unto him why speakest thou any more of this matter I have said Thou and Ziba divide the Land 2. Wrath begets contention and strife betwixt the cheifest vessels of grace for it wrought such a contention between S. Paul and Barnabas that it made Paul to associate himself with Silas and Barnabas with Mark and so divided one from the other these two famous Instruments of the propagation of the glory of God 3. Wrath enticeth men to cruelty and is often the cause of the ruine and desolation of great and Populous Cities The Emperor Frederick was so transported with wrath by an Affront done by the People of Milan to the Empresse his wife that he caused his Army to sack the City of Milan and to put all the Inhabitants of it to the Sword See the Fcclesiastical history and afterwards to burn the same to the ground And the Duke Charls of Burgundy moved to wrath by an injury done to himself by the Citizens of Dinan See Philip de Commines caused all the Inhabitants to be slain by the Sword and the City to be burned to ashes salt to be sown in the fields of it to make them for ever barren 4. When men are transported with Wrath they have no regard to Father Mother nor Brethren Gen. 4.8 Cain slew his Brother Abel Nero his Mother and Selymus poysoned his Father out of wrath proceeding from ambition So that Wrath is the cause of much Blooshed and unparalleld Evils Miseries and Desolations The good effects of Wrath are these 1. It makes Cowards to become valiant The good Effects of Wrath. for the greatest Coward in the World being transported with Wrath becomes as bold as a Lyon 2. Wrath inciteth Christians to a Godly Indignation when they see the Worship and Glory of God abused and this is the onely commendable effect of Wrath for the which Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the high Priest obtained this following Blessing of the Lord for having slain Zimri and Cozbi in his wrath proceeding from a fervent Zeal to Gods glory Wherefore the Lord said Behold I give unto him my Covenant of Peace And he shall have it Numb 25.12 13. and his Seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Preisthood because he was zealous for his God and made an attonement for the children of Israel 3. The moderate Anger and Wrath of Parents towards their Children and of Masters towards their Servants is oftentimes of great use to keep them in due obedience and to make them more diligent in the performance of their duty 4. The Wrath of God is of great use to bring Impenitent Sinners to repentance For when they hear that his Wrath burns like fire Psal 89.46 and that it is like a whirlwind which turneth upside down the highest mountains it makes them put their hands upon their brests and acknowledge with the penitent Publican Luke 18.10 that they are not worthy to look up to heaven And I am perswaded considering the perverse inclinations of men that more are converted by the apprehension of his Wrath then by the gracious invitations of his Love are Promises yet happy and blessed are they who are drawn near him by his incomprehensible Love in Christ Jesus towards them and that fear more to displease him out of a sincere and filial Love unto him then out of a servile apprehension of his Wrath. To conclude it appears by the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Wrath that it is a passion above all others that men should most endevor to subdue and keep subordinate to Reason And to that end observe these ensuing Remedies that are to be used to hinder this stubborn Passion to obtain the Mastery over Men. Fifthly The Remedies to curb and keep under subjection this ragefull and furious Passion of Wrath may be reduced to these Four heads 1. Four Remedies against the venom of Wrath. Humility 2. Patience 3. Prudence 4. Charity For the First Humility is an excellent Remedy to asswage the fiery rage of Wrath Prov. 15.1 For as Solomon saith A soft Answer turneth away Wrath but grievous words stir up Anger And as fire goeth out of it self if it be not nourished by some Combustible matter so Wrath will vanish into smoak if it be not fomented and encreased by ill Language or by insolent Postures and Misdemeanors Abigail by her humble gesture and gentle speech did suddenly pacify the fiery Wrath of David that had been kindled by the churlishness of Nabal 1 Sam. 25.22 24. and prevented the execution of the rash Decree that David had pronounced against Nabal and all his Family Nay Humility is so powerfull and acceptable to God that it is able to appease his Wrath as it appears by Gods gracious and mercifull Carriage towards King David himself after the commission of the two abhorred sins of Adultery and Murder for he had no sooner acknowledged his sin with an unfained Humility 2. Sam. 12.13 but God was pleased to pardon him the guilt although he inflicted a heavy Punishment upon his Family for it For the Second Patience is an approved Remedy to appease the rage of Wrath as it appears by the Counsel that Athenodorus gave to his Pupill Augustus Caesar whom he knew naturally addicted to Wrath. At the first motion of this Passion said he to him See Sueton. in August life You must endevor to crush this Cockatrice in the shell but if it cannot be break the fury of it by Patience And before you decree any thing in your Anger count upon your fingers ends the four and twenty Letters of the Greek Alphabet For by this small intermission of time your Reason and Judgement will come to it self again that hath been perverted by the fury of this Passion of Wrath. It is Recorded that Plato upon the Relation of an unpleasant Message was something moved with Wrath whereupon he rose from his seat to fetch his staff But another Philosopher seeing it said unto him It is unseemly for you Plato to be thus moved with Wrath as to fetch your staff to beat a Messenger See Plutarch in his Mor. You are deceived said he It was to burb and beat mine own Wrath that began to be Master over my Reason Thirdly Prudence is a soveraign Remedy against Wrath For Solomon saith He that is slow to Wrath Prov. 14.28 is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly Whereby it appears that such as are apt to be transported with immoderate Wrath are like fools or mad men and that there is none truly wise but such as can pacify their Wrath. And that was the reason why Socrates was judged by the Oracle of Apollo to be the wisest man of all the Greeks See Plutar in his Mor. in his Treatise against Wrath. because he could not be moved to Wrath for had not he been patient and prudent he and his wife had
Christians have with their gracious God by contemplation meditation or fervent prayers The first is a sudden and violent motion of the heart that causeth a great alteration in the body The definition of Joy See Theuphrast Boju in his Commentaties upon Aristotle Phys fol. 727. proceeding in the opinion of the Moralists from the possession or fight of some object much desired which is really good or reputed to be so by the imagination of men yet it will appear by the proprieties and effects of it that it doth not always come from the possession or injoyment of a beloved object or from an imaginary good but sometimes from relations scurrilous speeches ridiculous postures and deformedobjects for Joy is as I have said before an affection of the minde and is rather infused in the Heart by the Eye and by the Ear then by any of the other three Senses for those are more proper to the passion of Volupty of which Delight or Delectation is a branch however it is the fifth passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and proceeds from divers causes as it will appear in the next Discourse Secondly The causes of worldly joy are either Publick or Private the Publick proceed commonly from the immediate hand of God or from his favor or by his permission and of these I shall speak in the first place first It was a great cause of publick joy proceeding from the immediate hand of God to the people of Israel presently after their coming out of Egypt to see the sea go back Exod. 14.21 to 31. and make a free passage for their host to pass through the midst of it and when they were all safe come to dry land to see the rowling waves of the sea to turn back and overwhelm Pharoah and all his Army secondly It was a cause of publick Joy when it pleased the Lord to deliver the people of the Iews from that bloody decree obtained by Haman from the great King Ahasuerus against the whole Nation of the Iews Esther 3.4 The causes of publick joy that were scattered through the one hundred and seven and twenty Provinces of the said Kings Dominions for which admirable deliverance the people of Israel made the 15th and 16th day of the moneth Adar days of Thanksgiving and of Feasting and Rejoycing from one generation to the other which were called the days of Purim See the Spanish and Turkish History thirdly It was the cause of publick joy to the Venetians and to all Christendom when God was pleased to give unto the Christian Fleet such a memorable victory over the Turkish Navy at the Battel of Lepantho for which after thanks given to God many days of Feasting and Rejoycing were kept at Venice and other parts of Christendom fourthly See Speed in the life of King James It was an incredible cause of publick joy for England when the Lord was pleased to deliver this Nation from the devillish plot of the Gunpouder Treason for which miraculous deliverance after hearty thanks given to God great Feasting Bond-fires and other expressions of joy were made in London and through the whole Land 1. It was a cause of private joy to the old Patriarch Jacob to hear by the report of his sons that his beloved son Joseph Gen. 45.26 who he thought had been devoured by wild beasts was chief Governor of Egypt and the next man in honor to the King 2. It was a cause of private joy for old Iesse The causes of private joy 1 Sam. 16.12 to see his youngest son David from a Shepherd to be promoted to be King of all Israel and specially to be reputed by God himself to be a man after his own heart 3. It was a cause of private joy for old Mordecay to see his Neece Esther Esther 2.16 from a Captive to be exalted to be the wife of the great King Ahasuerus and the greatest Queen in the world 4. It was a cause of incomprehensible joy to the Virgin Mary and to all mankinde to hear the blessed and glad tidings that the Angel Gabriel brought her from the Lord saying Behold Luke 1.26.46 thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David whereupon the Virgin Mary transported with joy and ravished in spirit sung some dayes after this excellent Song My soul doth magnify the Lord beginning at the fourty sixt Verse of the first Chap. of St. Luke Here was a true and real Cause of Spiritual Joy not onely for the Virgin Mary but also for all the Elected of God who by free grace have part in the merits of Christ By these Instances it appears that these causes of joy did proceed from the seeing and hearing which are the two Senses most proper to the passion of Joy There are divers other Causes of worldly joy which are not so well grounded as these but are most vain and ridiculous and they are these following The joy of private and worldly men suits with their inclinations first The Ambitious will rejoyce in the increase of their honors secondly The Covetous men in the abundance of their riches thirdly The causes of private mens joy The Voluptuous men will rejoyce in the injoyment of their pleasures fourthly The Merchants and Trades-men in the increase of their Trade fifthly The Lawyers in the multiplicity of their Clients and in the discord of their neighbors sixthly The prophane and Libertine in all manner of ridiculous Sports scurrilous Songs lewd Musick Dancing Valting and in lascivious Pictures and Postures and in Chambering Gluttony and Drunkenness and these are the common and ordinary causes of the joy of worldly men Let the Reader judg then whether carnal joy be not meer vanity and vexation of Spirit for the great vanity of it moved Solomon to say I said of laughter Eccles 2.2 it is mad and of mirth what doth it and the very truth is that men transported with immoderate joy are like fools and mad men Thirdly The proprieties of worldly joy are these first Worldly joy is of hot temper secondly It is of a dilative or spreading quality and these two proprieties are the cause that sudden joy doth bereave men of life for when some beloved object or glad tidings are unexpectedly represented to the eyes or ears of men this causeth a violent alteration in all the parts of the body but specially in the heart by means of the hot and dilative quality of this passion of Joy because the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it are with great violence driven from the inward parts to the extremity of the members of the body The proprieties of worldly joy whereby mens hearts are deprived of their natural heat and of their vital spirits and so fall into a swoon
Grief and Sorrow some say it is a passion of the soul proceeding from some sensible loss or displeasure received others say it is a perturbation of the minde and an anguish of the body others that it is a passion afflicting the soul by the apprehension of present and future evils but this last opinion seemeth to be the best The definition of Dolour according to the Bishop of Marseillis pag 302. Dolour is a passion of the soul proceeding from the dislike that men receive from the objects represented to their imagination by their Senses which are averse to their inclinations and irksome to their bodies Moreover It is the last passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the root of divers other passions and the great Antagonist of worldly Joy because all carnal Joy doth end in Sorrow there being none so pure but it leaves in the soul a sting of remorse and repentance but Spiritual Sorrow is one of the greatest motives that men have to induce them to beate with fervency the ways of righteousness For godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 saith St. Paul worketh Repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Secondly There are divers sorts and degrees of Dolour for the very word of Dolour doth signify Anguish Grief and Sorrow and every one of these have their degrees Anguish doth properly signifie the Dolours Pains and Torments of the Body whether they be natural or accidental and Grief doth signify the Dolour of the Minde and Sorrow is an invetered grief of the Minde which is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow The first of these which is Anguish hath a secret reflection to the Sensitive appetite of the soul by means of the communion there is between it and the senses yet the seat of Anguish is in the body or in some of the members of it but the seat of Grief and Sorrow is in the Minde The three different sorts of Dolour and this kinde of Dolour is invisible to the eyes of men because it is intellectual and hath but little reflection to the body except it become excessive in degree but when the grief of the minde is by long continuance turned into an habit of Sorrow then it hath a great influence upon the body for by flow paces and degrees it consumes the body the radical humor and the very marrow in the bones and therefore the inveterate Sorrow is accounted the worst Dolour of the three because it is in a maner incurable for it doth ordinarily reject all remedies that might ease and cure the same as for Anguish and Grief they are easily cured by removing of the cause of them the symtomes of the first being always visible and apparent by the paleness or the high colour of the face by the inflammation of the parts by the distemper of the pulse or by the pains that are felt in any of the members of the body to which remedies may be applied by learned Physitians and as for the grief of the minde which is recent and not yet inveterate the cause being known by such as frequent or are familiar with the grieved and afflicted party such arguments and seasonable consolations may be used that they may stifle this Cockatrice in the shell Thirdly The causes of these three different sorts of Dolour may be reduced to these Heads first To Publick secondly To Private thirdly To Natural fourthly To Accidental 1. The Publick causes of Sorrow should be more sensible to men then any other yet in these days they are not regarded although there never was greater cause first It was a cause of publick sorrow to the People of Israel when they were informed of the cruel and bloody decree that Pharoah King of Egypt had made to cast all their male children into the River Fxodws 1.22 that the Hebrew Nation might by degrees be utterly destroyed secondly It was a great cause of publick sorrow of weeping and lamentation for the whole Nation of the Jews Publick causes of of sorrow when they were advertised that their good and religious King Iosiah had been mortally wounded in the battel 's fought in the Valley of Megiddo against Necho King of Egypt 2 Chron. 35.23 and all their Army routed and defeated thirdly It was a great cause of publick lamentation and sorrow for the people of Israel when they saw before their eyes the Temple of the Lord to be burned the City of Ierusalem to be sacked 2 Chron 36.19 20. and the rest of the people to be carried captives into Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar for which great desolation the Prophet Ieremiah did wish that his head were waters Jer. 9.1 and his eyes a fountain of tears that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of his people fourthly It was a great cause of publick sorrow for the people of the Iews that were scattered through the hundred and twenty seven Provinces of the great King Ahasuerus dominions Esther 3.12 13 14 15. when they were informed of the cruel decree that Haman their mortal enemy had obtained to put them their wives and children to the sword for which there was great mourning and lamentations in the said Provinces but specially in the City of Shushan 2. It was a private cause of sorrow to the old Patriarch Iacob when he was informed that his dear and beloved son Ioseph had been slain and devoured by wilde beasts Gen. 37.33 although he was living but had been sold by his brethren out of envy as a slave to the Ishmaelites Merchants that were travelling down into Egypt secondly Private causes of Sorraw It was a cause of private sorrow for King David to hear of the Rape of his daughter Tamar who was ravished by his own son Amnon and again of the murder of the said Amnon committed by his darling son Absolon 2 Sam. 13 14 and 29. in vindication of the Rape of his sister Tamar thirdly It was a cause of private sorrow for King Ieroboam and his Queen to see the best of all their children Abijah their elder son to be taken away by death in the flower of his age and the more because it was by a judgment of God 1 King 14.12 for the Idolatry of Ieroboam fourthly It was a cause of private sorrow for the great Emperor Augustus Cesar that his daughter Iulia by her impudicity was banished and that none of his grand children were thought worthy to succeed him in the Empire because of their vitious miscarriages but was inforced to adopt See Tacitus and Suetonius in his life or elect Tiberius Nero his wives son the worst of men for his Successor in the Empire 3. The causes of dolour of the Minde The causes of Dolour or Sorrow of the Minde may be these first The privation of the injoyment of mens desires may be the cause of their sorrow
hundreds over fifties and over tens to disburden himself of the heavie burthen he had taken upon him to Judge the people of Israel for by this councel he eased Moses and the people and made the Elders of Israel to be sharers with him in the honor of the rule and government of the Commonweal whereby he was much beloved and honored of all the people It was a wise Policy and and a wholsom counsel that the wise g 2 Sam. 20.16 22. woman of Abel gave to her Citizens to cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and to cast it over the wall to Joab for by it she preserved the whole City from sack and ruine that might justly have been destroyed by Joab if they had persisted to be the abbettors of the rebellion of Sheba who received but a just reward for his treachery and rebellion for endeavouring to raise a new War against his lawful Prince the anointed of the Lord. And it was a Councel grounded upon true prudence and policy which was given to h See the French History in the life of Charls the seventh Charls the seventh King of France by his grave and faithful Counsellors of State to conclude a peace with Philip Duke of Burgundy although he should yield into his hands his Favorites who had by his assent murthered the Duke John of Burgundy father to Philip as he was treating a reconciliation with the said King about the murder the said John had committed upon the Duke of Orleance the Kings Uncle for by this counsel the Kingdom of France was preserved from ruine and restored again to its former flourishing condition and the murtherers had but their due deserts it being more just that half a dozen of guilty persons should perish then a whole Kingdom should be undone these Counsellors justly maintaining that these Favorites were not to commit such an act although they had a Warrant from the King Subjects being not bound to obey the commands of their Prince in things that be contrary and forbidden by the Law of God as murder is and so these Counsellors were for ever after much honored of the King and of the whole Kingdom for their wisdom and fidelity It was a wise Counsel grounded upon humanity and sound Policy that the Bishop of i See the History of Spain in Charls the fifth's life Osma gave to the Emperor Charls the fifth after Francis the first King of France became his Prisoner at the battel of Pavia that he should for his own glory and the future good of Spain set the said King of France at free liberty without ransome or capitulations at all and have him conducted with an honorable Train to the Borders of his own Kingdom but this good counsel being traversed by the Machavilian policy of the Duke d'Alva they made a prey of the said King which was the cause after the Kings release of a bloody war that was fatal to the Emperor and the Kingdom of Spain whereby it appears that by Prudence and just Policy men may attain to worldly honors and that Machavilian policy is ever destructive and subject to shame and ignominy For the eighth and the last which is Valour it hath ever been one of the first steps to worldly honors and is a commendable means so mens valor be exercised in the service of their Prince and propagation of the true Protestant Religion and for the desence of the Liberties of their native Countrey for by their valour in such cases they attain to the personal Nobility which is as I have said before the spring of the Nobility of race or descent for the Nobility obtained by valour in any of these three cases is the most honourable Nobility of all neither is it true valor to kill any one in duel but rather an effect of an inconsiderate wrath and of a desperate vindication and a meer murder in the sight of God for true valor appears onely in the Field against an open enemy and not to kill our friends for a word spoken unadvisedly or unawares and it hath been observed that these k Roarers are 〈◊〉 vâ—liant roaring Gallants that make a trade of killing of men for punctillios of honor in duels are commonly cowards and are the first that trust to their spurs in a pitcht Field by which it appears that their valor is rather a raging Passion then a vertuous valor which is always guided by Reason and Judgment Now by these eighth means by which minds most commonly attain to honour in the world the Reader may judge whether there by any probability that worldly honors should afford men any true content sith the means by which they are obtained are subject to so many accidents and are so vain and full of vanity and vexation of spirit For the second branch of this Discourse concerning the persons that deserve to be honoured I will be very brief because all rational men are acquainted with this duty first in the first of S Peter Chap. 2. ver 17. there is a general charge Honor all men love the brotherhood fear God and honor the King and Solomon in his l Prov. 39. Proverbs goes further for we are not onely to fear God but we are also to honor him Honor the Lord saith he with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase and next to God and the King we are to honor our Parents m Exod. 20 12. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee God to induce men to honour their Parents makes here a precious promise to obedient and respective children the next to our Parents we are to honor civil Magistrates and the Messengers and Ministers of God and next to them the grave and ancient men n Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the antient and yet who are more despised then old men in this corrupt Age for young men are now preferred to places of Dignity Profit and Trust contrary to former Ages for Solomon by these words As snow in Summer and rain in Harvest so is honor not seemly for a fool intimates that young men are not to be honored with places of Trust in Church or Commonweal because they are for want of experience no better then fools and yet they account themselves generally out of a vain presumption wiser then old men whom they call doting fools for want of the knowledge of this Proverb Before Honor is Humility for were they truly wise they would be humble and not presumptuous for presumption is the companion of Folly besides vertuous learned wise prudent and valiant men are to be honored I distinguish Learning from Prudence and Wisdom because learned men are not always wise nor prudent although Learning is a means to attain to Wisdom but Learning is the theorical part of Wisdom and without a
Plutarch in Marcus Antonius Life and Augustus Cesar for which Antonius was advised by an Astrologian that the good Angel of Augustus would at last prevail over his and the great antipathy there was between Socrates and his wife who had lived one with another live Cats and Dogs if the unparallel'd temperance of Socrates had not mitigated their debates And it is seen daily that men hate the company of some other men that never did them wrong nor give them occasion of offence and I have known my self a man and a woman of good means that had such an natural aversion one against the other that they were inforced to live asunder and yet neither of them could shew a just cause from whence this antipathy of affections did proceed There is another sort of Humane Hatred that is accidental but the description of it will be more proper in the next Discourse Thirdly some of the accidentall causes of the Hatred of men are these for they are so numerous that I cannot speak of them all first An inveterate wrath is oftentimes the cause of an everlasting Hatred for when Wrath cannot vindicate it self at the present it becomes an incurable Hatred because Wrath is a suddain and fiery distemper of the Heart which is but like a lightning if it may freely vent it self but if it be restrained in the brest it becomes an irreconcilable Hatred It is a common saying That Cholerick men never sleep upon their anger and that it is but a flash that passeth away but if this Choler hath not some vent it is changed into such a hatred that all the precepts of Philosophy can hardly extinguish the fire of it secondly One of the greatest causes of Hatred is the deniall of Love or more properly of Lust the denial that Joseph gave to his Mistress b Gen. 39.17.20 changed her love to a cruel hatred for she caused him to be cast into a dungeon and in stead of imbracements to be fettered with irons thirdly Self-Love is an ordinary cause of Hatred for such as are possessed with this vanity think themselves never sufficiently respected nor honored and nothing doth sooner engender Hatred in men then misprision fourthly Calumnies and false Reports that blemish a mans Fame and Reputation are cause of an inveterate Hatred for Honor is dearer to some men then their own lives and many have constantly indured all other injuries that have been cast into great distempers by Calumnies which have also bred such a hatred in their hearts that they have shunned all familiarity with men See Plutarch in his Life as it may appear in Tymolions Life fifthly The infidelity of men is often the cause of mens hatred for Confidence and Trust abused is a great motive to Hatred and the reason why Hatred is so predominant in these days is that men are so much addicted to betray the Trust that others have confidently deposed in their hands for like Weather-Cocks they change their friendship upon the lest occasion of their friends disgrace nay Religion it self that should be the greatest link and the strongest bond to knit the fidelity of men together is as subject to mutation and change as the Windes for look as the current of the Times goes these Camelions Religion is according to that which is most in fashion sixthly Jealousies of Hate and jealousies of Love are great provokers to Hatred The jealousies that the Turkish Janisaries did conceive See the Turkish History in his Life that their Emperor Osman would change his Militia and remove the Seat of his Empire from Constantinople to Damasco begot such an implacable hatred in their hearts that they caused him to be strangled in the black Tower of Constantinople The jealousie that Mecaenas had conceived of the inconstancy of his wife did not onely deprive him of sleep for three years together but did also ingender such a hatred in his heart against women that he ever after abhorred the sight of them And that is the reason why the hatred proceeding from the jealousie of Love is held to be the most implacable Fourthly Princes Favorites are addicted to Hatred as it may appear by the carriage of Haman the Agagite towards Mordecai c Esther 3.2 3. because he did not worship him as the other Officers that sate at the King Ahasuerus gate and his hatred was so cruel that conceiving Mordecai to be too base an object for his hatred he made sute to the King that all the Jews living in his Dominions might be destroyed in one day secondly Envious men are always addicted to Hatred and upon the most unjust and ridiculous occasion that can be imagined viz. for the prosperity of their intimate friends or next neighbours whose good and wellfare they are obliged by the Commandments of God to prosecute with all their might and yet the malice and corruption of mens hearts is so vile and so base as to hate those who never injured them for no other reason but because God is pleased to bless them more then they exceeding in malice those murmuring labourers who envied at the goodness and liberality of the Father of the Houshold that sent them into his Vineyard yet they had some colour for their discontent because they had born the burden and heat of the day but these have none at all and therefore their censure will undoubtedly be greater at the last day then that which was given to these Labourers viz. d Matth 20.11 12 13 14.15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Is thine eye evil because I am good thirdly Effeminate and vicious Princes are addicted to Hatred It is recorded by Dion that as the Emperor Commodus was riding over the stone-bridge that crosseth the River of Tiber at Rome he saw six noble Gentlemen who were discoursing together upon the bridg and having sent for them he inquired of what they discoursed they answered they were talking of the noble Acts and vertuous Parts of his father Mark Aurelius See Dion in his Life whereupon he commanded that they should instantly be cast into the River saying They could not speak well of his father but they thought ill of him Such a hatred did this effeminate and cruel Emperor bear to the Vertue of his deceased father and it is daily seen in this age that the base and profane People doth hate extreamly vertuous and religious men fourthly Ambitious and high Aspiring men are much addicted to Hatred for they hate mortally their competitors and all their abettors witness the irreconcilable hatred that was between Marius and Sylla See Plutarch in their Lives and their adherents and the horrid hatred that was between Antonius Caracalla and his brother Geta See Herodion in their lives that did at last transport Antonius with such rage that he slew his brother in his mothers arms fifthly The common people are addicted to hate the Favorites of Princes because they
conceive them to be the cause of all the burden that are laid upon their backs I mean Lones Subsidies Taxes and Monopolies fifthly The wicked are addicted to Hatred 1 Cor. 4.13 for they hate implacably the Just and the Righteous and hold them as the off-scouring of all things Fifthly the nature and effects of Hatred in the unregenerate are nothing else but murders ruine and desolation first Hatred provoked f Gen. 4.8 Cain to kill his brother Abel and this hatred did proceed from Envie because his sacrifice was rejected of the Lord and the sacrifice of his brother was accepted secondly Hatred provoked Simeon and Levy g Gen. 34.25 26. to murder under the vail of Religion all the Shechemites and to plunder their City thirdly Hatred and the desire of Vengeance provoked h 2. Sam. 13.29 Absolom to murder under colour of friendship and hospitality his brother Amnon at a banquet as he set at table fourthly It was Hatred that provoked men to invent all maner of Weapons to destroy themselves and the devillish Art of making Canons Gunpowder Muskets Calivers Carabines and Pistols whereby the most valiant are as soon slain as the greatest cowards fifthly It was Hatred that provoked men to dive into the bowels of the earth to finde out Mines of Silver and Gold whereby they might execute their hatred spleen and malice and set all the world together by the ears sixthly Hatred hath given men an habit in all maner of impiety who have left by it their natural humanity and are become devouring Lyons and Tigers Nay when open violence cannot serve to execute their hatred they have an art to poyson men in their meat and drink by the smelling of a pair of gloves The Queen of Navarr was poysoned by the smell of a pair of Gloves by the putting on of a shirt or by the drawing off a pair of Boots nay by the very taking of a man by the hand under colour of curtesie as the Genovais Admiral did to the Venetians Admiral after he had been overcome by him at sea In a word Hatred hath been the projector of all the horrid actions of men for it is a passion that deprives men of all Reason Judgment and hath bin the cause of all the woes of men for by the hatred of Satan was our first mother Eve i Gen. 3.6 deluded and by her charms she deluded Adam her husband and so by their transgression sin is come into the world and sin like a contagious disease hath infected the whole race of mankinde Moreover Hatred is of a permanent nature for it is not like Envie or Wrath for Envy declines according as the prosperity of its object doth diminish and Wrath vanisheth into smoak if its fury may have some vent or it may be mitigated For a soft answer turneth away wrath saith Salomon k Pro. 15.1 but Hatred continues from generation to generation and death it self cannot extinguish Hatred Amilcar father to Hanibal out of an inveterate hatred he bore to the Roman Commonwealth See Livius Plutarch made Hanibal to take an Oath a little before his death that he should be to the end of his life a mortal enemy to the Romans and the hatred that Henry the seventh King of England bore to the House of York induced him to make his son Henry the eight to swear as he was upon his bed of death that after his decease that he would cause the Duke of Suffolks head to be cut off that was then his prisoner in the Tower of London as being the last apparent hair of the House of York an Unchristian part saith Montagnes See Montagnes Essais for a Prince to have his heart filled with hatred at his departure out of this world Nay the unparallel'd hatred that was between the two brethren Eteocles and Polinices could not be extinguished after their death for after they had slain one another in a Duel See Garnier in the Tragedy of Antigone or single Combat their bodies being brought together to be burned the fire by an admirable antipathy did cleave of it self into two parts and so divided their bodies that their ashes might not be mixed together and the inveterate hatred that was between the Guelfs and Gibbelins See Guiechardine in the wars of Italy Paulus Jovius in his Tragical Relations did continue from one generation to another But Paulus Jovius relates the most unheard of cruelty proceeding from an inveterated hatred that ever was read of Two Italians having had some bickerings together such a hatred was bred in their hearts that one of them having got his enemie at an advantage made him by threats deny his Saviour promising to save his life if he did it but he had no sooner by imprecations impiously denied him but the other stabbed him through the heart with his Ponyard saying The death of thy body had not been an object worthy of my hatred and vindication except I had also procured the eternal death of thy soul An horrid and unparrallel'd cruelty and a matchless effect of hatred Sixthly Having thus described the evil nature and effects of Hatred I will now come to the use that Christians should make of it I remember to have said in the beginning of this Chapter that this passion of Hatred had not been given to men to abuse it as they do but rather to eschew sin the greatest evil upon earth and that being used as an aversion to fly from sin it would serve for a strong motive to the propagations of a godly life for sin should be the onely object of mens hatred as the efficient cause of all their miseries and why our blessed Saviour out of his tender compassions towards his Elect was willing to suffer the ignominous death of the Cross Matth. 27.35 to redeem them from the guilt and punishment of sin which was eternal death And men cannot by any other means shew themselves grateful and to be sensible of this incompre hensible love of Christ then by having an inveterate hatred against sin and to detest and abhor with all their hearts all sinful courses sith sin is the onely separation wall that bars them from having an intimate and loving familiarity with God for the hatred of sin is the first step to attain to the love of God and without the love of God a true faith in Christ and unfained hatred of sin there is no possibility of salvation hatred against sin being the chiefest ingredient required in a true Repentance and how can men love God that hate their brethren and therefore the blessed Spirit in holy Writ doth so often exhort men to avoid all hatred except it be against sin He that l Ioh 3 14. 1 Ioh. 3.15 loveth not his brother saith St. John abideth in death and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath eternal life Men must then love God and
their brethren and hate sin I hate every false way m Psal 119.104 I hate vain thoughts but I love thy Law saith the Prophet David And again I hate and abhor n Psalm 119.163 lying but thy Law do I love Do I not hate them O Lord o Psal 139.21 22. that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I account them my enemies The fear of the Lord p Pro. 8.13 saith Salomon is to hate evil Pride and arrogancy and the freward mouth do I hate Hate the evil and love the good q Amos 5.15 saith the Prophet Amos. To conclude with the Apostle St. Peter r 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Let us lay aside all malice hatred env e and hypopocrisies and all evil speaking as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby c. CHAP. VIII Of the vanity of the passion of desire AS the billows of the Sea rowl one after another till they break themselves into fome against the clifts or rocks of the adjacent shores even so the desires of men drive away one another till they vanish away into the smok because the objects of their desires are for the greater part but vanity for not one man of a thousand doth fix his desires upon the right object that can satisfie his desires and fill his heart with joy and content and although mens desires be as free as their thoughts for the greatest Tyrants have no power over them yet there is an Eagle eye above who searcheth the reins that knows their desires as well as their thoughts Men should therefore be very cautious in their desires sith they proceed from the concupiscible appetite and are properly called Cupidity and in plain English Coveteousness and how dangerous it is to desire or covet any thing prohibited in the Law of God I leave it to the judgment of the Reader sith in the Interpretation of our blessed Saviour who was the best Interpretor of the Law that ever was upon earth He that coveteth a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her If evil desires then be so criminal men should be very wary how they fix their desires for they have a hand in all their passions Senault in his use of passions pag. 273. either to furnish them with weapons or with strength to afflict them And among all the rest of the passions there is not any which hath more branches proceeding from one and the same root then this passion of Desire for if all the desires of men were limited by their objects the number of passions proceeding from the general passion of Desire would be as numerous as a Swarm of Bees I have already spoken of three of its branches viz. first Of the desire of worldly honors secondly of the desire of worldly riches thirdly Of the desire of worldly pleasures the first being the passion of Ambition the second the passion of Avâ—rice the third the passion of Volupty And now I shall speak of the fourth branch called Cupidity which is of greater concernment then any and therefore give me leave for the better description of it to speak of these particulars in order 1. Of the definition of mens desires 2. Of the two essential causes of them 3. Of their effects and proprieties 4. Of the comfort that proceeds from the spiritual desires First All the desires of men may be reduced to these two heads or comprised under Necessary and Superfluous The Necessary are limited but the Superfluous have no bounds because they cannot be numbred And this is the most approved definition of mens desires Desire is nothing else but a passion that men have to attain to some good which they possess not which they conceive to be convenient for them The Bishop of Marsulles pag. 206. And not withstanding mens desires are commonly fixed upon objects that seem good but are really evil because the Senses delude their Imagination and often-times their Reasion and Judgment Now the passion of Dâ—sire differs not onely from the passion of Love but also from the passion of Delight because Love is the first motion or passion that intice 〈◊〉 to prosecute the good The definition fâ—nens desires whether it be present or absent but the dâ—sire is a passion that enduceth men to prosecute the good that is absent and the passion of Delight is onely a sweet content of the possession of the good See Senault pag. 27. after men have obtained the same Senault saith That the passion of Desire is nothing else but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth but doth not as yet possess whereby it appears that mens desires are ordinarily fixed upon uncertainties and that is the reason why I said formerly they often vanish into smoke Secondly The two most essential causes of mens Desires The impotency of men is a cause of their desires is their Impotency and Discontentedness for God who is Omnipotent hath no Desires and in the fruition of his blessed and glorious presence is the end of mens desires And suppose he had desires yet the end of them would be his own incomprehensible Beauty and Goodness If God doth but Will he hath the injoyment of his Desire as it is apparent in a Gen. 1.3 Genesis And God said or God willed Let there be light and there was light But it is not so with the greatest Monarchs in the world for through their impotency they are inforced to desire and their wishes and desires all are oftentimes rejected by him who is alsufficient to grant them the injoyment of their desires See Plutarch in Aâ—â—randers lite Alexander the Great was the greatest Monarch upon earth and yet his wishes and desires nay the prayers he made to his Idols or imaginary gods for the recovery of his dear and beloved Ephestion were rejected and these desires did manifest his impotency See Suetonius in Augustus life Augustus Cesar was the greatest Monarch in the world he wished and desired that the overthrow given to his Legions in Germany might be vindicated and out of impatiency of the performance of his desire he often like a mad man stamped with his feet upon the ground Crying out Varro Varro give me my Legions again and yet in his life time he did never obtain his desire It appears then that the impotency of men in the most eminent is a cause of their desires The discontentedness of men is a cause of their desires secondly the discontentedness of men in their Station and Calling is the cause of many fond desires for there is not one of a hundred that is contented with his condition because there are but few Diogenes in these days that are contented with a Tub to keep them free from the injuries of the air See Plutarch in his Morals or with a wooden-bowl
for Lovers Ambitious and Covetous men are cast into strange fits of Melancholy and sorrow if they be deprived of their Love or of the honors and riches they aim at secondly The carking cares that men usually take to increase their means or to preserve their lives and estates is a cause of their sorrow thirdly The fear that many men have to fall into penury is a common cause of their sorrow fourthly The losses of mens goods fame or reputation is a cause of their sorrow because they want the grace of patience and cannot say with Iob Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord nor with the Prophet David I will wash my hands in innocency Psal 26.6 fifthly The loss of Parents Wife Children or intimate Friends is often times the cause of mens sorrow for want of the rememoration of this saying of Salomon Eccles 3.20 All are of the dust and all shall return to dust again sixthly the vain apprehensions that man have of the evil to come is the cause of their sorrow because they rely not upon this gracious promise All things work together for good to them that love God seventhly Rom 8.28 The want of courage in men is the cause of their sorrow because like faint hearted Pilots they give over the Helme of the Ship in a storm I mean the Helme of their Reason whereby they might regulate the distempers of this passion of Sorrow eightly The fears that possess men for the punishment of their sins is a cause of their sorrow whereas they should fear and grieve for the guilt of sin to attain to that spiritual Sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation The Natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body may be these first Long and tedious diseases The natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body as the Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder the Gravel the Strangullion the Gout the Cough and consumption of the Lungs or the Hectick Feaver for all these in continuance of time by the secret communion that the senses have with the sensitive power of the soul do beget in the minde grief and sorrow besides the Dolour and Anguish of the body secondly The Adust or burnt Choler or Bilis gathered in the Mesentery veines which sendeth virulent vapors up into the braine is a natural cause of much sorrow 4. The accidental causes of sorrow The accidentall causes may be these first when men themselves or their Parents Children or intimate Friends do accidentally come to their end by sea or by land as to be murdered upon a Rode or cast away at sea or taken captive by Pyrats or slain by a fall from a horse or lamed by some other accident all these things are causes of sorrow and grief yet none of these natural or accidental causes are or should be sufficient to breed sorrow to mens minde sith nothing happens casually or accidentally but is guided by the hand of the divine Providence to whose blessed will men are obliged to submit themselves and our blessed Saviour doth assure us that the meanest Sparrow or an hair of our head doth not fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father Fourthly The nature and effects of Sorrow are directly contrary to the nature and to the effects of Joy first The nature of Joy is to dilate and spread the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it into the utmost parts of the members of the body but Sorrow being of a cold and dry nature draws the blood and vital spirits from the utmost parts of the body towards the heart to comfort the same secondly Joy is hot and active and by its sudden motion indangers the life of men The natur and the effects of Anguish Grief and Sorrow but Sorrow is cold and slow and comes upon men with leaden feet and never causeth death but by long continuance and lingering diseases except it cast men into despair as it doth oftentimes as it will be shown in the effects of it thirdly Joy is proper and pleasant to Nature and rejoyceth the heart and makes men chearful in their Calling both private and general but Sorrow is adverse and distasteful to Nature and makes men slow and stupid in their particular and general calling fourthly Joy preserveth and increaseth health and lengtheneth mens days and makes them pass their lives with mirth and content but Sorrow impairs mens health and shortens their days and makes their lives to be tedious and irksome In a word moderate Joy is comfort to man and excessive Sorrow is the bane of man And the effects of worldly Sorrow are as bad or rather worse first Sorrow makes men flee the society of men nay the very light of the Sun and all things that may rejoyce and comfort Nature the sight of their dearest friends nay of their wife and children is irksome to men that are possessed with excessive sorrow secondly See the Acts and Monuments or Book of Martyrs If mens Sorrow proceeds from mens Apostacy in Religion it doth commonly cast them into despaire and inflicts upon them in this life the very paines of hell as it doth appear in the life of Francisco Spira thirdly Sorrow tempts carnal men to be rid of it to desperate resolutions as to bereave themselves of life by hanging stabbing and drowning of themselves as it hath lately been seen in this City of London fourthly Sorrow makes men careless to make their calling and election sure and to neglect the means appointed by God for their salvation I mean the hearing of the Word with that attention as they should for their thoughts and cogitations are so fixed upon the object of their sorrow that they minde nothing else for this pernicious passion doth stupifie the most noble faculty of the soul as the Memory the Imagination and the Understanding Divers other effects might be produced but these will suffice to induce men to indeavor to eschew or regulate this dangerous and destructive passion Fifthly The Remedies against the venom of this passion are first Natural secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The Natural are first to flee as far as men can from the object of their sorrow secondly If mens sorrow proceeds from Natural infirmities they are in the first place to call upon God and then use the Counsel of Physitians for they must not do as Ahaziah King of Israel did 2 Kings 1.2 who being faln from an upper Chamber thorow a Lattess sent to the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his disease as too many do in these days who send to Astronomers to know the events of things not to the Physitian 2 Chron. 16.12 as Asa King of Iuda did who being diseased in his feet sent to the Physitian before he had called upon the Lord by prayer for God is the Paramount Physitian and the God of Nature and
daily the fears and apprehensions of death which is worse then death it self and die for one death a thousand deaths Yet if men will dive into the nature and effects of this passion of Despair without partiality they will finde that good use may be made of it so it doth not attain to that exorbitant and horrid degree of Self-murdering Give me leave therefore to extend my Discourse upon these particulars 1. On the definition of this passion of Despair 2. On the diversity of the Causes of it 3. On the bad and good Effects of it 4. On the Remedies to allay the fury of it There are divers sorts of Despair which may be reduced to these three first Worldly secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The worldly Despair is nothing else but a conceit of an impossibility in the acquisition of the vain hopes of men as it will appear in the Causes and Effects of that kinde of Despair The definition of the Moral Despair is according to the opinion of the best Moralists as followeth Despair saith Boujou Theophrast Boujou Lord of Beaulieu fol. 723. is a passion of the Soul withdrawing men from some good much desired because it is represented by the Senses to their imagination as impossible to be obtained Senault in his use upon the passions pag. 344. Despair saith Senault is a violent motion of the soul that keeps men aloof from the prosecution of some good in which they see no probability it can be obtained Now this good is not always a real good for the Senses do oftentimes delude the Reason and Judgment of men but suppose it be a real good then it is Vertue it self or some vertuous Object Action or Design which they conceive impossible to be obtained or performed for Moral Hope hath no other object then Vertue or vertuous and generous actions and by consequence Moral Despair must have the same objects The definition of worldly moral and spiritual despair for divers of the ancient Moralists held Self-murdering no Despair as I have given a hint of it in the last Discourse but an action of fortitude and of magnanimity of courage And this Moral Despair is the opposite and great Antagonist of Moral Hope and the second passion incident to the Irascible appetite which doth mitigate the extravagancy of mens Hopes as it will appear in the insuing Discourses yet men often times despair of things in which they imagine impossibilities when there is none as it will appear by these two Instances About sixscore years past it was a thing thought impossible to sail with a ship round about the circuit of the earth and yet Magalen a Portugais See the Spanish and English History and Sir Francis Drake an English man have shown by experience that it was possible to be done secondly In the days of Charls the ninth Henry the third and Henry the fourth Kings of France It was a thing thought impossible to take the City of Rochel by force or by famine and yet the Cardinal de Riche-lieu by the Art of a French Enginere See the French History hath shown by experience it was possible to be done for by a floating bridge that he made over an Arm of the Sea upon which he planted Ordinances and erected two Towers and with a land Army Lewis the thirteenth King of France took that City by famine in less then a year whereupon I conclude that men Despair of things by imagining impossibilities where there is none and this proceeds from want of judgment power or experience for it is daily seen that which seems to be impossible to one man is easie and facile to another Spiritual Despair is nothing else but a distrust of Gods mercy which by the temptation of Satan do intice men to be the murderers of themselves which is the next sin to the sin of the Holy Ghost Secondly The causes of worldly Despair may be these first The death of a beloved party See Bandel in his Tragical Histories Romelio supposing his beloved Mistress Iuliete to be dead when she was but in a swound slew himself upon her body and when she came to her self again she seeing her Sweet-Heart had killed himself for her sake she stabbed her self with his Poynard secondly The infidelity in love is a cause of Despair See Virgils Aeneads Dido Queen of Carthage slew her self because Aeneas a Trojan Prince forsook her and sailed into Italy but if this be a Poeticall Fable hear a true Relation A proper young maiden being secretly betrothed to a young man living here in London who broke his faith and married another whereupon the maiden being transported with Despair poisoned her self and died the next day this hapned within this twelve moneth I could relate a hundred such instances to prove that of all the passions Love being abused or extinguished by death doth sooner then any other thing beget Despair but I pass them over for brevity sake thirdly Avarice is the cause of Despair A Merchant in London of good means having had some losses at sea and having received the tidings of it on the Saturday he being transported with Despair hung himself on the Sunday morning when his servants were at Church and it is a common thing among the Cormorant Farmers when they have Monopolized all the corn of a County into their hands to hang or drown themselves if the next year prove to be a fruitful year fourthly Famine is a cause of Despair 2 Kings 6.29 for in Jehorams days such a famine was in Samaria that two women boiled a childe and did eate the same the mother of the childe out of Despair consenting to it and whosoever will be pleased to read Iosephus will see the horrid actions of some of the Iews committed out of Despair because of the great famine that was at Ierusalem when it was besieged by the Romans fifthly The fear to fall into the hands of a cruel enemy causeth Despair some of the richest of the Saguntines rather then they would fall into the hands of Hanibal and his cruel Carthaginian and Numidian souldiers See Titus Livius in his third Decade lib. 1. pag. 34. did carry all their wealth with their wives and children into their Market place and having made a great heap of their rich moveables they set the fire in it and slew their wives and children and having cast them into the fire they slew themselves afterwards sixtly Shame is a cause of Despair Cleopatra Queen of Egypt being informed that it had been resolved in the Counsel of Augustus Cesar that she should be led as a captive after the triumphant Chariot of the said Emperor when he should make his entry into Rome out of Despair to avoid that shame See Plutarch in Marcus Antonius life she applied two Vipers to her two breasts and so died There are divers other causes of worldly Despair but they are of another nature for they attain not to that
inlarge my self upon these particulars 1. On the Definition of this Passion 2. On the Causes of it 3. On the Nature and Proprieties of it 4. On the evil and good Effects of it 5. On the Spiritual Use of it First This Passion hath several names some call it Confidence and have good reason for it because it is its unseperable companion others call it Audacity but this terme doth blemish the true Nature of it The definition of the passion of Undantedness for audacious and presumptuous men are held to be under one and the same predicament other call it boldness but this word is often taken for Impudency but the French call it Hardiesse which doth express most properly the nature of it which is Undantedness in the English Tongue And here is the definition of it according to the judgment of the best Moralists Boujou fol. 7 23. Vndantedness saith one is an affection and assurance to eschew an evil and to overcome all the difficulties of it Vndantedness The Bishop of Marseilles in pag. 401. saith another is a Passion of the soul which strengtheneth the same and makes it confident it can overcome the most difficult evils that can befall it in this life and doth also incourage it to prosecute the good that is most difficult to obtain And to this last definition I assent as concerning the same the best of the two for it doth truely express the nature of this passion which is the third passion incident to the Irascible Appetite 2. The Causes of it are many but they may be reduced to these six the two first are Natural the two middlemost accidental and the two last supernatural The first natural cause of undantedness is a hot and moist temper of the body The first Natural cause may be a moist and hot temper of the body for the Naturalists have observed that all such as are of that constitution of body have ordinarily an undanted spirit The Natural reason of it is that this hot and moist temper doth suppress the Melancholick humor and its evil proprieties and effects whereby the blood that is hot and airy an ful ofvital spirits and the bilia that is dry and fiery and the flegm that is cold and moist being thus mixt become of a dilative nature and by the motion of the heart spread themselves into all the utmost parts of the body and inableth the minde to undertake and the body to execute all maner of generous designs be they never so difflcult or perillous The second natural cause of Undantedness may be the largeness of the heart of men for it hath been observed by the Physitians when they have opened the bodies of valiant and undanted spirits that their hearts were larger then the hearts of ordinary men See Plutarch in the life of Themistocles and King Xerxes King of Persia having caused the body of Leonidas King of Sparta to be opened partly out of admiration of his valour and in part out of curiosity The second natural cause of undantedness is the largeness of the harts of men to see whether the heart of such an undanted spirit was larger then the hearts of common men he found the same to be as big again and hairy all over a natural propriety incident to such as are of a hot and moist constitution of body to abound in hair The Natural reason why men with larger hearts then others should be addicted to Valour and Undantedness is this that the larger the heart is the morevital spirits it can contain which are the essential causes of Valour and Undantedness and therefore it may very well be that the largeness of the heart is a natural cause of Undantedness That tall and burly men are commonly less valorous then short and middle stastured men Divers men are of opinion that tall and burly bodied men are more addicted to Valour and Undantedness then short and middle-statur'd men but they are mistaken for tall men have smaller hearts then others and are also commonly more faint-hearted then other men and the Naturalists give this reason for it If their hearts say say were proportionable to their body they might have reason to be of that opinion but it is commonly smaller because Nature extended its vertue to the utmost parts deprives the inward parts of it Besides all the vitall spirits reside in the bloud and in the heart and by its motion they are dispersed through all the parts of the body Now the farther distant these parts are from the heart the longer time are the vital spirits a going to quicken and vivifie them and by consequence tall and burlybodied men are fuller of Flesh then of Spirits and less couragious then others It is true that they have a presuming undantedness because of their strength but what is done by strength proceeds from Strength and not from Valour which doth reside in the heart and in the minde and not in the arms and in the sinews And the most valorous and undanted spirits of this Age and of other Ages were for the most part short or at the most of a middle stature Leonidas See Plutarch in Peleopidas life and Peleopidas were but short men and Sir Francis Veere and Sir Francis Drake and the Marshal de Biron and the Marshal Gastion were all short men I conclude then that Valour and undantedness doth reside in the heart and minde and not in the strength of the body and that some of all statures may be valiant and undanted The first accidentall cause may be the innocency of men and the justice of their Cause for as Salomon saith Prov. 28.1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a a Lyon and it is daily seen that three true men will overcome half a dozen of theeves And when men fight for the preservation of the Liberties of their native Countrey and the lives of their wives and children and all the means they have they fight commonly like Lyons The second accidentall cause of Undantedness may be The relations support or alliances that men have with potent and powerful Princes or States for the confidence they have to be backt and supported by them doth make them undertake with undanted courage difficult and perillous enterprises The two accinentall causes of the undantedness of men for Instance The Hollanders a small Commonwealth being at the first supported by Elizabeth Queen of England and afterwards by Henry the fourth King of France have for many years together undantedly waged war with the great King of Spain and likewise the Kingdom of Sweden a petty Kingdom in comparison of the Empire of Germany being supported by Lewis the 13th King of France hath with an undanted courage waged war many years with the House of Austria See the Histories of Germany England and France Thirdly The first supernatural cause of the undantedness of men may be their zeal to Religion for
Spanish History 8. Philip the Second King of Spain caused Prince Charls his eldest Son to be put to death by the Inquisition of Spain out of an ambitious jealousie that he did aspire to bereave him of his Crown Seventhly The Effects of Ambition are worse then the Proprieties of it for Paracidies Murthers Rebellions Mutations of States Annihilations of Laws intestine and forraign Wars with all the desolations and mischiefs that follow them at the heels are the fruits of mens ambition and of these I will speak in order and by instances confirm the same For the first Andronicus the younger See the History of the Emperor of Constantinople See the Turkish History out of ambition to raign did most cruelly put out the eyes of his Grandfather and famished him to death in Prison 2. Sylimus out of ambition to raign did most unnaturally poyson his Father Bajazeth and flew all his brethren 3. 2 Chron. 2.10 Athaliah out of Ambition to raign slew and destroyed all the Seed-Royal of the House of Judah 4. Richard the Third King of England out of Ambition to raign See the English History caused his two Nephews to be murthered in the Tower and in hope to settle the Crown upon himself and his Posterity he put his Wife to death to marry the Lady Elizabeth his own Niece Incests being accounted no sin by ambitious men So they may as the House of Austria do daily uphold and advance by it their ambitious designs For the Second 2 Sam. 3.27 Joab out of ambition to remain still the Commander in Chief of the men of War murthered perfidiously under colour of friendship Abner and Amasa by stabbing of them under the fifth rib 2. Baasha out of ambition to raign murthered Nadab his Lord and King 1 King 15.27 3. Zimri out of ambition to raign murthered Ela his Lord the Son of Baasha 1 King 16.10 1 King 16.18 4. Omri out of ambition to raign rose up against Zimri and enforced him to burn himself in the Kings Palace For the Third Absolom out of Ambition to raign rebelled against his Father King David 2 Sam 26.21 and did endeavour to deprive him of life from whom he had his being 2. Zedechiah out of ambition to raign as an absolute King rebelled against his benefactor King Nebuchadnezzar 2 King 24.20 which was the cause of his miserable end 3. Otho out of ambition to raign rebelled against Galba who had made him his second favourite See Tacitus 4. Pippin the short out of ambition to raign rebelled against his Lord King Childerick and by force and violence caused him to be shaven as a Monk See the French History and to be shut up into a Monastery For the Fourth The ambition of Nebuchadnezzar was the secondary cause of the destruction of the Assyrian Monarchy And the ambition of Cyrus was the cause of the overthrow of the Babylonian Monarchy And the ambition of Alexander was the cause of the annihilation of the Persian Monarchy And the ambition of the Roman Commanders was the cause of the utter subversion of the Greek Monarchy See Sir Walter Rawleighs History of the World And the ambition of Caesar was the cause of the mutation of the Democratical Government of Rome into a Monarchical And the ambition of the Rulers of the Gauls Goths Visgots Vandals and Lombards of the utter ruine of the Roman Monarchy for they rent the same in pieces as a Kite rends a young chiken I say the secondary Cause for the secret will and Decree of God is the first and efficient cause of all the mutations of States or Monarchies And that is the reason why Saint Paul giveth this charge Rom. 13 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God For the Fifth From the mutations of one kinde of Government to another Government See Plutarch in Caesars Life and Caesar in his Commentaries proceeds annihilation of the antient Laws of either of them It hapned so at Rome upon the change that Caesars ambition brought in that Commonwealth for the ancient Laws were annihilated and new Laws were established and likewise after the coming of William the Conquerour into England the antient Brittain Laws were annulled See Speed in his Historie of England and the Norman Laws confirmed This proverb being not more common then true viz. From new Lords new Laws and this might be proved by divers instances out of the antient and modern Histories but these two alledged will serve for brevity sake For the Sixth Ambition breeds divisions and divisions beget intestine and forraign Wars and from these Wars proceed the mutations of States and Monarchies and from these mutations the Annihilation of antient Laws Now the inseparable companions of forraign and intestine Wars are Atheism Schisms in the Church and a Laodicean luke-warmness in Religion and great effusions of blood injustices oppressions and desolations And all these mischiefs proceed from the exorbitant and irregular ambition of men and therefore I conclude that the passion of ambition is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit and more destructive to mankinde then any other passion But before I speak of the means which are to be used to restrain the fury of this violent passion give me leave to examine the justice or injustice of the Wars which have been meerly undertaken out of an ambitious desire of vain-glory It is certain that if the actions of the most ambitious Princes and Common-wealths that have from the creation to this day bin upon the Earth were examined without prejudice or partiality that they would be found more injurious then just If men set aside the secret will Decree of God who had ordained from the beginning that these four great Monarchies here spoken of should be so successful in their encrease they would wonder how injustice and oppressions could have such prosperous events I will only speak of the Actions of the Romans and Greeks 1. Because they have been more clearly demonstrated to us by their Authors then the actions of the other two 2. Because the Actions of the Assyrians and Babylonians were guided by a special providence of God for the punishment of the sins of his own People the Jews As for the Actions of the Romans men may clearly see that from their very beginning until the days of Caesar they have for the greater part been unjust oppressive and injurious although they with much cunning and art did palliate them under the cloak of Justice and the right of the Laws of Nations And as for the Civil War undertaken by Caesar against his native Countrey it was voyd of all humanity and Justice and Ambition only gave him the audacity to resolve to enslave under his yoak those to whom he had been a servant for seven years together Nay with that very Army that they had given him and