O fnod:fait. 3 27 belowed vpon fomeofthem, fo they arecontinued to their whole kind and race, vnlefle Tome by accident do degene- rate : as for example, thus cions and yong grafts refemble the tree from which they were cut, admittingno alteration, though theybe grafted into a newlocke; and thus horfes take after their race, dogs after their kind, and hawkes and and other Fowles participate the nature and properties of that lrainewhereofthey arebred. Lally, nobilitie ferueth for goodvfe, as it is a meanesboth to refiraine from vice, or atleal fromopen andnotorious crimes,and to prouokc men to good andvertuous a6tions; for being hereby as lights fet vpon an hill,vpon which the eies ofall men are fixed and fa- fiened, they are retrained frommany open and grofl'e fins, for feare ofdifhonoring themfelues and blemifhing their re- putation, and incited to many verrues and ciuil aétions, for the maintainingoftheir credit andelimation : which ends, though they be not religioufly good in themfelues, when as they are only, or chiefly propounded, yet are they the caufe and occafion ofgood both to the Church and com- mon-wealth.By all which it appeareth,that nobilitie is tobe mucheleemed ofall, and to be reuerenced and refpe&ted of inferiours;and therefore thofe fpeeches ofHeathenPhilofo- phers,and altoofmanyChritianwriters,'which tend to the bringingin aparitie amongl the faithful], and an abfolute contempt ofnobility,are either themfelues tobe contemned and reieéted,or eis to be applied to that falfeand counterfeit nobilitie, whichconfilethonly inoutward titles, and in the worth ofancelors, being in it felfe worthleffe and deflitute ofall vertue and goodneffe. Which error thatwe alto maynot fall into,in (hewing the §. SeCt.3. vanitieofnobilitie, we mull dillinguifh it into two kinds: That truenobi thefirl we may tearme true and compleate nobilitie, when litieismuch to as men doe ioyne with that honor, which theyhaue from be honored ad theirancelors, theirowne vertues andgooddeferts, efpeci- refpe5ted. ally religion and true godlineffe; that fo they maybe noble, notonly by inheritance, but as it were by their ownepur- chafe, and appeare no ieflTegood in the fiightofGod, then glotiusin the eyes ofmen. And this is that truenobilitie, Y 4 which
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