the Beastes doe suour the earth and desire nothing but that which is earthie and of the earth Man on the contrary as the wisest of the Heathens especially Plato and Cicero in diuers passages of their writings doe obserue hath a diuine and heauenly soule which being enfranchised and deliuered out of the prison of the bodie returneth to the place of his originall And the more generous the mind of man is the more he lusteth after and desireth heauenly thinges meditating and looking for a better state and condition then he enioyeth in this present life From thence it commeth to passe that he despiseth losses and troubles calamities wounds and death it selfe holding it a great honour to yeeld vp his soule in some valiant and vertuous exployt and enterprise for the seruice and safetie of his Countrie to the end to goe to the other life where good men haue their reward Salust sayth that the vertuous effectes and suffringes of the minde are no lesse immortall then the soule it selfe which to vs is common with God but the body assimilateth and a greeth with the beastes Another reason hath strongly perswaded the auncient Philosophers to beleeue the immortality of mans soule That God should seeme otherwise vniust if he should suffer the vau-neantes treacherous dissolute to prosper in the world after to escape his vengeance and good men who are industrious and imploy themselues to preserue humane societie should vtterly perish in death without hope of rest at the end of their trauailes and of ioy after so many disquiets and griefes of minde and of a crowne at the end of so many thousand fought battailes and combatts Vndoubtedly prophane persons who are bold to thinke and affirme the soule of man to bee mortall doe abolish as much as in them lyes all pietie and religion they ouerthrow all vertuous and laudable actions and enterprises and as S. Ambrose very well sayth in his exposition of the worke of the six dayes they are madd-men Furthermore what is more avers preposterous and ill beseeming then to haue a straight body and a crooked soule alwayes groveling and stooping to the earth never lifting or rouzing vp it selfe toward heauen her true dwelling place But as God our creator hath plainly instructed vs in his word touching the originall end and soueraigne good of man It is also from the same word that wee must gather the infallible doctrines which we doe handle Mans soule was not composed of the elements nor fabricated or formed of the dust of the earth but the Lord God inspired it and endowed it with diuers gifts Little children doe obtaine even a soule of God their creator to wit a reasonable soule not of the seed of their fathers and mothers but by the singular fauour and benefit of him whom the Apostle Hebr. 12. calleth the Father of spirits and not without cause For although that he be the father of our bodies yet notwithstanding he created not our soules by corporall helpes but hath placed them in our bodies as excellent lampes and lights as Salomon speakes of them Prov. 20. 7. We call them immortall for two reasons first by reason of their essence which is spirituall and originarie or primarie from God the giuer of it Secondly in regard of the grace peculier to the children of God for so much as we haue communion with Iesus Christ the eternall Word of the Father the Prince and author of life This immortall and eternall life is the true happie life and so much to be desired so much recommended in the Scripture whereof Saint Paul sayth The just shall liue by faith Rom. 1. 17. Also who beleeueth in me hath eternall life Iohn 6. 47. And the Apostle sayth Iesus Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortalie vnto light thorough the Gospell 2 Timoth. 1. 10. For although the soules of the wicked in regard of their essence sense and motion be immortall neuerthelesse they suffer death in as much as they are depriued of the iustice light beatitude and glorious life of God vpon which cause the wicked who triumph and braue it for a while in the world are called dead and after this present life it is sayd that they goe into condemnation and into eternall death because the state wherein they are then to be and remaine in perpetuall torments deserueth rather the name of death then life Prophane people talke they know not what in obiecting vnto vs that neuer any came from the other world as they babble and prattle to tell newes of them O the greatest fooles and idiots among people O silly sotts will they be still madde miserable and more brutish them beasts who beleeue nothing but what they see with their eyes and touch with their hands According to their babble they ought to giue ouer to beleeue that they doe participate of reason seeing they doe not see their soule Let them giue ouer to beleeue that our friends dwelling remote and farre from vs doe liue and are at their ease and content desiring to see vs againe and that because wee see them no more But to proceed it is not simply true that neuer any returned from the other life on the contrary the Histories of the Old and New Testament doe furnish vs with examples of men and women of young striplings and damsells raised againe from death The Prince of our faith the head of all Christians our Lord Iesus descending from heauen to assume our humaine nature in earth hath tould vs ample and gladsome newes of the state of heauen and of life eternall His ascension to heauen in bodie and soule is an assured pledge that we also shall ascend into heauen in our bodies and soules S. Paul caught vp into the third heauen where he was informed of the high and deepe mysteries and secrets of God from thence came to tell vs afterward many particularities of the Church Christ Iesus is in heauen and we shall liue there For although that death dissolue the bodie into dust from whence it was taken death cannot let the soule to returne to him that gaue it And when we die young and old let vs after the example of Christ Iesus and of Dauid recommend our soules to God rendring them into his hands as into the handes of a most faithfull keeper and gardian of them And let vs say with S. Stephen Lord Iesus receiue my soule being well assured that at the same houre when it shall be fit for vs to goe out of this present life we haue part in that gracious promise of the sonne of God made to the sinner conuerted Verely I say vnto thee that this day thou shalt be with me in Paradize This is the sweete voyce which still ought to be sounding in the heart of the wise Vieillard to the end that being at the poynt to leaue this world as his age plainely shewes him his conscience doe not smite and checke him to be a prophane person and a contemner
the caske or those who beholding the ecclipse would mainetaine the Sun to be alwayes darke But the holy Scripture speaketh otherwise of these things as also the wiser heathen people to wit that instead of taxing and finding fault with our life because of some discommodities and troubles are in it wee are on the contrary to acknowledge the excellent benefits which by it are bountifully communicated and bestowed vpon vs by our Creatour and heauenly Father who thereby putteth vs in minde that the glory of man doth not consist so much in the strength faire outside and feature of the body as in the endowments and gifts of the minde As also that nature is not to be blamed nor found fault with nor vnder her name the true God who created her and is the author of her essence and being seeing that as Chrysostome declareth in an excellent Homilie of his No man takes harme but by and long of himselfe And it is agreeable to nature that as the Ivie by winding it selfe about trees doth drinke vp their sap and makes them to die so old age killes all those whom shee doth louingly embrace in her armes So Ouid saith Old age eates the iron and makes it decay And Marble pillars to moulder away And Horace vpon the same theame addeth Of the dismall day that doth threaten with death Things vitall feele the smart and things without breath It is a wonder saith Cicero also if old men bee troubled with infirmities seeing young men cannot priuiledge themselues from them but are often enough feeble and weake The Sunne that riseth in the morning doth set at night there is not any thing that doth increase and flourish but it doth decrease wither and waxe old But to come neerer to our purpose let vs first discouer and lay open the remote causes of old age then those that are neerer and more inherent and naturall and let vs shew that they are not all of a peece and of one sort Those wee call the remote causes of old age which are supernaturall and which proceed from the disobedience of Adam and Eue and from the sentence pronounced against them by the Lord God For so long as God was mans friend the skie ayre and earth were so beautifull to behold that a fairer prospect could not be desired and man himselfe knew and perceiued how proportionably his bones and ioynts were set together and how exquisitely and perfectly hee was fashioned framed and made as well in body as in soule But man taking vpon him boldly to transgresse Gods commandement and to reuolt from his obedience had this punishment for his boldnesse and rebellion inflicted vpon him that within doores or touching his inward man he was not so well fortified with the spirit of God as he was before and abroad without doores or touching his outward man all his former blessings became curses as appeares by that which is contained in the sentence pronounced against him presently after his fall For where before he had liberty hee was made a bondslaue all the paines hee was put to in that pleasant garden of Eden whereof he was owner was onely to trim it and keepe it handsome which was an easie worke to the hard labour hee was put to afterward his sleepe and rest was disquieted with wearisomnesse and discontentments the Elements and all other creatures and things ordained for the necessity of this life and which before willingly offered and did their seruice vnto him were after his fall subiect to vanity and corruption and began to bee enemies and to proclaime open warres against this wretched Apostata man For the skie was troubled with tempests and stormes the ayre was infected with noysome vapours the earth brought forth thornes thistles hurtfull and venemous hearbes and the tame and wilde beasts stood with their seuerall weapons ready drawne to encounter and make head against him Man being then inuironed with the dreadfull wrath of God combred with so many euills and miseries and hauing so many ambushes and traines laid for him which hee was to passe and make a lane thorough it was impossible but that hee should by little and little waste his vitall spirits and consume his strength grow old and speedily come to his death if God of his meere good will to him had not eased his sorrowes and troubles and mitigated his afflictions prolonging the date of his yeares and letting some liue so long as it seemeth good vnto him Dauid lamenting this miserable condition of his saith in the extreame anguish of all his heauinesse and troubles There is no health in my flesh because of thine indignation My bones neuer leaue asking because I haue offended thee O Lord Psal 38. 4. And in another place he saith My dayes are as a shadow which vanisheth away and I am as a withered leafe ashes haue beene my bread and I haue mingled my drinke with teares because of thine anger and heauy displeasure and because hauing aduanced mee to great honour thou hast cast mee downe as low as the dust Psal 102. 10. 11. 12. Many yeares before Dauid Iob complaines That his dayes were like the dayes of a hireling moneths of vanity were giuen him for his portion painefull nights were appointed vnto him his flesh was clothed with wormes his skin was chapt and shrunke away and his daies passed away as swiftly as a Weâ—vers shittle Iob 7. 1. c. Briefly as Saint Cyprian saith in his Treatise of the vertue of patience this obligatory decree Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne doth binde vs vnder hatches and keepes vs chained in hold vntill death be abolished and we made partakers of a better life Thus much touching the remote causes of old age Now followes the naturall and inherent causes of old age As young men die vnwillingly so on the contrary old men fall of themselues into their graues like fruits that are ripe and according to the course of nature all things that are old doe by little and little decline and giue way to death Which caused some Diuines to be of opinion that our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ among other reasons would not die of any disease or of old age that hee might not seeme to bee driuen and turned out of the world perforce by this naturall infirmity which doth threaten all the children of Adam As for that which is extraordinary peculiar and not so much according to nature wee may read examples thereof in Isaiah 40. Chap. 30. 31. The young men are weary and faint yea the lustiest young men doe stumble and fall flat to the ground but those that waite and depend vpon the Lord doe renew their strength their wings doe spread as the wings of an Eagle they shall runne and not be weary they shall walke and not be feeble and faint And the same Prophet foretelleth in the 65. Chapter concerning the restauration of the Church which is spiritually to bee vnderstood That hereafter there shall be in
Ierusalem no more a childe of yeares nor an old man which shall not accomplish and fill vp his yeares for hee that shall bee a hundred yeares old shall bee a young man By which manner of speech the Prophet would giue vs to vnderstand that all the children of God shall come to that age and stature where of Saint Paul maketh mention in the fourth Chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians in such sort that they shall be exempt from all infirmities wherewith children and old men are cumbred that is they shall not be children in vnderstanding nor poore silly dotardes and sots as those are that know not Iesus Christ but liue in perpetuall ignorance Idolatry and beastly impiety On the contrary life prolonged vnto the prophane shall bee but a presage and forerunner of their euerlasting accursed condition But to proceed the inherent and naturall causes of old age are not all of one sort and kinde For some of them are meerely naturall and sleepe in our bosomes and some of them be accidentall and forraine and further of from vs. Those we call meerely naturall and which sleep with vs which the Naturalists Physicians speake of to wit our coldnesse and drynesse of body because the more our radicall moysture dryes vp and our blood cooles the neerer is our sensitiue and naturall life to an end which hath beene the cause to moue some men to thinke that old men were called Senes which is as much to say as Semineces men halfe dead because old men especially those that are decrepit very much worne with age haue cold and dry bodies For although they abound with excrements and by this accident seeme to haue moist bodies for that their naturall heat being too much cooled and not able to cherish and warme them within the humour purgeth it selfe at the nose or mouth Yet this age is found indeed and in truth to be cold and dry And as death is a totall suffocation of the naturall heate so old age doth by little and little coole and abate it whereupon it also followes that all cold and dry bodies are quickly worne out and grow old On the contrary young men are of hoate and moyst constitutions But euen as it is to bee found in wines that some keepe collour long and drink briske and neate and some by and by loose collour and drinke eagre and flat So wee see some men waxe old and were out sooner then others And notwithstanding that man wheele about from this place to that shifting ayres and vsing all the wayes and means he can to cherish nature for a while yet his naturall heate and strength doth by little and little leaue him whereupon doth ensue to aged persons white haires loosenesse of teeth deafenesse of hearing weaknesse and decay of sight the shaking palsie in their hands and legges and the chilling and shrinking vp of all the whole body This naturall weaknenesse and drynesse which by succession of time doth inuade all bodies made of earth or other matter besides is seconded in many men with diuers diseases and with old age comming on which with greater paine doth hasten it forward and further it the more All these euils may be reduced to two heads which wee call the labours and toyles of the body distinctly or both together and intemperance Concerning labour it is expresly set downe in that sentence immediately after the sinne of Adam and Eue which Moyses doth propound in these words The earth shall bee accursed because of thee in sorrow shalt thou eate of the fruites thereof all the dayes of thy life in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate bread c. Gen. 2. 17 19. And in the ninetith Psalme it is said That we flourish and wither away all at once Because as the Prophet saith there is no part of our life how strong and lusty soeuer it bee which is priuiledged and free from sorrow and labour These two are the parents of old age as euery man knowes and there hath beene in our time young men which being oppressed with extreame griefe haue become old in a night the toyles of the warres haue made some gray headed in the prime and flower of their yeares and it comes by kind to the men and women of some kindreds and families to be soone gray and old Plime in his seuenth booke and seuenth chapter writeth That in Albania some haue all the haire of their heads white from their infancy I my selfe haue seene in diuers places where I haue trauelled fiue or sixe yong men whereof the last I saw was in Dauphiné who had all the haire of their heads as white as a man of threescore and tenne yeares old Touching intemperance whereof there bee diuers kindes a vice to common in young men destitute of the feare of God and very vnseemely in old men being the harbinger of death and the Phisicians best friend It hath beene an old complaint seeing this present life is so short fraile and transitory that men doe so naturally desire to liue and to bee so carefull to recouer and preserue their health and to that end spare for no cost nor make any bones or difficulties to turne their tender stomackes into an Apothecaries shop of bitter and vnsauory druges how almost all men by their outragious riots and surfettings doe bring vpon themselues an irkesome old age doe before hand as much as in them lies with sharpe and violent diseases hasten their death are not wise till it bee too late and neuer condemne or finde fault with their shamefull luxuries and riots till the gout is in their knees or the dropsie doth painefully shingle them round or the stone doth torment them and till the excesses and disorders by them committed to the fearefull abuse of Gods patience haue deliuered vp their rotten and crazed bodies into the hands of a miserable old age They should before hand remember and bethinke themselues of the old excellent Prouerb If thou wilt bee a very old man bee old betime Which doth warne vs to bee carefull of our health in our youth flying all shamefull and vnruly passions and seeking by the wise gouernment of our selues to obtaine such an old age as may bee long strong and healthfull Verily it is a licentiousnesse not to be borne withall or tollerated that a man should giue his youth as a present to the vncleane spirit by abandoning it to impudent dissolutenesse pollutions and ribauld impurities promising to himselfe that all shall goe well with him at last and conceiting to himselfe rude and wilde peccauies which deceiue and misleade him It is a further euill and vtterly abominable in old men to see them so farre to haue abandoned God their honour their respect of others all remembrance of their wretched condition and of death which hangs ouer their heads that they would still weaue a webb of new yeares for Couerlets to hide the foule deedes they commit in horrible hypocrisie which at last
to ouercome and stand against the slights and assaults of the Deuill and hauing ouercome all things stand fast Stand fast then hauing your loynes girded about with veritie hauing on the brest-plate of righteousnesse and your feete shod with the preparation of peace Aboue all laying hold on the shield of faith wherewith you may quench all the fierie darts of the wicked one Take also the helmet of saluation and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God Praying alwayes with all manner of prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseuerance These are the words of the Apostle But because it is not enough to name and shew weapons to a man if he know not how rightly to vse and to handle them We are more particularly to enquire after and to discourse and set forth the practise of this military Art as much as the consolation which we purpose to propose to wise old men doth require Saint Ambrose in his commentary vpon the sixt Chapter to the Ephesians speakes well to the purpose that although the Apostle names many specialties and partes of Armour yet faith it is that makes vs keepe to our tackling and to stand fast and whereof principally we haue need in this spirituall combat In deed what auailes it to read much to heare many Sermons of the prouidence grace and mercy of God if faith be not added to his Word And what auailes it to beleeue this word to be true if you tremble not when it soundes lowder in your eares then vsually it hath done if you stedfastly settle not your ioy and assurance in the promises of saluation which it propoundeth vnto you if you doe not in humilitie revere and honour your heauenly Father if you dread not his wrath indignation more then ten thousand deathes if you bee not wholly resolued that God speakes to condemne you if you perseuere and goe on to prouoke him and to offer you grace if you amend your liues and beleeue in the Gospell To what purpose serue so many Sermons touching Iesus Christ his obedience his merit his miracles his loue to saue his elect And what are so many exhortations good for if this Sauiour dwell not in your hearts by faith if he doe not rule amend and reforme them if by his spirit of sanctification and adoption he seale them not vp in them if he doe not stampe and engraue his loue and truth in them The Apostle S. Iohn speaking of the speciall graces of God who is Almighty and good to his children wisely and necessarily ioynes these two together To wit that he hath giuen vs eternall life that this life is in his Sonne so that whosoeuer hath the Sonne consequently hath an assured guard of defence against death and all the temptations which goe before and precede it Afterward that God hath giuen vs knowledge and vnderstanding to the end we may know him and be certainely assured that hee herein is true in this Author of all good which is Christ The same Apostle doth vpon good right call this assurance our victorie that is our warlike furniture and armour wherewith we ouercome the world and throw downe to the ground all her strong holdes For this cause according to the example of the Apostles wee ought deuoutly to pray to God to giue vs faith and daily to increase it in our hearts What dastardes and cowardes were the Disciples of our Lord What a hard harsh diffused noyse was it and not to be endured to heare of their Maisters death before the vertue and efficacie of a liuely faith did actuate and enlarge it selfe in them Wee may see what the Euangelistes sayde of them Saint Matthewe Chapter 16. verse 23. Saint Luke 18. 34. Saint Iohn 16. 6. The eleauenth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes contaynes a great number of worthie examples by which we may learne how great the efficacie and power of a true and liuely faith is in all manner of afflictions Wee reade the same in the auncient and moderne Historie of the Church where wee see a great number of men and women of diuerse and differing Ages of young boyes and girles that made proofe of an inuincible Faith as well in the fierie Furnace of persecutions as in the deepe dungeon and prison of all sortes of troubles and calamities and had the victorie and now are crowned with prayse and immortall glorie in the Pallace of GOD in his triumphant Church So wee must conclude with the Prophet in the Psalme 73. that God is good to Israell yea to all those which serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their life although on the contrary the flesh the world and Sathan doe grumble gnash their teeth and snarle at it And in another place Psalme 66. the Prophet sayth O inhabitants of the earth blesse our God and sound aloud his prayse It is he that hath reestablished our soule in life and hath not suffered our feete to slip For thou O God hast prooued vs thou hast tryed and purified vs as siluer is tryed and purified As if he did say iustly thou mightest consume vs and thou art content to try vs cleansing vs from the filth of so many scandâ—lls and imputations wherewith we haue beene disgraced and diffamed Wee are fallen into the fire of afflictions which should burne and waste vs to nothing and are vp to the eares in the water of extreame anguish and agonie of bodie and minde where if we had our deserts we should be stifled and strangled but thou hast enlarged and set vs at ease The peace and holy libertie which we enioy by thy free gift is as a Mansion or dwelling in a large pleasant country to all those that desire to liue and without ceasing to prayse thee Behold how faith doth accommodate it selfe is willing and readie sweening and mitigating all the paines griefes and discommodities of this present life quenching also all the fierie dartes of Sathan especially despaire and distrust It is shee which hath the custodie and charge of all the Armour of God which shrowdes vs vnder the helmet of saluation with the strong shield of affiance hath the sword of the word of truth in her hand is well shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace doth crosse and resist all impediments and letts and bestirres her selfe on euery side in the enemies campe If then as S. Cyprian sayth writing to those of Thibara men practise and learne to fence and to fight pell mell not sparing life nor lymme making great reckoning of a corruptible Crowne which is set vpon their heads in the presence of the Emperour how much more excellent and glorious is the combat whereof God is the Emperour and soueraigne and his Angels are not onely spectators but moderators and Iudges and propound to vs a Crowne of glorie Let vs then arme our selues sayth he with a simple and pure vnderstanding a sound and sincere faith and
no tormentes nor tortures canne quell or dismay their stoute minde nor no Bug-beare or terror is gastly or horrid enough to fray and affright them The Lord hauing made a couenant with his Church which here on earth is compounded of all sorts of people hath giuen vnto it two strong propps of hope to wit his spirit and his true word This spirit is called the spirit of wisedome vnderstanding counsell power knowledge of sanctification veritie consolation life faith grace The word is called the word of life of saluation of the grace of God of our reconciliation with the father of Heauen A word testifying that all thinges were giuen vs necessary to life and pietie by the knowledge of him who hath called vs by his owne power and glorie by which are giuen vnto vs great and pretious promises that by them wee which are regenerated by the holy Ghost and the word should be made partakers of the diuine nature being deliuered and freed from the concupiscences and corruptions of the world Whosoeuer hath not this spirit of Iesus Christ and trusteth not in the promises of God a midd all his babble and prattle of the contempt of death and the benefit of old age is still in doubt hath feeble hands trembling and staggering knees haltes feedes himselfe with the winde and not with any assured consolation But the iust doe liue by faith are strengthened and vpheld by it which makes them reioyce all wayes in the Lord who sanctifies them preserues whole and entire their mind soule and bodie vnblameable vntill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. XV. An aduise to wise old men conteining the summarie and substance of their dutie vntill their last gaspe IT should remaine now to treat of death and the certaine remedies against it But before we enter therein we will propound to our wise Vieillard an aduise drawne and taken out of the volumes of sacred Philosophie to leade him more easily on to that whereunto he aspires But it behooueth those who are almost at their wayes end more heedfully to consider both the way they haue gone and are to goe for their further encouragement to their dutie Behold then what I pretend to remember to whomsoeuer being in old age will vouchsafe to hearken to him who is drawing neere vnto it It is reason that the grace of God witnessed in so many sortes so many yeares and sealed in our Baptisme at our first entrance into the world and into the Church when we haue rightly apprehended in whom we are dead and in whom quickned doe cause vs to wish a continuall sense and feeling of our adoption by his spirit speaking to vs by his word and witnessing with our spirit that we are the sonnes of God This sense and feeling doth engender or beget an excellent desire an earnest devotion a firme resolution to yeeld him obedience all our life long but more at the dissolution and end of our life then at the beginning which is devoide of knowledge conscience experience wisedome plunged and drowned the greater part of tyme in ignorance selfe opinion insolencie and ribauld and lasciuious impudencie Now then it behooues so soone as we feele the motions of this grace that our hearts be replenished with a sincere and liuely affection to obey God not according to our worldly sense but following the rule which he himselfe doth propose and set downe vnto vs. Touching this affection it is commended vnto vs by generall and speciall reasons The generall reasons are that our God is holy and that we his people cannot cleaue vnto him except we bee holy likewise then as members belonging to Iesus Christ our head and redeemer we ought to be made conformable to him imitating his life which is called the obedience to God his Father euen to the death of the crosse The speciall reasons are First that God is our Father Secondly that Christ hath washed vs by his precious bloud and incorporated vs into him Thirdly that this our head is ascended vp into heauen Fourthly that we are the temples of the holy Ghost Fiftly that our bodies be predestinated to the last resurrection and our soules to immortalitie both of them to euerlasting glorie Whereupon it followes that it is horrible ingratitude not to be willing to obey the will of our heauenly Father that it is madnesse to returne to the filthinesse from which we haue beene so dearely and preciously cleansed and purged that it is detestable iniquitie to wish and to will the members of Iesus Christ to bee ioyned to Sathan and to the world that is but reason for euer to burie all earthly affection to aspire to a better life to be by a liuely faith set in the heauenly places and to feele and taste of life and euerlasting glory that we must not grieue him which dwelleth in vs our counsellor guide and comforter That it is good reason to preserue our selues immaculate and pure euen vntill the day of our Lord. Hauing treated of our affection let vs speake of the rule thereof declared in such wise and so expressely in the law of God to make vs yet to see as the soule and mayne of all that his good pleasure hath beene to forme and fashion our manners by a most exact manner and order and which serues as a commentarie of all that is contayned in the sayd Law That is that wee should renounce our selues to the end to be fit to apply and frame our selues sincerely and wholly to serue God because we are not our owne but Gods Whereupon it followes that a Christian be he young or old and the old is more bound to this dutie then the yong because God hath vpheld and supported him long hath bestowed many blessings and benefites on him and a blessed life whereinto hee is nowe entring ought to search and learne out what God willeth and approueth briefely whatsoeuer serueth to the advancement of his glorie Those which are of an other minde are styled and tearmed by the voyce of truth vngracious hypocrites vngratefull reprobates All these licentious and inordinate humours S. Paul in his Epistle to Titus comprehendeth vnder the word Impietie To which hee opposeth the duties of Christians marshalled and ranged vnder the three excellent giftes of the holy Ghost in the regenerate to wit sobrietie iustice and pietie And in this sacred triangle is included the renouncing of our selues And the Apostle not without cause hath begun with temperance which especially concernes vs which moderates our lustes and desires banishing and driuing away sensuall carnall worldly and vncleane and filthie affections much more their detestable effortes and effectes It is shee which doth fashion and frame vs to a true square rulle and order as well in the moderation of our wishes and dreames of worldly houour and greatnesse as of our inordinate beastly concupiscences suggested by the vncleane spirit In the violent pursuite seeking and hunting after proud vsurping sacrilegious detayning and miserable possessing