nailes he shall find diuers passions and perturbations that are voide of Reason A body which we cal the flesh of the earth a vegitatiue part of growing as the plants a sensitiue part of moouing seeing smelling c as the beastes a reasonable part in an immortall soule and all those in so small compasse And diuers learned writers reason that man and the course and motions of his life and being reasemble the very course of the celestiall bodies in studying whereof they haue taken great paynes And Reason it selfe concludeth this point of diuinitie that in mā there is immortality and mortality the one of the soule and the other of the body The one as matter subiect to corruption and wasting and the Soule a substance that neuer shall leaue to haue being and life There is no thing nor nature whatsoeuer that is either knowne or can be conceiued but is either immortal or mortall part of both these is man therefore is he a true patterne of al the rest and so consequently of the whole world If a man would enter into consideration what a wonderfull thing in nature the coniunction and knitting together of the body and soule is seeing the soule which is light to bee within the heauy body that which is of coelestiall fire within that which is earthie and cold inuisible and immortall in palpable and corruptible earth what an admirable creature was man if he knew himself The definition diuision of whose soul body with this short touch I leaue the reader to search further the learned writings of such as haue treated thereof and fearing to be tedious I retire to my former purpose that euery man in his priuate state ought to consider what he was from which he is fallen what he is by corruption whereof is already treated what he would bee and what he shal be which done he shal find that there is non but would be happy But the corrupt will and affections tend to miserie calamity and infelicitie vnlesse there be the greater care and gouernment thereof had Now as wee began in order to take things in their worthines wherby man is placed aboue the rest so in mā that which is most worthy ought to be preferred aboue the rest as his Soule aboue the body And Reason aboue passions and affections Reason the Queene and the rest subiect Take a view of thine owne selfe thy soule thy conscience thy mind thy reason thy body thy sences these affections passions perturbations and imperfectiōs the determinatiō of the heart the speech of the mind and the speech of thy mouth thou shalt be driuen to shift hard for help to excuse thee There is described to be in man a sensuall appetite which the Schoole men diuided into two partes the lustfull appetite and the irefull or wrathfull appetite There are also described to be in these two appetites twelue principall passions whereof six which are loue and hatred longing and loathing gladnesse and sadnesse doe folow the lustful appetite The other sixe that is hope and dispaire fearfulnes and foole-hardines Cholericknes coldnes do follow the irefull part That these are al sensual is plaine in that they finish and end when life leaueth the body Besides the very bruite beasts haue their parts in them as well as men These are the subiects which in euery particular body and gouernement of euery person ought to be kept in obedience vnto reason and not to issue or proceed any further than they can shew their warrant authoritie and commission for Nowe seeing the imperfection of all these things is crept into the corruption of the nature as well of the bodies as soules of men it behooueth euery one therfore to summon a parliament and to assemble all these passions and affections to receiue direction howe to bee disposed in what causes how farre And to receiue reprehension and discipline for their cōtempt or disobediēce For the discouerie whereof obserue this in al the things wherein thou employest thy minde And therein first consider and conclude that by the reasonable soule and life is vnderstoode such a soule and life as hath counsell iudgement and reason which was created to this ende that knowing God her Creator and louing him in regarde thereof she might honor and serue him finally by degrees attaine to immortal life happines which is appoynted for her end and is the marke she should labour to attaine For as nothing in man is more excellent then Reason whereof God hath made thee partaker so is there nothing so well beseeming thy Reason then that thou know loue and honour God as whom nothing is so excellent nor vnto whom nothing may bee compared and without whom thou hadst not obtained neither being life sense nor reason for God is aboue thee God is beneath thee God is without thee God is within thee God is round about thee God is euery where else thou wast no where Nowe when thou sendest thy mind and reason into the bowelles of the earth to search there for things of much virtue as golde and other mettalles weigh by the rule of right reason to what vse thou intendest the employment thereof whether to the glorie of the Giuer or thine owne priuate appetite or desire whether thou esteemest not more a few Flemmish angells than the blood and life of a thousand blessed Saints If thou growe affected to the garment of the earth the grasse of the field and their stately branches consider whether thou putte true difference betweene them and immortallitie and how much lesse thou arte inquisitiue after Eternitie than those corruptible matters Examine thy selfe whether thou be thy monies maister or his vassall If thy liking be carried after the moouing things consider how the delight and pleasure in them ouer-ruleth thy affections and taketh vppe thy minde from contemplating their right vse and the end whereto they were appoynted If in keeping company with those of thine owne kinde there are two Sexes The first betwixt man woman in which is ingendred man and woman And therein consider that Reason shewes thee that God made one woman for one man and but one man for one woman which the more sheweth the excellencie of his creation in that hee made so large a worlde for so small a company That this is a true conclusion not to be violated by Reason the very rule of euen-hoode and right dooth shew For whosoeuer would breake wedlock would not haue the same measure requited to himself neither doth the father like it in the sonne nor the mother in the daughter and rather than confesse it Nature her selfe in respect of her originall purenesse is so ashamed thereof that she will rather commit periurie than acknowledge it which agreeth well with the wordes of Gods owne spirite pronounced by Malachi that God had abundance of spirite which sheweth that he might haue made diuers women for one man or diuerse men for one woman but his
and orders insomuch as Seneca in his time complained Cessero publicaiura priuatis cepit licitim esse quod publicum est Plotinus 1. lib. 4. ca. 1 And Plotinus entring into consideration hereof doth as it were wonder thereat saying what should be the cause that our soules being of a diuine nature shuld so farre forget God their father and their kindred and themselues And making the answere thereto himselfehe saith The beginning of this mischiefe was acertaine rashnesse and ouer boldnesse throgh which they would needes plucke their necks out of the Coller and bee at their owne commaundement By which abuse turning their libertie into licentiousnesse they went cleane backe and are so farre gone away from God that like children being newly weyned are by and by conueyed from their parents know neither whose nor what they be nor from whence they come Plotin 1. li. 8. cap. 4. And in another place beewailing this corruption hee saith The soule which was bredd for heauenly things hath plunged it selfe in these materiall things and matter of it selfe euill that not onlie all that is of matter or matched with matter but also euen that which hath respect vnto matter is filled with euill as the eye that beholds darknes is filld with darknes Hierocles the stoicke against Atheists saith that man is of his owne motion enclined to follow the euill and to leaue the good there is saith he a certain strife bred in his affectiōs which stepping vp against the will of nature hath made it to tumble from heauen to hell The Auncient Philosophers taking consideration of the number of affections and passions wherewith the Soule and Reason of man is infected and corrupted which Plutark affirmeth to be much more sorrowful and grieuous then the bodily diseases endeuouring to reduce and bring those intemperate affections and passions to some reasonable order haue made diuers books of Moral vertues and lawes and giuen sundry rules ordinances and precepts to bring them to obediēce In which their exceeding painefull works they positiuely inueigh against the rebelliousnes that is naturally in vs against Reason that is the rebelliousnes that is crept in by this corruption of nature These rebellious affections passions are not as spottes or staynes that may be washed or clensed out of nature but a deepe impression in nature with much ado to be restrained and held short but neuer vtterly to be subdued or ouercome whervpon it is very fitly said by a man of great learning Seeing that reason is somuch more excelēt then passion or affection as the formes shape or fashion is more excellent then the matter or stuffe wherein it is Whence commeth this infection in vs that maketh the matter to ouermaister the forme and causeth the form as it were to receiue shape and fashion of the matter that is to say which putteth Reason in subiection to passions and to the impression which affection yeeldeth contrary to the order which is in al the world beside What else is this intemperance of man but Reason as it now remaineth inwrought or ingrauen with lust concupiscence what is anger but Reason attainted with choser c. Nō sic suit ab initie It was not so in the first creation The motions of lust anger and intemperance which now rule men against Reason were not in the originall nature of man neither proceed they of the first creation for then would not nature be ashamed of them as you see it now is These motions are crept in since by corruption And therefore the grieuing that happeneth to men by those passions is a working of nature which is ashamed to play the bruit beast There are described to be in the reasonable soule of man foure powers or abilities first Witte secondly Will thirdly an abilitie of being angrie fourthly an Abillitie of Lusting In those foure abilities the Philosophers haue entended to place foure vertues In wit wisdome in will righteousnesse in the abilitie of being angrie valor in the abilitie of lust Staidnesse These powers abilities vertues are maymed And those abilities haue not those vertues Wit is maymed with ignorance Wil with doing wrong Valor with cowardice Staidenes with licentiousnes Besides the outward fences imagination and appetite which are cōmon to beastes man had wit or reason and will of the gift of the creator peculiar to man only by which wee esteeme our selues better then the beasts and in regard therof we look to haue them in subiection vnder vs. And al this Reason leadeth vs to vnderstand But obserue the sequell and we shall find as the corrupt cōdition of mans nature is now that whereas imagination ought to rule the fences will to rule the appetite and Reason to rule the imagination it fareth farre otherwise for imagination giueth way to the outward sense Appetite ruleth will and imaginatiō carrieth Reason at her pleasure insomuch that the very sensuall parte which is the meanest carrieth all the rest and maketh Reason an vnderling nay oft times leaueth Reason quite out and rebelleth against her and so this spirit and reason of ours is forward to nothing but euill nor enclined to any thing saue base and transitorie matters It fastneth it self to the earth and is bondslaue to the bodie To discouer how farre the auncient Philosophers out of such reasons as they had waded into these causes would require a long worke therfore a worde or two Philosophie it selfe is said to be an art of healing the soule of the infirmities whereinto it was fallen from hir first perfection The first step thereunto or precept is Nosce teipsum begin to know thy selfe Aristotle coulde not chuse but knowe that the vnderstanding and minde of man was out of tune when in his Moralls he declareth that the affections ought to be ruled by reason and our mind brought from extreames into the meane and from iarring into the right tune Theophrastus saith that the soule payed well for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffred by the bodies meanes shewing that he considered that corruption was entered into man euen into his soule mind and reason Zoriastres the grand-child of Noa and auncientest of Philosophers bewayleth this laps fall and digression of the race of mankinde crying alas alas the whole earth mourneth euen vnto children And Hermes in his Poemander giueth it a most absolute conclusion where he saith God created mā after his owne likenesse and gaue him all things to vse but man in steed of staying vpon the beholding of his father would needes bee medling and doing somewhat of himselfe and so fell from the heauenly contemplation into the sphere of elements or generation And because he had power ouer all things he began to fall in loue with himselfe And gazing and wondring at himselfe he was so intangled that he became a bondslaue to his body being before at libertie Which bondage and abasing hee intendeth to be in the soule mind and reason of man
If we shall grow a little neerer to this matter and peruse an example or two in the holy Booke of God consider whether it were corrupt false and sophisticated perswasions and Reasons that the serpent vsed to Eue what Reason was that that led Caine to kill Abell or the Children of God to be bewitched with the beautie of the daughters of men or the Caldeans to erect the tower of Babel The effect and issue will shewe what kinde of reason it was By the first came the destruction and ouerthrowe of all the perfection of man By the second a perpetuall curse to the murtherer and a continuall anguish sorrow and griefe to his heart and soule By the third an vniuersall deluge vppon the face of the whole earth And by the fourth an vtter confusion of languages God in the creation made al things in order and Order would that our wit should obey God and our senses and appetites obey Reason But we see apparantly that for breaking this order these confusions haue ensued If we desire a plaine demonstration let vs looke into our selues by the rule afore prescribed into things inferior to vs and into what is aboue and greater then our selues As the inferior creatures whereof the sensitiue are the chiefest come not neere man in excellency vnderstanding capacitie nor Reason neither do they striue therein but abide in their first state So hath God left in himselfe a fulnesse of perfect and absolute power wisedome and vnderstanding not to be conceiued nor comprehended by the wit nor reason of man in a farre greater measure then mans vnderstanding and reason can attaine vnto as mans vnderstanding or reason was at any time aboue the beasts of the earth These things he kept absolutely to himselfe to be a Creator to be obeyed and to haue none equall and to keepe all his creatures vnder his subiection This order must man needes be doing withall it was not inough for him to enioy and know the good but he must know euill also And in truth and no doubt but he extended his reason and will to a good end for he got such a knowledge of euill and so entangled himselfe therewith that he abandoned all that was good and became himselfe a very masse of euill Cōsider this reason what would a man think if his horse shuld turne his master to eate grasse and lodge in the field he to feed of the best meats and stay in the house Nay come neerer what if a mans feruant nay his friend or to be short his owne sonne would participate in worthinesse with the father take dignity from him and become the absolute owner of the fathers possession in his life and make him liue like a seruant I referre the censure to the reader because I know not how neere it may touch him being matters so rife in practise To drawe towards the conclusion of this parte it is greatly to be considered that in the estimation of the Creator the reasonable soule of one man is of more value and price then all the territories of the world euen then the whole earth and whatsoeuer is in the bowels thereof Reason will compell thee to confesse this whether thou wilt or no in regard of the immortalitie of the one and corruption and finishing of the other The earth was the thing giuen and man the donee the possessor is more worth then the thing possessed man is much better then money in that money was made for the vse of man and not man for the vse of mony but see how the vsage thereof agreeth with right and true Reason which is the marke we shoote at Looke into some particulars and obserue how many men thou knowest that for some small parte of the earth in comparison of the whole but a crumme that had rather see the destruction of many christian soules then to loose any part therof making more of a penny then of the life of his brother Nay looke into the will of men and obserue therein whether they regard the shedding of blood murther so much as the satisfying their will What hath bene the cause of warres and slaughters of men whereof there remaine so many histories but the breach of Order and making a fraction of Reason In the ciuill gouernment of countries what hath beene the cause of iniuries wrongs violence oppressions peruerting and corruption of Iustice vntrue suggestion periuries subordinations theftes robberies and cruelties but that men exceede the bounds of right and true Reason Aske the great man and the rich to haue cōmiseration of the needy and his hart will be rather enclined to crueltie then pitty he had rather haue his poore debtors bones to make dice then become pittifull Aske the needie and him that is in distresse how he findeth it and hee will say and truely that the world hath forsaken him friends fall off those of his owne house will vse him not much better then poore Iob was vsed But by the way poore man take this for thy comfort thy reasonable soule is better then all the rich mans treasure yea then all the earth beside if thou haue patience for a season To conclude let euery man repaire home to his conscience and closet of his owne heart and examine himselfe before the seate of this Empresse Reason how much hee esteemeth and valeweth the landes riches and transitorie things of the world aboue the price of his poore brothers Soule and life nay to end in a word then his owne Soule examine thy selfe well how farre thou wouldest extend thy mind thy word thy trauell thy othe and thy very Soule to procure and get a small part of this base transitorie and corrupt world thou shalt need no other satisfaction but that right and true Reason is corrupted impaired and become subiect to that which it ought to gouerne Sect. VIII Reasons particular gouernement HAuing furnished the former arguments with some matters the more liuely to expresse what they are namely the Soule of man immortall the excellent quallitie of right and true Reason and the corruption thereof It shal agree with Reason to reremember that man is said to bee an abridgement as it were of God and the world and as a mirror of the whole worke of God reduced into a little compasse For which cause he is called a little world of himselfe Now if by obseruation we finde an orderly kind of gouernment obedience and disposition in diuers parts of the other creatures how necessarie it is for euery particular and priuate man that wil chalenge himselfe to be endued with Reason to descend into himselfe and examine how this little world of his soule his reason his senses and his body is ordered And how and in what maner reason doth gouerne and will appetite affections and passions do obey Let a man pervse himselfe and he shall finde in his body a part of those creatures that want sense and Reason As his haire and finger
as by the verdict of Twelue men euery cause of some nature must be tried So by the Direction of the Law causes of some other nature are to be descided and adiudged by the sentence of the twelue Iudges of the Land Is it not of worthie consideration a very resonable course that reason hath set downe that the trial of Land shal be by men of the same neighborhood that they knowing the right may execute the worke of the Law Lex suum cuique tribuit the Law giueth to euery man his owne Then the common opinion of them that say the fault is in the law is erronious by condemning the Law for the peruerters of the Law and Iustice of whom there are too great a number Looke further into the true sinceritie of the Law and you shal finde that Reason hath made Lawes to reforme those errors and to punish the offenders according to the qualitie of their transgressions What can she do poore dumbe thing she is not able to speake in her own behalfe and few wil do her right either in woorde or action Comes shee not neere the Court when she punisheth treason to preserue the Kinges person Embrace her and vse her worthily for she is of great honor and the principall worke that euer Reason brought to effect in causes of this world The Souldier and man at Armes will confesse that without the Lawes of warres and martiall Discipline there is no possibillitie of keeping things in order The diuines and professors of holy Writ in all countries and in all ages haue made alowance hereof muth endeuoured the performaunce of some things in that behalfe All the Emperors Monarks and Kings of the world depend hereupon and hereby their gouernments are preserued and kept from confusion the least fraction whereof worketh great anoy as appeareth by the stories written by Cornelius Tacitus of the liues of Nero Galba Vetellius and others in the Romane Empire This consideration offereth it selfe though something abruptly that if the offences errors and transgressions of men in these points did consist of substantial matter as the bodies of the offenders do and were for their vnworthines appointed to bee consumed with fire All the water in the great Ocean would not extinguish the flame This being true it shall agree well with Reason and bee very conuenient that men looke into themselues before it be too late correct their errors whilest they haue time lest in the end for the faults of their materiall bodies and sensuall and loose dispositions their Soules which consist of immateriall and vncorruptible substance bee sett on fire and burne in hel with vnquenchable fire that no water of what abundance soeuer can put out And so hauing drawne to thy remembrance these short notes I send thee to consider for the worthines of the law that Moses from whom the grounds of all lawes are receiued did in his time publish the law to the people himselfe vntill the people grew to great numbers and infinite disorders and then by the perswasion of Iethro his Father in lawe hee appointed ministers and officers vnder him The law put in execution by those officers was not the law of the officers but the law of Moses And the law vttered by Moses was not Moses own law but the law of God Such is our case the multitude of offences and euills committed amongst vs are too great and ouer many for our Queene to order in her person therefore Reason hath set downe meane authoritie vnder her The lawes they put in execution are not the lawes of the Iudges but the lawes of our Queene and countrie The sentence they pronounce is her Maiesties they only giue it a voyce and the maine point is this both the lawes and determination thereupon if they be truly executed and obeyed are the lawes and sentence of God himselfe Was there not in Moses time a chiefe head aboue men was there not a mongst mē one aboue the rest were there not vnder him others that took paines to sit in Iudgement to heare the peoples causes was there not thē a chiefe Magistrate and inferior Magistrates some in authoritie to order and gouerne others vnder them to obey were there not men that sustained wrong and others that did the iniurie was not Miriam that gallant Lady punished with leprosie for murmuring against the authoritie of Moses And is not this the antientest gouernment in the world And was not this a kind of Monarchie Doth not our state and gouernement resemble this we haue the same GOD they had a sole gouernor as they lawes as they had Liuetenants Deputies Officers and Magistrates as they people to be kept in obedience as they murmurers against the head as they If they had Corah and his company that rebelled this land hath not bin free from such but God haue the honor they haue had their punishment as well as Miriam and Abiram If the Magistrates in that gouernment found store of busines to punish offences and right the oppressed our countrie is not altogether vnlike them therein If Moses had Aron for Church matters our head hath vnder her mē authorized for that purpose Behold all these things which cōtaine within them a thousand other branches and consider whether Reason hath not preuailed far in this our country and God bin very fauorable to the successe thereof what impiety inhumanitie and bestialitie were it to peruert the good that hath bin attained vnto in these pointes And what doe the contemners resisters disobeyers peruerters and abusers of this so sacred and holy an ordinance of God deserue lesse then those that were punished in Moses time Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri quibus acquiruntur ijsdem praeseruantur modis by diligence labor studie endeuour and obedience haue these bin brought to order and by the like must bee preserued In which office euery member hath a share the chiefe head in gouerning and the rest in obeying which is a dutie to be performed by euery subiect And wherevnto right and true Reason will leade euery man if he carefully obserue his duetie The omitting wherof was a fault in the time of Saint Paul and Saint Peter The one writing to Titus willed him to put men in remembraunce that they be subiect to principalities and powers The other requireth that men should submitt themselues vnto all maner of ordinances of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the king as to the superior or vnto gouernors as vnto them that are sent of him for the punishment of euill dooers and for the praise of them that do well Besides Saint Paul saith in an other place be subiect to the higher powers for who so resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 2. resisteth the ordinance of God With which sayings I conclude desiring that euery man will put himself in remembrance of his dutie in those points and according to his calling beare a faithfull and true heart to his Queene and Country and obedience to authoritie as the key that openeth to all happines and is the closing vp of Reasons gouernement in these worldly causes and a great inducement to eternitie Finis The Minds priuiledge Who can restraine the freedom of the mind Or banish thoughts from grieued harts perplex Or who can shew what limits are assignde To Sorrowes griefes which do poore soules sore vex Mind keepe thee free from euer being bound Fast from ' Despaire and feast on good Content Yet surfet not on too secure a ground Lest Time let passe Remissenesse make repent Seeme not to be but be as thou dost seeme Thy conscience saue what euer thee befall It forc'th not much what other men do deeme Thy guilt or guiltlesse conscience swayeth all In things that taste of good is good delight Thou mansion for thy God to take repose Keepe pretious things wherein he may delight Then secrets all he will to thee disclose In all restraints yet thou art still at large In all exiles thou still remainst at home The secret matters thou dost take in churge Seruant like thee diuine Virtue knows none The pollisht Temple of Dianaes shrine Did not delight the viewers halfe so much As counsels good layd vp in storch-house thine Which will abide the hammer deft and tuch Keepe farre from thee the praue and euil things The sanctimonies for thy turne are fit Thou harbour hast among the Peers and Kings Thy Chaire was made thy maker there to sit Thou cloth of gold of state and richest price To clad thy God the high and mightest one In thee therefore beware let raigne no vice An equall mate thy King abideth none Let none come in keepe fast the vtter gate Deceipt is rife and thou art in great danger Take heede beware there is a subtile mate That presseth in yet ought to be a stranger Shee le offer faire both words and deeds of gaine She saies she will be gone and will but view But keepe her out it will be to thy paine The words she speakes is neither of them true The Bridebed once defilde the Bridegroom leaues It is a place he doth detest and hate See to thy selfe when once she thee deceaues Thy Glorie 's gone thy Honor 's out of date Friend to thy selfe be thou for to be frended Needs curious choise I speake as reason bindeth Faire shews of loue with faint effects are ended When fruitles words shew what the speaker mindeth The matter meant the mind must needs containe That secret is to him that dooh intend Al pleasing words and speeches that are vaine Gainst truths supports by no means may contend That ample walke within so large a field Would well permit my pen a ranging scope But yet my will to Reason now must yeelde To end this cause my Muse doth stand in hope In fewest words but words of great respect The minding well and well affecting spirit Eternizd Ioyes with Angels shall amplect And endlesse blisse by promise shall inherit That blissed place and place of highest blisse Without cōpare Compare what needs that word God hath ordained for seruants that are his Blessed are they that euer serue the Lord. Finis