to his divine providence an inclination facultie or power to conserve it self procure what it needeth to resist impugne whatsoever hindereth it of that appertaineth vnto his good and conservation So we see fire continually ascendeth vpward because the coldenesse of the water earth and ayre much impeacheth the vertue of his heate heavie substances descend to their centre for their preservation the hare flieth from the houndes the partridge hideth her selfe from the tallent of the hawke and in fine God hath enabled every thing to eschew his ennemy and enioy his friend Whereuppon grew that protrite distinction of a triple appetite naturall sensitive and reasonable the first we finde in elements and plants the second in beasts and men the third in men and angelles the first Philosophers call a naturall inclination the second a sensitive appetite the third a reasonable or voluntary affection neverthelesse the naturall inclinations of inanimate creatures and the sensitive appetites of living thinges dissent in some points because they with one motion eschew their contraries procure their owne good and obtaine that they need as for example the fire by the same motion ascendeth to heaven getteth his place and flieth from earth and water as contraries the boyling water set from the fire cooleth it selfe and withall expelleth the vnnaturall heate Men and beastes with one appetite prosecute the good they desire and with an other they slie the evill they abhorre as for example with one appetite a man desires good wine and with another detesteth ill wine An other difference besides there is because men and beasts in their appetites have a certaine pleasure and delectation paine or griefe the which affections can not be found in any inanimate creatures This delight or payne God imparted vnto vs that wee might thereby be stirred vp to attempt those actions which were necessary for vs or flie those inconveniences or harmes which might annoy vs for who would attend to eating or drincking to the act of generation if Nature had not ioyned thereunto some delectation A pregnant proofe of this may be seene in sicke men who having lost their appetites loathe nothing so much as meate Heere we may beginne to discover the coasts of Selfe-love for God having so bountifully granted vs meanes to provide for such thinges as were needefull and to avoyde such things as were harmefull adioyning pleasure to the one and paine to the other wherevppon ensued that having a reasonable soule the which like an Empresse was to governe the body direct the senses guide the passions as subiects and vassalles by the square of prudence and rule of reason the inferior partes were bound to yeeld homage and obey Then Selfe-love vpstarts and for the affinitie with sense for the causes alleadged in the precedent chapter will in no case obay reason but allured with the baite of pleasure and sensualitie proclaymeth warres and rebellion against prudence against the love of GOD in so much this tyrant prevaileth that if reason commaund a temperate dyet she will have exquisite and superfluous dishes if reason will be contented with a meane decent attire she will have gorgeous and above her state and condition In summe from this infected love sprung all the evils welnie that pester the world the which Saint Augustine Aug. lib. 22. deciv cap. 2â— With saint Augustine consenteth Plato 5. de legibus And Arist 9. Eth. c. 8. doth gather together yet leaveth out many Mordaces curâ— c. griping cares perturbations moanes feares madde ioyes dissensions strifes warres stratagems angers enmities falshood flatterie theft rapine and a number more which there he reckneth and I to avoyd tediousnes omit Yet by this may also be vnderstood that famous distinction more practized than knowen of many I meane of two loves the one that buildeth the citie of Ierusalem the other the citie of Babylon Aug super psal 64. that is the love of God buildeth the cittie of the predestinate Selfe-love the cittie of the reprobate that repaireth the ruines of Angelles this filleth the infeâ—â—all dennes with Divels for charitie and the love of God being the base and foundation of all goodnesse without which all vertues are dead and not availing to life everlasting rendreth a spirituall life animating the iust to serve God flie vice follow vertue with which vertues and good workes Gods church is replenished and Sathans synagogue emptied Contrariwise Selfe-love following inordinate affections inticeth the cittizens of Ierusalem to prosecute pleasures vnbridle their senses enioy the roses till they flourish not to let wither the Mayie flowres of their flesh haleth the poore soules from the libertie of Ierusalem to the captivitie of Babylon thereby casting the children of God into the thraldome of Sathan By this it appeareth howe God gave every man an inclination to love himselfe yet subordinated to reason and how by the pleasure of sensualitie it is growne to such a head that rather it ruleth reason than reason ruleth it Selfe-love then may bee defined an inordinate inclination of the soule affecting too much the pleasures of the body against the prescript of right reason this may well be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olde Adam the law of the flesh sensualitie the enemie of God the spring of vice the roote of impietie the bane of godly conversation the obiect of mortification the sincke of sinne ever craving never concent tyrannizing over the greatest and overthrowing the least How the Passions may be well directed and made profitable CHAP. III. IT hath beene declared I thinke sufficiently howe most men inordinately followe the vnbrideled appetite of their sensual passions yet no doubt but they may by vertue be guided and many good men so moderate and mortifie them that they rather serve them for instruments of vertue than foments of vice and as an occasion of victory than a cause of foyle For Christ our Saviour in whom neyther sinne nor inordinate affection could fall no doubt was subiect to these passions Tristis est anima Matth. 26. Luke 22. Marke 14. mea sayth he vsque ad mortem My soule is sadde even vntill death And Coepit pavere toedere He beganne to bee afrayde and heavy Feare and heavynesse no doubt are passions of the mind yet because in Christ they were prevented with reason and guided by vertue neyther alluring him to sinne nor ingendring vitious Hieron ep 22. ad Eustoch quem sequuntur scolastici Psalme 4. Philip. 2. habites therefore of Divines they rather were called propassions than passions Moreover the Scriptures exhort vs to these passions Irascimini nolite peccare Be angry and sinne not Cum metu tremore salutem operamini with feare trembling worke your salvation And therefore it were blasphemous to say that absolutely all passions were ill for so the Scriptures should exhort vs to ill The reason also commonly allowed of Philosophers and Divines most pregnantly prooveth this veritie for if the motions of our willes be
brimstone from heaven vpon those infamous citties of Sodome and Gomorrha Sinne many examples more I could bring out of the old Testament as deaths of private men Princes submersions of armies dispersions of Countries mortalitie of thousands famin warres plagues captivities and imprisonments for no other cause inflicted than wickednesse and sinne but let vs only fixe our eies vpon the Sonne of God nayled vpon the Crosse and we shall see how sinne mangled his body and afflicted his soule those nayles teares streames of blood exclamations gall and paines are monuments of sinne and memories of our perverse and wicked life 26 Above all other evils incident to an evill life of great force to restraine our vntoward willes from vice is the extreame iniurie we offer to God by sinne transgressing his lawe perverting his order disposition and providence iniuring his infinite goodnes which ought of all creatures to be beloved despising his Maiestie to which as to their last end all men ought to direct their actions And finally shewing our selves vngratefull to his love the which ought to be affected with all submission obedience and gratitude 27 What can more deterre men from wickednesse then their owne private losse or move them more to vertue then their owne present gaine By vice our soules are spoyled of their riches their most precious robes heavenly attire by vertue they are apparelled by vice they are wounded even to the centre by vertue they are healed by vice they are impoverished by vertue enriched by vice they are defiled by vertue cleansed by vice they become dennes of devils by vertue seates of Angels 28 But some will obiect the soule is spirituall and her losses cannot so well be perceived but if we had some palpable sensible motives to draw vs from vice to vertue then the case would be altered But sensible reasons want not and no day or hower passeth wherein appeareth not some silent sermon or reall perswasion to avoyd sinne and follow goodnes Do we not see dayly men dye is not death of the body caused by the death of the soule is it not an effect of Adams originall disobedience Whence-from proceed so many diseases plagues and pestilences that Phisitians braines are troubled to know their number for the multitude or reduce them to method they are so disordered But say what brought first hunger and thirst sweate and labour toyling and moyling into this world but our forefathers gluttonie What made so many poore men such a number of beggars but Adams originall theft what causeth our dayes to be so short that many drop away in the very prime of their yeeres few come to the time their complexion requireth the strongest scarce arriveth to a hundred yeeres but our progenitours inordinate appetite of Divinitie and consequently of eternitie finally the terror of death ever imminent the dayly crosses in common conversation the distonsorted courses of the heavens with their influences tempests and stormes contrary to the generation and increase of fruites of the earth the disobedience of beasts the cruelty of men the craft and cosinage we dayly prove all descend from sinne and well admonish vs that if one sinne deserved so many so long so great punishments what will a multitude 29 Wicked men do not only by offences iniurie the maiestie of God but also they abuse his gifts and benefits not only like Scorpions they kill their mother before they be hatched but also like vngratefull debtours oppugne their creditours with their own goods for the vngodly vse that will God gave them to love him to hate him that wit he bestowed vpon them to meditate vpon his law commandements they pervert by thinking how to transgresse them that hart he imparted to affect their neighbours in pure love and charitie that they defile with malice and dishonestie that tongue he lent them to vtter his prayses that they blot with othes and blasphemies those hands he framed as flowing conduits to feede the poore those are wholy imployed to avarice and rapine and to be briefe that vniversall body and soule which ought to have bin kept in holines and sanctification they abuse to offend God with sinne and prevarication 30 To conclude all creatures which God created for the vse of man and as servants attended vpon him as their maister all they I say exclaime against a vitious life they are so many trumpets which cease not to sound the abuses we offer them by offending their Maker the Sunne giveth the light to worke works of light not to live in the shadow of darknes the Moone with her fecunditie inviteth thee to bring forth fruites of iustice and not iniquitie the harmonie of the heavens the multitude varietie brightnes of so many Starres and Planets exhort thee to subordinate thy soule to God to adorne thy minde with vertue to give good example and shine vnto men by a godly conversation Isay 24. 23. for otherwise in signe of revenge before the day of Mat. 24. 29. iudgement they will withdraw theyr beames fall from heaven vpon thee shew themselves as disdainefull to behold Mark 13. 24. sinners as sinners were carelesse to enioy the benefite of their influences and operations to the glory Wisd 5 18. Armabit creaturam ad vltionem immicorum of God and the profite of their soules By this it appeareth what abundance of meanes God hath imparted to vs to the intent all difficulties in the way of Vertue might with facility bee over-commed some be internall some externall some of grace some of nature some instructing the vnderstanding some inclining the affection some continuall some by turnes and to be briefe no man can say that God hath beene a niggard with him but that he hath beene vnanswerable to God The Impediments to Vertue MAn in this world standeth in the middest betwixt God and the divell both pretend to win him to their Kingdomes God to eternall pleasure Sathan to eternall payne God by his power could quickely deliver him and breake all the bondes and chaynes wherewith the divell did or doth bind him but his wisedome thought good not to admit any man of wisedome and discretion to his friendship without his ownâ— consent for as Saint Augustine saith Qui creavit te sine te non iustificabit te sine te He that created thee without thee that is thy consent or cooperation will not iustifie thee without thee that is thy consent cooperation Wherefore wee see Christ in Scriptures so often asked them whom he cured in body and healed in soule Vis Iohn 5. 6. Mat. 9. 2. 22. Luke 8. 50. sanus esse confide crede and such like speeches which signifie that hee would not cure any but them who were willing wherefore God would not oppose all his power and might against our ghostly enemies but onely such sweete meanes as might procure our assent and yet able to overthrow all the troupes of our adversaries he beats at
those vigilant virgins which attend with their Matth. 25. lamps lighted the comming of their heavenly spouse these be those carefull housholders which prevent infernall Matth. 24. 43. Luk. 12. 39. theeves lest they should rob their treasures these be those which live ever in peace and tranquillitie of Phil. 3. 20. minde who dwelling in earth converse in heaven The second reason and principall is ill education of the which we have spoken before yet I must say here with holy scripture that as it is impossible for the Ethiopean to change his skin so it is impossible for youth Iere. 13. 23. brought vp licentiously to change their ill maners for vse breedeth facilitie facilitie confirmeth nature nature strongly inclined can hardly be diverted from her common course but followeth her vitious determination It is a wonder to see how custome transporteth and changeth nature both in body and in soule the which may well be proved by the young Maide the Queene of India sent to Alexander the great the which being nourished from her youth with serpents poison had so changed her naturall constitution that if she had bitten any Aristot. ad Alexand. Vide Hieronimum Cagniolum de institutio principis § 7. man he presently died as Aristotle affirmeth that by experience he had proved even so as serpents poyson had changed her body so ill maners alter the soule and as her teeth poysoned that they bit so wicked men those soules with whom they talke Corrumpunt 1. Cor. 15. 33. bonos more 's colloquia prava and acuerunt linguas suas sicut serpentes nature therefore in tract of time Psal 139. 4. over-runne with so many weeds of wickednes abhorreth extreamely to supplant them loathing so long molestfull and continuall labor and therefore contenteth her selfe rather to eate the blacke beries of briers then the sweet cherries of vertue for this cause those children have a double bond to their parents schoolemaisters which distill even with milke into their mouths the sweet liquor of pietie vertue and good manners Quâ— semel est imbuta recens servaâ—it â—dorem testa diu â—laccâ—â— Of liquor first which earthen pot receives The smell it doth retaine for many dayes Whereunto agreeth that vulgare axiome of Philosophers Omnis habitus est difficilè separabilis à subiecte The third reason is present delectation for that we hope is future that pleasure worldlings perceive is present sensible delectation feedeth the corporall substance of sences and therefore we easily perceive it but vertue affecteth the soule not after so palpable and grosse manner therefore they despise it wherefore mens soules by inveterated customes vsed to sensuall and beastly delights either not beleeving or mistrusting or rather doubting of spirituall ioyes they neglect and for the most part care not for them contenting themselves with their present estate not looking any further and so as beasts they live and as beasts they dye according to that saying Home cum in honore esseâ— non intellexit Psal 48. 13. 21. comparatus est iumentis insipientibus similis factus est illis and so become sicut equus mulus in quibus non est Psal 31. 19. intellectus Finally the lacke of preservation hindereth our spirituall profite because I conceive our soules without prayer meditation the Sacraments of Christs church exercise of vertue and works of pietie not vnlike a dead body which for lack of a living soule dayly falleth away by putrifaction leeseth colour temperature and all sweetnesse and becommeth ghastly loathsome and stinking even so the soule without those balmes God hath prepared as preservatives it will be infected with vices and stincking with sinnes therefore those which neglect these benefits are not vnlike sicke men which know where medicines lie but will not seeke for them or receive them These foure causes I take to be the principall enimies Math. 11. 3â— of our spirituall life howbeit I doubt not that Christs yoke is sweete and his burthen easie if men would consider the meanes and accept those helps God hath bestowed vpon them But all meanes and helps which ordinarily we proove may be reiected by a wicked will Prov. 1. 24. Isa c. 5. 62. 2. Matth. 23. 37. and a hard indurated heart may resist the sweete calling of God Quia vocavi renuistis extendi manum meam non erat qui aspiceret By these Scriptures and many more we may easily Acts 7. 51. Mat. 11. 21. inferre that neither lacke of meanes nor lacke of grace hindereth vs from dooing well but our owne perverse and wicked will let vs but runne over two or three examples and we shall even touch with our fingers the certaintie of this veritie Consider but Adams fall how many meanes he had to do well and yet how basely he fell he first by Gods especiall grace was indued with so many internall gifts of vertues and knowledge that easily he might have observed that commandement the inferiour parts were subordinate by originall iustice to the superior so that passions could not assault him he had all beasts and the whole garden of Paradice with all the hearbs and trees at his pleasure therefore the precept was not so rigorous for what difficultie were it for a man to abstaine from one tree having the vse of thousands He knew most certainely how by eating into what a damnable estate he cast himselfe and all his posteritie wherefore the event might have taught him to prevent the cause but above all the perfit knowledge of the sinne he committed against God the extreme ingratitude disloyaltie and treacherie might have bridled his mouth from that poysoned Apple which brought present death of the soule and after a time a certaine death of the body But all these helps countervailed not his negligence in consideration and his ill will seduced with ambition Let vs take an other familiar example which dayly occurreth more common than commendable a woman married which breaketh her fidelitie promised to her husband marke but what helps she hath to restraine her from this sinne I omit the Sacraments of Christs Church the threatnings of death Gods iudgement and hell the enormious offence she committeth against God the abuse of his benefits the breach of his law the contempt of his grace the remorce of conscience the wounding of her soule and spoyling of the same all these and many more common helps graunted to all sinners I will speake nothing of albeit I thinke them sufficient to with-hold any ingenious heart from prevarication only let vs weigh those particular meanes she hath to abstaine and withdraw herselfe from this offence as the great iniurie she offereth her husband the breach of love betweene them the infamie wherevnto she for all her life shall be subiect the stayne of her kinred and friends for her fault redoundeth to their discredit as her good to their reputation the shamefastnesse wherewith God hath
of his Auditors I remember a Preacher in Italy who had such power over his Auditors affections that when it pleased him he could cause them shead aboundance of teares yea and with teares dropping downe their cheâ—ks presently turne their sorrow into laughter and the reason was because he himselfe being extreamely passionate knowing moreover the Arte of mooving the affections of those Auditors and besides that the most part were women that heard him whose passions are most vehement and mutable therefore hee might have perswaded them what hee listed The same commoditie may be gathered by all other Oratours as Embassadours Lawyers Magistrates See Aristotle Rhetorikes Captaines and whatsoever would perswade a multitude because if once they can stirre a Passion or Affection in their Hearers then they have almost halfe perswaded them for that the forces of strong Passions marvellously allure and draw the wit and will to judge and consent vnto that they are mooved Many things more might be saide concerning this matter but in all the other Chapters folowing except this first I meane to touch this point very largely As this Treatise affordeth great riches to the Physitian of the soule so it importeth much the Physitian of the bodie for that there is no Passion very vehement but that it alters extreamely some of the foure humors of the bodie and all Physitians commonly agree that among diverse other extrinsecall causes of diseases one and not the least is the excesse of some inordinate Passion for although it busieth their braines as also the naturall Philosophers to explicate the manner how an operation that lodgeth in the soule can alter the bodie and moove the humors from one place to another as for example recall most of the bloud in the face or other partes to the heart as wee see by daily experience to chance in feare and anger yet they consent that it See Fracastoriuâ— libr. de sympathia lib. 2. de intellectione circa medium may proceede from a certaine sympathie of nature a subordination of one part to another and that the spirites and humors wait vpon the Passions as their Lords and Maisters The Physitians therefore knowing by what Passion the maladie was caused may well inferre what humor aboundeth consequently what ought to be purged what remedy to be applied after how it may be prevented If all the aforesaide Professions may challenge each one a part in this Discourse surely the good Christian whose life is a warrefare vpon earth he who if he love his soule killeth it he whose studie principally standeth Iob 7. 1. in rooting outvice and planting of vertue hee Mar. 8. 35. whose indevour specially is imployed in crucifying old Adam and in refining the image of Christ he who pretendeth to be ruled by reason and not tyrannized by preposterous affection this man I say may best peruse this matter he may best meditate it he may best know where lieth the cave of those Serpents and Basiliskes who sucke out the sweete blood of his soule hee may see where the thorn sticketh that stingeth his heart finally he may view his domesticall enemie which never Matt. 10. 36. permits him to be quiet but molesteth in prosperitie deiecteth in adversitie in pleasure makes him dissolute in sadnesse desperate to rage in anger to tremble in feare in hope to faint in love to languish These were those temptations of the flesh that S. Paul did punish 1. Corint 9. 27 saying Castigo corpus meum in servitutem redigo I chasten my body and bring it into servitude these were those members the same Apostle exhorted vs to mortifie vpon earth Mortificate membra vestra quae Coloss 3. 5. sunt super terram Seeing then how all the life of a spirituall man ought to bee imployed in the expugnation of these molestfull Iebusites without all doubt it importes him much to knowe the nature of his enemies their stratagems and continuall incursions even vnto the gates of the chiefest castell of his soule I meane the very witte and will Not only the mortified Christian had need to know well his passions because by brideling them he winnes a great quietnesse of minde and enableth himselfe better to the service of God but also the civil Gentleman and prudent Polititian by penetrating the nature and qualities of his affections by restraining their inordinate motions winneth a gratious cariage of himselfe and rendereth his conversation most gratefull to men for I my selfe have seene some Gentlemen by blood and Noblemen by birth yet so appassionate in affections that their company was to most men intollerable for true is that Salomon saide Vir iracundus provocat Prover 15. 18. rixas qui patiens est mitigat suscitatas An angry man raiseth brawles but a patient man appeaseth them after they be raised And therefore howe vngratefull must his company seeme whose passions over-rule him and men had neede of an Astrolabe alwayes to see in what height or elevation his affections are lest by casting forth a sparke of fire his gun-powdred minde of a sodayne be inslamed I omit how he may insinuate himselfe into other mens love and affections how in traveling in strange countries he may discover to what passion the people are most inclined for as I haue seene by experience there is no Nation in Europe that hath not some extraordinarie affection either in pride anger lust inconstancie gluttonie drunkennesse slouth or such like passion much it importeth in good conversation to know exactly the companies inclination and his societie cannot but be gratefull whose passions are moderate and behaviour circumspect I say nothing of Magistrates who may by this matter vnderstand the inclinations and dispositions of their inferiors and subiects But finally I will conclude that this subiect I intreat of comprehendeth the chiefe obiect that all the antient Philosophers aymed at wherein they placed the most of their felicitie that was Nosce teipsum know thy selfe the which knowledge principally consisteth of a perfit experience every man hath of himselfe in particular and an vniversall knowledge of mens inclinations in common the former is helped by the latter the which knowledge is delivered in this Treatise What we vnderstand by Passions and Affections CHAP. II. THree sortes of actions proceede from mens soules some are internall and immateriall as the actes of our wittes and willes others be meere externall and materiall as the acts of our senses seeing hearing moving c. others stand betwixt these two extreames and border vpon them both the which wee may best discover in children because they lacke the vse of reason and are guided by an internall imagination following nothing else but that pleaseth their sences even after the same maner as bruite beastes doe for as we see beastes hate love feare and hope so doe children Those actions then which are common with vs and beastes wee call Passions and Affections or pertuâ—bations of the mind Motus saith saint
and prints of obiects for vnderstanding even so the heart endued with most fiery spirites fitteth best for affecting Lastly for what other reason in feare and anger become men so pale and wanne but that the blood runneth to the heart to succour it I saw once in Genoa a Bandite condemned to death and going to Execution to tremble so extraordinarily that he needed two to support him all the way and for all that he shivered extreamely Besides whence-from proceedeth laughter dauncing singing and many such externall singes of ioy but as wee say from a merrie heart therefore ioy and feare dwell in the heart Howbeit I thinke this most true and especially in those passions which are about obiectes absent as love hatred hope flight ire and such like yet I cannot but confesse that when the obiectes are present and possessed by sense then the passions inhabite not onely the heart but also are stirred vp in every part of the body whereas any sensitive operation is exercised for if wee taste delicate meates smell muske or heare musicke we perceyve notonely that the heart is affected but that also the passion of ioy delighteth those partes of our sences the like wee prove in payne and griefe for which cause commonly wee say our teeth ake our fingers toes or legges payne vs Payne therefore and Pleasure beeing Passions of the Minde and evermore felt in that part of the bodie where Sense exerciseth her operations therefore as touching is dispersed thorow the whole bodie even so the Passions of pleasure and payne for in everie parte if it bee cherished it reioyceth if be hurte it payneth Yet supposing the Passions principally reside in the hearte as wee perceyve by the concourse of humours thereunto wee may demaund two curious questions The former is for what ende hath Nature given this alteration or flocking of humours to the hearte It seemeth questionlesse for some good ende for God and Nature worke not by chaunce or without respecting some benefite of the subiect To the which question it may bee answered First Why humors flocke to the heart in passions that the humours concurre to helpe dispose and enable the heart to worke such operations for as we prove by experience if a man sleepe with open eyes although his sight be marvellous excellent yet he seeth nothing because in sleepe the purer spirites are recalled into the inner partes of the body leaving the eyes destitute of spirits and abandoned of force which presently in waking returne againe euen so I conceive the heart prepared by nature to digest the blood sent from the liver yet for divers respectes not to have the temperature which all Passions require for love will have heate and sadnesse colde feare constringeth and pleasure dilateth the heart therefore which was to bee subiect to such diversities of Passions by Nature was deprived of all such contrary dispositions as the Philosophers say that Materia prima caret omni forma quia omnes formas recipere debet And although the hearte hath more excesse of heate than colde yet a little melancholly blood may quickly change the temperature and render it more apt for a melancholly Passion The second reason may be for that these humours affecting the heart cause payne or pleasure thereby inviting Nature to prosecute the good that pleaseth and to flie the evill that annoyeth as in the Common-wealth Vertue ought to be rewarded with preferment and vice to be corrected with punishment even so in this little common-wealth of our bodies actions conformable to Nature are repayde with pleasure and passions disconsorting nature punished with payne The other question concerneth the efficient cause of these humours what causeth their motions to the heart they themselves as it were flie vnto the heart or the parte where they soiourned sendeth or expelleth them from her and so for common refuge they runne to the heart or finally the heart draweth them vnto it This difficultye requireth an answere whereby many such like questions may bee resolved as for example when the meate in our stomackes is sufficiently disgested the chile which there remayneth prepared to be sent to the liver for a further concoction doth it ascend thither by it selfe as vapours to the head or doth the stomacke expell it or the liver drawe and sucke it To this demaund I answere that in mine opinion the partes from whence these humours come vse their expulsive vertue sending the spirites choler or blood to serve the heart in such necessity as the hand lifteth vp it selfe to defend the head howbeit I doubt not but the heart also affected a little with the passion draweth more humors so encreaseth Many more curious obiections here I omit which perhaps would delight the more subtil wits but hardly of many to be conceived What sort of persons be most passionate CHAP. X. OVt of the precedent Chapter we may gather how that the heart is the seate of our passions that spirites and humours concurre with them here we may deduce a conclusion most certayne and profitable that according to the disposition of the heart humours and body divers sortes of persons be subiect to divers sortes of passions and the same passion affecteth divers persons in divers manners for as we see fire applyed to drie wood to yron to flaxe and gunpowder worketh divers wayes for in wood it kindleth with some difficulty and with some difficulty is quenched but in flaxe soone it kindleth and quencheth in yron with great difficulty is it kindled and with as great extinguished but in gunpowder it is kindled in a moment and never can bee quenched till the powder be consumed Some men you shall see not so soone angrie nor yet soone pleased and such be commonly fleugmatike persons others you have soone angrie soone friended as those of a sanguine complexion and therefore commonly they are called good fellowes others be hardly offended and afterward with extreame difficulty reconciled as melancholy men others are all fiery and in a moment at every trifle they are inflamed and till their heartes be consumed almost with choller they never cease except they be revenged By this we may confirme that olde saying to be true Animi mores corporis temperaturam sequâ—ntur the manners of the soule followe the temperature of the body And as in maladies of the body every wise man feeleth best his owne griefe euen so in the diseases of the soule every one knoweth best his owne inclination neverthelesse as Physitions commonly affirme how there be certayne vniversall causes which incline our bodies to divers infirmities so there are certayne generall causes which move our soules to sundry passions First young men generally are arrogant prowde prodigall incontinent given to all sortes of pleasure Their pride proceedeth from lacke of experience for they will vaunt of their strength beautie and wittes because they have not yet tryed sufficiently how farre they reach how frayle they are therefore they make more account of them
their eyes and gestures may quickely be marked so honest matrons by their grave and chaste lookes may soone be discerned To which effect the Spose sayd vnto his Spouse Vulnerasti cor meum in vno oculorum tuorum Cantic 4. 9. Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes because thorow the window of her eye hee beheld the chastitie of her heart By this wee may knowe the cause why children and epsecially women cannot abide to looke in their fathers masters or betters faces because even nature it selfe seemeth to teach them that thorowe their eyes they see their heartes neyther doe we holde it for good manners that the inferiour should fixe his eyes vpon his superiors countenance and the reason is because it were presumption for him to attempt the entrance or privy passage into his superiors minde as contrariwise it is lawful for the superior to attempt the knowledge of his inferior The Scriptures also teach vs in the face of a harlot to reade the impuritie of her heart Mulieris fornicatiâ— in extollentia oculorum Eccles 26. in palpebris illius agnoscetur The fornication of a woman shall be knowen by the lifting vp of her eyes and in her eye-bries Hereby also we may perceyve the cause of blushing for that those that have committed a fault are therein deprehended or at least imagine they are thought to have committed it presently if they be Candidae naturae that is of an honest behaviour and yet not much grounded in vertue they blush because nature beeing afrayd lest in the face the fault should be discovered sendeth the purest blood to be a defence and succour the which effect commonly is iudged to proceede from a good and vertuous nature because no man can but allowe that it is good to bee ashamed of a fault And thus to conclude we must confesse that Passions have certayne effectes in our faces howbeit some doe shew them more evidently than others Yet wee may not say that this face is the roote and kore where the Passions reside but onely the rhinde and leaves which shew the nature and goodnesse of both the roote and the kore That there are Passions in the reasonable soule CHAP. VIII NOw that we have determined how the Passions must dwell in an other soyle than the face the order of methode requireth wee should wade deeper into the soule to view if in the reasonable part we might finde out their habitation And to be briefe in this poynt I thinke it cannot Three causes why there bee affections in the will like those which reside in the sensitiue appetite be douted vpon but that there are some affections in the highest and chiefest part of the soule not vnlike to the Passions of the Minde for to God the Scriptures ascribe love hate ire zeale who cannot be subiect to any sensitive operations And therefore as in him they are perfections and we are commaunded and may imitate him in them there is no reason why they should be denyed vnto vs in such sort as they be perfite and that is principally in the Will Besides we know most certaynely that our sensitive appetite cannot love hate feare hope c. but that by imagination or our sensitive apprehension we may conceyve for Malum amare possumus incognitum vero amare non possumus wee may love an ill thing but wee cannot love an vnknowne thing nowe experience teacheth vs that men doe feare the iudgements of God they love him and hope in him they hate sinne and finally exercise many notable affections which reason prescribeth and whereunto the sensitive apprehension ascendeth not Furthermore as beneath shall be declared the sensitive appetite often yea and for the most part traleth and haleth the will to consent and follow her pleasures and delights even for the same reason that she pretendeth the as for example I would to God it were not true howe oft yeeldeth the will to the appetite in procuring sensuall pleasures and pastimes for no other ende than to pleasure the vnpleasable appetites and lustes of the flesh this experience more pregnantly prooveth it than any reason can confirme it finally as our witte vnderstandeth whatsoever our senses perceive even so our will may affect whatsoever out passions doe follow for as the obiect of the wit is all trueth teall or apparant so the obiect of our will is all goodnesse indeede or carrying the glosse thereof Neverthelesse I must confesse that these affections which reside in the will differ much in nature and qualitie from those that inhabite the inferior partes of the soule because these being bredde and borne in the highest part of the soule are immateriall spirituall independant of any corporall subiect but those of the sensitive appetite are materiall corporall and depending vpon some bodily instruments as beneath shall be delivered That the heart isc the peuliar place where that Passions allodge CHAP. IX NO Philosopher can deny but that our Passions are certayne accidents and qualities whose immediate subiect house and lodging is the very facultie and power of the soule because all vitall operations of which sort Passions are challenge by right that the mother which hatched them should also sustayne them and harbour them in her owne house But a question may be demaunded and not easily resolved whether the faculty of our sensitive appetite hath allotted vnto it some peculiar part of the body where shee exerciseth her proper functions and operations for as wee see by experience the facultie of seeing the power of hearing the sense of smelling tasting and touching have assigned vnto them divers corporall instruments habitations or seates wherein they see heare smell taste and touch as eyes eares nose tongue flesh and sinewes nowe the question propounded is thus to bee vnderstood whether may there be determined any Parte of the bodie wherein peculiarly the passions of the minde are effected To which question I answere that the very seate of all Passions is the hearte both of men and beastes divers reasons move me to this opinion First the very common experience men trie daily and hourely in themselves for who loveth extreamely and feeleth not that passion to dissolve his hearte who reioyceth and proveth not his heart dilated who is moyled with heavinesse or plunged with payne and perceiveth not his heart to bee coarcted whom inflameth ire and hath not heart-burning By these experiences wee proove in our hearts the working of Passions and by the noyse of their tumult wee vnderstande the woorke of their presence The second reason is because as our sensitive apprehension hath her seate in the brayne for we all proove that in vnderstanding we especially bend the force of our soule to the former part thereof so the affections and passions in proportionate manner must have some corporall organ and instrument and what more convenient than the heart for as the brayne fitteth best for the softnesse and moysture to receyve the formes
passion continueth the force of our imagination because whatsoever passeth by the gates of our senses presently entreth into the court of our imagination where the sensitive appetite doth entertaine it therefore seeing all passions cause some sence or feeling more or lesse in the body so long as they endure the imagination likewise representeth to the vnderstanding so long the obiect of the passion and as a deceitfull Counsellor corrupteth his Iudge The last reason which importeth more then both the other proceedeth from a naughty will for that the soule hauing rooted in it these two partes sensitive and reasonable the will perceiving that the soule reioyceth she also contenteth herselfe that the inferior appetite should enioy her pleasure or eschew her griefe with reason or against reason she careth not so she may be made partaker as the great Turke permitteth every one to live in his Religion so they pay him tribute And for this cause she commandeth the witte to employ all the power and force to finde out reasons and perswasions that all the appetite demaundeth standeth with reason and is lawfull the which collusion I take to be one of the rootes of all mischiefes that nowe cover the face of the world that is a wicked will commanding the wit to finde out reasons to pleade for Passions for this corrupteth yea wholy destroyeth the remorce of conscience the carefull gardian of the soule this maketh men obstinate in all enormious vices for when the witte is once perswaded and no further appellation can be admitted then the soule is confirmed almost in malice this maketh so many Atheists for vinum mulieres apostatare Eccles 19. faciunt sapientes wine and women make men leave Religion for as wine maketh men drunke and robbeth the vse of reason so inordinate love and affection make drunke the soule and deprive it of iudgement this in fine robbeth soules from God and carrieth them to the divell For if we examine exactly the groundes and origens of Apostasie from true fayth and the causes of heresies we shall finde them to be some one or other wicked vice of the will or vehement Passion which perverteth the iudgement specially when the Religion forbiddeth or punisheth those vices wherevnto the wicked will or Passions tend S. Augustine relateth diuers who denyed the tormentes of hell and their Eternitie thereby to flatter their vitious affections Aug. lib. 1. de â—â—â— cap. 18. with a pretended assurance of impunitie S. Chrysostome reporteth that the arch-heretike Paulus Samosetanus for Chrysost hom 7. in Iohan. the love of a woman forsooke his fayth and religion S. Gregorie the great imputeth it to avarice and covetousnesse that many fall from their faith or not admit a true faith for the Iew that thirsteth after Vsury will hardly admit Christianitie which shutteth from the Gregor lib 20. moral cap. 12. holy mount of Gods eternal blessednesse all those that lende their money to Vsurie as in the 14. Psalme is manifest Furthermore wee may aptly remonstrate how inordinate Passions cause and ingenerate in the soule all those vices which are opposite to prudence The first is Precipitation or Rashnesse which is nothing else but Precipitation an vncircumspect or vnripe resolution or determination in affaires or negotiations for the iudgement being blinded with the Passion considereth not exactly for the importance of the businesse those circumstances which may withdraw it from the prosecution of such a vitious action I remember that when I was in Italy there was a Scottish Gentleman of most rare and singular partes who was a Retainer to a Duke of that Countrey hee was a singular good Scholler and as good a Souldier it chanced one night the yong Prince either vpon some spleene or false suggestion or to trie the Scots valour mette him in a place where hee was wont to haunt resolving eyther to kill wound or beate him and for this effect conducted with him two of the best Fencers hee could finde the Scot had but one friende with him in fine a quarrell is pickt they all draw the Scot presently ranne one of the Fencers thorow and killed him in a trice with that hee bended his forces to the Prince who fearing least that which was befallen his Fencer might happen vpon himselfe he exclaimed out instantly that he was the Prince and therefore willed him to looke about him what he did the Scot perceyving well what he was fell downe vpon his knees demaunding pardon at his handes and gave the Prince his naked rapier who no sooner had receyved it but with the same sword he ranne him thorow to death the which barbarous fact as it was condemned of all men so it sheweth the Precipitation of his passionate irefull heart for if hee had considered the humble submission of his servant and loyaltie of his subiect and valour of his souldier if he had weighed the cowardlinesse of his fact the infamie that hee should thereby incurre hee would never have precipitated into so savage an offence But if with overmuch rashnesse a man contemne or despise any Lawe preferring his passionate iudgement before the prescript of lawe and reason then his headdinesse is termed Temeritie The second vice is Inconstancie which is a change Inconstancie or alteration of that purpose or resolution which a man had prudently determined before And this we may daily try in al incontinent persons who resolutely determine in the calme of their passions never to fal into their former filthinesse but presently when the Passion ariseth all the good resolutions are forgotten and that which an vnpassionate mind detested a passionate soule most effectually pursueth Not much vnlike that which David once writ of himselfe Ego dixi in abundantia Psalme 29. mea non movebor in aeternum I sayde once in my abundance or as the Calde text hath in my tranquillitie I will not be moved eternally Avertisti nanum tuum factus sum conturbatus Thou turnedst away thy hand and I was troubled as if he had sayde thou permittedst me to be troubled with a Passion and then my confident determination was changed The third vice against Prudence groweth vpon excesse of wicked consideration as precipitation inconstancie Astutia or craftinesse vpon the want or defect of circumspection For the Passion delighting or afflicting the minde causeth the iudgement to thinke invent devise all meanes possible eyther to enioy the Passion of delight or to avoyde the molestation of sadnesse and feare Wherefore Love is sayd to be Ingeniosissimus most wittie for the thought of such matters as concerneth love continually delighting the minde and rolling daily and hourely in the fancie suggesteth a worlde of conceites and inventions to finde out meanes and wayes to nourish preserve and increase the Passion insomuch as they which love vehemently are never well but eyther with them whom they love or solitary by themselves coyning some new practises to execute their inordinate love and
affections No better proofe we neede of this matter then the infinite experiences in every Countrie are tryed The same I may say of Ire Ambition c. All which Passions consisting in prosecution of some thing desired and bringing with them a certaine sence of delight enforce the mindâ— for fostering and continuing that pleasure to excogitate new meanes and wayes for the performance thereof How Passions seduce the Will CHAP. II. WIthout any great difficultie may be declared how Passions seduce the Will because the witte being the guide the The first reason why passions seduce the will eie the stirrer and directer of the Wil which of it selfe beeing blinde and without knowledge followeth that the wit representeth propoundeth and approveth as good and as the sensitive appetite followeth the direction of imagination so the Will affecteth for the most part that the vnderstanding perswadeth to bee best Wherefore the waves and billowes of apparant reasons so shake the sandye shealfe of a weake Will that they The second reason mingle it with them and make all one Besides the sensitive appetite beeing rooted in the same soule with the Will if it be drawne or flieth from any obiect consequently the other must follow even so the obiect that haleth the sensitive appetite draweth withall the Will and inclining her more to one part than another diminisheth her libertie and freedome Moreover the Will by yeelding to the Passion receyveth some little bribe of pleasure the which moveth her to let the bridle loose vnto inordinate appetites because she hath ingrafted in her two inclinations the one to follow Reason the other to content the Sences and this inclination the other beeing blinded by the corrupt iudgement caused by inordinate Passions here she feeleth satisfied Finally the Will being the governesse The third reason of the Soule and loathing to bee troubled with much dissention among her subiectes as an vncarefull Magistrate neglecteth the good of the Common-weale to avoyde some particular mens displeasure so the Will being afrayde to displease sense neglecteth the care she ought to have over it especially perceyving that the Soule thereby receyveth some interest of pleasure or escheweth some payne By this alteration which Passions worke in the Witte and the Will we may vnderstand the admirable Metamorphosis and change of a man from himselfe when his affectes are pacified and when they are troubled Plutarch sayde they changed them like Circes potions Plutarch in moralib from men into beastes Or we may compare the Soule without Passions to a calme Sea with sweete pleasant and crispling streames but the Passionate to the raging Gulfe swelling with waves surging by tempests minacing the stony rockes and endevouring to overthrowe Mountaines even so Passions make the Soule to swell with pride and pleasure they threaten woundes death and destruction by audacious boldnesse and ire they vndermine the mountaines of Vertue with hope and feare and in summe never let the Soule be in quietnes but ever eyther flowing with Pleasure or ebbing with Payne How Passions alter the Body CHAP. III. ALthough in the ninth Chapter sufficiently was declared how the Passions of the minde alter the humours of the body yet some peculiar discourses concerning that matter were reserved for this place Two sortes of Passions affect all men some as wee sayde before dilate and some compresse and restringe the heart Of the first was sayd Vita carninum est cordis Proverb 14. 3â— sanitas the life of flesh is the health of heart for indeed a ioyfull and quiet heart reviveth all the partes of the body Of the other was written Spiritus tristis exsiccat prb 17. ossa a sadde Spirit dryeth the bones And for that all Passions bring with them ioy or payne dilate or coarct the heart therefore I thinke it not amisse to declare the reason why these two Passions worke such alterations in the body to the end that by the knowledge of them we may attayne to the vnderstanding of the rest Pleasure and Delight if it bee moderate bringeth health because the purer spirites retyre vnto the heart and they helpe marvellously the digestion of blood so that thereby the heart engendreth great aboundance and most purified spirites which after being dispersed thorow the body cause a good concoction to be made in all partes helping them to expel the superfluities they also cleare the braine and consequently the vnderstanding For although while the Passion endureth it blindeth a little the indifferent iudgement yet after that it is past it rendereth the brayne better disposed and apter to represent whatsoever occurreth for speculation From good concoction expulsion of supersluities and aboundance of spirites proceedeth a good colour a cleere countenance and an vniversall health of the body But if the Passion of pleasure bee too vehement questionlesse it causeth great infirmitie for the heart being continually invironed with great abundance of spibecommeth too hote and inflamed and consequently engendereth much cholericke and burned blood Besides it dilateth and resolveth the substance of the heart too much in such sort as the vertue and force thereof is greatly weakened Wherefore Socrates was wont to say that those men which live continently and frugally had more pleasure and lesse payne than those who with great care procured inticements to pleasure because intemperate pleasures besides the remorce of minde infamie and povertie which waiteth vpon them for the most part hurt more the body than delight it And some with too vehement laughter have ended their dayes as Philemon did Plutarch recounteth also howe Erasm lib. 6. Apotheg Plutarch in Hannib the Romanes leesing to Hannibal newes was brought to Rome and specially to two women that their sonnes were slaine afterwards a remnant of the souldiers returning these two afflicted ranne with many more to know the manner of their sonnes deaths and amongst the rest found them both alive who for ioy gave vp their ghosts And vniversally after much pleasure and laughter men feele themselves both to languish and to be melancholy Yet the Passions which coarct the heart as feare sadnesse and despayre as they bring more payne to the minde so they are more dangerous to the body and commonly men proove lesse harme in those than in these and many have lost their lives with sadnesse and feare but few with love and hope except they changed themselves into heavinesse and despayre The cause why sadnesse doth so moove the forces of the body I take to be the gathering together of much melancholy blood about the heart which collection extinguisheth the good spirits or at least dulleth them besides the heart being possessed by such an humour cannot digest well the blood and spirites which ought to be dispersed thorow the whole body but converteth them into melancholy the which humour being colde and drie dryeth the whole body and maketh it wither away for colde extinguisheth heate and drynesse moysture which two qualities principally concerne life These
Passions prevayle often so much with men that they languish away and die as it befell to the Marquesse of Santa Cruz in Spaine the Generall to the Kinges Navie against the Frenchmen who had taken the Azores and D. Diego di Padiglia the Governour of the Castle of Millan who receyving certayne wordes of disgrace from the King of Spaine they permitted themselves to be so ore-ruled with the melancoly Passion that they scarce could chawe their meate and swallowe it downe at least they never made good digestion and so with an vngracious death they ended their disgraced life Questionlesse this vehement sorte of Passions proceedeth from an high prowde and ambitious minde and without all doubt extraordinarie selfe-love the which although by Gods Lawe they are prohibited yet by the vayne humours of men such spirites are highly prized I remember that in Italy after the yeere one thousand five hundred eighty and eight I heard divers Italian Captaines greatly condemning the Duke of Medina Sidonia the King of Spaines Generall in his Navie against England because he dyed not of Melancholy for that his Fleete miscarried so basely and was foyled by the English Forces so easily What Maladies growe by cares and heavinesse many can testifie and fewe men there bee which are not subiect to some melancholy humour that often assaulteth them troubling their mindes and hurting their bodies the olde Physitians can witnesse this veritie confirmed by long experience and registred in verse as a Medicine to all Posteritie Si vis incolumem si te vis reddere sanum Schola salerna Curas tolle graves irasci crede prophanum If thou wilt live in health devoyde of griefe and payne Set carking cares aloofe and choler thinke prophane And Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sorrowes to men diseases bring And Salomon Tristitiam longè expelle à te Multos Eccles 30. 25 enim c. Expell sadnesse farre from thee For sadnesse hath killed many neither is there any profite in it Zeale that is envie emulation or indignation and anger shorten thy dayes and Thought that is superfluous care and sollicitude bring old Age before her time To conclude I am of opinion that Passions cause many Maladies and welnie all are increased by them for that all payne engendreth melancholy which for the most part nourisheth all diseases for many we reade of that were cured by mirth but never any by sorrow or heavinesse When Alfonsus King of Naples was abandoned of his Physitians as in a desperate case then he called for Quintus Curtius and tooke such delight to heare him reade that hee recovered his health agayne and presently reiected his Physitians as not able to cure by Physicke that he obtained by alittle delight This fact I cannot greatly commend for Physicians and Medicines were ordained by God and a wise man wil not despise them it may bee Quintus Curtius pacified the Kinges melancholy minde which no medicine could doe Yet there occurreth one poynt in this matter not to be omitted that Passions ingender Humors and Humors breede Passions how Passions cause Humors we have hitherto sufficiently declared but how Humors stirre vp Passions must now be delivered We reade in the Machabees how before they led the Elephants to fight in warres they accustomed to mingle iuyce of grapes and mulberies together to sharpen and incense them more to battell and it seemeth a thing frequented in many Nations to stirre vp beastes to fight by shewing them some redde colour for thereby they imagine that the sight of blood inflameth them to the shedding of blood as in Spaine they vse when they chace their wild Bulles and in Italy their Bufaloes The true cause why beastes are incensed with a redde colour Valesius an excellent Physitian rendreth for saith he the sight of redde things according to the common opinion of Galen and other Physitians stirreth and inflameth the blood therefore they prohibite those which are much given to bleeding to behold any redde colour And I my selfe in Italy have heard Physitians commaund that redde clothes coveringes and hangings should bee taken from before the patients which were labouring in a tertian Agew because they affirmed that red colours mooved and inflamed the blood Now if the blood of Elephants being incensed with a red colour had force to stirre in them the Passion of Ire in battell how much more may we say that if much hote blood abound in the body that subiect by the force of that Humor shall easily and often bee mooved to anger if temperate blood abound or be mingled with fleugme to mirth if melancholy exceede to griefe and heavinesse And in effect we proove in dreames and Physitians prognosticate by them what humor aboundeth for Choler causeth fighting blood and wounds Melancholy disgrace feares affrightments ill successe and such like these dreames are caused by the spirites which ascend into the imagination the which being purer or grosser hotter or colder more or lesse which diversitie dependeth vpon the humours of the bodie moove divers Passions according to their Nature And for this cause we may resolve another difficulty why some men are alwayes almost merry others for the most part melancholy others ever angry this diversity must come from the naturall constitution of the body wherein one or other humor doth predominate The selfe same cause may be alledged why sometimes wee feele our selves we know not why mooved to Miâ—th Melancholy or Anger insomuch that any little occasion were sufficient to incense that Passion for as these humors depend vpon the heavens ayre sleepe and waking meate and drinke exercise and rest according to the alterations of these externall causes one or other Humor doth more or lesse over-rule the body and so causeth alteration of Passions Out of this discourse and the 9. Chapter we may resolve some prettie curious Questions more talkt of and practised then well vnderstood The first is how can possibly a mans conceite worke strange effectes in his body As for example Hypocrates exhorteth Physitians if two kindes of meate were to be ministred to a Patient the one healthfull and the other a little hurtful or not so good as the other that they should preferre this being much desired before that not so well liked and generally both Philosophers and Physitians maintayne that the opinion of the Patient of the Physitians knowledge and goodnesse of the Phisicke importeth much for the curing of any maladie The reason is plaine for these and such like experiences for the Imagination herein though erroneously conceaving things better then indeede and really they are causeth a vehement Passion of Hope wherewith followeth an extraordinary Pleasure in the things which two Passions awake or rowze vp the puâ—er Spirits and vnite them together qualifying and resining them in the best maner which thus combined do most effectually co-operate with Nature strengthen her in the performance of any corporall action or vitall operation Secondly how S. Austens opinion may
betwixt gluttonie and scarcitie fortitude betwixt desperat boldnesse and superfluous feare called timiditie Men commonly by nature are more enclined to one of these extreames than another as most men are giuen to couetousnesse few to prodigalitie more to eat too much than to eat too little more to be afraid when they need not than to be too bold when they ought to be afraid If then thou trie thy selfe not vehemently inclined to any of these passions yet sometimes to exceed in one extreame sometime in another commonly the securest way to be practised is to incline thy selfe to that extreame which men by nature most vehemently abhorre as prodigalitie scarceuesle in diet boldnesse in daungers But if thou perceiue a vehement inclination to the one extreame procure to bend thy selfe as farre to the other for so thou shalt with more facilitie come to the middest as commonly the Philosophers declare by the example of a crooked staffe the which to make straight we bend to the other side and make it as crooked contrariwise as it was before The second rule to moderate passions we may learne Solus in illicitis non cadit qui se aliquando a licitis caute restringit Gregor lib. 5. moral hom 35. super Euan. of Socrates who to bridle extraordinarie and vnlawfull pleasures was accustomed to abstaine from lawfull and not prohibited For if one be addicted to drunkennesse he shall with more facilitie ouercome this passion if he abstaine from strong drinkes he most affecteth euen at such times as lawfully he may vse them The third rule to flie occasions which may incense the passion whereunto we are inclined for occasiones factunt latrones a commodious and fit occasion to steale maketh oftentimes theeues which otherwise would haue been honest men wherefore he that committeth himselfe to sea in a boisterous tempest deserueth to suffer shipwrack he that willingly without necessitie dealeth with infected persons may blame himselfe if he fall into their diseases so hee that is giuen to lasciuiousnesse and vseth riotous companie may condemne his owne wilfulnesse if his passions rebell and ouercome him For this cause God commaunded that the Nazarites which were consecrated to him should drinke no Wine not any thing that might cause drunkennesse and least they should by eating grapes or great reisins be allured to the Num 6. drinking of wine he commaunded them they should neither eat grapes nor reisins So hee that will not bee guided by affectiōs must diligently auoid occasions Yet this rule ought not to be vnderstood vniuersally for it is conuenient to find out occasions to exercise some passions as to seeke the poore to practise the passion of pitie to visit the sick to shew compassion to exercise learning to ouercome feare But in such passions as Nature more than willingly would follow best it were to flie occasions as he that will liue chast must eschew much familiaritie with suspected persons and vniuersally with all women not looking vpon them nor touching except necessitie or good manners in some few cases requireth The same may be said of gluttonie pride and such like whereunto our corrupt nature is much inclined yet if some man by experience haue prooued such passions not to be very rebellious and that for most part he hath ouerruled them he may be something the bolder yet let him not be too confident for the Fox often seemes to be dead to seize more assuredly vpon his prey The fourth remedie for noble spirits singular of baser mindes abhorred yet of both worthie to be practised may be drawne out of the very poyson of passions that is when a most vehement and rebellious motion assaulteth thee when the fiercenesse and tyrannie thereof welnigh possesseth thee when thou art almost yeelding consent vnto it then turne the force of thy soule with as much indeauour as thou canst to the contrarie and with one naile driue out another make of tentations 1. Cor. 10. 11. 2. Cor. 8. 9. a benefit let vertue in infirmitie and weakenesse of resistance be more perfit and ennobled For as in warres the valiantest souldiours in greatest incounters are best tried so in most vehement passions the resolutest minds are best prooued For Iosephs chastitie had neuer been so glorious if his vnchast ladie had not so vehemently allured him to defile the bed of his lord Iobs patience had neuer been so conspicuous if the passion of griefe and sadnesse had not so violently seized vpon him Abrahams fortitude had neuer beene so heroicall if the death of his onely sonne had not cut in a manner his heart strings asunder This meane to mortifie passions I take to be one of the most forcible and important remedies that men can vse especially for two causes the first for that by these contrarie acts are bred in the soules certaine habites helpes stayes or inclinations most opposite vnto our passions and therefore the passions being strong they cannot be ouercommed but by the might of excellent vertue for as the deeper a tree is rooted in the ground it requireth greater force to pull it vp euen so the greater possession the passion hath taken of the soule the greater vertue it needeth to supplant it It seemeth that Iob after Iob. 13. 15. so many temptations practised this remedie when he said Etiamsi occideret me in ipso sperabo Although God kill me yet I will hope in him For questionlesse those pains and pangs did incite him to desperation the which with contrarie trust in God he most valiantly suppressed Another cause may be yeelded for that many passions proceed not onely from the inclinations of nature alterations of humours but by the very suggestion of the diuell who watcheth his oportunitie to take men at an aduantage and to induce them to sundry inordinat affections for which cause they are called very often in Scriptures vncleane spirits because they leade men into vncleane passions and actions The diuell therefore seeing his temptations so valiantly resisted his poysoned darts rebounding into his owne breast I meane his illusions redound to his owne shame and confusion dareth not be so bold another time to inuade so strong a sort but with all his troupe will flie from it as a swarme of filthie flies dare not approch neere vnto a boyling pot Resistite diabolo fugiet à vobis resist the diuell and he Iames 4. 7. will flie from you The fift remedie not inferiour to the precedent is to resist passions at the beginning vse the remedie for vertue that Pharaoh practised for tyrannie in killing all the infants of the Iews least they should encrease too much and so ouerrun his countrey While the sore is greene seldome surgeons despaire but festred once they hardly cure it so passions while they knocke at the doore of our mindes whilest they are a little entertained if you expell them not quickly they will allodge longer with you than you would haue them And the most easie
thing to the purpose that wee perceiue better our desires of the soule without any corporall alteration of the body than either loue pleasure or hatred for this comment spoyleth the text because hardly we conceiue any actions of the soule but by these corporall alterations the which induce vs to name them according to Thomas his meaning neither is it true that we prooue by experience without the motions of the body more sensibly concupiscence than ioy or sadnesse and this assumption was admitted of Caietane without any probation Wherefore I thinke we may best say that of all passions wee prooue paine griefe sadnesse pleasure feare and delectation are most notoriously knowne yet because these vehement passions doe not affect vs so commonly but at certaine times and desires of those things we loue continue the longest and fall foorth oftenest therefore men called our sensitiue appetite Concupiscibilis coueting First of all then sadnesse most manifestly is knowne to vs because wee suffer often and feele most sensible paine then pleasure then feare the other are not so open but sometimes they may exceed and so more shew themselues as ire desperation c. Order of Passions in generation or production 2 DIuines and Philosophers commonly affirme that all other passions acknowledge loue to be their fountaine root and mother the reason I take to be for that al passions either prosecut some good or flie some euill those which flie euill as hatred feare sadnesse presuppose the loue of some good the which that euill depriueth as for example who hateth death but he which loueth life who feareth aduersity but he that loueth prosperitie who is pensiue in his sickenesse but hee that loueth health Loue then goeth before all those passions which eschew euil Amongst them which prosecute good loue likewise proceedeth for the passions of our minds are not vnlike the motions of our bodies For as things naturally mooued haue an appetite or naturall inclination to the place whereunto they are mooued mooue and rest therein as the water which runneth so fast downe the mountaines hath an instinct of Nature to be vnited with the Sea for which cause we see brookes and flouds runne with such a maine force to attaine thereunto when they come to the Sea presently they ioyne in friendship and liue in concord ioyning together as louing friends euen so we see in beastes the horse loueth water when hee is thirstie and therefore by desire hee seeketh out some riuer or fountaine when he hath found it he drinketh pleaseth himself therewith and so resteth contented This ordinarie course keepe passions but sometimes this subordination is changed for if a man bee wounded vpon a sodaine the present passion of griefe and ire inuade him and so per accidens in many other cases the foresaid order may be broken Order of Passions in Intention 3 IF we discourse of those Passions which reside in the sensitiue appetite it euer first intendeth pleasure and delight because therewith Nature is most contented from which intention followeth loue hatred ire and such like this passion beasts most desire yea children and sensuall persons wholy seeke after and direct almost their whole actions thereunto for pleasure is the polestare of all inordinat passions and if a man examine himselfe thorowly he shal find that riches glorie health learning and what else most men desire aime commonly at pleasure and delight of the body because these pleasures are easily perceiued and in them the soule seemeth to purchase a quiet rest Neuerthelesse vertuous men whose passiōs are ruled by reason leuel at a higher mark and subordinate pleasure to honestie and delight to vertue because as we say Glorie waiteth on Vertue as the shadow followeth the body euen so vnto good actions followeth a certaine pleasure and sweetnesse howbeit a good man giueth almes yet dooth he not giue it with intention men should commend him as hypocrites do and so be repayd with the pleasure of a good reputation but with the testimonie of a good conscience that hee doth it for the glorie of God Order of Passions in Dignitie 4 IF we compare our passions in dignitie or perfection then those wherewith we prosecute good are more excellent than those wherewith wee esteeme ill and among these loue holdeth the principall place and as a queene in dignitie preceadeth the rest because that loue vniteth the louer in affection with the obiect beloued loue is the root of other affections loue finally maketh vs friends with God and man All we haue said of passions residing in our sensitiue appetite the same we find in the reasonable passion of our will because the will hath such like acts specified of the same obiects directed to the same end for as a Rhetoritian will make an Epistle according to the rules of Grammer as well as a Grammarian euen so what our sensatiue appetite followeth or abhorreth the same our will may prosecute or detest THE FIFT BOOKE of the Passions of the Minde Wherein are deliuered the means to mooue Passions THe water which wee find in euery Citie by three wayes passeth into it either by fountaines or springs by riuers or conduits or by raine snow or halestones that is some water ariseth some passeth some descendeth so in like manner our imaginations or internall sences and consequently our Passions by three wayes are mooued by humours arising in our bodies by externall sences and secret passage of sensuall obiects by the descent or commaundement of reason How passions are stirred vp by humours was aboue deliuered here onely remaineth to declare how they are prouoked by sences and incited by the wit and will And first of all we will begin with the motions of sences as most knowne obuious and ordinarie How sences mooue Passions and specially our sight §. 1. GEnerally they loue and affect vanitie for what is that they loue or can loue in the world and worldly but vanitie that is neither before it is had contenteth nor when it is possessed fully pleaseth nor after it is departed satisfieth For such things are vaine which vanish away and are resolued into nothing They search after lies not onely because all worldly allurements yeeld no felicitie and contentation as they beare vs in hand but also for that in very deed and really they be lies shewing one thing in the rind and externall apparance and an other in the coare and internall essence for cousining arts falsifie and sophisticat nature causing copper seeme gold hypocrisie sanctitie and sences surfeits the soules solaces All sences no doubt are the first gates whereby passe and repasse all messages sent to passions but yet the scriptures in particular wonderfully exhort commaund and admonish vs to attend vnto the custodie and vigilance ouer our eyes Dauid who had once vnwarily glaunced awry and let goe the raines of his eyes at his passions importunity thought himselfe vnable without Gods speciall grace to guide direct and withdraw them from vanitie and therefore
how it commeth to passe that out of the same mouth should issue a cold wind to coole the hot pottage and a hot breath to warme the cold hands But musicke is much more miraculous for it moueth a man to mirth and pleasure and affecteth him with sorow and sadnesse it inciteth to deuotion and inticeth to dissolution it stirreth vp souldiers to warre and allureth citizens to peace Take away musicke from marriages and halfe the mirth Musick causeth mirth is mard depriue great bankets of musicke and the feast is not intire there is but sorrie dauncing where musicke is wanting dispoile tradesmen and labourers of naturall musicke and take from them a soueraigne preseruatiue Musicke causeth melancholy from paine Musicke therefore mooueth men to mirth and abateth the heauie humour of melancholie But how causeth musicke sorow and sadnesse What are Hieremies lamentable threens but a sorowfull song breathed ouer the citie of Hierusalem What are Dauids penitentiall Psalmes but monefull anthemes inclining the soule to sorow for sinne What are funebriall accents but ruthful lamentations for our friends eclipsed What else are those dolefull tunes which issue from languishing louers but offsprings of pensiue furies and origens of more vehement melancholie fits All poeticall fained fables or sophisticated histories are loaden with these wailing verses and swanlike or rather swinelike voices occasioned by mournfull despaire and feeding the same A sword serueth to defend right and is also an instrument Musicke stirreth vp deuotion to worke wrongs musicke in like manner eleuateth the mind to deuotion and pietie and abaseth the soule with effusion leuitie Elizeus as aboue I insinuated prepared 4. â—eg 3. his spirit to receiue the influence of prophesie by the meanes of musicke Dauid in penning Psalmes ordaining instruments prouiding musitians for the seruise of God by word and deed taught vs by the vertue of musicke to stirre men vp to deuotion and therefore registred that solemne sentence beseeming all Christians but specially musitians and worthy to be engrauen in their brests for eternall memorie Laudate Dominum in sono Psal 848. tubae laudate eum in psalterio cithera laudate eum in timpano choro laudate eum in chordis organo laudate eum in symbalis bene sonantibus laudate eum in cymbalis iubilationis omnis spiritus laudet dominum And for this cause it hath bene vsual among them in the old testament after any great grace or fauour shewed them by God to rouse vp their soules with musicall songs and instruments to giue him thankes and praise his name for the bestowing of such benefits imparting to them such great good or deliuering them from such euils When Israel had passed the read sea and therein beheld Pharoe and his host buried in the bottome of those wallowing waues Moyses with the men and Marie sister to Aaron Exod. 15. Iudith 16. Iud. 5. with the women sung panigeries of praises vnto God with hymnes and instruments the like we read of Iudith after she had vanquished Holophernes of Delbora c. And the Church for this same effect vseth the consorts of musical instruments and the harmonie of voices the which Saint Augustine greatly commendeth and Augustinus lib. 10. confess ca. 33 reporteth of himselfe what exceeding spirituall comfort he reaped thereby at the beginning of his conuersion what teares he shed and how he was internally moued For musicke hath a certaine secret passage into mens soules and worketh so diuinely in the mind that it eleuateth the heart miraculously and resembleth in a certaine manner the voices and hermonie of heauen and questionlesse there is nothing in this life which so sensibly discouereth vnto vs the pleasures of Paradice as a sweet consort of musicke True it is that this sensuall delight appertaineth more to yonglings in deuotion than graue perfit and mortified men for it serueth them as a sensuall obiect to ascend to God in spirit to contemplate his sweetnesse blessednesse and eternall felicitie and thereby contemne this world so full of vanitie and miserie but these who are more eleuated to God by reason than by sence ascend to him by serious meditations deepe considerations and exact penetrations of his word his maiestie attributes and perfections Wherefore Saint Augustine thought he offended when he was more moued with the melodie of the song than with the sence of the Psalme and for the same effect he highly commendeth Idem Ibidem Athanas Saint Athanasius Qui tam modico flexu vocis faciebat sonare lectorem psalmi vt pronuntianti vicinior esset quam canenti Who caused the reader of the psalme to sing with such a small inflexion of voyce that he seemed rather to say than to sing But yet for all this euen graue and most deuout men benefit their soules and not onely the simpler sort with the sweetnesse of musicke for although they lift vp their hearts to God persuaded rather by reason than induced by sence yet they cannot euer attend vnto such serious cogitations but now and then intermingle their deuotions with this sacred sensualitie and pleasant path which leadeth to the fountaine of spirituall comfort and consolation Musicke causeth wantennesse Aristotle in his common-wealth forbiddeth a certaine sort of lasciuious musicke and alloweth the Doricall which is of another kind for as in some mens gestures wordes and manner of deliuerie we discouer a certaine light wantonnesse so in some musick there is to be noted a manifest loose effeminatenesse and the experience is so sensible that it were superfluous to proceed any farther in proofe Alexander the great hearing Antigenida a most excellent Musick moueth â—â—e trumpeter sound his trumpet to battell was stirred vp in such sort to fight that his very friends were not secure from blowes which stood next him Saint Basil recounteth Basil in hom de legen lib. Gent. that one Timothie did so excell in musicke that if he vsed a sharpe and seuere harmonie he stirred men vp to anger and presently by chaunging his note into a more sweet and softer tune he moued them to mildnesse and peace and at a banket caused both these effects in Alexander the great The Naâ—â—ans in the east India to stirre themselues vp to battel hang at the pommels of their swordes certaine plates to make a noise thinking or proouing belike thereby how their hearts are incensed to warre In Europe we neuer see souldiors almost sight but first prouoked to warres with trumpets and drummes Tacitus reporteth that the Germanes inanimated themselues to the warres with singing the worthy wonders and heroicall exploits of Hercules And finally experience teacheth that not only men but also warlike horses with drummes and trumpets are inflamed to sight This effect of sounds and instruments cannot proceed but from the passion of ire which is raised vp and ruleth the soule occasioned or rather caused by them As musicke and instruments in one kind causeth souldiers Musicke
ioyes and diuers sorts of sadnesse or paine the which as men are affected may be diuersly applied Let a good and a Godly man heare musicke and hee will lift vp his heart to heauen let a bad man heare the same and hee will conuert it to lust Let a souldiour heare a trumpet or a drum and his bloud will boile and bend to battell let a clowne heare the same and he will fall a dauncing let the common people heare the like and they wil fall a gazing or laughing and many neuer regard them especially if they bee accustomed to heare them So that in this mens affections and dispositions by meanes of musicke may stir vp diuers passions as in seeing we daily prooue the like True it is that one kind of musicke may be more apt to one passion than another as also one obiect of sight is more proportionat to stirre vp loue hatred or pleasure or sadnesse than another Wherefore the naturall disposition of a man his custome or exercise his vertue or vice for most part at these sounds diuersificate passions for I cannot imagine that if a man neuer had heard a trumpet or a drum in his life that he would at the first hearing be mooued to warres Much more might bee said in this matter and yet not all fully satisfie and content a sound iudgement but what occurred vnto me in this question I haue set downe leauing the choise and approbation or sensure to them that see more in it than I doe How Passions are moued by action §. 2. ORators whose proiect is persuasion haue two principal parts where with they endeuour to compasse their purpose Ornatè dicere concinnè agere To speake eloquenly and to act aptly That consisteth specially vpon proper words and sound reasons this in a certaine moderation of the voice and qualifications of gestures We said aboue that externall actions as voice and gestures were signes of internall passions and there we taught how thorow those windowes a man might passe with the sight of his vnderstanding and discouer the secret affections of anothers heart the which ground and vndoubted veritie is the foundation whereupon now we must build this third meane to moue passsions for Cicero expresly teacheth that it is almost impossible for an oratour to stirre vp a passion in his auditors except he be first affected with the same passioÌ„ himselfe Neque enim fieri potest vt doleat is qui audit vt oderit Cicerâ— lib. de orat vt inuideat vt pertimescat aliquid vt admisericordiam fletumque deducatur nâ—si omnes ij motus quos orator adhiberi volet iudici in ipso oratore impressi esse atque inusti videbuntur It cannot be that he which heareth should sorrow hate enuie or feare any thing that he should be induced to compassion or weeping except all those motions the oratour would stirre vp in the iudge be first imprinted and marked in the oratour himselfe And therefore Horace well obserued that he which will make me weepe must first weepe himselfe Si vis me flore dolendum est De art poet Primum tibi tunc tua me infortunia laedent If thou wilt haue me weepe a dolefull brest First show and then thy woes will me molest And the philosophicall and morall reason hereof is most apert because with them it is a common receiued axiome Nemo dat quod non habet a man cannot communicate August lib. 2. de lib. arb cap. 17. that he wanteth Quod in causis vniuocis est semper verum And therefore how shall one who hath no feeling of the passion he would persuade induce an other by passion to accept or reiect it For if thy reasons moue not thee why wouldest thou haue them to moue Aristo 1. post me Propter quod vnumquodque tale illud magis If my hand be hot for the fire the fire must be more hot it selfe if my chamber be lightsome for the beames of the sunne the sunne it selfe must be more lightsome If I must bee moued by thy persuations first thou must shew me by passion they persuaded thy selfe And therefore no meruaile if many preachers persuade not the people to vertue and pietie for they seeing the instructors want in themselues that they endeuour to persuade to others let all their sermons enter in at one eare and slip out at another Ab immundo quis mundabitur who shal be cleansed by Eccles 34. the vncleane For as Saint Gregorie well noteth Manus quae sordes abluit munda esse debet the hand which washeth filth away should bee cleane True it is that the people ought to follow the Godly doctrine of their preachers although their liues be corrupted for so Christ hath commaunded because they sit in the chaire of Moyses Neuerthelesse let them be assured one day to smart for it in that they prepared and disposed not themselues to be fit instruments for such eminent functions Therefore if we intend to imprint a passion in another it is requisit first it be stamped in our hearts for thorow our voices eyes and gestures the world will pierce and thorowly perceiue how we are affected And for this cause the passion which is in our brest must be the fountaine and origen of all externall actions and as the internall affection is more vehement so the externall persuasion will be more potent for the passion in the persuader seemeth to mee to resemble the wind a trumpeter bloweth in at one end of the trumpet and in what manner it proceedeth from him so it issueth forth at the other end and commeth to our eares euen so the passion proceedeth from the heart and is blowne about the bodie face eies hands voice and so by gestures passeth into our eyes and by sounds into our eares and as it is qualified so it worketh in vs. But I know some would vnderstand the cause why a good reason in the preacher or oratour will not suffice to persuade the people vnlesse they themselues be affected with the like passion I answere that wise men are most moued with sound reasons and lesse with passions contrariwise the common people or men not of deepe iudgement are more persuaded with passions in the speakers the reason is because as we haue two sences of discipline especially the eyes the eares reason entreth the eates the passion wherewith the oratour is affected passeth by the eyes for in his face we discouer it and in other gestures the eyes are more certaine messengers and lesse to be doubted of for we many times suspect the reasons least they be friuolous although we cannot answere them but those passions we see nature imprinteth them deeper in our hearts and for most part they seeme so euident as they admit no tergiuersation wherefore the euidence and certaintie of the passion persuadeth much more effectually the common people than a suspected reason and the suspition of sophistication is much more encreased when
promiseth rest and quietnesse but in effect dispoiled the soule of all rest and quietnesse It is admirable how men affected with pleasure are chaunged and metamoâ—phosed from themselues vntroubled with such an inordinat passion It is exceeding daungerous and yet for the present it lulleth a man with a world of securitie It is for most part vitious and damnable and yet for most part and of most persons approoued and accepted of as vertuous and laudable And therefore the bad conditions of sensuall pleasure be such as wise men either wholy disdaine them or vse them with such parsimonie that they take them as medicines in a certaine carelesse passage rather than much desired solaces not placing in them any extraordinarie contentation and rest For how can that be called delight which carrieth with it so many iust causes of discontentment nay of basenesse disgrace remorce of conscience desert of punishment Ah my God the fountaine of water of life the true paradice of pleasure delight of delights when these transitorie follies or fugitiue fancies or pernitious errours or sweet poysons or sugred gall so gulled and mislead my soule why had I not recourse to thee how came it to passe that I coÌ„sidered not those floods of pleasure prepared for them that loue thee De torrente voluptatis potabis eos The simphonie and sacred melodie of Angels euer sounding in the land of the liuing and neuer ceasing for them that scrue thee Whywaighed I not those ineffable ioies that neuer eye see nor eare heard nor heart conceiued which thou hast euer hadst in a readines for them who serue thee as subiects obey thee as seruaÌ„ts loue thee as childreÌ„ conuerse with thee as friends Ah soueraigne sweetnesse surpassing the honie honie combe if I had but tasted one drop of those diuine dainties if I had but sipt one spoonefull of those sacred liquors it had bin no meruaile if I had serued thee endured all molestfull labours supported all disgracefull iniuries for that sweetnesse would haue allayed all these bitternesses that gaine extenuated and coÌ„sumed to nothing all this paine which we sustaine in this miserable exile But what if sensible feeling want shall infallible faith faile It should not but in whom doth it not for if liuely faith were excited these fragill pleasures would be dispised Yet thou hast not wholy O bountifull God reserued all thy spirituall honest vertuous supernaturall diuine pleasures for the citisens of thy heauenly Hierusalem but euen in the barren defect of this perilous perigrination thou hast let fall a certaine kind of manna though not to be gathered in great abundance yet in a little measure and sufficient quantitie thou hast refreshed in some sort thy thirstie people with most sweet water distilled from the rocke de petra melle saturauit eos For what are those admirable consolations thy faithfull friends feele in the inundation of their aduersities tollerated for thy sake but a sacred Manna in the desart What are those comforts which good soules gather euen out of Christs bitter passions but honey distilled from the craggie rocke What else signifie those iubilies of heart and most secret ioyes which proceed from a good conscience grounded vpon a confident hope of future saluation but those great clusters of grapes shewed vnto them in signe of the fertilitie of the future land of promise What else can prognosticat the sweetnesse of feruent prayers but the infinit suauitie and happie contentation which once feruent beleeuing louers shall enioy in thy blessed companie and heauenly conuersation But few feele these ioyes in this life And why because they will not cracke the shell to get the kernill they refuse to pare the peare to eat the pulpe they loath to tyll the ground to reape the haruest they flie the warres and leese the glorie of the victorie they disdaine the digging of craggie mountaines and so neuer find the mine of gold they shun the paine of pruning their vines and therefore enioy not the fruit thereof in fine they flie mortification of carnall sensualitie and therefore attaine not vnto the sweet spirituall consolations of Christian charitie To conioyne them both together were as possible as to combine light and darkenesse water and fire the Oynions of Aegypt with the heauenly Manna the foode of Angels for this resolution and infallible conclusion must euer bee had in memorie that a man cannot enioy a paradice in this life and a future paradice in the life to come The seuenth Motiue to Loue which is Profit O Sacred Monarch of this mightie frame into what a disconsorted estate are men fallen I see it now held for a precept publickely divulged in matters of State and as it were registred for a fundamentall principle That all degrees and leagues of princes Botero lib. 2. della regio di stato cap. della prudenta ayme at priuate interest and therefore that a prince should neither trust to friendship nor affinity nor league nor any other bond wherein he that dealeth with him hath not some ground of interest as though all worldly friendship were founded in one or other sort of vtilitie But this is not proper to our dayes alone for in passed ages an auncient Poet said Donec eris foelix multos numerabis amicos Philip. 2. Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris When fortune smiles then friends abound When fortune frownes few friends are found And one more wiser than he Omnes quaerunt quae sua sunt All looke for interest and priuate commodities We said aboue that all men naturally loue their benefactors but more generally here wee may auouch that all men loue those things whatsoeuer affoord them any profit or vtilitie a man loues his horse his house his seruants which are trustie his possessions his heards of oxen and finally whatsoeuer addeth or encreaseth the goods of Nature or Fortune and as this loue of concupiscence raigneth in all worldly hearts so it teacheth them to loue best that which profiteth them most and albeit very often it be but base and vitious yet guided by reason and ruled by charitie it may be good and vertuous But what is profit or profitable That which enableth vs as a meane to get some good end honest or voluptuous or agreeable vnto vs intended and desisired And therefore we account possessions profitable which serue vs for necessaries to sustaine life we repute horses profitable because by them we make our iournies more speedily we esteeme trades and merchandise profitable because by them we gaine riâ—hes which in effect are all things What shall I say here O soueraign Lord Shall I make thee a meane to get me profit who art the end of all profits and commodities Or shall I compare thy maiestie with these our vile miseries Who can be ignorant of thy inexhausted treasures but he that is ignorant who thou art Or who doth not know the innumerable meanes and helpes he daily receiueth from thee to conserue
rich a Iewell so divine a Guift that I am perswaded if men could beholde the heartes â—â—a Plato in Lyside of them that truely love them it would be as violent to withhold them from reloving againe as a Lionesse from her whelpes lying in her sight a stone in the ayre from his center a bullet within a discharged Cannon And no crosse in this life can befall an honest Lover more mortall and deadly then not to bee beloved where hee loveth because in Love life thoughts and affections are transported into the person beloved where if they finde not semblable affection to entertayne them they pine they perish they die Who would not love an honest vertuous Lover who honoreth prizeth and serveth whom he loveth for honor estimation and servitude if they bee cordiall cannot bee accounted but rare treasures Hee that loveth vertuously esteemeth the beloved worthy of honour because hee reputeth him vertuous and therefore in affection yieldeth him condigne honour due to Vertue he serveth him in regard of his great goodnesse which in his conceit meriteth all servitude and obsequious complements Who would not love a vertuous Lover who consecrateth himselfe and all hee hath vnto the person beloved for that one friend is thought able to doe which his friendes can performe and effect and therefore a man hath so many Arist. 3. moral Nicom c. 3. bodies soules heartes eies eares tongues handes feete as he hath friendes and so by this meanes is made potent and mightie For a true friend will in all cases places and occasions deale in the affaires and occurrents of his friend and for this cause Aristotle thought that friendship and amitie were more necessarie for a Citie then lawes and iustice and that the Legifers should have no lesse regard to Love then to Lawes for if Cittizens Arist 8. moral c. 1. loved as friendes they should need no lawes to punish them as enemies Ah my loving God! I demurre too long in these speculative discourses and with-hold my soule too much from patheticall affections Doest thou Love vs who doubteth for if thou hadst never loved we had never lived and if thy Love continued not preserving Diligis omnia quae sunt nihil odisti corum quae fecisti Sap. cap. 11. our being we should presently be resolved into dust and nothing Well then thou doost prize vs and honor vs else thou wouldest never have given the pretious blood of thy Sonne to have redeemed vs. This argueth estimation but not honour for honour supposeth subiection inferioritie and I know not what kinde of vassalage and servitude it seemeth too presumptuous if not blasphemous to make thee either inferior or equall with men whose Maiestie the highest Seraphims admire reverence worship and with trembling knees adore Ah my God! of most maiesticall and extaticall Love shall I presume to enter into the abysse of thy eclypses excesses and charitable extasies They be too deepe for mee yea and all the world beside to comprise yet I know who sayd that thou went out of thy selfe and suffered extacie thorow the vehemencie Dyonis Artop cap. 4. de diuin nom of Love his meaning was that thou seemed to abase thy Maiestie with succouring and relieving our misery and that exinanition and transformation of thy supreme Glorie with Mount-Calvaries ignominie telleth vs no lesse Thy providence is such over the vniversall world in generall and every kinde of creature in speciall and every man in particular giving them meanes to atchieue their endes concurring with them in all their actions disposing of all so sweetly that Nature Grace consort so well together and thy watchfull provident eye with both that the wisest may admire thee and the simplest perceive thee and none of vs all ever doubt of thy vigilant solicitude I dare not call it servitude yet if service bee a succouring sustaining helping ministring necessaries and in every thing assisting vs in best and basest offices I may say thou lovingly serves all who without thy service could not serve themselves nor al the world except thy selfe Great no doubt is thy love O God without paragon in love to men in this life for here thou doest not only affect them powre out thy benefits vpon them distill thy graces into their hearts and a thousand wayes externally and internally worke their salvation but also that which surpasseth all it seemeth thy will and power are at the command or rather ready to obey the desires of thy faithfull servants for what else meane those protrite words of the Psalme Voluntatem timentium se facit He fulfilleth the will of Psal 144. them that feare him and what other sense can be brought of that request thou made to thy servant Moses Dimitte me vt irascatur furor meus contra eos deleam Exod. 32. eos Suffer me that my fury be revenged of them and that I may destroy them but that thy anger and revenge thy displeasure and their intended destruction laid in Moses power to rule and guide according to his pleasure O admirable omnipotencie of love which hath power even over the omnipotent but if in this life such is Loves puisance what shall we say of thy friends and lovers in glory where all graces and favours abound where love like the Sunne ever standeth in the Zenith where presses swim with wine and fields flow with honnie Certainely we cannot imagin or conceave otherwise and well but as thou who put on the person of the good old father who said to his elder sonne Fili tu semper mecum es omnia mea tua sunt O Luc. 15. Sonne thou art alwayes with me and what is mine is thine so that thou and all thy treasures are the finall inheritance possession and kingdome of thy children But yet more emphatically our blessed Saviour declared the force effects of thy love when he said Beati illi servi quos cum venerit dominus invenerit vigilantes amen Luc. 12. dico vobis quod pracinget se faciat illos discumbere transiens ministrabit illis Blessed be those servants whom their Lord when he commeth shall finde watching Amen I say vnto you he will cause them sit downe and passing by will serve them this service and sitting no doubt signifie the eternall glory whereupon thy Saints shall ever feed the which cannot be prepared and ministred vnto them by any others hands then thine which made them And alitle below to the same effect speaking of his faithfull and trustie servant what wages in blessednes he shall receive he addeth Super omnia quae possidet consiliet eum his Lord and Maister will give him signiorie and authoritie over all he possesseth which is the consummation and finall perfection of all true love and affectuall wishes of all true lovers that the one have a king of charitable commaund and a certaine friendly dominion over the other The 10. Motive to Love which is Resemblance THe
of these It is hard for me if not impossible O God the center of my soule to explicate the admirable proportion conveniencie and agreeablenes betwixt thy mercies and our miseries thy riches and our poverty thine habilities to perfit vs and our indignities to be perfited thy patience and longanimitie to support iniuries and our perversenes to commit offences Tell me O thou hart of man why thou livest in this life for most part disgusted distasted vnquiet ever loving never perfitly liking thirsting ever for a happy quiet rest and never attaining any quietnes to thy full contentment or rest Ah my God! one who knew this miserie and had felt the finger of thy mercy told the cause for being as vnable to settle himselfe as he had perceived the same in others at last was stirred vp to seeke to thee the center life and satietie of the soule Tuenim excitas vt laudare te delectet Quia fecisti nos Aug. lib. 1. confes cap. 1. ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Thou excites vs O God with delight to praise thee Because thou hast made vs for thee and our heart is vnquiet vntill it rest in thee So that as the fire flieth to his Sphere the stone to his Center the river to the Sea as to their end and rest and are violently deteyned in all other places even so the heartes of men without thee their last end and eternall quietnesse are ever ranging warbling and never out of motion not vnlike the needle touched with the Load-stone which ever standeth quivering trembling vntil it enioy the full and direct aspect of his Northerne Pole O my God of infinite wisedome who canst speake as well with workes as words let it be lawfull for me symbollically to interpret the triangular figure of mans hart say that as the face of the body may be termed the portrait of affections and passions so the heart may be called the face and figure or resemblance of the soule and consequently of thee whose image lies drawne in the plane thereof limmed with thine owne pensil and immortal colours the heart then of man triangularly respecteth the blessed Trinitie every corner a Person and the solide substance your common Essence This heart then resembling thee touched with desire of thee cannot bee quiet but vnited and conioyned with affectuall love and amity with thee But come wit of man and shew thy sympathy in desire of thy God that by thee wee may discover the agreeablenesse hee hath with all reasonable Natures What is thine inclination and what thing with mayne and might doest thou wish and essentially crave Trueth what trueth All so that thy thirst can never bee served except all trueth thou see revealed And where is this Trueth to bee found passe over the vaste vniverse from the convexe superficies of the highest Heaven to the center of hell and thou shalt not get such a request satisfied passe and pierce thorow all these trueths and yet the immensive capacitie of thy desire will not completely bee filled For vntill the Sea of all Truth the graund origen of al verities flow into thee these little drops will rather cause a greater then quench thy former thirst Thy God then who is prima Veritas in essendo dicendo the first Veritie in being and speaking and infinite in both of all other obiects doth consort with this thy boundlesse comprehension best and in fine must be thy full satietie or else never looke to be satisfied Now that the Wit knoweth where his Rest resteth Come thou Will of man and tell vs what thou aymest at where dwelleth the purport of thy wishes where lyeth the proiect of thy desires In goodnesse and perfection for as the eye beholdeth light and all colours limmed with light so thou affects all goodnes and all things gilded with goodnesse And where is all this goodnesse to be gotten Ah! wee trie too palpably that all things covered with the cope of Heaven are as farre from fully contenting our willes as a bitte of meate to a man almost halfe dead of hunger Who ever yet in this life accounted himselfe persitly happie and thorowly satisfied in minde but those which sincerely and affectually loved thee Alas who is hee that seeth not how our affections goe rowling and ranging from one base creature to another seeking contentment ever hoping and never obtayning now in walking now in conversing now in beholding after in eating studying and a thousand such like inveagling baites which do nothing else but with a clawing and cloying varietie rid vs from a sensuall satietie for when one sense hath drunke vp all his pleasure and either feeleth not his thirst quenched or with too much his facultie or corporall instruments endammaged presently the soule seeketh an other baite to avoyd the former molestation with a new recreation and so wandreth and beggeth of every poore creature a scrap of comfort All this my sweete God the only obiect of complet contentation argueth that what is loved without thee although it agreeth in part with vs yet it iumpeth not right it consorteth not in forme and manner as our soules and wils requires Thou only who foulds in thy selfe all kind of goodnesse art the sole convenient and agreeable obiect of our wits wills loves and desires The 12. Motive to Love is Necessitie NEcessitie was the first inventor of Artes Pleasure added divers Vanity found out the rest Al corporall creatures issued from the hands of God with a serviceable harmonicall convenience consorting with the nature of man many for necessity some for delight others for ornaments Among the parts of a mans body some are necessary as the hart braine and liver some exceeding profitable yet not absolutely requisite as two hands two eyes two eares ten fingers ten toes some are for ornaments as the haire of a womans head and 1. Cor. 11. 15. the beard of a man an apt figure and personablenes of body pleasant colours and divers such like naturall complements Wherefore if pleasant artes delightfull creatures complementall ornaments be greatly loved and liked questionles necessary trades creatures and parts ought much more to be esteemed and affected because that every one first loveth himselfe and then all those meanes which in some sort concerne the being or conservation of himselfe among which those which are most necessary are necessaryly beloved If I consider my body O good God the only moulder of all creatures how it dependeth vpon thee in vpholding and propping vp continually the weake pillers thereof least continually they should fall I well know their feeblenes to be such and so extreame that no hand but thine Almighty is able to sustaine them What way can I walke what sense can I vse what worke can I worke what word can I speake what thought can I thinke what wish can I will if thou guide not my feet concurre not with my sense work not with my hands
reputeth yron as strawes and brasse like rotten wood who swalloweth slouds and exspecteth that the whole River of Iordan should runne into his mouth Yet armed Iob. 41. 18. 40. 18. Vide Marâ— 1. 26. 5. 2. 9. 26. Luc. 8. 29. the forces of the Devill his craft 1. Reg. 13. 19. 2. Esd 4. 11. with thy protection I feare not to prostrate him as David that mighty tower of flesh the vncircumcised Philistian who boasted against the God of Israel For in Deo meo transgrâ—diar murum I will pierce even the stony walles by the power and force of my God Si exurgant adverfum me castra non timebit cor meum If whole Camps assault me my heart will not feare for I know O omnipotent God that love thee as I should thine almighty hand will vphold me in all dangers and strengthen me in all assaults Sweet God enable me therefore with thy love for the surest Castell Galat. 5. 6. 1. Pet. 5. 8. against the Devill is a faith working with charity and the Devils bullets of battery against this fort are suggestions 2. Cor. 12. 7. working with concupiscence or selfe-love and sensualitie The 15. and 16. Motives to Love which are delivery from evill and toleration of wrongs for vs. GOodnes or true love principally by foure meanes are discovered first in bountifully giving gifts and bestowing benefits as Alexander the great who herein so excelled that in all occasions he woon eternall fame and incomparable love of all that delt with him for his magnificent deportment in powring forth his treasures and no doubt but that common verse more true then olde was penned for this and many more such like experiences to wit Si quis in hoc mundo vult cunctis gratus haberi Det capiat quaeratâ— plurima pauca nihil He that to all will heere be gratefull thought Must give accept demaund much little nought Secondly in not punishing or revenging iniuries wheÌ„ they be offered wherefore Saul vnderstanding that David whom he so mightily persecuted got him at such advantage as that if it had pleased him to have revenged so many wrongs offered him by Saul he might with as much facilitie have bereaved him in the cave of his life as Saul had desire to dispoyle him of his lyfe I say after 1 Reg. 24 cap. 26. that Saul vnderstood the revengelesse heart of David levavit vocem suam slevit hee wept for ioy and apertly confessed his vertue love kindnes and withall acknowledged his owne iniustice and iniquitie Thirdly in riddance and delivery from evill when Iudith entred into Bethulia with Holophernes head and Iudith 1â— by that meanes had redeemed her Countrie from the extreme danger of the Assyrian Hoast which of that people had not occasion sufficiently offered to love admire Ester 7. 8. and adore her After that Ester had procured the death of Hamman and the reclaime of that bloody Edict Assuerus at Hammans suggestion had sent abroad to be executed thorow all the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians what Iew had not there a most forcible motive to love and reverence that godly Queene which so wisely so couragiously so effectually had saved their lives and restored them to former libertie The same wee may say of Moses who ridde the Israelites from the thraldom of Egypt and of Iosua and Sampson who divers times defended their people from the hostile furie and invasion of their enemies and for this cause such noble Generalls among the Romanes were intituled Patres Patriae Fathers of the Countrie because they as Fathers had defended it and therefore deserved to be reputed and loved as Fathers Fourthly in tollerating wrongs crosses disasters afflictions for vs. This Veritie we finde recorded in holy Writ Maiorem charitatem nemo habet quam vt animam ponat quis pro amicis suis No man can shew more love then by powring out his life for his friend if then any suffer wrongs for our cause the neerer they approch to death the neerer they border vpon the most perfite remonstrance of Love and consequently are more forcible to cause or encrease kindnesse and affection When Saint Paule persecuted the Christians in the primitive Church Christ for whose cause they endured such persecutions accounted their ignominies his iniuries and therefore said Saule Saule cur me persequeris Saul Saul why dost thou persecute me as though his servants harmes were his hurts Who dishonoureth an Ambassadour but his King reputeth the iniurie offered vnto his Person who revileth a servant sent from his Lord but his Master will thinke therein his honour stayned wherefore as Christs Apostles and Disciples Ambassadors or Servants wrongs redound to their disgrace that sent them and in very deed they ought so to esteeme them as done to themselves because they plead and negotiate the Senders causes and affaires and in some sorte represent their persons even so whosoever handleth or dealeth in our behalfe and thereby incurreth any disgrace in honour wealth or body for vs ought to be reputed our friend in furthering our causes and negotiations and have repayred all the dammages he suffered in our defence Whosoever then suffereth for our cause wee account as innocent and to suffer wrongfully therefore wee condole with him and no doubt but love him Secondly such an one is violently bereaved of some good for our good which cannot but argue an extraordinary good will towards vs and consequently an apt motive to move vs to love Thirdly if that Position of Aristotle be true that we love them Arist. 2. Rheâ— cap. 4. which tell and confesse sincerely their faults and offences for as Thomas Aquinas noteth such men shut the doore to all fiction and dissimulation and therefore are thought vpright and so deserve to be loved Certainly they that suffer any dammage or danger of dammage for vs exclude all fiction or dissimulation and really proove they love vs affectually and not superficially and therefore deserve to be beloved reciprocally O my sweete Saviour and impassible God! who by Divine nature art incapable of dammage griefe sorrow or disgrace of whom well we may say Non accedet ad te malum nec slagellum appropinquabit Tabernaculo tuo Psal 90. Evill shall never come neere thee nor any scourge approch to thy Tabernacle Yet to ridde me and all mankinde from evill thou abased thy selfe almost to the abysse of nothing factus vermis non homo opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis A worme and not a man the scorne of men and the scomme of the people Whether shal I say was greater and deserved more love the evill thou hast endured for mee or the evill from which thou hast delivered me My payne from whence thou hast ridde mee should have beene infinite in durance and thy payne sustained for mee was infinite in dignitie my soule and body were most cruelly in hell to have beene tormented and thy body and soule vpon the
origen from the vnderstanding and the will so in every obiect of delight there is a certaine intensive goodnes perfection and there is an extensive as for example in a Cellar of wine there may be excellent good wine and varietie of excellent good wine and thereby our taste may be delighted with the perfection of wine and with the varieties of wine In like manner in all the obiects of delight we may find a certaine intension of goodnes and a certaine extension and both these well vnderstood and declared exceedingly increase pleasure delight for the intention filleth and satiateth the soule and the extension or varietie taketh away a certaine distastfull loathsomnesse which one kind of vniforme pleasure draweth with it The sixt Booke entreating of the defects or imperfections of mens soules THE Geographers describing the scituation of any country are not content to set downe the provinces citties and territories thereof but also they depaint in theyr Cardes and explicate in theyr Bookes the Countries and Cities adioyning that thereby men might know the borders and limits of both and not mistake the one for the other even so because our sensitive appetite hath the wit and will which border vpon it therefore I thought good to declare certayne of their imperfections which knowledge will not help vs alitle to discerne more exactly the nature of passions Besides good Physitians of the body expend not onely the present agew or humor that causeth sicknesse but also they search out the causes and of-springs of such maladies so I thinke it not amisse to shew the vniversall causes from whence inordinate passions proceede And first of all we will descend vnto the defects of our wits or vnderstandings 2 Defects of our Vnderstanding ALl the defects of our wit may be reduced to two Ignorance and Errour by Ignorance we know not things necessary by Errour we know them falsely Ignorance is a privation Errour a positive action all ignorance cannot be prevented many errours but all cannot be escaped from ignorance floweth vice and from errour heresie 1. Naturall ignorance ALl the sonnes of men are conceived and borne in sinne and ignorance Aristotle compareth our wits at the beginning to a smooth table wherein nothing is written but apt to receive all formes and figures and in this truely I must confesse one poynt of my ignorance that it seemeth to me that God endoweth bruite beasts with more sparkes of knowledge then reasonable men and they may be sayde even in their nativitie to have imprinted a certayne knowledge and naturall instinct to inquire and finde out things necessary to be theyr owne Physitians to flye that may hurt them and follow that may profit them Marke but a Lambe almost new yeaned how it will finde foorth the mothers dugge discerne and single her foorth in all the flocke waite vppon her so dilligentlie within eight dayes it seeth light but a childe may be many dayes borne and yet cannot finde out his mothers dugge except the Nurse move him vnto it neyther can it cure it selfe or demaund what it needeth otherwayes then by weeping II. Errours of the last end WHen a man beginneth to practize a little his facultie of Vnderstanding then you shall see how fitly he expelleth this chaos of infinite ignorance lyke an vnskilfull Physitian who to cure one disease causeth a worse so hee delivereth himselfe of ignorance by a multitude of errours quenching his thirst with a potion of poyson this wee may see more plainely by the infinite errours that men are subiect vnto by Nature For let vs consider the famous Philosophers of passed ages who lacking faith bragged of naturall knowledge Which of them knew but to what end man was created of God their dissenting sects and erroneous opinions Lactantius and Saint Austen relate how some thought mens last Lactandib 3. divina institut ca. 7. Aug. lib. 19. civiâ— ca. 1. sequentibus end was pleasure others naturall knowledge some in privation of payne some to live according to nature others the goods of the soule the body and fortune with infinite such like false assertions and this not about a trifle or May-game but the very mayne poynt whereat men should ayme at all their lives and whereunto they were bound to direct all their actions III. Errours in the meanes IF the ende was apparelled with such darkenesse how how could they bee but ignorant of the meanes necessary for the atchievement of such an ende and wee dayly proove what difficulty men feele in effecting yea in resolving themselves which action is good which is badde how many volumes have beene written of cases of Conscience and yet what good mans conscience is not vexte some times with seruples who can define the qualitie of his actions affected with such varietie of circumstances who can resolve himselfe howe farâ—e the lawe of Nature engraven in our heartes extendeth Howe often doth an erroneous conscience barke and byte when the Soule did not prevaricate the Lawe of God or passe the limittes of Reason This blindnesse of Minde without all question argueth great imperfection of the Soule and extreme Misery of man Wherefore one cryed Delicta quis intelligit Ab occultis meis munda me Domine and Psal 18. Iob. 9. 2â— another Verebar omnia opera mea IIII. Difficultie in Vnderstanding BVt what shall I say of the woonderfull difficultie all men suffer to come by the knowledge of any Trueth Veritas in profundo latet Veritie lyeth in the bottome In the West Indies those that follow by digging the Veynes of Gold runne vnder high mountaynes many miles descending through stony Rockes into the bowels of the earth yet they ever are winning ground they reape Oare they recompence their travell they labour with alacrity But in learning occurreth another sort of difficulty Trueth must be further fetcht greater sweate and industry must be vsed For what cause I pray you stand Schoole-masters armed dayly with whips and scourges with such sowre and bitter visages with thundring threatning words but by terror to enforce their vntoward and vnwilling Youth to overcome the difficulty they find in learning why at this present doe so many ignorant replenish the world discoursing so blockishly speaking so sottishly Quidam sunt tantae satuitatâ— vt non multuma pecorâ—bus disserant Angust ep 28. ad thereon answering so absurdly that scarce you would iudge them indued with reasonable soules but onely because they had rather be buried in that profound cave of ignorance than endevour to overcome the extreame difficulty they finde in learning What other reason can by yeelded why all ignorance and errours are not abolished and wholy extinguished seeing learned men have left to their posteritie so many thousand volumes that in some Libraries you should finde five sixe ten thousand corps of bookes all written for no other end than to purifie our wittes to consume the cloudes of errours and ignorance but the difficulty we find in
indued women to retayne them from these shamefull actions the basenesse and brevitie of that pleasure she pretends vnvailable to that cost she bestoweth yet for all this losse she will hazard it she neither regardeth the good she leeseth nor the harmes she incurreth nor the little trifle she winneth transgresseth the law of nature the law of God the law of christianitie the law of friendship onely for lacke of prudent and mature consideration married to a wicked Wili and perverse affection That which I have sayde of this lewd Woman the same might be sayde of all sinners because the meanes to do well are so many and the dommages so great that every sinne consummate carrieth with it that I could make a whole booke of them and perhaps in time I will do it In the meane season gentle Reader whensoever occurreth any occasion apt to induce thy Will to offende God runne not too fast after it ponder a little crave helpe from above consider thy helpes expende thy harmes and presently thou shalt see that all tentations of this worlde will become like to the huge Statue that Nabuchodonozor beheld with the head of golde the breast of silver the belly of brasse the legges of yron Daniel c. 3. the feete of yron and earth for all pleasures are golden in the entraunce but still decrease to terrestriall and earthly substaunces towardes the ende they become lothsome and are accounted vilde the little stone without any humane hands cut from the mountayne will deiect and cast prostrate on the ground this huge masse of mettall I meane the grace of Christ all the multitude of tentations and suggestions of the Divell and then thou mayest raigne over them by grace in this life and glory in the end Amen FINIS A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ Written by T W LONDON Printed for Thomas Thorpe and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crane by Walter Burre 1604. A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ AFter the death of Queene ELIZABETH who died in the 70. yeere of her age which was the Clymactericall period of her life diuerse pregnant wits and curious Philosophers were assembled by chance togither among sundry other learned Discourses one demaunded of me what were these Clymactericall yeeres their nature and effects For quoth hee I haue heard many Philosophors and Phisitians talke of them but as yet I neuer throughly could pierce or penitrate them I aunswered him that the Treatise thereof required longer time then that place and present occasions afforded but that afterwards at more ley sure hee should vnderstand them if hee were desirous to learne The Gentleman importuned me so much as at last hee drew me to write this Discourse which followeth for that it seemeth not altogether impertinent to this explanation of Passions I thinke it not vnfit to be inserted in the last Booke of the Passions of the Minde because the same temper of body and propension to death which is the base of Clymactericall yeres the very same conferres much either to mooue Passions or hinder the opperations of the soule as in the progresse of this discourse shal plainly appeare Clymax in Greeke signifieth a Staire or a Ladder and metaphorically is applyed to the yeeres of a man or womans life as if the whole course of our dayes were a certaine Ladder compounded of so many steppes True it is that as the constitutions of mens bodies are for the most parte of two sortes the one is firme and strong the other more weake and feeble so the Phisitians by long experience haue obserued that the fatall ends of them who be of a lustie constitution finish for most part in some score of yeeres and so they number such persons periods by twentie 40. 60. 80. 100. 120. And to Other count them by tens this purpose sayde Moses * whose eyes were neither darkned nor any tooth loosed * Centum viginti Deut. 31. 2. annorum sum hodie non possum vltra egredi ingridi I am now an hundred and twenty yeeres old I can no more goe out and come in that is no longer liue and so it fell out for that * same yeere Deut. 34. 7. he died And GOD himselfe said of man * Erunt Genes 6. 4. dies illius centum viginti anni The dayes of man shall be an hundred and 20. yeeres The next Clymactericall yeere in them of solide and virile constitution is an 100 and so the Scriptures report Numerus dierum vitae hominum vt Eccles 18. 8 multum centum anni The number of the dayes of the life of men at most is an 100 yeeres Another kinde of men whose complexion is weaker haue a lesser kinde of measure as they haue shorter life and yet these also be of two sorts some stronger some weaker the first Clymactericall yeeres are nine eighteene tweentie seauen thirty six forty fiue fifty foure sixty three seauenty two eighty one the seconds are seauen foureteene twenty one twenty eight thirty fiue forty twoo forty nine fifty six sixty three seauenty Of these two ages spake Dauid when hee sayde Dies annorum Psalme 89. 10. nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni amplius corum labor dolor The dayes of our yeeres are seauentie yeeres and if in Potentates they be eightie the labour and griefe is greater The most daungerous of all these passages or steps are the forty nine compounded vpon seuen times seauen and sixty three standing vppon nine times seauen and next to these is seauenty which containeth tenne times seauen they number them also by nine and so make eighty one the most perillous as comprehending nine times nine These obseruations then of Phisitians presupposed as true for men that are wise vertuous and experimented in their faculties ought to be belieued for wisdome and experience protect them from errour and honestie from lying and deceite it were good to examine and search out the cause of these notable alterations and daungers of death in the Clymactericall yeeres for those humors which alter the bodie and dispose it to sicknesse and death the same bend the soule to take inordinate affections and passions I haue heard some Phisitians resolue this doubt into the influence of heauens to wit that so manie courses of the Sunne Moone and Planets from the time of a mans Natiuitie worke such effects so that some men let them liue neuer so orderly after so manie circular motions of the Sunne and Moone haue warbled ouer their heads vppon necessitie they must fall into one sicknesse or another and so die Some others ground this varietie and daungerous diuersitie vppon the singular prouidence of God who hath created all thinges In numero pondere mensura and therefore hath