detested because thorough such a mischiefe they leade men to destruction turning them from the eternall felicitie and infecte the most pure doctrine which is our spirituall foode and so separate men from the catholicke church without which is no saluation S. Augustin in his 4. booke of the Citie of God reproueth Varro Pontifex Sceuola who were of opinion that it was very expedient men should be deceiued in religiō because that there is no felicitie or rest but in the certaintie thereof and in an infallible truth And Chrisippus said that without diuinitie the doctrine of god none could take any principle at al in the discipline of maners And Polibius sheweth that there was nothing which so much aduāced the Romanes as their religion albeit it was not pure S. Paul writeth to the Corinthians that he had prepared them for one husbande to present them as a pure virgine to Christ And the Prophets cal lying adultery And S. Chrisostome vpō the argument of the Epistle to the Romanes sheweth that al mischeif proceedeth frō the ignorance of the scriptures as our Sauiour Christ imputed vnto the Iewes that they were deceiued not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God Matth. 22. Mark 12. And if it haue been saide of the auntient fathers that the word is a medicine to the greeued spirite a man may well say it is also poison being falsly taught The which moued the prophets Apostles so carefully to warne men to beware of false prophets seducers wolues which speake not by the mouth of God neither are sent by him because there is no cōparison to be made between the straw and the corne nor betweene an infected riuer and a good spring Againe we are exhorted to stand in the wayes behold and to aske for the olde way which is the good way and walke therein to the end we should not wander from that life thorough desearts but find rest for our souls And we read in the Acts of the Apostles that at the end of the sermons euerie man searched the scriptures to see whether those thinges they had harde were so For God by Isaiah sendeth vs backe to the lawe and to the testimonie because if they speake not according to this woorde it is for that there is no light in them as who would saye that they were abused and remayned in darkenesse And S. Peter caught nothing when hee fished by night vntill he cast out his net into the sea at the cōmandement of our Sauiour as some anciēt fathers haue gathered hereon What euer we do without the worde of God profiteth vs nothing and it shall be sayde vnto vs as in the first of Isaiah who hath required these thinges at your handes And if they say that the holy scripture is harde and not easely to be vnderstood God protesteth in Isaiah that he hath not spoken in secrete neither in a place of darkenesse and his doctrine is not obscure nor doubtfull but readie to instruct vs to perfection to lighten vs and guide vs to saluation And in an other place he sayth that the word of God is as the wordes of a booke that is sealed vp to the vnbeleeuers And Saint Paule wrote to the Corinthians that if his Gospel were hid it was hid to the infideles that were lost For this great Prince making his alliance with his subiectes and creatures to saue them deliuered all in cleare and simple termes And Saint Augustine writeth that whatsoeuer appertayneth to saluation is manifestly set downe in the scripture and whatsoeuer is obscure in one place is manifested in another and in the 15. Chapter of the same booke he giueth vs a notable rule howe to discerne figuratiue speeches as if we be commaunded to doe well straight wee are forbid the euill and so is it no figure for in that one shall finde the very scope of the scripture to wit the glory of God and charitie but contrariwise if taken according vnto the letter if it seeme to commaund ill and forbid the good then may we easely iudge it to be a figure whereof he giueth vs sundrie examples And Saint Paul in his seconde to Timothe sheweth that the whole Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improoue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes The holy ghost is likewise called the spirite of prudence and discretion enterteyned by meditating of the scriptures contrary vnto the Philosophers bookes where leaues are onely gathered and not the trewe fruite And after that the Prophet Baruch had set downe what a number of mischeifes grewe by the carelesnesse of hearing of the worde of God and that we should drawe from the fountaine of wisedome he exhorteth vs to Learne where is wisedome where is strength where is vnderstanding that we might knowe also from whence commeth long continuance and life and where the light of the eyes and peace is The holy Scripture is also called the worde of reconciliation of life of peace and of saluation and there is not almost one line thorough out the hole Bible which doth not pull vs by the eare and sleeue to awake vs out of the sleepe of this world and to pull vs out of the clammie vanities wherein wee hange that it may bring vs to the glory and presence of God which is our saluation The which mooued S. Augustine Chrisostome Ierome Theophilact and other doctors to exhort the laytie the simple people artificers and all kinde of persons dayly to exercise themselues in the reading and meditating of the holye scriptures adding that they which haue founde a golde or siluer mine trauayle to digge the earth and endure most pestiferous ouerheating of themselues so as they may gather some fewe drammes of golde and siluer and ought we that haue so riche precious a treasor in the holy scriptures to neglect and not search it out being called therto by God Yea wee see what toyle men take in haruest season and yet howe slacke and sluggish we are to reape our celestiall wheate And the sayde holy scriptures are better vnderstoode of a modest idiote then of an arrogant Philosopher And as Saint Basile wrote the lambe wadeth thorough the streames of the scriptures when the Elephant swimmeth And in 119. Psalme it is saide that this word of God serueth for a rule and correction to youth and lightneth and giueth grace to the humble And the most auncient trueth sayth Tertullian is the most certaine It is also called a testament and alliance because we finde therein the legacye of eternall life and an immortall succession in communicating of all the riches merites and perfections of our Lorde and sauiour Christ Iesus thorough the fayth which we haue in his promises It is giuen vnto vs for a buckler defence and safegarde against all assaultes for a present medicine
is written in the Prouerbes that it is a greater honour for a man to ouercome him selfe and commaunde his passions then to rase cities and castles It is that which God requireth by his Prophetes to cut off the forskinne of the heart The which Saint Paul to the Romaines recōmended to the end we should cut off the bad thoughts and desires of reuenge And the Platonists sayde that the shortest way to returne vnto God was to mortifie our affections and that vertue was a victorie of reason ouer passions I thinke they longe a goe that wrote so much of monsters perils tyrants and theues vanquished by Hercules Theseus Vlysses and Iason ment thereby to teach vs that men vertuously disposed and well taught haue subdued their pleasures desire of reuenge inconstancie lightnes intēperancie other passions and vices Which also the Poetes figureth by Eolus which moderateth keepeth in his winds The most valiant Lacedemonians highly extolled him that endureth an iniury And a Philosopher gaue counsell if he which harmed vs were weaker then our selues to pardon him if more mightie to pardon our selues And by the lawe of God and man all wayes of reuenge are forbidden and reconciliation atonement commanded by God the King and the lawes and the peacemakers are called the heires and children of God who will neuer pardon vs if we pardon not those offences which other haue committed towards vs. S. Augustine calleth the obedience which we render to God the mother and garden of all vertues And when our sauiour in S. Mathew calleth the meeke blessed some haue reduced to them that are not mooued with iniuries And S. Paul commaundeth vs to liue peaceably one with an other The which we haue handled else where and deserueth to be againe repeated for that point in which the nobilitie iudgeth all honour to consist but amisse and being carryed without the barres of reason they hazard themselues to the peril both of their corporall and spirituall life willing to be the accuser and slayer of themselues the witnesse iudge and hangman of such as they pretende to haue offended them And it is not possible to reuenge themselues but thorough a thousande perturbations which causeth them cleane to depart from tranquillitie which an auncient writer termed to eate out ones heart to offend ones selfe more then his enimie And often times thorough a little miscontentment which we coyne to our selues we enter into choler and melancholy forgetting the pleasures we receiue else where and as if we were bewicthed suffer our selues to be so transported S. Iohn in his first epistle calleth him a lyar that sayth he loueth God and hateth his brother and we ought not to haue respect to a corrupt custome or opinion but to that which God and the King commaundeth For as Demosthenes was wisely wont to say VVe liue and rule by lawes not by examples We reade in good aucthors that in olde time that wordes were neuer reuenged but by wordes and neuer came to handstrokes I counsell the nobilitie likewise not to differ anie resolution in a good matter For slacknesse doth often time make that harde which is most easie to be brought to passe in his time As the losse of the Romane legions was attributed to the negligence of Varus And it is a very easie matter to note an infinite number of losses happened through such slackings The answere which Alexander the great made to him which asked him how he had gayned subdued al Asia in so short a time is to be recommended to all Captaines following Homers precept neuer to differre or omit what was to be done Which was in like sort reported by Iulius Caesar and the olde prouerbe is very notable He that will not when he may deserueth when he would to haue a nay and to abide the smart of it The sayde Caesar sheweth likewise howe much quicknesse and diligence is profitable to the ende wee should not giue time to our enemies astonied to assemble themselues but to vse the victorie not tarying about the pillage I will not here forget to exhort them to shunne all inconstancie in religion fayth and doctrine not to varie nor suffer themselues to be carryed about with euerie winde of doctrine as Saint Paule teacheth vs and Saint Iames Chap. 1. and 3. Constancie is preserued by patience as Tertullian declared in the booke hee made and Impatience is the cause of all mischeiues It is also necessarie to prouide for that which they so much reprooch French men with that is that they commence and pursue manie thinges happely enough but for lacke of constancie staydenesse and discretion they neuer come to the ende of their enterprises and neuer consider that they which doe not so lightly runne about their businesse proceeding with a ripenesse of iudgement and a more stayde brayne carryeth away the honour and profitte of their enterprises wisely vndertaken and couragiously executed CHAP. 13. That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flie and giueth contentment IT were no small happinesse if in life we put in practise that which we haue marked in sundrie Philosophers who albeit they were destitute of the light of the Gospell and the certaintie of the promisses of God yet haue they discouered the maske of this worlde contemning the honours riches and pleasures thereof delighting in their pouertie patience sobrietie and temperaunce carrying meekely all losses mocking at the foolish opinions which driue men into passions condemning false apparaunces and vanities themselues remayning in great tranquillitie and calme in all perturbations and hauing nought but their wallet and certaine vile garmentes did nothing but laugh all their life as if they had beene at a feast and eaten as they saye of a bride cake And wee which haue so greate pleadges of eternall life and an assuraunce of the diuine promises bountie and more then a fatherly affection of our God towardes vs haue much more occasion not to esteeme these corruptible thinges and to liue ioyfully in respect of that which hath beene giuen vnto vs without beeing desirous or coueting anye other thinge then that which proceedeth from the will of the almightie Seneca in the seconde of his Epistles writeth that suche as liue according to nature are neuer poore and according to the opinion of men they are neuer riche because nature contenteth her selfe with little and opinion doth infinitely couet And in his 4. booke he counselleth a friende of his to despise all that which other so hotly pursue For that which men esteeme as great aduancement in honor goods or pleasures when they once approch to the truth to vertue and heauenly goodnesse it looseth cleane his apparance and lustre euen as the starres when they are neere the sunne beames For the dispositions of such as are moderated and instructed in the truth rendreth a life peaseable and like vnto her selfe the occasion of the quietnesse
and neere vnto Constantinople receaue yearely almes frō him The Princes of Italie support the Iewes ranke enemies to our religion In Polognia both the Greekish and Romish religion hath each had their course time out of minde yea and in sundry cities as well of Germanie as Swyserlande there bee Churches of two religions and since certaine yeares the nobilitie make profession there of the religion of the Protestantes The Emperour Charles the fift so puissant and wise after sundrie deliberations had of this matter agreed gaue consent by an order made at Ausbourge in the yeare 1530 to the peace named of religion And in the yeare 1555. a perpetuall edicte was to that ende established Ferdinando his successour endured the change of religion in diuerse prouinces of his kingdome of Bohemia and certayne places of Austria And since Maximilian his sonne permitted the like to his nobles and gentlemen of Austria as likewise did the late Duke of Sauoye to diuerse of his subiectes And the counsell of the King of Spayne so greatly Catholike was yet constrayned to suffer the like in sundrie places in Flanders And in the time of our sauiour and before there were in Ierusalem sundrie sectes whereof some cleane impugned the principall articles of our fayth Whereupon I am not of the mind to founde any certaine rule knowing we ought to liue according vnto lawes not examples as Demosthenes was wont to say but considering the mischeifes and disorders of times and that the sweetnesse of religion and iustice is impatient of crueltie of the excesse and vnworthinesse of troubles hauing too feeble a voyce to bee vnderstoode amidsts the horrible clatteringes of blouddie weapons as Marius sayde I desire that they maye not stirre vppe a mischiefe nowe lying quiet and that each one prayse the kinge for the constancie and equalitie which hee hath kept in his promises rather attending a more milde and fit remedie for a greater vnitie esteeming the counsell which Gamaliel gaue to the Pharises as trewe that no force nor practise of man can destroye what is of God and if it be of men it will come to nought and perish of it selfe The lawes of the twelue tables required that the safety of the people were the most soueraigne lawe and esteemed that patron as abhominable that would defraude his subiect or freed bondman So ought subiects to bee entreated without oppression Princes ought likewise to beware of two thinges which Aristotle in his Politiques saieth subuerteth Empires to wit hatred and disdaine rather making themselues to be beloued and esteemed and abstayning from all kinde of iniustice and violence and whatsoeuer else deserueth blame As the Emperours Titus Nerua and sundrie other boasted of themselues that they were able to say that they euer behaued themselues towardes their subiectes euen as they would haue their subiectes doe towardes them selues if they were in their place And to preserue peace amonge subiectes they ought to take order that euerie one bee occupyed and followe his vocation honestly and leaue to giue excessiue pensions to straungers and vnwoorthie subiectes following the maxime of Alexander Seuerus that men are not to be nourished which are neyther necessarie nor profitable for a common wealth And Anthonie the Emperour gaue charge his trayne by no meanes should presse the people Galba often sayde that a Prince ought to prouide that they of his court should offer wronge to no man and that their gardes that offended herein should bee rigorously punished or they which in hunting would marre eyther corne or fruites And as Seneca sayeth the good renowne of seruauntes encreaseth the glorie of their maysters It were also to be desired that the ordinaunce of taxes were obserued and that the men of armes and souldiers were well payde without marringe of the plaine countrey attending other meanes of remedie vntil they be cleane remoued For as king Theodoric wrote the army which is not entertayned with pay furniture munition can by no means keepe discipline as likewise Alexander Seuerus the Emperour was wont to say The Emperour Tiberius the 2. accounted for counterfaite coine that money which was leuied with the teares cryings out of the people And Pertinax the Emperour was highly extolled for his liberalitie for that he did abolish all taxes customes subsedies other imposts which he said were the inuentiō of tyrany restored all to the former libertie It were also a very great commodity if the matter whereof they make money were not so mingled but either were pure gold siluer or brasse For the delaying is a most pernitious inuention as it is in like sort to haue so manye officers about the mint Aboue al things the key of the reuenewes ought to be put in suer handling The last will testament of the King Saint Lewys may not be here omitted in which he commanded his sonne successour to preserue the good lawes to be charitable towards the poore to take great regard that he might haue wise counsellours and of ripe age in no wise to sell his estates that he shuld make choise of seruants prudent and peaceable not couetous giuen to speake ill or quarellers that hee minister iustice alike to all thorough which Kings raigne that he should not be too light of beliefe nor rayse taxes or releife of his subiectes without verye vrgent necessitie the which we may saye to be able to support an infinite number of charges and businesse the better to administer iustice to preserue the publicke weale from all daungers to suppresse the wicked and maintaine all his countrey and subiectes in quietnesse and to bee able to paye what is dew to strangers and his owne subiects which cannot be brought to passe without great meanes and expenses It is written of Iulian the Emperour that he pardoned the people of Alexandria who had trayled their Byshoppe thorough the citie and killed him because that he had giuen counsell to Constance his predecessour to rayse certaine newe taxes vpon them By the bull of the supper on holy thursday the Pope doth excommunicate all such as leuie new subsides or exact what is not their dewe I will not in like sort passe ouer with a dry pen the remembrances which Basill the Emperour of Constantinople left vnto Leo his sonne that he should be a vertuous Emperour not becomming slaue to his owne affections that he should remember what sins himselfe committed against God to the ende he might pardon such as were committed against his person that he should be more careful to adorne his wordes with good manners then his manners with words that he should giue himselfe to learning which beutifieth the spirite shewing himselfe worthy to be the Image and lifetenant of the king of heauen For subiectes rule their manners according to the paterne of their Prince That he should get nothing vniustly for feare
condemned but they which are consenting thereto and knowe him do not reueale him to the end that the holye name of God be not prophaned contrarie to the first table of commandements which forbiddeth vs to take it in vaine The which hath beene the cause that some diuines haue esteemed it a greater and more haynous sinne then murther forbidden by the second table the rather for that if proofes be wanting against the murtherer men haue recourse to his othe Salomon in his prayer that hee made at the dedication of the temple demaunded the punishment of such as should periure themselues The Aegyptians and Scithians put them to death the Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes for an example to shewe the offence they had committed against God and their neighbour Saint Lewys the King caused their lips to be feared with a hote yron in Zuiserland they fasten their tong with two nayles and in some Cantons they make them dye like felons or pul out their tongue And against them there are sundrie ordinances made by the Kings of France which we ought to obserue especially against blasphemers the which God in Leuiticus woulde should be stoned vnto death It is written in the Prouerbs The toung of the frowarde shalbe cut off And Iustinian the Emperour ordained by sundrie lawes that such should be executed And not without cause haue the diuines accounted blasphemie much more worthie of punishment then any other fault wickednesse which as Samuel sayth are chiefely committed against men whereas blasphemies are directly against the honour of God and in despite of him And by some decrees of the Court they haue beene condemned to a most greeuous fine and to haue their tongue perced thorough with a hot yron and after to be hanged and strangled It is worthy to be considered what Iohn Viet a Phisition in his historie of the deceites of diuels and sundry other writers haue testified of some that haue beene visibly carryed away by diuels in calling vpon them or giuing themselues vno them Pope Iohn the 12. was deposed and afterwardes put to death for hauing broken his othe made to Otho touching Berangare Iustinian the sonne of Constantine the fourth for hauing violated his faith giuen to the Bulgares and periured himselfe in assailing of the Sarazins was deposed from his imperiall crowne and banished I omit an infinite number of other who haue receiued like punishmentes for their periuries Pericles being required by a certaine friende of his to sooth a certain matter for his sake aunswered I am thy friende as farre as the aultar that is to say so farre as not to offende God To which that which is written of Hercules may be very well referred that he was so religious and vertuous that hee neuer swore in all his life but once and it was one of the first thinges that children were forbid as Fauorinus testified and the better to retayne and keepe them from this vice there is a very auntient ordinance at Rome that expressely forbiddeth them to sweare And the Prophetisse of Delphos made aunswere vnto the Lacedemonians that euery thing should prosper better and better if they forbad all othes Also it was in no case permitted to the Priestes of Iupiter to sweare for that often times an othe endeth in cursing and periurie And Stobeus writeth that for this cause the Phrigians did neuer sweare They which periure themselues as an auncient father sayth very well shewe suffycient testimony howe they despise God and feare men And if one thoroughly examined all estates and whereto euery offycer is bound to God to the king and to iustice by his othe hee should finde a maruelous number of periured Cicero in his oration which hee made for Balbus sayth that what oth soeuer he that is alreadie periured can take yet must one not beleeue him and in the end shall carrie his own paine For what shal remaine to God if he be spoyled of his truth making him a witnesse and approuer of fashood Therefore Iosua when he would haue had Achā to confesse the truth vnto him sayde My sonne I beseech thee giue glorie vnto the Lord God of Israel declaring that God is greatly dishonored if one periure him selfe by the like coniuration that the Pharises were wont to vse in the Gospell it appeareth that they commonly accustomed this kind of speech If we will then liue with quietnes of minde without destroying our selues we must eschewe all lying periurie folow our vocation obserue whatsoeuer we haue promised to God men CHAP. XXX That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth EVery man confesseth yea the very Pagan Philosophers that men were created for the seruice of God and that aboue all thinges they should make accoūt of religion which giueth the only meanes to vnite and reconcile man to God for his saluation Cicero and Lactantius in sundry places declare besides that we find written in the old new testament that onely by seruing of god men differ from brute beasts and the good frō wicked and that the aucthoritie of Philosophie consisteth in the searching out of the principall end soueraine good of man And since that godlinesse is the scope of the rest it is requisite that it be fixed vnmoueable yet ther is nothing wherin mē erre so much as in that which ought to be most knowen The cause of the error proceedeth as in sundry places S. Augustin writeth by the testimonie of the scriptures for that the most part measure the said seruice rather according vnto their own blind braine then by the rule giuē in the word of god according to our corrupt reason through the hereditary fal of our prime parēts who were not able to cōprehend as the Apostle saith the diuine heauēly things Frō thence hath proceeded the multitude of Gods when they haue thought that one was not able to suffice prouide for all so were sundry kind of seruices in shew inuēted which might plese the cōmō people the creature taken in place of the creator nothing in steed of infinit S. Basil in a proeme writing of the iudgements of God greatly lamenteth that the church was so seuered in diuisions And searching into the cause therof he remēbred that passage in the booke of Iudges where it is written that Euery man did that which was good in his owne eies Since then that no error is so dangerous as that which is cōmitted in religion for as much as our saluation quietnes and happines dependeth therō it is very requisite that we apply therto what sense or vnderstāding soeuer is within vs according to the opiniō of S. Augustin if it be a leude part to turne the waifaring mā out of his right waye then are such as teach false doctrine much more to bee
comfort instruction counsell in all affaires and for a guide to leade vs through the straights of this world It is also called the square balaunce iudge of all nations the Canon and rule to liue well by and the very touchstone which discerneth truth from falshoode And S. Basile wrote that it resembled a great shop full of all kinde of medicinable drugges where each man might finde a fitte salue for his sore And it is to be feared which God threatned in Ezechiel that he wil take away the force of bread from the vnthankefull And in Amos that hee will sende a famine not of bread but of hearing of his word And in the Apocalips that he will take away the candlesticke as much to say as that his word shall be no more purely preached And we ought well to weigh the saying of Solomon in his Prouerbes that where there is no vision vnderstanding hereby the preaching of the worde there the people decaye For this cause S. Peter exhorteth vs so to speake as it be agreeable to the word of God which he termeth to be a light that shineth in a darke place And S. Paul requireth of vs that our charitie may abound in all knowledge and vnderstanding to the ende we might followe what were best be entyre and able to teach one an other for as much as VVhatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning that we thorough patience and comforte of the scriptures might haue hope This was the reason why the Councell of Cartharge forbadde anie thing to be reade in the Church but the verye scripture And the Emperour in the Code sheweth the difference betweene the Catholickes and Heretickes by the Apostolicall and Euangelicall doctrine And Constantine after that he had assembled the Councell of Nyce gaue in charge to three hundred eightene Byshops which were there present to followe this rule that they should euer dissolue al questions by the books of the Prophets Euangelistes and Apostles The which Saint Augustine euer mainteyned iudging all from thence And the auntience fathers haue giuen three principall marks by which the true religion may be discerned that it serueth the true God that it serueth him according vnto his worde and that it reconcileth that man vnto him which followeth it The shadowes are passed and the vayle of the temple cleane taken away to the ende that all men might enter in Our Sauiour also in the praier that he made to god his father whē he was readie to enter into the combat for our redemption and to fasten our bondes to his crosse prayed that he would sanctifie his in the truth that is to say that his Church might be adorned with the true light The which I haue the rather amplified because that Pontanus Quintus Cursius wrote that Alexander the great much cōmended superstition accoūting that aboue al other things it was that which guided gayned the multitude And it were a very easie matter to shew how much it preuailed for a time and what multitudes of people haue bin easily drawne to embrace a strange vntrue religiō But to the end that we may both discerne shun the enimies to this truth folow the right way of eternal life we must haue recourse to the fountaines of this doctrin meditate therin on that which may concerne the glory of God loue towardes our neighbour oftē to pray vnto him which is the true wisdom take councell of the diuines pastors of the Church For as the young plants haue need of watering our bodies of food so must we for the sustenance of our soules oftē cal the gospel to memory as it is cōmanded in Deutronomie These words which I cōmand thee this day shalbe in thy hart thou shalt rehearse thē cōtinually vnto thy childrē thou shalt talke of thē when thou tarriest in thy house as thou walkest by the way when thou liest down when thou risest vp And S. Paul exhorteth Timothe to giue attēdance to reading For by that god speaketh vnto vs reformeth our life inspireth into vs maketh sauory eternall life strengthneth vs against the dangers of this world The saying of Epictetus deserueth to be here gretly cōmended If we haue any vnderstanding at al sayth he what shuld we do but praise god daily sing vnto him Psalmes actions of thankesgiuing in digging plowing of the earth in trauail in rest And what o great God mighty are thou in hauing bestowed vpō vs these thy instruments wherewith we plough the earth more mighty which hast giuen vnto vs hands but most mighty in that thou hast giuen vnto vs the increase without thinking thereon to take breath in sleeping for by no means can we attribute these things to our own industry if I were a nightingale I would do as the nightingales do but since that I am a reasonable creature I wil praise God without ceasing so I beseech al you to do the like Simplicius who trāslated him addeth that he which is negligēt slack in the seruice honor of god cānot be careful of any other cause For this cause sundry haue wel said that religion did link vnite vs togither to serue one God almighty the sauiour of vs that it was the guide of all other vertues that such as do not exercise thēselues therein are like thē which go to the battaile without a weapō Sundry likewise affirme that in our late nauigations they haue discouered sundry sortes of people stragled in woodes without either lawes or magistrats but none without som seruice or shadow of religiō the which as of antient time we haue bin taught requireth of vs in substance that we render an entire obedience to God that we consecrate to his glory our thoughts words works refer our selues what euer is in vs to his honour and the succor of our neighbour otherwise it is but hypocrisie sacriledg The which maketh vs to run to the merciful god which hath made satisfactiō for vs is our paier creditor to which scope all ceremonies tend We read in the histories of sūdry emperors kings that they haue bin meruelously giuē to the reading of the bible And k. S. Louis willed that his subiects shuld reade it hauing to that end made it to be trāslated into french The which our historiographers do also writ of k. Charles the 5. surnamed the wise and our most gracious and valiant K. Henry raygning at this present hath confirmed the same by his especiall priueledge and commandement And if there be any which abuse the same it is by their owne fault in that they sucke poison out of the same flower whence the Bee taketh honie Notwithstanding as men ought not to cast perles and precious stones to swine nor holy thinges to dogges and