Excom- they have a mind to, 'tis that they would fain be munica- at. Like the Wench that was to be Married: tion

she asked her Mother when 'twas done, if she should go to Bed presently. No, says her Mother, you must dine first. And then to Bed Mother? No you must dance after Dinner. And then to Bed Mother? No, you must go to Supper. And then to Bed Mother? &c.

'TWAS

XLI

Faith and Works

WAS an unhappy Division that has been made between Faith and Works. Tho'

in my Intellect I may divide them, just as in the

Candle I know there is both Light and Heat ; but yet put out the Candle, and they are both gone; one remains not without the other: So 'tis betwixt Faith and Works. Nay, in a right Conception, Fides est opus; if I believe a thing because I am commanded, that is Opus.

XLII

Fasting-Days

HAT the Church debars us one Day, she

WHAT
gives us leave to take out in another.

First we fast, and then we feast; first there is a
Carnival, and then a Lent.

2. Whether do Human Laws bind the Conscience? If they do, 'tis a way to ensnare: If we say they do not, we open the Door to disobedience. Answer. In this Case we must look to the Justice of the Law, and intention of the

Law-giver: if there be not Justice in the Law, Fasting'tis not to be obeyed; if the intention of the Days Law-giver be absolute, our obedience must be so too. If the intention of the Law-giver enjoin a Penalty as a Compensation for the Breach of the Law, I sin not if I submit to the Penalty; if it enjoin a Penalty, as a further 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 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.

XLIII

Fathers and Sons

T hath ever been the way for Fathers, to

IT hath ever been

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.

THE

XLIV
Fines

HE old Law was, that when a Man was fined, he was to be Fined Salvo Contenemento, so as his Countenance might be safe;

Fines 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.

THE

XLV

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 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.

THE

XLVI

Friars

HE 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, 'twas 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 Friars might have continued quiet, and things remained at a stay.

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.

OLD

XLVII

Friends

D Friends are best. King James used to call for his old Shoes; they were easiest for his Feet.

Τ'

XLVIII

Genealogy of Christ

a

THEY that say the Reason why Joseph's Pedigree is set down, and not Mary's, is, because the Descent from the Mother is lost, and swallowed up, say something; but yet if 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,

Genea- he was taken for his Son; and his Land (if he logy of had any) was to descend upon him; and therefore the Genealogy of Joseph is justly set down.

Christ

XLIX

Gentlemen

HAT a Gentleman is, 'tis hard with us

WHAT 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 Gentil-homme in French, Gentil-buomo in Italian, Gentil-huombre in Spanish, and Gentle-man in English: and they, no question, being Persons of Quality, kept up those