What maruell then if Achilles smote Thirsites for his foule mouth though otherwise a man that was not easily mooued The best men will not soone giue cause But vir iracundus prouocat rixas A hastle man Prou. 15. or a chollericke sir will still be quarrelling and prouoking euer vrging euer misconstruing neuer without a caprich or two in store An other man as good as hee will neuer doe it but leaue it to scouldes in allies and alehouses Hee will alwaies keepe himselfe in compasse of manhood as neere as he can and neuer debase himselfe to such vnworthy doings And there is a plaine precept for it Nolite prouocare Eph. 6. If I may not vrge my childe or seruants to anger how much lesse my fellowe or my better The law giues fauour to man slaughter if he be prouoked But there is not a greater infamy to a noble person then to prouoke or to be accounted a quarreller It is vnbecomming a woman much more a man at armes Quippes girdes flauntes tauntes farre be they from yee I beseech you They are but seedes of scoulding the scumme of a womans witte though some women delight in it and thinke it worth printing euery word they speake Words breede quarrels and of quarrelling comes blood-shedde An old Coronell of ours reioyced on his death bedde that hauing beene in many broyles in his life and many times prouoked he neuer gaue cause of quarrell by word or deed and yet he would not turne his face from any man breathing To detract or reueale a mans secret if it be not against the state or much hurtfull to his friend is very vnworthy a gentleman and breedeth much quarrell A man of sort would be loath to be thought a blabbe or tell-tale It begins with idlenesse and endes with damnation Granado saith there be multitudes in hell for nothing else but this They say there would be no theeues if there were no receiuers And surely there would be no picke-thankes or slanderers if there were no hearers to delight in them Possid S. Augustine had written about his dining bord these verses Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam Hanc mensam vetitam nouerit esse sibi This table them forbidden is In English thus That of the absent speake amisse Nemo sine crimine viuit No man liues without a fault But he that proclaimeth it is worse then he Abhominatio hominum detractor Prou. 24. the backe-biter is holden abhominable and to be shunned as a venemous thing And for this cause onely it hath beene allowed in Italy that the wronged should giue the wronger a Cartella to fight with him How iustly I will not now speake Neither speake I of the sinne to God-ward which I leaue wholly to preachers I touch it onely in point of dishonour and as they be aspersions to reputation which both the wronger is bound to recompence and the wronged may iustly require I touch them as they be make-bates and leaue a staine behinde them in anothers coate beeing slanderous and scandalous to fame and sooner raised then remooued if not repaired in time Conturbat sapientem It troubles a right wise body to haue the lye or a foule word giuen him which we vse to our Page or varlet Conturbat sapientem To haue a frumpe or a scoffe or a bore in the nose much more a stripe or a trippe at his heeles and no maruell if it cost bloud or sound blowes ere they part These matters are holden as small with vs as they be common But the Romanes held them very shamefull and censors taxed the cause-giuer with ignominie and shame which they vsed not to any man but vpon great cause Plut. vit besides losse of his horse To you my deere countrey men and friendes I must tell you it is the principall scope of my speech that howsoeuer your sudden occasions of heate may carry you at any time somewhat further then vpon aduisement you would to breake the peace or bond of charity with any and for which I can giue you no other rule then the measure of Gods grace in you yet vpon time of deliberation and space betweene that is to say vpon cold blood which was the other part I spake of I doe wish much and if I might I would command you as we doe in the warres that ye neither challenge your opposite into the field vpon any occasion or if ye be challenged that ye doe not accept it Being a thing both heinous in the sight of God to doe and no lesse then heresie to thinke yee may doe This may bee newes to some of you But not so newe as true Euill fashions driue olde folkes to Schoole againe And the eldest of you is not too olde to learne if any of ye be possessed with that pestiferous opinion That it is heinous and sinnefull it appeares by this for that it is against the lawe of God of nature and nations If against the lawe of God then heresie also to holde it lawfull This is in short but I will make it more plaine to you because it is a thing yee must informe your selues in and it is grosse to bee ignorant of Single combate is honourable if it bee in iust warre or commanded by the Prince or common-weale As Dauid did against Golias for auoiding of blood-shedde of many by the blood of one Many in this kinde we finde in histories of one to one or more to more to weaken or discourage the contrary and wee reade them willingly in our bookes And God hath fauoured it so that it hath saued the liues of many for the time Wee haue also an ancient tryall for title of land or appeales of felony by single combate where matters bee so obscure or otherwise carried that common lawe or iustice can hardly decide them And the forme is yet in vse but seldome suffered by Magistrates to take effect as sauouring more of heathenish times when such customes began then of Christian lenity which thanks be to God hath almost worne it away This kinde of combate also is needfull sometimes and men be forced to it in defence of ones person or purse or honor to auoide a bastinado or such like disgrace But this must be as the learned say out of Saint Augustine in delicto flagrante vpon assault Nauar. or a waite and cum moderamine in culpatae tutelae Intending onely their iust defence and not otherwise It must not be if any meanes else be by flying backe or stepping aside sayes the Lawe But I holde it probable with others that if one assault me let him stand to his perill he forces me to fight I meete him not of purpose nor vpon challenge which I may not doe nor any authority vpon earth can giue leaue to doe nor scarce conniue with against the law of God thou shalt not kill The learned hold Exod 20. that by killing heere is vnderstood murther And this difference is betweene killing
was not a more worthy for all qualities belonging to a gentleman nor any more sober or continent then he or that tooke more paines or that lesse loued idlenes then he Our countrey men many of them are great readers and small followers They scorne to be ignorant of any thing yet make no vse of it but lippe witte I had rather see a still practiser then a loud speaker that is ready to take the tale out of a mans mouth whatsoeuer he speakes of Hee that reades much outwardly and reformes little inwardly is like one that delights in a pleasant wood and yet doth nothing when he is there but make rods for himselfe Fye vpon idlenesse the mother of sinne and effeminatenesse both in high and lowe Queritur Aegistus quare sitfactus adulter Ouid. In promptu causa est desidiosus erat The question was asked why lou'd Aegistus luxurie Answere was made Because he liued idlely And therefore they that haue any goodnesse will hate to liue idlely They shall haue time enough to bee idle in their graues but while we be liuing let vs alwayes be doing When Eumenes was so straightly besieged by Antigonus Plut. that his people had no roome to doe any thing they were affraide of nothing more then of idlenesse their enemy troubled them not so much without the walles as idlenesse within But their worthy captaine prouided for them very well deuised new exercises of strength and motion such as their little roome would allow of either in his hall or in some other corners And some hee made ouerseers of the rest The very horses they would not let be idle but kept them in breath with hanging them in such sort that they could scarce touch ground with their forefeete and then belaboured them so with sticke and voice that they sweat and groand againe Others walked them till they were coole Others ground barley for them There was not a gentleman that refused to doe any thing to keepe him from idlenesse Idlenesse is the corrupter of all good manners Plut. in mor. no vertue hath possession saith one Philosoper where a man is not in some good action Idlenesse hath beene equally punished heretofore with murther or theft Others made it but banishment others made it fineable Atheus persicus made them worse then horse rubbers in Licurgo Strobeus ser 42. that were idle Lycurgus prouided so that none could be idle all persons had enough to doe in their place Amongst the Lucanes in Italy a man lost his money by the lawes that he had lent to an idle or a voluptuous body Plin. lib. 6. Amasis likewise a most wise king who reigned foure and forty yeares ouer the Egyptians made a law vpō paine of death Plut. in Sympo that euery man should once a yeare giue an accompt of his life and actions and how he maintained himselfe and he appointed Pretours of purpose to take this accompt Sueto This law did Augustus like so well of that he made the like in Rome And Solon long before him brought the same to Athens to roote out of the citty vnprofitable weedes that sucke out the iuyce and foyson of the earth and bring nothing againe take the fruite of it and giue no fruite againe The oxe feedes by vs and giues vs his flesh to eate the cowe feedes and giues sweet milke for it the sheepe feeds and giues vs cloathing to our backs and our horse carries vs for his meate Onely our idle bodies take all they can giue nothing againe and since they will not be their owne lawe it is great pitty that the law of Amasis is not amongst them If I should tell you more stories in this kinde happly I should please you more then my selfe It is not the Roman nor the Grecian or Spartan that I seeke for but the true Christian Mat. 11. Woe be to thee Corozain as our Sauiour saith so woe be to thee so idle a Christian whatsoeuer For if Christ had walked the Egyptian streetes if Christ had beene preached out of the Romane pulpits if Pagans had had such a marke to shoote at as wee in the eyes of our faith haue had it beene said to them Mat. 20. why stand yee heere idlely and haue a world of your owne to thinke of in heauen which will not be had with out thinking and labouring they would not haue needed such lawes as I speake of nor would haue stood gaping so idlely about them as we doe and care not which end goes forward And therefore ô yee flower of our nation that are here together the hope of your friends not the meanest portion of your countries expectation Whose ancestours were not idle when then they carried the lillies farre and neere and extended your borders so wide and large nor idle when they defended your frontiers built your cities towers townes castles and Churches without number not idle in so many foundations and noble monuments which they haue left behind them to the glory of God and honour of our nation not idle when they bred you and brought you vp to that you now bee And your selues also not idle hitherto either in your times of march or dayes of truce Nay I know not whether any in the world were in better businesse then you not scorning the meanest offices in the field or campe or about your owne persons when yee had others to doe it for you Yet somewhat ye would bee doing alwaies with your owne horse or armour or drying your owne powder or accommodating your pike or picking and pruning your petronell obseruing euer so willingly your leaders voice and seruing God continually in word and thought Let not this idle canker I say come neere your doores hereafter or set any footing where you haue to doe Flie it shunne it auoide it as you would a house that hath the plague in it Take heede I beseech you of this vnprofitable idlenesse that will bee ready to assault you when you come home And beware no lesse of idle hangers on I am very vnprofitable my selfe but rather then I would bee as some are I wish my selfe a stone or a peece of wood that somewhat might bee made of mee There is not a sticke of wood but will make somewhat Either a bowe or a bedde-staffe or a toppe or a tyle-pinne But our idle bodies serue for nothing They are neither good for God nor the common-wealth nor themselues Not for God but to practise his iudgements vpon Not for the common-wealth but to eate vp their prouision before it be spoiled and to drinke vp their pots by yards or dozens if that bee good Neither are they for themselues that put not out their wit nor that they haue to the most no not to any aduantage for their eternall good Knowing well enough that they may not liue heere alwaies One day the dolefull bell must ring out for them their eye-liddes closed vp their face cast ouer with
sence be not pleased wee bidde the spirit adeiw In the one sence Saint Paul said Rom. 7. Psal 41. Who shalldeliuer me from this body of death and holy Dauid When shall I come and appeare before the face of my God And in another place Woe is mee that my habitation is prolonged Psal 119. thinking euery minute an hower and euery day a yeare vntill they were dissolued Phil. 1. Psal 13. and were with Christ in the other sence Dixit insipiens in corde suo The foole said in his heart there is no God Or if hee said it not yet his actions say that when he beleeues not Gods promises but makes him a politician to tell vs he is at hand when we haue twenty thirty or forty yeares yet to liue as many haue No no hee deales not politikely but faithfully with vs and if wee see not his words to be true in this we are blinde and see nothing Psal 89. Holy Dauid saith the daies of man are threescore and ten yeares these seeme great to children but to our first fathers in the old testament this was no age And if we should now liue ordinarily so long wee might haply haue some excuse for our wearinesse But alas what are these threescore and tenne yeares They are nothing to speake of and so runne out They that haue them thinke them quickely gone Wee heare olde folkes confesse it and why should wee not beleeue them when they say as they finde we beleeue the Sentinell what he sees from a high tower because he is higher then we and we beleeue the sea-man what he discouers from aboue the toppe-saile seeing farther then we So ought wee beleeue our elders and ancients when they speake what they haue prooued and wee shall say the same when we come to the same yeares And they say no more but what our Patriarke Iacob said the daies of my pilgrimage said he are an hundred and thirtie Gen. 47. little and euill Holy Job said breues dies hominis sunt our dayes are but short And he asketh a question thus Iob 14. nunquid non paucitas dierum meorum finietur breui Will not the fewnesse of my daies be soone ended Marke these words fewnesse and soone ended and yet he had an hundred and forty yeares to liue after and when hee spake it hee was in extreame paine when euery hower might seeme a day to him These men I hope will be beleeued what they say Compare now the Prophet Dauids sayings to these both speaking from one spirit of truth Holy Iacob and Iob say the daies of man are short Holy Dauid saith our yeares are threescore and tenne therefore I say the time of threescore and ten are short and quickely gone and consequently our reward at hand How will this argument bee answered one telsvs that all the earth as bigge as it is and full of great kingdomes is no bigger then a pinnes head in comparison to the vast and huge firmament and we easily beleeue it when the learned tell vs it though our sence doth not reach it And yet how little or nothing our pilgrimage is heere euen his that liueth longest a matter of so common experience and which our owne infirmities and dayly indispositions minde vs of we perswade our selues notwithstanding that it is a long time and neither will authority reason or warning by others once mooue vs or beate vs from this moth-eaten hold we haue of long life forsooth and time enough yet Three or fourscore yeares are a long time with vs in Gods seruice though short enough in our desires But let them be as long as men will haue them Suppose threescore and tenne be great and grieuous to holde out to the end withall in vertuous life See whether God in this also haue not done very much for vs that we may haue no cause to alleadge against him if we will make benefit of it How many be there I pray that liue to threescore and tenne Doth euery man liue till he be old I will saymore Doth euery one liue to halfe those yeares I will be bolde to say and I thinke I can prooue it that halfe thove that are borne into the world doe neuer come to fiue and thirty yea more then this hardly two parts of three come to see fiue and thirty And this I prooue two waies First by the many multitudes of them that dye betweene the cradle and fiue and thirty As appeareth by sextons and Churchclarkes whom I haue heard affirme that they bury two of the yonger halfe which are vnder fiue thirty for one of the elder halfe from thirty fiue to seuenty Secondly principally by a suruey of housholds families and towneshippes throughout the land be it in citty towne or country and that in this manner Deuide any of these into three and scarce the third part is fiue and thirty My selfe haue noted that two parts of three are alwaies vnder fiue and thirty Vnlesse it be in princes houses and hospitals If the family be nine persons sixe of them be vnder if fifteene tenne of them be vnder If there be thirty in a house twenty at the least are vnder and so forward in proportion Ye will say this may be true not because they bee dead that should make vp the number euen but because they marry away or prouide themselues otherwise ere they come to that age Well then Follow them where they goe and where they settle they must be some where Still yee shall finde all one and the same proportion wheresoeuer they become But to leaue these and come to those that are entred the latter halfe of thirty fiue and vpward there the oddes is much greater an hundred to one Titleman saith a thousand to one that they neuer shall see Seauentye Now what is become of all those that were once fiue and thirty with him are they not all dead but halfe a dozen or not so many in a parish before they come to seauenty or any thing neere it yet thus it is in all places and countries There is a multitude of the younger sort all of an age but of olde folkes but a fewe and almost none in comparison And therefore it is I thinke that holy Dauid said dies amorum nostrorum ni ipsis c. Psal 89. The daies of our yeares in themselues are threscore and tenne In themselues they are so many but in vs not so many or in very fewe of vs. It is a time limited to vs to which most fewe doe euer attaine As if a man should say it is tenne mile to such a towne to goe the next way ouer rocks and places vnpassable but the common way is twentie In it selfe that is tenne but to vs it is twenty Euen so it is with mans age There be that liue to those great yeares but so fewe that a man needes not feare it if he would not liue long and it were folly to hope
it if long life be that he would haue But my purpose is not to dwell vpon these points which although they be true yet I leaue them rather to your scanning at more leisure vpon these grounds I haue giuen you then to seeme ouercurious in a matter so serious as now I haue in hand And yet I hope this is not without fruite which I speake of For so much as euen in this the prouidence of God is seene ouer vs and his tender loue to vs. His prouidence first in foreseeing our danger by liuing long How many be there in the world that wee haue knowne vertuous in their youth and vitious in their age in their child-hood towardly in their middle age of good example in their elder yeares declining and at last vnrecouerable Which Dauid fearing in one place Psal 70. prayes to God saying O forsake me not Lord when I come to bee olde And of this wee haue diuers examples in Scriptures Saul Salomon Ioas and others who of Gods especiall seruants declined in the ende to bee Idolaters Mat. 24. or as ill Gods loue also is heere to beseene towards his elect for whose sake as hee will shorten and abreuiate the whole world Sap. 4 11. and will hasten the end of it so doth he in particular for many of his seruants abridge much part of their time that otherwise they might haue liued And albeit that many liue longer for their amendment or increase of grace which is also his goodnesse Patientiam habet nolensaliquos perire 2. Pet. 3. saith S. Peter he drawes out the time with many that they may haue time to repent them yet so it is that God will haue vs see and know and take notice of it what oddes there is against vs that wee shall not liue long Many signes in our body that our time will be heere but short Many spectacles before our eyes and warnings on euery side by others harmes or vntimely deaths New diseases euery yeare that will not let the bell stand and sometimes horrible plagues and pestilent agues that seldome touch olde folkes but pull downe the lustiest What should I speake of consumptions squinances cough of the lungs ptisickes dropsies pleurisies collicke and stone lethargies appoplexies and sometimes the sweating sickenesse that playes sweepe-stake amongst vs when it comes and these come commonly of misdiet or infection Besides this the number is without number that dye of age before they bee halfe olde of age I say because it is olde age with some vnder forty with some vnder thirty with some vnder twenty or vnder tenne if God will haue them liue no longer who hath appointed euery one their bounds which they may not passe Posuisti terminos qui praeteriri non poterunt Iob. 14. Hee calles it terminos not one bound for euery man but how many men so many limites and bounds Heb. 9. no certainty of it but one which is once as Saint Paul saith but not when And of this there bee naturall reasons also besides Gods ordinance which are the seuerall indispositions of mens bodies as wee learne by Aristotle Galen and Hipocrates the poorenesse of moysture radicall in infinite persons and the ouer abundance of it in others which naturall heate is not able to master The faults also in our first conception and generation which no man knowes of but God make an end of vs quickly when yonger yeares promise longer life To say nothing of the Maleuolous influence of sundry starres the Lords of our natiuity or of them that keepe no meane in their youth and kill themselues with misrule Plures occidit gula quam gladius saith one Lastly the manifold names our life is called by in Scriptures and fathers doe shew the brittlnesse and vncertainty of it as when it is called a bubble that is come and gone in the twinkling of an eye It is called hay greene yesterday and this day withered away Sicut foenum dies eius Psal 102. tanquam flos agrisic efflorebit Compared heere to a flower in the field this day fresh and challenging the Sunne for beauty and fairenesse to morrow holding downe the proud necke and no body lookes at it It is called a smoake Iac. 4. a vapour our face in a glasse soone seene and soone forgotten a cherry faire a shaddow and as Saint Augustine calleth it Medit. a shaddow by Moone-light so much to say as a shaddow of a shaddow What flowers of youth haue we knowne in our time the hopes of their fathers house and greatnesse now blasted and long since buried vnder the shaddow of death and will bee quite out of minde What beautifull Matrons haue we seene in our dayes that possessed mens hearts with their vertues and sparkling eyes They arose like a morning starre to shewe themselues in our Horizon went downe againe in their prime and rise no more To say nothing of our Europe worthies whom our eyes haue seene to fall in our last warres like starres in the firmament De orat But ô fallacem hominum spem fragilemque fortunam saith Tully speaking of our vnstable life how greatly wee build vpon it and yet in medio curriculo as hee calleth it wee are taken and intercepted by death when wee least thinke it in the middest of our course But thus wee see in fewe words how neere our reward is euen as neere as death And if authority of Scripture will not serue here be also reasons for it and more might bee added if neede were Qui non credit peribit And hee that beleeueth not this verity which hee sees testified with his owne eyes how can hee bee thankfull as hee should for so great a benefit Let life bee short or long with vs it is allotted for our good and the way to make vse of it is to thanke God that it is no longer If a man make reckoning of the best things heere and would liue still to enioy them still let him know hee must forgoe them in the ende hee knowes not how soone His delights must goe one way and hee another Let him make much of life for when life is gone his ioy is gone But if a man haue a true feeling and knowledge of himselfe and of his life and of the frailties of it how full of sinne and pronenesse to sinne how full of inticements and euill prouocations and dulnesse to any goodnesse what stormes and afflictions to beate vs from God what danger in prosperity to neglect God what multiplicity of businesse to forget God or to make vs loue him lesse hee will thinke it a blessing of God not to liue long Phil. 1. and will say with Saint Paul Mihi mori lucrum My death my gaine and will ioy much in this possibility hee hath this great possibility I say to bee one of this number that shall liue but a little while Heathens themselues that had no light but naturall yet saw they