Comit. suffragia.--Suffrages in Parliament are numbered, not
weighed; nor can it be otherwise in those public councils where
nothing is so unequal as the equality; for there, how odd soever
men's brains or wisdoms are, their power is always even and the
same.
Stare a partibus.--Some actions, be they never so beautiful and
generous, are often obscured by base and vile misconstructions,
either out of envy or ill-nature, that judgeth of others as of
itself. Nay, the times are so wholly grown to be either partial or
malicious, that if he be a friend all sits well about him, his very
vices shall be virtues; if an enemy, or of the contrary faction,
nothing is good or tolerable in him; insomuch that we care not to
discredit and shame our judgments to soothe our passions.
Deus in creaturis.--Man is read in his face; God in His creatures;
not as the philosopher, the creature of glory, reads him; but as the
divine, the servant of humility; yet even he must take care not to
be too curious. For to utter truth of God but as he thinks only,
may be dangerous, who is best known by our not knowing. Some things
of Him, so much as He hath revealed or commanded, it is not only
lawful but necessary for us to know; for therein our ignorance was
the first cause of our wickedness.
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