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WHAT is Truth;said
jesting Pilate;And
would not stay for
an Answer. Certainly there be,that
delight in Giddinesse;And count it
a Bondage, to fix a
Beleefe; Affecting Free-will in Thinking,
as well as in Acting.And though the Sects
of Philosophers of that Kinde be gone,
yet there remaine certaine discoursing
Wits, which are of the same veines,though
there be not so much Bloud in them, as
was in those of the Ancients. But it is not
onely the Difficultie, and Labour, which
Men take in finding out of Truth; Nor
againe, that when it is found, it imposeth
vpon mens Thoughts; that doth bring
Lies in fauour: But a naturall, though corrupt Loue, of the Lie it selfe. One of the
later Schoole of the Grecians, examineth
the matter, and is at a stand, to thinke
what should be in it, that men should
loue Lies; Where neither they make for
Pleasure, as with Poets; Nor for Aduantage, as with the Merchant; but for the
Lies sake. But I cannot tell: This same
Truth, is a Naked, and Open day light,
that doth not shew, the Masques, and
Mummeries, and Triumphs of the world,
halfe so Stately, and daintily, as Candlelights. Truth may perhaps come to the
price of a Pearle, that sheweth best by
day: But it will not rise, to the price of a
Diamond, or Carbuncle, that sheweth best
in varied lights. A mixture of a Lie doth
euer adde Pleasure. Doth any man doubt,
that if there were taken out of Mens
Mindes, Vaine Opinions, Flattering
Hopes, False valuations, Imaginations
as one would, and the like; but it would
leaue the Mindes, of a Number of Men,
poore shrunken Things; full of Melancholy, and Indisposition, and vnpleasing
to themselues? One of the Fathers, in great
Seuerity, called Poesie, Vinum Dæmonum;
because it filleth the Imagination, and yet
it is, but with the shadow of a Lie. But it
is not the Lie, that passeth through the
Minde, but the Lie that sinketh in, and
setleth in it, that doth the hurt, such as we
spake of before. But howsoeuer these
things are thus, in mens depraued Iudgements, and Affections, yet Truth, which
onely doth iudge it selfe, teacheth, that the
Inquirie of Truth, which is the Loue-making, or Wooing of it; The knowledge of
Truth, which is the Presence of it; and the
Beleefe of Truth, which is the Enioying of
it; is the Soueraigne Good of humane
Nature. The first Creature of God, in the
workes of the Dayes, was the Light of the
Sense; The last, was the Light of Reason;
And his Sabbath Worke, euer since, is the
Illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed Light, vpon the Face, of the Matter
or Chaos; Then he breathed Light, into
the Face of Man; and still he breatheth
and inspireth Light, into the Face of his
Chosen. The Poet, that beautified the
Sect, that was otherwise inferiour to the
rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a pleasure to stand vpon the shore, and to see ships
tost vpon the Sea: A pleasure to stand in the
window of a Castle, and to see a Battaile, and
the Aduentures thereof, below: But no pleasure is comparable, to the standing, vpon the
vantage ground of Truth: ( A hill not to
be commanded, and where the Ayre is
alwaies cleare and serene; ) And to see the
Errours, and Wandrings, and Mists, and
Tempests, in the vale below: So alwaies,
that this prospect, be with Pitty, and not
with Swelling, or Pride. Certainly, it is
Heauen vpon Earth, to haue a Mans
Minde Moue in Charitie, Rest in Prouidence, and Turne vpon the Poles of
Truth.
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To passe from Theologicall, and
Philosophicall Truth, to the Truth of ciuill Businesse; It will be acknowledged, euen by
those, that practize it not, that cleare and
Round dealing, is the Honour of Mans
Nature; And that Mixture of Falshood, is
like Allay in Coyne of Gold and Siluer,
which may make the Metall worke the
better, but it embaseth it. For these winding, and crooked courses, are the Goings of the Serpent; which goeth basely
vpon the belly, and not vpon the Feet.
There is no Vice, that doth so couer a
Man with Shame, as to be found false,
and perfidious. And therefore Mountaigny
saith prettily, when he enquired the
reason, why the word of the Lie, should
be such a Disgrace, and such an Odious
Charge? Saith he, If it be well weighed, To
say that a man lieth, is as much to say, as
that he is braue towards God, and a Coward
towards men. For a Lie faces God, and
shrinkes from Man. Surely the Wickednesse of Falshood, and Breach of Faith,
cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as
in that it shall be the last Peale, to call the
Iudgements of God, vpon the Generations of Men, It being foretold, that when
Christ commeth, He shall not finde Faith
vpon the Earth.
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