indued women to retayne them from these shamefull actions the basenesse and brevitie of that pleasure she pretends vnvailable to that cost she bestoweth yet for all this losse she will hazard it she neither regardeth the good she leeseth nor the harmes she incurreth nor the little trifle she winneth transgresseth the law of nature the law of God the law of christianitie the law of friendship onely for lacke of prudent and mature consideration married to a wicked Wili and perverse affection That which I have sayde of this lewd Woman the same might be sayde of all sinners because the meanes to do well are so many and the dommages so great that every sinne consummate carrieth with it that I could make a whole booke of them and perhaps in time I will do it In the meane season gentle Reader whensoever occurreth any occasion apt to induce thy Will to offende God runne not too fast after it ponder a little crave helpe from above consider thy helpes expende thy harmes and presently thou shalt see that all tentations of this worlde will become like to the huge Statue that Nabuchodonozor beheld with the head of golde the breast of silver the belly of brasse the legges of yron Daniel c. 3. the feete of yron and earth for all pleasures are golden in the entraunce but still decrease to terrestriall and earthly substaunces towardes the ende they become lothsome and are accounted vilde the little stone without any humane hands cut from the mountayne will deiect and cast prostrate on the ground this huge masse of mettall I meane the grace of Christ all the multitude of tentations and suggestions of the Divell and then thou mayest raigne over them by grace in this life and glory in the end Amen FINIS A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ Written by T W LONDON Printed for Thomas Thorpe and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crane by Walter Burre 1604. A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ AFter the death of Queene ELIZABETH who died in the 70. yeere of her age which was the Clymactericall period of her life diuerse pregnant wits and curious Philosophers were assembled by chance togither among sundry other learned Discourses one demaunded of me what were these Clymactericall yeeres their nature and effects For quoth hee I haue heard many Philosophors and Phisitians talke of them but as yet I neuer throughly could pierce or penitrate them I aunswered him that the Treatise thereof required longer time then that place and present occasions afforded but that afterwards at more ley sure hee should vnderstand them if hee were desirous to learne The Gentleman importuned me so much as at last hee drew me to write this Discourse which followeth for that it seemeth not altogether impertinent to this explanation of Passions I thinke it not vnfit to be inserted in the last Booke of the Passions of the Minde because the same temper of body and propension to death which is the base of Clymactericall yeres the very same conferres much either to mooue Passions or hinder the opperations of the soule as in the progresse of this discourse shal plainly appeare Clymax in Greeke signifieth a Staire or a Ladder and metaphorically is applyed to the yeeres of a man or womans life as if the whole course of our dayes were a certaine Ladder compounded of so many steppes True it is that as the constitutions of mens bodies are for the most parte of two sortes the one is firme and strong the other more weake and feeble so the Phisitians by long experience haue obserued that the fatall ends of them who be of a lustie constitution finish for most part in some score of yeeres and so they number such persons periods by twentie 40. 60. 80. 100. 120. And to Other count them by tens this purpose sayde Moses * whose eyes were neither darkned nor any tooth loosed * Centum viginti Deut. 31. 2. annorum sum hodie non possum vltra egredi ingridi I am now an hundred and twenty yeeres old I can no more goe out and come in that is no longer liue and so it fell out for that * same yeere Deut. 34. 7. he died And GOD himselfe said of man * Erunt Genes 6. 4. dies illius centum viginti anni The dayes of man shall be an hundred and 20. yeeres The next Clymactericall yeere in them of solide and virile constitution is an 100 and so the Scriptures report Numerus dierum vitae hominum vt Eccles 18. 8 multum centum anni The number of the dayes of the life of men at most is an 100 yeeres Another kinde of men whose complexion is weaker haue a lesser kinde of measure as they haue shorter life and yet these also be of two sorts some stronger some weaker the first Clymactericall yeeres are nine eighteene tweentie seauen thirty six forty fiue fifty foure sixty three seauenty two eighty one the seconds are seauen foureteene twenty one twenty eight thirty fiue forty twoo forty nine fifty six sixty three seauenty Of these two ages spake Dauid when hee sayde Dies annorum Psalme 89. 10. nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni amplius corum labor dolor The dayes of our yeeres are seauentie yeeres and if in Potentates they be eightie the labour and griefe is greater The most daungerous of all these passages or steps are the forty nine compounded vpon seuen times seauen and sixty three standing vppon nine times seauen and next to these is seauenty which containeth tenne times seauen they number them also by nine and so make eighty one the most perillous as comprehending nine times nine These obseruations then of Phisitians presupposed as true for men that are wise vertuous and experimented in their faculties ought to be belieued for wisdome and experience protect them from errour and honestie from lying and deceite it were good to examine and search out the cause of these notable alterations and daungers of death in the Clymactericall yeeres for those humors which alter the bodie and dispose it to sicknesse and death the same bend the soule to take inordinate affections and passions I haue heard some Phisitians resolue this doubt into the influence of heauens to wit that so manie courses of the Sunne Moone and Planets from the time of a mans Natiuitie worke such effects so that some men let them liue neuer so orderly after so manie circular motions of the Sunne and Moone haue warbled ouer their heads vppon necessitie they must fall into one sicknesse or another and so die Some others ground this varietie and daungerous diuersitie vppon the singular prouidence of God who hath created all thinges In numero pondere mensura and therefore hath
bee verified who thinketh that the Bulles with white spots which continued ever among the Egyptians and were adored for their god Apis was ever engendred by the acte of Aug. de â—ir c. 5 the Diuell to deceive the Egyptians who caused in the braine of the Cowe while she was in conceaving the imaginations of such a coloured Bul which imagination wrought so mightily that she conceaved the like and so they never wanted spotted Buls Galen also reporteth Galen de Theriaca ad Pison Gen. 30. that a woman beholding a most beautifull picture conceaved and brought forth a most beautifull childe by a most deformed father wee have also in the scriptures the like experience in Iacob who to cause his Ewes conceave speckled lambes put sundry white roddes in the chanels where the beasts were watered and thereby the lambes were yeaned party-coloured These prooved experiments by the censure of Aristotle a sage Philosopher and Galen a sound Physitian proceeded from a vehement imagination in the time of conception And for this cause saith Aristotle wee see the yonglings of bruite beastes for most parte to resemble in colours figures temper greatnesse proprieties and conditions their siers and dammes but in men we observe farre otherwise for wise parents beget foolish children vertuous vitious and contrariwise foolish parents wise children and vitious vertuous faire parents procreate foule children and deformed parents faire children and among the children of the same parents one will bee wise another foolish one fayre another foule The cause of this varietie are the various imaginations of the Parents at the time of their Conception Beastes therefore not being distracted with these various Imaginations conceave not with such diversitie I am not ignorant that Huartes in his triall of Wittes derideth this reason and saith that this answere of Aristotle savoureth of great simplicitie for he resolveth all this varietie into the multiplicity diversity of nourishment which men receive far different from beasts which is vniforme and for most part the same as also for that generation is an operation of the vegetative and not of the sensitive soule But by his leave Aristotles opinion is as probable as his and both ioyned together make one complete perfit For albeit generation be an action of our vegetive soule yet it is subordinate greatly qualified by the sensitive for divers imaginations of more or lesse pleasure in that acte inciteth more or lesse thereunto and so causeth a perfitter or more vnperfitte generation The varietie also of nourishment and qualities or tempers of the seede more or lesse concurre therewithall The fourth effect of Passions which is disquietnesse of the Minde CHAP. IIII. HEe that should see Hercules raging Orestes trembling Cain ranging Amon pining Dido consuming Archimedes running naked would little doubt that Passions mightily change and alter the quiet temper and disposition of the Minde for if peace bee a concord or consort of our sensuall soule with reason if then the Mind be quiet when the Will ruled by Prudence overruleth moderateth and governeth Passions questionlesse then the soule is troubled when Passions arise vp and oppose themselves against Reason Inordinate affections as experience teacheth many waies disquiet the Minde and trouble the peaceable state of this pettie common-weale of our soule but specially by five by Contradiction by Contrarietie by Insatiabilitie by Importunitie by Impossibilitie Contradiction § I. BY two wayes the Subiectes of every Common-weale vsually disturbe the State and breede civill broyles therein the first is when they rise vp and rebel against their King the second is when they brawle one with another and so cause riots and tumults the former is called Rebellion the latter Sedition After the same manner Passions either rebell against Reason their Lord and King or oppose themselves one against another that I call Contradiction this Contrarietie The former he well vnderstood that sayde Spiritus concupiscit Gal. 5. adversus carnem caro adversus Spiritum The Spirit affects against the Flesh the Flesh against the Spirit This internall Combate and spirituall Contradiction every spirituall man daily perceyveth for inordinate Passions will he nill he cease not almost hourely to rise vp against Reason and so molest him troubling the rest and quietnesse of his Soule It is related in the life of S. Anselme our Archbishop of Canterbury that walking In vita Anselâ—â— into the fieldes hee saw a Shepheardes little boy who had caught a Birde and tyed a stone to her legge with a thread and ever as the Bird mounted vp to soare aloft the stone drewe her downe againe The venerable olde man much mooved at this sight fell presently a weeping lamenting thereby the miserable condition of men who no sooner did endevour to ascend to Heaven by contemplation but the Flesh and Passions haled the heart backe againe and drew it downe to earth enforcing the Soule to lie there like a beast which should haue soared in the Heavens like an Angell For these rebellious Passions are like craftie Pioners who while Souldiers liue carelesly within their Castle or at least not much suspect they vndermine it and breake in so vpon them that they can hardly escape in like maner these Affections vndermine the vnderstandings of men for while the wittes are eyther carelesse or imployed in other affayres there creepeth vp into their heartes some one or other perverse Passion which transporteth the Soule cleane another way in so much as that with extreame difficultie she can recall her selfe againe and reduce her Affections vnto their former quietnesse and peaceable temper Who seeth and â—eeleth not that often times while Reason attendeth to Contemplation a villanous Passion of Love withdraweth the attention and with an attoxicated delight imprisoneth the Affection who perceyveth not that divers times Reason would pardon all iniuâ—ies and Ire opposeth it selfe importuning revenge who experimenteth not that Reason woulde willingly fast and abstayne from delicacies but inordinate Delight will feast and endure no austerities who knoweth not that Reason often prescribeth yea vrgeth to labour and payne for the service of God or to performe the affaires of the worlde and Sensualitie would passe her time idlely And after this sort almost continually inordinate Passions contradict right Reason Contrarietie of Passions §. II. THe Egyptians fought against the Egyptians the East winde riseth often against the West the South against the North the Winde against the Tyde and one Passion fighteth with an other The cholericke Cavalliere would with death revenge an iniurie but feare of killing or hanging opposeth it selfe against this Passion Gâ—â—ttonie would have dainties but Covetousnesse prescribeth parsimonie Lecherie would raigne and dominier but dreadfulnesse of infamie and feare of diseases draw in the raynes of this inordinate Affection By which opposition we may easily perceive how vnquiet is the heart of a passionate man tossed like the Sea with contrary windes even at the same time and moment An other
direct not my tongue manage not my wit move not my will without thy continual effectual and principal influence neither my heart can breathe my stomack disgest my pulses move my liver make concoction or any part of my body suck the vitall nourishment which restoreth lost forces and keepeth my life in continuance And therefore I may well say that thou art as necessary to preserve my being as in first imparting of it and as requisite to any thing I can do as my very soule substance and faculties which are principles of doing And therefore with what love should I incessantly affect thee who have such dependance vpon thee There be some fishes which presently dye if once they be taken out of the water no doubt but much more speedily should both my body and soule perish and be brought to nothing thing if they were not environed on every side above below within and without with the omnipotent vertue of thine immensive Maiesty The 13. Motive to Love which is the pardoning of Iniuries ALthough every vertue rendreth a man amiable yet some there be so immediately grounded vpon the base of love as liberality and magnificencie vpon goodnes and amity that they ravish wholy leade mens affections towards them for that by them love bountie powre out themselves by communication of what they have to others Contrarywise some other vertues so fortifie and establish a man in goodnes that they arme him invincibly and make him most potent either by mildnes not to perceive any Iniuries or so corroborate him with patience that he cannot or will not revenge them When Mary had murmured against Moses and for the foulenesse of her fault God who was most zealous of his servants estimation had stricken her with a loathsome leaprie Moses as the scripture reporteth Num. 12. being the mildest man vpon earth could not suffer this iust punishment to be inflicted vpon her but presently demaunded of God that he would cure her Whereas it seemeth that he neither perceived the Iniury nor could indure the Revenge And in very deede it cannot but proceede from a noble magnanimious minde to contemne all base iniuries offered and to disdaine to repay condignely their deserts for whomsoever I iniure I impayre either his estimation or his riches or his body or his soule he then that can tollerate such harmes sheweth himselfe superior to all that fortune or nature can affoord Alexander the great went to visite Dioâ—enes the cynicall Philosopher who would not vouchsafe to visit him and demanded of him if he had need of any thing Yes marrie quoth Diogenes who satte in his philosophicall barrell that thou stand from before mee and hinder not the Sunne from comming to me Alexander was exceedingly delighted with this answere and so wondered at the maiestie of this Philosophers minde that after his departure perceiving his Nobles and Minions to mocke and ieast at such a satyricall and exoticall answere vnto their Emperour Well well quoth Alexander you may say what you will but I assure you if I were not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes For hee desired in his heart to surmount all men and esteeme nothing and here he found Diogenes make none account of him whom hee deemed all the world feared and trembled to heare of But yet Alexander prooved not Diogenes one step further for if he had reviled him if he had whipped him divers other wayes iniuried him then he might have sayd in deede he was arrived at the haven of happinesse if he had tollerated them with patience and neither by deed word nor thought meditated or intended revenge for it is not so hard for a man to contemne that he hath not as to despise all he hath and patiently to suffer himselfe to be dispoyled of all he hath and besides in body to be afslicted as Iob or to be blinded as Tobie or cast in prison as Ioseph If Alexander so prized Diogenes vayne contempt proceeding from a popular bravado rooted in a private pride how would he have esteemed Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles who left all and followed Christs innocencye tollerating with invincible patience a sea of afflictions crosses and iniuries But thou O blessed Saviour who ecclipsed thy Maiesty with our mortall ignominies and forsooke the vse of no Macedonian Empire but of the vniversall world to whom the vse as well as the dominion belonged for in the hemme of thy garmeÌ„t we finde writteÌ„ Apoc. 19. Rex Regum and Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that is one of the basest graces and priviledges graunted to thine humanitie wherewith thy Divinitie as with a scarlet roabe was vayled was the proprietie and dominion over the world yet for all this ample inheritance over Iewe and Gentile thou hadst not so much house to cover thy head as Foxes which hold their holes and Birds that in fee-simple keepe their neasts What iniuries O sweet Iesu have sinfull soules exhaled breathed nay darted out against thy sacred humanitie frustrating it for as much as in them layd of all those noble effects which thou deserved for vs by thy most bitter death and passion and yet thou art so armed with humble mildnesse and compassion of heart that thou by internall favours and externall benefits cherishes them as though thou wert nothing offended with them but rather with opportune kindnesse seemes to contend with their importune malice with invincible patience exspecting their repentance What wrongs do wee offer every moment thy soveraigne Divinitie by transgressing thy commaundements and thereby iniurying all the attributes of thy Divine Maiesty And yet no sooner the prodigall childe sayeth peccavi O Father I have offended but thou falls vpon him with kisses and customarie favours forgetting his former follies no sooner the sinfull Magdalen batheth thy feete with mournefull teares but thou bathes her breast with pardoning ioyes Ah my God of all goodnes and mercy what shall I preferre in thee the benefits I have received from thy hands or the not present revenging of iniuries thou hast received from my hart for in them thou communicated thy goodnes conformably vnto thy will here thou sustayned dishonour against thy will that tended to glorifie thee and perfit vs this impugneth thee and destroyeth vs iniuries were violent benefits connaturall iniuries issued from corruption and aymed at destruction benefits proceeded from mercie and aymed at the reliefe of miserie iniuries deserved infamie and benefits recognition glory wherein then didst thou shew more love bounty in conferring benefits or pardoning iniuries Questionles in pardoning iniuries for temporall favours and spirituall graces all except Christs incarnation his merits and death argue but a limited greatnes not infinit because a gift amongst men is thought to proceed from a proportionable love vnto the gift as for example if a king give a 1000. pound we valew his love to the person who receiveth such a benefit in the degree of the
fields as Paradises of pleasure wherein was layd by the author of nature a reward for those who had not abused nature but grace being above nature affordeth vs more motives to vertue more helps to flie vice 11 What adamant heart can be so hardned with vice that the blood of Christ shall not breake why was he drawne vp the Crosse but to draw vs to vertue from vice Why cryed he longe à salute mea verba delictorum but because he crucified indeede our sinnes in his owne body which in vaine before without vertue of this passion had been washed with blood of goats and calves 12 The Sacraments of his Church those fountaines of grace those conduits of his passion those heavenly medicines those linckes and chaynes wherewith the members of Christes church are vnited in religion for what other effect were they instituted than for the watering of our soules to the encrease of vertue and the whole supplanting of vice 13 The internall gifts of God the armour of Faith Hope and Charitie with graces and favors wherewith the holy ghost endueth our soules fortifie vs against vice and habilitate exceedingly to vertue 14 The manifold inspirations of God the illustrations of his holy Angels which stand in battell aray to defend vs tend to no other end than to perswade vs to vertue and disswade vs from vice 15 Why hath God provided so many teachers and preachers but to be so many watchmen over the house of Israel to cry like Trumpets and blaze the sinnes of the house of Iacob lest by wallowing in wickednesse they reclaime no more to goodnesse 16 The holy scriptures were written with the finger of God as Registers of his eternall will letters of love to invite vs to vertue and threatnings of ire to dehort vs from vice therein by more sure authoritie he delivereth vnto vs whatsoever he had written more obscurely in the booke of Nature perswading directing counselling to goodnes pietie and religion disswading diverting threatning and terrifying from vice impietie and vngodlines wherefore one of the chiefest scopes for which the sacred Volume was sent from Heaven was to make vs decline from evill and do good dye to old Adam and live with Christ crucifie sinne and follow vertue 17 God by his infinite wisedome and charitie gave vs not only teachers in words but also actors in deeds not only them who filled our eares with godly perswasions but also them which represented vertue most lively to our eyes with good examples and holy actions so were the lives of Saintes in all ages as so many Orig. libr. 1. in Iob Grego ibid. Starres which gave vs light how to walke in the darkenesse of this life and so many spurres to pricke vs forward that we should not linger in so divine a voyage Their fervent charitie reprehendeth our tepiditie their diligence in Gods service our negligence their watching and praying our sluggishnes and indevotion 18 If there were a Kings sonne of most beautifull countenance and divine aspect resembling his father as much as a sonne could doe who would not iudge this Prince both inhumane and mad if he would cut mangle and disgrace his owne face with grieslie woundes and vgly formes What an iniurie were this against his father what an offence against all his parents Even such crueltie vse sinners to themselves and God because by sinning they deface and mangle that lively Image of the holy Trinitie drawne by God himselfe in the substance of theyr soules and so are iniurious not onely to themselves but also to their God their Father their King the holy and individed Trinitie 19 Who spoyleth Gods Temple is accounted irreligious who prophaneth his Church is thought sacriligious and who but he which hath lost all sparks of pietie dare adventure to attempt so heinous a crime Yet Vitious adventure and performe it they prophane their bodyes and soules they fell them to lust and wickednesse they expell the holy ghost from them they put him forth of his iust possession which he holdeth over them as a Father by vertue and after by wicked deserts enforce him as a iudge like prisoners to iayle them by iustice 20 Those which live in Christs true Catholike Church by communion of Saints enioy an other meane to doe well and that is the common prayers and supplications of the faithfull which beate continually at the gates of Gods mercy and doubtlesse returne not voyde agayne for many petitions God hardly can deny 21 A dioyne hereunto the supernaturall providence of God which feedeth the foule of the ayre and cloatheth the lillies of the field the which being so carefull of vnreasonable creatures what shall we thinke he doth to the faithfull questionlesse he neither will sleepe nor slumber that watcheth the house of Israel he will keepe his servants as the apple of his eye he will give them meate in due season he will finally sustaine their weakenesse erect them if they fall direct them if they erre succour them if they want refresh them in the heates of concupiscences mittigate the tempests of their temptations moderate the waves of wicked occasions 22 The horrible paines of Hell thundred in holy Writ the weeping and gnashing of teeth the woorme which will gnaw perpetually vpon the very heart of the soule with remorce of conscience those inextinguible flames of infernall fornaces that cruell hatred of griesly Divels and vgly hell-hounds those remedilesse paines and torments without hope of recoverie remission or mittigation and above all that privation and losse of the sight of the face of God prepared for all those that would serve him in sanctitie and holinesse of life all these evils certainely to be incurred I thinke might move sufficiently any wise man to looke about him what he doth whether he goeth what reckoning he must make for these be not May-games or Esops fables but sacred truths registred in Scriptures dayly put in execution hourely felt and of every wicked man to be prooved 23 If God had onely terrified vs from sinne with inexplicable paynes every discreete man might have had sufficient cause to abhorre it but besides having invited vs to vertue by promising ineffable ioyes who can now excuse vs what can we pretend With reward he pricks vs forward with torments he drawes vs backward he bridles our wantonnesse with one and spurres on our slouthfulnesse with the other 24 Vertue of it selfe even naked if neither reward had been promised nor punishment threatned might sufficiently have mooved vs to love her and follow her because she carrieth such a shew of honestie such internall beautie such a grace and excellencie that her possession may be thought a sufficient remuneration 25 The horrible punishments mentioned in Scriptures inflicted for sinne even in this life if we had grace might inforce vertue vpon vs for what cast Adam out of Paradise Sinne what wounded him in nature and spoyled him of grace Sinne what drowned the world Sinne what rained fire and
brimstone from heaven vpon those infamous citties of Sodome and Gomorrha Sinne many examples more I could bring out of the old Testament as deaths of private men Princes submersions of armies dispersions of Countries mortalitie of thousands famin warres plagues captivities and imprisonments for no other cause inflicted than wickednesse and sinne but let vs only fixe our eies vpon the Sonne of God nayled vpon the Crosse and we shall see how sinne mangled his body and afflicted his soule those nayles teares streames of blood exclamations gall and paines are monuments of sinne and memories of our perverse and wicked life 26 Above all other evils incident to an evill life of great force to restraine our vntoward willes from vice is the extreame iniurie we offer to God by sinne transgressing his lawe perverting his order disposition and providence iniuring his infinite goodnes which ought of all creatures to be beloved despising his Maiestie to which as to their last end all men ought to direct their actions And finally shewing our selves vngratefull to his love the which ought to be affected with all submission obedience and gratitude 27 What can more deterre men from wickednesse then their owne private losse or move them more to vertue then their owne present gaine By vice our soules are spoyled of their riches their most precious robes heavenly attire by vertue they are apparelled by vice they are wounded even to the centre by vertue they are healed by vice they are impoverished by vertue enriched by vice they are defiled by vertue cleansed by vice they become dennes of devils by vertue seates of Angels 28 But some will obiect the soule is spirituall and her losses cannot so well be perceived but if we had some palpable sensible motives to draw vs from vice to vertue then the case would be altered But sensible reasons want not and no day or hower passeth wherein appeareth not some silent sermon or reall perswasion to avoyd sinne and follow goodnes Do we not see dayly men dye is not death of the body caused by the death of the soule is it not an effect of Adams originall disobedience Whence-from proceed so many diseases plagues and pestilences that Phisitians braines are troubled to know their number for the multitude or reduce them to method they are so disordered But say what brought first hunger and thirst sweate and labour toyling and moyling into this world but our forefathers gluttonie What made so many poore men such a number of beggars but Adams originall theft what causeth our dayes to be so short that many drop away in the very prime of their yeeres few come to the time their complexion requireth the strongest scarce arriveth to a hundred yeeres but our progenitours inordinate appetite of Divinitie and consequently of eternitie finally the terror of death ever imminent the dayly crosses in common conversation the distonsorted courses of the heavens with their influences tempests and stormes contrary to the generation and increase of fruites of the earth the disobedience of beasts the cruelty of men the craft and cosinage we dayly prove all descend from sinne and well admonish vs that if one sinne deserved so many so long so great punishments what will a multitude 29 Wicked men do not only by offences iniurie the maiestie of God but also they abuse his gifts and benefits not only like Scorpions they kill their mother before they be hatched but also like vngratefull debtours oppugne their creditours with their own goods for the vngodly vse that will God gave them to love him to hate him that wit he bestowed vpon them to meditate vpon his law commandements they pervert by thinking how to transgresse them that hart he imparted to affect their neighbours in pure love and charitie that they defile with malice and dishonestie that tongue he lent them to vtter his prayses that they blot with othes and blasphemies those hands he framed as flowing conduits to feede the poore those are wholy imployed to avarice and rapine and to be briefe that vniversall body and soule which ought to have bin kept in holines and sanctification they abuse to offend God with sinne and prevarication 30 To conclude all creatures which God created for the vse of man and as servants attended vpon him as their maister all they I say exclaime against a vitious life they are so many trumpets which cease not to sound the abuses we offer them by offending their Maker the Sunne giveth the light to worke works of light not to live in the shadow of darknes the Moone with her fecunditie inviteth thee to bring forth fruites of iustice and not iniquitie the harmonie of the heavens the multitude varietie brightnes of so many Starres and Planets exhort thee to subordinate thy soule to God to adorne thy minde with vertue to give good example and shine vnto men by a godly conversation Isay 24. 23. for otherwise in signe of revenge before the day of Mat. 24. 29. iudgement they will withdraw theyr beames fall from heaven vpon thee shew themselves as disdainefull to behold Mark 13. 24. sinners as sinners were carelesse to enioy the benefite of their influences and operations to the glory Wisd 5 18. Armabit creaturam ad vltionem immicorum of God and the profite of their soules By this it appeareth what abundance of meanes God hath imparted to vs to the intent all difficulties in the way of Vertue might with facility bee over-commed some be internall some externall some of grace some of nature some instructing the vnderstanding some inclining the affection some continuall some by turnes and to be briefe no man can say that God hath beene a niggard with him but that he hath beene vnanswerable to God The Impediments to Vertue MAn in this world standeth in the middest betwixt God and the divell both pretend to win him to their Kingdomes God to eternall pleasure Sathan to eternall payne God by his power could quickely deliver him and breake all the bondes and chaynes wherewith the divell did or doth bind him but his wisedome thought good not to admit any man of wisedome and discretion to his friendship without his ownâ— consent for as Saint Augustine saith Qui creavit te sine te non iustificabit te sine te He that created thee without thee that is thy consent or cooperation will not iustifie thee without thee that is thy consent cooperation Wherefore wee see Christ in Scriptures so often asked them whom he cured in body and healed in soule Vis Iohn 5. 6. Mat. 9. 2. 22. Luke 8. 50. sanus esse confide crede and such like speeches which signifie that hee would not cure any but them who were willing wherefore God would not oppose all his power and might against our ghostly enemies but onely such sweete meanes as might procure our assent and yet able to overthrow all the troupes of our adversaries he beats at