and have not the grace to make use of them but famish themselves in the midst of their treasures whereas they might above all other do good to their native Countrey relieve the poor and abound in works of charity whereby it is commonly seen that riches are as a stumbling block to the ways of righteousness and it is confirmed by these words of our Saviour f Mat. 19.23 A rich man shall hardly enter in the kingdom of heaven for rich men are for the greater part so besotted with their riches that their gold and silver is their Idol to whom they sacrifice morning and evening nay day and night the best of their cogitations and thoughts and rather then they will part from them will hazard the salvation of their souls as it may appear by the carriage of the young man spoken of in the Gospel for when our Saviour said unto him g Luke 18.22 23. Go and sell all that thou hast and distribute the same unto the poor and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven and come and follow me he went away saith the Text very sorrowful because he was very rich for their hearts be so glued to the things of this world and their mindes so taken up with carking cares to increase or preserve their riches that they have no time to attend carefully upon the hearing of the Word of God and suppose they frequent as other men do the publique exercises yet their mindes are so bent upon their worldly affairs that they are not attentive to the Word and do not apply it to themselves and so neglect to make their calling and election sure And for Charitie daily experience doth shew that the greater part of them are inferior to others in that excellent grace for they above all others are full of malice envy and vindication and will upon the least offence or unadvised word undo poor men by tedious suits at law to vindicate themselves presumption and pride being as a natural habit to rich men and these are the greatest Antagonists to charity and for their charity towards the poor they are also generally more close-fisted then the middle sort of men for charity is not to be valued by the gift a man that giveth six pence a week to the poor may be more charitable then another that gives five shillings a weeke because that six pence may be more according to the Arithmeticall proportion to his estate then five shillings is to the wealth of a rich man and that was the reason that the two mites that the poor h Mark 12.42 widow did cast into the Treasury was more esteemed of our Saviour then the great gifts that the rich Pharisees did cast in because she gave even all she had and they gave but a small part of their abundance and many of them are so hard-hearted and deprived of all pity compassion and mercy that like the rich Glutton they will suffer the poor Lazarus to famish at their doors rather then they will allow them the crums that fall i Allusion upon Luke 16.21.25 from their tables but it will be said unto them one day Sons remember that in your life time you received your good things and the poor Lazarus evil things but now they are comforted and you are tormented It cannot be denied but there are divers monuments abroad of the Christian charity of many rich Citizens of London but to erect Alms-Houses and Hospitals with ill-gotten goods tending more to Ostentation then to true Charity is an abomination to the Lord and Selymus Emperor of the Turks and one of the greatest tyrants that ever was made conscience of it for k See the Turkish History in Selymus Life Pyrrhus his grand Visier perswading him upon his bed of death to erect a stately Mosque of the moneys that should proceed from the Persian Merchants goods that he had most unjustly confiscated he answered No Pyrrhus this would be an abomination to God and to our great Prophet Mahomet to build a Church and an Hospital with the moneys proceeding from goods that are not justly my own but rather I charge thee they be suddenly restored to their right owners and to rob Peter to give to Paul as many do is a meer impiety rather then charity Can men be so grosly deluded by Satan as to think that it is a satisfactory restitution to erect a sorry Alms-House or Hospital or a Free-School for the relief of the poor and for the education of poor Scholars after they have undone many by Usury Rapines and Oppressions No the restitution to be acceptable to God must be made to the very same parties they have wronged and oppressed or at least to their heires and like Zacheus say l Luke 19.8 Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him four fold Mr. Sutton after he had undone by Usury and Forfeitures of Bonds and Morgages many Gentlemen out of a remorse of conscience erected Charter-House Hospital for relief of decaied Gentlemen but it had been a better restitution if he had distributed the moneys it cost among the children of those he had oppressed yet few there are in these days so conscientious as he for they wil make no restitution at all neither in their life time nor after their death True Charity proceeds from a feeling compassion of our poor brethrens present misery and therefore men that are close-fisted to the poor in their life time and great benefactors at their death cannot be accounted true charitable men for they part from their money when they can make no more use of it and by consequence this charity savors more of Ostentation then of true Piety The Magnificence and Christian Charity of Sir Thomas Gressam is then to be commended for as another m Pericles did adorne the City of Athens with stately structures See Plutarch and Thucidides Pericles he did in his life time erect the Royall Exchange for the ornament of the City of London and Gressam Colledg for the propagation of Learning and many Almes-Houses for the relief of the poor and so shewed himself a wise and faithful Steward of those riches that the Lord was pleased to intrust him withall and certainly rich men that do not dispense of their riches after this maner specially if they have no children as he had none without the speciall mercy of God and an unfained and timely repentance they will be cut asunder and have their portion with the unbelievers for it is rather a curse then a blessing to be rich and have not the grace to make use of our riches which is confirmed by this saying of Salomon n Eccles 6.12 There is an evil saith he which I have seen under the Sun and it is common among men A man to whom God hath given riches wealth and honors so that he wanteth nothing for
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
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
THE VANITY OF THE Lives and Passions OF MEN. Written by D. Papillon Gent. Eccles 1.2 Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity April 9. 1651. Imprimatur John Downame London Printed by Robert White and are to be sold by George Calvert at the Sign of the half-Moon in Wattling-Street near St. Austins Gate 1651. To my beloved Sister Mrs. Chamberlan the Widow Dear Sister AS men usually Dedicate their works to their best beloved or most respected friend so I Dedicate this Treatise unto you who after God have ever been the object of my dearest love and best respects Be pleased then to peruse the same for you will finde comfort in it if you oppose or apply as Antidotes to the passions of Sorrow Way-wardness and Fear incident to old age the passions of Love Hope and Vndauntedness for the love of God will wâ—an your affections from the vanities of this life and give them wings to soar up to heaven to six themselves upon that infinite object of all perfection God himself Psalâ— 6.11 In whose presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand pleasures for evermore Secondly the Christian hope you have to be made by the merits of Christ co-heir with him of the Kingdom of Glory will expel all the sorrows way wardness and discontents proceeding from the crosses and afflictions you are subject unto in this life Lastly your Christian fortitude or undauntedness will annihilate as the beams of the Sun doth the morning dew the fears which may perplex your mind by the apprehension of the dart of death and will make you say with confidence at your departure out of this vayl of Tears Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ And so being confident you will accept this small evidence of my love with the same affection it is presented unto you I commend you to the Lords protection desiring to remaine Dear Sister Your loving Brother David Papillon From London June 1. 1651. To the Reader IF this saying Know thy self were written in mens hearts as it was engraven over the door of the Temple of Apollo at Delphos they would be more careful to regulate their passions for when mens passions are distempered it is impossible for them to know themselves And that is the reason why so many Learned men have lately written upon the use and moderation of mens passions And specially Senault a most Elegant and learned French Author And although his works have lately been translated into English by the Noble Earl of Monmouth yet because they are fitter for Schollers then for the illiterate I have thought it convenient to publish this Treatise for the benefit of meaner capacities In which I have joyned the Scripture-evidences with the principles of Morality For a good education with an habit in the precepts of Morality without the sanctifying graces of the blessed Spirit are not sufficient to regulate the intellectual distempers of mens passions because moral precepts and a good education penetrates no further then the bark and moderates only the distempers of 〈◊〉 â—utward man but a justifying Faith and the grace of sanctification its inseparable companion doth moderate the distempers of the intellectual faculties of the soul as well as those of the corporeal members I mean that by a good education and the principles of Morality a man may attain to a corporeal continency but never to an Intellectual Chastity without the graces of the sanctifying Spirit Therefore such as desire to obtain the mastery over the intellectual and corporeal distempers of their passions are to endevor to attain by fervent prayers from God the graces of the sanctifying Spirit as well as an habite in the Principles of Morality Otherwise they will never obtain the mastery over their passions to make them subordinate to the rules prescribed in the word of God And whereas Senault maintains that men have a Free will to do good or evil and gives over much power to the Principles of Morality I say we have no Free-will to do good except it be given us by the Free grace of God and that the Principles of true Christianity have more power to make men obtain the mastery over their passions then the Principles of Morality can have Be pleased then to accept of these Essays of mine with the same affection as I present them unto you and to account me as really I am Your humble servant in Christ D. Papillon From London June 1. 1651. Errata PAg. 22. l. 1. r. he outbraded him p. 26. l. 15. r. Crown p. 28. l. 1. r. concussion p. 43. l. 1. of Chap. 4. r. there are also p. 132. l 16. r. He that looketh upon a woman p. 135. l. 13. leave out the word all p. 140. l. 12. r. Crassus p. 182 l. 2. r. Charls the eighth p. 193. l. 3. r. July-flowers p. 194. l. 1. r. these p. ibid. l. 14. r. curb p. 205. l. 23. r. Marquis d'Ancre p. 244. l. 15. r. as conceiving the same p. 246. l. 16. r. say they p. 231. l. 3. r. precise p. 236. l. 17. r. these are p. 361. l. 25. r. are rather worse p. 379. l 9. r. induceth men The Contents Chap. 1. The vanity of the lives of Men. Pag. 1. Chap. 2. The vanity of worldly Honors p. 19. Chap. 3. The vanity of worldly Riches p. 43. Chap. 4. The vanity of worldly Pleasures p. 65. Chap. 5. The vanity of mens passions in general p. 81. Chap. 6. The vanity of the passion of Love p. 97. Chap. 7. The vanity of the passion of Hatred p. 115. Chap. 8. The vanity of the passion of Desire p. 131. Chap. 9. The vanity of the passion of Flight p. 147. Chap. 10. The vanity of the passion of worldly Joy p. 162. Chap. 11. The vanity of the passion of worldly Sorrow p. 179. Chap. 12. The vanity of the passion of worldly Hope p. 197. Chap. 13. The vanity of the passion of Despair p. 219. Chap. 14. The vanity of the passion of Vndauntedness p. 241. Chap. 15. The vanity of the passion of Fear p. 261. Chap. 16. The vanity of the passion of Wrath. p. 280. Chap. 17. The vanity of the passion of Volupty p. 299. Chap. 18. The vanity of the passion of Avarice p. 347. Chap. 19. The vanity of the passion of Ambition p. 372. Chap. 20. The vanity of the passion of Envie p. 401. CHAP. I. Of the vanity of the lives of Men. IF the end be the crown of the work the creating of man was the crown of the creation for after God had made man after his own a Gen. 1.27 Image and had infused into him a living soul he rested b Gen. 2.2 on the seventh day from all his works and this ingrateful man who
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
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
the Childe Christ Jesus were commanded by an Angel of God to flee into Egypt for fear that Herod would seek after the young childe to destroy him whereby it appears that the cause of mens flight doth commonly proceed from the fear of death and not to avoid sin But if men to avoid lust would flee from their beloved object Gen. 39.12 as Ioseph did fly from his lewd Mistress out of fear to offend the Lord it were the onely way to quench their lascivious desires for in the passion of true love between parties of unequal degree there is not any better remedy to asswage and extinguish the flames of love then to make the Lovers to absent themselves one from another at a far distance and for some continuance of time for sith the dropping of a gutter doth in continuance of time blot out any characters graven upon a Marble stone there is more probability that the impression of that object of beauty hath made in the imaginaon of men or women wil sooner be worn out with a long absence and it is daily seen that the last object of a beauty drives out of mens mindes the former impressions of another beauty and daily experience doth shew that to appease wrath the onely remedy is to flee from or to eschew the presence of him that is transported with that passion for the cause being taken away the effects cease so the object being removed which did cause the distemper in the soul the passion by degrees doth vanish away Fourthly The proprieties of Flight are as numerous as the causes of it and there is as great a similitude between Hatred and Flight The proprieties of Flight as there is between Love and Desire first it seemeth to fly from evil and doth aim at the good secondly Flight in outward appearance seems to be a coward and yet it is as generous as the Desire for to fly from sin is a greater valour then to fight in the field with a valiant enemy Sith it cannot be denied that he that hath the mastery over his own passions and can mortifie the cupidities of his desires is a greater conquerer then Cesar thirdly As the Desire calls Hope to its aid when it cannot obtain that which is difficult so Flight calls to its aid Fear and Hatred that it may with swifter wings fly from the evil that is overpowerful fourthly As the desire is a sign of indigence poverty and want so Flight is an evidence of Impatiency and Imbecillity and as men obtain by the prosecution of their desires such things as they want so men by flight free themselves of those things they most abhor and detest fifthly The propriety of Desire is to open and dilate the heart to make the same more eager after the prosecution of the good it aims at so Flight shrinks up the heart and debars sin from coming in to it sixthly As men by the means of the Desire injoy and possess the good even so men by the help of Flight preserve themselves from evil In a word Desire and Flight are the two Champions of Love and Hatred Desire and Flight are the two faithful Champions of Love and Hatred for as Love cannot execute any generous achievement without the aid of the Desire so Hatred cannot perform any noble exploit without the help of Flight Fifthly the effects of Flight The effects of Flight tend either to the preservation of the body or of the soul I will then first speak of that of the body and acquaint you that all horrid and terrible things that may procure the annihilation of mens beeing or deprive them from the good they aim at inticeth this passion either to eschew or fly from them 1 Sam. 18.11 and 19.10 It moved David to avoid the Javelin that Saul threw at him with an intent to smite him even to the wall but David fled and escaped again when he was informed by Jonathan that Saul his father did seek after his life then he fled again to Nob to Ahimelech the Priest and divers other times when he was in danger he fled from the presence of Saul and all to preserve his life And St. Paul being at Damascus and hearing that the Jews had set wait for his life and. watched the gates day and night to kill him Act. 9.23 24 the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket preserving his life by his flight It appears then by these two Instances that the effects of Flight tend specially to the preservation of mens beeing and when they fly from sin to the prevention of the danger of their souls for they have no better remedy as it hath been said already to free themselves from lust and from all lascivious desires then to flee from the objects that engender the same But why they fly sooner from the punishment of evil then from the guilt of sin I will hear enlarge my self and intreat the Reader to take notice that it is onely the natural men that do so much abhor the punishment Why men fly from the punishment rather then from the guilt of sin and are so eager to preserve the guilt for the true children of God do more detest the guilt then the punishment for they know the punishment of sin is as inseparable from the guilt as the shadow is from the body and they fear more to offend their gracious God then the punishment of sin but the wicked who have their portion in this life are afraid of the punishment more then of the guilt because their supream good is in this life which punishment seems to interrupt but the children of God carry their Cross and have nothing but disgraces trouble and vexations in this life and expect their supream bliss and happiness will be in the world to come and are confident and assured that the corrections and punishments that God inflicts upon them because of their sins are but so many evidences that their heavenly Father doth love and hath a care of them and so do adore the arm and kisse the hand of God that is pleased to chastise them For whom the Lord loveth saith St. Paul Heb. 12.6 he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth but the wicked murmur at the least corrections they receive from the hand of God and say with the two men that were possessed with evil spirits Matth. 8.29 What have we to do with thee art thou come to torment us before the time for so they injoy the pleasures of this life they care not what will become of them in the world to come being of this minde That one bird in the hand is better then two in the bush But to return from whence this digression brought me one of the chiefest effects of Flight is that it is the protector of Womens and Virgins Chastity and makes yong men free themselves from vitious and debausht company which they
Spanish History 8. Philip the Second King of Spain caused Prince Charls his eldest Son to be put to death by the Inquisition of Spain out of an ambitious jealousie that he did aspire to bereave him of his Crown Seventhly The Effects of Ambition are worse then the Proprieties of it for Paracidies Murthers Rebellions Mutations of States Annihilations of Laws intestine and forraign Wars with all the desolations and mischiefs that follow them at the heels are the fruits of mens ambition and of these I will speak in order and by instances confirm the same For the first Andronicus the younger See the History of the Emperor of Constantinople See the Turkish History out of ambition to raign did most cruelly put out the eyes of his Grandfather and famished him to death in Prison 2. Sylimus out of ambition to raign did most unnaturally poyson his Father Bajazeth and flew all his brethren 3. 2 Chron. 2.10 Athaliah out of Ambition to raign slew and destroyed all the Seed-Royal of the House of Judah 4. Richard the Third King of England out of Ambition to raign See the English History caused his two Nephews to be murthered in the Tower and in hope to settle the Crown upon himself and his Posterity he put his Wife to death to marry the Lady Elizabeth his own Niece Incests being accounted no sin by ambitious men So they may as the House of Austria do daily uphold and advance by it their ambitious designs For the Second 2 Sam. 3.27 Joab out of ambition to remain still the Commander in Chief of the men of War murthered perfidiously under colour of friendship Abner and Amasa by stabbing of them under the fifth rib 2. Baasha out of ambition to raign murthered Nadab his Lord and King 1 King 15.27 3. Zimri out of ambition to raign murthered Ela his Lord the Son of Baasha 1 King 16.10 1 King 16.18 4. Omri out of ambition to raign rose up against Zimri and enforced him to burn himself in the Kings Palace For the Third Absolom out of Ambition to raign rebelled against his Father King David 2 Sam 26.21 and did endeavour to deprive him of life from whom he had his being 2. Zedechiah out of ambition to raign as an absolute King rebelled against his benefactor King Nebuchadnezzar 2 King 24.20 which was the cause of his miserable end 3. Otho out of ambition to raign rebelled against Galba who had made him his second favourite See Tacitus 4. Pippin the short out of ambition to raign rebelled against his Lord King Childerick and by force and violence caused him to be shaven as a Monk See the French History and to be shut up into a Monastery For the Fourth The ambition of Nebuchadnezzar was the secondary cause of the destruction of the Assyrian Monarchy And the ambition of Cyrus was the cause of the overthrow of the Babylonian Monarchy And the ambition of Alexander was the cause of the annihilation of the Persian Monarchy And the ambition of the Roman Commanders was the cause of the utter subversion of the Greek Monarchy See Sir Walter Rawleighs History of the World And the ambition of Caesar was the cause of the mutation of the Democratical Government of Rome into a Monarchical And the ambition of the Rulers of the Gauls Goths Visgots Vandals and Lombards of the utter ruine of the Roman Monarchy for they rent the same in pieces as a Kite rends a young chiken I say the secondary Cause for the secret will and Decree of God is the first and efficient cause of all the mutations of States or Monarchies And that is the reason why Saint Paul giveth this charge Rom. 13 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God For the Fifth From the mutations of one kinde of Government to another Government See Plutarch in Caesars Life and Caesar in his Commentaries proceeds annihilation of the antient Laws of either of them It hapned so at Rome upon the change that Caesars ambition brought in that Commonwealth for the ancient Laws were annihilated and new Laws were established and likewise after the coming of William the Conquerour into England the antient Brittain Laws were annulled See Speed in his Historie of England and the Norman Laws confirmed This proverb being not more common then true viz. From new Lords new Laws and this might be proved by divers instances out of the antient and modern Histories but these two alledged will serve for brevity sake For the Sixth Ambition breeds divisions and divisions beget intestine and forraign Wars and from these Wars proceed the mutations of States and Monarchies and from these mutations the Annihilation of antient Laws Now the inseparable companions of forraign and intestine Wars are Atheism Schisms in the Church and a Laodicean luke-warmness in Religion and great effusions of blood injustices oppressions and desolations And all these mischiefs proceed from the exorbitant and irregular ambition of men and therefore I conclude that the passion of ambition is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit and more destructive to mankinde then any other passion But before I speak of the means which are to be used to restrain the fury of this violent passion give me leave to examine the justice or injustice of the Wars which have been meerly undertaken out of an ambitious desire of vain-glory It is certain that if the actions of the most ambitious Princes and Common-wealths that have from the creation to this day bin upon the Earth were examined without prejudice or partiality that they would be found more injurious then just If men set aside the secret will Decree of God who had ordained from the beginning that these four great Monarchies here spoken of should be so successful in their encrease they would wonder how injustice and oppressions could have such prosperous events I will only speak of the Actions of the Romans and Greeks 1. Because they have been more clearly demonstrated to us by their Authors then the actions of the other two 2. Because the Actions of the Assyrians and Babylonians were guided by a special providence of God for the punishment of the sins of his own People the Jews As for the Actions of the Romans men may clearly see that from their very beginning until the days of Caesar they have for the greater part been unjust oppressive and injurious although they with much cunning and art did palliate them under the cloak of Justice and the right of the Laws of Nations And as for the Civil War undertaken by Caesar against his native Countrey it was voyd of all humanity and Justice and Ambition only gave him the audacity to resolve to enslave under his yoak those to whom he had been a servant for seven years together Nay with that very Army that they had given him and
their brethren and hate sin I hate every false way m Psal 119.104 I hate vain thoughts but I love thy Law saith the Prophet David And again I hate and abhor n Psalm 119.163 lying but thy Law do I love Do I not hate them O Lord o Psal 139.21 22. that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise against thee I hate them with a perfect hatred I account them my enemies The fear of the Lord p Pro. 8.13 saith Salomon is to hate evil Pride and arrogancy and the freward mouth do I hate Hate the evil and love the good q Amos 5.15 saith the Prophet Amos. To conclude with the Apostle St. Peter r 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Let us lay aside all malice hatred env e and hypopocrisies and all evil speaking as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby c. CHAP. VIII Of the vanity of the passion of desire AS the billows of the Sea rowl one after another till they break themselves into fome against the clifts or rocks of the adjacent shores even so the desires of men drive away one another till they vanish away into the smok because the objects of their desires are for the greater part but vanity for not one man of a thousand doth fix his desires upon the right object that can satisfie his desires and fill his heart with joy and content and although mens desires be as free as their thoughts for the greatest Tyrants have no power over them yet there is an Eagle eye above who searcheth the reins that knows their desires as well as their thoughts Men should therefore be very cautious in their desires sith they proceed from the concupiscible appetite and are properly called Cupidity and in plain English Coveteousness and how dangerous it is to desire or covet any thing prohibited in the Law of God I leave it to the judgment of the Reader sith in the Interpretation of our blessed Saviour who was the best Interpretor of the Law that ever was upon earth He that coveteth a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her If evil desires then be so criminal men should be very wary how they fix their desires for they have a hand in all their passions Senault in his use of passions pag. 273. either to furnish them with weapons or with strength to afflict them And among all the rest of the passions there is not any which hath more branches proceeding from one and the same root then this passion of Desire for if all the desires of men were limited by their objects the number of passions proceeding from the general passion of Desire would be as numerous as a Swarm of Bees I have already spoken of three of its branches viz. first Of the desire of worldly honors secondly of the desire of worldly riches thirdly Of the desire of worldly pleasures the first being the passion of Ambition the second the passion of Avâ—rice the third the passion of Volupty And now I shall speak of the fourth branch called Cupidity which is of greater concernment then any and therefore give me leave for the better description of it to speak of these particulars in order 1. Of the definition of mens desires 2. Of the two essential causes of them 3. Of their effects and proprieties 4. Of the comfort that proceeds from the spiritual desires First All the desires of men may be reduced to these two heads or comprised under Necessary and Superfluous The Necessary are limited but the Superfluous have no bounds because they cannot be numbred And this is the most approved definition of mens desires Desire is nothing else but a passion that men have to attain to some good which they possess not which they conceive to be convenient for them The Bishop of Marsulles pag. 206. And not withstanding mens desires are commonly fixed upon objects that seem good but are really evil because the Senses delude their Imagination and often-times their Reasion and Judgment Now the passion of Dâ—sire differs not onely from the passion of Love but also from the passion of Delight because Love is the first motion or passion that intice 〈◊〉 to prosecute the good The definition fâ—nens desires whether it be present or absent but the dâ—sire is a passion that enduceth men to prosecute the good that is absent and the passion of Delight is onely a sweet content of the possession of the good See Senault pag. 27. after men have obtained the same Senault saith That the passion of Desire is nothing else but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth but doth not as yet possess whereby it appears that mens desires are ordinarily fixed upon uncertainties and that is the reason why I said formerly they often vanish into smoke Secondly The two most essential causes of mens Desires The impotency of men is a cause of their desires is their Impotency and Discontentedness for God who is Omnipotent hath no Desires and in the fruition of his blessed and glorious presence is the end of mens desires And suppose he had desires yet the end of them would be his own incomprehensible Beauty and Goodness If God doth but Will he hath the injoyment of his Desire as it is apparent in a Gen. 1.3 Genesis And God said or God willed Let there be light and there was light But it is not so with the greatest Monarchs in the world for through their impotency they are inforced to desire and their wishes and desires all are oftentimes rejected by him who is alsufficient to grant them the injoyment of their desires See Plutarch in Aâ—â—randers lite Alexander the Great was the greatest Monarch upon earth and yet his wishes and desires nay the prayers he made to his Idols or imaginary gods for the recovery of his dear and beloved Ephestion were rejected and these desires did manifest his impotency See Suetonius in Augustus life Augustus Cesar was the greatest Monarch in the world he wished and desired that the overthrow given to his Legions in Germany might be vindicated and out of impatiency of the performance of his desire he often like a mad man stamped with his feet upon the ground Crying out Varro Varro give me my Legions again and yet in his life time he did never obtain his desire It appears then that the impotency of men in the most eminent is a cause of their desires The discontentedness of men is a cause of their desires secondly the discontentedness of men in their Station and Calling is the cause of many fond desires for there is not one of a hundred that is contented with his condition because there are but few Diogenes in these days that are contented with a Tub to keep them free from the injuries of the air See Plutarch in his Morals or with a wooden-bowl