king or master but holdeth of one only Iesus Christ according to the ministerie of his word the other is to ordaine a ciuil iustice only and to reforme outward maners wherunto the body during this life is wholy subiect rescruing the first estate of man in his freedom according to the diuine rule of pietie we are diligently to looke to this second estate of subiection seruitude which is most necessary for the maintenance of common peace tranquillitie amongst men Now forasmuch my companions as we haue hitherto according to our weak iudgement noted the moral vertues of the soul for the better framing of mens actions to that which is decent honest in this life and folowing the same order haue also giuen rules instructions for the gouernment of a family we are now to enter into this large field of humane policie to consider of the parts that belong vnto it referring the chiefe scope of the handling of this matter which otherwise would be infinite to the ruling preseruing of our French monarchie for the instruction of al estates that are therein And first we wil see what ciuil policie is and intreat briefly of the diuers kinds of gouernments amōg the ancients that we may so much the better attaine to the knowledge of that vnder which we liue AMANA To command and to obey saith Aristotle are not only necessary but also profitable yea some things are borne to obey and others to command whose common end is publike benefit ciuil iustice which are preserued by a wel established policie and right gouernment according to the lawes of nature ARAM. Euery ciuil societie must be kept in order by some policie which is a necessary helpe to cause a man to walke in his vocation But as the elements cannot be intermingled one with another except it be by an vnequall proportion and temperature so I thinke that ciuil policies cannot wel be preserued but by a certaine inequalitie which is to be seene in all countries by diuers sorts of Gouernments But let vs heare ACHITOB discourse to this effect ACHITOB. In all things compounded of matter and forme commanding obeying are so naturall that there is some shew therof euen in things without life as we see in that harmonie which consisteth in voyce in sounds wherein the contra-tenor seemeth to command ouer the base This whole inferiour world obeyeth the superiour and is gouerned thereby through a certain vertue accompanied with light and heate called of many Philosophers the spirit of the world or as Plato saith the soule of the world which descending from the celestiall nature and intermingling it selfe throughout the whole masse of this great body penetrateth quickneth nourisheth and moderateth all chaungeable things vnder the Moone The chiefe minister and disposer of this vertue is the Sunne whom we acknowledge as king among the starres lightning the vniuersall frame with his beames The Moone is as it were the Queene ruling ouer all moistures and among other maruails shewing hir manifest power ouer the flowyng and ebbing of the Ocean seas We see among the Elements that the Fire and Aire through their first qualities are Actiue and that the water and earth are Passiue as beeyng more materiall Amongst all kinds of birdes the Eagle is president amongst beasts the Lion In fresh and salte waters the mightiest fishes rule as the Whale in the sea and the Pike in pooles Man ruleth ouer all liuing creatures and in man compounded of body soule and vnderstanding the soule commaundeth ouer the body and the vnderstanding ouer the desire We haue also seene by proceeding from one particular man to a familie made of many persons how the head commandeth diuersly ouer the partes of his house Euen so it is necessary that euery ciuill societie which is made one of many families tending to a generall good should be kept in by some policie consisting in commanding and obeying In many places of the world there are countries where the cities are not inclosed where there is no vse of learning and where there are no kinges Other people there are that dwell in no houses that vse no money that liue with rawe flesh in a worde that seeme to hold more of the nature of beasts than of men And yet there are none that haue no kind of policie established amongst them or that vse no lawes or customes whereunto they willingly submit themselues Neither are they without some apprehension and reuerence of the diuine nature vsing prayers sacrifices although damnable so straightly are these two things diuine Iustice and humane Policie ioined togither that the one cannot in any sort remaine amongst men without the other Therefore Plutarke saith that a citie will sooner stand without a foundation than ciuil policie can be framed and established without any religion and opinion of God or without the preseruation thereof after it is once receiued Moreouer the first agreement of people forsaking their barbarous and rusticall life to ioine in ciuil societie was to this ende that they might haue a place of religion to keepe them togither Religion surely is the foundation of all common-wealths of the execution of lawes of the obedience of subiects towards their magistrates of their feare towards princes of mutual loue among themselues and of iustice towards others Lycurgus reformed the estate of the Lacademonians Numa Pompilius of the Romanes Solon of the Athenians and Deucalion of all the Graecians generally by making them deuout and affectionate towardes the gods in prayers othes oracles and prophesies through the means of feare and hope of the diuine nature which they imprinted in them Polybius gouernour and lieutenant to Scipio Africanus and taken for the wisest Politician in his time saith That the Romans had neuer any greater means than religion to extend the borders of their empire and the glory of their famous acts ouer all the earth Desiring therfore that religion the truth and the law of God all which are one and published by the mouth of God may continue and dwel amongst vs let vs see what Policie is wherunto it ought chiefly to tend and what sundry sorts there are of establishing it by the contrary kindes of gouernment vsed among the auncients Policie is a worde deriued of this Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the regiment of a citie or common-wealth and that which the Graecians call Political gouernment the Latines call the gouerment of a common-wealth or of a ciuil societie This word Policie hath been taken in many significations amongst the auncients sometime it signified a Burgesie that is to say the participation and enioying of the rights and priuiledges of a towne sometime the maner of life vsed by some politicall person as when one commendeth the policie of Pericles or of Bias that is their kind of gouernment sometime also when they would note some woorthy
honestie shamefastnes She ware a iewell hanging by a riben about hir necke to signifie that she was bound and put in subiection to hir husband She presented also to hir husband water in one hand and fire in the other Which some interprete thus that as the communication of mans life consisteth chiefly in the vse of these two elements of fire water so there cannot be any fellowship more familiar or neerer linked togither than that of the husband and the wife Now bicause fire and water signifie communication others haue thus vnderstood it that as fire and water are cleane contraries aswell in the first as in the second qualities so are man and wife the one being hot and dry of the nature of fire and the other cold and moist of the nature of water which contrarieties being ioined togither make a harmonie temperature of loue Againe some would haue the dissentions murmurings complaints that are often in mariages signified therby wherin laughter is not without weeping nor rest without labor nor sweete without sower according to the nature of all earthly things in which we cannot taste honie without gall nor sugar without Aloes Many other ceremonies were vsed of the Ancients which for breuity sake as also bicause there is smal instruction in them I omit for this present Therefore to conclude our discourse we learne that the name of a house doth not onely signifie the wals and roofe of a building but that it ought to be taken for a familie gathered togither to communicate one with another in all necessities We learne also that in euery mariage we ought to haue regard to the ordinance and institution of God and to those politike lawes vnder which we liue to the ende we trouble not common tranquillitie that we must auoide all disparitie of goods of houses of age and especially of nature and manners Let vs not suffer our selues to be caried away with any foolish passion but looke chiefly to this that vnder a gratious honest behauiour may shine foorth cleare and euident steps of an vpright and sincere soule void of dissimulation saying with the Wise man Fauour is deceitfull and beautie is vanitie but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised We must also rid our wedding assemblies of all dissolutenes of all kind of allurements to voluptuousnes and nicenes that they may rather seeme to be schooles of honour and chastitie than of intemperancie and loosenes If we lay such foundations in mariages no doubt but God will blesse them and make them happie and prosperous to the glorie of his name and to the quietnes and contentation of vs all Of the particular dutie of a husband towards his wife Chap. 47. ARAM. AS Phisitions stand more in feare of feauers engendred of hid causes gathered togither by little and little of a long time than of those which proceed of very apparant causes so the smal iarres and daily quarrelings of maried folkes being vnknowne to strangers and drawing by litle and little to an incurable hardnes do more separate them one from another than any other cause whatsoeuer Therefore it is necessary that all the rootes of such naughty sprigs should be cut off and all occasions eschewed which might prouoke one another to the least and lightest anger that may be The industrie of the man ought to aime especially at this being called to the honorable estate of Head of a familie looking diligently that he performe such dutie towards hir who is so straightly linked vnto him that such dissentions neuer take their beginning through his default Let vs then my Companions take occasion of this subiect to be better instructed in the dutie of a husband towards his wife ACHITOB. Reioice sayth the Wise man with the wife of thy youth Let hir be as the louing Hinde and pleasant Roe let hir breastes satisfie thee at all times and delight in hir loue continually For why shouldest thou delight in a strange woman or imbrace the bosome of a stranger For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lorde and he pondereth all his pathes ASER. Husbands sayth S. Paule loue your wiues euen as Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it So ought men to loue their wiues as their owne bodies he that loueth his wife loueth himselfe But it belongeth to thee AMANA to handle vs this point at large AMANA Gorgias an excellent Orator commended of Cicero in many places exhorted the Graecians long since to peace and concord by an oration of woonderfull arte Which when he had ended one Melanthus stoode vp before all the companie that was present and sayd My Lordes behold Gorgias who by his eloquent oration exhorteth vs that are in number infinite to concord and yet he cannot playe the Oratour so well as to cause his wife and hir chamber-maide to liue quietly with him in his house wherein there are but they three For ye shall daily see them at strife and continuall dissention Therefore my Lordes I thinke it great rashnes in him to exhort vs to concord when he cannot haue it himselfe in his priuate house And truly besides the vnspeakeable torment that is ioined with such riots ianglings and controuersies in a house it is a shamefull offence when they are knowne to strangers The Ancients had a priuate and houshold God whome they called the God Lar which we may translate into our language the God of the Harth He was had in such veneration that if any man withdrewe himselfe to the harth and house of his deadlie enimie his enimie durst not offer him anie violence as long as he was there the harth being vnto him a sanctuarie and place of immunitie For so we read of Themistocles that being banished from Athens and pursued by some that would haue layed violent handes vpon him he fled to the Harth of his deadlie enimie who for that cause durst not strike him nor offer him any iniurie This Harth was dedicated and consecrated to the Goddesse Vesta and was placed where the chiefe fire of the house was made Nowe I pray you if it were prohibited and accounted an vniust thing for a man to quarrell to iniurie or to offer violence euen to his vtter enimie beeing fled to his Harth howe infamous an acte thinke you and vnwoorthie the nature of man did these men iudge it to be to offer any violence to them that were of the same Harth but chiefly to the wife who is a principall person belonging to the bed table Harth yea to the whole house of the husband and is called by the lawe a companion both of the diuine and humane house At this daie we commonly obserue this not to offend in any sort those that come to see vs and if we haue any occasion of quarrelling it shall not be shewed as long as they are in our house if we haue any care not to be
the wisedome and dispensation of God many notable conclusions proceeded from sundry of them as Augustine him selfe sheweth by a long discourse in his eight booke De Ciuitate Dei where among other he alleadgeth these out of Plato That God is a spirite and of a farre more excellent nature than the soule of man or any other spirite whatsoeuer that God is one and the same and alwaies like vnto himselfe that God is the light of our minds wherby we attaine to all our knowledge and vnderstanding that no man is therefore blessed and happy bicause he hath abundance of wealth honor strength beautie or of any externall thing nor yet for any gift of the mind but bicause he enioyeth God the soueraigne Good How diuinely doth Aristotle write of God and of his fatherly prouidence in his tractate De Mundo dedicated to Alexander I know that many with force of reason carying them thereunto haue vehemently suspected that this peece of worke came neuer out of his shop Which although it be granted for true yet the book it selfe doth euidently declare that the Author thereof was a meere heathen man and directed onely by his pure Naturals when he wrote it which being sufficient to shew how farre the darkenes of nature doth comprehend the light and knowledge of heauenly things is as much as I require This treatise being wholy occupied in these two principall points namely in the description of the vniuersall frame of the world and in the declaration of the nature of God the workemaister thereof I will briefly set before you the summe of the last part which the Philosopher painteth out vnto vs very notably in liuely and orient colours First he acknowledgeth that all things are of God that they consist and haue their being by his power that no nature whatsoeuer is able to continue if it be not maintained and preserued by him And in setting out the manner of working whereby this mightie power of God is forceable in the gouernment of all things he goeth beyond the common reach of naturall men affirming that although God be present euery where yet not by any bodily or locall presence as the common receiued opinion then was That all things whatsoeuer we perceiue by sight hearing or any other sense were full of Gods and as Seruetus blasphemously taught of late yeeres That God was an essentiall part of euery creature but that he gouerneth all things by his power and vertue whereby he effecteth whatsoeuer pleaseth him Againe as he subscribeth to the almightie power and prouidence of God in the being and rule of all things so he laboureth to make knowne the great wisedome of God by the contemplation of the excellent course of nature which is certaine without inconstancie beautifull without blemish diuers without disorder For what can be more certaine than the ordinarie course of the Sunne Moone Starres which haue continued in their appointed race from time to time and from one age vnto another What greater certaintie than that which to our comfort appeereth in the mutuall turnes and returnes of times and seasons of Sommer and Winter Spring and Autumne day night In regard of which constant continuance of the irreuocable order appointed by God in this whole frame the world is called by the Hebrewes gnolam and in the Epistle to that people it is expressed by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which many times signifieth perpetuitie Heb. 1. 2. 11. 3. Concerning the beautie and glorious shew thereof what thing more beautifull than the glittering face of the heauens decked and adorned with starres both great and small as it were with iewels and pretious stones of all sorts And for this self same cause it receiued that name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Grecians and of Mundus from the Latines Lastly if we looke either to the variable motions of the Spheres in the ethereall region or to the contrary qualities of the elements in the aerie and lower part of the world or to the varietie of foules fishes beasts plants graine stones mettals c. and consider withall what a sweete harmonie ariseth from all these as it were from a well tuned instrumeÌ„t that hath strings of all sorts or like to a liuely picture that hath all kinds of colours mingled in it or to a well ordered citie compounded of sundry occupations callings conditions of poore and rich yoong and old bond and free we may see if we haue but halfe an eie and feele if we be blind that in this rare peece of worke and frame of the world there is most excellent conueiance without confusion great varietie concurring in vnitie and diuersitie of all kinds without disorder All this and much more is attributed by the Author of that booke De Mundo be he Aristotle or some other heathen Philosopher to the onely working of the power of the inuisible God of whome saith he we must thus conceiue that for his power he is most mightie for his beautie most excellent for his life immortall and for his vertuâ— most absolute and therfore he cannot be seene of any mortal creature but is notwithstanding known by his works For all accidents in the aire in the earth and in the water may truly be called the works of God who containeth and preserueth this world of whome as Empedocles saith proceeded All things that were that are and shall be here Plants Men Beasts Birds and fish in waters cleere But this Philosopher not contenting himselfe with this consideration and view of God in his works entreth into a deeper meditation of his nature by setting downe a very good exposition and as it were a Commentarie vpon those names and titles which vsually were attributed in his time vnto God thereby to make his powerful gouernment ouer all the world more knowne vnto men Although saith he that God be but one yet we call him by many names as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause we liue by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause he is of an immutable nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause nothing is done by chaÌ„ce but according to his most certaine decree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause no man can possibly auoide him or flie from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause he abideth for euer And as for that fable faith he of the three sisters of destinie I meane of Clotho that spinneth of Leachesis that draweth out to a â—ust length and of Atropos that cutteth off the threed of mans life it is to be vnderstood of God onely who as it was said in old time is the beginning midst and end of all things To conclude there is a iustice that is neuer separated from God which is the reuenger of al transgressions committed against the law of God wherin euery one must be well instructed that would be partaker of humane felicitie and happines Now iudge I pray you whether a Christian may
time forward to liue a mortall life so that his bodie and soule became subiect to infinite miseries and damnable infirmities which draw vpon them the condemnation of eternall death Notwithstanding God whose goodnes and mercie are endles reestablished and assured the succession of his immortall inheritance vnto those whom it pleased him by grace to make dead to sin and aliue to himselfe through the satisfaction of his wrath made by the innocencie of his eternall sonne purging them in his bloud and opening vnto them by him the gates of heauen after he hath renewed them in righteousnes holines and innocencie that they may follow after godlines and religion And knowing that man so fraile and weake might easily fall downe vnder the heauie burden of those miseries and calamities whereunto the corruption of his nature made him subiect and wherein by reason of hereditarie sinne he should remaine during this mortall life as also that those furious and continuall passions which are mingled togither in his soule being ioined to the common infirmities of his bodie would be of too great force to throwe him againe headlong into destruction this infinite mercie of God appointed that from the beginning there should remaine in the spirite of man a little sparke of light which driueth him to a naturall loue of the truth and to a desire to inquire after it yea which pricketh and prouoketh him not to sleepe altogither in his vices This weake instinct being awaked stirred vp holpen and disposed by the pure grace vertue and power of the author of all goodnes draweth and moueth a Christian regenerated by the holie Ghost after knowledge of himselfe and hatred of that which is in him to seeke after and to couet with a speciall hartie desire that goodnes and righteousnes whereof he is void and that glorious libertie of which he depriued himselfe Furthermore the same heauenlie grace blessing this holie desire of the man regenerate causeth him to draw out of the doctrine of holie scriptures that wherewithall he may if not heale perfectly his wicked inclinations yet at the least containe and represse them in such sort that they breake not out into any damnable execution He teacheth him also to receiue the infirmities of his flesh as fatherly chastisements for his sin and as necessarie means to exercise him and to keepe him in awe And lastly for the vpshot and perfection of all happines and felicitie in this world he instructeth him how he may lead a quiet and peaceable life in beholding the woonderfull works of the diuinitie which he is to adore and honour and in the amendement and correction of his maners naturally corrupted by squaring them after the patterne of vertue that so he may be made worthie and fit to gouerne humane affaires for the profit of manie and at length attaine to the perfection of a wise man by ioining togither the actiue life with the contemplatiue in the certaine hope and expectation of a second immortall and most blessed life Whereunto also the precepts and discourses of learned and ancient philosophers may serue for-our instruction and pricking forward as also the examples which are liuely reasons of the liues of so manie notable men as histories the mother of antiquitie do as it were represent aliue before our eies And this in my iudgement is sufficient generally to vnderstand of Man seeing we are heerafter to discourse more particularly of both his principall parts the bodie and the soule Of the bodie and soule ACHITOB THe bodie and soule are so knit and conioined togither that nothing can separate them but death the destroier of all which through sinne and for the iust punishment thereof entred into the world And this is no sooner done but that whatsoeuer we see of man vanisheth from before our eies the earthie part returning into the masse of earth frō whence it came according to that saying of Aristotle that All things are resolued into those things whereof they are compounded likewise that which is spirituall and inuisible goeth into an eternall immortalitie from whence the being thereof proceeded ASER. Truly this knitting togither and coniunction of the bodie and soule is a most wonderfull thing in nature yea as manie of the philosophers say against nature seeing the soule which is light is contained within the bodie being heauie that which is of celestiall fire within that which is cold and earthie that which is inuisible within that which is palpable that which is immortall within that which is mortall But what Where is the sence of man which is able to comprehend the reason of the doings of that great Maister-builder of the vniuersall frame Yea there is more For during this coniunction as all things that mooue within this generall globe are maintained by agreeing discords euen so of necessitie there must be such a harmonie betweene the bodie and the soule that by the helpe of the one the other subsisteth and abideth and that through their continuall striuing sometimes the one and then the other be in the end obeied AMANA Thou tellest vs heere of a wonderful strange thing that that which is spirituall and immortall sometime obeieth that which is mortal and made of a corruptible lumpe But I vnderstand thee well This proceedeth of the imperfection and imbecillitie of our nature For as Socrates said if we were perfect philosophers we would neuer agree with our selues but resist continually Now following this matter make vs to vnderstand more particularly ARAM what the bodie and soule are what properties they haue and what is the excellencie both of the one and the other ARAM. With a good will my companions and first I will begin at the definition of a body A body as the Philosophers say speaking generally of all things that haue bodies is that which may be deuided and measured after three sorts in length in breadth and in deapth Or according to others a bodie is a masse or lump which asmuch as lieth in it resisteth touching and occupieth a place A body saith Plato is that which being in his proper place is neither heauie nor light but being in a strange place first inclineth somewhat then is driuen and caried forward either with heauines or lightnes Hereupon both he and other Philosophers discourse learnedly and profoundly of the particular nature of al bodies of the earth of the fire of the aire of the water and of all other both simple and compound bodies and of their contrarie motions But seeing all those discourses are at this present without the compasse of our Academy let vs simplie with more profite and that according to the scripture define the body which we haue vndertaken to handle We say then that the body is flesh that euery affection of the flesh is deadly and that the works therof are vncleannes pride fornication enmity debate wrath contention enuy murder gluttonie and such like and therfore that the bodie is made of
perfection of these two great gifts of nature is a good sound iudgement proceeding from pondering and from a firme discourse of reason lightned by the spirit of God and by the same spirit purged from error illusion and all vaine opinion which are vsuall in man and hinder him from iudging aright of the truth But to continue our speech of the woonderfull effects of memorie so much esteemed of Plato that he writeth that we shuld leaue of to be men become like to the gods if our memory could retaine and keepe so much as the eies can read and see We must not here forget to make mention of Iulius Caesar that great monarke of whom Historiographers report that at one time he caused his Secretaries to write vnto foure seuerall persons of sundry matters and that oftentimes he would indight a letter to one of his Secretaries read in a booke and heare another speake all at one time Seneca rehearsed two thousand sundry names hauing onely heard them pronounced before beginning at the last and continuing to the first By these examples we see the greatnes of memorie wherby we may easily indge how profitable it is for the inriching of the minde with all things necessarie to the gouernment of mans estate Yea it is vnto vs a helpe requisite to saluation as that whereby we keepe in remembrance the gifts and graces which we daily receiue from the goodnes and fauor of God to this end that we should not be vngrateful but yeeld vnto him glorie and praise without ceasing Nowe bicause one of you my companions touched this that they which haue a ready and quick wit commonly want memorie that they which hardly learne retaine and keepe better that which they haue learned I will giue you this reason with Plutark that hardnes of belecfe seemeth to be the cause why men comprehend slowly For it is very euident that to learne is to receiue some impression whereupon it followeth that they which resist least are such as soonest beleeue And therefore youth is easier to be perswaded than old folks sick than sound women than men and generally the weaker that thing is which discourseth and doubteth the easier may a man put and adde vnto it what he will as likewise the selfe same thing is sooner lost and let slip away Some others as Iustine Martyr saith haue rendred this reason of the quicknes or slownes of mans wit saying that it commeth of the good or immoderate mixture temperature of the elements of which our bodies are compounded and framed and of the symmetrie and proportion of the organicall or iustrumentall parts ioyned togither in him And surely these seeme to giue the true reason therof For we see many who in their beginning and first age shew that they haue a prompt and sharp wit but when they come to old age are changed become slow and dul to conceiue Which is a great token and argument that a good or bad complexion and constitution of the body is the cause of such a disposition either in quicknes or slownes of spirit as the difference of yeeres doth affoord them Besides doe we not perceiue that they which haue the head ouergreat and ill fanored whom we cōmonly call great blockheads bicause there is not an equall symmetry and moderate proportion betweene that and the other parts of the bodie are naturally vnapt to conceiue and to bring foorth any sensible and wittie thing But the resolution of al this speech shall be that all gifts of the spirit are from aboue that amongst all sorts of men there are some found that are prompt wittie to comprehend great and diuine things by a speciall grace and fauour which God hath bestowed vpon them Some by the gift of the holie Ghost haue wisedom others knowledge and vnderstanding of things and all giuen to euerie one for the profiting both of himselfe and of his neighbor Knowing therefore by this present discourse according to the weakenes of our iudgement the creation and nature of the spirit which is the principall and most noble part of vs and that whereof dependeth and proceedeth all our happines rest and felicitie let vs be carefull and diligent to search it out and to prouide such things as it desireth of vs as helps to that effect bestowing all our care labour and studie to adorne and deck it with righteousnes and holines according to the holie desire therof wherin consisteth life and peace And let vs beware that we seeke not to feede it with strange meats which may make it sorrowfull and with which our flesh aboundeth to hir death and destruction But mortifieng all the deadly desires and affections thereof let vs labour not to walke any more according to the flesh but according to the spirit and let vs know that all wearisomnes and tediousnes which troubleth the tranquillitie and rest thereof proceedcth from the want of experience in affaires from the want of good discoursing grounded vpon a resolute and setled iudgement and from the want of skill fitly to apply our selues to present occasions And this is that which troubleth all sorts and conditions of life as well rich as poore But the way to preserue the spirite in rest and quietnes is to nourish and exercise it in the studie of wisedome where it learneth reason which of it selfe can cure it of all sorrow anguish and greefe through wise discoursing and worke in it a like inclination and constant behauior in euerie alteration of life causing man to liue happie throughout the whole course of his life not without the hope and certaine expectation of a blessed immortalitie The end of the second daies worke THE THIRD DAIES WORKE Of Dutie and Honestie Chap. 9. ASER. ALthough all things were created of diuers natures and properties and manie of cleane contraries yet by an incomprehensible wisedom they were appointed to refer themselues to one onely certaine and common end namely to shew foorth the infinite power and greatnes of their worke-maister sufficient in the lest of his works with admiration to rauish man to whom he hath made al things subiect But as in him alone the treasures of his heauenly graces haue been without comparison more liberally vnfolded and that in all fulnes and bountie as well in regard of the goods and commodities of this life which he draweth from heauen from the earth from the aire from the water from beasts and plants and generally from all things contained vnder the cope of the firmament as also in respect of that vnspeakable happines and eternall felicitie which by the speciall grace of God is purchased and assured to him onely in the immortalitie of the second life so also hath God from the beginning vntill this present and for euer reserued to himselfe a particular homage and that not for a time or for certaine yeeres of his life but to continue without intermission from time to
shun the other Vnto profit we referre riches to honor magistracie publike offices charges to losse pouertie to dishonor coÌ„tinual iniurie contempt such like means Which things although they are reckoned among the motiues or efficient causes of seditions so farre foorth as they prouoke men to stirre vp seditions yet they may bee endes also bicause men conspire togither either to obtaine or to eschew them Thereore let vs handle the causes which mooue the people to murmure and lead them from priuate and secret grudging to publike and open sedition from which the changes alterations and finall ruines of estates and monarchies proceed The couetousnes of magistrates and gouernors seemeth to be a chief cause therof when they lay vpon their subiects great exactions taxes loanes and other intollerable subsides whereby their patience is oftentimes turned into furie and their hartes set vpon reuolting are driuen forward to imitate them that forsooke Roboam for the same cause as the scripture rehearseth But forasmuch as all ciuill societie is appointed to the end that men might keep their goods safely vnder the protection and guiding of good gouernors they that beare chief rule in estates ought especially to prouide that not onely publike goods may be distributed and imploied according to common necessitie and profit but also that euery mans priuate goods may be in safetiâ— Publike goods are the reuenues of Seignories kingdoms and empires demeans taxes tributes confiscations exchetes subsidies graunts and impositions brought in for the supply of publike necessitie A man may say that couetousnes which is a wrongfull desire of another mans goods is committed in these publike reuenues wheÌ„ the mony that commeth of them is conuerted rather to priuate than to publike vse by those that haue the disposing therof which fault the Romans called peculatus and the iudgement giuen against it Repetundarum Now wheÌ„ such goods are wasted vnprofitably or superfluously princes magistrates vse to lay immoderate and strange exactions vpon their subiects Couetousnes also is vsed in priuate goods when the poorer or weaker sort are spoiled of their owne by the mightier The people will hardly beare this kind of vsurping when they consider that they are tormeÌ„ted by those that should defend them this dealing is subiect to restitution before God Histories are ful of changes seditions and destructions of commoÌ„-wealths arising of these causes of couetousnes wherof we haue alleaged many examples in our discourses Vnder Charles the 6. king of France great seditions and robberies were practised by the Parisians by reason of imposts and subsidies that were leuied of the subiects The occasion of these commotions was bicause the farmers exacted a halfpeny of a poore woman that sold Water cressets The couetousnes briberie and polling vsed by the lords nobles of Switzerland caused the common people to fall to mutinie and to deliuer theÌ„selues out of their slauery bondage by horrible massacres which they made of them Vnder Ioel and Abiah the sonnes of Samuel iudges ouer the Israelites the people oppressed through their couetousnes asked a king wherupon the estate of their gouernment was changed The second cause that breedeth the alteration ruine of Common-wealths is ambition or desire of honor which then especially mooueth men to murmure when the vnworthy are aduanced preferred before men of desert Honor is the only reward of vertue that which is more esteemed of euery loftie noble hart than all worldly goods Therfore it is meet that in the distribution of publike charges rewards and honors regard be had to the qualitie merite and sufficiencie of men that they may be giuen to woorthy persons and that such as are vnfit may be put backe Let vertue only diligence open the gates of honor and not mony or fauor We saw before many examples of the fruits of ambition we taste daily of some that are very bitter The third cause that changeth and ouer-turneth estates monarchies is iniurie which hapneth when they that are highest in authoritie through too much insoleÌ„cie pride offer wrong to the honor or person of their inferiors A kingdom saith the wife man is translated froÌ„ one nation to another through the iniustice iniuries contumelies offred by superiors Cyrus the great reuolted froÌ„ his grandfather Astyages ouercame him in battell translated the monarchie of the Medes vnto the PersiaÌ„s bicause of that iniurie which he offered vnto him in casting him out into the fields as soone as he was borne Coriolanus being vniustly banished his countrey tooke armes conquered a great part of the Romane dominion and burned all to the gates of Rome bringing their estate to such an extremitie that it was readie to be destroyed had not the women come towards him to pacifie him Childeric king of Fraunce caused Bodilus to be whipped with rods wherupon he slew him aâ—d his wife great with child Iustine the third emperour was slayne by Atelius generall of his armie whose sonne he had murdred and abused his wife to despite him there-with Feare also is many times the cause of alteration and daunger to a Common-wealth when guiltie and conuicted persones mooue sedition and rebell against the Magistrates to preuent and auoyd the punishment that is due to their faultes Catiline vrged with the consideration of his manifold wicked prankes and with the feare of iudgement conspired against his countrey beyng assisted by Lentulus Cethegus with many sacrilegious persones murderers adulterers bankrupts and other naughtie liuers that stoode in feare of iustice by reason of their misbehauiour Neither may any man doubt but wicked men will rather trouble the estate than stand in daunger of their liues or hazard their goodes For besides the assuraunce which they haue conceiued to escape the iudgement of men by this meanes they haue this further aduauntage to fish in troubled waters so that they are no lesse afrayd of peace than of the plague hauing in all euentes the same resolution before their eyes that Catiline had who sayd that he could not quench the fire begun in his house with water and therefore would pull it downe and so quench it This was one reason that mooued Caesar to lay hold of the estate bicause his enimies threatned that as soone as he was out of his offices they would cause him to giue an accouÌ„t how he had discharged theÌ„ I would to god we had not bought as deerly the same causes of our ciuil warres Likewise too much authoritie and power both for wealth friendship is dangerous in euery kinde of gouernment so that great heede is to be taken that none grow to be vnmeasurable great For men are subiect to corruption neither can euery one sustaine wisely the prosperitie of fortune which causeth some to seeke the alteration of popular and Aristocraticall Common-wealths into monarchies others
he hinder publike benefit and hurt the estate it is not to be called right any longer as Appius Claudius said speaking of the authoritie of the Tribunes among the people of Rome And it is a point of true and naturall prudence sometime to giue place to the times but to necessitie always A good Pilote neuer opposeth himselfe wilfully against a tempest but striketh saile and keepeth himselfe still then waighing his anchors he floteth safely vpon the waues which not long before were swollen and lift vp to drowne him If a man striue against a tempest and against heauen doth he not euen blindfold cast himselfe downe headlong and as it were desperately seeke his owne destruction Now if all these things hetherto mentioned by vs be diligently obserued there is no doubt God prospering all but that the preseruation of Estates and Monarchies with good remedies to keepe them from trouble and sedition will follow after Of the Harmonie and agreement that ought to be in the dissimilitude or vnlike callings of subiects by reason of the duetie and office of euery estate Chap. 66. ACHITOB WE saw before my companions that a citie or ciuill company is nothing else but a multitude of men vnlike in estates or conditions which communicate togither in one place their artes occupations workes and exercises that they may liue the better are obedient to the same lawes and magistrates We learned also that of such a dissimilitude an harmonicall agreement ariseth by due proportion of one towards another in their diuers orders estates euen as the harmonie in musicke consisteth of vnequall voyces or sounds agreeing equally togither I am of opinion therefore that to prouoke euery one particularly to seeke after and to practise this apt agreement we are to consider seuerally of all the principall partes that are in a politike body well ordered and to handle the seuerall dutie and office of euery one of them But I leaue the discourse of this matter to you ASER. As there is but one Lord one faith one Baptisme one God and father of all which is aboue all and through all and in vs all so all that beleeue in him ought to be one and to haue but one hart and one soule euery one referring his giftes and graces to the exercise of perfect charitie AMANA Oh how happy a thing is it to see one flock guided vnder one God and one king in one religion and policie Although they be many mēbers yet they make but one bodie of which euery one hath a like care But let vs heare ARAM discourse at large vpō that which is here propounded vnto vs. ARAM. As we see that in the body of this vniuersall frame there is as the Philosophers say matter forme priuation simplicitie mixture substaunce quantitie action and passion and that the whole world being compounded of vnlike elements of earth water ayre and fire is notwithstanding preserued by an Analogie and proportion which they haue togither and as we see in a mans body head hands feete eyes nose eares in a house the husband wife children master seruaunts in a politike body magistrates nobles common people artificers and that euery body mingled with heate cold drie and moyst is preserued by the same reason of analogie and proportion which they haue togither So is it in euery common-wealth well appointed and ordred which consisting of many and sundry subiects is maintained by their vnitie being brought to be of one consent wil and to communicate their works artes and exercises together for common benefit profit For euery one is best in his own arte neither can all men do all things And if it be a very hard matter to bee excellent in any one vocation it is impossible to excel in al to exercise them duly Now we say that sixe things are necessarily required to frame a happy citie ciuil societie namely sacrifices iudgements armes riches artes and Aliments vnto which sixe things and works six sortes of men are answerable Pastors magistrates nobles burgesses artificers and husbandmen Therfore to begin the particular handling of the dutie office of these callings and that as briefly as I can we are first to note that neuer any nation in all the world was so barbarous or so farre estranged from ciuilitie that did not acknowledge and adore some diuine nature and vse some kind of sacrifices and so consequently that had not some priests to exercise them some proper ceremonies Aristotle in his Politikes saith expresly that it is a necessary thing to haue priests in euery city to take care of the worship of the gods and of sacrifices Euery worke that we do saith Augustine to be ioyned neerer to God by a holy societie is a sacrifice There are three general sorts of sacrifices the first is the sacrifice of the soule which we offer to God by contrition deuotion contemplation and prayer the second is of the body which we offer to God by fasting abstinence or by suffring martyrdom to maintain his law iustice and truth The third sacrifice is of outward goods whē we offer them vnto him in the works of charitie according to his holy ordinance So that if sacrifices and priests always took place among the Barbarians much more careful ought they to be to maintaine this diuine mysterie that adore and perfectly know God And as men haue liued vnder three lawes the law of Nature the written law and the law of Grace so there were sacrifices and priests vnder euery one of them Melchizedech liued vnder the law of Nature Aaron vnder the written lawe and vnder the law of Grace vnder which we liue at this present Iesus Christ that great and eternall Priest and Sacrificer who hath offered himselfe a sacrifice for our redemption and hath left vs his disciples and Apostles and their successours to be our pastors in the guiding of our soules vnder his Testament and new couenaunt which is the infallible rule of his holy and iust will Therefore let them that boast that they are called of God to such an excellent charge looke to discharge themselues faithfully by teaching the truth and leading a life agreeable to their doctrine Otherwise if they sit in the chaire of pestilence as Dauid speaketh let them looke for a horrible iudgement of God vpō their soules when he shall say vnto them by way of reproch that in this world they sate in their pōtificall seates as the Scribes and Pharisies did long since in the chaire of Moses Their watchmen saith Esay speaking of euil pastors are all blinde they haue no knowledge they are dumbe dogs they cannot barke they lie and sleepe and delight in sleeping These greedie dogs can neuer haue enough these sheep-heards cannot vnderstand for they all looke to their owne way euery one for his aduantage for his owne purpose But contrarywise A Pastor saith Saint Paule must be