fearefull example and that in their owne Fathers for omitting this excellent dutie In the first part two points are remarkable Who must praise Let vs sing let vs come let vs worship How Where Before his presence Whereto Sing to the Lord. Wherewith with our voice Let vs sing with our heart heartily with hands and knees O come let vs worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker For the 〈◊〉 〈…〉 content alone to praise God but exciteth all other about him to doe the â—ame O come let vs sing Now Dauid may be considered As a Priuate man Publike person Prince Prophet Here then is a threefold paterne in one An example for Masters to stir vp their â—amilie an example for Preachers to exhort their people an example for Princes to prouoke their subiects vnto the publike worship of the Lord. It becommeth great men especially to be good men as being vnprinted statutes and speaking 〈◊〉 vnto the rest This affection was in Abraham Paul Iosua and ought to be in all exhorting one another while it is called to daâ— You hold it a good rule in worldly businesse not to say to your seruants Come ye goe ye arise ye but let vs come let vs goe let vs arise Now shall the children of this world be wiser in their generation then the children of light Do we commend this course in mundane affaires and neglect it in religious offices Assuredly if our zeale were so great to religion as our loue is towards the world Masters would not come to Church as many doe without their seruants and seruants without their masters parents without their children and children without their parents husbands without their wiues and wiues without their husbands but all of vs would call one to another as Esay prophecied O come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob hee will teach vs his waies and wee will walke in his paâ—hs And as Dauid here practised O come let vs sing to the Lord let vs heartily reâ—oice in the strength of our saluation How First where before the Lord before his presence vers 2. 6. God is euery where Whither shall I goe from thy spirit or whither shall I goe from thy preâ—ence True God is a circle whose Center is no where Circumference euery where yet is he said in holy Scâ—ipture to dwell in heauen and to be present in his Saâ—ctuarie more specially manifesting his glorie from heauen his grace in the Church principally For hee said in the Law In all places where I shall put the remembrance of my name I will come vnto thee and in the Gospell Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them Albeit euery day be a Sabbath and euery place a Sanctuarie for our priuate deuotions according to the particular exigence of our occasions yet God hath allotted certaine times and certaine places for his publike seruice Leuit. 19. 30. Ye shall sanctifie my Sabbaths and reuerence my Sanctuarie God is to be worshipped euer and euery where Yet the seuenth of our time and the tenth of our liuing must more specially be consecrated to that honour which hee requires in the Temple And therefore Caluin is of opinion that Dauid vttered this speech vpon the Sabbath as if hee should say Come let vs sing to the Lord not in priuate only but let vs come before his presence with thanksgiuing As in the 100. Psalme Goe your way into his gates and into his courts with praise The consideration of this one point that God is in euery place by his generall presence in this holie place by his especiall presidence may teach all men to pray not hypocritically for fashion but heartily for conscience not only formally to satisfie the law but also sincerely to certifie our loue to the Lord our maker giuing vnto Caesar the things which appertaeine to Caesar and vnto God the things which belonâ— to God That we may not only praise where we should but as it followeth in the diuision Whereto Let vs sing to the Lord let vs reioyce in the strength of our saluation let vs shew our selues glad in him Euery one in his merrie mood will say Come let vs sing let vs heartily reioyce But as good neuer a whit as neuer the better Silence is a sweeter note then a loud if a leaud sonnet If we will needs reioyce let vs saith Paul reioyce in the Lord if sing saith Dauid let vs sing to the Lord. Vaine toyes are songs sung to the world lasciuious balads are songs sung to the flesh Satyricall libels are songs sung to the Diuell onely Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs are melodie for the Lord. Pâ—e debes Domino exultare si vis securus mundo insultare saith Augustine vpon this text we may not exalt but insult ouer the world the flesh the diuell our exaltations and exultations are due to God only Venite exultemus Domino LEt vs worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker not before a Crucifix not before a rotten Image not before a faire picture of a foule Saint these are not our makers we made them they made not vs. Our God vnto whom we must sing in whom wee must reioyce before whom we must worship is a great King aboue all gods hee is no god of lead no god of bread no brazen god no wooden god we must not fall downe and worship our Ladie but our Lord not any Martyr but our Maker not any Saint but our Sauiour O come let vs sing vnto the Lord let vs heartily reioyce in the strength of our saluation Wherewith with voyce Let vs sing with soule let vs heartily reioyce with hands and knees let vs fall downe and kneele with all that is within vs with all that is without vs he that made all must be worshipped with all especially when we come before his presence Here let vs make a stand and behold the wise choice of the Church assigning this place to this Psalme which exciteth vs to come to the Temple quietly and ioyntly Come let vs sing and when wee are come to demeane our selues in this holie place cheerefully heartily reuerently I would faine know of those who despise our Canons as not agreeable to the Canon of holy Bible whether their vnmannerly sitting in the time of diuine seruice be this kneeling whether their standing bee this falling downe whether they giue God their heart when as they will not affoord him so much as their hat whether their lowring vpon their brethren bee singing to the Lord whether their dutie required here bee to come in to goe out to stay in the Temple without any respect of persons or reuerence to place I would such as doe imitate the Turks in habite would likewise follow them in
of nothing and therefore wee being his creatures owe obedience to his commands in euery thing especially seeing he doth not only presse vs with his greatnes but allure vs also with his goodnes being our God by couenant in holie baptisme wherein hee tooke vs for his adopted children and we tooke him for our heauenly father he tooke vs for his spouse wee tooke him for our husband he tooke vs for his people wee tooke him for our God A some therefore must honour his father and a seruant his master If he be ours and we his as he doth prouoke vs in bountie so we must answere him in dutie In more speciall as God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage so hath he deliuered vs from the seruitude of Satan and sinne prefigured by that bondage of Egypt and Pharao that being deliuered out of the hands of all our enemies we might serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life Egypt was a countrie giuen exceedingly to superstition and Idolatrie worshipping the most base creatures as Rats Onyons and Garlike so that to live in such a place was very dangerous to the soule and bondage to natures ingenuous is an estate of all other most grieuous to the bodie Deliuerance then out of both as benefits in their owne nature very great and in memorie most fresh were good motiues vnto regardfull obedience The Lord hath done so and more then so for vs he hath freed vs from the Romish Egypt and Spanish bondage with lesse difficultie and more ease for we are translated out of Babel and Egypt without any trauell or iourney Rome is swept away from England and Ierusalem is brought home to our doores If arguments drawne either from Gods infinite might or mercie ought to preuaile let England shew the greatest obedience for England hath had the greatest deliuerance The Precepts LOue is the complement of the Law Christ therefore reduced all the ten Commandements vnto these two Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy selfe The which as Tertullian obserues is not dispendium but compendium legis not a curtalling but a full abridgement of the whole law Yet I finde three sundrie partitions of the seuerals Iosephus and Philo part them equally making fiue Commandements in each table the curious and learned may peruse Sextus Senensis Bibliothec. sanct lib. 2. pag. 59. Gallasius annot in Irenaei lib. 2. cap. 42. Lombard out of Augustine and generally the schoole men out of Lombard in honour of the Trinitie diuide the first table into three Commandements and the second into seuen But all our new writers and most of the old Doctors ascribe foure to the first sixe to the second among the Hebrewes Aben Esra the Greekes Athanasius Origen Chrysostome the Latines Hierome Ambrose in epist. ad Ephesios cap. 6. Wherefore being compassed about with such a cloud of witnesses I follow the Churches order assigning foure concerning our dutie to God and sixe touching our dutie to man The first table then is a lanthorne to guide vs in the worship of God as some write The two first commandements concerne God the Father as our Creator the third God the Sonne as our redeemer the fourth God the holy Ghost as our sanctifier Yet so that we worship the Trinitie in vnitie and vnitie in trinitie neither confounding the persons nor diuiding the substance Or as other the two first Commandements intimate how we must worship God in our heart the third how we must worship God in our tongue the fourth how we must worship God with both in sanctifying the Sabbath Or the first table doth set down two points especially 1. The hauing of the true God for our God in the first Thou shalt haue no other gods but me 2. The worshipping of this one God in the other three The first Commandement is obserued in exercising the three theologicall vertues Faith Hope Charitie He that vnfainedly beleeueth in God hath God for his God because he taketh God for the chiefe veritie and in this vnbeleeuers and misbeleeuers offend Hee that hopeth in God hath God for his God in that hee takes him for most faithfull most pitifull and also most potent as being assuredly perswaded that hee can and will helpe him in all his necessitie And in this they sinne who despaire of the mercies of God or doe trust more in men then in God or so much in men as in God He that loueth God aboue all things hath God for his God in holding him for the chiefe good and in this they trespasse who loue any creature more then God or equall with God and much more they that hate God for it is a sound conclusion in Diuinitie that is our God which we loue best and esteeme most Concerning the worship of God note the Manner in the 2. Commandement End in the 3. Commandement Time and place in the 4. Com. The second doth describe the manner of his worship Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image c. forbidding all strange worship and inioyning pure worship according to his word for to deuise phantasies of God is as horrible as to say there is no God And therefore though wee should grant that Images and pictures of God are as it were the Laymans Alphabet and the peoples Almanacke yet forasmuch as these bookes are not imprinted Cum priuilegio but on the contrarie prohibited it is vnlawfull to learne what God is by them or to worship God in or vnder them And lest any should presume God hath fensed in this commandement with a very strong reason I am the Lord and therefore can punish a iealoâ—s God and therefore will punish grieuously such as giue that honour to another which only belongs vnto me The end of Gods worship is his glorie prouided for in the third Commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine The which is done two waies in our Workes Words In our conuersation when as our leaud life doth occasion enemies of religion to reuile the Gospell and blaspheme God It is to take Christs name in vaine when wee play the Gentiles vnder the name of Christians as Paul to Titus professing God in word but denying him in our works Hoc ipso Christiani deteriores quô meliores esse deberent He that calles on the name of Christ must depart from iniquitie Secondly wee take Gods name in vaine by speech and that without an oath or with an oath without an oath when we talke of himselfe his essence titles attributes holie word wonderfull workes irreuerently and vnworthilie without any deuotion or awfull regard of his excellent Maiestie We blaspheme God with an oath by swearing either Idlely Falsly Idlely out of Weaknesse when in our ordinary talke through a
him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup wherein obserue Two points A preparation Let a man examine c. A participation and so let him eate c. In the first note the Parties Examining a man that is euery man Examined himselfe Parts Beza translates and Erasmus expounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quisque so the word is vsed Iohn 3. 27. A man can receiue nothing except it be giuen him from heauen and Iohn 7. 46. Neuer man spake like this A man then in this place signifieth euery man subiect Soueraigne Priest people The which obseruation ouerthroweth vtterly Romish implicite faith Euery lay man ought to turne confessor and examiner endued with sufficient knowledge for this heauenly businesse he must looke not onely thorow the spectacles of the Priest but also see with his owne eies able to try himselfe Himselfe For that is the duty not another for that is a fault We must not be busie Bishops in other mens Diocesses but meddle with our owne businesse we must not breake our neighbours head with the Pharisie but smite our owne breast with the Publican S. Augustine complained of men in his time that they were Curiosi ad cognoscendum vitam alâ—enam desidiosi ad corrigendam suam and reuerend Hooker of men in our time that their vertue is nothing but to heare gladly the reproofe of others vice like Tailors who measure like Barbors who cut all other except themselues But our Sauiour Christ would not haue vs to gaze on the mote in our brothers eye but rather to pull out the beame in our owne sight And his Apostle here not to pry into other but to try our selues not but that other according to their seuerall charge must examine other as parents must examine their children Exod. 12. 26. 27. and masters must examin their household Gen. 18. 19. and Pastors must examine their parishioners as here Paul corrected directed the Corinthians and for this cause the names of all Communicants are to be sent vnto the Minister that there may be made triall of all yet if parents and masters and Ministers omit this examination euery one must be both able and willing to proue himselfe The parts of examination are concerning the Manner Matter For the manner a triall is to be made Vprightly Necessarily The former is implied in the word Examine which notes a diligent and exact inquirie such as Lapidarâ—es and Goldsmiths vse to finde out true mettall from counterfeit good from bad As the Shunamite sought for Elisha Mary for Christ the woman for her lost groate so we must search as if we would finde search vntill we finde Many men examine their bad maners as they do their bad mony seeke as if they would not see search as if they would not vnderstaÌ„d They decline sinne thorough all the cases as one notes In nominatiuo per superbiam in genitiuo per luxuriam in datiuo per simoniam in accusatiuo per detractationem in vocatiuo per adulationem in ablatiuo per rapinam and yet they will not acknowledge their sinnes in any case When other mens examination hath found them out excuses are ready Non feci si feci non male feci si male feci non multum male si multum male non mala intentione aut si mala intentione tamen alâ—ena persuasione Wherefore as the Prophet said If ye will aske a question aske it indeed so if ye will examine your selues examine earnestly throughly vprightly For examination must be made necessarily This we may gather out of the word therefore whosoeuer shall eate this bread and drinke the cup of the Lord vnworthily shall be guiltie of the body and bloud of the Lord Let a man therefore c. Triall of our selues then is necessary both in respect of our Dutie Danger if we neglect this dutie In respect of our dutie for Christ in his first institution vsed a commanding terme Doe this Doe this in remembrance of me so that it is not in our choice to doe it or not to doe it If any be not fit he must endeuour to make himselfe fit and the way to make fit is examination Let a man examine himselfe therefore c. Secondly triall is necessarie in regard of the danger if we receiue the Lords Supper vnworthily Danger in respect of The sinne vers 27. The punishment for this sinne in Generall vers 29. Particular vers 30. For this cause many are weake and sicke and die See Epistle for Mandie Thursday Now the matters in which euery Communicant must be examined are summarily two Faith Repentance These two like Hippocrates twinnes must goe together hand in hand For there is no true repentance without faith nor liuely faith without repentance B. Latimer said well Lady faith is a great state hauing a Gentleman Vsher going before her called agnitio peccatoruÌ„ and a great traine following after her which are the good workes of our calling He that saith he doth repent when as he doth not beleeue receiues the Sacrament ignorantly and he that saith he doth beleeue when as hee doth not repent receiues the Sacrament irreuerently both vnworthily The parts of faith are Knowledge Application Euery Communicant ought to know the 3. generall points of holie Religion namely mans Generation how he was created according to Gods image in holines and righteousnes Degeneration how he fell from that estate and all his posteritie with him Regeneration how hee was againe restored and recreated by Christs passion of which this Sacrament is a signe and seale In more particular euery Communicant must vnderstand the number and nature of the Sacraments Our Sauiour Christ ordained in his Church onely two Sacraments as generally necessarie to saluation that is to say Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord Baptisme is a Sacrament of initiation and insition assuring the first receiuing into the couenant of grace whereby men are matriculated and admitted into the congregatioÌ„ and made members of Christ. For this cause the sacred Font is placed at the very doore and entrance into the Church but the Communion is a sacrament of confirmation to strengthen our faith and cherish grace receiued and therefore the Lords table by good order is placed in the best highest roome of the Church Baptisme must be receiued of one but once because wee cannot be borne twice one beginning in Christianitie is enough but the Lords Supper often because we need daily to be nourished in the faith of Christ once borne fedde alway The nature of this Sacrament is made knowne by the names in holie writ giuen vnto it Whereof I note principally two the Lords Supper Commâ—nion A Supper in regard of the Time being instituted in the night that Christ was betraied as his far well token Things because it is a holie feast as Augustine said Non dentis sed
Hierome notably Licèt sparso crine scissis vestibus vbera quibus te nutrier at mâ—ter oftendat licèt in limâ—ne pater iaceat per calcatum perge patreÌ„ siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis euola The most eminent paternes of obedience to father and mother are the Rechabits Isaac Christ Venerabatur matrem cuius ipse erat pater colebat nutritium quem nutriuerat Reuerence Bearing them respect in words and outward behauiour though they be neuer so meane and wee neuer so mightie Prouerbs 23. 22. Honour thy father that begat thee and thy mother that bare thee As if hee should say Be dutifull vnto thy parents not because they be rich and in great place but because they be thy parents how base soeuer they bee Matris angustam domum Iudicas cuius tibi non fuit venter angustus parentes non amare impietas est non agnoscere insania est Examples of this vertue recorded in holy Scriptures are Ioseph and Salomon and in our English Chronicles Sir Thomas More who being Lord Chancellor of England vsually did aske his father blessing in Westminster Hall publikely the which custome of our nation is good and godly Maintenance If the parent be blind the child must be his eye if lame the child must be his foote if in any want the staffe of his decaied age So Christ tooke care for his mother at his death for it is great reason that children hauing receiued life of their father and mother should procure to preserue vnto them the same life Nature doth reade this lesson Valerius Maximus hath a memorable historie of a young woman who gaue sucke to her mother in prison and so kept her aliue who otherwise was adiudged to be famished A pious office so well accepted of the Iudge that he did both pardon the mother and prefer the daughter Aristophanes affirmes also that the young Stroke doth feed the old There is a dutie required of the parent toward the child as well as of the child toward the parent yet the law speaketh expresly to the one and not to the other That the father being in order of nature in wisdome superior might suspect his duty to be written in himselfe father and mother are nominapietatis officiorum vocabula naturae vincula The dutie then of superiours is infolded in the word father a Minister is a father a Master a father a Magistrate a father teaching them to be so well affected to their inferiors as parents are to their children Againe the loue of parents towards their children is so naturall and ordinary that there is lesse need to put parents in mind of their dutie But contrariwise children are not vsually so dutifull to their parents as the Schoole speakes Amor descendit non ascendit benefactor plus dâ—ligit quam beneficiâ—tus and therefore it was necessary to admonish them of their loue neither is God content with a bare precept but hath adioined a promise That thy daies may bee long for there is no reason hee should inioy long life who dishonoureth those of whom hee receiued life but if God shorten the daies of dutifull children and in stead of long life giue them euerlasting life hee doth not breake but keepe his promise for hee doth promise long life not absolutely but so farre forth as it is a blessing that it may be well with thee and that thou maiest liue long on earth Ephes. 6. 3. The 6. Commandement THe negatiue part forbiddeth all euill and that is committed against our neighbour three waies In Thought Word Deed. But because bad deeds are worse then bad words and bad words worse then bad thoughts it pleased the God of order first to forbid bad deeds Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adulterie Thou shalt not steale Then bad words Thou shalt not beare false witnesse Last of all bad thoughts Thou shalt not couet thy neighbors house c. All our bad deeds against our neighbors concerne his Life Thou shalt not kill Honour Thou shalt not commit adultery Goods Thou shalt not steale Thou shalt not kill To wit a man for to kill other liuing things is not forbidden and the reason is plaine because they were created for man and so man is master of their life But one man was not created for another man but for God and therefore not man but only God is master of our life for a magistrate doth not put malefactors to death as master of their life but as a minister of God and so by consequence not murther but an act of iustice Such as strike with the sword shall perish with the sword that is such as take the sword vpon their owne authoritie Dominus iusserat vt ferrum discipuli ferrent non vt ferirent But if God put a sword into their hand then they may then they must strike In a word killing is vniust when either it is done without authoritie or by publike authoritie vpon priuate grudge non amore iâ—stitiae sed libidine vindictae Concerning inward rancour and outward disdaine in deed word or gesture see the Gospell Dom. 6. post Trin. The 7. Commandement IN this Commandement are forbidden all vnchast lusts aswell burning within as breaking forth Into Allurements Ribald talke Ephes. 4. 29. Wanton lookes Gen. 6. 2. 39. 7. Lasciuious attire Esay 3. 16. Acts of vncleannesse Acts of vncleannesse vnnaturall as Committing filthinesse with A man of the same sex Rom. 1. 27. Abeast Leu. 18. 23. A Diuell as witches doe by their owne confession Naturall Adulterie when both or one of the parties are married Deut. 22. 22. Fornication between single persons as Deflouring of virgins Deut. 22. 28. Hunting of common whores 1. Cor. 10. 8. Incest with such as be within the degrees of consanguinitie or affinitie prohibited in law Leuit. 18. 6. Sinne in this kind is more dangerous then in another because a man can hardly repent heartily for it The murtherer and swearer and theese become many times exceeding sorrowfull after the fact but the wanton as Hierome notes euen in the middest of his repentance sinneth afresh the very conceit of his old pleasure doth occasion a new fault so that when his deuotion ends he presently begins to repent that he did repent Example hereof Augustine who being in the heat of his youth as himselfe writes of himselfe begged of God earnestly the gift of continencie but saith he to tell the truth I was afraid lest hee should heare me too soone Malebam enim explers concupiscentiam quà m extinguâ— See the Gospell Dom. 15. post Trin. The 8. Commandement THis ouerthroweth Anabaptisticall and Platonicall communitie for if all things ought to be common and nothing proper in possession how can one man steale from another All lawes of giuing buying selling leaseing letting lending are vaine si teneant omnes omnia
nemo suum A man may transgresse this Commandement in being a theefe To himselfe in spending Too much Too little To other Too much Wasting more then he should in gameing diet brauery such are arrant cutpurses vnto themselves Getting lesse then they should Ignaui prodigi sunt fures saith Melancthon As a spend-all so a get-nothing is a theefe to his estate Pouertie comes vpon him as an armed man Prouerbs 24. 34. An idle person is pouerties prisoner if he liue without a calling pouerty hath a calling to arrest him Hee that spends too little on himselfe as the couetous wretch is a robber of himselfe also Corpus extenuat vt lucrum extendat He keepes his belly thin that his purse may be full he cannot afford himselfe so much as an egge lest he should kill a chicke whereas a poore man doth want manie things a rich miser wants euery thing like Tantalus vp to the chin in water and yet thirstie The which as Salomon calles it is an euill sicknesse Eccles. 6. 2. To other Openly which is plaine robbery so little practised or so much punished in King Alfreds raigne that if a man had let fall his purse in the high way he might with great leisure and good assurance haue come backe and taken it vp againe Secretlie which is properlie called stealing And this offence is manifold for there is not onely theft of the hand but of the heart and tongue Couetous greedines is theft in heart for howsoeuer it be a maxime in our law Voluntas non reputabitur pro facto nisi in causa prodâ—tionis sed exitus in maleficijs spectatur non voluntas duntaxat yet it is a breach of this law couetously to desire that which is not ours albeit wee seeke not to get it wrongfully Their hearts saith Peter are exercised in couetousnes and Chrysostom plainly The couetous man is a very theefe fur latro The fathers of the law write that theeues are called felones of our ancieÌ„t word fell or fierce because they commit this sinne with a cruell fell and mischieuous minde teaching vs hereby that a felonious intent is a principall in theeuerie There is also theft of the tongue by lying flatterie smoothing c. So we reade that Absolon stole the hearts of the men of Israel and so false Ziba stole the goods of his master Mephibosheth So flatterers and parasites are great theeues in Court and Countrie not only dominorum suorum arrisores sed etiam arrosores and therefore let a flatterer bee in your Pater noster but not in your Creed pray for him but trust him no more then a theefe Fraudes in buying and selling are reduced to stealing because hee that vseth such deceits secretly taketh of his neighbour more then his due but oppressions and vniust extortions are reduced by Diuines vnto robberie because the cruell tyrant exacteth more then his owne manifestly not to pay debts is reduced vnto both vnto robbery when a man to the great hindrance of his neighbour can and will not vnto stealing when hee partly will and cannot I say will partly for if he desire wholly with all his heart to pay the vtmost farthing God assuredly will accept of votall restitution aswell as of actuall and it is not a sinne though it be a sore The 9. Commandement NExt the prohibition of iniuries in deede follow the wrongs against our neighbour in word Thou shalt not beare false witnesse and that fitly because lying is cosen germane to stealing Da mihi mendacem ego ostendam tibi furem If thou wilt shew mee a liar I will shew thee a theefe This precept condemnes all manner of lying for albeit one is worse then another yet all are naught The mouth that speaketh lies slaieth the soule Wiâ—d 1. 11. And Psal. 5. 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speake leasing See Gospell Dom. 15. post Trinit Beside lies euery thing whereby the credit of our neighbour is impaired especially those three sins of the tongue Contumely Detractation Cursing A contumely is an iniurious word spoken with an iniurious mind to the dishonour of our neighbour I say with an iniurious intent otherwise when it is vttered by way of aduice to direct or correct as a father sometime speaketh to his childe or a master to his scholler or a Pastor to his people as Paul Ye foolish Galathians out of some heat but yet not out of any hate then it is no contumelie or sinne Or in merriment not in malice There is a time to laugh and so by consequence a time to iest when a wittie conceit may profit and administer grace to the hearer He that said the Duke of Guise was the greatest vsurer in France because he turned all his estate into obligations hereby gaue this honest aduice that if he should leaue himselfe nothing but only haue many followers bound to him for his large gifts in conclusion he should finde a number of bad debtors He that called his friend theefe because he had stollen away his loue did not wrong but commend him It is lawfull also to iest at the vanities of irreligious men enemies to God and his Gospell as Elia did at the soppish idolatry of Baals Priests A friend of mine said of an vpstart gallant in Court with a gingling spur that he had a Church on his backe and the bels on his heeles Euery lay Papist must beleeue as the Church beleeues albeit he know not what the Church beleeueth he must also worship the consecrated bread and yet knoweth not whether it be consecrated or no for to the consecration of the host the Priests intention is required which no maÌ„ knowes but God and himselfe So that if a man tell his popish acquaintance that he is a blinde buffe to worship and beleeue he knowes not what it were no contumelie because it did proceed out of zeale to God and loue to him only to rectifie his error and not to vilifie his person The second fault reduced to false witnes is detractation in speaking euill of our neighbour and it is done by reporting that which is false and sometime by telling that which is true but secret whereby the credit of our neighbour is lessened with those to whom his sinne was not knowne before for as a man may flatter in absence namely when either the vertue is absent or the occasion and so the praise is not kinde but forced either in truth or in time so likewise a man may slander his neighbour in speaking the truth vnseasonably without discretion out of time and place A tale tossed from mouth to mouth in creaseth as a snowbal which being little at the first groweth to a great quantitie Now the backbiter is bound in reason and religion to restore the good name of his neighbour which hee by detraction hath taken away and that is exceeding hard for a mans honest