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
by this saying of S. Paul 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and into many foolish and noisom lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some lusted after they erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Eighthly The considerations inducing men to allay the fire of this passion are these 1. They are to consider that nature is contented with a little for some bread and water some Rise Reasons Almonds or Figgs will satisfie the same So that all such as are not nice but sober in their diet and temperate in their drinking will never be enforced to sell their Land to feed their bodies for it is the excess of the superfluous volupties used in these dayes that brings men to penury 2. They are to consider That he who cannot be contented with a little will not be satisfied with all he could desire nothing under the Sun being able to satisfie the desires of men but God only And that is the reason why S. Paul saith 1 Tim. 6.6 That godliness with contentment is great gain for none can be truly contented except he hath the power of godliness in him because the love of God doth suppress all other desires in men It was therefore a wise saying of a Heathen That he who can give bounds to his desires is a greater Conqueror and a richer Monarch then Alexander was See Quintus Curtius in his Life for having conquered one World and having in his possession all the Treasures of Asia which Darius had heaped together yet were not his desires satisfied for he did enquite if there were any more Worlds to satisfie his Ambition and Avarice 3. They are to consider that riches are accounted the gifts of Fortune which is held to be blind therefore it is no wonder if she bestows her gifts upon undeserving men such as were Nabal Sobna and the rich glutton Besides vertuous and Religious men make conscience of their ways and will rather be poor then use indirect and unlawful means to enrich themselves but such as neither fear God nor man stretch their consciences upon the Tenters and conceive no courses unlawful or sinful so they enrich themselves by them 4. They are to consider that Avarice is worse then Prodigality for the profuseness of Prodigal men is not destructive to any but to themselves but the courses used by Avaritious men to enrich themselves are destructive to the whole Commonwealth for all Shop-keepers and Artificers are the better by Prodigals but they are the worse by Avaritious men and specially the poorer sort For they commonly engross or monopolize into their hands all manner of Commodities to sell them dear and principally corn and so like horsleeches suck the very blood of the Poor which makes them to be hated of God and of Men. The consideration of which should move all conscientious men to abhorr Avarice and to endevor by all means to subdue this sinful Passion 5. They are to consider that if they had in their possession all the gold and silver Mines of the West Indies yet they would not adde any thing to their present and future Felicity but rather traverse the first and deprive them of the second Neither can they prolong their Lives an hour nor free their bodyes from any of the numerous Infirmities they are naturally subject unto It is then an absolute Madness for men to tire their bodyes and to waste their spirits by laboring and carking day and night to accumulate some smal heaps of white and yellow Clay that will be of no use unto them at the hour of death Nay they run great hazzard without the mercy of God to lose their own souls in or by the acquisition of them Therefore they should have always this Saying of our Blessed Saviour in their mind Mark 8.36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own soul 6. They are to consider that there is a greater difference between the spiritual and temporal riches then there is between Light and Darkness in regard of the superexcellency and duration of the first and the baseness and mutability of the second For spiritual riches are free from all Accidents durable and eternal but the temporal riches are subject to changes and mutations and of no continuance their abode being uncertain men being rich to day and extreme poor to morrow as it appears by the History of Job and of Croesus king of Lydia the one being the richest man of the East and the other the richest Prince in Asia And yet in the revolution of one day Herodotus in Croesus life the last was deprived of his incredible treasures and kingdom and became also the Captive of his mortal Enemy And the first came to be an Object of Poverty and Misery See the Book of Job Ch. 1. and a Subject of Derision and false Imputations to his own wife and intimate freinds It is Recorded that at the sacking or destruction of the City of Thebes by Alexander the Great a Greek Philosopher for his rare parts was permitted to go away with all he had before the rest of the Inhabitants were slain and the city set on fire And being asked as he came out Why he carryed not away his Goods Answered In saving my person I preserve all that may truly be called Riches or Goods meaning his Learning and Vertue Even so if Christians would be as careful to hoard up spiritual riches as they are to heap up gold and silver they should not need to fear the loss of them For Godliness and Holiness that are the spiritual riches of a true Christian are free from all Accidents And this is the reason why our Blessed Saviour doth charge us all To seek first the kingdom of God Math 6.33.34 and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us And Let us take no thought for to morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evill thereof CHAP. XIX Of the vanity of the passion of Ambition AS it is not the quality but the quantity of wine that is offensive to men So it is the excess and the irregularity of mens ambition that is destructive to mankind for as a little wine rejoyceth the heart so a spark of ambition in the heart of men bends their minds upon generous actions And could they make vertue and holiness the only objects of their Ambition as they do the honour and glory of this world Ambition would prove to be the best and the most commendable passion of men See Plutarch in his Life Themistocles did use to say That the great Trophies of Miltiades did hinder him to take his rest even so if the Faith of Abraham the righteousness of Lot the patience of Job the continency of
the mystery of their salvation to get an assurance their calling and u â— Pet. 1.10 election is sure and they are justified by the bloud of Christ shall be saved from x Rom 5.9 wrath through him and are y Rom. 15.16 sanctified by the holy Ghost and of the number who by the preaching of the Gospel have had their eyes opened to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive z Acts 26.18 forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ and that they have received a white stone and in the stone * Revel 2. a new name which no Man knoweth saving he that receiveth it This assurance I say is able to fill a Christians heart with unspeakable pleasures and to ravish his soul into the third heavens where he shall injoy the presence of God in whom is the fulness of joy Psal 16.11 and in his right hand are pleasures for evermore But worldly pleasures vanish away like smoak and are meer vanity and vexation of spirit CHAP. V. Of the vanity of mens passions in general THe next aggravation of the vanity of the lives of men after the former description of the vanity of their desires is the vanity of their passions with the exorbitant care they take for the cure of their bodily diseases and their unparallel'd carelesness of the cure of the maladies of their souls for what greater vanity can there be then to prefer the health of their body that is momentary and nothing but dust to the preservation of the welfare and tranquillity of their immortall souls who are in the esteem of our blessed Saviour a Mar. 8.37 such a precious Jewel that there is nothing under the Sun that for value may be given in exchange for it and yet it is daily seen that if their finger doth but ake or if they have but a quotidian ague that is a wholsom medicine in the Spring they will presently take their bed and send for the best Physitians and will ingenuously declare unto them the symptoms of their disease that they may the better prescribe fit remedies for the cure of it but if their souls be sick by the rageful distempers of their passions which breed storms of preturbations in their soules as the impetuous windes do tempests at sea they make nothing of it neither will they send for a spiritual Physitian that can pour in their festered wounds the Balm of b Jer. 8.22 Gilead and asswage by their grave Counsels the fury of their passions but will rather if any come to visit them unsent for disguise their vicious passions by the names of vertues for they commonly call Ambition a desire of Glory and Avarice a prudent fore-cast and the furious passion of wrath a generosity of courage and so of all the rest and by this concealing and disguishing of their spiritual maladies make them by custome utterly incurable This common vanity of men hath induced divers learned Authors to prescribe in their Writings divers excellent remedies to cure these concealed maladies of the soul but before I speak of the remedies it is fit the Reader should be informed of the essentiall cause of these distempers for as it is impossible for a Physitian to cure the bodily infirmities of his patient before he be acquainted with the nature of them even so it is far more impossible for the Reader to pacifie the fury of his passions before he be informed by these insuing particulars of the cause and nature of them I will therefore speak in order of these things 1. Of the two distinct powers of the soul 2. Of the Concupiscible and Irascible appetite 3. Of the definition of mens passions 4. Of their seat and number 5. Of their original spring 6. Of their evil and good essects First There are two distinct powers in the soul the soul is distinguished into two distinct powers the one is called Rational the other Sensitive the Rational is onely peculiar to men but the Sensitive is common to men and beast See Aristotle in his Phys lib. 16 17. The Rational is a spark of the divine essence and therefore immaterial and immortal but the Sensitive is materiall and earthly and therefore mortal and corruptible and from hence the Christian Philosophy And Senault upon the use of passions doth infer the resurrection of the body because it hath such an affinity with one of the powers of the soul besides the Rational power doth its operations without the aid of the corporal organs but the Sensitive cannot execute its functions without the assistance of the organs of the body and that is the reason why the operations of it are more carnal and those of the Rational more divine and celestial and this made St. Paul c Rom. 7.23 24 25. cry out But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Iesus Christ our Lord so then with the minde I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Moreover the Rational power of the soul is the spring of all the intellectual faculties of the minde but the Sensitive power is the spring of the senses and of all the affections and passions of men Secondly Because this Sensitive power is distinguished into two distinct appetites viz. the Concupiscible and the Irascible which are properly the faculties that the French call Appetitives which intimates in the English tongue an aptness See Beau-lieu in his Body of Philosophy pa. 721. an instinct or natural inclination inticing men and beast to pursue such objects as seem Good or to fly from such objects that seem to be Evil and the truth is The proprieties of the Concupiscible and Irascible appetites that the propriety of the Concupiscible appetite is to induce men to prosecute the objects that seem simply to be Good or to draw them back from such that seem simply to be Evil who have no appearance in them to be difficult to be obtained or to be avoided and the propriety of the Irascible appetite is to intice men to meet the objects presented by the senses unto them after a short result of the imagination that be not onely simply good or evil but full of difficulties to obtain or to eschew for the seeming good simply See Aristotle in his Physio lib. 16. cap. 3. is the proper object of the Concupiscible appetite because it is pleasant and useful to men or beast and may be obtained without difficulty but the seeming good that is apparently difficult to obtain and the evil that is hard to avoid is the proper object of the Irascible appetite But you are in this place to
Shadrach Dan. 3.20 Meshach and Abednego did endure with admirable Constancy the burning flames of the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter then it was wont to be rather then to worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up 2. By the same Fortitude Daniel did make choyce to be cast alive into the Lyons Den Dan. 6.10 16. rather then to restrain himself from making his Addresses by fervent prayers three times a day to God 3. By it all those Worthies nominated in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews did suffer with incredible Patience all the torments there specified Heb. 11. 4. See the book of Martyrs By the like Fortitude all the Martyrs in Queen Maries days did suffer with a sweet temper of spirit the fiery Tryal that was inflicted upon them And as it is the propriety of the Christian Fortitude to endure without murmuring all the torments that are inflicted upon them so it is another of its proprieties to endevor to subdue the lascivious Volupties of the flesh believing that he who can overcome his own Passions is a greater Conqueror then Alexander The Heathen do much extoll and boast of the fortitude of Cato See Plutarch in his Life who ripped up his bowels with his own hands rather then he would be beholding to the clemency of Caesar But these murthering resolutions are rather evidences of Pusillanimity then of true Fortitude For a sudden Death is a lesser torment then to continue a long time in anguish and daily tortures Besides the magnanimity of Decius Curius and others did rather proceed from vain glory then from any true fortitude But the Christian fortitude hath no other end then the glory of God and to overcome their sinful Passions Fourthly men are to endevor to attain an habit in the grace of Sanctification as the Seal of their Justification and Regeneration and Redemption And the onely way to obtain the same is by frequent prayers and dayly exercises in Religious duties having ever in their mind these Passages of Scripture Heb. 12.14 For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2 Thes 2.12 Because God from the beginning hath chosen you to salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit 1 Thes 4.3 4 5 6. and the faith of truth And that you should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor and not in the lust of Concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God For God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness Now because Sanctification is the crown of all other Christian graces I will here set down the ordinary means whereby the Blessed Spirit doth infuse the same in the hearts of the Elect for all natural men are incapable of it which is commonly done by degrees and not suddenly as their Justification Yet in some it is more sudden and in others more flow according to the activity or remisness of Christians in their exercises of Piety The first Means is That the Blessed Spirit doth move them to be diligent Hearers and Readers of the Word of God Rom. 10.17 For Faith saith S. Paul commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God And none can be Sanctifyed without a Justifying Faith 2. It endows them with the spirit of Prayer and with mortifying Graces whereby they overcome their Original and Actual corruptions 3. It moves them to be cautious in all their ways and to be sensible of the smallest sins and to flee from all appearance or provocation to sin 4. It infuseth in their hearts a strong Aversion to sin 5. It engendreth in them a reverent love and a filial fear which keeps them from sin 6. It doth convince them of all their sins and specially of their bosome sin 7. By this conviction it begets in them an implacable hatred against their Darling sin 8. By this hatred it doth enlighten their Judgement and openeth the eyes of the same whereby the miserable condition they are in by the enormity and multiplicity of their sins is made apparent unto them 9. By the consideration of this misery it induceth them to seek earnestly the means whereby they may be delivered out of it 10. It infuseth in them a constant resolution to return to their heavenly Father and to humble themselves in Sackcloth and Ashes before him 11. It mollifies their hearts and makes them grieve mourn and lament for their sins by which Spiritual Sorrow never to be repented of it begets in them an unfained Repentance 12. And Lastly being by this Cordial Repentance reconciled to God by the merits of the Passion of their Blessed Saviour it begets in them an extream thirst after the living waters of that Fountain which was opened to the house of David Zach. 13.1 and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness And so by a constant perseverance in the ways of Righteousness they attain by degrees to that measure of Sanctification as is required to see the Lord with Joy and Consolation For the most Sanctified man upon Earth cannot attain to a perfect degree of Sanctification as long as he liveth in these tabernacles of clay the perfection of this Grace being reserved for the glorified Saints in Heaven Eighthly to Conclude I admonish all those who earnestly desire to attain to some degree of holiness to suppress betimes the venom of this vitious Passion of Volupty before it turn into an Habit in them For as I have said in my Answer to the Objection of some Moralists the Volupty of the mind doth as much encrease with Age as do the vices of Avarice and Drunkenness as it is confirmed by this Saying of the wise Son of Sirach All bread is sweet to a Whoremonger Eccl. 23.17 he will not leave off till he dye Now to terrifie and induce Voluptuous men to abhor this sin of Uncleanness I have collected these ensuing Passages out of Solomons Proverbs and out of Ecclesiasticus to shew them how Destructive this sin is to their Means Bodies and Souls The lips of a strange woman drop as an hony comb and her mouth is smoother then oyl but her end is as bitter as wormwood and sharper then a two-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps take hold of hell Prov. 2.3 4 5. Who so committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul Prov. 9.32 Stollen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell Prov. 9.17 18. For a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman a deep pit Prov. 23.27 Give not thy soul to a woman to set her foot upon thy substance Eccles 8.2 Meet not with a harlot lest thou fall into her snares Eccles 8.3 Gaze not on a mayd that thou fall not by those things that are precious in her
shame and many men in these days come to penury by often changing of Calling or by undertaking such Callings as they never were bred to or by exercising four or five Callings at one and the same time which is a great vanity for that is the cause that Artificers never attain to the perfection of their Art or handy-craft but remain ignorant hudlers in them all It is therefore convenient that men should be constant to one Calling and to take delight in it For godliness with content saith St. Paul c 1 Tim. 6.6 is great gain and without men take delight in their profession they will always be changing till they bring themselves to extream misery Secondly violent and superfluous Pleasures are desructive two ways the first impair mens health and shorten their dayes and the other doth waste and consume their estates how many have lost their lives by the excessive pleasures of Venery in the very act many more by excessive riots of drunkenness and gluttony and others by the violent exercises of Tennis Foot-ball play Leaping Vaulting and running of races some others by swiming The violent and superfluous pleasures and others by drinking in Summer wines cooled in snow and of late years how many have shortned their lives by the excessive use of Tobacco a bewitching herb in the taking of which the poorer sort consume the small means they have and the richer impair their health and fill their brains as full of foot as is the funnel of a chimney by which they deprive themselves of sleep consume their radical humor engender Palsies and apoplexies and go down to the grave before their time whereas if it be used moderately it purgeth the Phlegm prevents the Dropsie and refresheth the spirits It is then apparent that as these violent pleasures impair the body so they wast mens estates for rioting gluttony and drunkenness Tennis and Foot-ball-play running of races and drinking of wine cooled in snow are consumers of the means and estates of men Thirdly the moderate and lawful pleasures are not prohibited in the word of God so they be used with moderation for Christians may boldly take pleasure in a moderate way of all the creatures under the Sun so it be with thanksgiving and after a sanctified manner in all sobriety and temperance 1. They may take delight in the admirable works of God d Psal 136.8 in the contemplation of the light of the Sun in the constant course it observes in the regulating of the seasons of the year and in the increase and declination of its heigth whereby the days are lengthened or shortned In the various mutations of the Moon by whose influence the Tides increase or fall 2. They may delight to see the aspect of the Spring e Psal 8.3 when after a cold Winter the vegetative creatures begin to sprout and when Flora doth revest her self in her glorious apparel clothing the earth with variety of odiferous flowers inameled of divers colours which excel in beauty in the esteem of our blessed Saviour f Math. 6.28 the very glory of King Salomon and in Summer they may delight in the blessing of God upon the labour of the Husbandman and in Harvest upon the incredible increase of the seed and in Winter g Psal 72. â—6 in the consideration of the propriety that God hath given to the vegetative creatures to draw their sap which is their life into their root that it may be kept in the bowels of the earth from the danger of the frost and snow and how by his admirable providence he doth feed the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air in that barren season The moderate and lawful pleasures as well as in havest 3. They may delight in the glorious objects of the green and beautiful medows and in the sweet rivers running along their banks in the numerous herds of cattel feeding in the Valleys and Mountains 4. They may rejoyce in the commerce and trade of rich merchandise that are brought from forraign parts whereby the commonwealth doth flourish and the poor are set at work and all in generall provided of all necessary things for this life 5. They may take delight to see the Artificers Shop-keepers and all others of the poorer sort to prosper and to have vent and utterance for their wares whereby they are enabled to maintain themselves wives children and servants in a decent condition and free from want or penury 6. They may delight and bless the Lord for their health peace and prosperous estate and that they live and move and have a beeing with all necessary things for this life as meat drink and raiment but above all they may laud and praise the Lord for his mercy and the free liberty they have to hear his Word and Gospel preached with zeal and sincerity 7. They may solace themselves in honest recreations as in walking abroad to take the aire in the company of their friends their discourses being h Col. 4 6. seasoned with salt and rather tending to edification then depravation 8. They may sometimes go a hunting hawking fishing shooting bowling but these recreations are to be short and onely for to refresh their spirits after tedious studies and weekly employments and to strengthen their bodies by these laudable exercises and not to make them as some do their daily work for otherwise these honest and laudable recreations would become vitious and destructive to body and soul for nothing ought to be more precious to Christians then Time Fourthly Vicious and unlawful pleasures are the snares of Satan and the harbengers of death and yet they are most in fashion in these days See Plutarch and the English and French History and few or none that are addicted to them will give them any bound or limits It is recorded that Cesar Edward the fourth King of England and Henry the fourth King of France were over-much addicted to Venery and yet those that have written their Lives give them this commendation that they bounded this Passion within certain limits for their Venerian delights did never say they make them neglect any affairs of State or actions of war because saith a modern Author of Cesar Senault in the use of Passions that the Passion of Ambition was more predominate in him then the Passion of Love although the Passion of Love in the opinion of Aristotle and of Senault himself is held to be the most violent Passion of all the other Passions but if men are to be moderated as I have said before in the natural and necessary pleasures there is great reason they should be more temperate in their vitious pleasures sith they are sinful and odious to God and to all vertuous and temperate men and St. Paul i 1 Thes 4.3 would have men to be moderate in their cating and drinking for their healths sake and for conscience sake for the abuse of the creature is prohibited by the
men hath been pleased to furnish them with arms to oppose their greatest enemies of which the passion of Cupidity is one of the most implacable for of all the passions it is the harder to be subdued because it is the most successful snare of Satan for the increase of his kingdom of darkness by it sin came first into the world and hath infected like a contagious disease all the race of mankinde For by the eye which is the spring of mens desires Eve seeing the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledg of good and evil to be beautiful she coveteth the same as it appears by these words Gen. 3.6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave of it also to her husband with her and he did eat and so by her Cupidity and Adams Credulity men have been brought under the bondage of sin Now against this great enemy of mankinde God hath been pleased to arm them with this passion of Flight the great Antagonist of all covetous desires that as he had given men an inclination to desire such things as seemed good to their eyes and phansies they might also have an aversion to fly from such things as seemed to traverse their good and beeing otherwise they might have seen their enemies coming upon them when they had no arms to defend themselves nor power to eschew or fly from their apparent danger and had been inforced to cherish vices and sinful courses because they could not eschew or fly from them and to harbor a Guest whom they abhorred and detested This passion being then so useful to men and specially for the propagation of a godly life give me leave for the better description of it to speak in order of these particulars 1. Of the definition of Flight 2. Of the objects of it 3. Of the causes of it 4. Of its proprieties 5. Of its effects 6. Of the uses of it First Flight or Eschewing is a passion The definition of Flight or aversion that induceth men to avoid or fly from all things that seem to be evil or inconvenient to them or that may traverse their good and annihilate their beeing Flight is the cosen German of Hatred for they have many qualities alike and is incident to the Concupiscible appetite and the violent enemy and great opposite to the passion of Cupidity the spring of all covetous desires But men are to be cautious how they make use of this passion or aversion for otherwise they may flee from such things as are good instead to eschew those things that are evil for such is the depravation of this age that Vertues are called Vices and Vices are varnished over with the names of Vertues and true and sincere Piety is called Hypocrisie and real Hypocrisie is termed godliness and Sanctity They must then be as harmless as Doves Matt. 10.16 and as wise as Serpents to make use of this passion aright and then they will avoid and detest sin as the greatest of all evils and love God the perfection of all good and happiness Secondly The objects of Flight The chiefest objects of this passion are the guilt and punishment which are often taken one for the other some men taking the guilt for the punishment and the punishment for the guilt but guilt is the greater of the two because the punishment is but an effect of the guilt and without guilt there would be no punishment and yet because death is commonly comprized under the punishment for as St. Paul saith Rom 6.23 The wages of sin is death men most commonly strive to avoid and flee from the punishment and with great eagerness pursue the guilt I mean they run chearfully after sin and fly with fear from the punishment and so pervert the use of this passion that was given unto them by their Maker on purpose to flee from sin that draws with Cart-ropes the wrath and judgments of God upon all Nations and particuliar men that impenitently go on in their sins Men commonly fly from Serpents Dragons Lyons and Tygers and from the contagious disease of the Plague but they seldom flee from sin although it be more dangerous and destructive to their souls then any of these things above related can be to their bodies for they can but deprive them of this temporal life but sin without the special grace of God will cast them body and soul into the everlasting flames and therefore let men fly from sin if they intend to make a perfect use of this passion and let them not as our blessed Saviour saith of Fear Flee from them that can kill the body Matt. 10.28 but are not able to kill the soul Thirdly The causes of Flight are so numerous The causes of Flight that they would be over-tedious to relate I wil therefore speak but of some of them first Men if they could would fly from death because death is a most horrid thing specially to the Reprobate and Nature doth hate and eschew all things that may annihilate its beeing secondly Fear is an ordinary cause of Flight for many great Armies have fled upon a panick fear as Titus Livius Records in his Decades but there be Instances for it in the holy Scriptures as it appears 2 Kings Chap. 7. Vers 6. When the Lord made the host of the Assyrians to hear a noise of chariots 2 Kings 7.6 and a noise of horses even the noise of a great host and so raised their siege from Samaria and fled away leaving their tents full of riches and all manner of provisions thirdly The Prophet Ionah fled from the presence of the Lord Jonah 1.3 and Cha. 4.3 not to avoid evil but to commit evil in disobeying the Commandment of the Lord because he knew that God was a gracious and merciful God slow to anger and of great kindness A great weakness in a Prophet to be passionate and angry because God was pleased to be merciful to the Ninevites and a greater infirmity to flee to Tarshish from the Lord because he was assured that God would repent of the evil intended against them upon the sight of their repentance fourthly Absolom fled from the presence of his father King David 2 Sam. 13.28 after he had slain his brother Amnon at a Banquet under colour of love and hospitality and went to Geshur and was there three years till his fathers wrath was appeased fifthly Jeroboam the son of Nebat 1 King 11.40 fled from the presence of Salomon went into Egypt and staid there with Shishak King of Egypt till after Salomons death for Salomon sought to kill Ieroboam because he had been informed that the Prophet Ahijah had anointed him King over Israel sixthly Joseph the supposed father of our blessed Saviour and the Virgin Mary Matth. 2.12 with
or if this motion be over-fierce and violent it doth extinguish their life as the snuff of a Candle goeth out when it hath no more tallow to sustain its light Now the heart who is the efficient cause of life being thus deprived of heat loseth its motion upon which depends the life of men for the beating of the heart gives life and motion to all the members of the body and is congealed and frozen to death by this sudden motion and privation as water is congealed into Ice by a great frost and this may be confirmed by another violent action of men of which many are yet living that were eye-witnesses to it Two English Foot-men running a race for a great wager from London to Kingston did by their swift and violent running so drive their blood and vital spirits from the heart to the extreamest parts of their bodies that their faces looked as black as their hats one of them obtained the victory and out-ran the other about twenty yards and being joyful of his gain and honor presumed over-much of his strength and did not use the means to preserve himself as the other did who was much more distempered then he whereby his blood and vital spirits in stead of returning to the heart were congealed in the extream parts of his body by taking cold which did deprive him of life within few hours after but the other putting on his apparel and covering himself with a warm cloak prayed two of his fellows to walk him up and down till his blood and vital spirits were setled again about his heart A remarkable Relation and by this means he was as well the next morning as ever he was before now the motion of the blood being more violent by the inward distemper of the fiery passion of Joy then it can be by the motion of a long-continued race it must by consequence be more dangerous and mortal then the other thirdly As the immoderate Joy hath dangerous proprieties the moderate joy hath many good for moderate joy preserves and increaseth the health of the body fourthly It giveth a seemly and loving aspect and a fresh colour to the face fifthly It makes mens company and conversation more pleasant and acceptable to all other men sixthly It makes men more chearful in their particular and general calling and pass their days through this vale of Tears with more alacrity and content Fourthly The effects of immoderate Joy would be incredible The effects of immoderate joy See Livius in his third Decade li. 3. if they had not been recorded by approved and faithful Authors first A Roman Lady saith Livius died with joy at the sight of her son whom she conceived to have been slain at the battell of Cannae secondly The Author of the Turkish History Records See the Turkish History in the life of Achmath that Sinna Basha had but one son of great valour who was taken prisoner in a sea fight by a Venetian Galley whereupon tidings were brought to Sinna his father that he had been slain in that fight because he had been wounded but by the care of the Captain of the Galley who hoped to receive a great ransom for him he did recover and his wounds were cured and it hapned some days after before the Venetian Galley could carry him to shore that it was taken at sea by Cicala Basha a great friend of the above-said Sinnae who finding this prisoner of note in the Venetian Galley was exceedingly joyful as knowing how grateful a present it would be to his friend and therefore after he had apparelled him with rich vestures he sent him in a well-appointed Galley and with an honorable train to his father Sinna that had lately been made grand Visier by Achmath Emperor of the Turks who was then at Caffa upon the black sea but this yong man was no sooner come into his sight but Sinna transported with joy fell dead at his sons feet whereby it appears that he who had the power to bear with admirable constancy the tidings of the death of his onely son had not the power to moderate the joy that he did receive by his unexpected return thirdly Theophrastus Boujou records the names and means of a dozen more at least who have died suddenly by the violent distemper of immoderate joy some by honors received others for seeing their mortal enemy ly wallowing in his own blood See Boujou in his Commentary upon Aristotle lib. 19. ca. 39. fol. 835. ready to give up the Ghost and others by looking upon Pictures which by their ugly features inforced them to such an immoderate laughter as it did deprive them of life others for being victorious in the Olympian Sports and others in the field as it is recorded of Epamonides and of the Duke of Roan who died rather for joy of two great victories obtained against their enemies in two pitcht battels then by their wounds Fifthly The bad and good use of this passion of Joy doth onely consist in the not regulating or in the regulating of it for if Joy be let in to the soul by degrees the sting and venom of it is changed into an Antidote and doth rather comfort Nature then destroy it for as it is dangerous to open the Floud-gates of a river suddenly The bad and good use of worldly joy and all at once for fear the violence of the water break down the banks and pull up the foundation of the sluce even so it is dangerous to let in into the soul all at once the swift currant of good or evil tidings therefore if Cicala Basha had only at the first sent word to the Visier Sinna that he had happily rescued his son and that as soon as his wounds should be cured he would send him back unto him in an honorable condition this had undoubtedly prevented the death of this old man but the sudden and unexpected sight of his son whom he thought to have been dead caused so violent a perturbation in his minde and so great an alteration in the vital faculties of his body that his natural strength being then in his declining age was overcome with it and his life utterly extinguished as the light of a candle is by a violent blast of winde But the Duke of Medina Coeli who was General for Philip the second King of Spain See the Spanish History in Philip the seconds life of the invincible Armado as they termed it that came against England in the Year 1588. did deal more prudently with his Prince for his ship being the first that arrived into Spain after the utter rout of this great Navy he sent a discreet Messenger unto him to inform him that some part of his Navy had miscarried by foul weather and that himself had been driven back by a storm and eight days after he sent another messenger to the King informing him of the particulars and some days after came in person to give him
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
Moses was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharoahs daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of reward And were it not for this Spiritual Hope the true Christians should be more miserable then the profane nay more then the bruit beast for the portion of the children of God in this life is most commonly nothing but affliction grief and sorrow tribulations persecutions reproaches and ignominy whereas the wicked flourish in this world like green Bay trees Psal 37.39 and injoy all the delights and pleasures of this life because they make no conscience to sin but the true children of God hate and abhor sin and are conscious to commit the least sins therefore without this hope which doth uphold and comfort them their race through this vale of tears would be tedious and irksome unto them for as Salomon saith Hope deferred maketh the heart sick Prov. 13.12 but when the desire cometh it is the tree of life The first effect of spiritual Hope is that it breeds in the hearts of men such a fortitude and confidence that it expelleth all fears from their souls and makes them say with the Prophet David Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved secondly Hope engendreth joy in the hearts of the Elect and this joy is so constant and permanent that it never forsakes them in their greatest perplexities nay at the very hour of death when all worldly comforts forsake them this joy chears up their hearts and makes them say with the Prophet David Psal 16.9 10. My heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hel neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption thirdly Hope breeds patience and makes Christians suffer patiently the greatest torments that the cruellest tyrants can inflict upon them Rom. 5.3 4 5. For we glory saith S. Paul in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed in our hearts by the holy Ghost that is given us fourthly Hope gives life to all our Christian and religious Duties as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 9.10 He that ploweth should plow in Hope and he that thresheth in hope shall be partaker of his hope Hope is one of the best defensive Arms of a Christian to oppose the fiery darts and the temptations of Satan as the Apostle St. Paul saith Putting on the breast-plate of faith and love 1 Thes 5.8 and for an helmet the hope of salvation sixthly Hope is like a sure Anker to all afflicted Christians in the midst of the impetuous storms of persecution as the Apostle St. Paul saith Heb. 6.18.19 That by two immutable things in which it was impossibile for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us which hope we have as an Anker both sure and stedfast seventhly Hope doth mitigate and sweetens all kinde of afflictions that befall to the children of God in this life Colos 1.5 whether they be perplexities of the minde or anguishes of the body eighthly All such as confide and hope in Christ shall never be ashamed nor confounded c. CHAP. XIII Of the vanity of the passion of Despair NOthing can be more hateful and odious unto God who hath been pleased to create men after his own Image then when they distrust of his mercies and fall into despair for in the second of the first Table of his Commandments he doth exalt himself his Mercies above his Justice Deut. 5.9.10 in these words For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquitie of the father unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandements Yet the Stoicks the most presumptuous Sect of all the ancient Philosophers honor the passion of despair above all other passions for Seneca one of the greatest Champions of it doth exalt the criminal and abhorred act of Cato of Vtica who ripped up his own bowels with his own hands See Plutarch in the life of Cato because he would not be obliged to the clemency of Cesar for his life as the most heroical action that ever was acted See Tacitus in the life of Nero. And notwithstanding Seneca himself was strucken with a certain fear and horror when the messenger that was sent unto him from Nero told him that it was the Emperors pleasure that he should make choise of what manner of death he would for die he must whereupon seeing there was no other remedy he made as they say of necessity Vertue and commanded his servant to heat a Stove and caused his veines to be opened as he was in the Stews that he might depart this life with the lest torment and anguish that might be out of fear that his Stoick constancy should have failed him at his need That the Academick Sect was the best of all the Heathen Philosophers But the Academicks another Sect of the Heathen Philosophers maintain that it is rather a Pusillanimity then a true fortitude of courage for men to lay violent hands upon themselves to be free of the greatest evil that can befall them in this life and this opinion doth best agree with the principles of the Protestant Religion for he that doth with constancy and patience endure the greatest evils torments and anguishes of the body that can be inflicted upon him by the cruellest Tyrants That true constancy and fortitude is more visibly seen in the bearing of evils with patience then by laying violent hands upon our selves and the grief and sorrow of minde which may proceed from the shame reproaches and ignominy that is done by them to his person in the publick view of the world hath a far higher degree of fortitude and manly courrge then they who to prevent the foresaid evils torments and anguishes or shame and ignominy lay violent hands upon themselves because the longer the Dolour continues the greater is the constancy and fortitude of men that endure the same and it is daily seen that the pains of violent deaths are of no continuance And this was the reason why the Emperor Tiberius Nero See Tacitus in Tiberius life one of the most cruel Tyrants that ever lived upon earth did prolong the lives of those he most hated by keeping of them in dungeons with bread and water for many years together saying to his friends that desired to know the reason of it because they shall said he feel
The enjoyment of their delights and pleasures These three fading and vanishing things are the most common causes of mens fears The remedies against these are First to consider that there are not many noble called 1 Cor. 1.26.28 and that the things which are most despised God hath chosen Prov. 23.5 Secondly That riches certainly make themselves wings they flie away as an Eagle towards heaven Thirdly That pleasures are of no continuance and leave a sting in the conscience at their departure Eccles 2.11 and are but meer vanity and vexation of Spirit Fourthly Men fear Poverty and to prevent the same addict themselves for the greater part to unlawful courses of gain remembring not this wise saying of Solomon Prov. 28 2â— He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent Poverty is no Vice and yet men abhor Poverty more then any Vice nay more then Sin the worst of evils The remedy against Poverty is Contentedness for many beleeve they are poor when they are rich and many think themselves rich when they are poor As Christ said to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans Because thou sayest I am rich Revel 3.14 and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blinde and naked Contentedness is a gift and grace of God for if men be never so rich and want that grace they are but poor and miserable and like Cormorants that can never be satisfied This Fear also proceeds from Distrust and the remedy of it is to relie upon Gods providence and on this precept and promise of our blessed Saviour Which of you by taking thought Matth. 6.27 28 29 31 33. can adde one cubit unto his stature and why take ye thought for rayment Consider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toyl not neither do they spin And yet I say unto you That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these And in the 31 33. Verses Therefore take no thought saying What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be clothed But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Fifthly Men fear to lose their wives women their husbands Parents their children and children their Parents and one friend another But this Fear proceeds from the want they conceive they will have of their help and assistance The remedy to this Fear is this consideration That all men are mortal and that all are of the dust Eccles 3.20 and all turn to dust again And let not Christians have less constancy then a Heathen to whom tidings being brought Plutarch in his Morals that his onely son was dead he answered I knew he was not begotten to be immortal and to utterly root out this Fear which proceeds from the distrust of the want of their ayd or assistance let men have always in their minde Rom. 8.28 this saying of Saint Paul All things work together for good to them that love God Sixthly Men fear persecutions tribulations and afflictions This Fear proceeds from the infirmity of the flesh and from the pusillanimity of mens mindes and from an antipathy of nature who abhorreth Anguish and Dolor The remedy of this Fear is Fortitude and an undanted Courage with this assurance That by tribulations and crosses God is pleased oftentimes to call his children to repentance and make them more fervent and zealous in the ways of Righteousness As the Prophet David saith Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy word Seventhly Men fear banishment and long imprisonments This Fear also proceeds from want of a Masculine courage for a Heathen could say when he was banished Plutarch in his Morals That the whole world was his Native Countrey The onely remedy against this Fear is Patience and as the prison doth retain mens bodies so it may if they make good use of their banishment and imprisonment refrain them from sin and increase their Moral vertues and Spiritual Graces Acts 16.25 Paul and Silas prayed and sung Psalms and praised God in prison And Sir Walter Rawleigh and La Nove have made themselves famous by the learned Works they have written in prison See Plutarch in their lives And Solon and Cicero did improve their learning and Moral vertues in their exile or banishment Eightly Men fear lingring and tedious Diseases as the Consumption of the Lungs the Hectick Fever and the wasting of the Liver But this Fear proceeds from their natural infirmitie that is impatient of pain for lingring Diseases prepare men for repentance whereas sudden diseases deprive them oftentimes of that Grace The remedy against this Fear is to seek to the Lord before men seek after the Physitians for the issues of life and death are in his hands Ezekiah 2 Kings 20.2 6 7. King of Judah was soon cured of his Mortal disease because he called and prayed unto the Lord with an unfeigned sincerity of heart Ninthly Men fear to fall into a decrepit age A vain and ridiculous Fear sith the oldest man alive doth commonly hope and desire to live a yeer longer It is true that if decrepit age and poverty do meet it may be called The Misery of Miseries for besides the many infirmities that are incident to decrepit age the waywardness common to it is the most insupportable for it maketh all things distastful unto them and being deprived by Poverty of all worldly comforts this aggravates far more the misery of decrepit age The remedy of it is to attend with patience the time appointed by the Lord of the separation of the body and soul and to say with old Simeon Luke 2 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Tenthly and lastly Men are afraid of death and especially the wicked because it deprives them of their honors riches and pleasures the injoyment of which is their Paradise upon Earth and ferries them over to the eternal woes But death is welcom to the children of God for they account death as their deliverer who frees them from the continual miseries and afflictions of this world who are commonly their portion in this life for they are assured that the sting of death hath been taken away and that the redemption of their sins hath been purchased at a dear rate viz. By the sheding of the precious blood of the onely Son of God our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ And therefore defie death and say to her face O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.55 O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the the Law but thanks be to God which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly The Effects of this Passion of Fear are of
intellectual Adultery of the heart committed in the Matrimonial Bed which is as odious to God although it be not censurable by men because it is invisible as the actual Adultery with a strange woman This should move all true Christians who through a filial fear are timerous to offend God to be cautious of their ways that they be not ensnared by their deceitful hearts and the temptations of Satan in this kinde of Adultery or if they be that they may unfainedly repent of it before death part their soul from their body otherwise without the special mercies of God their souls may run as much hazard by this sort of Adultery as by the actual Secondly men are to endevor to attain to an habit in Temperance and Sobriety vertues or graces opposite to the vices of gluttony drunkenness two of the greatest provokers to Lust These are also distinguished by corporeal and Intellectual The corporal Temperance may be acquired by Moral Precepts but the Intellectual is an immediate gift of the Sanctifying Spirit of grace and cannot be obtained but by Prayer for God is the only giver of it And it is properly called Meekness of spirit and the inseparable companion of the grace of sanctification The proprieties and effects of which are apparently seen in the carriage and replies of Job Moses Ely David and Hezekiah 1. When the Messengers came suddenly after one another to acquaint Job of the loss of all he had and of the death of his Children he replyed with an admirable meekness of spirit Job 1.21 The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. Moses with the like meekness did patiently endure the false and offensive reproaches of his own brother and sister Numb 12.3 for the which he is called by the Holy Ghost the meekest man upon earth 3. Eli with the same meekness of spirit answered the Prophet Samuel when hd had acquainted him of the will of the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 concerning the death of his two sons and the casting off of his Posterity from the High-Priests office it is the Lord let him do what seemeth good unto him 4. When King David heard the bitter Curses of Shimei for the which Abishai would have slain him he answered with the like meckness of spirit 2 Sam. 16.9 10. Let him curse because the Lord hath sayd unto him curse David who shal then say Wherefore hast thou done so 5. When the Prophet Isaiah was sent to King Hezekiah to denounce the heavy judgement of God against Jerusalem and his posterity he answered with the like meekness of spirit Isal 39.8 The word of the Lord is good which thou hast spoken Whereby it appears that the temperance of the minde is a great curb to bridle the violence of the Passions of men for the Answer that Joseph gave to his lewd Mistress when she tempted him to lie with her did proceed from the same root and from the filial fear he had of God Gen. 39.8 9. Begold my Master knoweth not what he hath in the house but hath committed all he hath into my hands there is none greater in the house then I neither hath he kept any thing from mee but only thee because thou art his wife How then can I do this great wickedness and so sin against God But such is the depravation of this age that I have heard some Voluptuous men call continent Joseph a very Sot for having rejected the lascivious Summons of his Mistress and neglected through a Puerile Fear the Time Place and Opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of her embracements As for the Corporeal Temperance and Sobriety the Heathens have also excelled most of the Christians of these days in that noble vertue as it shall appear by these Instances 1. King Cyrus being demanded by his Steward Where and What he pleased to have for his Supper Answered I will sup by the River-side and have only for my Diet Bread and Salt for Drink we shall have enough out of the River 2. The Queen of Caria having sent to Alexander the rarest Cooks that were in Asia he sent them back unto her with this Message that he had no need of Cooks as long as he did observe the Precepts of his Tutor Leonides who had charged him to exercise his body in the Morning in running of Races on foot or in the mannaging of his War horse to give him a stomack to his Dinner and to walk two or three miles in the Evening to have an Appetite to his Supper 3. Phocion one of the Governors of the Athenian Commonwealth was found at Dinner by the Embassador that Alexander sent to him with a Present of ten Talents with one single dish of meat See Plutarch in his Life and having demanded of the Embassador the reason why Alexander did send him such a Present he answered Only for your integrity vertue Let him leave me so said Phocion for this Gold will make me unjust and vitious and so with thanks sent the present back to Alexander 4. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus See Livy in his 1. Decade Dictator of the Roman Commonwealth was found at Dinner with a small piece of meat and a dish of Turnips by the Embassadors of the Samnites that were sent unto him with a great sum of Gold to induce him to shew them favor in the obtaining of a Peace which they required of the Roman Senate Whereupon Cincinnatus shewing them the frugality of his Diet said unto them Tell the Samnites that he that can be contented with such Fare needs no Gold and therefore carry it back for if their request be just they shall have my favor without it There are evidences of the Temperance of the ancient Persians Greeks and Romans concerning the passions of Avarice and Volupty But as soon as the Persians by Cambises and the Greeks by Alcibiades and the Romans by Lucullus were allured to desire riches and pleasures See Herodotus in Cambises Life they became the most covetous and voluptuous Nations of the World and all their former Vertues were turned into Vices Therefore I conclude that Temperance and Sobriety are the inseparable companions of Continency and sanctification And that Riches Gluttony and Drunkness are the greatest Provokers to lust and carnal Volupties And this Passage of S. Paul doth confirm the same They that sleep saith he 1 Thes 5 7 6. sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night But let us which are of the day be sober Therefore let us not sleep but let us watch and be sober Intimating that none are more fit to attain to holyness then those who are temperate and sober And none more adverse then drunkards and voluptuous men Thirdly men are to endevor to attain to an habit in Fortitude called by some a vertue but when it is accompanied with Faith it is a grace of the sanctifying Spirit 1. By it