Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Of the vanitie ofteorldlpaobilitie. 335 there being farre greater caufe why their progenitors fhould beafhamed of fuch a degenerate ofrpring, then why they fhould be proud of fuch anceflors, whom they do not at all refemble in their vertues and good parts. It is true indeed that a yong colt is much efleemed for his race, and the vn- tried whelpe for his kind he commeth of: but if being corne to proofe, there beno courage or mettle in the one, nor any fwiftnes or fagacity in the other;notwithfianding their race and kind, we eliceme no better ofthemfclues, but as jades and curs; becaufe it is not the goodnes oftheir kind which will helpe them in the race, or caufe them to win the game, if they be vtterly void of felfe- exccllencie. And fo in like maner,howfoeuergreatnes ofbirth may commend yong no- bilitie, as giuing fome hope in courfe of nature, that they will refemble the worth and vertues oftheirprogenitours : yet when being come to riperage,they plainly difcouer that they are vtterly degenerate,ful of bafè qualities,ignoble and vicious:they(notwithf }anding the worth oftheir anceflors) are to be elleemedferuile and contemptible. For as paren- tage doth not abfolutely conferre venue, fo neither nobili- tie;and as vertue it Idle is not hereditarie;fo neither is nobi- litie,which (as Ihaue laid) is chiefly grounded vpon vertue and goodnes.We fee by experience,thar from the fame oare commeth bale drofl'e and pure r gold, from the fame roote, a fharpe prickle and a fwcet rofe, and from the fame graine of corne, both firawand chaffe, and alto pure wheate : And it is often to be feene that the fame vertuousparentshaue both good andbad children dcfcended ofthem : fo faithful! sA Graham had an I fnael,as well as an If:ac; and Ifasc as wella prophane Efeete, as a vertuous Jacob : good Samuel had a de- generate offpring : and holy D mid as well an abfolon and Adonieh, as a Salomon,and a Nathan : whereby it appea- vireut von ell reth that vertues cannot be entailed like lands, or though bereditaria. fuch an entalle weremade, yet itprouerh no perpetuitie,fee- ing it is eauly cut off, when as they degenerate from their anceflors, and hold a contrarie courfe in all manner of vice and wicked ¡wife. But let vs confider the vnprofuablenes of worldly nobi_ litie.Thevnprefrte-