these things that I haue reckoned bee they neuer so fitte for vs yet are they all without vs. Cloathing is for the out-side weapons wings ladder almes or whatsoeuer els are all on the outside of vs and come not so neere our life as bread doth all other things doe no good without vnlesse we haue bread within Those things indeede doe furnish vs but bread doth nourish vs and therefore though other things be necessary yet bread is most necessary or necessary of necessaries and the word is vsed by the Prophet in a supereminent signification as a man would say this is locke and key this is all in all this the sinewes this the marrow of all our good and therefore all that intrinsically serueth to our euerlasting weale bee aptly called by this word euen this supereminent word Bread And as all our outward operations and actions are nothing without bread and inward sustentation of man whereby he hath strength and comfort in his doing and can doe nothing without it So if wee should deuise one word to call all things by that we need either in respect of the greatnesse of our neede or the multiplicity of them wee can finde no one word or name so fitte or so significant as this word Bread and for such is vsed and made choice of in our Pater noster by God himselfe where whatsoeuer we neede or pray for almost wee are bidden to aske it by the name of Bread giue vs this day our daily bread that is to say as holy fathers expound it giue vs whatsoeuer will nourish vs either body or soule Are wee to pray for patience we aske it heere by the name of Bread Aske we sorrow for sinne heere it is called bread Aske wee feruor and deuotion God vnderstands vs by the name of Bread Aske we chastity and mortification he giues it vs heere by the word bread Aske we comfort aske wee charity aske we grace constancy or perseuerance to the end all is included in this word Bread All is bread all is foode of soule all makes it fatte rich faire comely and beautifull worthy of saluation worthy of heauen worthy of God And therefore no maruell if the Prophet call these things Bread since God so vnderstands them in our daily forme of prayer which hee gaue vs from his blessed mouth giue vs this day our daily bread Now let no man aske me how is patience bread how are deuotion charity or any other vertue bread this reason shall serue for all reasons that Christ in effect hath called them so Let vs goe buy and bestowe our money freely on it Let vs be profuse and prodigall vpon it the more we spend this way the more we haue the more we wast the greater our store the more we wrestle and exercise the lesse weary the faster we runne the more in breath as all they that prooue shall assuredly finde And yet if wee shall seeke a reason also why these things or how or in what sence they are called bread we shall not goe far for a reason to satisfie them that be curious and it will not be vnfruitfull to vs neither when we vnderstand it Wee will go no further I say for a reason then to the very nature of bread and the properties thereof as I will declare now vnto yee We touched in the beginning some properties of bread and some others there are besides which are also found in this heauenly bread yea and much more in this then in that First bread feeds vs and keepes vs from perishing so doth our heauenly bread feed vs and preserue vs from perishing eternally I need not prooue it to you it is well enough knowne for as bread hath many alterations before it come to make flesh euen so it is with our ghostly bread The first alteration of bread is in the mouth by eating and chewing the mouth of the soule is hearing and reading The second alteration is in the stomacke where the meate is turned into a white substance called Chylus the stomacke of the soule is deepe consideration all pale and astonished to thinke of the horrible danger it was in a little before The third alteration is in the liuer where our foode turnes to blood and lookes redde the liuer of the soule is shame and confusion blushing redde as fire for that wee haue done wickedly The last alteration is into flesh and the flesh of our soule is our good estate to God-ward which hearing and reading consulted vpon consideration resolued vpon shame kindled and sends the blood of grace from part to part to consolidate Grace clarifies our reason giues life to our will blowes courage into our heart which is the seat of vertues The second qualitie of bread is to make purest blood Other meates haue more mixture in them of choller or melancholy that the blood is the worse for it other studies sciences and high questions of learning though they feede the soule also yet are they mixed lightly with elation or emulation as it is written Scientia inflat 1. Cor. 8 and therefore goe not so cleerely to the good of our soule as our ghostly food doth This bread our Prophet speakes of here hath no such mixture in it the word of God is wholy void of it like a christall fountaine of a most fluent streame Vertue were not vertue if it endeauoured not the same and the sacraments are the purest pipes from the side of our Sauiour and cannot make other then purest nourishment Will ye know what blood these make behold Gods Saints from Enoch to the Apostles and so downeward wee may know their food by their complexions that were so white and redde in Gods sight according to his owne heart the very pictures of vertue and grace looke vpon the blood of Martyrs how pretious it is in the sight of God from Abel hitherto and all ouer the world The seede of man is made of the purest blood said Pythagoras and God made choice of that blood to sowe the field his Church withall in due season The 3. property of bread is to be loued of al euery one loues not euery meat yet few or none loues not bread and so it is with our spiritual bread euery body loues it the very wicked loues it in a sort though they seek it not witnes themselues if we aske thē But there are 2. sorts of loue the one fruitful which sinners haue not but may haue the other vnfruitfull which sinners haue will do them no good imperfect loue it is I grant yet loue it is so much our Sauiour may seem to imply when he said loue God withall thy heart Mat 22.37 as who should say it is loue and they may loue God though they loue him not withall their whole heart Premium virtutis honor it is vertues due to be loued and honoured though it be not alwaies imbraced Our loue to vertue is commonly as childrens loue to bread or I would it
were but so in some better to be but one step vp then none at all Children will call and cry for bread but if any thing else comes they hide it or cast it away But what doe I speake of children and those that bee sicke or make strange of good life they that bee whole and sound or haue not lost all feeling must loue the meanes of their health and will not refuse it altogether or if they doe I holde their estate to be damnable There is yet a fourth quality or property of bread which is easinesse to come by and this accords also with our spirituall bread It is easie to bee had both in respect of the meanes which euery one may haue that will as also in respect of it selfe that is euery where to be sold our meanes is our money and our money as I said before is our will and thirsty desire after it God asketh no other price of vs. Let no man complaine that he hath not where withall our good God hath prouided enough for the poorest that is to buy a kingdom though not enough alwayes to buy a cow If the businesse were a money matter the poore could not bee vertuous nor haue share in our heauenly foode The Gospell tels vs that where our treasure is Mat. 6. there is our heart but I thinke it is true both waies where our mind loue is there is our money our loue is the best treasure and wee may furnish our selues richly with it if wee list out of our owne Treasury Haue wee no money let vs coyne it out of our owne hearts and wee shall finde plenty Hee that hath least hath a selfe to giue and hee that hath most can giue no more and if wee would know who sells it vs it is God that sells S. Aug. and God is euery where to take our price hee is at euery occasion and at euery neede of ours to take our moeny Come occasion of sicknesse or mischance to vs hee is at hand to sell vs patience Come occasion of misery or want in our poore neighbour hee is ready to sell vs the Bread of pitty Come occasion of quarrell or falling out he proffers vs charity so wee drawe our purse wide enough Bee wee fallen into temptation hee tenders vs strength enough to ouercome it Are wee in sinne hee meetes vs presently with remorse if wee giue him but reason for it These and a great deale more are the holy Bread hee giues vs at all needes and all assayes and hee meetes vs mercifully at our owne doore with all wee neede not send so farre for it as to the next market towne and thus much for the fourth property Now to these I could adde a fift and that is such a one as a man would thinke were ill yet is not ill but onely with euill vsing it There is no surfet so hurtfull to our body as that of Bread Omnis Saturatio mala panis autem pessima If the stomacke bee charged with any thing else but bread it will recoyle and put it vp Bread not so but lyes clumping together like lead neither digesting it selfe nor suffering other thing to digest And this is also manifest in our Bread of life where pride or wearinesse beares downe our heart and plunges it in time into the pit of Apostacy Begins with zeale and ends with coldenesse begins with too much and ends with too little begins hotly and hath not grace to holde out Was incrassatus dilectus Deut. 32. and at length recalcitrauit presumes in owne strength and turnes vp the heele against God and all goodnesse Physitians say the finer the bread is the more dangerous is the surfet And euen so it is with heauenly foode by our owne peruersenesse And therefore this made Angels Diuels when they fell once this lost Saul a kingdome ouerthrewe Salomon and a multitude since to our very dayes without all remedy and cure How many doe we know in the world that knew Gods will and were in good practise of it yet now are giuen ouer and left to themselues They left off first one good exercise then another and by little and little all or very neere all time and temptation brought them to it and wearinesse of well doing And this exceeds all other kinde of sinne that happily may finde remedy when the passion is once ouer This passion is neuer ouer lyes heauy on the stomacke like dough will neither voide vpward at the mouth since they cannot forget what they haue heard and read nor concoct in the liuer since shame is gone that should giue it colour and entertainment Set all the Aqua-vitae before them that is in the Gospell they tooke a surfet of it once and now will doe them no good Set Rosa-solis before them or waters of hottest spirit all is in vaine these were so lately their common drinke that now at a neede it will not warme their heart They are growne to very insensibility by their owne pertinacity and if God touch them not extraordinarily they are past all recouery But by all these properties of bread yee see now by reason as before by authority how fitly our heauenly foode is here called Bread by our holy Prophet And our speech hath not bin onely of words and tearmes but also of effects and substance and true woorth of it indeede For first it nourisheth our soule as Bread doth our body Secondly it makes the purest blood euen the blood of Martyrs and Saints Thirdly how it is loued of all that loue themselues as they should do and giues honour to the possessours of it Fourthly Esay 55. how good cheape we come to it venite emite absque argento saith our Prophet in the same place come and buy without money all ye that will buy almost euery occasiō we meet withall sels it vs. Lastly wee see how dangerous it is and how ill fauoured wee looke in Gods sight if wee leaue this dyet and content our selues with worse Wee grewe fatte and fedde daintily at his table and if a fatte man fall hee hath much adoe to rise againe By all which wee may see as in a glasse what manner of thing this heauenly foode is wee flye from daily and list not buy Foode I say in a word foode in worth a worth not to bee valued by the worthiest things in the world not by diamonds nor yet by a diadem and a whole diadem were well giuen for it if it could not bee had without All the world is so base and vile to it that all together will not buy the least peece of true vertue And therefore amongst other our spirituall breads aforesaid that nourish feede and beautifie our soule I may not omit to commend vnto you heere most especially and particularly our Sacramentall bread Ioh. 6. the body and blood of Christ which hee gaue and spilt on the crosse for the life of the world and which it may
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
two causes vnlesse he had time to repent him and gaue good signes of it and denied not his enemy forgiuenesse The one is because hee dies excommunicate the other because hee kils himselfe and is in case of felo de se by reason aforesaide Marke my words well I beseech you and be well aduised on the matter especially if any of yee be of that opinion ouerswaied with the time The more ye wade into the businesse the truer you shall find my words Blinde not your selues with ill custome Let not the new nesse of it if it be new diminish the credite of it in your greene conceits The lawe of God I am sure is not new how new soeuer in our practise What should I say more to Christians Yet somewhat I should also say of the lawe of nature or nations which was long before this The law of nature was quicunque effuderit sanguinem humanum Gen. 9.6 fundetur sanguis illius His blood shall be spilt that spills the blood of another This is the booke of Genesis And if a man will haue a reason of it a reason is there giuen Ad imaginem quippe Dei factus est homo He that kills a man kills the image of God Why should I spite him or malice him Hee is my owne Image though neuer so hatefull in my eie why should I strike him except God bid strike or the common weale But note I beseech you the punishment annexed to it Blood will haue blood Fundetur sanguis illius ibid. 18. It shall cost him his life And the Hebrew hath per hominem As he killed a man so a man shall kill him againe That is to say the magistrate or executioner by lex talionis And this hath beene the practise of all nations No hiding would serue their turne but they were mette withall at one time or other as heathens themselues haue noted and haue admired Gods prouidence in it And if some haue escaped yet this breakes no rule but among Epicures who attribute all to fortune while God they thinke is a sleepe or neuer mindes vs. Against whom I remember a graue saying of Isocrates in his Oration de pace wishing them if they be wise not to hope of impunitie because some are not punished For if there be some that escape saith he yet the most doe not And therefore it were wisedome to prouide for that which is most common and likely And it is most fond saith he when God is knowne to loue Iustice to thinke that hee cares not for the iust or that the wronged shall haue worse fortune then the wronger Thus he And truly it is an olde tradition of the Iewes that Caine himselfe before euer there were Magistrates could not escape this heauie iudgement to be killed by man although he had a marke set on him that none should kill him But such was Gods iudgement as he could not auoide it Blinde Lamech slue him by meere chance And this traditiō is affirmed in effect by scripture in Lamechs owne words saying Occidi virum in vulnus meum septuplum vultio dabitur de Caine J haue killed a man to my owne wound Gen. 4. seauenfold reuenge will be giuen to Caine. Kings themselues that are heades of magistrates could not auoide this animaduersion 1 Reg. 22. Saul for killing the foure-score Priests lost his owne life and his sonnes life and a kingdome besides Dauid lost his childe when hee had rather perhaps haue lost his life for murthering Vrias 2 Reg. 11. Queene Iesabell and Achab both slaine and seauentie of his sonnes for killing Naboth And although our Duellors fault were not so cowardly or tyrannicall as these yet our Ancestours haue holden it a great vnhappines to kill one by chance or with least fault and that many disasters belong to it if they pray not the more earnestly all the dayes of their life How much more then if the chance were by notable negligence as fencing wrestling throwing a stone at a dogge and hit a childe coyting ouer a house without warning to passengers Scholia Raym. These and such like had a seauen-fold curse as it was vpon him that killed Caine though it were by casualtie And hereof I thinke it was that seauen yeares pennance was inflicted by the olde Church for such actes Where now it is brought to one besides imperiall lawes for the outward offence How much more yet if the chance were of an vnlawfull acte but most of all if of a bloody or of a reuengefull minde as it is with Duellors King Dauid saith Psal 54. their dayes shall be cut into halfe Viri sanguinum non dimidiabunt dies suos But to returne to our matter and to leaue the Scriptures and Church lawes because they be not altogether our profession and the word and the sword seeme contraries and they that be ill disposed haue no skill of it Mat. For as St. Hillarie saith Sermo Dei carnalibus tenebrae sunt verbum Dei infidelibus nox est Scripture is darke to the carnall and night to the vnbeleeuing Let vs stirre vp therefore the light of nature in vs and see what nature tells vs and the practise of worthies that is receiued and commended of all Wereade of noble heathens that killed themselues But they are not commended for it Some others had other vices and are condemned for it by good writers But what they haue practised and are commended for by the best is likely to bee good and what they vsed not neither is written of them that euer they did is likely to bee naught and vnworthy the worthiest The trumpets of nature and vertue are Philosophers Poets and histories These acknowledge no such tryall of manhood when they discourse of fortitude and magnanimity the two vertues that gentlemen so much ayme at They talke of honour ignominie contumely and disgrace They will not haue a stout man put vp iniuries basely They touch many particular behauiours belonging to him His speech sober without a word vnbeseeming his actions aduised Arist eth without touch of temerity his carriage graue and staide without leuity in righting himselfe not ouer hasty if angry yet not forgetting himselfe They descend particularly to tell how hee must goe and with what composition of body on horsebacke or on foote in all things worthy of themselues and not a word of combate vnlesse it were for their countrey or common-weale Yee shall not finde such an instance in Plato Plutarke Seneca not in Aristotle the prince of Philosophers Strabo and was himselfe a souldier also in the battell of Corronea Not in all Homer who was as a man would say the light of nature speaking and the setter out of all heroicall vertues in the practise of great Princes His worke was Alexanders looking glasse and was neuer out of his hand Tully sayes hee that can repulse an iniury and will not offends as much as if hee forsooke his friends and
if they will Princes I say that were not greater some of them in their outward conquest ouer others then in their inward ouer themselues How much better should they imploy there time thus then vpon loue bookes and poems of idle subiect which haue multiplied and swarmed of late towards the end of the world to light a candle before the diuell and to intoxicate mens heads with matter of impertinent fiction and such as Duellors are most beholding vnto For to speake a word or two of the originall of this vice before I leaue it how it sprung and grew to this greatnesse I take it it comes two manner of waies One by some likenesse it hath to vertue And Similitudo mater erroris saith Galen All the world is deceiued with Similies Pride is like magnanimity and therefore men bee proud enuy like iustice and therefore men be spitefull gluttony like naturall appetite and therefore men bee rauenous letting of money like land letting and therefore men bee Vsurers So Duell vpon priuate quarrell like combate vpon our countries command and therefore they will fight when their humours command The other is a multitude of idle bookes and ingenious deuises as I said but much naughtinesse in them to invegle the minde of man and wrie our vnderstanding quite on t'oue side Such as Amades and Ariosto Valentine and Orson and the knight of the Sunne that are full of these challenges and brauadoes and such like vnchristian stuffe which some of the Authors haue repented them of since and so haue professed at their dying day These and such like men teare and weare with continuall reading Euery one will haue one of these or a play booke in his hand and what men delight in they are made like vnto An other way how Duell comes in may be our badde inclinations alwaies to make good ill and to corrupt any thing that is good Religion slides easily into superstition deuotion to scrupulosity honor to insolency ciuill manhood into ranke and wilde manhood as hearbes apples and flowers doe which for want of culture and kindly mould degenerate in time to weedes and wildings The true soyle where manhood growes is lawfull hostility or iust defence for want of which and through idlenesse together in peaceable countries it growes ranke and rammish and workes vpon it selfe for lacke of the true subiect Like fire that cares not what it burne so it burne somewhat or like a ston'd-horse that for want of a Marrow falles a kicking and leaping his fellowes to vent his courage But to speake more historically the very beginning of Duellum and the lawes thereof came first out of the North if wee beleeue Bodinus In Meth. The Scythians first a strange people and of large dominions who liued all vpon sword as olde histories make mention and doe yet at this day Iniurias illatas rare iure sed ferro vindicant saith Munster They seldome right themselues but by sword And this was so agreeable with their horride nature that Anacharsis their owne countrey Philosopher was killed by them for attempting to alter it After these the olde Germans as Tacitus reporteth The magistrate saith hee determines nothing either in publike or priuate but by sword And as this people not knowing God or his lawes ouerranne the South with many notable incursions and hath left a print of it yet in old Imperiall lawes so carried they their fashions with them and infected all countries with their inciuilities which would neuer bee quite abolished to this very day And this is such an iniustice saith my author as I know not a greater that a weake body cannot bee righted of any wrong but hee must fight for it though it be with his farre ouer match Italians and Spaniards the one diuided into Guelphes and Gibelines the other in Moores and Natifes were also much to blame in this businesse And from them it came ouer the mountaines to vs and wee as forward therein as our masters All bordering countries likewise that liued most vpon sword rapine and spoyle as professed outlawes infected the inlandes in time with their disorders and outlawe soueraignty as the nature of man is prone to learne that which is euill But what is the ende of it See whether it were of God or no. Those nations haue almost left it now and are fallen to worse to priuy murthers with long needels and poysoning where they beare grudge and so shall wee also if wee bee let alone and a man shall not know who hurt him All artes and sciences are come at this day to the toppe Nothing almost can bee added Euen so it is with the malice of man as by this very sinne is easily seene One thing it is to sinne of frailty as I said or vpon suddaine occasions where mans reason hath no time to discourse but to say wee doe well and are bound to doe it where we doe ill and will doe it againe is to forget God quite and to resigne our interest wee haue in our Christendome or shall haue in his kingdome There be lawes against this vice in some places But what should there neede lawes to men of honour and armes who ought to bee their owne lawes and other mens Lawes be needfull to those of ruder fashion But bee not you like those feeble women the Miletian virgins Plut. apoph who neuer left killing their owne selues vntill an act past against them to bee carried out naked when they were dead for euery man to looke on Yee haue but one life and yee haue it not for your selues alone but for many your friends and kinsfolke and countrey haue part in yee saith Cicero Nay what saith Saint Augustine Quid tam non tuum quam tu What so little thy selfe as thy selfe As who should say others haue more in thee then thy selfe How vnworthy is it then to adventure thy selfe so vngloriously Your neighbours and countrey-men haue part in yee why should yee robbe them of yee Your kindred haue interest in yee why doe yee depriue them Your Soueraigne may neede you why deny you him his due and hazzard the best blood yee haue in obscurity Will other men rise of your blood thinke ye when yee are gone how basely doe yee thinke of your selues in your highest conceits A man is borne for many yet wee will ieopard our selues to doe good to no body One man may kill many in his countries defence yet wee will bee lauish of our life in hope to kill but one and him as good a member it may bee as our selfe And what doe wee in this but worke against our selues If a man possesse any thing there is none but will haue as much as hee can for it before hee depart with it Onely our life shall wee set so little by as to aduenture for little or nothing Doe we not know the worth of our life and what a iewell it is how neuer to be had againe when once gone how soone
holde that if a child doe dye after vse of reason and neuer raised to God-ward any act of loue either little or much he can hardly be saued And their breeders are infinitely to blame that put them not to it For if nothing on our part do bring vs to heauen but loue and this loue be so cold in a capable creature as neither inward eie of faith can mooue him nor howerly benfites can stirre him to loue the bestower how can such a spirit aspire where God hath to doe They tell vs next we must loue our selues next And in our selfe are two things conteined Our soule and our body Our soule we must esteeme aboue all creatures and we must not aduenture the losse of it for ten thousand soules Our third loue is to our neighbour both body and soule His soule I must loue more then my life and goods especially if I be his pastour and haue charge of him ex officio His life also I mây preferre before my owne out of friendship if not out of charity And so I may loose my life for him or in defence of the weake or innocentbody and this is a great vertue but we are not alwaies bound to it Wee are taught also how to loue our parents wife children which more if it come to be shewne as in case of necessitie There is a loue and care due to seruants that they want no necessaries to masters that wee faile them not in our duty or charge They teach vs to loue our benefactours both bodily and ghostly and which more if it may not be done to both alike There is a iustice and truth in all these And it is not idle to aske and know our duty in all And yet these latter may seeme more curious then necessary but I come to greater matters and more neere to our purpose They shew vs further our duty to the publique and where the common good is to bee preferred before priuate and where it is in our wils to preferre it or not And first for life or member if twenty doe assault mee I may kill them all rather then be killed so it be in my iust defence and not against lawfull authority And yet if a man be so charitable they doe not deny but he may suffer himselfe to bee killed rather then kill Whereof there haue beene noble examples though very few now adaies And therefore men are deceiued when they thinke they are bound to kill rather then be killed It is not so They may kill but they are not bound Yea on the other side if he that assaults mee vniustly bee a publique person as the king or any of his children I am bound to flye him as Dauid did Saul but if he follow me so hard that I must kill or be killed I am bound to loose my life and it lyes not in my choise So of a Bishop or some other eminent person whom the Common-wealth cannot spare if one boate will not holde both I am bound to slippe out and leaue my selfe to God Yea they say further if my life be sought maliciously in France and I flye into England for succour and there is like to be warres for mee or breach of amity betweene Princes although the State may not deliuer mee for that were tradere iustum sanguinem Yet am I bound to render my selfe to my enemies before publique peace should be broken or any league in hazzard for mee Such high regard must be had of publique good that a mans priuate is almost nothing to it And with this we see how the law of nature concurres Hesione was commended for it and so was Curtius the Romane for exposing themselues as they did the one to bee deuoured of a monster the other to be swallowed horse and man in a gashfull pit to stoppe the plague that was then in their citty They teach vs also touching goods and possessions or any worldly thing we haue that tendeth to our being or well being they be all either necessary or superfluous Necessaries a man must not be negligent to prouide And it is lawfull for vs to loue them so farre forth as we cannot bee without them no more then without life And these be in two sorts as either necessaries of life meate drinke warme cloathes which euery one must haue the poorest that is or necessaries of estate that a man was borne to or liueth in As if he be a yeoman thus if a knight or gentleman thus if a nobleman thus and the greater the persons are the more things are necessary which to the inferiour are excesse And all these may haue a proportion in our loues We loue a new hatte or garment a faire gowne or handsome cloake or what else is fitting for vs to weare within our compasse or degree Wee loue a good dish and competent fare proportionable to our meanes And euery man knowes what is meetest for him and best suting to his ability euen that the ciuilest sort of his ranke doth vse with decency and without ostentation or incroaching vpon the rankes aboue him eyther man or woman A great many delight yea too too many in excesse but such loue is naught and vicious The backe and belly haue made much worke for Parliaments and Lawyers euery where It is an old fault and the Lacedemonians so preuailed against it both for diet and wearing that the subiect neuer exceeded The Romanes likewise had many lawes about expences called sumptuarie as the Aemilian and Licinian lawes what they should spend ordinarily and what vpon Calends and festiuall dayes By the lawes fannia and didia principall men were bound to spend but so much in meate and no more besides hearbes bread and wine and that must be of the same country and no other To say nothing of the Anthian lawe that was made to barre suppers and other lawes without number which their outrage of excesse gaue occasion of There was also the law Oppia for apparrell especially for women that they might not exceede in their settings out nor be carried in litters Yet Solon would not haue them walke the streetes in solemnitie out of coach neither might they weare in their eare aboue seauenty graines Their excesse ye must thinke was very strange and monstrous that caused these lawes and there be many statutes in our daies for wearing but no reformation I know no good comes of them saue that they argue vs of our pride and giue vs a learning what is fitte for euery one to weare Other fruite I see none of them neither force I much I speake onely of the law that should be within vs the law of a good conscience which is to know and doe and to cutte off excesse in all It shewes a weakenesse of minde and poorenesse of soule that powres it selfe out so excessiuely vpon outward vanities and pride For what is it els they would be great and are not great they would bee Queenes and are not Queenes yet
leaue no ornament for Queenes but their crowne I haue heard of a lawyers wife that came before Queene Elizabeth in a gowne and kyrtle of needle work set forth with strawberries and pescods of silke and siluer The Queene asked her name which when she had tolde her the Queene laught at her and called her Queene N. I cold giue our women some good examples to imitate which were better then any lawes if they will But as the cause of this excesse is meere pride and want of witte so the nature of it is to be worse for counsell Themselues would be all others patternes and will haue no paragon Yet men should bee wiser then they though womens doteries doe befoole them too much For what women delight in they must weare and draw women the rather to vnderpeere them But my purpose is not to amend all in others that haue faults ynough of my owne to amend Yet these things fall within compasse of my charge and where they be they must be amended betimes or deerely paid for All other excesses in hunting hawking feasting and disportes which haue little restraint by law belong all to my argument being as they are Cupidities inordinate and vndoing loues if they draw vs to much cost and to wast our estates The estate of all men is much regarded and fauoured by learned Juristes and Casuistes and therefore they hold two or three things hereabouts that would be noted As first for almes that although the precept be generall to all for giuing to the poore and needie that are neere them Yet this is onely vnderstood if a man haue superfluum It must be out of some aboundance or ouerplus that a man hath He must not weaken his estate with giuing which if he doe it is sinne For if Charitie bids yet iustice forbids vnlesse the neede be extraordinarie for vertues are not contrary but complying with each other if they be true vertues and vsed with discretion My meanes is a thousand crownes a yeere and I haue wife children and family to maintaine in frugall sort not denying the reuersion of my table to the poore This is my daily charge and of this I may not diminish to giue larger almes And if I go further it is indiscretion and vicious Excesse in vertue is a vice how much more in euill things They hold further if I be in debt or decay by losse or want of some prouidence which all haue not alike I am bound to pay Creditors assoone as I can without notable impayring of my estate and not before and the Creditour is bound to stay for it if there be no fraud in me or intention to deceiue nor need in the money lender or if there be yet they distinguish of neede For there is grauis necessitas and there is extrema Extreame necessitie is of life as if both of vs want meate and clothing and I owe him as much as will buy but one of vs our dinner so as one of vs is like to starue I am not bound to pay it him For the vse of all things is common in extremities and the law of nature they say must be prefer'd before the law of nations and propertie Yet this case is rare but in a siege or famine The case of great necessitie which is the other sort of neede hath beene somewhat more common as if creditour and debtour be both in like danger of arrest the one if he be not paide his owne the other if he paie Some say the debtour must paie some say he is not bound I thinke he is bound if he borrow it gratis but this case also is not often that both necessities alike should meete so iust The common case is that the debtour cannot paie suddenly and the creditour is able to stay for it This is the case that troubles many and wrings the multitude as we see by daily examples All our learned hold the creditour must forbeare and haue patience patientiam habe omnia reddam tibi Mat. 18. as he in the Gospel said to one that he owed money vnto and because the creditour would not forbeare he was deliuered to the tormentours The Sauiour of the world might seeme to call it a choaking sinne Tenuit suffocauit eum he arrested his fellow and choked him vp in a Iayle and yet as his case was he had some reason to doe as he did and to importune his owne debtour for his owne being himselfe in neede and in danger to his Lord for a great deale more But my purpose is not to proue my conclusions which would aske much time but onely to informe you of these verities which your learned can instruct you in better then I if you be as ready to follow them in all your doubts as they will be ready to guide you and gouerne you Take heed I beseech you and you cannot be too heedy of this kinde of sinne For though lawes were made for the rich and this was not alwaies law that all extremitie should be vsed but hanging for recouerie of debts no cessio in bonis will serue but a mans flesh and not a groat sometimes left him to releeue himselfe and a poore familie with which yet the law of nature and nations prouideth for that a mans person should not want out of his owne goods and yet notwithstanding I would not blame lawes or policie for it if there were store of conscience in lenders or if lenders would lend gratis as they haue done Yet remember still the old saying that extreame right is extreame wrong Is there no meane amongst Christians For want of a Tyrant to raigne ouer vs shall we tyrannize one ouer another or haue power in our hands to do it if we list If our goods be in our hands let vs vse them as we may if they be out of our hands let vs get them in as we neede but let it be done with all Christian lenity let no choaking or throtling be heard of amongst vs which will hurt our poore brother and doe vs no good The Lord I spake of in the Gospel Math. 18. had to do with a debtour that was able to pay yet gaue him day to make money we deale with many that be nôt able and haue nothing to helpe them with but their labour and paines and yet we cast them in prison take all their meanes from them and allow them nothing to keepe them I said before if there fault were fraud fraus nemini patrocinabitur there is no reason to spare them that liue by practise and cosening And yet we are not so scrupulous altogether but that we may deceiue our deceiuer If one steale from me priuily or deceiue mee subtilly or extort from mee vniustly I will steale and wring from him if I can and doe him no wrong in it Fallere fallentem violat neque ius neque gentem Prouided alwaies this bee done without scandall and that we haue no other remedy at hand
their mony An idoll is commonly made of mettall so is there mony of golde and siluer The keeping and holding of it is called heere Idolatry in respect of the much making of it or hiding of it as Rachel did that none may come at it but themselues It is idolatry in regard of the honour done to it which is due to God For though they knowe it is not God nor dare adore it for God yet they loue it altogether as they should loue God that is to say with all their heart with al their soule and leaue to God but a little It is called idolatry also in the other sence 1. Reg. 5. For when God comes in place the idoll Dagon fals to the ground Euen so when grace comes hourding breaks her neck Then swelling bags begin to leake and massie heapes fall in peeces The mettal melts as the heart melts till all be deuided into portions goe where it should goe Some such examples there be of true repēters though very few but many more might be if men were not made hard like mettall with looking at mettal as the Liuonians were turnd to wolues with oftē gazing at wolues S. Paul makes no better of these horders thē excōmunicate persons 1. Cor. 5. h. For he wil not haue vs conuerse with thē nor so much as eat in their cōpany They be rightly called auari quasi eris auidi or mony gripers auari quasi amari for their bitternesse toward the poore auari quasi auersi they turne their backs to a body that lookes poore and thinne on it And yet because they wrong none in getting they will not see their fault in keeping and are in danger therefore of damning Howbeit Gen. 14. there is none of these iudgements that euer touched holy Abraham who was diues auri et argenti For he kept a great house and releeued many with it Three hundred and eighteene the Scripture speakes of that were fighting men besides women and children all bredde and brought vp saith Josephus in his owne house lib. 1. ca. 11 1. Par. 28. These touched not Dauid who heaped such a masse of treasure for the house of God which his sonne was to builde and he might not These hardly touch Princes or noble men of great expences as I saide before nor Magistrates or Prelates who haue great riches if they be good men withall and as ready to poure it out againe as fast as it came in to the reliefe of many Neither touch they any other bee they neuer so rich of Gods blessings so they be humble withall and thinking store to be a burthen will take aduise and be gouerned where they ought and are directed If a man haue a yeares reuenue lying by him the matter is not great and it may be fitting for him But to haue many yeares gatherings moulding by him I neuer yet heard or read of any good man but one and him it neuer did good either dead or aliue And that was Narses Generall to Justinian for the west Hee is touched with no fault but hourding For he was otherwise a man both humble and valiant and no badde man to the poore Hee left so much wealth in a cesterne vnder ground that it could not be carried out in many dayes after it was found But the Emperour made a good worke of it for hee gaue it almost all away to the poore And therefore I commend Belisarius much better who was the other Generall for the east at the same time and sawe the bestowing of his hugeriches himselfe vpon such as were of desert and other pious vses and hospitals for the poore Our nation and countrey also hath beene and still is as much beholding to such benefactours as any and their names are memorable in townes and citties where they abide But especially those I say that doe what they will doe in their life time and not at their death onely when they can holde it no longer themselues This argument my good friends may seeme as to you but vaine who I know are little troubled with this kinde of sinne And yet ye haue good meanes when ye come home to rise and raise good fortunes But the due consideration of tempting riches of the one side which wee must dearely answer for if we haue them and of pinching pouerty on the other side which but few care to comfort or affoord a good looke on doth teach vs to pray thus Prou. 30. and it ought to be al our prayer Diuitias et mendicitatemne dederis mihi sed tantum victui meo tribue necessaria As one should say Lord let not me be rich nor clog me with Superfluum neither let me be in beggars estate nor distract me with want or misery onely giue me necessaries and I aske no more If riches come I haue but an office of charge by it and more care I must haue to bestow them well then haply they be worth If I be poore I cannot pray quietly for thinking of my wants Giue me a meane therefore betweene both Lord that I be not tempted to deny thee as it is said in the same place ne illicear ad negandum ibid. vers 9. And it may bee I shall deny thee with hourding if I be rich or with stealing if I be poore And thus when our Pastours teach vs we must not think they ieast with vs but shew vs the right way we must walke to dye securely There calling is to know what is good for vs better then our selues and what is right and equity in all things This law of conscience I say is it that makes all euen which neither Solon nor Lycurgus euer knew of to imprint in mens mindes And which if they had or that the Spirit of God had come within the element of naturall vnderstanding Philosophers and Oratours would haue vrged vs to this as well as they And yet many of them haue practised the very same in their course of life iust as ours doe teach vs. They contemned riches or poured them out when they had them content with ynough and no more Such as Crates Anaxagoras Zeno Philoxenus and all the rest almost not one of them rich or that sought after it Demonax would take no care for meat or drinke but when he was hungry he went in where he saw the next dore open took a pittāce Your excellent Poets Homer Ennius Plautus Martiall and others who had wits to command riches yet were they poore men content onely with inward contentment let outward things go And to come neerer our word Empedocles thought nothing more Honorable then contempt of Superfluum The same said Chilon one of the seauen wise Possesse no more then yee neede said he And of this opinion might seeme to bee the greatest worthies almost that euer were if they were not ouer ambitious Such as Cimon of Athens Phocion Aristides Lamachus Epaminondas Fabritius Menenius who either refused alwaies what was giuen