to be of thy counsayle but consider the lawe and moderate the same if it be extréeme with a good conscience So did good Aristides who appointed a daies man betwéene two men wherof the one to the ende he might drawe him into displeasure with his aduersarie produced many impertinent thinges as that his aduersarie had also much accused Aristides Well sayth the Arbiter omyt at thys tyme these matters and alleage onely those thinges wherein he hath abused thee Cato also as Valerius reporteth sitting in iudgement vpon a wicked and infamous Senator receyuing Pompeius Magnus his letters commendatorie in the behalfe of the malefactor would not suffer theÌ„ to be opened The good Iusticer would rather folow his owne internal iudgement then obteyn thankes of that mightie man teaching by his example that a Iudge ought not by any request rewarde or fauour to be led from the true execution of Iustice Those that are called in anye state to be of the priuie counsayle ought to direct all their consultations to the helth and wealth of their countriemen And albeit he sée before his eyes present daunger with floudes of enuy and malyce together with false rumoures vniust suspitions of his doinges yet let him not follow vayne fame which neyther profiteth the euill neyther hurteth the good but the iudgemente of his conscience as it were a guide and Lodesman in all his actioÌ„s Neyther would I haue any man to mistake me as though I ment that we should altogether neglect what the worlde thinketh and speaketh of vs which minde ought to be farre from a christian for we ought not onely to avoyde euell but to be far from all suspicions of euell but I saye principally and chiefly our Conscience is to be respectted Yet we sée the contrary in these dayes to vsuall that saying euery where verified Multi famam pauci conscientiaÌ„ verent verentur Many teÌ„der their owne fame and credite but very few theire Conscience So Callicratides a Captayne of the Lacedemonians hauing greater respect of his priuate glory then of hys Conscience in preseruing of his Nauy receiued a great ouerthrowe of the enemy Cleombrotus also fearing enuy onely encountered rashly with Epaminondas and became almoste an vtter ruine to the Laredemonians Richard plantaginate duke of yorck because he would not séeme to be inclosed and kept in his Castle of Sandale by a woman and resting only vpon his credite and fame hee hauing not aboue fiue thousand men rashly ioyned battayle with the Quéene hauing xviij M. good souldyers contrary to counsayle wisedome and al pollicy and so rashly ronne into his destruction Q. Fabius Maximus after warde of his dooinges