Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

326 Of nodelitie. ces and Peeres,who were both in fame and (late chicle oral! the refs :as all° in that he did appropriate both the foueraign- Gcnef.49ro tie otter the common - wealth, and chiefe fuperioritie in the Church, voto certaine tribes and pofferities,whobeing thus enobled by God, did hold this honor peculiarly to them - Nutn.3 I. (clues, vnto the time of Chri'. Secondly, this difference of order, that there fliould be íome noble, and fome inferiour and common people, hath his ground both from ciuill poli.. cie, for the wel.gouerning ofthe common - wealth, which could not vcll Rand, vnlelfe thefe potent Peeres, as it were chicle pillars, did vphold it; and alto from nature it felfe,for the Lord hauing bellowed fome heroical! gills and graces vpon fome fpeciall men, as wifdome, magnanimitie, forti- tude, magnificence ,courtelie,liberalitieand the reif; cloth al.. Generofa in or- fo for the good ofcommon- wealthes vfually vouchfafe,that NI Jcmina ex there fhould be certaine feeds ofthefe verrues deriued after áuenee a ferret and vnknowne manner, from them fuccefiiiuely vnto Troade. their poíieritie, wherebybeing come to maturitie, they re- femble their ancefiors in thefe fpeciall graces : and howfoe- uer God fometimes altereth this order and courfe of nature, either to punifh fome fpeciall fins of that familie, or to Phew his owne abfolute omnipotencie,which cannot be fubieEted to nature, or inferiour caufes, fuffering fome to degenerate from their anceffors, and to lofe thefe heroicall gifts; as alto conferreth them vpon fome other ofmeane qualitie, whom it is his pleafure to aduance, vet moll vlùally he holdeth the former courfe; and though one of this noble polferitie doe degenerate, yet commonly the feeds ofthefe verrues, which haue lien hid in him, and as it were buried vnderthe earthie burthenofhis corruption, are deriued from him to his of- fpring, and being as it were againe quickened and reuiued !hew themfelues : turn as a father being by fome accident maimedofan arme or leg, doth neuertheleffc beget,peffe6f and well formed children, becaufe generation is not tied to oneináruidurrm or finguler perron, but to the whole kind and ordinarie courfe ofnature. And this proprietie ofgifts which are of fpeciall eminencie, we may obfetuc in othd creatures, as in plants,trees,birds and beans ;that as they are bellowed