yet divers instances may be produced to prove That Avarice doth change into Ambition in mens declining age Martius Crassus p See Plutarch in his life had by a sordid kinde of Avarice attained to the greatest riches of any that we read of and yet out of Envy that he bore to the warlike atchievements of Pompeius and Caesar such an insatiable Ambition or desire of honor possessed him in his declining age That at threescore and three yeers of age he gave away half his estate to the common people of Rome to obtain a general Commission to be Commander in chief of the Roman Legions that were appointed to make war in the furthest parts of Armenia against the Parthians Which insatiable and unseasonable Ambition of his was ingeniously reproved by an old Armenian Knight of whom he did desire to be informed of the condition and distance of the way he was to undergo and power he was to oppose in this Parthian journy saying unto him That it was too great for him to undertake the same in his declining age and that the morning Sun of his age had been fitter for such an enterprise then the setting of it And had Crassus been ruled by this wholesom Counsel he had not by his insatiable desire of honor faln from the highest degree of worldly prosperity to the lowest degree of humane disgrace and misery as he did for by this rash enterprise he was the cause of his own death and of his eldest sons and of the lives of a great part of the bravest Nobility of Rome and of the rout and utter overthrow of his whole Army This is to prove That men in their declining age are fitter for Counsel then for Action and that is the reason that the Roman Senate the Counsel of Areopage and the Senate of Venice have been and are composed of men much advanced in their declining age because their Passions are commonly more moderate their Experience greater their Judgment more solid and their Counsels safer then of those who are in the youth or virility of their age for as Job saith With the ancient should be wisdom and in length of yeers understanding q Job 12.12 Contrarily there have been others in whom the desire of honor hath raigned in their youth and virility as their Noble Martial atchievements do witness who have changed this Ambitious Passion into the Sordid Passion of Avarice in their declining age As may appear by the lives of Vespasiaanus r See Dion and the English and the French Histories of Henry the seventh King of England and of Henry the fourth King of France Howsoever the desire of Wine of Money and the malicious Passion of Envy is more natural and doth commonly increase with age as much as rash Temerity and carnal Delights do diminish by age whereby I conclude That the declining age of men is not free from Vanity For what greater Vanity can there be then to Envy at another mans prosperity or to desire Wine when our head-piece is so weakened by age that it cannot overcome the vapors of it or to desire Money when we have less need of it sith we daily expect to be carried to our Graves Sixthly and Lastly The decrepit age of men begins at seventy and ends when Death strikes them with her Dart which is according to the course of life between fourscore or fourscore and ten For none attains to the days of Methuselah Å¿ Gen. 6.26 or of the Patriarks Abraham Isaac and Jacob for God hath shortened the days of men because of their transgressions as it appears Gen. 7.3 My Spirit saith the Lord shall not alwayes strive with man for he also is flesh yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years and the oldest man that hath been known in this age of the world was a Shropshire Husbandman that was brought up to London as a wonder in the days of King James who was said to be one hundred and thirtie three years of age and this long life of his according to the opinion of the learned Physitians did proceed from the simplicity of his meate and drink for as soon as he came to be fed with the dainties of the Court he came to be diseased and suddenly departed this life Plinius and other Naturalists have much troubled themselves to finde out the naturall reasons why mens lives are so short the best reason they give for it is their immoderate diet and the variety of dainties and change of superfluous meats cooked with art inticing men to gluttony and drunkenness for daily experience doth shew that those who live soberly and live upon simple food avoiding slowth and idleness do live commonly longer then such as feed on dainties and use a sedentary life but the chief cause of it is that men do daily increase in sin and it is just with God for the punishment of their sins to shorten their lives sith as the Apostle Paul saith t Rom. 6.23 That the wages of sin is death howsoever the decrepit age of men except it be indowed with free grace and sanctified by the blessed Spirit of God it is the vanity of vanities and the misery of all miseries for the numerous infirmities incident to it and especially if penury doth accompany the same for old age with penury is the greatest affliction that can befal to generous spirits and the greatest tentation of Satan to intice men to despair for if rich men who have all manner of comforts cannot with patience support the infirmities of a decrepit age but murmure as some have done in my hearing that they were weary of their lives of what distemper must the poor aged people be who have no worldly comforts at all but are ready to starve for cold and to famish for want of food therefore tender and compassionated Christians should exercise their charity upon these objects of unparalleld misery as the most acceptable sacrifice they can offer to God and yet all the hearts of most men are so hardened by a just Judgment of God upon this Nation for its transgressions that they can look upon these dying objects of compassion whoperish daily in the streets without pity or reluctation Now for a conclusion and confirmation of the vanity and misery incident to the life of men I will make a short relation of the Maladies incident to every one of the ages of their lives first in their very conception they may be extinguished by ill sents and vapours and by divers accidents of bruises or falls secondly in their infancy by the squincy convulsions measles or the smal pox thirdly in their adolescency by the sword the pleuresie and burning feavers fourthly in their virility by sanguin apoplexies bloudy-flixes and consumptions fifthly in their declining age by the stone and the gout by dropsies paralepsies and flegmtick apoplexies and in the decrepit age by gouts aches cough the retentions of urine the strangullion poverty cold and
c 2 Sam. 15.6 stole the hearts of the people of Israel from his father Divers other qualities might be produced which abstract Love from others but these shall serve for this time Sixthly The effects of Love are either Good or Bad according to the end of it for if the end of mens Love be Good the effects of it are always comfortable but if the end of their Love is to satisfie their lust it is always destructive and fatall and so proved the love of d Gen. 34.2 Sechem to Dinah and the love e 2 Sam. 13.14 28. Homers Illiades Livius Decade 1. lib. 2. of Amnon to his sister Tamar and the rape of Helen by Paris was the cause of the ruine of Troy the Rape of Lucretia by Tarquinus was the cause that Rome from a Monarchy fell into a Democracy the violence committed by the f Judg. 19.25 Gibeathites to the Levit's Concubine was the cause of the death of fourty thousand Israelites and almost of the utter ruine of the whole Tribe of Benjamin and the love of Antonius to Cleopatra was the cause of their lamentable end but sith a volume would not contain all the examples that might be produced of the evil effects of lust varnished over with the name of Love I will now speak of the effects of true Love first See Plutarch in the two young Graccus lives The love of Tiberius Graccus towards his vertuous wife Cornelia was such as he slew the male Serpeut and spared the femall on purpose that he might save her life by the loss of his own secondly The love of Antonio Perez's wife to him was such as she ventured her own life to save his See the Spainsh History in the raign of Philip the second thirdly The love of Portia daughter to famous Cato and wife to Martius Brutus was so vehement and passionate that being informed of his death at the battell of Philippi See Bâ—utus life in Appian she smothered her self by casting a handful of burning coles into her mouth fourthly The love of Artemisa Queen of Caria towards her beloved husband Mausolus was so violent that being dead See Plutarchs Morals it could not suffer his body to have any other grave then her own bowels for she caused the same to be burned and drank a portion of his ashes at every meal in commemoration of their constant love See the Italian History fifthly The love of an Italian Gentleman to his betrothed Mistress is to be commended for hearing she had been taken at sea by some Pirats of Tunis and sold for a Slave he went over into Africa and redeemed her with an incredible sum of money sixthly The incredible love and fidelity of Damon and Pythias two Sicilian Noble men is to be admired for Dionysius the Elder King or Tyrant of Syracuse having upon some jealousie of state caused Damon to be cast into prison and to be condemned to death Damon presented a petition unto him desiring to have leave for eight days to go into the Countrey to set his houshold in order See old Dionisius life promising to return Dionysius granted the same upon this condition that some other Noble man of his means and degree should bail him body for body and life for life and should remain in durance untill the day appointed for his return Pythias his intimate friend bailed him of his free accord and yeelds himself prisoner in Damons stead but the day being come and almost the hour appointed at hand and Damon not appearing Dionysius began to deride Pythias for his credulity of the constancy of his friend yet before the hour went out Damon came in and presented himself to the King desiring his friend might be discharged at whose love fidelity and constancy Dionysius was so astonished that he set them both at liberty and required to be accepted for the third of their society yet all these admirable effects of Love are as much inferior to the Love of God towards man as the finite is inferior to the infinite as it will appear by the insuing Discourse Seventhly The Love of God towards men is altogether incomprehensible as it will appear by these expressions of the blessed Spirit For God saith St. Iohn g Ioh. 3.6 so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life and Christ saith himself h Ioh. 10.10 That he is the good Shepherd who hath given his life for his sheep And St. Iohn saith i 1 Ioh 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Beloved let us love one another for love cometh of God and every man that loveth is born of God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another no man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world These words of St. Iohn and divers others to the later end of this Chapter do confirm the Point that Gods Love is the Adamant stone that draweth our love to him and that we cannot of our selves love him before he be pleased to love us Eighthly As for the love of man towards God it comes infinitely short of Gods love towards them for if any love God it is a gift of his free grace and God hath loved his elect before the creation of the world and St. Paul a Rom. 9.13 doth give us a clear instance for it Rom. 9.13 For God saith he loved Jacob and hated Esau from their mothers womb and the heart of b 1 Sam. 13.14 David was framed after Gods own heart and that is the reason why this holy man hath such rare expressions in his Psalms of his unfained love towards God And to confirm the choise and election of Gods faithful ones we have divers instances of it in his Word for Moses c Numb 16.5 was a chosen servant of the Lord as it appears by these words Even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him And Aaron d Deut. 18.5 was a chosen servant of the Lord as appears Deut. 18.5 And Cyrus King of Persia e Isai 44.28 was a chosen servant of the Lord to execute his will as it appears Isai 44.28 And St. Paul f Act. 9.15 was a chosen vessel of the Lord as it appears Act 9.15 But
conceive them to be the cause of all the burden that are laid upon their backs I mean Lones Subsidies Taxes and Monopolies fifthly The wicked are addicted to Hatred 1 Cor. 4.13 for they hate implacably the Just and the Righteous and hold them as the off-scouring of all things Fifthly the nature and effects of Hatred in the unregenerate are nothing else but murders ruine and desolation first Hatred provoked f Gen. 4.8 Cain to kill his brother Abel and this hatred did proceed from Envie because his sacrifice was rejected of the Lord and the sacrifice of his brother was accepted secondly Hatred provoked Simeon and Levy g Gen. 34.25 26. to murder under the vail of Religion all the Shechemites and to plunder their City thirdly Hatred and the desire of Vengeance provoked h 2. Sam. 13.29 Absolom to murder under colour of friendship and hospitality his brother Amnon at a banquet as he set at table fourthly It was Hatred that provoked men to invent all maner of Weapons to destroy themselves and the devillish Art of making Canons Gunpowder Muskets Calivers Carabines and Pistols whereby the most valiant are as soon slain as the greatest cowards fifthly It was Hatred that provoked men to dive into the bowels of the earth to finde out Mines of Silver and Gold whereby they might execute their hatred spleen and malice and set all the world together by the ears sixthly Hatred hath given men an habit in all maner of impiety who have left by it their natural humanity and are become devouring Lyons and Tigers Nay when open violence cannot serve to execute their hatred they have an art to poyson men in their meat and drink by the smelling of a pair of gloves The Queen of Navarr was poysoned by the smell of a pair of Gloves by the putting on of a shirt or by the drawing off a pair of Boots nay by the very taking of a man by the hand under colour of curtesie as the Genovais Admiral did to the Venetians Admiral after he had been overcome by him at sea In a word Hatred hath been the projector of all the horrid actions of men for it is a passion that deprives men of all Reason Judgment and hath bin the cause of all the woes of men for by the hatred of Satan was our first mother Eve i Gen. 3.6 deluded and by her charms she deluded Adam her husband and so by their transgression sin is come into the world and sin like a contagious disease hath infected the whole race of mankinde Moreover Hatred is of a permanent nature for it is not like Envie or Wrath for Envy declines according as the prosperity of its object doth diminish and Wrath vanisheth into smoak if its fury may have some vent or it may be mitigated For a soft answer turneth away wrath saith Salomon k Pro. 15.1 but Hatred continues from generation to generation and death it self cannot extinguish Hatred Amilcar father to Hanibal out of an inveterate hatred he bore to the Roman Commonwealth See Livius Plutarch made Hanibal to take an Oath a little before his death that he should be to the end of his life a mortal enemy to the Romans and the hatred that Henry the seventh King of England bore to the House of York induced him to make his son Henry the eight to swear as he was upon his bed of death that after his decease that he would cause the Duke of Suffolks head to be cut off that was then his prisoner in the Tower of London as being the last apparent hair of the House of York an Unchristian part saith Montagnes See Montagnes Essais for a Prince to have his heart filled with hatred at his departure out of this world Nay the unparallel'd hatred that was between the two brethren Eteocles and Polinices could not be extinguished after their death for after they had slain one another in a Duel See Garnier in the Tragedy of Antigone or single Combat their bodies being brought together to be burned the fire by an admirable antipathy did cleave of it self into two parts and so divided their bodies that their ashes might not be mixed together and the inveterate hatred that was between the Guelfs and Gibbelins See Guiechardine in the wars of Italy Paulus Jovius in his Tragical Relations did continue from one generation to another But Paulus Jovius relates the most unheard of cruelty proceeding from an inveterated hatred that ever was read of Two Italians having had some bickerings together such a hatred was bred in their hearts that one of them having got his enemie at an advantage made him by threats deny his Saviour promising to save his life if he did it but he had no sooner by imprecations impiously denied him but the other stabbed him through the heart with his Ponyard saying The death of thy body had not been an object worthy of my hatred and vindication except I had also procured the eternal death of thy soul An horrid and unparrallel'd cruelty and a matchless effect of hatred Sixthly Having thus described the evil nature and effects of Hatred I will now come to the use that Christians should make of it I remember to have said in the beginning of this Chapter that this passion of Hatred had not been given to men to abuse it as they do but rather to eschew sin the greatest evil upon earth and that being used as an aversion to fly from sin it would serve for a strong motive to the propagations of a godly life for sin should be the onely object of mens hatred as the efficient cause of all their miseries and why our blessed Saviour out of his tender compassions towards his Elect was willing to suffer the ignominous death of the Cross Matth. 27.35 to redeem them from the guilt and punishment of sin which was eternal death And men cannot by any other means shew themselves grateful and to be sensible of this incompre hensible love of Christ then by having an inveterate hatred against sin and to detest and abhor with all their hearts all sinful courses sith sin is the onely separation wall that bars them from having an intimate and loving familiarity with God for the hatred of sin is the first step to attain to the love of God and without the love of God a true faith in Christ and unfained hatred of sin there is no possibility of salvation hatred against sin being the chiefest ingredient required in a true Repentance and how can men love God that hate their brethren and therefore the blessed Spirit in holy Writ doth so often exhort men to avoid all hatred except it be against sin He that l Ioh 3 14. 1 Ioh. 3.15 loveth not his brother saith St. John abideth in death and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath eternal life Men must then love God and
men hath been pleased to furnish them with arms to oppose their greatest enemies of which the passion of Cupidity is one of the most implacable for of all the passions it is the harder to be subdued because it is the most successful snare of Satan for the increase of his kingdom of darkness by it sin came first into the world and hath infected like a contagious disease all the race of mankinde For by the eye which is the spring of mens desires Eve seeing the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledg of good and evil to be beautiful she coveteth the same as it appears by these words Gen. 3.6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave of it also to her husband with her and he did eat and so by her Cupidity and Adams Credulity men have been brought under the bondage of sin Now against this great enemy of mankinde God hath been pleased to arm them with this passion of Flight the great Antagonist of all covetous desires that as he had given men an inclination to desire such things as seemed good to their eyes and phansies they might also have an aversion to fly from such things as seemed to traverse their good and beeing otherwise they might have seen their enemies coming upon them when they had no arms to defend themselves nor power to eschew or fly from their apparent danger and had been inforced to cherish vices and sinful courses because they could not eschew or fly from them and to harbor a Guest whom they abhorred and detested This passion being then so useful to men and specially for the propagation of a godly life give me leave for the better description of it to speak in order of these particulars 1. Of the definition of Flight 2. Of the objects of it 3. Of the causes of it 4. Of its proprieties 5. Of its effects 6. Of the uses of it First Flight or Eschewing is a passion The definition of Flight or aversion that induceth men to avoid or fly from all things that seem to be evil or inconvenient to them or that may traverse their good and annihilate their beeing Flight is the cosen German of Hatred for they have many qualities alike and is incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the violent enemy and great opposite to the passion of Cupidity the spring of all covetous desires But men are to be cautious how they make use of this passion or aversion for otherwise they may flee from such things as are good instead to eschew those things that are evil for such is the depravation of this age that Vertues are called Vices and Vices are varnished over with the names of Vertues and true and sincere Piety is called Hypocrisie and real Hypocrisie is termed godliness and Sanctity They must then be as harmless as Doves Matt. 10.16 and as wise as Serpents to make use of this passion aright and then they will avoid and detest sin as the greatest of all evils and love God the perfection of all good and happiness Secondly The objects of Flight The chiefest objects of this passion are the guilt and punishment which are often taken one for the other some men taking the guilt for the punishment and the punishment for the guilt but guilt is the greater of the two because the punishment is but an effect of the guilt and without guilt there would be no punishment and yet because death is commonly comprized under the punishment for as St. Paul saith Rom 6.23 The wages of sin is death men most commonly strive to avoid and flee from the punishment and with great eagerness pursue the guilt I mean they run chearfully after sin and fly with fear from the punishment and so pervert the use of this passion that was given unto them by their Maker on purpose to flee from sin that draws with Cart-ropes the wrath and judgments of God upon all Nations and particuliar men that impenitently go on in their sins Men commonly fly from Serpents Dragons Lyons and Tygers and from the contagious disease of the Plague but they seldom flee from sin although it be more dangerous and destructive to their souls then any of these things above related can be to their bodies for they can but deprive them of this temporal life but sin without the special grace of God will cast them body and soul into the everlasting flames and therefore let men fly from sin if they intend to make a perfect use of this passion and let them not as our blessed Saviour saith of Fear Flee from them that can kill the body Matt. 10.28 but are not able to kill the soul Thirdly The causes of Flight are so numerous The causes of Flight that they would be over-tedious to relate I wil therefore speak but of some of them first Men if they could would fly from death because death is a most horrid thing specially to the Reprobate and Nature doth hate and eschew all things that may annihilate its beeing secondly Fear is an ordinary cause of Flight for many great Armies have fled upon a panick fear as Titus Livius Records in his Decades but there be Instances for it in the holy Scriptures as it appears 2 Kings Chap. 7. Vers 6. When the Lord made the host of the Assyrians to hear a noise of chariots 2 Kings 7.6 and a noise of horses even the noise of a great host and so raised their siege from Samaria and fled away leaving their tents full of riches and all manner of provisions thirdly The Prophet Ionah fled from the presence of the Lord Jonah 1.3 and Cha. 4.3 not to avoid evil but to commit evil in disobeying the Commandment of the Lord because he knew that God was a gracious and merciful God slow to anger and of great kindness A great weakness in a Prophet to be passionate and angry because God was pleased to be merciful to the Ninevites and a greater infirmity to flee to Tarshish from the Lord because he was assured that God would repent of the evil intended against them upon the sight of their repentance fourthly Absolom fled from the presence of his father King David 2 Sam. 13.28 after he had slain his brother Amnon at a Banquet under colour of love and hospitality and went to Geshur and was there three years till his fathers wrath was appeased fifthly Jeroboam the son of Nebat 1 King 11.40 fled from the presence of Salomon went into Egypt and staid there with Shishak King of Egypt till after Salomons death for Salomon sought to kill Ieroboam because he had been informed that the Prophet Ahijah had anointed him King over Israel sixthly Joseph the supposed father of our blessed Saviour and the Virgin Mary Matth. 2.12 with
the Childe Christ Jesus were commanded by an Angel of God to flee into Egypt for fear that Herod would seek after the young childe to destroy him whereby it appears that the cause of mens flight doth commonly proceed from the fear of death and not to avoid sin But if men to avoid lust would flee from their beloved object Gen. 39.12 as Ioseph did fly from his lewd Mistress out of fear to offend the Lord it were the onely way to quench their lascivious desires for in the passion of true love between parties of unequal degree there is not any better remedy to asswage and extinguish the flames of love then to make the Lovers to absent themselves one from another at a far distance and for some continuance of time for sith the dropping of a gutter doth in continuance of time blot out any characters graven upon a Marble stone there is more probability that the impression of that object of beauty hath made in the imaginaon of men or women wil sooner be worn out with a long absence and it is daily seen that the last object of a beauty drives out of mens mindes the former impressions of another beauty and daily experience doth shew that to appease wrath the onely remedy is to flee from or to eschew the presence of him that is transported with that passion for the cause being taken away the effects cease so the object being removed which did cause the distemper in the soul the passion by degrees doth vanish away Fourthly The proprieties of Flight are as numerous as the causes of it and there is as great a similitude between Hatred and Flight The proprieties of Flight as there is between Love and Desire first it seemeth to fly from evil and doth aim at the good secondly Flight in outward appearance seems to be a coward and yet it is as generous as the Desire for to fly from sin is a greater valour then to fight in the field with a valiant enemy Sith it cannot be denied that he that hath the mastery over his own passions and can mortifie the cupidities of his desires is a greater conquerer then Cesar thirdly As the Desire calls Hope to its aid when it cannot obtain that which is difficult so Flight calls to its aid Fear and Hatred that it may with swifter wings fly from the evil that is overpowerful fourthly As the desire is a sign of indigence poverty and want so Flight is an evidence of Impatiency and Imbecillity and as men obtain by the prosecution of their desires such things as they want so men by flight free themselves of those things they most abhor and detest fifthly The propriety of Desire is to open and dilate the heart to make the same more eager after the prosecution of the good it aims at so Flight shrinks up the heart and debars sin from coming in to it sixthly As men by the means of the Desire injoy and possess the good even so men by the help of Flight preserve themselves from evil In a word Desire and Flight are the two Champions of Love and Hatred Desire and Flight are the two faithful Champions of Love and Hatred for as Love cannot execute any generous achievement without the aid of the Desire so Hatred cannot perform any noble exploit without the help of Flight Fifthly the effects of Flight The effects of Flight tend either to the preservation of the body or of the soul I will then first speak of that of the body and acquaint you that all horrid and terrible things that may procure the annihilation of mens beeing or deprive them from the good they aim at inticeth this passion either to eschew or fly from them 1 Sam. 18.11 and 19.10 It moved David to avoid the Javelin that Saul threw at him with an intent to smite him even to the wall but David fled and escaped again when he was informed by Jonathan that Saul his father did seek after his life then he fled again to Nob to Ahimelech the Priest and divers other times when he was in danger he fled from the presence of Saul and all to preserve his life And St. Paul being at Damascus and hearing that the Jews had set wait for his life and. watched the gates day and night to kill him Act. 9.23 24 the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket preserving his life by his flight It appears then by these two Instances that the effects of Flight tend specially to the preservation of mens beeing and when they fly from sin to the prevention of the danger of their souls for they have no better remedy as it hath been said already to free themselves from lust and from all lascivious desires then to flee from the objects that engender the same But why they fly sooner from the punishment of evil then from the guilt of sin I will hear enlarge my self and intreat the Reader to take notice that it is onely the natural men that do so much abhor the punishment Why men fly from the punishment rather then from the guilt of sin and are so eager to preserve the guilt for the true children of God do more detest the guilt then the punishment for they know the punishment of sin is as inseparable from the guilt as the shadow is from the body and they fear more to offend their gracious God then the punishment of sin but the wicked who have their portion in this life are afraid of the punishment more then of the guilt because their supream good is in this life which punishment seems to interrupt but the children of God carry their Cross and have nothing but disgraces trouble and vexations in this life and expect their supream bliss and happiness will be in the world to come and are confident and assured that the corrections and punishments that God inflicts upon them because of their sins are but so many evidences that their heavenly Father doth love and hath a care of them and so do adore the arm and kisse the hand of God that is pleased to chastise them For whom the Lord loveth saith St. Paul Heb. 12.6 he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth but the wicked murmur at the least corrections they receive from the hand of God and say with the two men that were possessed with evil spirits Matth. 8.29 What have we to do with thee art thou come to torment us before the time for so they injoy the pleasures of this life they care not what will become of them in the world to come being of this minde That one bird in the hand is better then two in the bush But to return from whence this digression brought me one of the chiefest effects of Flight is that it is the protector of Womens and Virgins Chastity and makes yong men free themselves from vitious and debausht company which they
Grief and Sorrow some say it is a passion of the soul proceeding from some sensible loss or displeasure received others say it is a perturbation of the minde and an anguish of the body others that it is a passion afflicting the soul by the apprehension of present and future evils but this last opinion seemeth to be the best The definition of Dolour according to the Bishop of Marseillis pag 302. Dolour is a passion of the soul proceeding from the dislike that men receive from the objects represented to their imagination by their Senses which are averse to their inclinations and irksome to their bodies Moreover It is the last passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the root of divers other passions and the great Antagonist of worldly Joy because all carnal Joy doth end in Sorrow there being none so pure but it leaves in the soul a sting of remorse and repentance but Spiritual Sorrow is one of the greatest motives that men have to induce them to beate with fervency the ways of righteousness For godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 saith St. Paul worketh Repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Secondly There are divers sorts and degrees of Dolour for the very word of Dolour doth signify Anguish Grief and Sorrow and every one of these have their degrees Anguish doth properly signifie the Dolours Pains and Torments of the Body whether they be natural or accidental and Grief doth signify the Dolour of the Minde and Sorrow is an invetered grief of the Minde which is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow The first of these which is Anguish hath a secret reflection to the Sensitive appetite of the soul by means of the communion there is between it and the senses yet the seat of Anguish is in the body or in some of the members of it but the seat of Grief and Sorrow is in the Minde The three different sorts of Dolour and this kinde of Dolour is invisible to the eyes of men because it is intellectual and hath but little reflection to the body except it become excessive in degree but when the grief of the minde is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow then it hath a great influence upon the body for by flow paces and degrees it consumes the body the radical humor and the very marrow in the bones and therefore the inveterate Sorrow is accounted the worst Dolour of the three because it is in a maner incurable for it doth ordinarily reject all remedies that might ease and cure the same as for Anguish and Grief they are easily cured by removing of the cause of them the symtomes of the first being always visible and apparent by the paleness or the high colour of the face by the inflammation of the parts by the distemper of the pulse or by the pains that are felt in any of the members of the body to which remedies may be applied by learned Physitians and as for the grief of the minde which is recent and not yet inveterate the cause being known by such as frequent or are familiar with the grieved and afflicted party such arguments and seasonable consolations may be used that they may stifle this Cockatrice in the shell Thirdly The causes of these three different sorts of Dolour may be reduced to these Heads first To Publick secondly To Private thirdly To Natural fourthly To Accidental 1. The Publick causes of Sorrow should be more sensible to men then any other yet in these days they are not regarded although there never was greater cause first It was a cause of publick sorrow to the People of Israel when they were informed of the cruel and bloody decree that Pharoah King of Egypt had made to cast all their male children into the River Fxodws 1.22 that the Hebrew Nation might by degrees be utterly destroyed secondly It was a great cause of publick sorrow of weeping and lamentation for the whole Nation of the Jews Publick causes of of sorrow when they were advertised that their good and religious King Iosiah had been mortally wounded in the battel 's fought in the Valley of Megiddo against Necho King of Egypt 2 Chron. 35.23 and all their Army routed and defeated thirdly It was a great cause of publick lamentation and sorrow for the people of Israel when they saw before their eyes the Temple of the Lord to be burned the City of Ierusalem to be sacked 2 Chron 36.19 20. and the rest of the people to be carried captives into Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar for which great desolation the Prophet Ieremiah did wish that his head were waters Jer. 9.1 and his eyes a fountain of tears that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of his people fourthly It was a great cause of publick sorrow for the people of the Iews that were scattered through the hundred and twenty seven Provinces of the great King Ahasuerus dominions Esther 3.12 13 14 15. when they were informed of the cruel decree that Haman their mortal enemy had obtained to put them their wives and children to the sword for which there was great mourning and lamentations in the said Provinces but specially in the City of Shushan 2. It was a private cause of sorrow to the old Patriarch Iacob when he was informed that his dear and beloved son Ioseph had been slain and devoured by wilde beasts Gen. 37.33 although he was living but had been sold by his brethren out of envy as a slave to the Ishmaelites Merchants that were travelling down into Egypt secondly Private causes of Sorraw It was a cause of private sorrow for King David to hear of the Rape of his daughter Tamar who was ravished by his own son Amnon and again of the murder of the said Amnon committed by his darling son Absolon 2 Sam. 13 14 and 29. in vindication of the Rape of his sister Tamar thirdly It was a cause of private sorrow for King Ieroboam and his Queen to see the best of all their children Abijah their elder son to be taken away by death in the flower of his age and the more because it was by a judgment of God 1 King 14.12 for the Idolatry of Ieroboam fourthly It was a cause of private sorrow for the great Emperor Augustus Cesar that his daughter Iulia by her impudicity was banished and that none of his grand children were thought worthy to succeed him in the Empire because of their vitious miscarriages but was inforced to adopt See Tacitus and Suetonius in his life or elect Tiberius Nero his wives son the worst of men for his Successor in the Empire 3. The causes of dolour of the Minde The causes of Dolour or Sorrow of the Minde may be these first The privation of the injoyment of mens desires may be the cause of their sorrow
for Lovers Ambitious and Covetous men are cast into strange fits of Melancholy and sorrow if they be deprived of their Love or of the honors and riches they aim at secondly The carking cares that men usually take to increase their means or to preserve their lives and estates is a cause of their sorrow thirdly The fear that many men have to fall into penury is a common cause of their sorrow fourthly The losses of mens goods fame or reputation is a cause of their sorrow because they want the grace of patience and cannot say with Iob Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord nor with the Prophet David I will wash my hands in innocency Psal 26.6 fifthly The loss of Parents Wife Children or intimate Friends is often times the cause of mens sorrow for want of the rememoration of this saying of Salomon Eccles 3.20 All are of the dust and all shall return to dust again sixthly the vain apprehensions that man have of the evil to come is the cause of their sorrow because they rely not upon this gracious promise All things work together for good to them that love God seventhly Rom 8.28 The want of courage in men is the cause of their sorrow because like faint hearted Pilots they give over the Helme of the Ship in a storm I mean the Helme of their Reason whereby they might regulate the distempers of this passion of Sorrow eightly The fears that possess men for the punishment of their sins is a cause of their sorrow whereas they should fear and grieve for the guilt of sin to attain to that spiritual Sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation The Natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body may be these first Long and tedious diseases The natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body as the Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder the Gravel the Strangullion the Gout the Cough and consumption of the Lungs or the Hectick Feaver for all these in continuance of time by the secret communion that the senses have with the sensitive power of the soul do beget in the minde grief and sorrow besides the Dolour and Anguish of the body secondly The Adust or burnt Choler or Bilis gathered in the Mesentery veines which sendeth virulent vapors up into the braine is a natural cause of much sorrow 4. The accidental causes of sorrow The accidentall causes may be these first when men themselves or their Parents Children or intimate Friends do accidentally come to their end by sea or by land as to be murdered upon a Rode or cast away at sea or taken captive by Pyrats or slain by a fall from a horse or lamed by some other accident all these things are causes of sorrow and grief yet none of these natural or accidental causes are or should be sufficient to breed sorrow to mens minde sith nothing happens casually or accidentally but is guided by the hand of the divine Providence to whose blessed will men are obliged to submit themselves and our blessed Saviour doth assure us that the meanest Sparrow or an hair of our head doth not fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father Fourthly The nature and effects of Sorrow are directly contrary to the nature and to the effects of Joy first The nature of Joy is to dilate and spread the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it into the utmost parts of the members of the body but Sorrow being of a cold and dry nature draws the blood and vital spirits from the utmost parts of the body towards the heart to comfort the same secondly Joy is hot and active and by its sudden motion indangers the life of men The natur and the effects of Anguish Grief and Sorrow but Sorrow is cold and slow and comes upon men with leaden feet and never causeth death but by long continuance and lingering diseases except it cast men into despair as it doth oftentimes as it will be shown in the effects of it thirdly Joy is proper and pleasant to Nature and rejoyceth the heart and makes men chearful in their Calling both private and general but Sorrow is adverse and distasteful to Nature and makes men slow and stupid in their particular and general calling fourthly Joy preserveth and increaseth health and lengtheneth mens days and makes them pass their lives with mirth and content but Sorrow impairs mens health and shortens their days and makes their lives to be tedious and irksome In a word moderate Joy is comfort to man and excessive Sorrow is the bane of man And the effects of worldly Sorrow are as bad or rather worse first Sorrow makes men flee the society of men nay the very light of the Sun and all things that may rejoyce and comfort Nature the sight of their dearest friends nay of their wife and children is irksome to men that are possessed with excessive sorrow secondly See the Acts and Monuments or Book of Martyrs If mens Sorrow proceeds from mens Apostacy in Religion it doth commonly cast them into despaire and inflicts upon them in this life the very paines of hell as it doth appear in the life of Francisco Spira thirdly Sorrow tempts carnal men to be rid of it to desperate resolutions as to bereave themselves of life by hanging stabbing and drowning of themselves as it hath lately been seen in this City of London fourthly Sorrow makes men careless to make their calling and election sure and to neglect the means appointed by God for their salvation I mean the hearing of the Word with that attention as they should for their thoughts and cogitations are so fixed upon the object of their sorrow that they minde nothing else for this pernicious passion doth stupifie the most noble faculty of the soul as the Memory the Imagination and the Understanding Divers other effects might be produced but these will suffice to induce men to indeavor to eschew or regulate this dangerous and destructive passion Fifthly The Remedies against the venom of this passion are first Natural secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The Natural are first to flee as far as men can from the object of their sorrow secondly If mens sorrow proceeds from Natural infirmities they are in the first place to call upon God and then use the Counsel of Physitians for they must not do as Ahaziah King of Israel did 2 Kings 1.2 who being faln from an upper Chamber thorow a Lattess sent to the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his disease as too many do in these days who send to Astronomers to know the events of things not to the Physitian 2 Chron. 16.12 as Asa King of Iuda did who being diseased in his feet sent to the Physitian before he had called upon the Lord by prayer for God is the Paramount Physitian and the God of Nature and
daily the fears and apprehensions of death which is worse then death it self and die for one death a thousand deaths Yet if men will dive into the nature and effects of this passion of Despair without partiality they will finde that good use may be made of it so it doth not attain to that exorbitant and horrid degree of Self-murdering Give me leave therefore to extend my Discourse upon these particulars 1. On the definition of this passion of Despair 2. On the diversity of the Causes of it 3. On the bad and good Effects of it 4. On the Remedies to allay the fury of it There are divers sorts of Despair which may be reduced to these three first Worldly secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The worldly Despair is nothing else but a conceit of an impossibility in the acquisition of the vain hopes of men as it will appear in the Causes and Effects of that kinde of Despair The definition of the Moral Despair is according to the opinion of the best Moralists as followeth Despair saith Boujou Theophrast Boujou Lord of Beaulieu fol. 723. is a passion of the Soul withdrawing men from some good much desired because it is represented by the Senses to their imagination as impossible to be obtained Senault in his use upon the passions pag. 344. Despair saith Senault is a violent motion of the soul that keeps men aloof from the prosecution of some good in which they see no probability it can be obtained Now this good is not always a real good for the Senses do oftentimes delude the Reason and Judgment of men but suppose it be a real good then it is Vertue it self or some vertuous Object Action or Design which they conceive impossible to be obtained or performed for Moral Hope hath no other object then Vertue or vertuous and generous actions and by consequence Moral Despair must have the same objects The definition of worldly moral and spiritual despair for divers of the ancient Moralists held Self-murdering no Despair as I have given a hint of it in the last Discourse but an action of fortitude and of magnanimity of courage And this Moral Despair is the opposite and great Antagonist of Moral Hope and the second passion incident to the Irascible appetite which doth mitigate the extravagancy of mens Hopes as it will appear in the insuing Discourses yet men often times despair of things in which they imagine impossibilities when there is none as it will appear by these two Instances About sixscore years past it was a thing thought impossible to sail with a ship round about the circuit of the earth and yet Magalen a Portugais See the Spanish and English History and Sir Francis Drake an English man have shown by experience that it was possible to be done secondly In the days of Charls the ninth Henry the third and Henry the fourth Kings of France It was a thing thought impossible to take the City of Rochel by force or by famine and yet the Cardinal de Riche-lieu by the Art of a French Enginere See the French History hath shown by experience it was possible to be done for by a floating bridge that he made over an Arm of the Sea upon which he planted Ordinances and erected two Towers and with a land Army Lewis the thirteenth King of France took that City by famine in less then a year whereupon I conclude that men Despair of things by imagining impossibilities where there is none and this proceeds from want of judgment power or experience for it is daily seen that which seems to be impossible to one man is easie and facile to another Spiritual Despair is nothing else but a distrust of Gods mercy which by the temptation of Satan do intice men to be the murderers of themselves which is the next sin to the sin of the Holy Ghost Secondly The causes of worldly Despair may be these first The death of a beloved party See Bandel in his Tragical Histories Romelio supposing his beloved Mistress Iuliete to be dead when she was but in a swound slew himself upon her body and when she came to her self again she seeing her Sweet-Heart had killed himself for her sake she stabbed her self with his Poynard secondly The infidelity in love is a cause of Despair See Virgils Aeneads Dido Queen of Carthage slew her self because Aeneas a Trojan Prince forsook her and sailed into Italy but if this be a Poeticall Fable hear a true Relation A proper young maiden being secretly betrothed to a young man living here in London who broke his faith and married another whereupon the maiden being transported with Despair poisoned her self and died the next day this hapned within this twelve moneth I could relate a hundred such instances to prove that of all the passions Love being abused or extinguished by death doth sooner then any other thing beget Despair but I pass them over for brevity sake thirdly Avarice is the cause of Despair A Merchant in London of good means having had some losses at sea and having received the tidings of it on the Saturday he being transported with Despair hung himself on the Sunday morning when his servants were at Church and it is a common thing among the Cormorant Farmers when they have Monopolized all the corn of a County into their hands to hang or drown themselves if the next year prove to be a fruitful year fourthly Famine is a cause of Despair 2 Kings 6.29 for in Jehorams days such a famine was in Samaria that two women boiled a childe and did eate the same the mother of the childe out of Despair consenting to it and whosoever will be pleased to read Iosephus will see the horrid actions of some of the Iews committed out of Despair because of the great famine that was at Ierusalem when it was besieged by the Romans fifthly The fear to fall into the hands of a cruel enemy causeth Despair some of the richest of the Saguntines rather then they would fall into the hands of Hanibal and his cruel Carthaginian and Numidian souldiers See Titus Livius in his third Decade lib. 1. pag. 34. did carry all their wealth with their wives and children into their Market place and having made a great heap of their rich moveables they set the fire in it and slew their wives and children and having cast them into the fire they slew themselves afterwards sixtly Shame is a cause of Despair Cleopatra Queen of Egypt being informed that it had been resolved in the Counsel of Augustus Cesar that she should be led as a captive after the triumphant Chariot of the said Emperor when he should make his entry into Rome out of Despair to avoid that shame See Plutarch in Marcus Antonius life she applied two Vipers to her two breasts and so died There are divers other causes of worldly Despair but they are of another nature for they attain not to that
fear and tempt them 1 Cor. 6.15 To make of the members of Christ the members of a Harlot It is also one of the most prevailing snares of Satan by which he draweth more millions of souls into the Pit of destruction then by any other sin whatsoever And therefore give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars 1. Upon the definition of this passion 2. Upon the nature of it 3. Upon the causes why some are more addicted to it then others 4. Upon the evil proprieties of it 5. Upon the pernitious effects of the same 6. Upon the judgements that God doth inflict upon voluptuous men 7. Upon the means or remedies which are to be used to avoid the venome of it 8. And lastly Upon the express prohibition of the same by the Word of God First Volupty is a composed passion of love and desire The definition of Volupty arising from a tickling delight of the senses when men enjoy really or by imagination such objects as seem pleasant to their phansie It is so general that all such as are under the state of Nature are more or less addicted to it Nay the regenerate are sometimes ensnared by it by the temptations of Satan and their original corruptions the difference between them is that the unregenerate by their impenitency die in their sins and the regenerate by the free grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God are awaked out of this spiritual lethargy and by an unfained repentance are converted and reconciled to God Secondly It is of a feminine nature for all such as are overmuch addicted to this passion loose their masculine generosity and become effeminate Hercules did cast off his Club and Lyons skin to vest himself and spin like a woman before Omphale his Mistress And it is daily seen that voluptuous men imitate in their gestures carriage and fashions the Courtizans of these days for they powder their hair wear black patches and paint their Faces as they do It was not then without cause that the ancient Poets did represent volupty under the shape of the old Witch Circe for as she transformed the Passengers who sailed through the Straits of Sicilia into Swine if they listned to her Charms Even so Volupty doth transform into brute beasts rational men if they converse long and let themselves be ensnared by the alluring Charms of Harlots for as Zerubbalel proved it before King Darius the Charms of a beautiful woman are more powerful then strong Wine Esdras 3. from the 14. ver to the 32. or a mighty King Thirdly The Causes why some men are more addicted to this passion then others may be natural accidental or artificial such as are naturally more addicted to it are commonly of a hotter and moister constitution then others and these are of a sanguine complexion for the Bilious are hot and dry the Flegmatick moist and cold and the Melancholike cold and dry which are not so apt to the Venereal delight as the Sanguine The Accidental Causes are The hot Climate where men live for Heat dilates the spirits outwardly and Cold restrains them inwardly And Experience doth shew that the Africans Spaniards and Italians whose Climate is hotter then the Germans Dutch English are the most addicted to Venery And yet they are not so apt to generation as the last because the desire of the reiteration of the Act doth weaken their bodies and doth waste their spirits Idleness Pride and Fulness of bread is also an Accidental Cause why one Nation may be more addicted to Venery then another For this was the Cause why the Sodomites as the Prophet Ezekiel saith were so vitious Ezek. 16.49 and transported with Lust The Artificial Causes are Sophistical meats Delitious Wines and enticing Simples Drugs and Amber-gris over-much used in these days to provoke Men and Women to Lust See Guicciardine in the Emperor Charls the Fifth his Life Guicciardine records that a King of Tunis being at Naples spent five hundred Ducats in enticing Drugs and Amber-gris to dress a Peacock to incite himself and the company that supped with him that night to Lust But these Means are destructive to the Soul and Lives of Men. For Instance the Queen of Arragon gave Ferdinand her Husband an inticing Love-Drink to make him more apt to the Venereal sport See the History of Spain in Ferdinands Life but it cast him into an incurable Consumption which brought him to his grave And Van-Dick an excellent Dutch Painter lost lately his life by these inticing Drugs provoking to Lechery Alass Men are too prone of themselves to sin without Artificial Means to provoke them to it Fourthly The evil Proprieties of this vitious Passion are so numerous that I should be over-tedious to speak of them all and therefore will speak but of some of them First It is insatiable and may be compared to the horsleech to the barren womb and to the Grave for the Desires of Voluptuous men are never satisfied with their carnal Delights their bodies being sooner tyred with the reiteration of the Act then their Lust can be exstinguished For many have been found dead in their Mistresses Armes by endeavoring to satisfy their Lust beyond their Natural Abilities The Reason of it was because overmuch evacuation of the spirits exstinguisheth life Secondly it is as inconstant as the wind for they delight in nothing more then in changes because their judgement is so depraved by the Spirit of uncleanness which besots them that they cannot discern the beauty of one Object from another and do often forsake the most lovely to dote upon the most unworthy and deformed conceiving erroneously that stollen waters are the sweetest Thirdly It hath a Destructive quality for it provoketh men to commit the most abhorred sins that can be named Gen. 12.15 By it the Sodomites were inticed to commit with the very Angels the sin against Nature Gen. 19.5 It moved Pharoah and Abimelech to take away by violence Sarah Abrahams wife Reuben to defile his Fathers bed Gen. 35.22 Gen 34.2 Judg 19 25. Sechem to deflour Dinah The Gibeahnites to abuse brutishly the Levites concubine David to commit Adultery with Bathshebah and to vail his sin to murther Vriah her husband Amnon to ravish his own sister Tamar Sueton. in his Life Augustus to take away by force Livia from her husband Tacitus in his life Caligula to commit Incest with his two Sisters Nero to defile himself with his mother French History Faragonde to murther King Clotair her Husband that she might the more freely enjoy her Paramour English History King Edgar to murther his Favourite to marry his Wife And King Roderick to ravish Duke Godfreys Daughter Spanish History which was the cause of the Conquest of Spain by the Moors And a thousand like abhorred sins which should move Christians to abhor and flee from this most accursed and sinful passion as from a Serpent Fifthly The Effects of