valiant yet if they had been but locked up in a chamber would either break the doores or offer to leap out of the windows yet not knowing of any danger imminent And if in an imaginary or possible evill feare have these effects what shall we expect from it in those which are reall and certaine It is marvellous and scarce credible which both histories and eyes can witnesse in this kinde Iames Osorius a young Gentleman of Spaine born of a noble Family one of the Courtiers of Charles the fift being upon occasion of a wicked designe of lust to an honourable Lady emprisoned with an intent of his execution the next day was suddenly so changed with the feare of the arrest of death that in the morning when he was brought forth none of the beholders knew him his haire was turned so white as if he had been fourescore years old upon sight whereof the Emperour pardoned him as having been enough punished with the fear of that which he should have suffered Levinus Lemnius a late Philosopher in whom my younger age took much delight recounts the story and discourses probably upon the naturall reasons of this alteration The like report is made by Iulius Scaliger of a Kinsman of Franciscus Gonzaga in his time imprisoned upon suspition of treason who with the feare of torture and death was in one nights space thus changed And Coelius Rodiginus tells us of a Falconer who climbing up to a rocky hill for an hawks nest was with the breaking of a rope wherewith he was raised so affrighted that instantly his haire turned What need we more instances My selfe have seene one to whom the same accident was said to have befalne though now the colour were upon the fall of that weak fleece altered What speak we of this Death it self hath followed sometimes upon this very fear of death so as some have dyed lest they should dye Montague gives us an instance of a Gentleman at the siege of S. Paul who fell downe stark dead in the breach without any touch of stroke save what his owne heart gave him Yea how have we knowne some that have dyed out of the feare of that whereof they might have dyed and yet have escaped A passenger rideth by night over the narrow plank of an high and broken bridge and in the morning dyes to see the horror of that fall hee might have had There is no evill whether true or fancyed but may be the subject of feare There may be a Pisander so timorous that he is afraid to see his own breath and our Florilegus tels us of a Lewes King of France so afraid of the sea that he said it was more then an humane matter to crosse the water and durst not passe betwixt Dover and VVhitsands till he had implored the aid of St. Thomas of Canterbury but all these feares have a relation to that utmost of all terribles and if other evils as displeasure shame paine danger sicknesse be the usuall subjects of feare also yet Death is the King of feare I am of the mind of Lucretius therefore although to a better purpose that if a man would see better dayes he must free his heart from that slavish fear of death wherewith it is commonly molested In what a miserable servitude are those men whereof Erasmus speaketh to his Grunnius who so abhorre the thought of death that they cannot abide the smell of Frankincense because it is wont to bee used at funeralls They who are ready to swound at the sight of a coffin and if they could otherwise choose could be content not to lie in a sheet because it recalls the thought of that wherein they shall be once wrapped It concerns a wise man to obdure himself against these weak feares and to resolve to meet Death boldly in the teeth Nothing is more remarkable in all the passages of our blessed Saviour then that which S. Luke records of him that when he was to go up his last to Jerusalem where he must die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he stedfastly set his face to that fatall journey The word implyes a resolution of courage against some evill to be conflicted with Maldonate would have the Metaphor fetcht from the custome of Bulls who when they must fight are wont to fetch up a kind of sprightly terrour into their countenance at least it imports a firme purpose of an undaunted spirit to grapple with some fore-expected evill thus must wee learne to doe against our last enemie Tell me then thou weak man thou fearest death will it not come if thou feare it not will it come the later for thy feare Is not thy life thus made miserable before it come Is not this the condition upon which thou receivedst life to part with it when it should be called for art thou discontent at thy being dost thou murmur that thou art a man because therein thou art mortall Doth any thing befall thee different from the best and all of thy kind Look back upon all that have been before thee where are those innumerable numbers of men which peopled the earth but in the last century of yeares see whether the great Monarches of the world speed any otherwise couldst thou expect lesse upon the many and sensible warnings of thy mortality what language have thy sicknesses and decayes of nature spoken to thee but this of a true harbingers Death is comming And how well shouldst thou be pleased with his approach Say that thou were sentenced to live some hundreds of yeares with thine infirmities to boot what a burden wouldst thou be to thy selfe how more discontented wouldst thou be that thou mightst not die why art thou not as well displeased that thou must be old And when wouldst thou part that thou mightst avoid it Thou fearest death How many heathens have undergone it with courage Shall I see a bold Roman spurring his horse to leap down into a dreadfull Gulfe for the benefit of those from whom he cannot receive thanks Shall I see a Cleombrotus casting himselfe resolutely from the rock to enjoy that separate life of the soule which Plato discoursed of Shall I heare a Canius of whom Seneca speaks jeering his tyran and his death together and more regarding the victory of his game then the losse of his life shall I hear of some Indian wives that affect and glory to cast themselves into the fire with the carcasses of their dead husbands shall I see Turks filling up ditches with their wilfully-slaughtered bodies for the fruition of their brutish paradise And shall I bee cowardly where Pagans are valiant Yea how many have I known that have eagely sought for death and cannot finde it how many who upon frivolous occasions by self-dispatches have cast away that life which they could not otherwise be rid of what conceit soever I have of the price of life their undervaluation of it hath beene such that they have parted
question in the like case to the Jews Who required this of you As if God took pleasure in the misery of his best creature and had so ordered it that Grace could not consist with prosperity and contentment We have seene then both those extremities wherewith men are mis-carried in matter of the palate and some outward usages of the body §. IV. Of the extreames in the cases of lust AS for the delight of the marriage-bed which some salacious spirits have thought fit in an eminence or propriety to call pleasure how far it hath bewitched men it is too apparent How many are thus drunk with their own wine spending their bodies to satisfy those sensuall desires wherwith they are impotently transported like that bird of whom Suidas speaks which dies in the very act of his feathering Certainly there is no such Tyran in the world as lust which where it prevailes enslaveth the soule and sendeth his best subjects not to the mill with Sampson or to the distaffe with Hercules but to the chambers of death to the dungeon of hell The witty Athenians could enact a Law for Bigamie and Socrates himself who was by the Oracle named for the wisest man of his time and the greatest master of his passions could be content to practice that wherein he was well punished And how their famous Philosophers were affected I had rather S. Ierome should speak then I And the Turks at this day whom their Alcoran restraines from wine yet are by their law let loose to this full scope of sensuality What speak I of these when the very Patriarks and Princes of Gods peculiar people were palpably exorbitant in this kinde The man after Gods own heart in respect of the sincerity of his soule divided himself betwixt sixe partners of his bed the mistaking of which permission hath drawne the modern Jews into a false opinion of no lesse then eighteen wives allowed still to their Princes But for his son Solomon in other things the wisest under heaven from whom the Eastâ—rne Potentates have borrowed their Seraglio's what stint was there of his bedfellowes he could not so much as know all their faces Neither was it for nothing that the allâ—wise God saw it fit in his royall law to give us two Commandements against lust and but one onely against murder or theft Doubtlesse as Gerson well observes because he saw us naturally more prone to these wanton desires then to those violent Contrarily there have not wanted some who out of a strong affectation of continency an over-valuation of the merit of virginity have poured too much water upon the honest flames of their lawfull desires and have offered a willing violence to nature Not to speak of Origen and some others that have voluntarily evirated themselves a practice justly cryed downe by some Councels such were Amnon the Heremite and Pelagius the Monk in the Ecclesiasticall history who the first day of their marriage took up a resolution of the continuance of a virginall chastity a fashion which some improbable legends have have cast upon S. Iohn the beloved Disciple in his mis-imputed marriage in Cana and retired to an agreed solitarinesse Many formall votaries have made profession of no lesse continency but with what successe I take no pleasure to relate Let an indifferent man speak Erasmus in an Epistle to his Grunnius who tels us of store of Monasteries such as in comparison vvhereof the stews were more sober more modest Out of their owne ingenuous casuists out of the vvofull complaints of their Alvarez Pelagius S. Brigit Gerson others it were easie to tell shamefull tales if we made disgrace our ayme it shall be enough to desire any reader to informe himselfe of the reason alledged in the Councel of Ments under Pope Stephen of so strict an inhibition to their clergie not to admit of so much as their sister to come within their doors and to take notice of that old by-word In Hispania preti c. I take no joy to discover the miserable nakednesse of Christians Inordinate minds where is no restraint of Grace are apt to run thus wilde whether amongst them or us but there so much more as there is lesse allowance of lawfull remedies A point which some of the most ingenuous spirits of the Roman correspondence have seriously wisht to have recommended to wiser consideration and redresse §. V. The liberty that God hath given us in the use of his creatures I Meant to dwell only so long in the extreams as to make my passage to the meane which is the sole drift of our indeavour There is therefore betwixt excesse and defect whereof we have spoken a lawfull and allowed latitude of just pleasure which the bounty of our good God hath allowed to his dearest creature man whereof it is meet for us to take knowledge To begin with the Palate He who is the author of appetite hath provided and allowed meanes to satisfie it not with asparing hand as for meere necessity but sometimes also liberally for delight I have oft wondred to see how providently the great House-keeper of the world hath taken seasonable order for the maintenance of all his creatures so as their mouthes are not sooner ready then their meat Whether in man or beast conception is immediately seconded with nourishment neither is the issue brought forth into the light of the world before there be bottles of milk ready prepared for the sustenance The birds except some domestick hatch not their young in the dead of winter but when the growing Spring hath yeelded a meet meanes of their food In the very silk-worme I have observed that the small and scarce-sensible seed which it casts comes not to life and disclosure untill the mulbery which is the slowest of all trees yeelds her lease for its necessary preservation And the same God who hath given the creature life appetite meat hath by a secret instinct directed them to seeke it so as the whelp even before it can see hunts for the teat â—nd those shell-fishes to which â—ature hath denyed meanes of â—ight or smelling yet can follow â—nd purchase their food And if â—ll thy creatures O God vvait upon thee that thou maist give them â—heir meat in due season if thou openest thy hand and they are filled vvith good how much more magnificent art thou to that creature for whom thou madest all the rest Thou vvho at the first broughtst him forth into a vvorld furnished before-hand vvith all varieties hast beene graciously pleased to store him stilâ— vvith all things that might serve for the use of meat medicine delicacy Hadst thou only intended our meere preservation a little had beene enough Nature is neitheâ— vvanton nor insatiable We know vvhat those Brachmanni are reported to have said to the great Conqueror of the world in shaminâ— his conquest by their owne Wâ— know vvhat the Romane commander said to his Souldiers in â— just
earth that I desire besides thee so it can say with St. Paul I have learned both to want and to abound to be full and to be hungry and in whatsoever estate to be therewith content Our desires therefore are both the surest measures of our present estate and the truest prognosticks of our future Vpon those words of Solomon As the tree falls so it shall lie Bernard wittily How the tree will fall thou shalt soone know by the store and weight of the boughes Our boughes are our desires on which side soever they grow and sway most so shall the soule fall It was a word too good for him that sold his birth-right for a messe of pottage I have enough my brother Iacob himselfe could have said no more this moderation argues a greater good then it selfe for as nothing comes amisse to that man who holds nothing enough since the love of mony is the root of all evill so he that can stint his desires is canon-proofe against tentations whence it is that the best and wisest men have still held themselves shortest Even he that had more then enough could say Give me not over-much Who knowes not the bare feet and patched cloaks of the famous Philosophers amongst the heathen Plutarch wonders at Cato that being now old and having passed both a Consul-ship and Triumph he never wore any garment that exceeded the worth of an hundred pence It was the wish of learned Erasmus after the refused offers of great preferments that he might so order his expences that he might make all eaven at his death so as when he dyed he might be out of every mans debt and might have only so much mony left as might serve to bring him honestly to his grave And it was little otherwise it seemes with the painfull and eminent Master Calvin who after all his power and prevalence in his place was found at his death to be worth some forty pounds sterling a summe which many a Master gives his groome for a few yeares service Yea in the very chaire of Rome vvhere a man vvould least look to meet vvith moderation vve finde Clement 4. vvhen he would place out his two daughters gave to the one thirty pounds in a Nunnery to the other three hundred in her marriage And Alexander the 5. who was chosen Pope in the Councell of Pisa had vvont to say he was a rich Bishop a poore Cardinall and a beggarly Pope The extreame lowlinesse of Celestine the 5. who from an Anachorets cell was fetcht into the Chaire and gave the name to that Order was too much noted to hold long he that would onely ride upon an asse whiles his successors mount on shoulders soone walks on foot to his desert and thence to his prison This man was of the diet of a brother of his Pope Adrian who caused it to be written on his grave that nothing fell out to him in all his life more unhappily then that hee was advanced to rule These are I confesse meer Heteroclites of the Papacy the common rule is otherwise to let passe the report which the Archbishop of Lions made in the Councel of Basil of those many Millions which in the time of Pope Martin came to the Court of Rome out of France alone and the yearely summes registred in our Acts which out of this Iland flew thither above the Kings revenues we know in our time what millions of gold Sixtus 5. who changed a neat-heards cloak for a Franciscans cowle and therefore by vertue of his order might touch no silver raked together in five yeares space The story is famous of the discourse betwixt Pope Innocent the 4. and Thomas Aquinas When that great Clerk came to Rome and looked somewhat amazedly upon the masse of Plate and treasure which he there saw Lo said the Pope you see Thomas we cannot say as S. Peter did of old Silver and gold have I none No said Aquinas neither can you command as he did the lame man to arise and walk There was not more difference in the wealth of the time then in the vertue It was an heroicall word of S. Paul As having all things yet possessing nothing and a resolution no lesse that rather then he would be put down by the brag of the false-teachers among the Corinthians he would lay his fingers to the stitching of skins for Tent-making What speak I of these meannesses when he tells us of holy men that wandred about in sheep-skins and goats skins in deserts and mountains and caves of the earth Yea what doe I fall into the mention of any of these when I heare the Lord of life the God of glory who had the command of earth and heaven say The foxes have holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his head It was a base and unworthy imputation that hath been cast upon him by some ignorant favourers of wilfull poverty that he lived upon pure almes If our blessed Saviour and his train had not a common stock wherefore was Iudas the purse-bearer and why in that office did he repine at the costly oyntment bestowed upon his Master as that which might have been sold for 300 pence to the use of the poore if himselfe had not wont to be a receiver of the like summes in a pretence of distribution wherein had he been a thiefe if he had not both wont and meant to lurch out of the common Treasury Certainly he that said It is better to giue then to receive would not faile of the better and take up with the worse and he who sent his Cators to Sichem to buy meat would not goe upon trust with Samaritans Now he that shall aske how this stock should arise may easily think that he vvho commanded the fish to bring him tribute-mony had a thousand vvayes to make his owne provision Amongst vvhich this is cleare and eminent His chosen vessel could say Even so the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell Lo this was Christs owne ordination was it not therefore his practice and if any man would rather cast it upon our Saviours care for the provision of succeeding times he may soone learne that when the blessed Son of God sent his Disciples as Legates from his own side to preach the Gospell without scrip or mony the word was dignus est The labourer is worthy of his wages he saith not The begger is vvorthy of his almes This maintenance vvas not of beneficence but duty So as Salmeron observes well neither Christ nor his Apostles were in any vvant they earned what they had and they had what was sufficient And if that gracious Messiah beg'd water of the Samaritan woman at Iacobs vvell it vvas because he thirsted after the salvation of her and her neighbours and vvould take this occasion to bestow
vvhich cannot but naturally abhorre paine and torture What malefactor vvas ever in the vvorld that vvas not troubled to thinke of his execution There is a sorrow that lookes not at the punishment but the sinne regarding not so much the deserved smart as the offence that is more troubled with a Fathers frowne then with the whip in a strangers hand with the desertions of God then with the feare of an hell Under this sorrow and sometimes perhaps under the mixture of both doth God suffer his dearest ones to dwell for a time numbring all their teares and sighes recording all their knocks on their breasts and stroakes on their thighes and shakings of their heads and taking pleasure to view their profitable and at last happy self-conflicts It is said of Anthony the holy Hermite that having beene once in his desart beaten and buffeted by Divells he cryed out to his Saviour O bone Iesu ubi eras O good Iesus where wert thou whilâ—s I was thus handled and received answer Iuxta te sed expectavi certamen tuum I was by thee but stayed to see how thou wouldest behave thy selfe in the combat Surely so doth our good God to all his he passeth a videndo vidi upon all their sorrowes and will at last give an happy issue with the temptation In the meane time it cannot but concerne us to temper this mixed sorrow of ours with a meet moderation Heare this then thou drouping soul thou are dismayed with the haynousnesse of thy sinnes and the sense of Gods anger for them dost thou know with whom thou hast to doe hast thou heard him proclaim his own style The Lord the Lord mercifull and gratious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquities and transgressions and sinnes and canst thou distrust that infinite goodnesse Lo if there were no mercy in heaven thou couldst not be otherwise affected Looke up and see that glorious light that shines about thee With the Lord there is mercy and with him is plentious redemption And is there plentious redemption for all and none for thee Because thou hast wronged God in his justice wilt thou more wrong him in his mercy and because thou hast wronged him in both wilt thou wrong thy selfe in him Know O thou weak man in what hands thou art He that said Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulnesse reacheth unto the clouds said also Thy mercy is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds It is a sure comfort to thee that he cannot faile in his faithfulnesse and truth thou art upon earth and these reach above thee to the clouds but if thy sinnes could be so great and high as to over-look the clouds yet his mercy is beyond them for it reacheth unto heaven and if they could in an hellish presumption reach so high as heaven yet his mercy is great above the heavens higher then this they cannot If now thy hainous sinnes could sink thee to the bottome of hell yet that mercy which is above the heavens can fetch thee up againe Thou art a grievous sinner we know one that said he was the chiefe of sinners who is now one of the prime Saints in heaven Looke upon those whom thou must confesse worse then thy selfe Cast back thine eyes but upon Manasseh the lewd son of an holy Parent See him rearing up Altars to Baal worshipping all the host of heaven building Altars for his new Gods in the very courts of the house of the Lord causing his sonnes to passe through the fire trading with witches and wicked spirits seducing Gods people to more then Amoritish wickednesse filling the streets of Jerusalem with innocent bloud say if thy sinne can be thus crimson yet behold this man a no lesse famous example of mercy then wickednesse And what is the hand of God shortned that he cannot now save Or hath the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy cleane gone for ever hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies O man say justly on This is mine infirmity thine infirmity sure enough and take heed if thou persist to distrust that it be not worse These misprisons of God are dangerous The honour of his mercy is justly deare to him no marvell if he cannot indure it to be questioned when the temptation is blowne over heare what the same tongue sayes The Lord is mercifull and gratious slow to anger and plentious in mercy He will not alway chide neither will he keep his anger for ever He hath not dealt with us after our sinnes nor rewarded us after our iniquities For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy towards them that feare him Oh then lay hold on the large and illimited mercy of thy God and thou art safe What cares the debtor for the length of a bill that is crossed what cares the condemned person for the sentence of death whiles hee hath his pardon sealed in his bosome Thou art an hainous sinner Wherefore came thy Saviour wherefore suffered he If thy sinne remaine wherefore serves his bloud If thy debt bee still called for wherefore was thine obligation cancelled If thou be still captive to sin and death wherefore was that deare ransome paid why did he stretch forth his blessed hands upon the crosse but to receive thee why did he bow downe his head but to invite thee why vvas his precious side opened but that he might take thee into his heart Thou despisest him if thou trustest him not Iudas and thou shall sin more in despairing then in betraying him Oh then gather heart to thy selfe from the merits from the mercies of thine All-sufficient Redeemer against all thy sinfulnesse For who is it that shall be once thy Judge before what Tribunall shalt thou appeare to receive thy sentence Is it not thy Saviour that sits there He that dyed for thee that he might rescue thee from death shall he can he doome thee to that death from which he came to save thee Comfort thy self then with these words and if thou wouldst keep thy soule in an equall temper as thou hast two eyes fixe the one of them upon Gods justice to keep thee low and humble and to quit thee from presumption fixe the other upon his transcendent mercy to keepe thee from the depth of sorrow and desperation §. XIV Of the moderation of the Passion of Feare SOrrow is for present and felt evils Feare is onely of evils future A passion so afflictive that even the expectation of a doubtful mischief that may come is more grievous to us sometimes then the sense of that mischiefe when it is come That which Torquemade reports of a Spanish Lord in his knowledge I could second with examples at home of some who have been thought otherwise
with it for nothing they have run to meet that death which I flie from as formidable and ugly Thou fearest death Look upon the examples of those holy men who have tendered themselves to the painfullest martyrdome see Ignatius resolving to challenge the Lions see the tender virgins daring the worst cruelty of Tyrants and embracing death in his worst formes see silly Mothers in an ambition of a crowne of life running with their children in their armes to overtake death see those resolute Saints that might have been loosed from their wheels and racks with proffers of life and honour and scorned the exchange Doe I professe their faith doe I looke for their glory and shall I partake nothing of their courage Thou art afraid of death what a slaughter dost thou make every houre of all other creatures what meale passeth thee wherein some of them doe not bleed for thee yea not for need not for use but for sport for pleasure dost thou kill them dayly without pitty without scruple Alas we made them not they are our fellowes he that made us made them too How much are we lesse to God then they are to us Doe we see so many thousands of them then dye for us and shall we think much to returne our life to our Creator Thou art afraid of death Thou mistakest him thou thinkest him an enemy he is a friend If his visage be sowre and hard he is no other then the grim porter of Pararadise which shall let thee into glory Like unto Peters good Angell he may smite thee on the side but he shall lead thee out of thy prison through the Iron gates into the City of God Were there an absolute perition in our dissolution we could not feare it too much now that it doth but part us a while for our advantage what doe we feare but our gaine The stalk and eare arises from the graine but it must rot first Oh our foolishnesse if we be unwilling that one grain should putrifie for the increase of an hundred Thou art afraid of death Hast thou well considered from how many evills it acquites thee All the tumults of State all the bloudy cruelties of warre all the vexations of unquiet neighbours all secret discontentments of minde all the tormenting paines of body are hereby eased at once thou shalt no more complaine of racking convulsions of thy wringing collicks of the dreadfull quarry that is within thy reynes and bladder of thy belking goutes of thy scalding feavers of thy galling ulcers of the threats of thine Imposthumes the stoppings of thy strangury the giddinesse of thy vertigo or any other of those killing diseases wherewith thy life was wont to be infested here is a full Supersedea◠for them all what reason hast thou to be affraid of ease Lastly thou fearest death Is it not that thy Saviour underwent for thee did thy blessed redeemer drink of this cup and art thou no willing to pledge him His was a bitter one in respect of thine for it was besides spieed with the wrath of his Father due to our sinnes yet he drank it up to the very dregges for thee and wilt thou shrink at an ordinary drought from his hand And why did he yeeld to death but to overcome him Why was death suffered to seize upon that Lord of life but that by dying he might pull out the sting of death The sting of death is sinne So then death hath lost his sting now thou mayest carry it in thy bosome it may coole thee it cannot hurt thee Temper then thy feare with these thoughts and that thou mayest not be too much troubled with the sight of death acquaint thy selfe with him before-hand present him to thy thoughts entertaine him in thy holy and resolute discourses It was good counsell that Bernard gave to his novice that he should put himselfe for his meditations into the place where the dead body◠were wont to be wash◠and to settle himselfe upon the beare whereon they were wont to be carryed forth so feeling and frequent remembrances could not but make death familiar and who can startle at the sight of a familiar acquaintance at a stranger we doe especially if he come upon us on a sudden but if hee bee a dayly and entire guest he is at all houres welcome without our dismay or trouble §. XV. Of the moderation of the passion of anger OF all the passions that are incident to a man there is none so impetuous or that produceth so terrible effects as anger for besides that intrinsecall mischiefe which it works upon a mans owne heart in regard whereof Hugo said well Pride robs me of God envy of my neighbour anger of my selfe what bloudy Tragedies doth this passion act every day in the world making the whole earth nothing but either an Amphitheater for fights or a shambles for slaughter so much the more need is there of an effectuall moderation of so turbulent an affection Our schoole hath wont to distinguish it there is a zealous anger and there is a vicious The great Doctor of the Gentiles when hee sayes Be angry and sin not showes there may be a sin-lesse anger He that knew no sinne was not free from this passion when he whipped the money-changers twice out of the Temple Surely if we be not thus angry we shall sinne If a man can be so coole as without any inward commotion to suffer Gods honour to be trod in the dust he shall finde God justly angry with him for his want of anger I know not whether it vvere a praise that was given to Theodosius that never any man saw him angry so as it may fall an immunity from anger can bee no other then a dull stupidity Moses was a meek man as any upon earth yet vvas he not angry vvhen he smote the Egyptian vvas he not angry vvhen upon the sight of Israels Idolatry hee threw downe and brake the Tables of God vvhich he had in his hand There is so little need of quenching this holy fire that there is more need of a bellowes to blow it up that it might flame up to that perfect height of the Psalmist My zeale hath consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words Oh the truly heavenly fire that burnt in that sacred bosome he doth not say my zeale hath warmed me but hath consumed me as if it were his highest perfection to be thus sacrificed and burnt to ashes neither doth he say because my friends have forgotten thy words but Because my enemies Every man can be troubled with a friends miscarriage but to be so deeply affected for an enemy must needs be transcendently gracious It is the vicious anger we must oppose in our selves In it selfe that passion is neither good nor evill it is either as it is used Like as we are wont to say of the planet Mercury that the influences are either good or evill according to his conjunction with
and since I neither am nor will be so I will endeavour to use the matter so as that I may not be thought to be one The course is preposterous and unnaturall that is taken up by quarrelsome spirits fâ—rst they pitch their conclusion and then hunt about for premises to make it good this method is for men that seeke for victory not for truth for men that seeke not God but themselves whereas the well-disposed heart being first upon sure grounds convinced of the truth which it must necessarily hold cares only in essentiall verities to guard it selfe against erronious suggestions and in the rest is ready to yeeld unto better reason Hee is not fit to be a gamester that cannot be equally content to lose and winne and in vaine shall hee professe morality that cannot with Socrates set the same face upon all events whether good or evill In all besides necessary truthes give me the man that can as well yeeld as fight in matters of this nature I cannot like the spirits of those Lacedemonian Dames which gave the shields to their sonnes with the peremptory condition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely hee is better accepted of God that in these frayes of indifferency doth peaceably lay downe the Bucklers then hee that layes about him with the greatest ostentation of skill and valour In things of this kinde meeknesse may doe God more service then courage They say milke quenches wild-fire better then any other liquor and wee finde in all experience that the pores are better opened with a gentle heat then with a violent The great Apostle was content to become all things to all that hee might winne some How was hee all to all if hee did not sometimes remit of his right to some He that resisteth Peter the Prime Apostle to his face in the case of a perillous temporizing yet gave way to Iames and the other brethren to purifie himselfe with the foure votaries in the Temple shortly then as he is a wise man that knowes when it is time to yeeld so is hee a peaceable sonne of the Church that yeelds when hee sees it time and by this meanes provides for his owne comfortable discharge and the publique tranquillity that can be in necessaries truthes an Oake and a Reed in truthes indifferent §. IX Remissenesse in matter of Censure IN matters of this nature whereof wee treat true moderation requires the peaceable Christian to be not more yeelding in his Opinion then favourable in his Censures of the contrary-minded for it is a fearefull violation both of Charitie and justice to brand an adversarie in matter of slight Opinions with the odious note of Sect or Heresie and no lesse Presumption to shut that man out of Heaven whom God hath enrolled in the Booke of Life In all other things sayth the Chancelour of Paris besides those which are meerely matters of Faith the Church may either deceive or be deceived and yet hold Charitie still And as it is a good rule that is given to Visitors that they should be sparing in making Decrees lest the multitude of them should bring them into contempt so it is a rule no lesse profitable to spirituall Governours which Erasmus relates out of Gerson that they should not rashly throw about the thunder-bolts of their Censures We cannot be too severe in the maine matters of Religion though not without that wise Item of Cicero that nothing that is cruell can be profitable the remissenesse wherein may be no other then an injurious mercie but in things of slighter condition we must be wiser then to draw a Sword to kill Flyes neither is it for us to call for Scorpions where a Rod is too much It is remarkable that of Galienus who when his Wife had complained to him of a Cheater that had sold Glasse-pearles to her for true made as if hee would have cast him to the Lions the Offender looking for those fierce beasts was onely turn'd loose to a Cock In some cases shame and scorne may be a fitter punishment then extreme violence Wee may not make the Tent too bigge for the Wound nor the Playster too broad for the Sore It was grave counsell that S. Austin gave to his Alipius that heed must be taken lest whiles wee goe about to amend a doubtfull complaint wee make the breach wider And that rule was too good for the Authour Iohn 22. that in a case uncertaine wee should rather determine within the bounds then exceede them Even in plaine convictions violence must be the last remedie as in outward bodily extremities by Hippocrates his prescription Ignis and Ferrum must be last tryed for generous spirits as Erasmus well desire to be taught abide not to be forced it is for Tyrants to compell for Asses to be compelled and as Seneca observes a good natur'd Horse will be govern'd by the shadow of the Wand whereas a sullen restie Iade will not be ordered by the Spurre S. Paul puts it to the choyse of his Corinthians Will ye that I come to you with a Rod or with the spirit of meekenesse as loth to use the Rod unlesse he were constrained by their wilfull disobedience Much have they therefore to answer for before the Tribunall of Heaven who are apt to damne Christians better then themselves sending all the Clyents of the North-westerne Grecian Russian Armenian Ethiopick Churches downe to Hell without redemption for varying from them in those Opinions which onely themselves have made fundamentall And herein are wee happy that wee suffer for our Charitie rather chusing to incurre the danger of a false Censure from uncharitable men then to passe a bloudie and presumptuous Censure upon those who how faultily soever professe the deare name of our common Saviour Let them if they please affect the glory of a Turkish Iustice in killing two Innocents rather then sparing one Guiltie let us rather chuse to answer for Mercie and sooner take then offer an unjust or doubtfull Violence §. X. The sixt rule of Moderation Not to beleeve an opposite in the state of a Tenet or person SIxtly to a man of Peace nothing is more requisite then a charitable distrust viz. That wee should not take an adversaries word for the state of his opposite They were amongst the rest two necessarie charges that Erasmus gave to his Goclenius To be sober and incredulous For as there is nothing that rayses so deadly hostilitie as Religion so no Criminations are either so rife or so haynous as those which are mutually cast upon the abettors of contrarie opinions Wee need not goe farre to seeke for lamentable instances Let a man beleeve Andrew Iurgivicius hee will thinke the Protestants hold no one Article of the Apostles Creed Let him beleeve Campian hee shall thinke wee hold God to be the Authour of Sinne That the Mediator betweene God and man JESUS dyed the second death That all sinnes