eare that wee doe no good thing but much evill and that good wee doe we doe it badly What felicity is in this knowledge when it Waâ—…th us continually of our wickednesse But hee that giveth himselfe to contemplation climbeth higher God is immortall immutable impassible that God dyeth not like a man nor is altered or moved And when he is come thither he is at the wall his minde can goe no further And what kind of knowledge is this What madnesse is it to take upon us to know a thing by that it is not Shall we perswade our selves that wee know what thing a Camell is because wee know it is not a Frogge So that our highest knowledge we must confesse to be meere ignorance And who will place mans end or soveraigne good and felicity in ignorance But those that climbe highest to search for knowledge fall into such errors and entangle themselves in such labyrinthes that they know not how to winde themselves out But as men that looke stedfastly upon the Sunne the more they behold the brightnesse thereof the more their eyes dazell untill they become starke blind so happeneth it to them that aspire to the knowledge of God and divine things thâ—…more they search the lesse they know by their owne wisedome which peradventure moved one to say Simple ignorance is better than arrogant knowledge We are forbidden by Saint Paul to be over curious in seeking the knowledge of things above our reach Nolt altum Sapere The want of ability in us to know the causes of naturall things here in earth the effects whereof we see daily before our eyes argueth plainely that God would not have us aspire too high in knowledge when he hath hidden these base things from us Who knoweth the cause why the Lodestone draweth iron to it which being there with rubbed pointeth toward the North pole and garlike and a Diamond hindereth his operation though some take upon them to draw reasons thereof from their owne conceit to feed their owne humors And who knoweth the cause why the fish called Echeneis or Remora no bigger than a Carpe will stay the greatest ship or galley that is if hee cleave to his side notwithstanding any force of wind or oâ—…res And who knoweth the cause why the fish called Tâ—…rpedo having touched one end of a pyke or speare casteth the man into a traunce that toucheth the other end The beast called Catoblepa killeth a man a mile from him with his sight onely A Wolfe seeing a man first maketh him unable to speake with an infinite number of like things which sheweth that God will not have us enter into his secrets of these base things much lesse of divine things further than he hath given us power Where of if his meaning had beene to have given us knowledge he would have given us another sense and a deeper reason by which we might have known these and the like hidden properties of his creatures Therefore our onely refuge is to attaine to that by faith which we cannot attaine by our mind and understanding that by a lively faith we may be lifted up above our mind that what by the sharpnesse thereof we cannot reach comprehend by faith we may pierce and see thorough And what is it to have faith in God but to looke for all our good from him to beleeve that all refterh with God And seeing that to have faith continually to hope to expect is to deâ—…re that we have not already it is evident that wee can never here see possesse the thing we looke for but the greater a mans faith is the more he despiseth worldly things the more fervent his desire is to heavenly things the greater is his mislike of himselfe and the more â—…hement is his love to God Plato saith that what course soever men take they cannot be happy or enjoy the soveraigne good in this life but in the other life without doubt saith he they that follow vertue shal be rewarded with beatitude And Pythagoras saith that man as it were banished from the face of God walketh as a stranger in this world And Hermes saith that the end of man is to live by his minde and the life of the mind is God Thus farre the Philosophers knowledge did reach that the end of man is to live by his minde that his soveraigne good or beatitude is not to be enjoyed in this life but is to be found in the other life with God But they wanted faith to carry them whither their wisedome could not reach For that knowledge of God we attaine unto in this life by naturall wisedome is ignorance by supernaturall faith In vaine therefore we seeke here either by action or contemplation the thing that is not here to be found For Plâ—…tinus alwaies affirmeth that beatiâ—…de and eternity goeth ever together which beatitude saith Platâ—… is that we be joyned and made like to God who is the top the boâ—…de and the end of all blessednesse In seeking then for this end and soveraigne good of man we finde that the world was made for man man for the soule the soule for the mind the mind for some higher cause which is God For the world was not of it selfe nor for it selfe bâ—…t was made of some and for some So man not having his being of himselfe cannot be the end of himselfe He that mâ—…eth any thing maketh it not for it but for himselfe so that he is the end thereof neither is the thing good in it selfe but to him that made it as touching that he made it to his own use He therefore is the good of that thing by whom and for whom it is called good And seeing man is made by God and for God he must needes be his end and the greatest good So saith Plâ—…tinus the soveraigne end of man is meere good that is God Other things appertaine to the end but they be not the end By this it appeareth that after the ancient wise men and better sort of Philosophers that were guided by reason onely the felicity or beatitude and soveraigne good of man must not be sought for in this life but in the other life And that man ought to employ his time in this life to the knowledge and worshipping of God as to his onely end that he may with God and in God have the fruition of all good things perpâ—…tually in the other world By the authority allâ—…grd of the leâ—…d Heathens and by the reasons and arguments and grnerall consent of the learned Divines among which number I account the Lord Pleâ—…s whom in this Part I chiefly follow it is manifest that as the body of 〈◊〉 is to the soule so is this morraâ—… life to the immâ—…ll And that the end of man in this world is the knowledge and worshipping of God and his foveraigne good 〈◊〉 to that end is the fruition and possession of God in heaven but by reason of our
luxuriousnesse these mens temperance with their licentiousnesse the simplicitie of habits and finglenesse of their life that governed kingdomes and triumphed over nations with the pompe and pride of this age and with their lascivious maners and effiminate attyres that passe their time in courting and carowsing These things duly considered our gallants must needes let fall their peacocks tayles and wish that some of Argus eyes were restored into their heads whereby they might bee more provident and better able to discerne betweene the others vertues and their vanities that diverteth them from felicitie who then would exclaim upon the iniquity of this time that will yeeld them no examples to follow And those men that bee so carefull to beautifie their bodies with brave attires leaving their minds soyled with foule vices and they that aspire to honourable places without vertue seeme to mee to bee like them that wash their face with faire water and wipe it with a dish-clout There was a Persian called Teribarus who so greatly delighted in brave attire that on a time having apparelled himselfe in very costly garments more meete for a Prince than for him set out with pearle and precious stones and divers kindes of jewels and furniture such as women use to attire themselves withall thinking thereby to encrease his reputation above the rest the King Artaâ—…erxes had no sooner espyed him but he fell into a great laughter and turning to him said Wee give thee leave as an effeminate man to use womens delights and as a mad-man to weare Princes apparel as if he should have said that to hunt ambiciously after honor and reputation after the custome of many is rather worthy of laughter than of anger and that it is a kinde of madnesse to aspire to honour and reputation by any other way than by vertue which rather flyeth away than followeth after them that seeke for it Divitum prapatentum feda mollities malorum â—…mnium fomes scaturigo Many 〈◊〉 advanced to estimation and honourable estate through their great riches and possessions and other by favour without merit that were but yesterday of no account and of base parentage but very few rise to honour by the worthinesse of their vertue And such men being so suddenly exalted doe many times as snailes do when winter is past who feeling the heate of the sunne thrust out their necke and hornes out of their shell in a stately sort and are fearefull to little children even so many of these new men that lurâ—…ed obscurely and lived without reputation and verâ—…e finding themselves advanced suddenly to high and unlooked for estate abusing the favour of the Prince carry up their heads aloft grow proud and look bigge as though they would be terrible to all the world Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum None looke so bigge as beggars being rais'd One marvelleth that seeing men are called men and live by their mind and not by their outward forme that they are so carefull to decke their bodies and so negligent to adorne their mindes Where great care is had saith Cato to decke the body there is great carelesnesse and litle regard of vertue If Diogenes were now living he must have a torch to seeke for a man at noone dayes for he would hardly finde such a man as hee looked for with a candle But to returne from whence I digressed By the exercise of these and the like vertues the Heathen thought they might attaine to felicitie for to live according to nature they thought was sufficient to live happily because by nature wee have an inclination to vertue though not made perfect without exercise but they knew not how our nature was corrupted by the fall of our first parent by which wee can doe nothing that good is without Gods holy spirit neither can fortune give us any helpe to it avaine name among the Heathens given to those effects whereof they knew not the cause proceeding by the providence of God There was found engraven in a precious stone called Topaze these words in old Romane letters Natura deficit Nature fayles Fortuna mutatâ—… Fortune changes Deus omnia cernit God seeth all things Which words against the Philosophers that thought the way to felicity to bee to live according to nature whereto they would have the helpe of fortune may be thus applyed by the defect of nature by the muâ—…abilitie of fortune without the providence of God no man can attaine to felicitie For our nature being degenerate from his first perfection and estate to wickednesse and corruption and fortune as they call it being variable and uncertaine void of all constancy we have no means to come to felicitie without Gods providence grace and to thinke that a man may bee able to attaine to it by his wisedome is extreme arrogancie and meere folly Patrarke saith To beleeve that thou art wise is the first degree to foolishnesse the next is to professe it By this which hath beene said it appeareth that the felicitie of man consisteth not in the action of morall vertue as the Philosophers would for that is not his end but the end of man is the glory of God to know and worship him which is also his proper action for unstable and uncertaine are all humane matters not onely in the minds and actions of private men but in Monarchies also and kingdomes to day they flourish and seeme to be in great securitie to morrow they decline and fall into thraldome and miserie another time they returne againe to their former estate thus continually prosecuting their periods even as the heavens that goe round alwaies moving and in circular sort returning where they beganne so by vertue they are raised up on high and by vice following as it were by a necessary succession they are throwne downe againe Virtutum soboles pax est at copia pacis Vbertas luxum peperit luxuriabeâ—… Bello pauperies sata The off spring of vertues peace plenty and increase Which are the fertile issue of long peace Beget excesse excesse begets hostility And war the parent is of poverty And thus it fareth with the condition of men that adversitie springeth of poverty and prosperity of adversitie But though the Philosophers exalted so highly morall vertues and the actions and operations of a civill life as that wherein the felicitie of man consisteth yet they preferred a contemplative life before it as a thing wherein was a more perfect felicitie excelling all other operations and actions of man and bringing him to a most perfect and exact felicitie and beatitude for all operations or workes receive their perfection from the powers and faculties from whence they proceede and from the subject whereupon they worke so as the perfection of the power or faculty that worketh and of the subject upon which it worketh maketh the operation or worke more or lesse perfect as the power and subject hath in them more or lesse
as I was considering with my selfe what to write the occasion that moved me to take my penin hand min stred also matter whereof to write For medisating with my selfe upon the variable and uncertaine state and condition of men calling to minde many things written thereof by divers Authors and being wiâ—…ing for my ease as a woman in travell to bee delivered of the burdeâ—… wherewith my head was overladen I could not find a more apt subject for my purpose than to discourse crassiori Minerva upon the Felicitie of man Which kinde of exercise I perceived might be profitable to me as well by the comfort I should receive by perusing the sayings and opinions of wise and learned men as also by renewing the memory of divers things which I had long sinceread almost forgotten and of a multitude of matter to draw out so much as I thought necessarie and the same for my recreation and to make it more favoric to my taste sometimes to interlarde with mine owne opinion and conceit And joyning to the things I have read the observation of mens maners and experience I have had of worldly matters I might see 〈◊〉 in a glasse that besides the â—…cles to which by externall causes and the ordâ—…nery course of nature men are subject much unquietnesse both of body and mind happencth to them by then owne fault by an unsatiable desire of such things as are hâ—…nderance to the happinesse they seeke after their minds many times being tormented with a suspended hope of that which when they have obtained utterly overthroweth them Some desire to passe their life in Epicures pleasures others would have Croesus riches the rest Caesars fortune all Nestors years which varietie of motions in mens minds having undertaken to discourse upon this subject occasioned mee to use the helpe of learned Authours in searching out wherein the felicitie and Summum bonum of man doth consist And as I was seeking for this felicitie and the way to it I fell into the company of certaine Philosophers who directed me to the branch that riseth on the right side out of Pythagoras letter which said they would conduct me to the path that leadeth to the thing I sought But some of them better advised taught that the Felicitie of man his soveraigne good and beatitude is to bee joyned with God in the life to come cannot be enjoyed in this life the meanes thereunto is the purgation and perfection of life by entring into our consciences and searching our sins and confessing them to God Which caused me not a little to wonder how men by reason only and by instinct of nature could bee capable of so divine knowledge But when I saw them there to stay and could proceede no further and except I left their companie and followed a better guide they would leave me in the middle of the way for of the confession of our sinnes followeth damnation except God bee pacified and made mercifull to 〈◊〉 I tooke my leave of the Philosophers and followed another path unknown to them which leadeth directly to felicity and beatitude by the grace of God through his Sonne our Saviour Christ Iesus I have therefore rejected the Philosophers opinions of whom neverthelesse I think reverently as not sufficiently conformable to Christianity though I have applid many of their sayings to my purpose And I have laboured to discover the error of them by many examples that in the course of their life seeme to set their felicity in those things that bring men to infelicity And I have enlarged the narration of some histories more than the due method of writing requireth which I might with lesse labour have abridged it may serve neverthelesse to that common end of the Poets either to profit or delight Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare Poetae Every man hath not been brought up in the knowledge of tongues And it chanceth often to the Reader as it dâ—…th to diceplayers that gaine more by the bye than by the maine It may bee profitable also to see the errours and passions of them discovered by the disordered course of their life and extraordinary kinde of death that have set their felicity in pleasures riches honour glory and such like worldly vanities which to all except they be well used are hinderance to feliâ—…ty and have brought many to extreme misery I have omitted the names of many authors whose aâ—…thority and sayings I do vouch and alledge not with meaning to decke my selfe with stolen feathers but because many of them are fallen out of my memory and to avoid a confusion of superfluous words by the multitude of names and yet divers were noted by me in the margent that are left out by the writer I wish they were all knowne to you that their authority might give the more credit to the matter I desire rather to be taken for a Relator of other mens sayings and opinions than to arrogate such sufficiency as to be Author of any thing my selfe Many things written by divers Authors dispersed into sundry volumes serving to divers ends I have simply collected and applyed to my purpose without any affected stile For as Terence saith Nothing is spoken that hath not been spoken before So men use to alter the forme and order and set forth the matter with other words and diversity of application which maketh their writings seeme to bee a new invention whercâ—… ndeed hardly can any thing bee written that hath not beene though in another sort and application written before For how is it possible among such an infinite number of bookes which daily increase beyond measure that any thing can be alledged though it come to him from his owne invention but the same by some man hath been written before though in another forme order and to another purpose But a collection of things that lye dispersed in many authors with an apt application to one speciall purpose may be both profitable and delightfull to the Reader The Cooke the Aâ—…oshecary the servant goe all to one garden where one gathereâ—…h hearbes and flowres for his pot the other for his poâ—… the third to dresse up the house all making the same thing serve to severall purposes So have I walked in the Muses garden and perusing divers sorts of things applyed by the Authors to divers uses I have gathered together some of those which I thought most fit to serve my purpose and although they were good as they lay scattered yet being gathered together and applyed to some speciall use they are made more profitable than as they lay dispersed For this is not the least fruit that may bee gathered of learning to select the sayings and opinions of learned men with examples of life out of histories that lye dispersed and apply them to some speciall use and purpose Hee bath a great advantage to the providence and foresight of things to come that joyneth the knowledge of things past with his experience of
mine opinion upon any mans sleeve I protest to have done it with 〈◊〉 without arrogancie or meaning to detract from any man his 〈◊〉 having drawn mine opinion in a great part from them whom in all things I have not thought good to follow Neither is mine intent to take upon me to teach any man having 〈◊〉 my selfe as the proverbe is with mine owne foot by which I know my insufficiency but to discourse onely leaving to every one his free censure If any thing hath escaped me by want of diligence or lack of knowledge or by committing overmuch trust to memory it shall agree with your modesty 〈◊〉 to excuse my ignorance than to blame my negligence seeing the matter was taken in hand for my exercise only 〈◊〉 Non omnia possumus omnes An errour will easily slip through a mans fingers whilest he is writing though he bee very circumspect and a fault is sooner espyed in another than amended in himselfe Bonus aliquando dormitat Homerus Take it now as it is and if it be to your liking give God the thankes to whom they are due that directed my pen to your benefit if otherwise yet my labour is not 〈◊〉 because I bestowed it upon my selfe and not for you Farewell and speake well and thinke as ye list That wisheth happinesse to them that secke the right way for it Ri. Barkeley COurteous Reader amongst some others help this mistake page 151. Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo Et subito casu quae valuere ruunt Which Distick reade thus interpreted All humane things depend by a small thread And those most strong are soone demolished A DISCOVRSE VPON THE FELICITIE OF MAN THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. The opinions of the Ethnick Philosophers concerning the Summum bonum The difference betwixt the fclicitie of the Soule and the Bodic And that no man by his owne wisedome or industrie can attaine to either of them That there is no happinesse in the Delights and Pleasures of this world And these illustrated by the Histories of Sardanapalus the last Monarch of the Assyrians and by Heliogabalus and Nero Emperours of the Romanes THe ancient Philosophers and learned men of divers ages among the things whereof they were inquisitive found no greater difficultie than in searching out what the felicitie of man should bee which they called Summum bonum his greatest or 〈◊〉 good or happinesse This 〈◊〉 ministred such 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 among them and 〈◊〉 them into so many 〈◊〉 opinions that the further they waded the more they 〈◊〉 themselues and as if they had been in a 〈◊〉 they knew not how to wynde themselues out 〈◊〉 in his time collected out of the Philosophers bookes two hundred eightie eight things wherein according to the inclination of their seuerall conceits they would haue this felicitie to consist And no maruell for how was it possible that they that knew not God but as it were in a dreame from whom all good things commeth should know or teach the way to attaine to the greatest good thing that God giueth to men That may bee applyed to these Philosophers that was spoken by one of euill spirits Damones non 〈◊〉 benedicere quia non possunt benefacere The Diuell saith he cannot blesse nor speake well because he cannot doe well So may it bee said of them that they cannot speake well or reason aptly of felicitie because they cannot doe the things that appertaine thereto For though our vnworthinesse bee such that we are not able of our 〈◊〉 to deserue so great a benefit without Gods speciall fauour and free gift yet wee must 〈◊〉 to doe the things that are pleasing and acceptable to him to make our selues capable and apt to receiue it And although God hath distributed among the 〈◊〉 many goodly gifts yet they can doe nothing though morally good that is acceptable in his 〈◊〉 and therefore they are not capable of that great blessing which he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his elect This argueth the error of those Philosophers that held it to 〈◊〉 in the power of a wise man to attaine to felicitie which onely said they was also a good man But such a wise or good man was 〈◊〉 doubt as rare as the 〈◊〉 of Arabia and might bee sought as Diogenes sought for a man at noone daies in the streets with a candle For whether it bee the felicitie of this life or that of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man is able by his wisedome or vertue or any power of his owne to attaine to either of them 〈◊〉 our nature was corrupted by the fall of our first parents our force is so 〈◊〉 and weake that the wisest man is not able to make sufficient resistance against the assaults of the world the flesh and the 〈◊〉 which conspire together against vs as mortall 〈◊〉 to our felicitie The things that were made to obey vs seeme now through the curse that followed our fall to rebell against vs. Reason should rule our affections but now contrariwise our affections beare rule ouer reason The cause of which alteration in mans nature because the Philosophers knew not they thought a man was able of himselfe to attaine to felicitie which none can doe without the helpe and 〈◊〉 of Gods holy spirit But whosoeuer will take vpon him to seeke for the felicitie of man hee must haue respect to the whole man and not to any part And forasmuch as man consisteth of two principall parts that is of body and soule he cannot be said to bee in the state of perfect felicitie except both parts bee partakers of it Then can it not bee in the power of man as the Philosophers taught to attaine to this Summum 〈◊〉 or soueraigne good but in his power only that hath giuen men the 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 from perpetuall miserie and to enjoy in this world and in the world to come the things wherein the 〈◊〉 of man consisteth Which graces God hath not giuen to all sorts of men but to such onely as beleeue in him whom he hath sent to bee our Redeemer from that miserable estate into which wee are fallen by the disobedience of our first parents And if it were as the Philosophers thought in the power of a wise man to doe the things whereby he might attaine to felicitie in this world for that was the felicitie which some of them treated of yet were that but one part of felicitie to which neuerthelesse they are not able to attaine the other and that faire the greater part is to bee enioyed in the other life to come which to bring to passe of himselfe is not in the power of any mortall man And that our meaning may bee the better conceiued let vs suffer a little digression When God had determined to create natures of vnderstanding after his owne image of whom hee would be knowne and worshipped in the same sort as he would appoint them some he made of a spirituall essence without bodies others of a
spirituall essence and a bodily substance the body being made of clay most excellently compact together with a wonderful and vnspeakeable wisedome in which hee inclosed with a maruellous league of societie another spirituall nature that is the Soule the one sort hee called Angels the other Men. Both which he endued with a singular wisdome knowledge To this man he gaue for his habitation this goodly great Theater adorned with such variety of excellent things and placed him in the most delectable and pleasant place of all the earth which in respect of the florishing and fertile soyle beautified with goodly riuers and fountaines was called Paradise not to bee an inhabitor onely of this lower part of the world but to bee a spectator of his Creators wonderous works thereby first to know the great glory of his parent and progenitour and then to loue him aboue all things and the time being expired in which hee had appointed him here to liue hee should passe from hence to him where hee should continually enioy his glorious presence and life euerlasting But some of those Angels being puffed vp with pride through the goodly gifts wherewith God had adorned them so much forgot their due obedience that they thought themselues equall with him that made them Whereby they so greatly prouoked his displeasure that he expulsed them from the number of his ministers and reiected them from his presence This fall was so grieuous to them and the hatred so great which they conceiued against God for the same that they presently began to doe all things contrary to his commandement by all manner of meanes to offend him to derogate from his glory what they could and as much as they might to deface and corrupt this goodly frame of the world which hee with so great wisedome had made And when man persisted yet in the same estate in which he was placed from aboue supposing they had no better meanes to detract from the glory of God than if they could lay a plat to take man from him and draw him into their societie they presently put their deuice in practice and fraudulently deceiuing him with false promises and hope of greater preferment they made him reuolt from God and breake his commandement which he had giuen him to make proofe of his obedience and to follow that course and counsell which they had framed against God to his own ouerthrow When man had thus shaken off his obedience where before he led in this pleasant Paradise a most happy life free from all euill and hurtfull things the earth of its owne accord bringing forth all things plentifully hee was driuen out of this delectable place and with heauie cheare enforced to seeke another dwelling where hee must get his liuing with the labour of his body and with the sweat of his browes and fell into the punishment appointed by God for breach of his commandement that is death and damnation bereft of that rule and dominion and of all the principall ornaments which he had bestowed vpon him And where all the meane causes of things euen from the vppermost heauen vnto the lowest part of the earth depended each vpon other in such an exact order and vniformitie to the production of things in their most perfection and beauty so as it might well bee likened to that Aurea Catena as Homer calleth it by the grieuous displeasure which God conceiued against man hee withdrew the vertue which at the first hee had giuen to things in these lower parts and now through his curse the face of the earth and all this elementatie world doth so much degenerate from his former estate that it resembleth a chaine rent in peeces whose links are many lost and broken and the rest so slightly fastened as they will hardly hang together by meanes whereof the heauens and second causes do now farre otherwise work in mans corrupt nature and in this elementary world than they did before But the son of God hauing compassion vpon man that had thus grieuously sinned and was fallen into this miserable estate though by his own will yet not through pride or ambition nor by contempt of Gods commandement but was deceiued by the fraud and subtilty of the diuell cast himselfe down before his Father with all humilitie and besought him for mankinde and obtained this fauour that they should not be condemned to perpetuall punishment And yet to satisfie the iustice of God which was immutable hee offered himselfe to fulfill all that obedience which God required of man and so pacified his Father that hee procured him to make a decree to send him to bee a protector and defendor of mankinde against the tyrannie of the diuell When man was thus restored into fauour againe yet not with recouery of those goodly gifts and ornaments which he had lost the diuell beginneth to rage and to practise all manner of meanes to intrap him againe and when he perceiued that hee could not deceiue all hee handled the matter so that the benefit of this promise might come to a very few and that the greater part of the world should perish with him by drawing them from the true knowledge and worshipping of God to superstition and idolatrie Now to returne from whence we digressed seeing the felicitie or soueraigne good wee seeke for concerneth not the body only but the soule also and that the soule dyeth not but after it hath woond himselfe out of this prison it eyther liueth in perpetuall felicitie or infelicitie this happinesse cannot be taken for a temporall thing that is enioyed during this mortall life only but must be euerlasting and without end For what profiteth it a man to haue all the world saith Christ Iesus if hee lose his soule Whereby it appeareth that the Philosophers and Heathens that had not the true knowledge of God nor beleeued in him nor his promise could not attain to the felicity of man which in farre the greatest part consisteth in the ioyes of the heauenly life But contrariwise by their infidelitie they suffer eternall damnation and extreme misery And then it followeth necessarily that none but Christians and those which beleeued in the promise of his comming can attaine to this felicitie or soueraigne good which haue an assured hope to bee saued by the merits and passion of Christ. For they only that are regenerate and not the Heathens after the passage from this life are to enioy the heauenly life and then they to whom the things are giuen wherein that part of felicitie confisteth whilest we are in this world both being ioyned together are in the estate of perfect felicitie But first before wee come to shew our opinion of this soueraigne good or felicitie let vs peruse the course of mens liues that by obseruing what the things bee that men most desire in this life they may the more plainely discouer their errour and direct themselues to a better course Diogenes in a great
assembly of people going backward of purpose and seeing euery one laughing him to scorne asked them alowd if they were not ashamed to mocke him for going backward when hee walked whereas they did so all the daies of their life As if hee should say that no man followed the right course of life but rather that all liued contrary to that they ought For all men desire to be in a happy estate Hecopus hic labor est But few take the right course to attaine to it It is commonly said that wise men differ from fooles in this that they set vp a marke to shoot at these shoot their arrows vp into the ayre at random without any certain marke And again that good men differ in this from the wicked that some propose to themselues a good end others an euill end some that which is good indeed others that which is good in shew only Many set vp no marke or end at all to which they should direct the course of their life but fall from one kinde of life into another as chance offereth without any certaine end or purpose Some direct the course of their life to some end as to a marke but because they mistake one thing for another they neuer attaine to that they desire Others though they see what the marke or end is to which they should direct the course of their life which is felicitie yet as men who vse to take vpon them blind-folded to finde out a post or hillocke or such like wander vp and down without finding that they secke so they being made blinde by their affections which as Plato saith bee very euill counsellers and clogged with worldly cares and carried away with vnsatiable desires bestow their labour in vaine and can neuer finde that they seeke for And though all men desire one thing that is a happy estate yet the great difference we see in the course of their liues argueth their mistaking some other thing for that they secke after by meane whereof they can neuer attaine to the end of their desires Let vs looke into mens labours and consider what the things bee for the obtaining whereof they imploy all their trauell and study for that seemeth the thing which they take for felicitie or a great meane to the attaining of it For euery man naturally desireth that which he thinketh to be good Three things I obserue that the most part of men greedily hunt after and leaue no stone vnturned as the prouerbe is to attaine to them Some desire to liue in pleasure many seeke for riches others labour for honour and glory in these things according to their seuerall inclinations they put their felicitie But how farre they are from the true felicitie shall hereafter if God will appeare rather by the common iudgment of men that will vse reason for their guide than by Logicall arguments and by examples of them whose miserable estate and vnfortunate end hath discouered the error of their disordered and licentious life that by seeking felicitie where it was not they found in felicitie where it was By whose example after Diogenes counsell wee may become wise by another mans harme for he is wise very late that is made wise by his own harme For as Seneca saith Longum iter per praecepta brene efficax per exempla The way by precepts is long by examples short and pithy And first to beginne with Pleasure wherein some learned men of account among the ancient Philosophers as Epicurus and others seeing how willingly men are drawne to pleasures held that felicitie or soueraigne good should consist They reasoned thus That action is the end or felicitie of man to which by nature of his own accord he is most willingly ledde But all men of their owne accord are most willingly led to pleasures Therefore Pleasure is the end or felicitie of man But the Epicures were in this greatly deceiued for man as in the substance of his body participateth with brute beasts so in his spirituall essence which is a reasonable soule hee participateth with Angels And though hee be by the worst part of his nature giuen to pleasure yet reason reprehendeth and blameth his brutish affections But the cause of this dissention in mans nature the Philosophers saw not only Christian Religion sheweth why his affections are repugnant to reason If felicitie as the Philosophers affirme bee the proper action of man then can it not bee in Pleasure for that is common with him and brute beasts but after them it must bee an action peculiar and proper to him alone And seeing that man is made of two distinct natures though by the great wisedome of the Creatour wonderfully vnited together it is more reason that his felicitie should bee agreeable with the best part of his nature which is a reasonable soule and resembleth the Angels that are made after the image of God than with the worst part of his nature which resembleth and is of the like substance to brute beasts But he that will enter into the due consideration of mans felicitie must haue respect to both his natures the body and the soule both which it must in a sort touch yet according to the proportion and difference of excellencie that is betweene them the one representing the image of God being immortall the other participating with brute beasts being subiect to death and corruption Such a felicitie as consisteth in the momentany pleasures of this life the Indian captiues may challenge The Indians haue a manner when they haue taken one of their enemies prisoner whom they meane not presently to cate not to imprison him as the vse is in these parts of the world but they bring him with great triumph into the village where hee dwelleth that hath taken him and there place him in a house of some man that was lately slaine in the warres as it were to re-celebrate his funerals and giue vnto him his wiues or sisters to attend vpon him and to vse at his pleasure They apparel him gorgeously after their manner and feede him with all the daintie meats that may be had and giue him all the pleasures that can be deuised When hee hath passed certaine moneths in all manner of pleasures like an Epicure and is made fat with daintie and delicate fare like a Capon they assemble themselues together at some festiuall day and in great pompe bring him to the place of execution where they kill him and eate him This is the end of this poore captiues pleasures and the beginning of his miseries whose case is nothing inferiour to theirs who enioying the pleasures of this life for a small time wherein they put their felicitie are rewarded with death and perpetuall torments For as he was taken prisoner by his enemies so are they captiued by the Diuell who feedeth their humours with variety of pleasures that he may at length deuoure and destroy them both body and soule Many examples are
life But if we cleanse our minds of our corrupt affections and passions and looke into the matter with a sound and vpright iudgement we shall see that either there is no felicitie in this life that answereth to that name or else that affliction and such crosses as God will lay vpon us detracteth not any thing from our felicitie For seeing the difference of greatnesse and distance of space that is betweene things that are circumferiptible and have end can make the lesse seeme nothing and beare no proportion to the greater then à fortiori that which is temporall and comprehended within time and hath end seemeth nothing nor beareth any proportion to that which is without time perpetuall and infinite The globe of the earth which for his shew of greatnesse we call sometime improperly the world â—…nd is after the Mathematicians computation one and twentie thousand miles in compasse and aboue yet being compared to the greatnes of the circumference of the eighth sphere or starrie skie it is but as a center or little pricke to the circle to which it beareth no proportion much lesse the afflictions and troubles of this temporall life in respect of the perpetuitie of the ioyes in the life to come beareth any proportion but is to be accounted nothing And who will call him a sickly man that in the whole course of his life hath neuer felt any sickenesse but onely one little short fit of an ague but rather will call him a healthfull man much lesse can the afflictions or troubles of this life bee called infelicitie or withdraw any thing from the name of felicitie because betweene the other there is some proportion betweene this life and the life to come none at all But yet because the life wee lead in this world is something in respect of time let us see whether wee can finde any thing in it worthie to be called felicitie And because there is a great difference not onely in continuance but also in greatnesse betweene the happinesse of this life and the life to come wee will distinguish betweene the words and call the happinesse of this life Felicitie and that of the heauenly life Beatitude or blessednesse and Summum Bonum or Soveraigne good In the sundry and manifold things created by God with such variety some things he made with a simple essence some things with life some other with sense To man he gaue all these together with vnderstanding of whom he would be knowne and worshipped he made him also good after his owne Image and adorned him with many goodly gifts and gaue him dominion ouer all other creatures and made the world for him and gaue him the vse of all things contained therein esteeming him not as his creature but rather as his sonne and discouered to him his will which when hee disobeyed preferring his owne appetite before Gods commandement by the fraud and subtiltie of the diâ—…ell he cast him out of his fauour and bereaued him of many of these goodly gifts and ornaments wherewith he had indowed him and where before his life and estate was most happie and blessed his nature was then altogether corrupted and altered his goodnesse was turned into sinne wickednesse his vnderstanding darke and as it were couered with a cloud All which imperfections descend from the first man vnto vs but Christ the Son of God through the speciall loue and fauour he did beare to mankinde hath reconciled vs againe to his Father though without recovery of those goodly ornaments by taking vpon him the burden of our sinnes and satisfying his justice in his owne person Now therefore the onely meanes we haue to attaine to blessednesse or Summum Bonum againe which we lost by the fall of our first parents is by the merits and mercie of Christ to returne to God againe and seeing that God is the greatest and chiefest good of all things from whom all things haue their being and goodnesse in him is to be sought that Summum Bonum and blessednesse or Beatitude we looke for and no otherwhere And for as much as he made us to his owne glory and that we might know and worship him the end and true Felicitie of man in this world is to know God to magnifie and worship him to which end is ioyned the fruition and enioying of him in the world to come which is the Beatitude or blessednesse and Summum Bonum we seeke for But because men are commonly called happy or vnhappy according to the course of life they leade let us examine the estate and condition of this life and see whether wee can finde any thing in it other then that last aboue spoken worthy of the name of Felicitie Many ancient Philosophers and Wise-men having diligently observed the nature and manner of life of all sorts of creatures of the world and compared them with the estate and condition of men cryed out that of all the creatures that breathed and went vpon the earth There was not any more miserable theÌ„ man Heraclttâ—… moved with the like consideration neuer went foorth into the streets among the people but he wept bewayling continually the calamities of men being perswaded that all that we can see under the uppermost heaven is nothing else but a very Theatre of misery worthy of continual complaints compassion Democritus for the like cause neuer went forth of his house in the sight of men but he would fall into a great laughing esteeming all mens actions labors meere vanities Another company there were of a more strange dispositioÌ„ that would not onely murmur and grudge at the nature and condition of men but were as hatefull enemies to their owne kinde supposing that nature had set vp man as a Butt or marke against which she would discharge all the bullets of her wrath indignation among which sort of men was one called Tymon a Philosopher of Athens who professed himselfe openly an enemy of mankind performed it in effect For he would neuer dwell or keepe company among men but withdraw himselfe into the Defaâ—…ts and leade his life among beasts that he might not be seene of men and passing his time in this solitary sort he would speake with no man saving onely with Alcibiades a valiant Gentleman of Athens neither with him for any loue hee had to the man but for that he did foresee he would be one day a plague scourge to men and specially to the Athenians And it was not sufficient for him to abhorre and detest the company of men as furious wilde beasts but hee sought also all the meanes he could if it had bin possible to destroy mankinde and for that purpose he set vp a great many gibbets in his garden that desperate folkes and such as were weary of their liues might hang themselues and after certaine yeeres meaning to inlarge his little Cottage where he dwelt hee determined to cut downe those gibbets for his building and
necessary members for our corrupt nature by whose skill mens malicious contentious humors are many times especially in these daies so artificially fed maintained that they who at the first were ordained as instruments to defend men from injury seeme now to be imployed as whips to the punishment of mens sins The elder Cato was wont to say that pleading Courts were strawed with Caltrops Pope Pius the 2d. compareth the Sutors to Birds the place of pleading to the Field the Iudge to a Net the Atturneys and Lawyers to Fowlers Pope Nicholas the third a man well learned banished out of Rome Advocates Proctors Notaries the rest of that Society saying that they lived by poore mens blood But Pope Martin his successor caused them to return againe saying they were good men to draw water to his mill One reporteth that if Lewes the eleventh had lived a few yeers more he had reformed in France the abuses of the Law Lawyers Of these meÌ„ one speaketh thus Dicere sepeforo turpique inhiare lucello Gaudet hoc studio vitam solatur inertem Vaenali celebrans commissa negotia lingua To plead of gaping for dishonest gaine Fattens the Lawyer studying to maintaine A slothfull life And be they right or wrong Opening mens Causes with a servile tongue Thus much of this estate as it is used in other couÌ„tries written by their owne Authors much more which I forbeare to recite because I take this sufficient to prove that felicitie is as hard to be found in this estate as in others though some countries be free from these faults for the generalâ—…y maketh the matter the use or abuse of every state of life bringeth to their professors felicity or infelicity For the law is necessary in euery CoÌ„mon-wealth Plato saith principatus sine lege grave molestus subjectâ—…s another calleth it prasiaem bonu malis and that in the lawes consisteth the safegard of a Common-wealth And how great infelicitie happeneth to the ludges who when they are old and should reape the fruit of all their travell in their youth that is rest and quietnesse then must they begin to travell about their Circuits in heate and cold durt and dust frost snow wind and raine as it were a penance for their life past which they must continue untill they be ready to fall into their graves Alexander Alexandrins an excellent Doctor and Advocate when hee had lost at Rome against all right and reason a matter of great importance gave over his practice and betooke himselfe to the studie of humanity saying That the greatest part of them that in these dayes sit in judgement either as ignorant mâ—…n doe not understand the lawes or as naughtie men doe corrupt the lawes And Augustine saith That the ignorance of the Iudge is often the calamitie of the innocent Onâ—… said These five things bring chiefely the Common wealth farre out of square A 〈◊〉 Iudge in the Consistorie a deceitfull merchant in the market a coverous Priest in the Church a faire whoore in the Stewes and 〈◊〉 in Princes Courts One likeneth the law to the web of a Spyder that taketh little Flies but gâ—…eater things breake their way thorow which seemeth to point at some thing that maketh nothing for the felicitie of Iudges and Magistrates CHAP. II. The estate of Iudges and Magistrates Of Bellizarius A Villaine reprehends the Senate of Rome An excellent Oration of a Iew A Dialogue betwixt a Philosopher and Iustice The estate of a Courtier A Courtiers description The manner of the Court The Courtiers life The estate of Princes The Hystory of Cleander and of plantianns LET vs leaue these men pleading their Clients causes and looke further into the estate of Iudges and other Magistrates which is an honourable estate and necessary for our humane nature And though these men command and iudge and are honoured aboue the rest yet haue they their part in those troubles and vnquietnesse whereunto other men are subiect Their charge is great and care without end to preserue the people committed to their gouernment in peace and concord at home and to defend them from their enemies abroad They must wake when others sleepe and howsoeuer they behaue themselues yet are they in danger of their Princes displeasure or the peoples obloquy whereof ensueth many times their vtter ouerthrowe A great number of examples may bee produced of good Magistrates and honourable Personages that by the ingratitude of the Prince or people in recompence of their good seruice haue beene bereaued of their liues and goods pellizarians a noble Gentleman and Generall vnder the Emperour Iustinian ouercame the Vandals triumphed ouer the Persians deliuered Italy many times of the Barbares in recompence of so notable seruice the Emperour through enuie and suspition caused his eyes to be plucked out of his head insomuch that he was driuen to get his liuing by begging And standing in a little cottage that was placed in one of the most frequented streetes in Rome asked almes in this sort Yee that passe by giue poore Bellizarians a farthing for Gods sake who for his vertue was famous and through enuie is made blind so that it is truly said A great good turne is often rewarded with great ingratitude and the vncertainty of the peoples fauour Petrarke taxeth thus Faire weather of the Spring the mornings sweet winde of Summer calmes of the Sea the estate of the Moone the loue of the people if they be compared together the palme and price of mutabilitie shall be giuen to the last But of Magistrates that bee euill after the corruption of our flesh grieuous curses be threatned vpon them Cursed bee ye that be corrupted with money and by prayers by hate or loue iudge euill to be good and good euill making of light darkenesse and of darkenesse light Cursed bee ye that haue not regard to the goodnesse of the cause but to the fauour of the person that haue not regard to equity but to the Presents that are giuen you that regard not iustice but money that haue not regard to that which reason sheweth you but to that onely which your affection or desire leadeth you yee are diligent in rich mens causes but yee delay poore mens suites to them ye are sterne and rigorous but to the rich pleasant and affable which agreeeth with this saying of Aristotle Amor odium proprium commodum 〈◊〉 faciunt indicem non cognoscere verum Loue and hate and his owne commodity oftentimes maketh a ludge not to know the truth The wise man pursuing this matter saith The poore man cryeth out and no man harkneth to him but they aske what he is the rich man speaketh and every man clappeth his hands and exalteth his words with admiration above the skies yet this sufficeth them not that are advanced to honourable estate there is another worme that gnaweth upon them they doe by their children as did the mother
From whence derive you your kinde From heaven What parents did beget you Measure did beget me sincere faith brought me forth Why is one of your eares open the other shut One is open to just persons the other is deafe to the wicked Why doth your right hand beare a sword and the left a ballance This doth weigh causes the other strikes the guilty Why goe ye alone Because there is small store of good men these ages bring forth few Fabritios Why go ye so poorely apparelled No man will desire exceeding great riches that coveteth alwaies to be a very just man Apollonius noting the corruption of Magistrates government having travelled over all Asia Affrica Europe said that of 2. things whereat he marvelled most in all the world the first was that he alwaies saw the proud man coÌ„mand the huÌ„ble the quarrellous the quiet the tyrant the just the cruell the pittifull the coward the hardy the ignorant the skilfull the greatest theeves hang the innoceÌ„t In these daies saith Mar. Aurelius in Italy they that rob openly be call'd Masters or Lords and they that steale secretly be call'd theeves One wisheth there were no greater theeves in the world then those that rob the goods of rich men Cato said Theeves of private theft lived in fetters irons but publike theeves lived in gold and purple The old Egiptians used to paint their magistrats blindfolded without hands meaning that a Iudge or Magistrate must know no kin nor friend froÌ„ a stranger without hands because he must receive no bribes or rewards And this was no unapt device to paint in a table 30. Iudges without hands and the President onely looking vpon the image of truth that hanged at his neck The Ariopagites vsed to heare no causes but in the darke nights that the Iudges might haue respect to the words that were spoken not to the persons that spake iosaphats speech to Iudges should be noted Looke what ye doe for ye exercise not the iudgement of men but of God and whatsoeuer ye shall iudge wil redound to your selues Chuse out of all the people men vertuous that feare God thâ—…t loue the truth and hate covetousnes and make them Iudges Ecclesiasticus giueth this counsell Blame no man before thou haue inquired the matter vnderstand first and then reforme righteously giue no sentence before thou haue heard the cause neither interrupt men in the midst of their tales There be foure things necessary in a Iudge to heare patiently to answer wisely to iudge vprightly and execute mercifully Iudges and Magistrates saith one should not imploy their study to get friends to maintaine their estate proudly but rather to read books to iudge mens causes vprightly The good Magistrate should take the authority of his office which the Prince giueth him for accessary and his good life for principall that the vprightnesse of his iustice and the sharpenesse which the wicked feele in the execution thereof should be so tempered by his discretion that all may hold authority by the syncerity of his life Aristotle requireth three things to be in all good Iudges and Magistrates Vertue and Iustice a loue to the present estate and a sufficiency to exercise those duties that are required in their office Now let vs looke a little into the estate of Couniers who seeme to challenge a peculiar interest in happinesse in respect of their easie and delicate life and reputation aboue others being neere the well head from whence their â—…elicity springeth for the estate of Princes they thinke to be perfect felicity These men for the most part have a speciall regard to please their sences and be more carefull to decke their bodies then to garnish their minds Nescis quale tegat splendida vita malum Thou knowest not what mischiefe a smooth life covers They set more by formalitie of manners then by substance of matter so they shew to be such as they would be they care not though they be not such as they should be Many of these men make it their felicity to passe their time lasciuiously in courting young Damosels as though they were borne as Boccas saith of himselfe por l'amore delle donne but in the kingdome of pleasure vertue cannot consist others that cannot have that favour of the Prince they look for insinuate themselues into the favour of some of them that be most in favour and receiue holy water at the second hand him they follow his beckes and countenance they obserue when he is merry they laugh when he is angrie they are sad what he alloweth they affirme what he liketh not they dispraise Et hoâ—…a summa putant aliena viuere quadra And thus they continue with him so long as the wind bloweth in the poope but if fortune begin to frowne vpon him they depend they find some reasonable cause for saving their credit if they thinke not the common custome a sufficient warrant to leaue him and follow some other Thus for riches and reputation they 〈◊〉 sell their liberty so precious a thing of instemiable price and transforme their nature into his whom they desire to please otherwise they must fall short of that they looke for The happinesse of these men differeth as much from felicitie as a darke dungeon differeth from the cleere light of the Sun and this is incident to those great estates that are so followed that many of them who to salute them take their hattes from their heads wish that his head were taken from his shoulders and that bow their knee to do him reuerence wish his legge broken that they might carrie him to his graue Alfonsus king of Arragon sayling vpon the sea froÌ„ Sicilia beheld certaine fowle soaring about his Galley and looking for meat of the marriners and when he had cast them meat he obserued how greedily they contended for it euer as they had gotten their prey away they would flie and returne no more Some of my Courtiers quoth the King turning to his company are like these chattering birds for as soone as they haue gotten any office or reward at my hands that they gape after and contend for one with another they flie away and returne not againe vntill necessitie compell them to sue for more Gueuarra to his friend that asked him how he imployed his time answered thus According to the fashion of our Courtiers beare euil-will blaspheme loyter lie prattle and curse and oft time we may more truly say wee lose it then imploy it and to another demaund with whom hee was most conuersant in that Court hee answered that the Court and people there of were grapes of so euill a soyle that we who goe in the same and from our childhood be brought vp therein study not with whom to bee conuersant but in discouering of whom to beware with much paine we haue time to defend vs from our enemies and will you that we occupie our selues in seeking new
some way to hinder the resolution for men to haue two wiues and to bring to passe rather that women might haue two husbands The matter was carried so speedily from one to 〈◊〉 that the next day when the Senators should enter into the Senate-house they found at the doore a great number of the principall Matrons of Rome vpon their knees who made a very earnest petition to them 〈◊〉 they would not make so vniust a law that a man should haue two wiues but rather that a woman might haue two husbands The Senators knowing nothing of the matter were not a little amazed and when they were entered into the Senate one asked another what this strange kinde of inciuilitie and shamelesnesse of their wiues should meane But no man being able to make any reason of the matter the little Boy seeing them so confused steppeth forth and told them openly how the matter had passed and that he was driuen for feare of stripes to deuise this answer to satisfie his mother The Senate commended the Boy and decreed that none of their sonnes should enter any more into the Senate-house but onely this Papyrius lest their secrets might be disclosed by the importunacie of their mothers Demosthenes gaue this counsell vnto Corinthus that asked him with what conditions a wife ought chiefly to be furnished Be sure saith he that thy wife be rich that the necessities of thy life may be supplied and the continuance of thine estate plentifully supported Let her be nobly descended the better to minister to thy reputation and bring honour to thy posteritie Let her be young that shee may the better delight thee and thou finde no occasion to thinke marriage lothsome Let her be faire the better to content thy desires and containe thee from others And let her bee vertuous and wise to the end thou maist safely commit thine estate to her gouernment For whosoeuer taketh a wife without these conditions is sure to finde that hee feareth and faile of that which should make the marriage happy For of all accidents ordained to trouble the life of man there cannot bee a greater infelicitie then to bee euill encountred in marriage Hee taketh small pleasure of all that euer hee hath besides that is wiued against his appetite One being asked who was a chaste wife answered She that is not bold that doth not cuill when her husband offends her that may and will not that hateth money the doore and the window that careth not for feasts and bankets for dancing nor to be curious in apparell that heareth no messages nor receiueth letters nor presents from louers that will not goe 〈◊〉 stand alone that esteemeth her husband whatsoeuer he be aboue all others that spinneth seweth feareth God and prayeth often and willingly to him that is the last that speaketh and the first that holdeth her peace which made Propertius commend women of the elder time thus Non illis studium vulgo conquirere amantes Illis ampla satis forma pudicitia They studied not to range abroad For Louers to inquire To be held chaste the beautie was Which they did most desire The old Romans seemed not to think marriage a happie estate by a speech vsed by Metellus the Oratour to perswade them to marriage If we could said he be without wiues we should then be all free froÌ„ that trouble but seeing nature hath so ordered the matter that we cannot commodiously liue with them nor by any meanes without them wee must haue respect rather to the perpetuall good then to the short pleasures And what doth more vnquiet a mans minde then to stand in doubt whether the children of whom he beareth the name of their father be his or not To this purpose I remember a pretie deuice reported by a credible Authour that a woman made to satisfie her husband This man was of the Nobilitie and of great possessions and married a wife of the like estate and beautifull withall but not of the best fame This woman was deliuered of a goodly boy and as shee held him on a day in her armes and perceiuing her husband sit very sadly as though his mind were greatly troubled fetching deepe sighes shee asked him what was the cause of this great pensiuenesse and sighes The husband sighing againe I would quoth he giue halfe my land that I were as certenly assured that this boy were mine as he is known to you to be yours There shall not need said the wife keeping her countenance with great sobrietie so great a price only giue mee an hundred acres of medow wherewith to feed my cattell and I will put you out of doubt of this matter and when he had told her it was vnpossible yet they agreed to call in certaine Noblemen and Gentlemen to heare the bargaine which in their presence being agreed vpon shee holding the boy in her armes said vnto her husband Is this boy in very deed mine When he affirmed it to be so shee held foorth the boy in her armes to her husband Take him said shee I giue him to you now hee is out of doubt yours Wherewith all that were present fell into a laughing and gaue sentence with the wife condemning the husband Alphonsus King of Arragon was accustomed to say that if a man will see a perfect and well sorted marriage the husband must be deafe and the wife blinde that hee may not heare her brawling nor shee see her husbands wanton toyes When one admoâ—…shed his friend that hee should stay the marriage of his sonne vntill he were wise Yee deceiue your selfe my friend quoth he for if he once grow to be wise hee will neuer marry One hearing this preached Whosoeuer will be saued must beare his Crosse ranne to his wife and laid her vpon his shoulders Pbilemâ—… said that a wife is a necessarie and perpetuall euill to her husband because there is nothing more hard to be found in all the world then a good wife following the old prouerbe That a good wife a good Mule and a good Goate are three naughtie beasts But ynough of this It shall bee good to be warned by old Homers counsell and not to touch this string too much lest we plucke the house vpon our head Talia nate loquens haud multo tempore viues Speaking these things oh sonne Thou hast not long to liue Thus may wee see how hard a matter it is to finde out any estate that is not subiect to infelicitie and miserie and if wee should peruse the estate of peace which is desired of all men and is a great blessing of God we shall finde that the long continuance of that happie estate is many times the cause of great infelicitie Such is the corruption of our nature to turne that good which God sendeth to the benefit of men to our owne euill and harme which is by the Poet truly affirmed Nunâ—… patimur longae pacis mala saeuior armis Luxuria incubuit victumque
those things that doe cause discontentment And hee that looketh alwayes to liue happily seemeth to bee ignorant of the one part of nature for the crying and lamenting of a childe when hee first entereth into this world doth seeme to presage his painefull life as a vauntcurrer of his miseries to come for where is hee that can vaun◅ that either in his body hee hath not felt some paine in his minde some griefe or hath not suffered losse of his goods or reproch to his person These be diseases incurable accidents remedilesse and alwayes incident vnto vs euen as there is no Sea without waues no Warre without perill nor iourney without trauell so is there no worldly life free from troubles nor any estate voyd of incumbrances So as no man liueth so happily that hath not something whereof to complaine and be grieued Boetius saith Nihilest ex omni parte beatum Nothing is in all parts happy There is nothing in this world vniuersally blessed or perfect and therefore that which cannot be auoyded by prudence nor resisted by fortitude must bee ouercome by patience after Saint Augustines counsell Vt exercitatione tolerantiae sustineantur temporalia sperentur aterna that by exercise of bearing we may endure temporall things and hope for eternall things For as much then as there is such a mixture in this life of good and euill as the Poet saith Miscentur tristia latis Let sad things be mixt with glad That no man can alwayes liue contentedly or happily but the felicitie we seeke must be found in him that liueth least discontented or vnhappily let vs see how a man must behaue himselfe so much as in him lyeth to enioy this felicitie or happinesse Though wee cannot flie from cares and troubles so long as we walke in this world yet we may endeuour our selues to auoyd as many of them as we may for much more in nūber be the displeasures griefes we seeke to our selues then those that are brought to vs by any other meanes We said before that he vpon whom God bestoweth his graces by which he liueth contentedly is happy and in felicitie and no man is vnhappie but he that thinketh himselfe so neither is any man happie but hee that so esteemeth himselfe And yet not euery contentment bringeth forth happinesse but such as is cōtained within a certaine manner and measure For as contentation consisteth not in the much or little that wee haue no more doth happinesse consist in that to which generally we are inclined Many by nature or ◅uill education or custome are so inclined to vice and strongly addicted to lewd life that neither reason nor perswasions nor terrour of lawes can reforme them wherewith though they be contented yet are they farre from happinesse and may rather be accounted most vnhappie For in all our actions and in euery course and trade of life wee must haue alwaies respect to our common and true end that is to praise and glorifie God that we may haue the fruition of the ioyes of the other life which is our true felicitie and beatitude And seeing the happinesse wee seeke for in this life seemeth to require contentation I see not how that happinesse can well be had except in some measure we enioy the things whereunto we are enclined that thereof contentment may follow for reason may rather perswade patience then bring foorth contentment And therefore wee may affirme that as they which seeke for contentation by following their vicious appetites and inclinations in stead of felicitie finde infelicitie so they that enioy the things whereunto they are inclined not being repugnant to vertue and honesty nor to our common end before recited haue a great aduantage to the happinesse of this life which commeth by cōtentation For he saith one liueth happily that liueth as he will and will nothing that is euill Mens minds are diuersly affected according to the variety of their inclinations which draweth their labours industry to satisfie their appetite and to bring them to contentation and happinesse And if the end be good for which they employ their study labor whether their life be actiue or contemplatiue for happines consisteth not in nihil agendo ◅ter the Cyclopes they may attaine to that they looke for Among things that be indifferent that which pleaseth one displeaseth another euery vocation and estate of life contenteth not euery man some desire rest others loue to trauell some like to exercise their minds others their bodies some wish for pleasures others for riches and honour and if the end be good for which they desire these things the way and meanes right which they follow to come by them and the vse as it ought to be being gotten they may attaine to a contentation and happinesse notwithstanding the great difference of the estates and kinds of life because they enioy the things whereunto they are inclined And this diuersitie or contrarietie of mens inclinations maketh a good harmony that is compounded of contraries and seemeth necessary to the maintenance of societie But seeing we haue no good inclinations nor motions of our selues since the corruption of our nature wee must pray vnto God for his grace to stirre them vp in vs and then so to employ our endeuour as wee receiue not his grace in vaine They that plough vnrighteousnesse and sowe incumbrance gather the same Diuine seed is sowne in mens bodies which if a good husband receiue it riseth vp like his beginning but if hee be an euill husband it killeth like a barren and morish ground and bringeth forth cockle in stead of corne The Sunne shining vpon waxe maketh it soft and dirt hard Hee that rightly receiueth Gods holy Spirit turneth all his inclinations and all that happeneth to his good For such a minde is stronger then all accidents that chance but an euill minde turneth all into euill But it may bee obiected that seldome or neuer all those good things concurre together in any one man God by his secret iudgement hauing so disposed them And Ennius saith Nimius boni est cue nihil est mali It is too good that hath in it no euill for he doth all things for our good and respecteth our true felicitie or beatitude in the world to come to the attaining of which hee bestoweth his graces according to his owne pleasure and our disposition Wee see some children of so gentle a nature that they will be sooner reformed with a faire word then others will be with stripes others againe there be of so stubborne a disposition that neither threatnings nor seuere correction is sufficient to bring them to obedience So God distributeth not all his gifts equally to all men but to some he giueth riches and possessions others he suffereth to line in lacke and pouertie some hee afflicteth and punisheth diuers wayes to others he giueth a quiet and peaceable life according to his pleasure and the difference of mens dispositions
he offered us his grace so plentifully and yet will we not receive it He that standeth in a high place letteth down a rope to help him up that standeth beneath so God hath let downe his grace to us to lift us up to him but wee will not take hold of it and therefore it may bee feared if we bee not more circumspect lest our common adversary entangle us with his rope that hee may plucke us downe to him Wee may be wondred at not without cause as the Emperour Constantius marvelled at his people that were newly become Christians I marvell said hee how it commeth to passe that many of my people are worse now than before they were Christians The best we can hope for if we amend not our maners is that God will chastise us and the most we can desire at his hands is that if he punish us by some of his ordinary meanes he will use a fatherly correction upon us and when hee hath beaten his children cast the rod in the fire Wee have beheld these many yeares in great tranquility under the flourishing reigne of a most happy Prince the troubles and afflictions of our neighbours by which we have beene warned to reforme our lives and to be thankfull but with how small effect is too apparent and therefore it may be feared lest the time will come that wee shall have cause to say to our neighbours Vivite felices quibus est fortuna per◅cta I am sua nos alia ex al◅is in fata vocamur Live happy you whose fortunes are full grown We have no fate to looke to but our owne Petrarks saying could to no time bee more aptly applyed that hunters and fowlers used not their endevour with greater diligence to lay nets and snares for wilde beasts birds than crafty men layd for the simple and plaine meaning And therefore said he if thou wilt not be deceived either dye or deale not with men which agreeth with Pionano his countrey man Con arte con inganno Si vive mezzo l'anno Con inganno con arte Si vive l'altraparte Hee therefore that would enjoy that happinesse which may be found in this life must live in the feare and service of God and alwayes lift up his minde to the true felicity which cannot be injoyed in this world but in the life to come He must desire God to bestow his benefits and graces upon him by which he may eschew and be free from those things that are hindrance to felicity and that he will blesse his labours and indeavours that are taken in hand and leadeth the right way to the attaining of happinesse Hee must arme himselfe with patience quietly to receive such afflictions and crosses as it shall please God to send and lay upon him and perswade himselfe he doth all for his good to draw his love from these worldly vanities to the contemplation and desire of God and his heavenly kingdome which is our end and sovereigne good and beatitude He must purge and cleanse his mind from those impure motions and affections that intice and allure men to the deceivable lusts and brutish pleasures of the flesh than which pleasure after Demosthenes there is not a more capitall enemie given of nature to man and after Demosthenes no evill can happen to that man which hath layd temperance and continency for a foundation of wisedom He must also beware and be very circumspect that he bee not overcom with inordinate desire of riches nor with ambition and desire of honor and glory whereunto for want of due consideration the most part of men are commonly carried headlong by a false and flattering shew of happinesse And if it shall please God to blesse him with worldly wealth honourable estate for they are his blessings to them that come rightly and justly to them he must use them to that purpose for which they were ordained and given him for the estimation of things and their use and abuse maketh them helpefull or hurtful to happinesse of life He that knoweth how to esteem and use riches honourable estate as he ought neither will desire them if he have them not nor feare their losse if he possesse them knowing that he may live well and happily without them as things not necessary to felicity For the greedy desire of riches possessions the ambitious passions common almost to all men in aspiring to honorable estate the cōtinual fear of their losse doth so torment and unquiet our mindes that whereas by the due estimation of riches and honour and such like delights of men with an upright judgement we might leade a pleasant and happy life wee contrariwise by a sinister opinion heape upon our selves grievous torments manifold cares and vexations so as wee seeme to seeke of purpose for the causes and meanes how to bring our selves into an unhappie and miserable estate for all the troubles and perplexities that travell our fraile bodies our selves are the cause of them and for the most part we goe out to seeke them For thus fares it with men of all estates first to desire one thing and then another without end or measure never satisfied or contented and therefore never happy He must estimate these things that will live happily not after the common custome and opinion of men but by a right and reasonable censure and content himselfe with his estate to which God hath called him whereunto he shall the more easily bee perswaded that will compare the dangers and troubles of high dignities and honourable estate with the security and quietnesse of meane callings and bestow some time in reading the monuments of wise and learned authors whose counsell he shall find to contemne the things wherein by an erroneous opinion men set their felicity as meere vanities and the frumpes of fortune and that a little is sufficient to the happinesse of life Yet providence is to bee used by a wise and ◅rugall man after Isocrates counsell To remember things past to doe things present and to beware of things to come For he is no lesse worthy of blame that provideth not that which is necessary than he that never ceaseth to get more than is sufficient And though no estate of life be excluded from felicity for that the chiefe part cause therof proceeds from the minde yet abundance of riches honorable estate hie dignities are more subject to those things that are hinderance to happinesse than the meane and inferiour estates are which whosoever will attentively observe will be the more readily induced to beleeve with Saint Paul that Godlinesse is great riches and sufficient to lead us to the felicity happinesse we seeke for For that bringeth with it a contempt of worldly vanities so much esteemed of the multitude peace of conscience and a contentation of mind wherein felicity consisteth Which was rightly espied by the Poet that the vanities of this world as riches pleasures
honours and such like bringeth not felicity but the service of God Iugera non faciunt felicem plurima frater Non Tergestini dulcia musta soli Non Tyriae vestes Aurâ—… non pondera flavi Non ebur aut gemma non juvenile decus Non dulcis nati soboles non bellula conjux Non tenuisse suâ—… sceptra superbamanu Noveris rerum causas licet astra polique Et nostro quicquid sub Iove mundus habet At mea si quaeris quae sit sententia Frater Dicam vis felix vivere vive Deo Brother not many acres make thee blest Nor the sweet grapes in Tergestine prest Not Tyrian garments not thy golden treasure Not Ivory gemmes nor all thy youthfull pleasure Not thy faire issue not thy beauteous bride Not a proud scepter with thine hand to guide To natures secrets though thy skill extend And thou the starres and poles dost apprehend With all the world doth beneath Iove containe Yet if thou ask'st of me what thou shalt gaine By these I le speake if thou wouldst make thy ' boad In heaven so live that thou mayst live to God The end of the fifth booke THE FELICITIE OF MAN OR HIS SUMMUM BONUM THE SIXTH BOOKE CHAP. I. The Creation of Man and the estate he was in at the beginning before his fall Mans alteration after his fall how he participates with the nature of brute beasts All things made to serve man rebell against him Man only of all other Creatures declineth from his originall nature The reason why God suffereth evill to be committed The means that God hath given to man by which to escape the dangers into which he is fallen Of the three faculties of the soule vegetative sensitive and understanding c. IT appeareth by that which hath bin said what manner of felicitie men may enjoy in this life which is rather an usurped name and improperly so called than so indeed Now resteth to discourse upon the true end and felicity of man or beatitude and Summum bonum When God had created this goodly frame of the world being so called of his excellent and beautifull forme replenished with such varietie of creatures and placed the earth in the middest last of all he made man after his owne image which St. Paul interpreteth to bee justiâ—… and holinesse of truth who was after called Aâ—…am of the veine of red earth whereof hee was made And when God had finished this worke and made man hâ—… ceased from creating any more things and rested in him in whom hee delighted and would for ever after communicate himselfe his wisdome his justice and his joy and gave unto him a companion for his greater comfort and pleasure This man he adorned with many goodly gifts and placed him in Paradise which signifieth the best part of the earth and that estate of men in which they should have lived without sin and death In which place appointed for their habitation are the four fountaines of the goodly rivers of Euphrates Tigris Ganges and Nilus which they water passe through and containeth almost a third part of the earth But when this man by the temptation subtill practices of the Serpent tasted of the forbidden fruit withdrew himselfe from the due obedience of his Creator he lost many of those goodly ornaments wherewith God had endowed him and fell into the punishment appointed for his transgression eternall death and damnation But the son of God bearing a singular favour to man pacified his father to satisfie his justice which was immutable he took upon him to fulfill all that obedience 〈◊〉 God required of man and restored him into Gods favour againe though not with recovery of all his lost ornaments revealed the promise of God which he had also procured to send him to be a protector of mankind against the tyranny of the Divell therefore he is called the word because he revealed this secret decree out of the breast of the eternal Father And this was the first miracle that God wrought after his creation of the world and the creatures therin contained staying them that were to dye without the second causes and without that ordinarie course of life which before hee had established Iosephus writeth that Adam set up two tables of stone in which he wrote the beginning of the creation the fall of man and the promise Now if wee consider what a worthy and beautifull creature man was before his fall the very habitation temple of God without sinne and without death wee may easily judge what an ungrateful and unhappy creature he was to revolt from God to the Divell whereby he and his posterity became subject to sinne and death For first God made him after his own image likenes that is he made him most good uncorrupt holy righteous immortall furnished him with most excellent gifts that nothing might bee wanting unto him to all blessednesse in God His understanding was wholly divine his will most free most holy he had power of doing good evil a law was given him of God which shewed him what he should doe or what he should not doe For the Lord said Thou shalt not eate of the tree of knowledg both of good evil God simply required of him obedience faith that whole Adam should depend upon him that not constrained by necessity but should do it freely he told him also the perill willed him not to touch the tree lest he dye So that he left him in his own counsell whose will was then free might have chosen whether he would have broken Gods commandment or not Neither did â—…atan in the serpent compel him to eat but perswaded the womaÌ„ with hope of a more excellent wisedome who drew on her husband willingly to bee partaker of the same by the false and lying perswasion and promise of the divel by the delectable shew sightliness of the tree the fruit whereof after the woman had first tasted she gave to her husband also to eate By meanes whereof hee lost those goodly gifts ornaments which God had bestow'd upon him which gifts hee gave to Adam upon condition that hee would also give them to his posterity if himselfe did keep them but would not give them if hee by his unthankfulnes would cast them away so that by his transgression disobedience hee was cast out of Paradise that is out of that happy estate found al the elements lesse favorable His nature condition was alter'd from goodnes holines to sin and wickednes from sincerity to corruption the influences that descend from the stars and planets which are of themselves simply good through our sinnes and corruption turne to evill so as all things made for our use rebell and conspire together against us and our sinnes are the cause of all our evill Which fall and alteration of mans nature and his ingratitude towards
hee could have hindered it and did not because he ought not to hinder it lest hee should disturbe his apointed and settled order and destroy his owne worke God therefore is not the Authour of evill and sin for al things which he made are good It is no efficient but a deficient cause Evil is no substance nor nature but an accident that commeth to the substance when it is voyde of those good qualities that ought naturally to be in them and supplieth the others absence with his presence And that hee suffereth evill to be done agreeeth with his great justice and mercy For if God should suffer no evill to be done men could not finne which agreeth not with his nature the Creator of all things having given him in the beginning free-will And except there should bee sinners how should God shew mercy But because all men commit sinne many waies God findeth every where matter to forgive every whereupon whom to shew mercy Saint Augustine sayth If the disease were light the Physitian would bee contemned and not sought and if the Physitian should not be sought the disease would have no end Therefore where sinne abounded there also grace abounded which onely divideth the redeemed from the damned All which things are sufficient testimonie against us that God made all things good and the evill that is happened to us is come upon us by our owne fault that disobeied God to obey the Divell Wee must confesse therefore that God made man good and a divine creature after his owne image that he endued him with many goodly gifts and ornaments that hee made the world and all things therein to serve man as he made man to serve him and as man is the end of the world so God is the end of man that he esteemed him in place of his sonne and opened his mind to him But because man preferred his owne appetite before the will of his Creator and became as a bastard and degenerate not onely by breaking Gods commandement but by affecting an equality with him he fell out of his favour and lost those gifts hee first gave him and is justly punished by him that is most just with the alteration of his estate and condition as a rebell against his Sovereigne and Creator because he would not continue and rest in his felicitie wherein God had first placed him that is in the contemplation of his Creator but would needs seeke his felicity some other where For the end of man is to glorifie God having made him for his own glory and the end felicity beatitude and Sumâ—… bâ—…num of man is all one by the Philosophers confession as hath been shewed before Therfore God that hath made all things good and is most good and goodnesse it selfe is the felicitie or beatitude and Summum bonum of man And though man by his ungratefull revolting from God that had bestowed such innumerable benefits upon him deserved justly to bee utterly destroyed yet hee dealt mercisully with him that hee took not away all as his demerits required and left him a meanes to returne into his grace againe For by taking away the things he first gave us he would make us humble by the fall of our first parent lest by the like presumptuousnesse we should fall againe A King buildeth a new city and endoweth it as the manner is with many priviledges and liberties it happeneth the citizens to rebel the king taketh away from them many of their liberties and priviledges Which punishment of rebellion descendeth to all their posterity though the city was begun with a few families it groweth at length to bee very populous His giving those priviledges to the first inhabitants was to bee imputed to his bounteousnesse and liberality that he took them away was his justice that he denied restitution of them to their posterity was his clemency lest they being of the same disposition should procure againe their owne destruction So God gave unto man liberty a great priviledge and adorned him with many goodly gifts both of body mind for the which he ought to praise his goodness And because by abusing his gifts he hath taken them away or diminished them is to be attributed to his justice which hee hath done lest by example of the first man his posterity being of the same condition should commit againe the like offence and fall into the like punishment Thus it pleased God of his goodnesse to chastise his people and to suffer them to bee governed by his lawes but not utterly destroy them And that mankinde might feele and know how great miseries follow their sin and fall and thereby learn humility and godlines and to call for his great mercy apparent in the middest of his high justice that notwithstanding mans grievous offence ingratitude he would not utterly destroy his posterity whom he had made to his glory but raised up one out of that rebellious stocke that should satisfie his justice wherby they might live and bee received into grace againe hereby it is evident that mans nature is corrupted not so created at the first by God but by abusing his gifts and graces is fallen from goodnesse into wickednesse from his speciall favour into his just indignation And as we are of the nature of that man our first parent in whom humane nature was universally polluted so doe wee receive from him his nature and draw to us the corruption thereof from whence is derived by propagation the cause of our miserable estate and condition Now that we have shewed how by what meâ—…es wee fell out of Gods favour into this stinking pit and dunge on let us see how we may wade out of it againe God all men confesse to be Creator of all things and as he is good goodnesse it selfe all that he hath made must needs bee also good as proceeding from the fountaine of goodnesse And because God is wisedome all his creations we must needs acknowledge were made to some end For nature say the Philosophers doth nothing in vaine but all things well much more God the Creator of nature doth all things to an end And as God is the beginning middle and end of all things so hath he none other end of his workes but himselfe For he made all things to his own glorie and therefore we that be the creatures of God of whom we have our beginning and life can have no other end but God So that God is our Summum bonum or Soveraigne good our beatitude and felicity To that end therefore to the attaining of that good which is the proper action and true felicity of man all our studies and desires all our labours and diligence ought to be directed and employed If mans first nature had remained whole and uncorrupted there would not have needed any great search to bee made to find out his felicity For our end or felicity did then shine in our understanding and the same