Deities by them adored with all possible reverence were dogges and cats toades and crocodiles and the like Of whom among others the Latin Satyrist vvorthily Quis nescit Volusi Bithinica qualia demens Aegyptus portenta colat crocodilon adorat Pars haec illa pavet staturam serpentibus ibim Effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci c. How they came first to resolve upon such horrible worship they that have most curiously searched into it as Diod. Siculus and others could never though they purposely conferred with the most learned Aegyptians of those dayes find out certainely It is most likely that they were at first compelled unto it by their princes and governours for some politick ends and considerations But in after ages when this worship how strange and uncouth soever at first was once become customarie and hereditary unto them with what approbation of judgement and affection of heart to the ready forsaking of their goods lives and liberties for it they then did embrace and practise it ancient histories such as cannot by any sober man bee questioned beare record unto this day I will not bring here what we read in some of them because it may be questioned with more colour of great advantages in wars wittingly and willingly forgone by the Aegyptians by reason of their superstition yea how they have chosen rather to yeeld themselves unto their enemies when they might have had the best of it then to violate though but the bare signes and pictures of those beasts which were sacred unto them But the testimonie of Diod. Siculus whose words among others are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This superstition of theirs cleaveth so fast unto their soules or is so penetratively infused into their very soules and so immoovably bent and affected are they every one of them to the worship of these creatures c. and those instances that hee brings whereof he was an eye witnesse of their zeale to their religion no man can question with any colour of reason And Tullie speakes of it as of a thing known to all the World and whereof examples were obvious in his dayes Aegyptiorum morem saith he and marke by the way that hee cals it morem by which word he closely adscribes it unto custome quis ignorat quorum imbutae mentes pravitatis erroribus quamvis carnificinam priùs subierint quà m ibim aut aspidem aut felem aut canem aut crocodilum violent quorum etiam si imprudentes quippiam fecerint paenam nullam recusent Such was their zeale to their religion against nature reason and common sense grounded upon custome onely whereby it may appeare that bare zeale without due observation of other circumstances is but a weake and uncertaine triall of the Truth Now to instance as I have formerly in some things of our dayes likewise and in our owne practise it will bee hard for me to find an instance that will be generally thought so pertinent because though the matter bee of itselfe never so strange yet custome having made it familiar it will not seeme strange unto ordinary men whose understanding though they know it not is blinded by it the more dangerously blinded the lesse they suspect it to be so But to them that are yet free or at least will hereafter use the meanes to vindicat themselves into the libertie of a sound judgement according to truth and reason to them I dare boldly say that it is not more strange not more strange I say no more either that some people of the World should worship no God at all or that some should with those ancient Aegyptians whom we have spoken of worship dogs and cats for their Gods then that Christians contrarie not onely to reason and even common sense it selfe but also to the direct example of Christ the founder of their religion should behave themselves so prophanely in their Churches erected to the honour of their God and make so little reckoning of them as they doe in many places of Europe and not onely doe it but in some places which is strangest of all thinke themselves the purer and sounder Christians that they doe so Were it but for the sake of Iewes and Gentiles who cannot but abhorre that Religion that allowes of such profanesse in and about places dedicated to the worship of God were there no more in it then so Yet it is apparantly against the lawes of true Christianitie which of all others are most severe against all wilfull scandals that such irreverence should be allowed I am the bolder to say that it is against true Christianitie because I know it was not so when true Christianitie did most flourish And truely he that should have seene in the times of the primitive Church devout Christians not daring so much as to touch a Bible without first washing of their hands in token of reverence and in their Churches in great humilitie stooping sometimes to the very ground whence as I take it are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salutations or kissings of the holy pavements mentioned in the Ius Orientale yea directly terramfronte concutientes as Saint Augustine speakes in a place or as Saint Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prostrating themselves quite downe and beating the ground with their foreheads which though it were not absolutely required of any but such as were either to bee baptized or did solemne penance whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for prostratio as Billius hath long agoe taught us yet was voluntarily performed by them of the devouter sort as appeares by Saint Chrysostome tom vi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who cals them there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that did it in opposition to cold careles worshippers and the like And should now see holy Bibles prophanely tossed up and downe as they are ordinarie men entring into Churches with such gesture and countenance rather as if they entred with authoritie to dispossesse God then to humble themselves before him and in time of divine service carrying themselves in them accordingly moreover divers making no conscience to doe that about and against consecrated walls of Churches which common civilitie doth prompt us to forbeare about private houses those of our betters at lest certainely he would hardly be brought to beleeve that things so contrary could proceed from men of the same Religion or rather indeed to beleeve that men that had any sense of any religion at all be it what it will could be so securely and senselesly prophane However though it bee not unlikely in this atheisticall age that many doe it because they have said in their hearts that there is no God and in this sacrilegious age of purpose because it concernes their profit and ungodly designes that consecrated places bee made common and profaned Yet God forbid wee should judge so uncharitably of all that offend in this kind but rather judge and beleeve that it is nothing else but the power of custome and the want of due consideration that
of it very much So Alex. Messaria a famous Physician in his Treatise of the plague Consuetudinem saith he plurimum posse negandum non est sed ita tamen ut ne limites naturae transcendat c. And Sennertus an exact judicious writer as most of that profession more punctually yet Pract. Medicinae lib. iii. part 1. sect ii c. 2. de longa abstin Consuetudinis saith hee maximam vim esse certum est non tamen in omnibus locum habet sed certa saltem opera sunt in quae jus habet consuetudo Etenim in sensus actiones nullam potestatem habet neque quis potest assuescere ut non olfaciat sentiat vel non respiret c. To this many things might bee opposed from certaine experience In this very point de longa abstin that Sennertus speakes of Ancient Histories afford examples to the contrary Wee read of one Iul. Viator who to save his life having by little and little used himselfe to abstaine from drinking as being farre gone in a dropsie naturam saith Plinie fecit consuetudine did at last turne custome into nature in senectam potu abstinuit and so lived to be an old man without drinke And Plinie saith scimus as of a thing commonly knowne and not doubted of by any And Seneca as peremptorily that assidua meditatione that is by custome quidam omni humore interdixere corporibus And Lipsius there averreth that even in our age there have beene examples of such absolute forbearance from all manner of drinke Then for the senses what shall wee say to Appianus who tels us of one Geta a Citizen of Rome who in the time of the Civill warres being one of them that was marked and sought after to death to the end that hee might the better disguise himselfe among other things counterfeited himselfe to be blind of one eye and wore I know not what over his concealed eye some yeares And then his danger being over when hee thought to have restored his long captive eye to his former libertie hee found the eye there indeed but the sight was gone and so continued blind of that eye to his dying day And Appianus saith directly that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for want of use of his eye that is because he did use himselfe not to see with it that he lost it But to leave particular instances how much the ancients did attribute to the power of custome upon the senses may appeare by that opinion which wee find in many of them of the Musicke of the Sphaeres caused as they conceived by their circumvolution audible as they affirmed but not heard or rather not discerned because wee heard it alwayes What good grounds they had for this opinion is not to my purpose to enquire at this time I dare not say that Saint Ambrose was of that opinion but that he did not thinke there was any impietie in it may appeare by his Preface upon the Psalmes But Saint Anselme plainely Septem coelestes orbes cum dulcisona Harmonia volvuntur ac suavissimi concentus eorum circuitione efficiuntur c. de Imagin mundi But that which from that opinion is here pertinent to my discourse is that they that maintained it were also most of them of opinion that the reason why wee did not heare it was meerely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because our eares were accustomed unto it as you shall find expresly in Heracledus Ponticus in his Homericall Allegor In Aristotle de Coelo ii 9 and others Tullie also aimed at the same reason in his Somn. Scipion. when he saith Hoc sonitu oppletae aures obsurduerunt though his next words adscribe it rather to magnitudini sonitus then consuetudini which would import a totall destruction of the sense and not a deficiencie of it to one particular object onely This indeed is another consideration but apparantly false since that upon that ground all hearing would be quite taken away as Plinie in his History Seneca in his Naturall Questions expresly affirme of those inhabitants about Nilus that hee speakes of there to wit that they are quite deafe I know there are others yet that have maintained this coelestiall Harmonie upon other grounds Philo Iudaeus saith directly that it is not audible to us men that is that it doth not reach unto the eares and the reason why God would not have it audible hee saith is lest men ravished with the sweetnesse of it should give over all care and thought of worldly affaires Yet for the most as I have already said that they grounded if not their opinions yet their answers to usuall objections against it upon the power of custome let Saint Basill tell them that shall make any question of it Whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But when they that maintaine this opinion are required to make it good by some sensible evidence what say they Why this they say that our eares being used to this noise from our first entrance into the world through this long use and custome from the beginning they have lost the sense of it As they who live in Smiths forges whose eares are perpetually c. Which is quite contrary to that of Sennertus that consuetudo in sensus actiones nullam potestatem habet And now since that upon this subject of Custome I have had occasion to say so much concerning the supposed Coelestiall Harmonie of the Sphaeres I shall willingly impart unto others what I have met with about it in the written Adversaria for in any printed Book I have not as yet that I remember of a man well knowne unto the world by his writings though at this time for some reasons I shall desire to spare his Name Harmonia coelestis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viridis supra fidem senectus ultra annum centessimum Obtulit mihi more gentis suae Germanorum librū suum amicorū Ieremias Plancius Plancii F. qui nunc Amsterdami ministrum agit verbi divini sed editione chartarum Geographicarum nomen suum fecit celebre In eo libro inveni haec verba manu Roberti Constantini scripta Robore constantia Robertus Constantinus Baro Gymatius in Academia Montalbanensi Professor Graecarum literarum Idemque experientia quotidiana 24. annorum assertor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocalis audibilisque contra Aristotelem naturalis Philosophiae facile principem omnium haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occupatiss exaravi in gratiam hospitis mei Auditoris D. Ieremiae Plancii viri tum pietate tum doctrina spectabilis Montalbani anno Domini 1605. Aetatis nostrae summo Dei beneficio hucusque tam animo quam corpore ad miraculum integrae centessimo ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tum amici tum invidi dinumerare sunt consueti Senex autem nondum est victus qui virilia munera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obire possit viriliter exercere Erat manus illius elegans firma
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon Hippoc. Prognost treating there of the proper and most naturall time of sleepe are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In the dayes of Hippocrates indeed that which is according to nature and that which is according to custome was all one But now it is quite otherwise c. And presently againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In these dayes custome is of more power then nature c. Tullie also his conceit in his Tusculans is not to be omitted who having spoken of some that had hardned themselves to indure great extremities of heate and of cold as also bodily paines in other kinds intolerable unto others all this with either no sense or at least most wonderfull patience whereas other men adscribe all this unto custome hee would have it to bee Nature even common Nature For saith he Nunquam naturam mos vinceret est enim easemper invicta It is not a thing possible that custome should prevaile against Nature for nature it unconquerable How then say wee comes it to passe that other men cannot endure the said extremities if not against nature Because saith hee we have through custome used our bodies to tendernesse and so made that intolerable unto them which by nature is very tolerable His words are Sed nos umbris deliciis otio languore desidia animum infecimus opinionibus maloque more delinitum mollivimus c. We with our shades and other wanton inventions and uses with our idlenesse loosenesse long continued lazinesse have corrupted our minds and through the power of false opinions and bad customes have softned and effeminated our selves into this tendernesse c. There is certainely though it seemes not perchance so plausible at first much truth in this opinion I appeale unto them and they are not a few that have maintained that Nature hath sufficiently fenced man as well as other creatures against all excesse of either heate or cold and that clothes seeme now necessary custome to bee the cause not nature Synesius a learned Phylosopher at first and afterwards a worthy father of the Church also in his de Calvitio or commendation of baldnesse seemes to be of opinion seriously though his subject may seeme but jocular that if men did weare neither hats nor hayres upon their heads their sculs used to the Sunne and to the weather would in time grow to that hardnesse as to become almost impenetrable To this purpose hee first brings a testimonie of Herodotus of the difference of Aegyptian and Persick sculs observed by Herodotus himselfe by the direction of the natives of the Countrey the one being so hard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a stone throwne against them would hardly crack them the other so brittle that the least knocke would breake them this difference being conceived both by the inhabitants themselves and by Herodotus to proceed from this cause because the one were wont to goe bare headed and shaven from their youths and the others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use his owne elegant expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheltered from the Sunne with hats and other head-attire This hee further confirmes by an example of his times there being then as Synesius relates it in the towne a certaine poore bald pate not by nature but art who did use to goe up and downe the streets and to shew himselfe at all ordinary great concurses of people as at the ordinary races of the Circus and the like so that no man was better knowne in the whole towne This man with his bare head would butte with a ram were hee never so stout and put him to the worst suffer tyles to be throwne at his head and make them flye in pieces as also endure scalding pitch to bee powred upon his head This and the like to shew to the great astonishment of the beholders the stoutnesse and unsensiblenesse of his head-piece But it might be so naturally you may thinke perchance No it was by custome or rather if you will which is that Tullie would have naturally but no otherwise naturally in him then in other men that would use the meanes For Synesius saith expressely that himselfe could for a need have wrought his own head to this in case hee had no other meanes to subsist by but therfore gives God thanks that hee needed it not I say therefore to returne unto Tully that there is a great deale of truth in that opinion of his Yet to stretch nature so farre as he doth there even to them qui cum ad flammam se applicuerint sine gemitu aduruntur who can suffer their bodies to be burnt by degrees and yet not seeme to feele it of whom Lucianus in his Peregrinus speakes as more particularly so more incredibly and yet I thinke truely enough and the like I cannot hold that to be according to truth Neither I thinke would Tullie as excellent a Philosopher every whit as he was an excellent Orator have affirmed it but upon such an occasion having taken upon him in that place the defence of that unnaturall paradoxe of the Stoicks That no extremity of bodily paine and torments could hinder or lessen a wise mans happinesse in this world glad therefore of any thing that had but some colour of truth though not so solid otherwise And thus much by the way of Gallen and Tullie their opinions concerning the power of custome Secondly that Nature in a generall sense is not mutable that is cannot exorbitate or go beyond the bounds that were at first set unto it by its author may appeare first by those lawes and orders that God hath set inviolably to some sublunarie things as to the Sea so that it shall not overflow the Earth Iob 38.8 c. and to the World in generall concerning the seasons of the yeare that they shall never faile Gen. 8.22 but especially by those that it hath set to those purer bodies above which as they are not by nature changeable so doe most firmely and constantly continue in their first office and forme For as for such alterations that even in them some Astronomers tell us of till they bee better knowne and agreed upon we shall not need to take any notice of them neither indeed are they such alterations as would crosse but rather confirme what we shall here say Sol Lunasuo lustrantes lumine circum Perdocuere homines annorū tempora verti Et certaratione gerirem atque ordine certo saith old Lucretius Even they who by reason of the frailtie and mutabilitie of sublunarie things called this world in scorne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meere hotch pot a masse of confusion and the like yet when they looked up and observed there such glory such order such constancie such immutabilitie they were driven to acknowledge a rationall power and providence over the Whole And even this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this
received which certainely they found not in those Originals In the same Manuscript where the Dispensation that I have spoken of concerning the falsarie Monkes is registred I remember to have read a strange Note so it seemed unto me concerning ancient Charters and evidences when they first began to bee in use in this Countrey which Note because it is of great consequence in case it should proove true for the better conviction of many supposititious Charters pretended to be of great antiquitie I will here set it downe as it is there to be seene Sanctus Ethelbertus Rex Angliae qui suscepit Christianitatem a Beato Augustino misso a Beato Gregorio Papa Anno Dom. DXCVI. in Ecclesia Christi Cant. dedit eidem August successoribus palacium Regium sedem perpetuam in Civitate Doroberniae quae nunc dicitur Cant. cum Ecclesia veteri quae ab Antiquo tempore Romanorum ibidem fuerat fabricata quam ipsemet Augustinus Sancti Salvatoris nomine dedicavit post consecrationem suam Arelatenis factam Statuit idem Rex authoritate Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae ut in Ecclesia Cantuar ordinem Monasticum Monachi in perpetuum observarent ne primorum videlicet praedicatio Monachorum a memoriâ deleretur sed semper recens in mentibus succedentium perseveraret Dedit etiam idem Rex possessiones amplas praedictis fratribus infra Civitatem Cant. extra exinde dicta Dorobernensis Ecclesia propter primatum quia inde primò Christiana Religio emanavit Regnum Anglorum illuminavit sicut Rex ipse tenuit suas terras consuetudines liberas quietas in suo dominio ita Archiepiscopus Ecclesia praenominata tenuit terras suas consuetudines suas omnino liberas quietas in suo dominio inconcussé habuit dicta Ecclesia Cantuar. omnimodas libertates consuetudines suas in possessione pacifica sine interruptione cujusquam ex consuetudine antiquo more sine cartis vel monumentis Regiis usque ad tempora Whytredi Regis who dyed the 23. of Aprill in the yeare of our Lord 725. having reigned 34. yeares and sixe months according to Beda's calculation cujus munumenti tenor talis est This I commit to the further consideration of the learned antiquaries of this land not willing in a matter of such moment to interpose my judgement either way and certaine besides that much may bee said both for it and against it Onely that the matter to them especially that know nothing but what is now done may not appeare altogether incredible I shall put the reader in mind of a passage of Ingulphus who speaking of the times of William the Conqueror hath this observation Conferebantur etiam primò multa praedia nudo verbo absque scripto vel chartâ tantum cum Domini gladio vel galeâ vel cornu vel cratera plurima tenementa cum calcari cum strigili cum arcu nonnulla cum sagitta Sed haec initio Regni sui posterioribus annis immutatus est iste modus So much of the good that comes unto the World from this varietie of fashions and customes the wretched effects in themselves and the meanes withall in this age especially of mans vanitie and miserie We have touched upon it rather then treated of it For indeed to speake of it fully it would require a large Treatise by it selfe But whatsoever the use of this kind of knowledge be I thinke there is not I speake it for the further incouragement of them that will take paines in this kind any kind of knowledge that can afford more content and pleasure to an ingenuous mind For since that the severall ages of the World differ little one from another but by those outward markes and recognisances of different rites and customes Hee that knowes certainely as it may be knowne by a practized Schollar in this kind of learning what hath beene the particular estate if not of all since there are not bookes extant of all yet of most ages of the World wherein they differed one from another and wherein they agreed what peculiar and what common to every one he doth as it were enjoy the memorie of so many yeares and so many ages past even as if hee himselfe had lived all those yeares and outlasted all those ages Hence it is that Antiquaries are so taken with the sight of old things not as doting as I take it upon the bare either forme or matter though both oftentimes be very notable in old things but because those visible superviving evidences of antiquitie represent unto their minds former times with as strong an impression as if they were actually present and in sight as it were even as old men looke gladly upon those things that they were wont to see or have beene otherwise used unto in their younger yeares as injoying those yeares againe in some sort in those visible and palpable remembrances As for those men that have not this knowledge though they be told that such things bee ancient yet for want of that knowledge and judgement which might satisfie them that they are so in very deed and because happily they know little or nothing of former ages the present representation whereof occasioned by those ancient evidences might affect their minds it is no wonder if the sight of such things be unto them as either pleasing colours to the blind or sweete Musicke to the deafe And now having done with the good Vses of this Varietie through Gods great mercy wee are to consider the bad use of it which I feare is more generall through corrupt man his wickednes partly and partly his ignorance That in things of themselves indifferent as in matter of eating and drinking of cloathing of civill complements and the like there should be Varietie of fashions and customes in the World according to differences of either places or times can bee neither occasion of wonder nor offence unto any that is not a great stranger unto the World or rather indeed unto reason and common sense it selfe But in matters of right and wrong of that which is just or unjust lawfull and unlawfull that there should be so much difference among nations all consisting of men reasonable by nature not them onely that are of different Religions but even them that professe but one Truth yea in the same nation at severall times is that which gives occasion both of wonder and of offence unto many of error and wickednesse unto more and hath wrought so farre upon some as to make them peremptorily to affirme that there is not any reall difference in nature betweene right and wrong but only in the opinions of men grounded chiefely upon custome Cùm bonum malum natura judicetur ea sint principia naturae certè honesta quoque turpia simili ratione dijudicanda ad naturam referenda sunt Sed perturbat nos opinionum varietas hominumque dissensio quia non idem contingit
pleasure making them that once were vile to become honorable and those that were honorable to become vile yea vvords of title to become words of reproach and words of reproach to become words of title What once knave and ballad were in old English when David was termed the knave of the Lord and the song of songs called the ballad of ballads is yet too fresh to be forgotten Notarius was once a Title for a Secretarie of State when Secretaries of State were at the highest and then Cancellarius was an obscure name and of little respect Now it is quite contrary and hee would bee thought and reason he should since custome hath otherwise commanded it to commit a monstrous soloecisme that should now use those Latine words as they were used when Latin was in use I doe not know any thing to the contrarie but that men were as scrupulous to tell a lye in former ages as they are now nay for some reasons I should thinke more As first because the art of equivocation was not then knowne much lesse the praises of it and againe because as Tullie hath taught mee the ancient Romans were so cautelous in their solemne attestations as that were they never so certaine of a thing yet they avoyded as much as they could religionis pudoris causa vvords of peremptorie and confident asseveration rather using which hee cals verbum consideratissimum the vvord arbitror Yet a man might have told another mentiris that hee did lye of the Latin word I find it observed by others and of the Hebrew wee have examples of it in Scripture as ii Reg. iv 16 without any great either offence or breach of civilitie which now to give though but to another bee he never so vile in the presence of a man of fashion is greatest incivilitie But of all things in this kind I most vvonder at that some tell us of the vvord Bastard which they say was once rather a Title of Honor among great ones then a note of infamie Soe Pontus Honterus Postremò saith he quam longē abfuerit nostrorum nasutulorum opinio ab ejus temporis nobilium sententia vel ex eo apparet quod nothi Burgundi è Philippo Bono nati omissis Ducum Comitum Marchionum Baronumque titulis aliis omnibus praetulerint BASTARDI nomen scribentes in armorū Gentilitiis scutis publicè ac privatim hoc tantum modo Corn. Ant. Phil. Bald. David c. Burgundiae BASTARDVS Ex to supreme powers whether Civill or Ecclesiasticall Caeremoniae Deorum sanctitas Regum saith Iulius Caesar in Suetonius that as religious worship is proper unto the Gods so unto Kings to be styled and accounted sacred But numen and altaria and the like I wonder how Christian eares could away with yet allowed time was even to Christian Emperors and used by them speaking of themselves as for example in the Code nostris altaribus suggestio offertur and de nostris altaribus petunt c. which is not likely their Christian eares would have borne had not the power of custome hardned them unto it Hee is not a civill man now of late yeares among us that thinkes much to subscribe himselfe servant though it be unto his equall or inferior Yet Sulpitius Severus was once soundly chid by Paulinus the Bishop of Nola for subscribing or rather proscribing as the custome was then himselfe his servant in a letter of his But you shall heare himselfe speake if you please and what hee thought of it In Epistolae titulo imitari praestantem in omnibus mihi fraternitatem tuam timui quia tutius credidi verè scribere Cave ergo posthac Servus Christi in libertatem vocatus hominis fratris conservi inferioris servum te subscribere quia peccatum adulationis est magis quà m humilitatis justificatio honorem uni Domino uni magistro super terram uni Deo debitum homini cuilibet ne dicam miserimo peccatori deferre His words are somewhat ambiguous whether hee meanes uni Domino uni Magistro and uni Deo all of one or rather as I rather beleeve partitively allowing us the use of this word to those that are truely our Lords and masters upon earth But whatever his meaning was it is certaine that the vvord is extreamely abused now adayes and most abused by them that know least and care as little to learne what belongs unto true humilitie and wherein it doth consist Now in this and the like cases it were happy if in all places if all places afford such some of the wiser and graver sort of men would agree by their joynt constancie and gravity to resist both in matter of fashions that belong unto cloaths and in those that belong unto vvords the vanitie ficklenesse foolishnesse of ordinarie worldly men vvho have nothing to busie their idle braines with but to invent and follow new fashions Then vvere it an easie thing for any sober man to maintaine and embrace consensum prudentum as wise men prescribe in other things the consent of some though fewer in number that are wise then vulgarem consuetudinem the custome of the common people ordinary wordlings I meane which commonly likes that best which is worst And certainely they should bee much to blame in my judgement that vvould not doe it But when a custome in this kind though vaine yet not absolutely impious is become so generall that a man cannot avoyd it except he will be singular a man I thinke may safely enough in these things which of their nature are indifferent condescend unto it to avoyd singularitie which alwayes relishes of some vvant of charitie and is oftentimes the effects of a worse disease pride and selfe-conceit And so much be spoken concerning vvords AS God both in regard of his will and in regard of his Nature is absolutely immutable in a transcendent kind of immutabilitie beyond all comparison nay beyond all imagination of man which Saint Iames to expresse in some sort after hee had said that there is no variablenesse with God not content with that addes elegantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or shadow of turning So it stands with reason that both the worship of God and the opinions of men touching God should be as invariable at lest more invariable then any other thing the object whereof is worldly and mutable Custome a man would thinke of all things in the world should have lesse to doe with things of this nature But it is quite otherwise For in very truth of all things in the World there is nothing generally that goes by custome so much as religion doth both in point of practice and in point of opinions So that there is nothing so horrible of itselfe or so ridiculous in the judgement of reason and common sense in point of opinions which long custome if men bee not very warie of it and with best care and diligence use those meanes to prevent it that sound reason and true philosophie doe