intention of the Lawgiver; if there be no Juice in the Law, 'tis not to be obey'd; if the intention of the Lawgiver be abfolute, our Obedience must be so too. If the intention of the Lawgiver enjoin a Penalty as a Compenfation for the breach of the Law, I fin not if I fubinit to the Penalty; if it enjoin a Penalty, as a future enforcement of Obedience to the Law, then ought I to observe it, which may be known by the often repetition of the Law. The way of fafting is enjoined unto them, who yet do not obferve 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 Difpenfation of the Church to fuch as are not able to keep it, as young Children, old Folks, difeas'd Men, &c.

Fathers and Sons.

1. T hath ever been the way for Fathers, to bind their Sons; to ftrengthen 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 fwears Obedience to the King.

1.

T

Fines.

HE old Law was, that when a Man was Fin'd, he was to be Fin'd Salvo Contenemento, fo as his Countenance might be safe, taking Countenance in the fame fenfe as your Countryman does, when he fays, if you will come unto my Houfe, I will fervs you the best Countenance I can, that is not the best Face, but the best Entertainment. The meaning of the Law was, that fo much fhould be taken from a Man, fuch a Cobbet fliced off, that yet notwithfland

ing

ing he might live in the fame Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they fine Men ten times more than they are worth.

TH

Free-will.

HE 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 Armenians, who hold we have Free-will, yet fay, when we come to the King, there must be all Obedience, and no Liberty to be flood for.

THE

Fryers.

1. THE Fryers fay they poffefs nothing, whose then are the Lands they hold? not their Superiour's, he hath vow'd Poverty as well as they, whofe then? To answer this, 'twas decreed they fhould fay they were the Pope's. And why muft the Fryers be more perfect than the Pope himself?

2. If there had been no Fryers, Christendom might have continued quiet, and things remain at a flay.

3. If there had been no Lecturers, (which fucceed the Fryers in their way) the Church of England might have flood, and flourished at this day.

Friends.

LD Friends are beft. King James us'd to call

1.

Fect.

Genealogy

TH

Genealogy of Chrift.

1. HEY that fay the reason why Jofeph's Pedigree is fet down, and not Mary's, is, because the Descent from the Mother is loft, and fwallowed up, fay fomething; but yet if a Jewish Woman marry'd with a Gentile, they only took notice of the Mother, not of the Father; but they that fay they were both of a Tribe, fay 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, left the being so long about it, there might be a confufion.

true.

2. That Chrift was the Son of Jofeph is most exactly For though he was the Son of God, yet with the Jews, if any Man kept a Child, and brought him up, and call'd him Son, he was taken for his Son; and his Land (if he had any) was to defcend upon him; and therefore the Genealogy of Jofeph is justly fet down.

1.

Gentlemen.

WHAT a Gentleman is, 'tis 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 faid] nor God Almighty, but he can make a Gentleman by Creation. If you ask which is the better of these two, Civily, the Gentleman of Blood, Morally, the Gentleman by Creation may be the better; for the other may be a Debauch'd Man, this a Perfon of Worth.

2. Gentle

2. Gentlemen have ever been more Temperate in their Religion, than the common People, as having more Reafon, the others running in a hurry, In the beginning of Chriftianity, the Fathers writ contra Genes, and contra Gentiles, they were all one: But after all were Chriflians, the better fort of People ftill retain'd the Name of Gentiles, throughout the four Provinces of the Roman Empire; as Gentilhomme in French, Gentil homo in Italian, Gentil-huombre in Spanish, and Gentleman in English: And they, no queftion, being Perfons of Quality, kept up thofe Feasts which we borrow from the Gentils; as Christmas, Candlemas, May day, &c. continuing what was not directly against Chriflianity, which the common People would never have endured.

1.

Τ

HERE are two reafons, why thefe Words (Fefus autem tranfiens per medium eorum ibat) were about our old Gold; the one is, because Riply, the Alchymift, when he made Gold in the Tower, the firft time he found it he spoke thefe Words, [per medium eorum] that is, per medium Ignis & Sulphuris. The other, because these Words were thought to be a Charm, and that they did bind whatsoever they were written upon, fo that a Man could not take it away. To this reafon I rather incline.

Hall.

1.

THE

HE Hall was the place where the great Lordus'd to eat, (wherefore elfe were the Halls made fo big?) where he faw all his Servants and Terants about him. He eat not in private, except in time of Sickness; when once he became a thing coop'd

up,

up, all his greatnefs was spoil'd. Nay the King himfelf used to eat in the Hall, and his Lords fat with him, and then he understood Men.

1.

"TH

hell.

HERE are two Texts for Chrift's defcending into Hell: The one Pfalm. 16. The other Acts the 2d. where the Bible, that was in ufe when the Thirty Nine Articles were made, has it (Hell.) But the Bible, that was in Queen Elizabeth's time, when the Articles were confirm'd, reads it (Grave) and fo it continued till the new Tranflation in King James's time, and then 'tis Hell again. But by this we may gather the Church of England declin'd, as much as they could, the defcent, otherwife they never would have alter'd the Bible.

2. [He defcended into Hell] this may be the interpre tation of it. He may be dead and buried, then his Soul afcended into Heaven. Afterwards he defcended again into Hell, that is, into the Grave, to fetch his Body, and to rife again. The ground of this Interpretation is taken from the Platonick Learning, who held a Metempfychofis, and when a Soul did defcend from Heaven, to take another Body, they call'd' it Κατάβασιν ἐἰς ἅδην, taking ἅδης, for the lower World, the State of Mortality: Now the first Chriftians many of them were Platonick Philofophers, and no queftion fpake fuch Language as was then understood amongst them. To understand by Hell the Grave is no Tautology, because the Creed firft tells what Chrift fuffered, He was Crucified, Dead, and Buried; then it tells us what he did, He defcended into Hell, the third day he rofe again, he afcended, &c.

Holy