or if this motion be over-fierce and violent it doth extinguish their life as the snuff of a Candle goeth out when it hath no more tallow to sustain its light Now the heart who is the efficient cause of life being thus deprived of heat loseth its motion upon which depends the life of men for the beating of the heart gives life and motion to all the members of the body and is congealed and frozen to death by this sudden motion and privation as water is congealed into Ice by a great frost and this may be confirmed by another violent action of men of which many are yet living that were eye-witnesses to it Two English Foot-men running a race for a great wager from London to Kingston did by their swift and violent running so drive their blood and vital spirits from the heart to the extreamest parts of their bodies that their faces looked as black as their hats one of them obtained the victory and out-ran the other about twenty yards and being joyful of his gain and honor presumed over-much of his strength and did not use the means to preserve himself as the other did who was much more distempered then he whereby his blood and vital spirits in stead of returning to the heart were congealed in the extream parts of his body by taking cold which did deprive him of life within few hours after but the other putting on his apparel and covering himself with a warm cloak prayed two of his fellows to walk him up and down till his blood and vital spirits were setled again about his heart A remarkable Relation and by this means he was as well the next morning as ever he was before now the motion of the blood being more violent by the inward distemper of the fiery passion of Joy then it can be by the motion of a long-continued race it must by consequence be more dangerous and mortal then the other thirdly As the immoderate Joy hath dangerous proprieties the moderate joy hath many good for moderate joy preserves and increaseth the health of the body fourthly It giveth a seemly and loving aspect and a fresh colour to the face fifthly It makes mens company and conversation more pleasant and acceptable to all other men sixthly It makes men more chearful in their particular and general calling and pass their days through this vale of Tears with more alacrity and content Fourthly The effects of immoderate Joy would be incredible The effects of immoderate joy See Livius in his third Decade li. 3. if they had not been recorded by approved and faithful Authors first A Roman Lady saith Livius died with joy at the sight of her son whom she conceived to have been slain at the battell of Cannae secondly The Author of the Turkish History Records See the Turkish History in the life of Achmath that Sinna Basha had but one son of great valour who was taken prisoner in a sea fight by a Venetian Galley whereupon tidings were brought to Sinna his father that he had been slain in that fight because he had been wounded but by the care of the Captain of the Galley who hoped to receive a great ransom for him he did recover and his wounds were cured and it hapned some days after before the Venetian Galley could carry him to shore that it was taken at sea by Cicala Basha a great friend of the above-said Sinnae who finding this prisoner of note in the Venetian Galley was exceedingly joyful as knowing how grateful a present it would be to his friend and therefore after he had apparelled him with rich vestures he sent him in a well-appointed Galley and with an honorable train to his father Sinna that had lately been made grand Visier by Achmath Emperor of the Turks who was then at Caffa upon the black sea but this yong man was no sooner come into his sight but Sinna transported with joy fell dead at his sons feet whereby it appears that he who had the power to bear with admirable constancy the tidings of the death of his onely son had not the power to moderate the joy that he did receive by his unexpected return thirdly Theophrastus Boujou records the names and means of a dozen more at least who have died suddenly by the violent distemper of immoderate joy some by honors received others for seeing their mortal enemy ly wallowing in his own blood See Boujou in his Commentary upon Aristotle lib. 19. ca. 39. fol. 835. ready to give up the Ghost and others by looking upon Pictures which by their ugly features inforced them to such an immoderate laughter as it did deprive them of life others for being victorious in the Olympian Sports and others in the field as it is recorded of Epamonides and of the Duke of Roan who died rather for joy of two great victories obtained against their enemies in two pitcht battels then by their wounds Fifthly The bad and good use of this passion of Joy doth onely consist in the not regulating or in the regulating of it for if Joy be let in to the soul by degrees the sting and venom of it is changed into an Antidote and doth rather comfort Nature then destroy it for as it is dangerous to open the Floud-gates of a river suddenly The bad and good use of worldly joy and all at once for fear the violence of the water break down the banks and pull up the foundation of the sluce even so it is dangerous to let in into the soul all at once the swift currant of good or evil tidings therefore if Cicala Basha had only at the first sent word to the Visier Sinna that he had happily rescued his son and that as soon as his wounds should be cured he would send him back unto him in an honorable condition this had undoubtedly prevented the death of this old man but the sudden and unexpected sight of his son whom he thought to have been dead caused so violent a perturbation in his minde and so great an alteration in the vital faculties of his body that his natural strength being then in his declining age was overcome with it and his life utterly extinguished as the light of a candle is by a violent blast of winde But the Duke of Medina Coeli who was General for Philip the second King of Spain See the Spanish History in Philip the seconds life of the invincible Armado as they termed it that came against England in the Year 1588. did deal more prudently with his Prince for his ship being the first that arrived into Spain after the utter rout of this great Navy he sent a discreet Messenger unto him to inform him that some part of his Navy had miscarried by foul weather and that himself had been driven back by a storm and eight days after he sent another messenger to the King informing him of the particulars and some days after came in person to give him
Love is a motion an appetite an affection or passion towards a thing which is lovely and pleasant unto us whether it be present or absent Secondly Hatred is a passion against some thing that is adverse or seemeth evil unto us whether it be present or absent Thirdly Desire called by some Concupiscence is an affection to possess and injoy a thing that is absent which is pleasant unto us Fourthly Flight is a Passion inticing us to eschew or fly from a thing that seemeth evil or is adverse unto us Fifthly Ioy Delight or Volupty is the possession or injoyment of the thing desired which seemed good and pleasant unto us Sixthly Dolour or Sorrow is a passion proceeding from the anguish of the body or from some evil accident hapned unto us These six passions are incident to the Concupiscible appetite and these five following to the Irascible appetite First Fear is an apprehension of an evil that is neer and hard to be avoided Secondly Vndantedness is an assurance or confidence that we can avoid or overcome an evil though it be never so difficult Thirdly Hope is an expectation of a good that we desire and long for in the obtaining of which we see some probability although it be invironed or compassed about with great difficulties Fourthly Despair is a passion that inticeth us to fly back or retreat from the pursuit of a Good much desired because we conceive an impossibility to obtain the same Fifthly Wrath is a fiery passion inticing us to vindicate our selves for some injury received or to chastise such as do evil or hinder others to do good These eleven general passions and all others that derive from them may be reduced to six heads three incident to the Concupiscible appetite and three to the Irascible the three of the Concupiscible have every one of them their Opposites First Love hath for his opposite Hatred Secondly the Desire hath for his opposite the Flight Thirdly See Beau-Lieu p. 724. Ioy hath for its opposite Dolour but the passions of the Irascible have but two opposites viz. First Hope hath for his opposite Despair Secondly Vndantedness hath for his opposite Fear but Wrath hath no opposite If you will know the reasons read Beau-Lieu in his Body of Philosophy for I cut them off for brevity sake These eleven generall passions may be multiplied by the limitation of their objects to be as numerous as a swarm of Bees Fifthly The original spring of the passions of men is the senses which are first the Sight secondly the Odour thirdly the Hearing fourthly the Tast fifthly the Feeling and they arise and spring up after this maner The Senses having represented the Objects to the Fansies or imaginations of men The original spring of the passions of men is the Senses after a short result of the rational part the Concupiscible appetite doth intice men to prosecute the reall or seeming Good and the Irascible appetite doth induce them to prosecute the Good compassed with difficulties or to fly from the apparent or seeming Evil. Now by this pursuit of the Concupiscible appetite or by the flight of the Irascible appetite the heart which is the spring of all the motions of the body must of necessity be distempered and from this distemper proceeds the alterations of the body that I have spoken of before which have been noted to be contrary to the Laws of Nature for the natural temper of the heart of such as are in perfect health and that are free from the motions that arise from their passions is more equal as it may appear by the beating of the Pulse which is the surest evidence men have of the temper or distemper of the heart then the ballance of the most excellent Watch upon earth and the heart being once brought out of his natural temper the foresaid alterations are greater or lesse according to the degree of the distemper of the heart which are so violent in some passions that they are visibly seen in the strange postures of the body the high colour of the face the inflammation of the eyes or by the shrilness and fierceness of the voyce Besides these alterations proceeding from the passions there is a continual contention between the forementioned Concupiscible and Irascible appetites in the will of men which is the cause of the anxiety and preturbation of the minde which shall be described in the next Discourse Sixthly the evil effects of the passions of men arise from their contentions one with another and their good effects arise from the assistance they give one to another to fly from evil for to cleave to the good The Desire that is a passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite is a great inticer to sin and therefore it is called by St. John d Ioh. 2.16 The lust of the eye and by St. Paul e 1 Thes 4.5 The lust of concupiscence and by this passion of the lust of the eyes was David inticed to commit the hainous sin of adultery with f 2 Sam. 11.2 3 4. Bathsheba the wife to Vriah the Hittite Now had Flight come to his aid as it did to Joseph when his lewd Mistress did tempt him to lust it had been an excellent effect of that passion It is likely that there was then a great contention between the Concupiscible and the Irascible appetite the first inticing King David to sin by the representation of so beautiful an object and of the injoyment of such a seeming good and the second by perswading him to eschue and fly from this apparent evil varnished over with a seeming good but what became of their great contention but a great perturbation in the minde of David for a time yet had the Concupiscible appetite the mastery for David did injoy his desire and remained impenitent a whole year f 2 Sam. 12.13 but when he was awaked from this spiritual lethargie by the Prophet Nathan he cried out of a penitent heart I have sinned against the Lord this was then an evil effect of this passion of Desire The passion of fear that did possess Saint Peter when our blessed Saviour was brought into the Hall of the High Priest caused another evil effect for it did intice St. Peter g Matth. 26.70 71 72 75. to deny his Lord and Master three times before the Cock crew but it was a good effect of the passion of Joseph above cited for it made him fly from sin to preserve his continency and it was a noble effect of the passion of Undantedness that did possess the hearts of Shedrach Meshach and Abednego h Dan. 13.19 and of the Prophet Daniel i Dan. 6.16 to induce the three first to indure the torments of the fire of a burning furnace heated seven times more then it was ordinarily and the second to despise the rage of the Lyons rather then disobey the Commandment of the Lord. But these are but moral allegories for it is not in the
men hath been pleased to furnish them with arms to oppose their greatest enemies of which the passion of Cupidity is one of the most implacable for of all the passions it is the harder to be subdued because it is the most successful snare of Satan for the increase of his kingdom of darkness by it sin came first into the world and hath infected like a contagious disease all the race of mankinde For by the eye which is the spring of mens desires Eve seeing the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledg of good and evil to be beautiful she coveteth the same as it appears by these words Gen. 3.6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave of it also to her husband with her and he did eat and so by her Cupidity and Adams Credulity men have been brought under the bondage of sin Now against this great enemy of mankinde God hath been pleased to arm them with this passion of Flight the great Antagonist of all covetous desires that as he had given men an inclination to desire such things as seemed good to their eyes and phansies they might also have an aversion to fly from such things as seemed to traverse their good and beeing otherwise they might have seen their enemies coming upon them when they had no arms to defend themselves nor power to eschew or fly from their apparent danger and had been inforced to cherish vices and sinful courses because they could not eschew or fly from them and to harbor a Guest whom they abhorred and detested This passion being then so useful to men and specially for the propagation of a godly life give me leave for the better description of it to speak in order of these particulars 1. Of the definition of Flight 2. Of the objects of it 3. Of the causes of it 4. Of its proprieties 5. Of its effects 6. Of the uses of it First Flight or Eschewing is a passion The definition of Flight or aversion that induceth men to avoid or fly from all things that seem to be evil or inconvenient to them or that may traverse their good and annihilate their beeing Flight is the cosen German of Hatred for they have many qualities alike and is incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the violent enemy and great opposite to the passion of Cupidity the spring of all covetous desires But men are to be cautious how they make use of this passion or aversion for otherwise they may flee from such things as are good instead to eschew those things that are evil for such is the depravation of this age that Vertues are called Vices and Vices are varnished over with the names of Vertues and true and sincere Piety is called Hypocrisie and real Hypocrisie is termed godliness and Sanctity They must then be as harmless as Doves Matt. 10.16 and as wise as Serpents to make use of this passion aright and then they will avoid and detest sin as the greatest of all evils and love God the perfection of all good and happiness Secondly The objects of Flight The chiefest objects of this passion are the guilt and punishment which are often taken one for the other some men taking the guilt for the punishment and the punishment for the guilt but guilt is the greater of the two because the punishment is but an effect of the guilt and without guilt there would be no punishment and yet because death is commonly comprized under the punishment for as St. Paul saith Rom 6.23 The wages of sin is death men most commonly strive to avoid and flee from the punishment and with great eagerness pursue the guilt I mean they run chearfully after sin and fly with fear from the punishment and so pervert the use of this passion that was given unto them by their Maker on purpose to flee from sin that draws with Cart-ropes the wrath and judgments of God upon all Nations and particuliar men that impenitently go on in their sins Men commonly fly from Serpents Dragons Lyons and Tygers and from the contagious disease of the Plague but they seldom flee from sin although it be more dangerous and destructive to their souls then any of these things above related can be to their bodies for they can but deprive them of this temporal life but sin without the special grace of God will cast them body and soul into the everlasting flames and therefore let men fly from sin if they intend to make a perfect use of this passion and let them not as our blessed Saviour saith of Fear Flee from them that can kill the body Matt. 10.28 but are not able to kill the soul Thirdly The causes of Flight are so numerous The causes of Flight that they would be over-tedious to relate I wil therefore speak but of some of them first Men if they could would fly from death because death is a most horrid thing specially to the Reprobate and Nature doth hate and eschew all things that may annihilate its beeing secondly Fear is an ordinary cause of Flight for many great Armies have fled upon a panick fear as Titus Livius Records in his Decades but there be Instances for it in the holy Scriptures as it appears 2 Kings Chap. 7. Vers 6. When the Lord made the host of the Assyrians to hear a noise of chariots 2 Kings 7.6 and a noise of horses even the noise of a great host and so raised their siege from Samaria and fled away leaving their tents full of riches and all manner of provisions thirdly The Prophet Ionah fled from the presence of the Lord Jonah 1.3 and Cha. 4.3 not to avoid evil but to commit evil in disobeying the Commandment of the Lord because he knew that God was a gracious and merciful God slow to anger and of great kindness A great weakness in a Prophet to be passionate and angry because God was pleased to be merciful to the Ninevites and a greater infirmity to flee to Tarshish from the Lord because he was assured that God would repent of the evil intended against them upon the sight of their repentance fourthly Absolom fled from the presence of his father King David 2 Sam. 13.28 after he had slain his brother Amnon at a Banquet under colour of love and hospitality and went to Geshur and was there three years till his fathers wrath was appeased fifthly Jeroboam the son of Nebat 1 King 11.40 fled from the presence of Salomon went into Egypt and staid there with Shishak King of Egypt till after Salomons death for Salomon sought to kill Ieroboam because he had been informed that the Prophet Ahijah had anointed him King over Israel sixthly Joseph the supposed father of our blessed Saviour and the Virgin Mary Matth. 2.12 with
Christians have with their gracious God by contemplation meditation or fervent prayers The first is a sudden and violent motion of the heart that causeth a great alteration in the body The definition of Joy See Theuphrast Boju in his Commentaties upon Aristotle Phys fol. 727. proceeding in the opinion of the Moralists from the possession or fight of some object much desired which is really good or reputed to be so by the imagination of men yet it will appear by the proprieties and effects of it that it doth not always come from the possession or injoyment of a beloved object or from an imaginary good but sometimes from relations scurrilous speeches ridiculous postures and deformedobjects for Joy is as I have said before an affection of the minde and is rather infused in the Heart by the Eye and by the Ear then by any of the other three Senses for those are more proper to the passion of Volupty of which Delight or Delectation is a branch however it is the fifth passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and proceeds from divers causes as it will appear in the next Discourse Secondly The causes of worldly joy are either Publick or Private the Publick proceed commonly from the immediate hand of God or from his favor or by his permission and of these I shall speak in the first place first It was a great cause of publick joy proceeding from the immediate hand of God to the people of Israel presently after their coming out of Egypt to see the sea go back Exod. 14.21 to 31. and make a free passage for their host to pass through the midst of it and when they were all safe come to dry land to see the rowling waves of the sea to turn back and overwhelm Pharoah and all his Army secondly It was a cause of publick Joy when it pleased the Lord to deliver the people of the Iews from that bloody decree obtained by Haman from the great King Ahasuerus against the whole Nation of the Iews Esther 3.4 The causes of publick joy that were scattered through the one hundred and seven and twenty Provinces of the said Kings Dominions for which admirable deliverance the people of Israel made the 15th and 16th day of the moneth Adar days of Thanksgiving and of Feasting and Rejoycing from one generation to the other which were called the days of Purim See the Spanish and Turkish History thirdly It was the cause of publick joy to the Venetians and to all Christendom when God was pleased to give unto the Christian Fleet such a memorable victory over the Turkish Navy at the Battel of Lepantho for which after thanks given to God many days of Feasting and Rejoycing were kept at Venice and other parts of Christendom fourthly See Speed in the life of King James It was an incredible cause of publick joy for England when the Lord was pleased to deliver this Nation from the devillish plot of the Gunpouder Treason for which miraculous deliverance after hearty thanks given to God great Feasting Bond-fires and other expressions of joy were made in London and through the whole Land 1. It was a cause of private joy to the old Patriarch Jacob to hear by the report of his sons that his beloved son Joseph Gen. 45.26 who he thought had been devoured by wild beasts was chief Governor of Egypt and the next man in honor to the King 2. It was a cause of private joy for old Iesse The causes of private joy 1 Sam. 16.12 to see his youngest son David from a Shepherd to be promoted to be King of all Israel and specially to be reputed by God himself to be a man after his own heart 3. It was a cause of private joy for old Mordecay to see his Neece Esther Esther 2.16 from a Captive to be exalted to be the wife of the great King Ahasuerus and the greatest Queen in the world 4. It was a cause of incomprehensible joy to the Virgin Mary and to all mankinde to hear the blessed and glad tidings that the Angel Gabriel brought her from the Lord saying Behold Luke 1.26.46 thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David whereupon the Virgin Mary transported with joy and ravished in spirit sung some dayes after this excellent Song My soul doth magnify the Lord beginning at the fourty sixt Verse of the first Chap. of St. Luke Here was a true and real Cause of Spiritual Joy not onely for the Virgin Mary but also for all the Elected of God who by free grace have part in the merits of Christ By these Instances it appears that these causes of joy did proceed from the seeing and hearing which are the two Senses most proper to the passion of Joy There are divers other Causes of worldly joy which are not so well grounded as these but are most vain and ridiculous and they are these following The joy of private and worldly men suits with their inclinations first The Ambitious will rejoyce in the increase of their honors secondly The Covetous men in the abundance of their riches thirdly The causes of private mens joy The Voluptuous men will rejoyce in the injoyment of their pleasures fourthly The Merchants and Trades-men in the increase of their Trade fifthly The Lawyers in the multiplicity of their Clients and in the discord of their neighbors sixthly The prophane and Libertine in all manner of ridiculous Sports scurrilous Songs lewd Musick Dancing Valting and in lascivious Pictures and Postures and in Chambering Gluttony and Drunkenness and these are the common and ordinary causes of the joy of worldly men Let the Reader judg then whether carnal joy be not meer vanity and vexation of Spirit for the great vanity of it moved Solomon to say I said of laughter Eccles 2.2 it is mad and of mirth what doth it and the very truth is that men transported with immoderate joy are like fools and mad men Thirdly The proprieties of worldly joy are these first Worldly joy is of hot temper secondly It is of a dilative or spreading quality and these two proprieties are the cause that sudden joy doth bereave men of life for when some beloved object or glad tidings are unexpectedly represented to the eyes or ears of men this causeth a violent alteration in all the parts of the body but specially in the heart by means of the hot and dilative quality of this passion of Joy because the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it are with great violence driven from the inward parts to the extremity of the members of the body The proprieties of worldly joy whereby mens hearts are deprived of their natural heat and of their vital spirits and so fall into a swoon
Grief and Sorrow some say it is a passion of the soul proceeding from some sensible loss or displeasure received others say it is a perturbation of the minde and an anguish of the body others that it is a passion afflicting the soul by the apprehension of present and future evils but this last opinion seemeth to be the best The definition of Dolour according to the Bishop of Marseillis pag 302. Dolour is a passion of the soul proceeding from the dislike that men receive from the objects represented to their imagination by their Senses which are averse to their inclinations and irksome to their bodies Moreover It is the last passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the root of divers other passions and the great Antagonist of worldly Joy because all carnal Joy doth end in Sorrow there being none so pure but it leaves in the soul a sting of remorse and repentance but Spiritual Sorrow is one of the greatest motives that men have to induce them to beate with fervency the ways of righteousness For godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 saith St. Paul worketh Repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Secondly There are divers sorts and degrees of Dolour for the very word of Dolour doth signify Anguish Grief and Sorrow and every one of these have their degrees Anguish doth properly signifie the Dolours Pains and Torments of the Body whether they be natural or accidental and Grief doth signify the Dolour of the Minde and Sorrow is an invetered grief of the Minde which is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow The first of these which is Anguish hath a secret reflection to the Sensitive appetite of the soul by means of the communion there is between it and the senses yet the seat of Anguish is in the body or in some of the members of it but the seat of Grief and Sorrow is in the Minde The three different sorts of Dolour and this kinde of Dolour is invisible to the eyes of men because it is intellectual and hath but little reflection to the body except it become excessive in degree but when the grief of the minde is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow then it hath a great influence upon the body for by flow paces and degrees it consumes the body the radical humor and the very marrow in the bones and therefore the inveterate Sorrow is accounted the worst Dolour of the three because it is in a maner incurable for it doth ordinarily reject all remedies that might ease and cure the same as for Anguish and Grief they are easily cured by removing of the cause of them the symtomes of the first being always visible and apparent by the paleness or the high colour of the face by the inflammation of the parts by the distemper of the pulse or by the pains that are felt in any of the members of the body to which remedies may be applied by learned Physitians and as for the grief of the minde which is recent and not yet inveterate the cause being known by such as frequent or are familiar with the grieved and afflicted party such arguments and seasonable consolations may be used that they may stifle this Cockatrice in the shell Thirdly The causes of these three different sorts of Dolour may be reduced to these Heads first To Publick secondly To Private thirdly To Natural fourthly To Accidental 1. The Publick causes of Sorrow should be more sensible to men then any other yet in these days they are not regarded although there never was greater cause first It was a cause of publick sorrow to the People of Israel when they were informed of the cruel and bloody decree that Pharoah King of Egypt had made to cast all their male children into the River Fxodws 1.22 that the Hebrew Nation might by degrees be utterly destroyed secondly It was a great cause of publick sorrow of weeping and lamentation for the whole Nation of the Jews Publick causes of of sorrow when they were advertised that their good and religious King Iosiah had been mortally wounded in the battel 's fought in the Valley of Megiddo against Necho King of Egypt 2 Chron. 35.23 and all their Army routed and defeated thirdly It was a great cause of publick lamentation and sorrow for the people of Israel when they saw before their eyes the Temple of the Lord to be burned the City of Ierusalem to be sacked 2 Chron 36.19 20. and the rest of the people to be carried captives into Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar for which great desolation the Prophet Ieremiah did wish that his head were waters Jer. 9.1 and his eyes a fountain of tears that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of his people fourthly It was a great cause of publick sorrow for the people of the Iews that were scattered through the hundred and twenty seven Provinces of the great King Ahasuerus dominions Esther 3.12 13 14 15. when they were informed of the cruel decree that Haman their mortal enemy had obtained to put them their wives and children to the sword for which there was great mourning and lamentations in the said Provinces but specially in the City of Shushan 2. It was a private cause of sorrow to the old Patriarch Iacob when he was informed that his dear and beloved son Ioseph had been slain and devoured by wilde beasts Gen. 37.33 although he was living but had been sold by his brethren out of envy as a slave to the Ishmaelites Merchants that were travelling down into Egypt secondly Private causes of Sorraw It was a cause of private sorrow for King David to hear of the Rape of his daughter Tamar who was ravished by his own son Amnon and again of the murder of the said Amnon committed by his darling son Absolon 2 Sam. 13 14 and 29. in vindication of the Rape of his sister Tamar thirdly It was a cause of private sorrow for King Ieroboam and his Queen to see the best of all their children Abijah their elder son to be taken away by death in the flower of his age and the more because it was by a judgment of God 1 King 14.12 for the Idolatry of Ieroboam fourthly It was a cause of private sorrow for the great Emperor Augustus Cesar that his daughter Iulia by her impudicity was banished and that none of his grand children were thought worthy to succeed him in the Empire because of their vitious miscarriages but was inforced to adopt See Tacitus and Suetonius in his life or elect Tiberius Nero his wives son the worst of men for his Successor in the Empire 3. The causes of dolour of the Minde The causes of Dolour or Sorrow of the Minde may be these first The privation of the injoyment of mens desires may be the cause of their sorrow
for Lovers Ambitious and Covetous men are cast into strange fits of Melancholy and sorrow if they be deprived of their Love or of the honors and riches they aim at secondly The carking cares that men usually take to increase their means or to preserve their lives and estates is a cause of their sorrow thirdly The fear that many men have to fall into penury is a common cause of their sorrow fourthly The losses of mens goods fame or reputation is a cause of their sorrow because they want the grace of patience and cannot say with Iob Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord nor with the Prophet David I will wash my hands in innocency Psal 26.6 fifthly The loss of Parents Wife Children or intimate Friends is often times the cause of mens sorrow for want of the rememoration of this saying of Salomon Eccles 3.20 All are of the dust and all shall return to dust again sixthly the vain apprehensions that man have of the evil to come is the cause of their sorrow because they rely not upon this gracious promise All things work together for good to them that love God seventhly Rom 8.28 The want of courage in men is the cause of their sorrow because like faint hearted Pilots they give over the Helme of the Ship in a storm I mean the Helme of their Reason whereby they might regulate the distempers of this passion of Sorrow eightly The fears that possess men for the punishment of their sins is a cause of their sorrow whereas they should fear and grieve for the guilt of sin to attain to that spiritual Sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation The Natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body may be these first Long and tedious diseases The natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body as the Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder the Gravel the Strangullion the Gout the Cough and consumption of the Lungs or the Hectick Feaver for all these in continuance of time by the secret communion that the senses have with the sensitive power of the soul do beget in the minde grief and sorrow besides the Dolour and Anguish of the body secondly The Adust or burnt Choler or Bilis gathered in the Mesentery veines which sendeth virulent vapors up into the braine is a natural cause of much sorrow 4. The accidental causes of sorrow The accidentall causes may be these first when men themselves or their Parents Children or intimate Friends do accidentally come to their end by sea or by land as to be murdered upon a Rode or cast away at sea or taken captive by Pyrats or slain by a fall from a horse or lamed by some other accident all these things are causes of sorrow and grief yet none of these natural or accidental causes are or should be sufficient to breed sorrow to mens minde sith nothing happens casually or accidentally but is guided by the hand of the divine Providence to whose blessed will men are obliged to submit themselves and our blessed Saviour doth assure us that the meanest Sparrow or an hair of our head doth not fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father Fourthly The nature and effects of Sorrow are directly contrary to the nature and to the effects of Joy first The nature of Joy is to dilate and spread the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it into the utmost parts of the members of the body but Sorrow being of a cold and dry nature draws the blood and vital spirits from the utmost parts of the body towards the heart to comfort the same secondly Joy is hot and active and by its sudden motion indangers the life of men The natur and the effects of Anguish Grief and Sorrow but Sorrow is cold and slow and comes upon men with leaden feet and never causeth death but by long continuance and lingering diseases except it cast men into despair as it doth oftentimes as it will be shown in the effects of it thirdly Joy is proper and pleasant to Nature and rejoyceth the heart and makes men chearful in their Calling both private and general but Sorrow is adverse and distasteful to Nature and makes men slow and stupid in their particular and general calling fourthly Joy preserveth and increaseth health and lengtheneth mens days and makes them pass their lives with mirth and content but Sorrow impairs mens health and shortens their days and makes their lives to be tedious and irksome In a word moderate Joy is comfort to man and excessive Sorrow is the bane of man And the effects of worldly Sorrow are as bad or rather worse first Sorrow makes men flee the society of men nay the very light of the Sun and all things that may rejoyce and comfort Nature the sight of their dearest friends nay of their wife and children is irksome to men that are possessed with excessive sorrow secondly See the Acts and Monuments or Book of Martyrs If mens Sorrow proceeds from mens Apostacy in Religion it doth commonly cast them into despaire and inflicts upon them in this life the very paines of hell as it doth appear in the life of Francisco Spira thirdly Sorrow tempts carnal men to be rid of it to desperate resolutions as to bereave themselves of life by hanging stabbing and drowning of themselves as it hath lately been seen in this City of London fourthly Sorrow makes men careless to make their calling and election sure and to neglect the means appointed by God for their salvation I mean the hearing of the Word with that attention as they should for their thoughts and cogitations are so fixed upon the object of their sorrow that they minde nothing else for this pernicious passion doth stupifie the most noble faculty of the soul as the Memory the Imagination and the Understanding Divers other effects might be produced but these will suffice to induce men to indeavor to eschew or regulate this dangerous and destructive passion Fifthly The Remedies against the venom of this passion are first Natural secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The Natural are first to flee as far as men can from the object of their sorrow secondly If mens sorrow proceeds from Natural infirmities they are in the first place to call upon God and then use the Counsel of Physitians for they must not do as Ahaziah King of Israel did 2 Kings 1.2 who being faln from an upper Chamber thorow a Lattess sent to the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his disease as too many do in these days who send to Astronomers to know the events of things not to the Physitian 2 Chron. 16.12 as Asa King of Iuda did who being diseased in his feet sent to the Physitian before he had called upon the Lord by prayer for God is the Paramount Physitian and the God of Nature and
daily the fears and apprehensions of death which is worse then death it self and die for one death a thousand deaths Yet if men will dive into the nature and effects of this passion of Despair without partiality they will finde that good use may be made of it so it doth not attain to that exorbitant and horrid degree of Self-murdering Give me leave therefore to extend my Discourse upon these particulars 1. On the definition of this passion of Despair 2. On the diversity of the Causes of it 3. On the bad and good Effects of it 4. On the Remedies to allay the fury of it There are divers sorts of Despair which may be reduced to these three first Worldly secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The worldly Despair is nothing else but a conceit of an impossibility in the acquisition of the vain hopes of men as it will appear in the Causes and Effects of that kinde of Despair The definition of the Moral Despair is according to the opinion of the best Moralists as followeth Despair saith Boujou Theophrast Boujou Lord of Beaulieu fol. 723. is a passion of the Soul withdrawing men from some good much desired because it is represented by the Senses to their imagination as impossible to be obtained Senault in his use upon the passions pag. 344. Despair saith Senault is a violent motion of the soul that keeps men aloof from the prosecution of some good in which they see no probability it can be obtained Now this good is not always a real good for the Senses do oftentimes delude the Reason and Judgment of men but suppose it be a real good then it is Vertue it self or some vertuous Object Action or Design which they conceive impossible to be obtained or performed for Moral Hope hath no other object then Vertue or vertuous and generous actions and by consequence Moral Despair must have the same objects The definition of worldly moral and spiritual despair for divers of the ancient Moralists held Self-murdering no Despair as I have given a hint of it in the last Discourse but an action of fortitude and of magnanimity of courage And this Moral Despair is the opposite and great Antagonist of Moral Hope and the second passion incident to the Irascible appetite which doth mitigate the extravagancy of mens Hopes as it will appear in the insuing Discourses yet men often times despair of things in which they imagine impossibilities when there is none as it will appear by these two Instances About sixscore years past it was a thing thought impossible to sail with a ship round about the circuit of the earth and yet Magalen a Portugais See the Spanish and English History and Sir Francis Drake an English man have shown by experience that it was possible to be done secondly In the days of Charls the ninth Henry the third and Henry the fourth Kings of France It was a thing thought impossible to take the City of Rochel by force or by famine and yet the Cardinal de Riche-lieu by the Art of a French Enginere See the French History hath shown by experience it was possible to be done for by a floating bridge that he made over an Arm of the Sea upon which he planted Ordinances and erected two Towers and with a land Army Lewis the thirteenth King of France took that City by famine in less then a year whereupon I conclude that men Despair of things by imagining impossibilities where there is none and this proceeds from want of judgment power or experience for it is daily seen that which seems to be impossible to one man is easie and facile to another Spiritual Despair is nothing else but a distrust of Gods mercy which by the temptation of Satan do intice men to be the murderers of themselves which is the next sin to the sin of the Holy Ghost Secondly The causes of worldly Despair may be these first The death of a beloved party See Bandel in his Tragical Histories Romelio supposing his beloved Mistress Iuliete to be dead when she was but in a swound slew himself upon her body and when she came to her self again she seeing her Sweet-Heart had killed himself for her sake she stabbed her self with his Poynard secondly The infidelity in love is a cause of Despair See Virgils Aeneads Dido Queen of Carthage slew her self because Aeneas a Trojan Prince forsook her and sailed into Italy but if this be a Poeticall Fable hear a true Relation A proper young maiden being secretly betrothed to a young man living here in London who broke his faith and married another whereupon the maiden being transported with Despair poisoned her self and died the next day this hapned within this twelve moneth I could relate a hundred such instances to prove that of all the passions Love being abused or extinguished by death doth sooner then any other thing beget Despair but I pass them over for brevity sake thirdly Avarice is the cause of Despair A Merchant in London of good means having had some losses at sea and having received the tidings of it on the Saturday he being transported with Despair hung himself on the Sunday morning when his servants were at Church and it is a common thing among the Cormorant Farmers when they have Monopolized all the corn of a County into their hands to hang or drown themselves if the next year prove to be a fruitful year fourthly Famine is a cause of Despair 2 Kings 6.29 for in Jehorams days such a famine was in Samaria that two women boiled a childe and did eate the same the mother of the childe out of Despair consenting to it and whosoever will be pleased to read Iosephus will see the horrid actions of some of the Iews committed out of Despair because of the great famine that was at Ierusalem when it was besieged by the Romans fifthly The fear to fall into the hands of a cruel enemy causeth Despair some of the richest of the Saguntines rather then they would fall into the hands of Hanibal and his cruel Carthaginian and Numidian souldiers See Titus Livius in his third Decade lib. 1. pag. 34. did carry all their wealth with their wives and children into their Market place and having made a great heap of their rich moveables they set the fire in it and slew their wives and children and having cast them into the fire they slew themselves afterwards sixtly Shame is a cause of Despair Cleopatra Queen of Egypt being informed that it had been resolved in the Counsel of Augustus Cesar that she should be led as a captive after the triumphant Chariot of the said Emperor when he should make his entry into Rome out of Despair to avoid that shame See Plutarch in Marcus Antonius life she applied two Vipers to her two breasts and so died There are divers other causes of worldly Despair but they are of another nature for they attain not to that
inlarge my self upon these particulars 1. On the Definition of this Passion 2. On the Causes of it 3. On the Nature and Proprieties of it 4. On the evil and good Effects of it 5. On the Spiritual Use of it First This Passion hath several names some call it Confidence and have good reason for it because it is its unseperable companion others call it Audacity but this terme doth blemish the true Nature of it The definition of the passion of Undantedness for audacious and presumptuous men are held to be under one and the same predicament other call it boldness but this word is often taken for Impudency but the French call it Hardiesse which doth express most properly the nature of it which is Undantedness in the English Tongue And here is the definition of it according to the judgment of the best Moralists Boujou fol. 7 23. Vndantedness saith one is an affection and assurance to eschew an evil and to overcome all the difficulties of it Vndantedness The Bishop of Marseilles in pag. 401. saith another is a Passion of the soul which strengtheneth the same and makes it confident it can overcome the most difficult evils that can befall it in this life and doth also incourage it to prosecute the good that is most difficult to obtain And to this last definition I assent as concerning the same the best of the two for it doth truely express the nature of this passion which is the third passion incident to the Irascible Appetite 2. The Causes of it are many but they may be reduced to these six the two first are Natural the two middlemost accidental and the two last supernatural The first natural cause of undantedness is a hot and moist temper of the body The first Natural cause may be a moist and hot temper of the body for the Naturalists have observed that all such as are of that constitution of body have ordinarily an undanted spirit The Natural reason of it is that this hot and moist temper doth suppress the Melancholick humor and its evil proprieties and effects whereby the blood that is hot and airy an ful ofvital spirits and the bilia that is dry and fiery and the flegm that is cold and moist being thus mixt become of a dilative nature and by the motion of the heart spread themselves into all the utmost parts of the body and inableth the minde to undertake and the body to execute all maner of generous designs be they never so difflcult or perillous The second natural cause of Undantedness may be the largeness of the heart of men for it hath been observed by the Physitians when they have opened the bodies of valiant and undanted spirits that their hearts were larger then the hearts of ordinary men See Plutarch in the life of Themistocles and King Xerxes King of Persia having caused the body of Leonidas King of Sparta to be opened partly out of admiration of his valour and in part out of curiosity The second natural cause of undantedness is the largeness of the harts of men to see whether the heart of such an undanted spirit was larger then the hearts of common men he found the same to be as big again and hairy all over a natural propriety incident to such as are of a hot and moist constitution of body to abound in hair The Natural reason why men with larger hearts then others should be addicted to Valour and Undantedness is this that the larger the heart is the morevital spirits it can contain which are the essential causes of Valour and Undantedness and therefore it may very well be that the largeness of the heart is a natural cause of Undantedness That tall and burly men are commonly less valorous then short and middle stastured men Divers men are of opinion that tall and burly bodied men are more addicted to Valour and Undantedness then short and middle-statur'd men but they are mistaken for tall men have smaller hearts then others and are also commonly more faint-hearted then other men and the Naturalists give this reason for it If their hearts say say were proportionable to their body they might have reason to be of that opinion but it is commonly smaller because Nature extended its vertue to the utmost parts deprives the inward parts of it Besides all the vitall spirits reside in the bloud and in the heart and by its motion they are dispersed through all the parts of the body Now the farther distant these parts are from the heart the longer time are the vital spirits a going to quicken and vivifie them and by consequence tall and burlybodied men are fuller of Flesh then of Spirits and less couragious then others It is true that they have a presuming undantedness because of their strength but what is done by strength proceeds from Strength and not from Valour which doth reside in the heart and in the minde and not in the arms and in the sinews And the most valorous and undanted spirits of this Age and of other Ages were for the most part short or at the most of a middle stature Leonidas See Plutarch in Peleopidas life and Peleopidas were but short men and Sir Francis Veere and Sir Francis Drake and the Marshal de Biron and the Marshal Gastion were all short men I conclude then that Valour and undantedness doth reside in the heart and minde and not in the strength of the body and that some of all statures may be valiant and undanted The first accidentall cause may be the innocency of men and the justice of their Cause for as Salomon saith Prov. 28.1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a a Lyon and it is daily seen that three true men will overcome half a dozen of theeves And when men fight for the preservation of the Liberties of their native Countrey and the lives of their wives and children and all the means they have they fight commonly like Lyons The second accidentall cause of Undantedness may be The relations support or alliances that men have with potent and powerful Princes or States for the confidence they have to be backt and supported by them doth make them undertake with undanted courage difficult and perillous enterprises The two accinentall causes of the undantedness of men for Instance The Hollanders a small Commonwealth being at the first supported by Elizabeth Queen of England and afterwards by Henry the fourth King of France have for many years together undantedly waged war with the great King of Spain and likewise the Kingdom of Sweden a petty Kingdom in comparison of the Empire of Germany being supported by Lewis the 13th King of France hath with an undanted courage waged war many years with the House of Austria See the Histories of Germany England and France Thirdly The first supernatural cause of the undantedness of men may be their zeal to Religion for
drinking of it become worse then bruit Beasts because they deprive themselves of Judgment and Reason The Viper is naturally rank poyson and yet the Mithridate and other Antidotes against venoms are composed of it even so this passion of Fear is much abused and made worse then it is although it proceed from an evil spring I mean the weakness and infirmity of men yet God is pleased to make good use of it to convert sinners and to make them prosecute with greater fervency then they would otherwise do the ways of Righteousness Divers conceive Fear to be a Feminine passion and unworthy to be harbored in a Masculine Brest yet it maketh the proudest of men to be cautious and circumspect in their undertakings and clips the wings of their vain hopes and ambitious designes Tacitus saith See Tasitus in the life of Nero. That it serves as a curb to the licentious will of Princes and of all others that are in power and authority and for instance saith That as long as Agrippina the mother of the Emperor Nero lived of whom he stood in fear his actions were not so exorbitantly wicked as after her death but he having like a graceless son deprived her of life took free liberty to commit the greatest impieties that his heart could imagine And Joash King of Juda did the like for as long as Jehojada the high Priest lived whom he feared he seemed to love the Lord but soon after his death he gave himself over to Idolatry and cruelty for like an ungrateful wretch he caused Zechariah 2 Chro. 24.17 22. the son of Jehojada to be slain because he onely delivered unto him the message he had received from the Lord. Divers prefer Love before Fear but there cannot be any true Love without Fear Others say it is better to be feared then beloved but it is better to be equally loved and feared for men without Love endevor to be rid of the object of their Fears But if men be beloved and feared this composure keeps off all danger and begets security and obedience Neither can there be any filial obedience without Love for the obedience that proceeds from Fear is not free Prov. 1.7 and 20.2 but forced The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg And the fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul How much more should men be afraid to provoke Gods wrath by their sins and yet that is one of their least fears for they fear those things which they should not fear and fear not to sin which they should most fear But sith the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of all saving knowledg which knowledg doth teach men to be afraid of sin which is the greatest evil Give me leave to inlarge my discourse upon these ensuing particulars that you may know to fear nothing but sin 1. On the definition of Fear 2. On the Nature of it 3. On the causes and remedies of mens fears 4. On the evil and good Effects of Fear 5. On the Spirtiual use of Fear The Moralists do vary in opinion Boujou in his Commentaries upon Aristotles Phâ—s lib. 16. cap. 6. concerning the definition of this Passion of Fear Fear saith one is a passion and apprehension of an evil that is to come but near at hand and looked for and unlikely to be avoided Fear saith another The Bishop of Marseille p. 408. is nothing else but a Grief and Dolor of the soul apprehending an evil at hand in which men see little probability it can be eschewed although it aims at the annihilation of their Being or to some dismal disgrace that threatneth their life or estate Yet it will appear by the nature the proprieties and effects of Fear that men are rather transported with Fears of imaginary Evils then of real and that mens fears do but rarely proceed from the annihilation of their Being However it is the fourth passion incident to the irrascible Appetite and the opposite and great Antagonist to the noble passion of Undantedness Secondly The nature of Fear is different from the nature of Joy for Joy dilates the blood and the vital spirits residing in it from the heart to the utmost parts of the body contrarily Fear withdraws the blood from the extreams of the body to the heart because Fear is a cold passion and the heart finding this cold to oppress it withdraws and calls as it were the blood and vital spirits from the further parts of the body to his ayd that by their natural heat he may be revived and cherished And that is the reason why divers men and women have been deprived of life by a sudden fear or fright because this cold passion congealeth the blood about the heart as a great frost congealeth water into Ice but if the Fear be not so violent yet it produceth a great alteration in the body for mens and womens faces will become as white as a cloth and sometimes all their members will tremble as a leaf and the motion proceeding from this alteration is so swift and forcible that women great with-childe miscarry by it nay it doth oftentimes turn the childe in their womb which depriveth the mother and the childe of life But Fear and Dolor have a great resemblance one with the other for they have both this withdrawing quality and are both of an extream cold and dry nature and therefore Fear and Sorrow are compared to the Winter Season and Joy and Delectation to the Spring and Summer in which the vegetative Creatures sprought and spring out their branches leaves flowers and fruits but in Winter time they withdraw their sap which is their life into their Roots as Fear and Sorrow doth draw the blood and vital spirits about the heart that is the essential cause and motion of mens lives Having both one and the same end the vegetatives to preserve themselves from the Frost and Snow and the heart to warm and cherish it self against these cold and frosty passions of Fear and Sorrow Thirdly The causes of mens fears are many and of several natures and by consequence their remedies must be proportionable unto them I will therefore speak first of the causes and to every cause apply the remedy but as I have said a little before mens fears do oftner proceed from imaginary evils then from the real and the worst propriety of this passion of Fear is That it anticipates and creates Fears in the Minde the real effects of which evils oftentimes are not like to trouble such as apprehend them nor their childrens children which kinde of Fear proceeds from a distrust of Gods providence and therefore as odious to God as any other kinde of Fear as it shall be proved when I come to speak of the effects of this passion First Worldly men Fear to loose their honors and dignities Secondly Their treasures and riches Thirdly
fear and tempt them 1 Cor. 6.15 To make of the members of Christ the members of a Harlot It is also one of the most prevailing snares of Satan by which he draweth more millions of souls into the Pit of destruction then by any other sin whatsoever And therefore give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars 1. Upon the definition of this passion 2. Upon the nature of it 3. Upon the causes why some are more addicted to it then others 4. Upon the evil proprieties of it 5. Upon the pernitious effects of the same 6. Upon the judgements that God doth inflict upon voluptuous men 7. Upon the means or remedies which are to be used to avoid the venome of it 8. And lastly Upon the express prohibition of the same by the Word of God First Volupty is a composed passion of love and desire The definition of Volupty arising from a tickling delight of the senses when men enjoy really or by imagination such objects as seem pleasant to their phansie It is so general that all such as are under the state of Nature are more or less addicted to it Nay the regenerate are sometimes ensnared by it by the temptations of Satan and their original corruptions the difference between them is that the unregenerate by their impenitency die in their sins and the regenerate by the free grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God are awaked out of this spiritual lethargy and by an unfained repentance are converted and reconciled to God Secondly It is of a feminine nature for all such as are overmuch addicted to this passion loose their masculine generosity and become effeminate Hercules did cast off his Club and Lyons skin to vest himself and spin like a woman before Omphale his Mistress And it is daily seen that voluptuous men imitate in their gestures carriage and fashions the Courtizans of these days for they powder their hair wear black patches and paint their Faces as they do It was not then without cause that the ancient Poets did represent volupty under the shape of the old Witch Circe for as she transformed the Passengers who sailed through the Straits of Sicilia into Swine if they listned to her Charms Even so Volupty doth transform into brute beasts rational men if they converse long and let themselves be ensnared by the alluring Charms of Harlots for as Zerubbalel proved it before King Darius the Charms of a beautiful woman are more powerful then strong Wine Esdras 3. from the 14. ver to the 32. or a mighty King Thirdly The Causes why some men are more addicted to this passion then others may be natural accidental or artificial such as are naturally more addicted to it are commonly of a hotter and moister constitution then others and these are of a sanguine complexion for the Bilious are hot and dry the Flegmatick moist and cold and the Melancholike cold and dry which are not so apt to the Venereal delight as the Sanguine The Accidental Causes are The hot Climate where men live for Heat dilates the spirits outwardly and Cold restrains them inwardly And Experience doth shew that the Africans Spaniards and Italians whose Climate is hotter then the Germans Dutch English are the most addicted to Venery And yet they are not so apt to generation as the last because the desire of the reiteration of the Act doth weaken their bodies and doth waste their spirits Idleness Pride and Fulness of bread is also an Accidental Cause why one Nation may be more addicted to Venery then another For this was the Cause why the Sodomites as the Prophet Ezekiel saith were so vitious Ezek. 16.49 and transported with Lust The Artificial Causes are Sophistical meats Delitious Wines and enticing Simples Drugs and Amber-gris over-much used in these days to provoke Men and Women to Lust See Guicciardine in the Emperor Charls the Fifth his Life Guicciardine records that a King of Tunis being at Naples spent five hundred Ducats in enticing Drugs and Amber-gris to dress a Peacock to incite himself and the company that supped with him that night to Lust But these Means are destructive to the Soul and Lives of Men. For Instance the Queen of Arragon gave Ferdinand her Husband an inticing Love-Drink to make him more apt to the Venereal sport See the History of Spain in Ferdinands Life but it cast him into an incurable Consumption which brought him to his grave And Van-Dick an excellent Dutch Painter lost lately his life by these inticing Drugs provoking to Lechery Alass Men are too prone of themselves to sin without Artificial Means to provoke them to it Fourthly The evil Proprieties of this vitious Passion are so numerous that I should be over-tedious to speak of them all and therefore will speak but of some of them First It is insatiable and may be compared to the horsleech to the barren womb and to the Grave for the Desires of Voluptuous men are never satisfied with their carnal Delights their bodies being sooner tyred with the reiteration of the Act then their Lust can be exstinguished For many have been found dead in their Mistresses Armes by endeavoring to satisfy their Lust beyond their Natural Abilities The Reason of it was because overmuch evacuation of the spirits exstinguisheth life Secondly it is as inconstant as the wind for they delight in nothing more then in changes because their judgement is so depraved by the Spirit of uncleanness which besots them that they cannot discern the beauty of one Object from another and do often forsake the most lovely to dote upon the most unworthy and deformed conceiving erroneously that stollen waters are the sweetest Thirdly It hath a Destructive quality for it provoketh men to commit the most abhorred sins that can be named Gen. 12.15 By it the Sodomites were inticed to commit with the very Angels the sin against Nature Gen. 19.5 It moved Pharoah and Abimelech to take away by violence Sarah Abrahams wife Reuben to defile his Fathers bed Gen. 35.22 Gen 34.2 Judg 19 25. Sechem to deflour Dinah The Gibeahnites to abuse brutishly the Levites concubine David to commit Adultery with Bathshebah and to vail his sin to murther Vriah her husband Amnon to ravish his own sister Tamar Sueton. in his Life Augustus to take away by force Livia from her husband Tacitus in his life Caligula to commit Incest with his two Sisters Nero to defile himself with his mother French History Faragonde to murther King Clotair her Husband that she might the more freely enjoy her Paramour English History King Edgar to murther his Favourite to marry his Wife And King Roderick to ravish Duke Godfreys Daughter Spanish History which was the cause of the Conquest of Spain by the Moors And a thousand like abhorred sins which should move Christians to abhor and flee from this most accursed and sinful passion as from a Serpent Fifthly The Effects of
Florence was slain in his bed as he waited for the coming of a Gentlewoman he had allured to his lust 16. A Counsellor of the Court of Parliament of Paris slew a Gentleman and his own Wife as they lay abed together for he struck them both thorow the body with a Stiletto as they were upon the very act And from thence went to the Court and without perturbation pleaded the Case under fained names and obtained a definitive sentence of absolution from the said court for the murther by him committed For as Solomon saith Prov. 6.34 Jealousie is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare him in the day of vengeance These instances and many others that might be produced of the judgements of God inflicted upon whole Nations and particular men for the punishment of their lascivious volupties should refrain them from this destructive passion and make them flee from it as from a Serpent induce them to leave no remedies unattempted to mortifie the same But before I come to speak of the moral and spiritual remedies which are to be used to curb or to subdue this sinful passion give me leave to answer an Objection which some Moralists make to palliate the sin of it Voluptie say they is but a venial sin Object and the most innocent Passion of all others for it is the Darling of Nature and all men and women are naturally inclined to Delight neither could they subsist in the midst of so many woes and sorrows to which they are incident if it were not for these natural refreshments that you call Volupties And sith the fire and heat of this passion is cooled or utterly extinguished by old age men need not be so copious in the description of the evil nature proprieties and effects of it Nor so tedious in the manifestation of the remedies that may mortifie the same For Volupty doth not encrease by Age as Avarice and drunkenness doth I answer Answ that in regard of the actual act of Volupty old age may quench the flames of it But as for the intellectual desires I say that old men who have from their youth been addicted to this kinde of Volupty will long as much after that delight as the Avaricious men do after the encrease of their Treasures or the Drunkards after the taste of delicious Wines except they be sanctified both in body and soul by the sanctifying Spirit of Gods Free-grace for old age nor all the precepts of Morality cannot cast out of a mans heart this spirit of uncleanness if once he hath taken possession of it because it is of the same kinde Which goeth not out as our Saviour saith himself but by prayer and fasting Math. 17.21 that is to say by the meer and immediate operation of the sanctifying Spirit of Grace as it shall be proved by Instances and divers Passages of the Word of God when I shall speak of the spiritual remedies which are to be used to mortifie this passion As for the moral remedies that I am now to speak of they are these first men are to endeavor to attain to an habit in these four Vertues or Graces 1. Continency 2. Temperance 3. Fortitude 4. Sanctification Secondly they are to eschew these four splitting rocks or great inticers to all lascivious Volupties 1. Idleness 2. Alluring Objects 3. Suspected places 4. Evil company And in so doing they will undoubtedly by the help of the sanctifying Spirit obtain the victory over this spirit of uncleanness that is the greatest Opposite to the grace of sanctification for there is a greater antipathy between holiness and pollution then there is between fire and watter the Lyon and the Cock the Dog and Cat or between Vice and Vertue These things considered I will begin with those things which are to be eschewed for it were to small purpose to endevor to attain to an habit in these four Graces If men do not eschew the four things above spoken of by which the use of these Graces would be soon annihilated First Idleness is to be eschewed for if mens minds be not bent upon laudable employments they will busie themselves in unlawful things because their spirits are naturally active And as standing waters become loathsome even so men who have no employment become vitious And daily experience sheweth that such as are rich and have no calling are more addicted to Volupties then the meaner sort The Lacedemonians of all the other Greeks were the most active and valorous and the Athenians the most voluptuous because the first were kept under a strict Discipline gold and silver being prohibited in their Common-wealth and all manner of volupties banished and Military Atchievements cherished But the second were rich and by consequence Idle and did nothing as the Apostle S. Paul saith but hear or tell news Act. 17.21 or did employ themselves in all kinde of carnal Volupties Therefore such as will be continent must addict themselves to some lawful calling and are to be diligent in the same Prov. 10.4 For a slothful hand saith Solomon maketh poor but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Fulness of bread and Idleness were the cause saith the Prophet Ezechiel of the abhorred lusts of the Sodomites And for this cause the Emperour Severus made a Decree that all men whatsoever living in the City of Rome should imploy themselves in some lawful calling See Herodian in Severus life and wear upon their Apparel the badges of their profession that all idle persons might be banished out of the Commonwealth because Idleness is the mother of all vices The point might be proved by many instances but two shall serve for brevity sake 1. As long as King David addicted himself to Martial Achievements he never was carryed away by the temptations of Satan to lust after other mens Wives but when he was Idle and walking upon the Leads of his Palace he was ensnared into sin by the beauty of Bathsheba the Wife of Vriah the Hittite 2 Sam. 11.2 2. As long as the Prodigal Son was employed about the mannaging of his Fathers Houshold affairs he carryed himself like a dutiful Son but as soon as he was Idle and had obtained his Portion he wasted the same among Harlots Luk. 15.13 and by riotous living for Satan desireth no better opportunity to tempt men to sin then when they are Idle Secondly alluring Objects are to be eschewed and specially those of the feminine Sexe for many are bewitched by the glances of their eyes and that is the reason why King David after his fall prayed unto God he would be pleased to turn his eyes from beholding vanity Psal 101.3 as conceiving the beauty of women to be the greatest vanity under the Sun for the glances of their eyes are as destructive to mens souls as the glances of the eyes of a Basilisk are to their bodies Prov. 4.25 And that is the cause why Solomon saith Let thine
make golden bridges for their enemies to retreat then by despair to enforce them to fight To conclude Despair is a dangerous passion and Self-murdering Despair is to be abhorred of Christians for it doth not onely destroy the body but it doth also cast mens souls into the pit of eternal wo. There is also another sort of Despair which I have not as yet spoken of which proceeds from natural infirmities as from burning Feavers Frenzies and Madness but the evil effects which proceed from these are rather to be imputed to keepers of the Patients then to themselves or to the fury of the disease and therefore cannot come within the compass of Self murder The Remedies against which horrid sin are contained in the insuing Discourse Fifthly Six remedies against Despair The Remedies to prevent the evil and most pernicious effects of this dangerous passion of Despair which is one of the strongest temptations of Satan may be these and such other passages of Scripture a Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray for constant and fervent prayers are able to cast back this temptation like filth in Satans face and to obtain of the Lord these supernatural graces whereby Christians will be inabled to defie and overcome Despair first Faith as a shield wherewith men shall be able saith St. Paul to quench all the fiery b Ephes 6.16 darts of the wicked And to say with Iob in the greatest tribulations that can befall them in this life Though he slay me yet will I c Job 13.15 trust in him secondly Repentance for it is a pretious Antitode against the venom of Despair What had become of St. Peter for denying his Lord and Master three times before the Cock d Matth. 26.75 crowed once if by the bitter tears of Repentance he had not obtained mercy Nay the very temporal and fained Repentance of Ahab King of Israel moved God to transfer or remove the execution of his wrath e 1 Kings 21.27 28 29. from him to his children And it is conceived by the best Divines that if Iudas who betraied our blessed Saviour had repented of his horrid sin he had not faln into f Matt. 27.5 despair for the compassions of the Lord are incomprehensible and his mercies are infinite as it appears by his towards Manasseh g 2 Chron. 33.12 13. King of Iudah who had committed all the wickedness that could be imagined by the hearts of men for he caused the Prophet Isaiah to suffer a most cruel death by sawing his body in the midst with a Saw and he turned aside from the Lord to commit Idolatry and caused his son to pass through the fire and dealt with Familiar Spirits and made the streets of Ierusalem to overflow with the innocent blood he caused to be spilt and yet when he humbled himself by an unfained Repentance before the Lord God was so gracious as to shew him mercy and from a miserable Captive he restored him to his royall dignity thirdly Patience is a special remedy against Despair for it preserved Job in the midst of his greatest temptation nay when his wife that should have been his greatest comforter said unto him Dost thou still retain thy integrity Curse h Job 2.9 10. God and die He answered with an admirable meekness of Spirit Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What Shal we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil And this onely consideration That all things work for good to them that i Rom. 8.28 love God should keep men from Despair when they are in a maner overwhelmed with the greatest afflictions that can befall them in this life fourthly Confidence in God is an excellent remedy against Despair for such as trust in the Lord may say with the Prophet David I will not k Tsal 3.6 be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me fifthly Hope is a powerful remedy against Despair for if men say with the Prophet David The Lord is my Rock l Psal 18.2 and my Fortress and my Deliverer for my m Psal 39.7 hope is in thee sixthly Fortitude is an excellent remedy against Despair for it is able to dash and overcome all the evil apprehensions that beget Despair and check mens pusillanimity with these words of the Prophet David Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou n Psal 42.11 disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God By these and the like passages of Scripture men may prevent the dangerous effect of Despair Nay draw unspeakable comforts out of the very Causes that beget Despair which passion is full of vanity and vexation of spirit c. CHAP. XIV Of the vanity of the passion of Vndantedness IF Diamonds were as common as Pipples and Vertues as natural to men as Vices they would not be so precious nor valued at so high a rate as they are in these days for it is the rarity of things more then their goodness that makes them to be esteemed among men for Instance Bread is the only staff of mans life and the best food that Nature hath appointed for his subsistence and yet because it is common it is little regarded for Beggers will hardly give men thanks if they give them nothing but dry bread But this passion I am to speak of is not onely rare sith one man among one hundred is not indowed with it but also good and excellent and therefore the more to be esteemed and valued of men as a rare and precious Jewel By it mens hopes are attained all fears expelled and despair suppressed and were it not a Passion I should call it a Vertue because of the resemblance it hath with Fortitude For Undantedness is the Spring of all true Valour and manly courage and by it all the generous actions that have been acted since the Creation till this day have had their beeing and successful end And therefore most judiciously and properly placed by the Moralists after Despair and before Fear to mitigate by the excellent proprieties of it the evil qualities of the two others for were it not for this passion men would be diverted from undertaking any noble design by Fear and Despair who have a natural propriety to withdraw the vitall spirits into the Center of the body which hinders the natural faculties to do and execute their functions and makes men timerous and remiss to undertake any noble action but Undantedness causeth the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it to dilate themselves to the utmost parts of the members of the Body and so gives them life and vigor and makes men apt and fit to undertake and execute all noble enterprizes Now for the better description of this noble Passion I will