subdue his cruell affectiōs not yoke himself to the foule liberty of vicious motiō In sūme h turne again euery mā frō his euil way frō his wicked imaginations i Submit your selues to God and resist the Diuell and hee will flie from you draw nigh vnto God and he will draw nigh vnto you Cleanse your hearts you sinners purge your hearts you wauering minded That a man must not delay to become vertuous chap. 10. THere bee many of our worldlings which seek to shrowd their vices vnder this cloake that they mean to amend al in time and this time is driuē from day to day vntil God in whose hands the moments of time are doth shut them out of all time and doth send them to paines eternall without time Little do they thinke that their vices are by wicked custome fortified and as it were with a beetle more strongly rammed into their harts midriffes It is an vsuall prouerbe that whatsoeuer is bred in the bone will neuer out of the flesh so likewise a wound being for a time deferred becōmeth infectious and past cure Why then O mortal men doo yee builde on such a weake foundation why doo yee not at this instant without any further procrastinations prostrate your selues before the most highest ere the darke night of death steale vpon you and ere yee stumble at that foule black hillock Oh imitate not those foolish virgines who because they gaue not good attendaunce were shut out of doores by the bridegrome We see by common experience that if a man deliuer a reasonable petition vnto an earthly King he may perhaps attend a yeere or two before he be fully satisfied What then shall yee expect of the heauenly King whom yee haue a thousand times most wilfully displeased Is it possible for you after you haue obstinatly resisted him all the dayes of your liues to sue vnto him at the period of your yeeres and to obtaine remission No no it is not presumptuous delay that worketh vnfaigned repentaunce You must beginne to day if you will heare his voice and speed of your suites God will not be limited and restrained according to your willes His wrath will come vpon you at the sodaine and you shall be thrust into hell like sheep Like as the Poetes say of Titius so shall you being as it were food vnto death confume in hell and yet reuiue againe so that still ye may be euer dying Then shall yee crie vnto the mountaines and say O you mountaines fall vpon vs you hilles couer vs. Then shall you repent to your paine but your repentaunce shall not at all auaile you If an husband-man for lazinesse deferre to sow in the winter he is like in summer to starue or begge Sow therefore O ye that are Christians while you haue time to sow euen this day conuert vnto the Lord and yee shall reap perpetuall happinesse for your reward Repentaunce that is done at the last day most cōmonly is done vpon feare of future tormentes Besides the Aethiopian can assoone chaunge his blacke skinne as you do well hauing learned all the dayes of your liues to do euill My selfe haue knowen a young Gentleman that sometime hauing bene disobedient to his parents and also misdemeaned himselfe diuers other waies besides was vrged to repentaunce by some of his well willers To whome he aunswered that now this was his full intent and by the grace of God quoth he assoone as I come home to my Father hee being as then about forty miles off I will vtterly renounce my former maner of liuing and will become a new man But see the ineuitable will of God He was scarce seuen miles on his way homeward when as it was his wofull chaunce to encounter with some of his enemies and by them to be slaine For which cause I say cut off all delayes least in a matter of such importaunce yee be sodainly surprized Yee haue not two soules that yee may aduenture one The night is past and the day is come the day of the Lord is come as a snare on all them that dwel vpon the face of the earth in which the heauens must passe away with a noyse and the elements must melt with heat and the earth with the workes therein must bee burnt vp Bee yee therefore sober watchfull in prayer for in the houre that ye thinke not will the Sonne of Man surely come to iudge the world Remedies against vice Chap. 11. THe roote of vice is the originall corruption wherewith mankind hath bene ouerwhelmed euer since the fall of Adam Which corruption in processe of time beyng growne by continuall custome into a sinfull habite becommeth damnable three maner of waies First by thoughts next by wordes as swearing lies lastly by deedes as murther adulterie Now for the curing of this Hydra-like malady sixe things are to be obserued First we must oft consider that the actes of vertues themselues cannot bee of any value with God except we continually exercise our selues therein For the longer wee delay the more is the kingdome and power of the Diuell established and confirmed in vs. Secondly wee must once or twice a day at least call to remembrance our vices with a contrite heart aske God forgiuenes Thirdly we must waigh with our selues how that we are wandring pilgrimes in this world and like vnto them that vpon their iourneys abide not in those Innes where they are well lodged but after their baite do depart homeward vttering these words of the Prophet * Woe is me that I remaine in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar The fourth remedy against vice is that we thinke on the manifold miseries of this life on the end thereof The fift wee must oftentimes repeat that fearful saying of the Apostle * If the iust shall scarce be saued where shal the wicked man and sinner appeare The sixt we must muse vpō the day of iudgemēt at which time euery one must beare his owne burthen and sinners must giue an account of euery idle word about them shall be their Iudge offended with them for their wickednes beneath them hell open and the cruell fornace ready boyling to receyue them on the right hand shall be their sinnes accusing thē on the left hand the Diuels ready to execute Gods eternal sentence vpon them within them their consciences gnawing them without them all damned soules bewayling on euery side the world burning Of Iustice. Chap. 12. JVstice is a thing belonging to policy sith the order of a ciuill society is the law iudgemēt is nothing els but the decision of that which is iust This vertue as the Diuine Philosopher writeth is the chiefest gift which God gaue vnto men For if she were not amongst vs what would our commonwealth be but a receptacle for theeues From whence the sect of Democritus
reasons First that they might remember th◠creation of the world for in sixe daies the Lord made heauen and earth and all that therein is and rested the seuenth day Secondly that they might assemble together gratefully thanke his diuine maiesty for his daily blessing powred down vpon them Thirdly that they might recreat refresh and repose themselues to th' end they might labour the next week more aptly Fourthly the Sabaoth is to be obserued by reason it is the seuenth day which number containeth great and hidden mysteries The skie is gouerned by seuen Planets The reuolutiō of time is accomplished in seuen dayes which wee call weekes God commaunded Noah to take into his arke cleane beasts fowle by seuens Pharaoh dreamed that he saw seuen fat kine and seuen leane Dauid deliuered seuen of Sauls sonnes to the Gibeonites to be hanged Christ being termed the first stone of God hath seuē eyes Seuen thousand men did God reserue that neuer bowed their knees to Baal Zachariah in a vision saw a candlesticke of gold with a bowle vpon the top of it and seuen lampes therein and seuen pipes to the lampes Iob had seuen sonnes Seuen Angels go forth before God Neither were the seuen brethren whom Antiochus put to death voyd of a mystery S. Iohn in the Reuelation sawe seuen golden Candlestickes and in the middest of them the Sonne of man hauing in his right hand seuen starres Moreouer he saw the opening of the seuenth seale and the seuen Angels which stood before the Lord to whome were giuen seuen trumpets The Antichrist is prophesied to sit vpon a scarlet coloured beast which hath◠seuen heads By which as all true Christians be perswaded the Pope and his Cardinals attired in Scarlet his seuen hilled city of Rome are meant What more shall I write of the worthinesse of this seuēfold number mans life goeth by seuens named climactericall yeers which Macrobius hath well obserued Sith therefore it hath pleased God so to esteeme of this number let vs Christians honour the same as fearing the scourage of the commaunder It was ordained by a good and godly act made in y e parliament of Scotlād in the yeere of our Lord 1512. being the one and twentieth yeere of the raigne of Iames the fourth that no markets nor fayres should be holden on the Sabaoth day Which act King Iames the sixt that nowe is by the consent of his three estates ratified and approoued in the Parliament holden in the yeere 1579. cōdemning the breakers of the Sabaoth to forfeit all their moueables to the vse of the poore within that parish where they dwelt It was likewise there enacted that no handy-work should be vsed on y t Sabaoth nor any gaming playing passing to Tauernes nor wilfull remaining from prayer and Sermons should bee in any case exercised vnder the penalties following to wit of euerie man for his labouring as often as he was taken in the fact ten shillings and of euerie person for gaming playing passing to Tauernes and wilfull remaining from praier and Sermons on the sunday twentie shillings to bee presently payed and imployed to the releefe of the poore in their parish I could wish that some speedy good order were taken here in Englād for the breakers of the Sabaoth For many now a-dayes hauing beene idle all the weeke before doe of set contumacie labour that day in despight of the Lord his Sabaoth Some frō morning to euening do nothing els but play at dice or tables swearing staring at the least crosse of fortune Others againe be delighted with reading of pāphlets louebooks ballads such like neuer once so deuout as to name God vnlesse shamefully abusing him Oh how oftē do they vse on that day vnseemly speeches the very Turks I feare me go beyond them in deuotion For they duly on their festiual daies resort to their Churches neuer once gazing or looking aside as long as seruice lasteth The seruice being ended they go home each mā to his house inuiting humbly beseeching the priests to beare them cōpany with whō they questiō touching diuine matters not by carping nicking nipping but with pure simplicity feruent care wheras many of vs Christians contrariwise do openly prophane not only holidaies but also the Lords day yet they terme themselues Christians Christiās O coūterfeit Christiās worse thē Painims Me thinks if nothing else could moue you yet the daily myraculous punishments inflicted on such prophane persons as you bee should bee a terrible warning for you At Kinstat a towne in France dwelled a certain couetous woman about fortie yeres ago who was so eager in gathering together worldly pelfe that shee would neither frequent the church to heare the word of God on sunday her selfe nor yet permit any of her familie to do it but alway toyled about pilling and drying of flaxe neither would shee bee disswaded by her neighbours frō such an vnseasonable work One sunday as she was thus busied fire seemed to fall downe among the flaxe without doing any hurt The next sunday it tooke fire indeed but was soone quenched For all this shee continued forwarde in her worke euen the third Sunday when the flaxe againe taking fire could not be extinguished till it had burnt her two of her childrē to death for though they were recouered out of the fire aliue yet y e next day they all 3. died that which was most to be wondred at a yong infant in the Cradle was taken out of the midst of the flame without any hurt Thus God punisheth the breakers of y e sabaoth Famous is that example which chanced neere London in the yeere of our Lord 1583. on the thirteenth day of Ianuarie being Sunday at Paris garden where there met together as they were wont an infinite number of people to see the beare-baiting without any regard of that high day But in the middest of their sports all the scaffolds and galleries sodainely fell downe in such wise that two hundred persons were crushed well nigh to death besides eight that were killed forthwith In the yeere of our Lord 1589. I being as then but a boy do remember that an Alewife making no exception of dayes would needes brue vpon Saint Markes day but loe the maruailous worke of God whiles she was thus laboring the top of the chimney tooke fire and before it could bee quenched her house was quite burnt Surely a gentle warning to them that violate and prophane forbidden dayes Notwithstanding I am not so straight laced that I would not haue any labour done on Sundayes and holy dayes For I confesse It is lawfull to fight in our countries defence on any daie It is lawfull to enter into the bath and it is lawfull for Phisicians and Apothecaries to temper and prepare medicines for the sicke and for cookes to dresse meate for our sustenance It is lawfull for vs
power brused with a rod of iron and broken in peeces like a potters vessell yea himselfe shall be consumed with the spirit of Gods mouth and be abolished with the brightnes of his comming Of Iesuites Chap. 24. IGnatius a maimed souldier not for any feruency or zeale that he bare vnto a new austerity of life but feeling himselfe weake any longer to souldierize follow the warres communicated with diuers persons and among the rest with one Pasquier Brouet a man altogether vnlettered ignorāt of Diuinity These two together with their enchaunted cōplices to apply their title vnto their zeale named thēselues deuout persons of the society of Iesus And thereupon presented themselues vnto Pope Paul the 3. about the yere of our Lord 1540. This Pope permitted them to be called Iesuites but with this coūtermaund that they should not surpasse the number of threescore persons Thus for a time they satisfied themselues But within a while after they obtained greater priuiledges of Pope Paul the fourth which made their troublesome order like ill weedes to multiply a-pace and attempt many horrible things yea euen most wicked treason against the liues of high potentates and Princes as against our soueraigne Queene against the French king and diuers others In Portingal and India they termed themselues Apostles but in the yeere 1562. sundry of them were drowned by the iust iudgement of GOD. Who is so simple but hee vnderstandeth that they in naming themselues Iesuites do goe about to degrade the auncient Christians and blaspheme against GOD rather they should call themselues Ignatians and not bring in newfound orders This the Sorbonistes of Paris knew very wel when they doubted not about sixe yeers agoe to exhibite a bill in the Parliament against them What shall I write how they giue themselues altogether to be Machiauellians and vngodly Politicians how they hoord vp wealth how they possesse Earledoms and Lordships in Italy and Spaine and yet for all this they presume to entitle themselues of the society of Iesus O wretched caitifes O hellish heretiques◠the time will come when this outragious profession of yours shall be extinguished by the Sunne-shine of the true and Apostolicall doctrine as the Sorcerers rod was eaten vp by Aarons rod in the presence of Pharao The fift part Of Magnanimity Chap. 25. MAgnanimity is a vertue that consisteth in atchieuing of great exploits and is touched chiefly vpon eight occasions First a magnanimous man is he that wil neuer be induced to enterprise any dishonest point against any man no not against his vtter enemy Secondly he will chuse the meane rather then the extreame Thirdly he will tell his minde plainly without dissimulation Fourthly he will not respect what the common people speake of him nor will hee measure his actiōs according to their applauses Fiftly a magnanimous man though he should see all the world eagerly bent to fight and though hee should see euery thing round about him set on fire and almost consumed yet he notwithstanding through an assured confidence will remaine constant Sixtly a magnanimous man will withdraw his mind from worldly affaires lift it vp to the contemplation of great matters and in Gods law will he exercise himselfe day and night Seuenthly a magnanimous man wil scorne vices and forget iniuries Eightly he will speake nothing but wise and premeditated words according to that old saying A barking dog wil neuer proue good biter and the deepest riuers runne with least noise The auncient Christians of the primitiue Church were right examples of this vertue Magnanimity as they who had all the properties thereof imprinted in thē They I say who cheerefully gaue themselues to be massacred and tormented Like vnto these were our late English martyrs in Queene Maries daies who gladly in defence of the true religion yeelded themselues to fire and fagot For the vndoubted beleefe of triumph in heauen both diminished and tooke away the corporall griefe and replenished the mind with cheerfulnesse and ioy They knew mans lyfe to be but a bubble on the face of the earth They considered with themselues our miserable estate for assoone as wee are borne wee seeme to flourish for a small moment but straightway wee die and there is litle memorial left behind They knew Magnanimity to be the ornament of all the vertues Briefly they perswaded thēselues to see their sauiour Christ in heauen and euermore to dwell with him These these be the duties of magnanimous men which whosoeuer do couet to embrace shall at last attaine to euerlasting happines Obiection All scornefull men are wicked magnanimous men are scornefull therfore they are wicked Aunswere There bee two sortes of scornefull men That scorne mens persons and they are wicked That scorne vices they are good after which maner magnanimous or great-minded men do scorne insolent men dastardes by reason of their pride and cowardize Of Ambition Chap. 26. IN ambition there be fiue mischiefes The first is that causeth a man neither to abide a superiour nor an equall The secōd an ambitious man by attributing honour vnto himselfe goeth about to defraud God of his due The 3. plague in ambition is that it considereth not what hath chaunced to such as exercised it Lodowicke Sforcia vncle to Iohn Galeaze Duke of Millan whom he poysoned was one of the most ambitious men in the world but yet for all his Italian trickes he was at last in the yeere 1510. taken captiue by the French King and put in prison where he continued till hee died Cardinall Wolsey likewise here in England may serue for a patterne of ambition who beyng preferred by King Henry the eight her maiesties Father would notwithstanding haue exalted himselfe aboue the King for which his intolerable ambition his goods were cōfiscated and himselfe apprehended The fourth mischiefe in ambition is that hee hunteth after false and deceitfull glory and thinkes it a faire thing to be pointed at with the finger and to be talked of This is he The fift an ambitious man waigheth not his owne frayelty and weaknesse Remedies against ambition Chap. 27. THe forward horse is not holden back without foaming and shewing his fury The streame that rūneth is not staied contrary to the course thereof without making a noise the ambitious man is not reclaimed frō his aspiring thoughts without good and wholesome admonitions I will neuerthelesse as well as I can endeuour to cure him of his cankered malady First let the ambitious man consider whereof he is made namely of dust ashes Secondly he must diligently goe to heare Sermons and read the holy Bible Thirdly he must thinke vpon the wauering actions of fortune how she taketh frō one that which she trāsferreth on another and how she respecteth not the equity of causes nor y ◠merits of persons but maketh her fancy the measure of her affections Fourthly let the ambitious haue a regard whether hee be commēded of wise men
earnestly charge some of their most faithfull followers to admonish them of their ouersights at conuenient seasons Of Indulgence Chap. 48. INdulgence is a fond vaine foolish loue vsed most commonly of parents towards their children There is no vice so abhorred of wise men as this For they find by experience that mo youths haue bene cast away through their parēts indulgence then either through violent or naturall death Yea I haue heard sundry Gentlemen when they came to yeeres of discretion grieuously exclaime and bitterly complaine of their parents fondnesse saying Wee would to God that our parents had heretofore kept vs in awe and seuerity for now lacking that instruction which we ought to haue wee feele the smart thereof Vndoubtedly God wil one day demaund an account of them and examine them wherefore they respected not better their owne bowels Shall he blesse them with children and they through blind indulgence neglect their education Truly it is a miserable case In times past parents were wont to place their sonnes with wise gouernors requesting them not in any case to let them haue their owne willes But now adaies it falles out cleane contrary For parents in these times when they hire a scholemaster will first hearken after his gentle vsage and then they will question with him touching the small salary which they must pay him for his industry so that forsooth now and then to be mindfull of this vice Indulgence they accept of a sow-gelder or some pety Grammatist that will not sticke in a foole-hardy moode to breake Priscians pate With such a one they couenaunt namely that hee must spare the rodde or els their children will be spild Within a while after assoone as their indulgent Master hath taught them to decline Stultus Stulta Stultum as an adiectiue of three terminations they bring them out of hand into the Vniuersity and there diligently do enquire after a milde Tutour with whome their tender sonnes might familiarly and fellow-like cōuerse And what then Mary before a tweluemoneths end they send for them home againe in all post haste to visit their mammes who thought each day of their sonnes absence to bee a whole moneth There they bee made sucklings during the next twelue moneth Well now it is high time to suffer their ready dādlings to see new-fangled fashions at the Innes of Court Where being arriued they suite themselues vnto all sorts of company but for the most part vnto shriuers Caualeers and mad-cappes insomuch at the last it will be their friends hard happe to heare that their sweet sonnes are eyther pend vp in New-gate for their good deeds or haue crackt a rope at Tiburn This is the effect of Indulgence This is their false conclusion proceeding of their false premisses Now you must vnderstand that if the parents had not thus cockered 〈◊〉 their sonnes in their childhood 〈◊〉 caused them to be seuerely looked vnto they would not in the floure of their age haue come to such a miserable end In the Chronicle of the Switzers mētion is made of a certaine offendour whom vpon his arraignement his owne father was compelled to execute that so by the indulgent author of his life hee might come to his death Hither likewise may I referre that common story of a certaine woman in Flaunders who liuing about threescore yeeres agoe did so much pamper two of her sonnes that shee would neuer suffer them to lacke money yea shee would priuily defraud her husband to minister vnto them But at last she was iustly punished in them both for they fell from dicing and rioting to stealing and for the same one of them was executed by the halter the other by the sword she her selfe being present at their wofull ends whereof her conscience shewed her that her Indulgence was the onely cause This ought to be a liuely glasse to all parents to prouide for their childrens bringing vp and to purge them betimes of their wild and wicked humours least afterwards they proue incurable and of litle sprigs they become hard withered braunches In briefe O parents correct your childrē while they be young pluck vp their weedes while they beginne lest growing among the good seed they hinder their growth and permit them not so rathe of prentises to become enfranchised freemen In so doing you may be assured that they will easily be brought to study the knowledge of heauenly wisedome and to embrace ciuility the onely butte and marke wherat the godly vertuous do leuell especially for Gods glory for their owne commodity and for the goodnesse that thereby ensueth vnto the commonwealth in generall Of Pride Chap. 49. PRide is a bubbling or puffing of the minde deriued from the opinion of some notable thing in vs more thē is in others But why is earth ashes proud seeing that when a man dieth hee is the heire of serpents beasts wormes Who knoweth not that GOD closely pursueth proud men who doubteth that he thūdreth and scattereth them in the imaginations of their hearts that he putteth downe the mighty from their seates and exalteth the humble and meeke In somuch that he which is to day a king to morow is dead Wherefore O wight whosoeuer thou art that readest this booke lay aside thy Peacocks plumes and looke once vpon thy feet vpon the earth I mean wherehence thou camest though thou thinkest in thine heart that thou art equall with GOD yet thou art but a man and that a sinfull man In summe wish not lordly authority vnto thy selfe for hee that seeketh authority must forethinke how hee commeth by it and comming well by it how hee ought to liue in it and liuing well in it hee must forecast how to rule it and ruling discreetly hee must oftentimes remember his owne frailty Of Scurrility of Scoffing Chapt. 50. EVen as I greatly commend affability and pleasant iestes so I vtterly mislike and condemne knauery in iesting For toungs were not giuen vnto men to scoffe and taunt but rather to serue God and to instruct one another And as a litle fire may cōsume whole villages so in like manner the toung which is a kind of fire yea a world of calamity polluteth the whole body if it bee not refrained For which cause though there be some merry and conceited wit in a iest yet we must beware that we rashly bestow it not on them whom we afterwards would not for any thing offend Therefore the respect of time consideration of the person is necessary in lesting For we must not giue dry floutes at meales least we be accounted Ale-knights wee must not taunt cholericke men least they take it in ill part we must not deride simple felowes because they are rather to be pitied nor yet wicked persons for it behoueth to haue them rather punished then laught to scorne Whether Stageplayes ought to be suffred in a Commonwealth Chapt. 51. STageplaies fraught altogether with scurrilities and knauish pastimes are
doores yet for all his begging cannot come by the crumbes of the rich mans table Wherefore extend your bounty vnto the poore O yee that be rich according to the proportion of your wealth and as your good conscience shall lead you so giue Remēber that your daies be short vpon earth and that you haue but a smal time to liue Distrust not Gods promise who said that whatsoeuer is giuen to the poore is lent to himself and looke what you lay out shall be payd you againe Obiection A mā that hath a great charge of children cannot well giue almes vnto the poore therefore he may be excused Aunswere Marke what Christ saith He that loueth his father and mother aboue me is not worthy of me The loue of God is not with them who will not benefit the poore The widow of Sarepta preferred not her sonne before Elias in the time of famine neither was that lost which shee bestowed on Elias In a word no man must despayre of Gods reward I have beene yoūg quoth the Prophet Dauid and now am old and yet saw I neuer the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread publickly with vtter shame and discredit Circumstaunces to be obserued in giuing of almes Chap. 28. HOwbeit for all this I am not so indulgent and fond that I would haue men to distribute almes without exception and without due regard of circumstaunces For herein fiue things are to bee respected whereof the first is that they giue their almes for the Lords sake and that voluntarily of their owne proper motion The second that they argue with them touching their religiō before they giue them any thing to the end they may vnderstand whether they be true Protestants or froward Papists or Atheists The third that they dispute with thē concerning their conuersation The 4. that they giue their almes vnto religious men and to them that be old blind lame or crazed and sicke of body The fift circumstāce to be noted and followed in distributing of almes is that men giue them not for a brauery and vainglory to be praysed and extolled of the world but rather of pure zeale deuotion not expecting any recompence againe Of Fasting That an housholder should obserue fasting dayes Chap. 39. EVen as learned and wise Physicians in euery fluxe of the belly occasioned of surfet and repletion do for the most part prescribe an exquisite diet and also a purgation to wit of Rheubarb or such like to the end that not onely the superfluous substaunce of the belly may be drawne out but also that nature may be strengthened by the secret property and vertue of the Medicine so expert and wise householders ought in time of famine specially to haue regard that they lay downe a limited order of fasting vnto their families whereby they may not onely purge the rebellious humours of the flesh but likewise in after-clappes sustaine themselues the better from pouerty and dearth Oh what is it for a man to spare two meales in a weeke and bestow the estimate vpon the poore Alasse it is not much out of their way Wee read that the Iewes so oft as they would pacifie or aske any benefit of GOD vsed most commonly to fast By fasting Moses saw God Elias after his fasting was entertained of God The Niniuites fasted with repentance and were pardoned By fasting Daniel reuealed Nabuchodonozors dreame But if these examples can worke no charity in the adamant and steely hearts of our English Rookes yet ciuill policy me thinkes and her Maiesties commaundement might preuayle so much with them that they obserue Frydaies Saturdayes Lent and Ember dayes so neere as they may as fasting dayes both for the preseruation of meates ordained for their owne sustenaunce and for the safegard of their consciences and for the supplying of their neyghbours wants Obiection Good meates do nourish bloud and do reuiue aswell the vitall as the animall spirites As for fish figges and such like they bee slimy windy and make a man to bee ill complexioned And againe fasting is more daungerous for it weakneth and enfeebleth the whole body therefore a man ought not to obserue fasts Answere Al the commodities which you bring on the behalfe of meats are nothing in comparison of the good that spring of fasting for by it men become capable of visions and of the word of God by it many sicknesses are alayed Wheras on the contrary by flesh the body is enflamed and tormented with hot burning agues with innumerable maladies besides So that the commodities of fasting do farre exceed downewaigh the discōmodities thereof Yet notwithstāding I verily beleeue that old persons and cholerick folkes may be licensed to eat flesh In like maner women with child scholers and they that by study and care haue annoyed their spirits might be authorized from fasting In briefe I am perswaded that fasting is hurtfull for them which haue not attained to their perfect growth and strength Of the true fast Chap. 30. NEuerthelesse I am of this mind that those men obserue not the true fast which hypocritically forgo a meale or two of purpose colourably to hunt for worldly prayse and to be accounted religious in the sight of man but they rather are the true and allowed fasters that strongly leane to the euerliuing God that shunne as the horrour of hell al earthly vanities and that mortifie the filthy appetites of the flesh Albeit the other I confesse is a coadiutour to that thing and auayleth much for that purpose Whosoeuer therefore is willing to fast vprightly and according to the ordinaunce of GOD must fast with all the members of his body First hee must fast with his eyes and not pry too much into the pompeous shewes dazeling beauty of this world lest at the sight thereof as of a Cockatrice he be wounded to death both of body and soule Next he must fast with his eares that is hee must not consent to the alluring speeches of Seminarie Priests heretikes flatterers slaūderers and such like lest Sirenlike they entice him into their snares Thirdly he must fast with his toung and beware of blasphemies lies and vngodly communications Fourthly he must fast with his mouth that is he must take heed that he eat and drinke no more then sufficeth nature and that he abstaine from meats at conuenient seasons whereby as with a wing he may fly into heauen Fiftly he must fast with his heart and refraine from sinfull and idle thoughts Sixtly hee must fast with his feet and bridle them from being too swift to shead bloud or from trudging to London for proces against his brethren The end of the second booke THE THIRD booke of the Golden-groue moralized The first Plant. Of a Common-wealth Chap. 1. A Common-wealth is a societie of free mē vnited together by a generall consent to the end to liue well and orderly not onely in regard of iustice but also
when the Prince winketh at the cosonages of magistrates and Lawyers and permitteth some of the richer sort to enclose commons and to rake their inferiors out of measure Of Treason Chap. 55. TReason bringeth no lesse danger and hurt to men then Loyaltie doth profit and felicitie for it is farre easier to vanquish a knowne foe then to subdue a traitour and a priuie conspiratour This wicked monster in time of warre worketh more scath and damage then all artilleries Howbeit hee neuer enioyeth his promised hire but is at last cruelly punished As for example the great Turke in the yeere of our Lord 1400. hauing taken Constantinople through the treason of Iohn Iustinian a Genoway whō after he had made King according to his promise caused his head to bee chopt off within three dayes To approch neerer our owne time let vs bethinke with our selues the mercifull prouidence of God in discouering the hainous treasons pretended against our dread soueraigne Queen Elizabeth Of late yeeres namely in the yeere 1588. what befell to Tilney Sauage Babington and the rest of their cursed complices were they not all executed brought to confusion Likewise Doctour Lopouze the Queenes Phisicion who had poysoned sundry Noblemen of this Realme and by the Spanish Kings procurement went about to poyson the Queene her selfe had he not in the yere 1594. his deserued punishment Euen so the last yeere one Squire by the instigation of a Spanish Frier going about to do away her Maiestie was surprized in his treason and executed to the terrour of all such diuelish traitours Be therefore better admonished yee wauering men let the example of such as were executed terrifie your minds from rebellious attempts and suffer not wilfully the diuell to tempt and leade you into temptation Of Idlenesse Chap. 56. O You slouthfull men why doe you miche range turne your backs to vertuous labours seeing that they who ouercame the delites of this world haue deserued heauen for their rewards why doe you straggle rogue from house to house Beleeue me there is no occupation in the world that bringeth with it lesse profit then yours Goe to the emmet yee slouthfull sluggards consider her wayes and learne to bee wise She hath no guide no teacher no leader yet in the summer shee prouideth her meate and gathereth together her foode in the haruest Oh why haue you forgotten the words of the Lord namely In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread Remember what penalties are imposed on runnagates and loytering droanes In the primitiue Church it was decreed that all men should liue of their owne labour and not vnprofitably waste the fruits of the earth Likewise the faigned Syphograuntes or officers of the Vtopians tooke heede that no man sate idle but that each one should diligently apply his owne craft and occupation What shall I say of our owne constitutions here in England In the yeere of our Lord 1572. it was enacted in the parliament that all persons aboue the age of foureteene yeeres which were taken begging and roging abroade should be apprehended whipped and burnt through the eare with a hot iron for the first time so found and the second time to be hanged For which consideration looke vnto your selues yee carelesse caitifes gette you masters that may instruct you in some occupation or other which done labour continually that not onely for your selues but for the reliefe also of such as are not able to helpe themselues In so doing Sathan the enemie of grace who hitherto like a wily foxe hath awaited for you shall goe away in despaire and as they say with a flea in his eare Of Dice-play Chap. 57. CHristians ought vtterly to forbeare Dice-play first because The diuell inuented it Secondly because it is flat against the commandement of GOD namely Thou shalt not couet any other mans goods Thirdly Dice-play is for the most part accompanied with swearing and blaspheming Gods holy name Fourthly the holy fathers of the church haue most vehemently written against it Fiftly all sports and recreations must haue respect to some profite either of body or of mind otherwise it is but lost for which wee must one day yeelde an account to God but Dice-play as wee know is no exercise for the body neither is it any pleasure for the minde for the euent of the hazard or maine driueth the players minde to a furious hope and sometimes into a fearefull quandarie to wit when hee doubteth the recouerie of his lost money Sixtly we are charged Not to consume our time in wicked and vnlawfull exercises Seuenthly men must abstaine from Dice-play that they might shew good example to their inferiours For * if graue parents delight in wicked Dice-play their sonnes will likewise be enduced thereunto Eightly Dice-play is condemned by the lawes and decrees of Princes By the law Roscia all such as played at dice were banished from their countrey It was also enacted in Rome that Dice-players should bee amerced in foure times so much as they played for King Edward the fourth of this Realme decreed that euerie Dice-player should be imprisoned two yeres and forfeit tenne pound King Henrie the seuenth enacted that Dice-players should bee imprisoned one day and that the keeper of the gaming house should bee bound to his good be hauiour and be fined a Noble King Henrie the eight ordained that euerie one which kept a dicing house should pay fortie shillings and the players themselues a Noble for euerie time so occupied Ninthly this kind of play is odious and reproachfull as appeared in Antonie to whome Cicero obiected that hee not onely himselfe was a dicer but also hee fostered such men as were dicers i Augustus the Emperour was noted and ill thought of for his dicing Lastly the despaire and aduersitie which Dice-players fall into and their extraordinarie punishments be sufficient meanes to reclaime and terrifie men from it In the yeere of our Lord 1550. one Steckman of Holsatia hauing lost much money at dice fell into despaire and therewithall killed three of his children and would haue hanged himselfe if his wife had not preuented him Likewise in the yere 1553. one Schetrerus playing at dice in an ale-house neere to Belisan a towne in Heluetia blasphemed God Wherupon the diuell came in place and carried him away Also my selfe haue knowne a wealthie yeoman that was as great a dicer as any other in that shire where he dwelt and I thinke had gotten wel-nigh a thousand pound by that his occupation but what became of him and his wealth marrie he bathing himselfe in a riuer was sodainely drowned and his sonne to whom his goods after his death did rightly appertaine before 3. yeeres were expired spent al at dice and at this day is glad to stand at mens deuotion In summe do wee not commōly see that dice-players neuer thriue and if perhaps one amongst a thousand chance to winne