Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Of the variitie o fteoridly nobilitie. 33 3 their bodies, leaning no remembrancebehind them, vnlefl'e it be oftheir fin and fhame: yea this worldly nobility is not onlymomentany, but alfo mutable, and altogether vncer- taine to continue vnto this fhort period oflife, feeing for theirill deferuing they outline their nobility, & their crimes like deadly poilons tainting their blood, do vtterly imbale their honor and reputation. In regard ofwhich mutabilitie, the ancient nobility of Rome were accuflomed to weare moones vpon their fhooes, that being lift vp with their glo- rie and greatnes offlate, they might haue this fwclling af- Plutarch. de (waged,by hawing continually before their eyes this exam- quaff. Rom. pie ofmutability. And this changeablenesofellatethey are quæ1L76. cubic& veto by the iufl iudgement ofGod;forit is righteous with him, that there falle lights feruing for no other end,but to feduce their inferiours, fhould be quite put outand extin- guifhed, and that their nobility fhould be taken from them, when as it is not fo much a grace vnto them,as they a fhame to it. And thus it appeareth that this worldly nobilitie is ofno 4.Sel.9. great worth or excellencic,hoth in relpe6t of the vanitie,and That vpliart alto the momentanie continuance thereof; whereby it is nob:litreioyned Beare and manifeP, that newly aduanced verrue, or as we with verrue, is call it (fart nobility, of the lira head, being io ned ro be preferred v P y> > y before that with worth and deferr, whereby it is railed, howfocuer it which is defli- bath not the precedence in ciuill meetings, yet without all tuteofit,though comparifon, is to be preferred in the iudgement and eflima-itbeancient. tion of all that are good, beforeancient nobilitie, which in the taceoffucceflion hath outlafled vertue, and is contami- nated and defiled with vice and wickednes.The which how - foeuer it is fcarce acknowledged atnongfl many that pro- feffe Chriflianity,yctwas itplainly difcerned & confetti(' by Pulebriusmultà the Heathens, who had no other guide then the light of na- Parariquarx ture.One faith, that it is better to purchale nobilitie b y dc- crear: Afo n nob,temin So- , . fert, then to bane it by inheritance. Another faith, that he lon.fucntenr. efieemeth nobilitie chiefely for goodnes, and that he would Eurip. aped account him to be ignoble and bale, who is vniufl and defli- stobeum,Serm, tute ofvertue, though he could derfue his pedigree from 86. better then Jupiter. So ,Flrtrmoditte upbraiding 1phicra'es, a famous