middest dulce venenum sweet poyson at last the Epithets of blandum and dulce being lost it is Scorpio pungens a stinging Serpent Well yet let it sting thee heere that it may not sting thee hereafter Happy is hee that learnes to bee sober by his owne madnesse and concludes from I haue sinned I will not sinne Madnesse may bee in his heart like a Tenant it shall neuer bee like a Tyrant Innocent Adam was naked and knew it not sinnefull Adam was naked and knew it Then comes God hearing his excuse of concealing himselfe deduced from his nakednesse Who tolde thee that thou wast naked Sure his guilt tolde him Wee haue beene mad and are now come to our selues to know our owne madnesse If it be asked who told vs that wee were madde I answere Euen the same grace of Gods Spirite that reclaymed vs from madnesse For the wicked since they loue madnesse be it vnto them and when they will neuer be recollected let them bee mad still But blessed be that God that helped vs praysed bee his holy Name that hath recalled vs. Hee hath in this life freede vs from madnesse as a Tyrant and shal hereafter free vs from it as a Tenant Thus haue you the Mystery of this spirituall Bedlam detected and a crue of Mad-men let out to your view whose house is the world whose bonds are iniquities whose delight is darkenesse whose master is the Deuil for those whom he keepes in this metaphoricall Bedlam without reclayming by the power of the Gospell hee hath ready prouided another materiall locall infernall Bedlam a dungeon not shallower then Hell wherein there is no light of Sunne or Starre no food but speckled Serpents no liberty to straggle but the Patients are bound with euerlasting chaynes and himselfe with his same-suffering spirites doe eternally whip them with roddes of burning steele and yron One houre in this Bedlam will tame the most sauage madde-men that were euer nurst among wolues or suck'd the brests of inhumanity I heare them talke of some irrefragable Rorers creatures not men whom no limits of reason can teddar vp let them take heed lest they become at that day Rorers indeed and rore for the very anguish of their hearts howling like Dragons that haue liued like Tygers Thinke of this Bedlam ye madde-men Eccl. 11. Reioyce O young man in thy youth c. Reioyce nay it were somewhat well if no more then ioy be mad in thy youth tempus insaniendi a time of illimited desire Let thy heart cheare thee and do thou cheare thy hart that thee with lusts thou that with wine and iunkets and walke frantikely inordinately in thy wayes by-wayes wrywayes for the way of truth thou wilt not know and in the sight of thine eyes such tempting and lust-prouoking obiects as those two Sentinels of the body can light vpon or if thou canst not yet bee madder extend thy desires to finde out experimentall madnesse but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into iudgement remember that there is an infernall Bedlam whereunto they that liue and die spiritually-mad-men must be eternally confined He that should now tell the Couetous the Ambitious the Voluptuous c. they are mad-men should appeare to them madde in saying so They rather thinke vs madde as Festus though madde himselfe without learning could tell Paul that Much learning had made him mad But we may answere for our selues as Augustine of Dauids madnesse Insanire videbatur sed regi Achish insanire videbatur Dauid seemed mad but to King Achish Wee are iudged mad-men of none but madde-men because wee runne not with them to the same excesse of riot because wee cut short our affections of their vain delights and drowne not our selues in the whirlepoole of their luxuries but girde repentance to our loynes with resolution they imagine vs franticke They thinke vs mad-men wee know them so And they shall at last despairingly confesse in this lower Bedlam We fooles accounted the godly mans life madnesse and his end to bee without honour Now is hee numbred among the children of God and his lotte is among the Saints Bee wise then in time yee sonnes of men trust not spirituall madnesse lest it bring you to eternall Bedlam From whose iawes when you are once entred bee you neuer so tame you cannot be deliuered 3. The Period Wee haue ended Mans Comma and his Colon but not his Sentence the Period continues and concludes it Wee 1. found his heart full of euill 2. Wee left it full of madnesse 3. Let vs obserue at the shutting vp what will become of it After that they goe to the dead Here 's the end of mans progresse now he betakes himselfe to his Standing-house his Graue The Period is deliuer'd Consequently After that Discessiuely they goe Discensiuely downe to the dead The Summe is Death is the wages of sinne 1. After that they haue nourished euill and madnesse in their hearts this is the successiue not successefull euent and consequence 2. They goe they shall trauell a new iourney take an vnwilling walke not to their medowes gardens tauernes banketting-houses but 3. To the dead a dismall place the habitation of darkenesse and discontent where finesse shall bee turned to filthinesse lustre to obscurity beauty and strength to putrefaction and rottennesse If a man lookes into what life it selfe is hee cannot but finde both by experience of the past and proofe of the present age that hee must die As soon as we are born wee beginne to draw to our end Life it selfe is nothing but a iourney to death There is no day but hath his night no sentence but hath his period no life on earth but hath the death Examine the scope of thy desires and thou shalt perceyue how they hasten to the graue as if death were the gaole prize or principall end which the vanity of humane endeuours runnes at Bee a man in honour in wealth in gouernment he still ambitiously blind languisheth for the time to come the one in hope to enlarge his greatnesse the other his riches the last his dominions Thus they couet the running on of time and age and rest not till they haue concluded their sentence and attayned their Period gone to the dead All men yea all inferiour things must be freed by an end and as the Philosopher answered to the newes of his sonnes death Scio me genâ—â—sse mortalem so God the Father of all may say of euery man liuing Scio me creasse mortalem I haue made a man that hath made himselfe mortal Man is a little world the world a great man if the great man must die how shall the little one scape Hee is made of more brittle and fragile matter then the Sunne and Stars of a lesse substance then the earth water c. Let him make what shew he can with his glorious adornations let rich apparrell disguise him liuing seare-cloths spices balmes
MYSTICAL BEDLAM OR THE WORLD OF Mad-Men BY THO ADAMS 2. TIMOTH 3. 9. Their Madnesse shall be manifest to all men AVGVSTIN de Trinit Lib. 4. cap. 6. Contrarationem nemo sobrius LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Clement Knight and are to be sold at his shoppe in Paules Church-yard at the Signe of the Holy Lambe 1615. TO THE RIGHT Honourable Sir THOMAS EGERTON Knight Baron of Ellesmere Lord high Chancellor of England one of his Maiesties right Hon. Priuy Counsell the true Patterne of vertue and Patron of good Learning RIght Honourable it is a labor that hath neyther recompence nor thanks to tell them their madnesse that faine would thinke themselues sober Hauing therefore presumed not to trouble the peace but to disquiet the security of our Israel I durst not but aspire to some noble Patronage that might shield both my selfe and labours from the blowes of all maleuolent Censurers In which thoughts I was bolde to center my selfe in your Honour as the indiuiduall point of my refuge wherein I haue beene taught the way by more worthy precedents your Honourable Name hauing long stoode as a communis terminus or Sanctuary of protection to the labours and persons of many Students The vn-erring hand of God hath placed your Lordship in the Seate of Iustice and Chaire of Honour especially if it be true what S. Hieron sayes that Sūma apud Deū nobilitas clarū essevirtutibus wherby you haue power oportunity to whet the edge of vertue with encouragements to giue vice the iust retribution of deserued punishments Happy influences haue beene deriued from you sitting as a Star in the Star-Chamber conscionable mitigations of the Lawes rigour in the Court of Chancery To punish whē you see cause is not more Iustice then Mercy Iustice against the offender Mercy to the Common-wealth Those punishments are no other then actual Physick ministred to the Inheritance Liberty Body to the bettring of the Conscience and sauing of the soule in the day of the Lord Iesus Behold my pen hath but writtē after the originall Copy of your Honors actions desiring rather to learne by your doings how to say then to teach you by my sayings how to do I haue spoken God knowes with what successe to these mad times and he that would bind the franticke though hee loues him angers him The detector of mens much-loued sins needs a Protector that is both good great I am sure my eleciō is happy if it shal please your Honor to cast the eye of acceptance on my weake labors A yong plant may thriue if the Sunne shall warme it with his beames That Sunne of righteousnes that hath sauing health vnder his wings shine for euer on your Lordship who hath been so liberal a fauorer to his Church among the rest to his vnworthiest seruant and Your Honours in all duety and thankefull obseruance bounden THO ADAMS Mysticall Bedlam OR THE WORLD OF MAD-MEN The first Sermon ECCLESIASTES CAP. 9. VER 3. The heart of the Sonnes of men is full of euill and madnesse is in their heart while they liue and after that they goe to the dead THe Subiect of the discourse is Man and the speech of him hath three Poynts defined and confined in the Text. 1. His Comma 2. his Colon 3. his Period 1. Mens harts are full of euill there 's the Comma 2. Madnesse is in their hearts whiles they liue there 's the Colon. 3. whereat not staying after that they goe downe to the dead And there 's their Period The first beginnes the second continues the third concludes their Sentence Here is Mans setting forth his peregrination and his iourneyes end 1. At first putting out His heart is full of euill 2. Madnesse is in his heart all his peregrination whiles they liue 3. His iourneyes end is the Graue He goes to the dead First Man is borne from the wombe as an arrow shotte from the Bow 2. His flight through this ayre is wilde and full of madnesse of indirect courses 3. The Center where he lights is the Graue First his Comma beginnes so harshly that it promiseth no good consequence in the Colon. 2. The Colon is so madde and inordinate that there is smal hope of the Period 3. When both the premises are so faulty the Conclusion can neuer be handsome Wickednes in the first proposition Madnes in the second the Ergo is feareful the conclusion of all is Death So then 1. the beginning of Mans race is full of euill as if hee stumbled at the thresshold 2. The further hee goes the worse Madnes is ioyn'd Tenant in his heart with life 3. At last in his franticke flight not looking to his feet hee drops into the pitte goes downe to the dead To beginne at the vppermost stayre of this graduall descent the Comma of this tripartite sentence giues mans heart for a vessell Wherein obserue 1. The Owners of this vessell men and deriuatiuely the sonnes of men 2. The vessell it selfe is earthen a Potte of Gods making and mans marring the Heart 3. The Liquor it holds is Euill a defectiue priuatiue abortiue thing not instituted but destituted by the absence of originall Goodnes 4 The measure of this vessels pollution with euill liquour It is not said sprinckled not seasoned with a moderate and sparing quantity It hath not an aspersion nor imbution but impletion it is filled to the brimme full of euill Thus at first putting forth we haue Man in his best member corrupted 1. The Owners or Possessors Sonnes of men Adam was called the sonne of God Luk. 3. Enos was the sonne of Seth Seth the sonne of Adam Adam the son of God But all his posterity the sonnes of men wee receyuing from him both flesh and the corruption of flesh yea and of soule too though the substance thereof be inspired of God not traduced from man for the purest soule becomes stain'd and corrupt when it once toucheth the body The sonnes of men This is a deriuatiue and diminutiue speech whereby mans conceit of himselfe is lessened and himselfe lessoned to humility Man as Gods creation left him was a goodly creature an abridgement of heauen and earth an Epitome of God and the world resembling God who is a Spirit in his Soule and the World which is a Body in the composition of his Deus maximus inuisibilium mundus maximus visibilium God the greatest of inuisible natures the World the greatest of visible creatures both brought into the little compasse of Man Now Man is growne lesse and as his body in size his soule in vigour so himselfe in all vertue is abated so that the sonne of man is a phrase of diminution a barre in the Armes of his ancient glory an exception of his derogate and degenerate worth Two instructions may the sonnes of men learne in being called so 1. Their spirituall corruption 2. Their naturall corruptiblenes 1. That corruption and originall prauity which wee haue deriued
from our Parents Psal. 51. Behold sayth Dauid I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceiue me The originall word is warme me as if the first heate deriued to him were not without contamination I was borne a sinner sayth a Saint It is saide Gen. 5. that Adam begate a sonne in his owne likenesse after his image and called his name Seth. This image and likenesse cannot bee vnderstood of the Soule for this Adam begate not Nor properly and meerely of the Bodies shape so was Cain as like to Adam as Seth of whom it is spoken Nor did that image consist in the piety and purity of Seth Adam could not propagate that to his sonne which hee had not in himselfe vertues are not giuen by birth nor doth grace follow generation but regeneration Neyther is Seth said to bee begotten in the Image of Adam because mankind was continued and preserued in him But it intends that corruption which descended to Adams posterity by naturall propagation The Pelagian error was Peccatum primae transgressionis in alios homines non propagatione sed imitatione transisse that the guilt of the first sinne was deriued to other men not by propagation but by imitation but then could not Adam be said to begette a sonne in his owne image neyther could Death haue seazed on Infants who had not then sinned But all haue sinned Rom. 5. As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sinne so death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned This title then the sonnes of men puts vs in mind of our originall contamination whereby we stand guilty before God lyable to present and eternall iudgements Dura tremenda refers You will say with the Disciples Ioh. 6. This is an hard saying who can heare it beare it nay be ready to conclude with a sadder inference as the same Disciples after a particular instance Math. 19. Who then can be saued I answere We deriue from the first Adam sinne and death but from the second Adam Grace and Life As we are the sonnes of men our state is wretched as made the sonnes of God blessed It is a peremptory speech 1. Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God neyther doth corruption inherite incorruption It is a reuiuing comfort in the 6. Chapter of the same Epistle Such wee were but wee are washed but we are sanctified but we are iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus by the spirit of our God The conclusion or inference hereon is most happy Now therefore there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who walke not after the flesh but after the spirite Wee may liue in the flesh but if after the flesh wee shall die Si voluntati voluptati carnis satissacere conemur If our endeuours bee wholy armed and aymed to content the Flesh but if we bee led by the spirit cum dilectione cum delectatione with loue with delight wee are of the sonnes of men made the sonnes of God It is our happinesse not to bee borne but to bee new borne The first birth kills the second giues life It is not the seed of man in the wombe of our mother but the seed of Grace in the wombe of the Church that makes vs blessed Generation lost vs it must bee regeneration that recouers vs. As the tree falls so it lies and lightly it falls to that side which is most loden with fruites and branches If wee abound most with the fruits of obedience wee shall fall to the right hand life if with wicked actions affections to the left side death It is not then worth the ascription of glory to what wee deriue naturally from man Dauid accepts it as a great dignity to be sonne in law to a King To descend from Potentates and to fetch our pedegree from princes is held mirabile et memorabile decus a dignity not to bee slighted or forgotten But to bee a Monarch Imperium Oceano famam quiterminat astris Whose fame and Empire no lesse bound controules Then the remotest sea and both the Poles Oh this is Celsissima gloria mundi the supremest honour of this world yet Princes are but men saith the Psalmist Put not your trust in Princes nor in the sonne of man in whom there is no helpe His breath goeth forth hee returneth to his earth They may bee high by their calling Princes yet they are but low by their nature sons of men And meerely to bee the sonne of man is to bee corrupt and polluted They are sinfull the sonnes of men weake there is no helpe in them corruptible their breath goeth forth dying they returne to their earth It is registred as an euident praise of Moses his faith that for the rebuke of Christ he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter There is no ambitiō good in the sons of men but to be adopted the sons of God vnder which degree there is no happines aboue which no cause of aspiring 2. Our Corruptiblenesse is heere also demonstrated A mortall Father cannot beget an immortall sonne If they that brought vs into the world haue gone out of the world themselues we may infallibly conclude our owne following He that may say I haue a man to my Father a woman to my mother in his life may in death with Iob say to Corruption Thou art my Father to the worm Thou art my mother and my sister It hath beene excepted against the iustice of God that the sinne of one man is deuolued to his posteritie and that for the fathers eating sowre grapes the childrens teeth are set on edge according to the Iewish Prouerbe Ier. 31. 29. As if we might say to euery sonne of man as Horace sung to his friend Delicta maiorum immeritus lues Thou being innocent doest suffer for thy nocent superiours This a Philosopher obiected against the gods strangely conferring it as if for the fathers disease physicke should be ministred to the sonne I answere Adam is considered as the roote of mankind that corrupt masse whence can bee deduced no pure thing Can we bee borne Morians without their blacke skins It is possible to haue an Amorite to our father and an Hittite to our mother without participation of their corrupted natures If a man slippe a syense from a hawth orne hee will not looke to gather from it grapes There is not then a sonne of man in the cluster of mankind but eodem modo nodo vinctus victus it is lyable to that common and equall law of death Vnde superbis homo natus satus ortus ab hum◠Proud man forgets Earth was his natiue wombe Whence he was borne and dead the Earth's his Tombe Morieris non quia aegrot as sed quia viuis sayth the Philosopher Thou shalt die oh sonne of man not because thou art sicke but because