in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.

Concerning the means of procuring unity: men must beware that in the procuring or muniting of religious unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity and of human society. There be two swords amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal; and both have their due office and place in the maintenance of religion. But we may not take up the third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto it that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force consciences; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against the State: much less to nourish seditions; to authorise conspiracies and rebellions; to put the sword into the people's hands, and the like; tending to the subversion of all government, which is the ordinance of God.3 For this is but to dash the First Table1 against the Second; and so to consider men as Christians, as we forget that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed: Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. What would he have said, if he had known of the massacre in France, or the powder treason of England?

1 Nebuchadnezzar's image] Dan. ii. 33.

2 Practice] Plotting; machination. Formerly a common meaning of the term.

3 The ordinance of God] Rom. xiii. I, 'The powers that be are

ordained of God.'

The First Table] The Table of the first four Commandments.
As we forget] That we forget; as to forget.

6 Tantum religio, &c.] Lucretius, i. 95. Could religion prompt such wicked deeds? Iphigenia was given up by her father as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of Diana; but the relenting goddess rescued her. "The massacre in France] The massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's day, August 24th, 1572, by order of Charles IX.

He would have been seven times more epicure1 and atheist than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn with great circumspection in cases of religion, so it is a thing monstrous to put it into the hands of the common people; let that be left unto the anabaptists and other furies. It was great blasphemy, when the devil said, I will ascend and be like the Highest;3 but it is greater blasphemy to personate God, and bring him in saying, I will descend and be like the Prince of darkness. And what is it better, to make the cause of religion to descend to the cruel and execrable actions of murdering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of States and Governments? Surely this is to bring down the Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven; and to set out of the bark of a Christian church a flag of a bark of pirates and assassins.5 Therefore it is most necessary that the church by doctrine and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both Christian and moral, as by their Mercury rod, do damn,

1 Epicure] Epicurean.

2 The anabaptists] He alludes to the insurrectionary conduct of the anabaptists in Saxony and Westphalia, in 1525 and 1532. They were so named from being re-baptizers of persons who had been baptized in infancy. At the periods referred to, these fanatics, political as well as religious, rose in rebellion against the government, asserting the unwarrantableness of all civil rule, and of all taxation, and committed the most violent atrocities.

3 I will ascend, &c.] Isai. xiv. 14.

• To set out of] To set up from; to raise or hoist from. Gosson, in his School of Abuse, says 'I have set out the flag of defiance.'

5 Assassins] The Assassins were a secret military and religious order, called also Ismaelites, which was formed in Persia in the eleventh century. What we now call assassination was so expressly allowed, and so commonly practised by them, that the Crusaders introduced the name assassin into Europe, as a general appellative for a secret murderer.

As by their Mercury rod] This alludes to the caduceus with which Mercury summoned the souls of the dead to the infernal regions. He was the god of eloquence and the patron of learning.

and send to hell for ever, those facts and opinions tending to the support of the same, as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that counsel of the apostle would be prefixed,2 Ira hominis non implet justitiam Dei.3 And it was a notable observation of a wise Father, and no less ingenuously confessed, that those which held and persuaded1 pressure of consciences, were commonly interessed therein themselves for their own ends.

IV. OF REVENGE.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office.

Facts] Deeds. Formerly a common meaning. So Milton, P. L. ii. 124, He who most excels in fact of arms;' ix. 928, 'Perhaps the fact is not so heinous now;' xi. 457, 'The bloody fact will be avenged.' The term was generally applied to evil deeds. In Shakspeare's Macbeth, iii. 6, the murder of Duncan is called 'damned fact.'

2 Would be prefixed] Ought to have the first place. Would be, for should be, or requires to be, is often met with in our older literature. There are several other examples of it in these Essays. See p. 70, note 4. Ira hominis, &c.] The wrath of man does not fulfil the righteousness of God. (James i. 20.)

Persuaded] Urged, or advised. Compare 2 Cor. V. II, 'Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.' So Shakspeare, Two Gent. i. I, 'Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus ;' Merry Wives, i. 1, ‘Sir Hugh, persuade me not;' Meas. for Meas. v. 1, ‘How I persuaded, how I prayed and kneeled.’

5 Interessed] This is from the French intéresser; it often occurs in old authors. Shirley has it in The Maid's Revenge, i. 1, 'Where such a noble count is interessed;' and Shakspeare in K. Lear, i. 1—

The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interessed.'

• Wild justice] The metaphor here is from wild flowers.

с

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior: for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come: therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labour in past matters. There is no man doth2 a wrong for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature,-why, yet it is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other.3 The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy: but then, let a man take heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still beforehand,5 and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know whence it cometh: this is the more generous; for the delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent: but base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, Duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable. You shall read, saith he, that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to

It is the glory, &c.] 2 There is no man doth] They can do no other]

sua utuntur.

Tolerable Allowable.

Prov. xix. II.

See p. 13, note 2.

It is their nature to do so. Lat. Natura

5 Is still beforehand] Is still a gainer. Lat. Lucrum facit. Cosmus, Duke of Florence] Cosmo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, and afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany, died in 1574. He was a liberal patron of literature and the fine arts.

1 Desperate] Frantic.

forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune. Shall we, saith he, take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also ?1 and so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Cæsar ;3 for the death of Pertinax ;4 for the death of Henry the Third of France:" and many more. But in private revenges it is not so; nay, rather vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they unfortunate.

V. OF ADVERSITY.

It was a nigh speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired:6 Bona rerum secundarum optabilia, adversarum mirabilia. Certainly, if miracles be the com

1 Shall we, &c.] Job ii. 10.

› Public revenges] Penalties legally decreed by the state.

3 That for the death of Cæsar] He alludes to the issue of the battle at Philippi, and the accession of Augustus to sovereign power.

• The death of Pertinax] Pertinax was the successor of the emperor Commodus, but reigned only about three months. He was murdered by some of the turbulent Prætorians, A.D. 193. Severus afterwards put the murderers to death, and disarmed and banished the Prætorians. The death of Henry the Third, &c.] The Latin has Cædem Henrici Quarti, magni illius Galliæ regis. Henry III. of France was assassinated, in 1589, by Jacques Clément, a fanatical Jacobin monk. His successor, Henry IV., not, however, generally acknowledged king till 1598, was stabbed to death, in his carriage, by Ravaillac, in 1610. Henry IV, was as remarkable for good qualities as his predecessor for tyranny and profligacy.

Admired] Wondered at. The verb to admire formerly signified to wonder at, whether approvingly or otherwise.

Bona rerum, &c.] Ad Lucil. 66.