Youths Jnstruction COMPOSED AND WRITTEN by WILLIAM MARTYN Esquire Recorder of the honourable Citie of EXETER Praestat non nasci Quam malé viuere LONDON Printed by Iohn Beale 1612. To my deerely honoured Father in law WILLIAM MARTYN Esquire IF it be true that Opposites together Being compar'd seeme cleerer each by other Then my defects comming from true affection Shall not detract but adde to your perfection T' were to gild gold your labors to commend Few men can equall them none reprehend Yet some no doubt will cast an enuious glance For Art hath one sworne Foe call'd Ignorance P. B. TO MY SONNE NICHOLAS MARTYN NOVV Aâ—STVDENT IN THE VNIVERSITIE OF OXFORD AS none but a faithfull friend can perfectlie conceiue of those requisites which truly belong vnto his friend So none but a Father can rightlie coniecture of that surpassing loue which a father beareth to his owne child This loue of mine my Sonne hath made me ouer-bold with mine owne businesse and with mine owne conuenient pleasures in borrowing some houres which were indeede owing to my publike imployments and to my necessarie recreation to compose and to write this ensuing Discourse not to please my selfe if it were praise-worthie but to doe you good and by such Motiues and by such Instructions as are therein comprised to enrich your vnderstanding and behauiour with those selected virtues and most commended qualities whose discourse it doth containe For like as the fairest building wanteth her chiefest beautie except it bee exactlie flourished and bountifullie furnished within so the outward lineaments of the bodie are depriued of their choisest and of their chiefest luster if the inward parts and mind bee not adorned with such splendent virtues and with such Gentleman-like qualities as doe make a man to bee compleat and consequentlie a profitable member in the Common-weale J say a profitable member in the Common-weale because it sufficeth not that a man doth know much and can doe well by meanes of that knowledge except he also doe produce into action such effects as his virtues and his knowledge haue enabled him to performe For otherwise such a man may fitlie be compared to a rare and perfect Diamond which beeing vnpollished serueth for no vse Or to a faire Ship loaden with Silkes with Spices and with Gold beeing swallowed vp into the Seas mawe whereby it is made of no value or esteeme For a recompence therefore of these my labours and in thankefulnesse for my loue towards you I wish and doe aduise you to imploy some times not onely to reade this discourse often but also with diligence to meditate and publikelie to exercise those virtues and those qualities which heerein are deseruedlie praised and commended Especially and aboue the rest those two which cannot too much bee applauded I meane Religion and honestie of life which as good Salt will season whatsoeuer you take in hand And will as the South and the North Pole Starres direct your course aright wheresoeuer you chance to saile in the troublesome Ocean of this your worldly and transitorie pilgrimage So shall your life bee profitable vnto others and pleasing to your quiet conscience And so shall your death bee crowned with merited praise and commendation and both your life and your death shall bee precious in the sight of God Who will reward euerie man according to his workes be they good or euill Your louing Father William Martyn YOVTHS INSTRVCTION WHEREIN ARE BRIEFLY SET FORTH ALL NECESSARY Rules for the ordering of a mans whole life MY Sonne seeing it hath pleased the Almighty to make you who by creation are his owne by generation to be mine I hold it to be a principall part of my duty vnto God and of my loue towards you both by Religion and also by education in vertue so to direct you that you may euer continue to be his For he hath not placed you on the Theater of this world that like to a foolish actor you should fulfill the lusts thereof nor to embrace these earthly vanities as chaynes of pearle and of gold do mens necks which make them proude but because you should duly serue him in true obedience and by your best endeuours set foorth his glory Beasts Birds and Fishes Man must serue God are together with men the workmanship of one and of the same diuine Maiesty and power but the end for which they were by him made is not one and the same For those vnreasonable creatures were fashioned to serue man but man himselfe to serue God So pleasing was this seruice vnto Dauid the kingly Prophet Psal 84.10 and the annointed of the Lord that he affirmed with a most constant resolution that it was better to be a dorekeeper in the house of his God then to dwell in the Tabernacles of the wicked If Iacob for a double terme serued his vncle Laban Gen. 29.28 that thereby he might obtaine Rahel for his wife who being enioyed but a season shortly after died how much more ought you to dedicate your selfe to the seruing of God all the daies of your life that at the length you may thereby attaine to those heauenly blessings which in goodnesse are inestimable and in number endlesse 1. Reg. cap. 10 You may reade in Holy writ that the Queene of Sheba said vnto Salomon when she had heard him and had seene the greatnesse of his honor and of his riches and of his strength and had viewed his Court and considered the rarenesse of his gouernment happy are thy men and happy are these thy seruants which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisedome but much more truly may we conclude that they are indeed blessed who stand before and do serue not Salomon but their God The seruice which is to be performed to the Kings and Princes of the world cannot be freed from seruitude and subiection but that seruice which is by vs due vnto God is liberty it selfe and no man is so free as he who sincerely serueth him There are but two masters God and the diuell whom men can serue and who so adhereth to one of them is an enemy to the other The diuell wageth warre against God and against his chosen children and because he is faithlesse he trusteth none but being the muster-master of his owne army he presseth foorth all such for his seruice as are not souldiers vnder Gods banner And hauing leuied huge troupes and infinite numbers of desperate and forlorne people he marcheth into the field of this world and striuing in vaine to obtaine a victory which no possibility can afford him like to the practise of the Turkish Emperor he maketh hauocke of his followers and by multitudes mercilesly he destroyeth them whereas on the contrary part God so gratiously protecteth and defendeth his elected that not one of them can perish or come to an vntimely end Seeing then that God is so powerfull that he can and so carefull that he will and doth preserue all such as vnfainedly
but proceeding further by frequentaction it begetteth in him an ardent desire by custom to enlarge it selfe and so maketh him the bondslaue of Sathan For as the little fish called Remora by sticking fast vnto a Shippe stayeth her from sayling towards the Port where shee should bee Pierij Aphorismi Hieroglyphici 192. so euery sinne bee it neuer so small will detaine and hold you backe from those religious and vertuous courses wherein otherwise you would or should walke to Gods glorie and the saluation of your owne Soule Philosophers do affirme that nothing is more fearefull then Feare it selfe And Diuines do teach truly that there is not any thing more sinnefull then sinne it selfe I haue read of a kind of Serpent which is so venimous that by stinging the foot of a Horse onely hee killeth the Horse and the rider also Such a Serpent is sinne which no sooner stingeth the body but foorthwith it destroieth it and the soule too it is so pestilent a disease that it corrupteth the whole minde of him whom it possesseth and driueth out of him all godly motions As water beeing powred into a vessell doth expell the Ayre and as the children of Israel did the heathen Nations out of the Countries and Prouinces of the land of Canaan it suddenly bereaueth a man of all his former practised vertues as a little Axe by few strokes cutteth downe or as a whirlewind with one furious blast ouerturneth the greatest and the tallest trees which for many yeers haue bin growing to their perfect strength and greatnesse In the winter when the warme heat of the Sunne forsaketh vs the earth is benummed with cold with frosts with snowes and with vnpleasing weather And in like sort when Gods grace departeth from a sinner his soule is hardned with many vices and robbed of all virtue yea such is the bewitching nature and quality of sinne that the more it plungeth men in the gulfes of their transgressions the more pleasure and the greater delight they take therein Like vnto mad men who are vnmeasurably delighted with the sight and gingling of those chaynes wherewith they are fettered and tormented It is true Plato that no man liueth and sinneth not and it is as true that Plato said It is better not to liue then to liue wickedly As there is no thorne without his prickles so there is no man that is vtterly destitute of sinne Yet must you striue my sonne with all your might and with all your strength yea with your vttermost endeauours to shake it off because the reward thereof is death and the longer it is retained the more hardly it is remoued for like as a small riuer by running farre is fellowshipped with many other streams which at length do make him great So small offences by long continuance are augmented by greater faults which do concurre Heming de Magistratu It is impossible to be a man and not to sinne yet you must auoid sinne as fire because it burneth as water because it drowneth as a plague because it infecteth Nay as death it selfe because it mortally killeth Principijs obsta serò medicina paratur Cum mala per longas conualuére moras Therefore before sinne haue gotten in you the vpper hand you must frame your selfe to be like vnto a ship close below to resist and to keepe out the temptations and the allurements of worldly vanities And open aboue whereby you may be capable of the grace and mercy and fauour of Almighty God who though he detest sinne yet in his infinite mercy he imbraceth aÌ„ repentant sinner as a kind mother lulleth her sicke hild louingly in her armes though she repine at the disease Valerius writeth of one who had the fit of an ague vpon him when he was borne Valerius which neuer left him for many yeeres vntill he died Such an ague is sinne which by naturall propagation being deriued to vs from our first parents Adam and Eue by reason of their transgression in eating of the forbidden fruit contrary to the expresse commandement of Almighty God neuer leaueth neuer forsaketh vs vntill by death we be depriued of this mortall life Yet must you not by sinning foster in your selfe a longing desire to sinne more like vnto such as being drunken with wine do vnmeasurably couet to be alwaies drinking But contrariwise you must be carefull that sinne raigne not that sinne haue not dominion in your earthly members Nam quot habemus vitia tot habemus Dominos A little rope sufficeth to hang a great theefe a little drosse to abase much gold a little poyson to infect much wholsome liquor a little heresie to corrupt good doctrine and so do the smallest sinnes without Gods mercy to damme your soule The harts of sinfull men may fitly be compared vnto snailes houses for as they haue no vacant places to store vp prouision enough for the necessary sustentation of their liues no more haue those harts any roomes at all to entertaine any vertuous or godly motions which would be profitable for the saluation of their soules Euery sinner as much as in him lieth is naturally an enemy vnto God and with the ancient gyants contendeth to cast rockes and stones against Iuptter he saith in his heart Psal 14.1 there is no God and that his wickednes shall neuer be reuealed Psal 2.4 nor rewarded But he that sitteth in heauen shall laugh him to skorne the Lord will haue him in derision As a man that is suddenly taken out of a darke prison cannot without much paine behold the bright shining of the cleere sunne no more can that man which for a long season hath bin enthralled in the darke dungeon of iniquity and of sinne behold the faire beames of godlinesse and of vertue but he rather delighteth to wallow in the beastly and lothsome puddle of his former foule transgressions as the swine doth in the mire wherewith she is polluted and defiled Some men there are who â—t the last cast doe cease from perpetrating of such grosse and enormious sinnes as in former times they haue committed Lipsius 115. 1. Either because they want ability to maintaine them 2. Or power to performe them 3. or for the shame or for the punishment which they feare and do deserue But he that is vertuous and he that is religious detesteth and abhorreth sinne as a ghastly monster because he feareth and loueth God The smallest sinnes do pricke Conscience but great ones doe wound the consciences of men and a feared and terrified conscience by reason of her sinne is the worme that neuer dieth As a dogge which secretly hath killed a sheepe cannot with a setled eie behold his masters face because he is guilty to himselfe of his foule fault so a man whose conscience doth accuse him of some hainous sinne towards God cannot behold the face of his creator but by his blushing he will bewray his owne sinne A sinfull conscience as Iustine Martyr doth affirme
doe serue him 2. Reg. cap. 5. you must not as Naaman the Assyrian did content your selfe in part to serue God and in part to serue an earthly master or a mortall king but following the good example of Dauids worthies and of Gedeons three hundred valiant men of war 1. Chron. cap. 11. Iudg. 7.3 you must neglect your owne safety nay your life and engage your selfe wholly to do him seruice So did Moses when with ten grieuous plagues he corrected the hard hart of Pharaoh King of Egypt who would not suffer the children of Israell to depart out of his land So did Sadrach Mishael and Abednago Dan. 3. who being the seruants of the great God of heauen made choise rather to be throwne into a burning furnace then to worship the golden Image which Nebuchadnezar the great king of Babel had set vp And so did Daniel Dan. 6. who refused not to be cast into the Lyons denne rather then by prayer and worshipping he would yeeld vnto Darius that seruice and that honor nor which he owed only to the Lord his God As you may obserue that when plants and trees by stormes and by tempests are robbed of their leaues such canckers are then discouered as do blemish the comelinesse of their beauty so you may plainly see that when men are exiled from Gods seruice through the peruersenes of their owne natures their wickednes is spread abroad to their shame and is made an obiect to the eies of them who being more vertuous doe loath their sinne You see then my Sonne how behoofefull it is for you to serue God that by meanes thereof you may be truly happy and enioy that liberty and that freedome which is incident vnto none but to such only as do vnfainedly serue him It is therefore very requisite Man must feare God and fit that you be carefully instructed concerning the performance and execution of this duty which must be by a reuerent feare of his deity and power according to the direction of King Dauid Psal 2.11 who exhorteth all men to serue the Lord in feare not in such a timerous feare as is abased by seruility Iob. 28.28 Prou. 1.7 Prou. 9.10 Prou. 15.33 Psal 111.10 Psal 25.9 and bondage but in such a feare as is mingled and impalled with loue This filiall and louely feare is the beginning of wisedome and of knowledge and as Dauid saith the secret of the Lord is reuealed to them that feare him and his couenant to giue them vnderstanding It is a welspring of life Prou. 14.27 Prou. 19.23 Prou. 16.6 to auoide the snares of death it leadeth vnto life and he that is filled therewith shall continue and not be visited with euill It maketh his heart by imputation and by grace cleane and pure in the sight of God Psal 19.9 Blessed is the man saith the Psalmist that feareth the Lord Psal 112.1.2 Psal 128. Psal 115.13 Psal 147.11 Luk 1.50 his seede shall be mighty vpon the earth The Lord will blesse all such as feare him both small and great his delight is in them that do feare him And his mercy shall be vpon them from generation to generation The reward of humility Prou. 22.4 and of the feare of the Lord as Salomon doth testifie is riches Eccles 12.13 and glory and life And in fearing of him and in keeping of his commandements doth consist the whole duety of man The Lyons do lacke and suffer hunger but such as do feare the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 34.10 Such was the louely feare Gen. 22.12 that Abraham expressed towards his God that being so commanded by him he would haue sacrificed Isaac his only sonne whose seede by Gods promise was to be multiplied as the starres in heauen and as the sands on the sea shore Gen. 26.4.24 which are innumerable And such was the louely feare which Ioseph expressed towards his God Gen. 39. that he rather chose to be maligned and reproched by means of the vntrue and false accusements of his Mistresse and to be cast into prison then he would be disloiall and vnfaithfull vnto Putiphar his master And such was the louely feare 2. Sam. 66. and reuerence which Dauid expressed before his God that he ceased not for the ioy of his spirit to dance before the Arke of Couenant though for so doing he were derided skorned and mocked by Michal his owne wife And such my Sonne must be your daily care and constant resolution that you feare nothing which may terrifie you from the feare of God Repetition because it maketh her followers to bee wise it gaineth long life it banisheth euill nay death it selfe it cleanseth the heart it maketh men blessed both in themselues also in their posterities it causeth the Lord to delight in them and to enrich them to multiply his mercies on them and in the end to crowne them with immortality and with glory Now Man must loath sinne as these and many others are the fruits which the feare of God produceth and bringeth forth so will it augment in you a loathing detestation and a religious hating of sinne 1 First in respect of God because hee is altogether righteous and pure and none euill can dwell with him 2 In respect of our selues because the guiltinesse thereof maketh a separation pronounceth a diuorce betweene God and man 3 And thirdly in respect of sinne it selfe which is a most vgly monster proceeding from the diuell for the finall and perpetuall destruction of all such as impiously and wickedly doe liue and die therein As the grim looke of a sterne Lion will make you afraid Pierij Aphorismi Hieroglyphici 19. though he come not neere vnto you so the view and sight of sinne must breed in you a loathing detestation of her vgly fowlnesse though she want power and ability to take hold of you to doe you any harme And you must flie from the alluring enchantments and prouocations of sinne as the Elephant with all expedition betaketh himselfe to his legges as soone as he heareth the grunting of a filthy swine A foolish man delighteth in a sinfull life because his outward senses are pleased with the vanity and with the varietie of his sinnes but he that is wise abhorreth sin because the fruits thereof are euill Saint Iohn saith that sinners are seruants Iohn 8.34 1 Iohn 38. and S. Paul telleth vs that they are captiues nay they are indeed the children of the diuell It entreth into a man as a Conqueror taketh possession of his vanquished Kingdom where he will not accept of a part but will bee Lord and Master of the whole It is compared to a wedge for as a wedge at the first maketh but a little hole but beeing further driuen it renteth and teareth the whole wood in sunder so sin at his first entrance into the heart of a man seemeth to hurt him but a little
is a ready witnesse to accuse a seuere iudge to condemne and a mercilesse hangman to execute him that hath sinned and broken the commandements of his God A guilty conscience is first perplexed with feare and terror and is then from feare transported into fury and last of all it is tormented with despaire A fierce and a cruell beast whilst he sleepeth seemeth to be very mild and gentle but being awaked he rusheth with a sauage violence vpon the man which troubled him and leaueth him not vntill he haue torn him into many peeces And so a guilty conscience sleeping on the bed of deepe security and carelesnesse seemeth to enioy a continuall feast of happinesse and of peace but being by God informed of the guiltinesse of her sinne and being startled out of her drowsie sleepe she awaketh and with continuall anguish paines intollerable and with perpetuall torments she lasheth and whippeth the body in which she dwelleth Othâ— Casman 140. Solinus Pliny and ceaseth not to afflict it grieuously vntill she haue murdred it with perpetuall death Solinus and Pliny do report that when by too much rauening and ill digestion the belly of the Crocodile is filled vp and distempered with many wormes she laieth her mouth open vnto certaine birds which liue vpon the riuer of Nilus in the country of Egypt who entring into her throat doe eat them and deuour them by meanes whereof she is restored to her former health But the worme of an euill conscience is not so consumed there are no birds that can ease her of that paine My sonne to conclude this point let it be your chiefest Study and your daily practise First of all to serue God then to feare him and in fearing of him to abhor sinne as the greatest enemy to vertue and the death of your immortall soule Quae iuuenibus arrident voluptates easdem irrident senes The sinnes of youth are pleasing for a while but old age waxing wise abhorreth them as the soules poison Caelum si vis pede calcare vitium mente calca And if you must needs behold sinnes in other men yet looke on them as sailers do on rockes not to come neere them but to auoid them And if of force you must behold sinne in your selfe then looke on it as Iob did on his soares with a wofull eie Iob. 2.8 Iob. 16.16 Math. 26.75 Mark 14.72 Luk. 22.62 Or as Peter did on Christ his master when he denied him and wept bitterly Now that you may be the better enabled to serue God in feare and to hate sinne which trecherously slaieth the soule whilst flatteringly it smileth on her as Ioab did on Amasa and as Iudas betraied his Lord and Master 2. Sam. 20 9. Math. 26.48 when he kissed him You must with a true heart embrace RELIGION and vnfainedly loue religion which will rectifie your conscience towards God and teacheth you to magnifie him with an holy worship according to the rules and directions of his word and to delight in vertue as in your choisest loue and to loath vice as the blacknesse of an Ethiopian which no washing can make white which wil confirme your obedience to your King and soueraigne and to your other superiors and make you a worthy member in a florishing and in a happy common weale And will order your manners generally towards all men your ciuill behauior more particularly towards those with whom you do mutually conuerse For as Lactantius writeth and Lipsius from him doth report Lactantius sola Religioest quae hominum inter se custodit societatem It is religion only that maintaineth and preserueth society among men And in another place he saith Tolle Religionem vita humana Stultitia Immunitate est impleta If religion clense not the heart mans life will be fully fraughted with cruelty and with folly Where religion wanteth there the chiefest atchieuments of men are obscured as the sinner is when his face is vailed and masked with a cloud Fishes must needs die if the riuers be dried vp and so must the thoughts of men perish when they are not watered with the dew and refreshed with the comfortable streames of a religious mind and conuersation As Sauls honor was the more eminent because in stature he was taller then all the residue of his people so no man among wise men is more respected then he who frameth himselfe to be more religious then the rest Cultus omnis est in cultus sine cultu Dei A fit garment is easily shaped to serue a comly body but hardly are deformed members couered by the taylors skill so a man that is religious in all his waies may without difficulty or doubt be the obiect of his owne praise and commendation But if he be irreligious then no famous act can free him from in famy and from shame A spent candle loosing her flame leaueth nought behind but a stinking snuffe neither doth a man when he dieth leaue any thing behind him but ignominy and shame and reproach if whilst he liued he beautifie not himselfe with a religious life The reuerent respect Heathens in their kinds were religious and great regard to religion which from the beginning all nations and all people though not illuminated with the true knowledge of the true God haue had being by the only instinct of nature instructed that there was a diuine power infinite and supreme which both created the world and all things that were and which are therein And which also ruled and preserued them by a singular wisedome and in a wonderfull order and fashion made some of them in their blind zeale and superstitious ignorance to worship such and such things as were no Gods Hence it was Idolatry that some of them adored Iupiter Mars Saturne Mercury and such like poetically fained Gods And that some others of them worshipped the sunne the moone the starres and other celestiall bodies which were created only for the vse of man That some of them haue sacrificed their deuotions to the works of mens-hands Act. 19. As the Ephesians did to the Image of Diana and as the children of Israel in the wildernesse did to the golden Calfe Exod. 32. Dan. 3. 2. Reg. 5.18 1. Sam. 5. And as Nebuchadnezzars people did to the golden statue which he had erected and set vp and as the king of Aram and his subiects aid to the idoll Rymmon And as the Philistins did vnto Dagon Historia and as the Medes and Persians vnder Cyrus their king did to the image of Bel and of the Dragon And hence it is Psal 135. that the Prophet Dauid with a bitter taunt reproueth and reprehendeth their grosse and abhominable follies when he saith the idols of the heathen are siluer and gold euen the works of mens hands they haue a mouth and speake not they haue eares and heare not Neither is there any breath in their mouth they that make them are like vnto
in estimable a price thatnone but such as are assisted by God can purchase her An honest life maketh a mans presence to be both louely and comely as women are more amiable when they haue neatly attired themselues in their looking-glasses S. Paul affirmeth 1. Cor. 6. That our bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost and thereupon he demaundeth this question in some sort by way of admiration and of wonder shall we then make them the members of an Harlot God forbid To liue well and to enioy a blessed and a happie life is nothing else but to liue honestly for without honestie all our liues are polluted and defiled as streames of water must be corrupted if the springs from which they doe descend be filthy and vncleane When Salomon by too much experience was instructed that by his wanton conuersation with lewd strong women he had offended the maiestie of his God partly by way of repentance for that sinne and partly to admonish others to abhorre their societie and alluring companie he could then-say A VVhore forsaketh the guide of her youth that is Prou. 2. her Husband and forgetteth the couenant of her God that is her solemne vow of honestie which she made in the congregation when she was maried and then with a surely he was able to affirme that her house tendeth to death and her pathes vnto the dead that all such as goe vnto her doe not returne againe neither take they hold of the waie of life Then could he say Prou. 6. that the lippes of a strange woman drop as an hony-combe and that her mouth is more soft then oile But the end of her is bitter as wormewood and sharpe as a two edged sword that her feete goe downe to death and that her steps take hold of hell Then could he giue to another this aduice Keepe thee from the wicked woman Pro. 6. and from the flatterie of the tongue of a strange woman desire not her beautie in thine hâ—art neither let her take thee with her eye-lids for by meanes of a whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of bread can a man faith he take fire in his bosome and his cloathes not burne or can a man goe vpon coales his feete not be burnt So he that goeth into his neighbours wife shall not be innocent he that committeth adulterie with a woman is destitute of vnderstanding he that doth it destroyeth his owne soule he shall finde a wound and dishonour and his reproach shall neuer be put away We may further reade in those his prouerbs Prou. 7. That he that followeth the straight waies of an harlot is as an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and as a foole to the stocks to be corrected that her house is the way vnto the graue which goeth downe to the chambers of death That the mouth of a strange woman is as a deepe pit Prou. 22. and that he with whom the Lord is angrie shall fall therein that a whore is a deepe ditch Prou. 23. Prou. 26. Prou. 36. and a strange woman is as a narrow pit that he who vseth harlots wasteth his ubstance and should not therefore giue his strength vnto women By all which descriptions caueats and admonitions that prudent and best experimented king discouereth plainly and to excellent purpose the vgly and loathsome shapes of those beastly and filthy monsters and endeuoreth to make them as indeede they ought to be hatefull and deformed both in the eyes and also in the hearts of vertuous and of honest men You may also reade in the holy scriptures all which were published for our learning Deut. 23. and for our instruction that the price of a dogge and the price of an harlot were reckoned and accompted to be one Because as a dogge fawneth vpon euery passer by so a harlot prostituteth her selfe impudently to euerie man that will entertaine her When Painters by their art and by their skil doe draw the portracture of Venus Imago Deorum 343. that lasciuious wanton and Goddesse as she was termed of vnchast and dishonest loue they sometimes doe leaue her naked whereby is signified that such as doe plunge themselues in the vanitie of her lewd follies are naked and depriued of all grace and goodnesse and of all vertuous qualities whatsoeuer And sometimes they paint her swimming in a quiet and in a calme sea Dewtr 23. noting thereby that such as do wantonly solace themselues in the sugred delights of a lasciuious and a whorish life are subiect and in great perill yea in a moment and in the middest of their securitie and dishonest life to be ouerwhelmed with destruction as a quiet and a peaceable sea is suddenly troubled withstormes and with tempestuous windes The end of a lasciuious man is seldome or neuer commendable and good He that saileth in Cupids ship shall hardly if euer arriue into the hauen or port of godlinesse and of vertue Many men haue receiued their deserued praise because they haue hated vncleanenesse and wanton lust but the beastly vse and wicked practise thereof neuer yet made any man to attaine vnto true worship or true honor King Dauid if he had not throughly repented for that sin had beene shut 2. Sam. 12. v. 13. and pierced through with the firie dart of Gods vengeance and of his wrath the wicked Iudges which impiously and lewdly assaulted Susannas chastitie failing of their vngodly purpose and yet falsly accusing and condemning her were by the prophet Daniel found to be guilty of notorious villany and iniustice and were according to their merits deserts stoned to death in the sight of all the people Nomb. 25.2.8.9 The Israelites in the wildernesse committed whoredome and were for the same sinne plagued grieuously with the pestilence and with the sword A mong the decemuiri in Rome Appius Claudius rauished Vergina the daughter of Verginius a worthy Roman whereupon he was depriued of his office Plutarch and that authority and dignitie was for a time abolished and taken quite away And Sextus Tarquinius the wicked son of as bad a father Hurim Schedell 65. Tarquinius Superbus the last of the Roman Kings by like rage and violence Sledan de quatuor Imperijs rauished Lucretia the wife of Noble Collatinus for which offence himselfe his Father and all their name were banished from Rome and the kingly gouernment which had continued there vnder seuen Kings for the space of 244. yeares was extinguished and the Consulship of two Senators was established in steede thereof The wanton dishonestie of Paris king Priams sonne Dares Phrigius with faire Helena the wife of Agamemnon occasioned the ruine and the destruction of the famous and most renowned Cittie of Troy and the deaths of many thousands of Princes and of valiant men of warre Antonies wanton loue with Cleopatra was the ruine of them both The inordinate affection which king Demetrius bare vnto his concubines
Plutarch in vita Demetrij 896. and to his curtezans made him to leuie a great taxe of two hundred and fiftie talents and which hee bestowed vpon one of those wanton minions to prouide her sope by meanes whereof he lost the dutifull affections of his subiects and was reckned to be but a wantonking Idem fo 38. Rodorick sometimes king of Spaine filthily rauished Cuba Felicitie of man 48. the daughter of the Earle of Cepta for which cause her father reuolted to the Mores and incited them to inuade Spaine which they did and with his succor and assistance became Lords ouer Rodoricke and subdued to their gouernment all his countries Tymolea a renowned and chast Ladie among the Thebans at the taking of that City was villanously rauished by a souldier Plutarch in vita Alexandri pag. 678. who hauing done to her that intolerable iniurie and wrong demaunded of her where her treasure was who made answere that she had cast it into a well in the backe most part of all her house to preserue it but whilst the souldier being greedy to haue the spoile of them looked narrowly into the well the deflowred Ladie to reuenge her selfe standing close behind him tooke vp his legges and threw him headlong into the well and forthwith stoned him to death To abandon this beastly and loathsome sinne from the Romans Marcellus hauing subdued the Siracusans placed the Temple of Venus at his returne without the Gates of Rome Signifying thereby that all lasciuious wantons ought to bee banished out of that renowned and faire Cittie Yea so ielous was Cato Censorius of any manner of example that might intice others to wantonnesse and vnto dishonestie of life Plutarch in vita Mar Cato pag. 356. that he deposed Manlius from his Senatorship in Rome onely for that in the presence of his daughter he had kissed his owne wife Much deceiued therefore was Aristippus the Philosopher Niphus de pulchre et amore 145. who like vnto an Epicure placed the Summum bonum and chiefest happinesse and felicitie of man in the actuall exercise of lasciuious and of wanton lust There is no earthly solace ioy or comfort that can be compared to the peace and to the tranquilitie of a quiet conscience neither is any mans conscience more ioyfull or more quiet then his who was neuer infected or polluted with this sinne It was Esaus prophanenesse Gen. 25. that made him to sell his birth-right and his inheritance for a messe of pottage And it is a lasciuious mans foolishnesse and his folly that for a short fleshly delight and a little vaine and filthy pleasure he will abandon the tranquilitie and the peace of his immortall soule Therefore my sonne expose not the wife of your youth I meane your virgin chastitie to the impudent and whorish enticements of a shamelesse harlot For all her pleasures are but paine all her ioyes are without true mirth all her comforts are but sorrowes and her craftie baites do kill as the fishers doe Keepe her therefore from you as enemies are carefully debarred from entring into a besieged Cittie and let her not come neere you least whilst you sleepe in her lappe she bereaue you of all godlinesse and vertue Iudges 16. as Dalila did Sampson of his haires in which his strength did consist Leaue her as the Israelites did the land of Egipt Exod. 17.3 but neuer desire nor long as they did to returne to her againe Remember how temperate and chast Alexander the great sometimes was Plutarch in vita Alexandri who neuer touched the wife nor daughters of Darius albeit that as vnto a conquerer they were or might haue beene made subiect to his lust And call to minde his wonderfull virtue when as he chastly passed by al the fairest women and maidens of the Persians whom he had vanquished looking vpon them onely as men vse to looke vpon images and vpon pictures which haue no life And thinke vpon the modest chastitie Idem in vita Scip Affric pag. 1088. and much commended honestie of Scipio Affricanus vnto whom when he had taken new Carthage in Spaine the fairest and the most beutifullladie of al his prisoners being the young wife of Luceius the prince of the Celtiberians was brought that with her he might haue solaced himselfe after his turmoiles in those warres but preseruing her honour and her honestie he restored her vntouched to her husband God knoweth al things And thinke not that any secret place can hide or couer him from the presence of almightie God that perpetrateth that abhominable sinne For God that fashioneth mens hearts knoweth all their warkes He knoweth the secret thoughts of men Ps 33.15 Ps 44 21. Ps 94.9 God seeth all things Ps 139. and that they are but vaine If his eyes saw vs when we were without forme And if our bones were not hidden from him though we were made in a secret place and fa shioned beneath in the earth shall he not then behold vs being made and fashioned in our full and perfect shapes And shall he not then discouer our nakednesse when sinfully wee doe pollute our selues and defile our members with harlots and with whores God heareth all things Ps 194. Hath God which is omnipotent and onely wise planted the eare and shall not he heare Hath he formed the eye and shall not he himselfe see Are not all our sinnes and all our transgressions written and recorded in his booke yea verily Ps 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Ps 139. Eccles. 12. and the way of the wicked shall perish There is not a word in our tongue but he knoweth it yea God will bring euerie worke vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill Sith then God seeth and heareth knoweth al things though they be spoken or contriued or committed and done in the most secret corners of the house If light and darkenesse be vnto him alike and seeing that no euill can dwell with him beware beware I say of this denouring and deadly sin of damnable whoredome the guilt whereof will cleaue as fast to the offenders conscience and to his soule 2. Reg. 5. as Naamans leprosie did vnto Gehazies flesh Runne from her therefore as from a Lion and from a Beare for when she fawneth and flattereth most shee destroieth soonest as doth the Crocadile and she leaueth for an enheritance for her children shame to disgrace them pouertie to afflict them and Gods eternall anger and vengeance to torment and plague them in the world to come Corrumpunt bonos more 's colloquia praua Euill words doe corrupt good manners Therefore be you well aduised Modest talking and very warie that your talke and communication be not wanton lasciuious or vncomely and carefully auoide the company of all loose and of all suspected women and then if daily you implore Gods fauour and his grace for your assistance