at then knowne In discourse it is good to heare men first for silence hath the same effect with authority it procures a kinde of respect to your words Meritis si forte virum quem conspexere silent Commonly they are well tuned but gives the pleasantnesse of the musick inwardly to themselves and are as a shut booke which if you open and reade you may find much good discourse therin It nourisheth Meditation is no more than that which Seneca expresses Sapiens semper in se reconditur but in case of devotion you must still use it ut eo sis melior non occultior 13 Of Questions SOme men doe rather employ their inventions in raising of questions then their judgments in determining them the one makes learning fruitfull of disputes the other of workes Asking of questions proceeds commonly from some prenotion of that which hee doth aske which occasioned that opinion in Plato to thinke that all knowledge was but onely remembrance Qui aliquid quaerit generali quâdam notione comprehendit aliter qui fieri potest ut illud quod fuerat inventum agnoscas It is a great part of learning not to teach onely what to assert or affirme but prudently to aske Men that are very froward in asking doe often use the same liberty in telling Like Vessells which want a bottome they receive most because they vent most in cunning men they are dangerous for Questions in them are like Beggers gifts sua munera mittit in hamo which are onely to draw somewhat backe againe by way of answer to betray you Suddaine Questions doe often procure the truest relation of matters which on considiration they doe begin to colour they must bee warily raised in religion for in it we have still more respect to the author of divinity than the matter and as delight in humane Learning is inferiour to that which is divine so faults committed in divine knowledge are more dangerous than those in humane The ancients did raise them with a jealousie which is Gods attribute not with the spirit of contention which is the Divells In the life of Christ it is observed that his humility did conquer all the vaine practises of men so in religion which is the Christians life humblenesse of spirit doth often goe beyond the subtilety of humane understanding for a man may let his soule slip away and yet dispute of the highest points of divinity and therefore it is safer with some of the Saints to sit at Christs feet with humility in meditation of his passion than in the Chaire of subtile controversie 14 Of Life MEn desire Life as Children doe the light and as the love in the one is encreased by the sight of glorious trifles so is that in the other The desire of humane honours the glory of splendid miseries the comforts of friends and all the passions which we attract in the course of our life by too much familiarity with them doe make it so desireable The consideration of life as it is a passage and journey is good and wholesome but the feare of the brevity of it tastes of a weake and vaine spirit there is some mixture of vanity in the contemplatiōs of them who would make the space of a whole life but a preparation for the pains of death when wee know it should bee spent after the comforts of a better life in hoc quod mortem prospicimus fallimur quicquid enim retr◠est mors est And we follow a better Oracle who hath told us that Death hath lost his sting which might sharpen our feares The Satyrist speakes not onely like a good Poet but a good Morallist Quid Turpiùs esset quam propter vitam vivendi perdere causam while wee desire to advance our lives we neglect the performance of those duties for which it was given us The Ethnicks did terminate the desires of life in the happinesse of it great men oft slight it in others abuse it in themselves Nero preferred Seneca's livings before his life though he had formerly beene his schoolemaster Vertues perfect life innocency restores it vices debase it the passions contemne it prosperity shewes the riches of life adversity the wealth of the minde hunc volo laudari qui sine morte potest The true esteem of the worth of life raises a man to the highest pitch of Heroicall valour This made Iohn the Duke of Saxony being condemned to dye esteeme no more of his life than a game at Chesse came to This made Sir Thomas Moore while hee jested with the Barber about the Controversie between his head and the King esteem so little of his life I mean not the bare dissolution of his frame into their severall elements but in a true consideration of life and her severall stages we may safely repose our thoughts in Solomons Parable una generatio migrat altera venit sed terra manet in aeternum veluti the atrum in quo haec fabula pregitur it is the best conjunction to be an old man in wisedome and a child in innocency Life commonly gives not that fame to men of excellency of parts as Death which is the life of Fame which rises out of her ashes except some turne a lover of men and devote themselves to the Common-wealth then laudem mors alijs quam tibi vita dedit 15 Of Sciences SInce Learning is the perfecter of Humane reason its happy when it selfe is perfected by reason of experience Theology is the safest starre to direct our course in the wayes of the intellectuall world in which as in other parts of the greater world you shall meet with some places barren some for use others for delight some Sciences are fruitlesse of workes others usefull in direction others pleasant in speculatiō They should not be altogether Virgins but should sometime bring forth and bee generative and as they be the improvement of humane reason so its reason men should endeavour to improve them multi pertransibunt augebitur scientia was the prophecy of the last and worst times To have Sciences still runne after the stile of Master Scholler is Pedanticall to have them labour for production of workes is Philosophicall Disputes rise from the search into the understanding workes from the scrutiny into nature wherefore saith Heraclitus Let men seeke the truth of things in the greater World not in their owne little Worlds Elenches the idols of mens brains are come to that sinnesse of slight as Seneca seemes well to expresse them whiles he compares them to the tricks of Juglers which we know not after what manner they bee done but we know sure enough that it is not so as it seemes to us to be Rationall studies doe still sharpen the understanding for the orderly capacity and methodicall apprehension of any matter Morall Philosophy guides the affections Logicke the understanding Policy the Common-wealth Astrology is conjecturall Mathematicks certaine Metaphysicks sublime Poetry rises from the strength of a
Futile Loquacity of of those who have not so much knowledge as to conceale their ignorance but by untimely discourse doe forfeit the opinion of their wisedome who lets the stocke of their knowledge runne into the Channell of watery discourse before their breasts the fountaine be full The other husbands well his talke and to that end layes up the fruit of knowledge and ut sapiens semper in se reconditur Wisedome resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding but that which is amongst fooles shall bee made known The wayes of a foole are right in his owne eyes but hee that harkeneth unto Councell is wise HE that doth not acknowledge that he is weake is but weake in knowledge A man had need view himselfe oft in the glasse of Divinity to see what Habits formes his soule weares not in the flattering glasse of his owne thoughts neither must hee too much trust to his owne heart for he is wise that knoweth the deceitfulnes therof The opinion of being vertuous is reckoned amongst the causes of vice it s a safer rule for one to say I le avoyd this because judgement tells me it is nought than to say I love and follow this because I affect and thinke it good for the receite of wisedome and instruction will give subtilty to the simple to the wise man knowledge discretion A fooles wrath is presently knowne but a prudent man covereth shame THere is no passion so soone betrayeth the secrets of the heart as anger and none discovers this passion so much as the heart of a foole The Poet calls it a torture to tyrannize a man to confession ubi vino tortus irâ By these two wee come to see a mans nakednesse they betray the tower of reason to the fury of the assaulting passions Here is the difference betwixt patience which is the covering of a mans shame and anger which is the discovering of his folly the one upon every occasion growes loud with insolency the other upon every occasion drawes the curtaine of Prudence before him which is Silence to make him walke unseene There is that maketh himselfe rich yet hath nothing there is that maketh himselfe poore yet hath great riches THere are some who are not of an ordinary composition of understanding can enjoy the riches of Content in the midst of an honest poverty It is the faculty of the imagination that can turne it selfe and make every thing appeare to it selfe as it will it selfe saith Antoninus It is not the outward things but the minde which is capable of Content non est beatus nisi qui beatum se esse putat The other whose riches are larger than the extent of their knowledge loses the use of them by an unruly desire of having more when as David saith Man walketh in a vaine shadow he heapeth up riches and knowes not who shall gather them a desire of Wealth still shewes the poorenesse of a mans minde or thus there are some who vainly glories in the opinion of being held rich advancing in Fame that which he really findes the want of others who through a narrownesse of understanding would be thought to have nothing because they will reserve a power of having more The back-slider in heart shall be filled with their owne wayes and a good man shall bee satisfied from himselfe THere can arise no greater griefe or anxiety of Spirit then from the following the desires of the heart This Salomon pronounceth as a curse against those that hating knowledge did not chuse the feare of the Lord therefore shal they eate of the fruite of their owne wayes and be filled with their owne devices There is difference betwixt the prospect which was Solomons who pronounced all the workes of his hands to be vanity and vexation of spirit And when God beheld all that was done Loe it was very good Wise men whose breasts are sacred Treasuries of good counsaile though they meete with obliquity and crossenesse in businesse yet they can presently descend into themselves and there finde speciall preservatives and good precepts against the distasters of outward losse The simple beleeve every word but the prudent doth looke well to his going THere is still a privation of Judgement where there is a too great facility of believing Our Saviour warneth us of the deficiency of Faith Cum venerit filius hominis non inveniet sidem super terram Distrust is the chiefe Antidote against the poyson of deceite It is a Character of Wisedome The prudent man is ever suspitious to his owne credulity caring rather that hee should doe what hee ought than to heare others talk of what he ought not to doe The heart of him that hath Vnderstanding seeketh knowledge but the mouth of fooles feeds on foolishnesse ALL mens mindes either feede on their owne vertues or the detraction of anothers vice for in al knowledge which is but the food of the minde there is a kind of assimilation they who have drunke a more full draught of wisedome doe still desire to preserve it by the same nourishment by which it first tooke Life the other like a prodigall childe feeds not cleane but amongst his base lusts and pleasures which prove but Huskes which may provoke the appetite but cannot fill it Excellent speech becommeth not a foole much lesse doe lying lips a Prince IN the wisedome of Speech there is to be observed a decorum what words should fit the Speaker Great words become not a servant nor wise the foole A Prince should use Majesty of Speech befitting the state of his person and truth of speech befitting the divinity of his Commission the one in way of his person as Tacitus notes Augusto profluens que principem decerit fuit oratio For the variety of his words the Scripture teacheth him an heavenly attribute Dij sicut eritis It is naught it is naught saith the buyer but when he is gone then hee boasteth THis shewes the ordinary deceite and the formulaies of buying when many times that which men praise is not good nor that ill which men disprayse therefore it will be useful to observe in common Language to see how many colours you can reprehend in them An inheritance may bee gotten hastily at the beginning but the end thereof shall not be blessed THis reprehends the immature accesse to abundancy of wealth qui festinat ad divitias non erit insons its true many have made a shorter cut to riches having some knowledge and not too much honesty who though they may keepe a great noyse in mens mouths yet a prosperous successe scarce favours them illis vix gaudet tertius haeres and besides Solomon tells us that they take Wings like the Eagle and flye away quae ad breve durant brevi parantur A goodname is to be chosen rather than great riches A Good name is the best heire of a mans vertues No men bonum est instar unguenti fragrantis praise in life
time is vertues spurre in death it is his ornament nemo laudes contemnit nisi qui prius laudanda facere desuevit Repaire thy work without and make it sit for thy selfe in the field and afterward build thine house IN the framing of a mans owne fortune he must have a speciall care to fashion the materialls of his speech and intentions in private and solitary meditations before he come to the actiō of performance or the building of the Fabricke If you doe not first cast your purpose in the mold of prudence and wisdome your actions wil be cast on the unconstancy of Fortune if you conceive not honest intentions and noble ends you are but Theomachi you do build a Babel or things of confusion quae tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant If the Archetype be not good which is in the understanding the imitation of it will hardly prove capable of perpetuity Action without forecast speech without consideration controversies in the Pulpit are like stones hewn in the Temple which are there only made fit whereas they should build up For men to search their owne glory is not glory LEt another praise thee and not thy owne mouth a stranger and not thy owne lips Poore men often digge in the richest Mines and search the precious veine of that glorious mettle when it belongs to the owners Men who are poor in worth vertue may talke of the honoured waies of Fame and Credit which they doe not owe for they belong to vertue and godlinesse It was said to bee the cause of Iugurths glory plurimum faciendo nihil de seipso loquendo by which meanes he grew greater than envy and fruitfull in acts of worth Da'mihi neque paupertatem nec divitias THis determines a grave question in Morall Philosophy whether it were a great happinesse to enjoy wealth or to cōtemne it this cuts out a faire course betwixt the deformity of foule extreams and yeilds a good cooling-card for the hot game of ambitiō to desire that state onely wherein we might best serve God There ought to be a limitation of the care of getting wealth our Saviour teacheth it Primum quaerite regnum Dei c. The Ethnicks tells us Primo quaere animi bona caetera vel aderunt vel non oberunt The kingdome of Christ was not of this world therefore saith one if this were his Kingdome he would not let the evill be amongst the good nor the lascivious with the chast surely he had no such thing in this world which we cal greatnesse They say nullū magnum ingenium sine mixturâ dementiae but it may be very well verified of great fortunes and with the Satyrist Raro fortuna sensus communis in illa the same gave occasion to Solomon after he had repeated a catalogue of his pleasures and works of magnanimity to note that in the midst of all these that still his wisedome remained with him to shew the difficulty of the conjunction of wealth and wisedome Of making many books there is no end THis is caution which extends it selfe as well to the reading as writing of Books a multiplicity in either is both distraction trouble for as in reading it is a great part of a scholler to know what he ought to read sitting suiting with the knowledge of that which hee desires so in writing its a great care to bee had in the choyse of the subject that it bee fited to the strength of his owne ability Quid valeant humeri quid non saith the Poet Most books that are writ doe rather increase learning in the bulk and bignes than in vertue spirit It is no smal distemper in the labours of the learned when they turne the ends of their labours for estimation which destroieth the estimation of their labours when they rather taste of the spirit of vanity then are undertaken through a desire of the information of others They chuse a subject rather to vant their owne wit then those whereby they may advance piety which is that which Solomon addes as a corolary to his discourse and a perfection to all humane actions for if they looke not towards the Temple or some profit of man me thinkes Sir Walter Raleigh hath well pronounced them fooles in print FINIS Errata PAge 3. line penul read honorante P. 14. L. 16. read deserve for discerne P. 16. L. 12. del in P. 27. L. 2. for imitation read imagination L. ultim read Politicke P. 28. L. 4. del to P. 75. L. 12. read forward for froward