the law, then ought I to observe it, which may be known by the often repetition of the law. The way of fasting is enjoined unto them, who yet do not observe it. The law enjoins a penalty as an enforcement to obedience; which intention appears by the often calling upon us to keep that law by the king, and the dispensation of the church to such as are not able to keep it—as young children, old folks, diseased men, &c.

FATHERS AND SONS.

It hath ever been the way for fathers to bind their sons. to strengthen this by the law of the land, every one at twelve years of age, is to take the oath of allegiance in court-leets, whereby he swears obedience to the king.

FINES.

The old law was, that when a man was fined, he was to be fined salvo contenemento, so as his coun tenance might be safe; taking countenance in the same sense as your countryman does, when he says, "If you will come unto my house, I will show you the best countenance I can ;" that is, not the best face, but the best entertainment. The meaning of the law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such a gobbet sliced off, that yet, notwithstanding he might live in the same rank and condition he lived in before; but now they fine men ten times more than they are worth.

FREE WILL.

The Puritans, who will allow no free will at all, but God does all, yet will allow the subject his liberty to do, or not to do, notwithstanding the king, the god upon earth. The Arminians, who hold we have free will, yet say, when we come to the king, there must be all obedience, and no liberty to be stood for.

FRIARS.

1. The friars say they possess nothing; whose then are the lands they hold? Not their superior's ; he hath vowed poverty as well as they: whose then? To answer this, it was decreed they should say they were the pope's. And why must the friars be more perfect than the pope himself?

2. If there had been no friars, Christendom might have continued quiet, and things remained at a stay.

3. If there had been no lecturers (which succeed the friars in their way) the church of England might have stood, and flourished at this day.

FRIENDS.

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.

GENEALOGY OF CHRIST.

1. They that say the reason why Joseph's pedigree is set down, and not Mary's, is, because the

9

descent from the mother is lost, and swallowed up, say something; but yet if a Jewish woman married with a Gentile, they only took notice of the mother, not of the father; but they that say they were both of a tribe, say nothing; for the tribes might marry one with another, and the law against it was only temporary, in the time while Joshua was dividing the land, lest the being so long about it, there might be a confusion.

2. That Christ was the son of Joseph is most exactly true; for though he was the Son of God, yet, with the Jews, if any man kept a child, and brought him up, and called him son-he was taken for his son; and his land, if he had any, was to descend upon him; and, therefore, the genealogy of Joseph is justly set down.

GENTLEMEN.

1. What a gentleman is, it is hard with us to define. In other countries, he is known by his privileges; in Westminster-hall, he is one that is reputed one; in the Court of Honour, he that hath arms. The king cannot make a gentleman of blood, (what have you said) nor God Almighty, but he can make a gentleman by creation. If you ask, which is the better of these two? civilly, the gentleman of blood; morally, the gentleman by creation may be the better; for the other may be a debauched man, this a person of worth.

2. Gentlemen have ever been more temperate in their religion than the common people, as having more reason, the others running in a hurry. In the

beginning of Christianity, the fathers writ contra gentes, and contra Gentiles-they were all one: but after all were Christians, the better sort of people still retained the name of Gentiles, throughout the four provinces of the Roman empire; as gentilhomme in French, gentilhuomo in Italian, gentilhombre in Spanish, and gentleman in English: and they, no question, being persons of quality, kept up those feasts which we borrow from the Gentilesas Christmas, Candlemas, May-day, &c. continuing what was not directly against Christianity, which the common people would never have endured.

:

GOLD.

There are two reasons why these words, Jesus autem transiens per medium eorum ibat, were about our old gold the one is, because Riply, the alchymist, when he made gold in the Tower, the first time he found it, he spoke these words, per medium eorum, that is, per medium ignis et sulphuris; the other, because these words were thought to be a charm; and that they did bind whatsoever they were written upon, so that a man could not take it away. To this reason I rather incline.

HALL.

The ball was the place where the great lord used to eat; (wherefore else were the halls made so big?) where he saw all his servants and tenants about him he eat not in private, except in time of sickness: when once he became a thing cooped up, all

his greatness was spoiled. Nay, the king himself used to eat in the hall, and his lords sat with him, and then he understood men.

HELL.

1. There are two texts for Christ's descending into hell: the one, Psalm xvi. the other, Acts ii. where the Bible that was in use when the Thirtynine Articles were made, has it hell. But the Bible that was in queen Elizabeth's time, when the articles were confirmed, reads it grave; and so it continued till the New Translation in king James's time, and then it is hell again. But by this we may gather the church of England declined, as much as they could, the descent; otherwise they never would have altered the Bible.

2. "He descended into hell;" this may be the interpretation of it. He may be dead and buried, then his soul ascended into heaven. Afterwards, he descended again into hell, that is, into the grave, to fetch his body, and to rise again. The ground of this interpretation is taken from the Platonic learning, who held a metempsychosis; and when a soul did descend from heaven to take another body, they called it Καταβασιν εις άδην, taking άδης for the lower world, the state of mortality. Now the first Christians many of them were Platonic philosophers, and no question spake such language as then was understood amongst them. To understand by hell the grave, is no tautology, because the creed first tells what Christ suffered, "he was crucified, dead, and buried;" then it tells us what he did,