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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45744	A treatise of moral and intellectual virtues wherein their nature is fully explained and their usefulness proved, as being the best rules of life ... : with a preface shewing the vanity and deceitfulness of vice / by John Hartcliffe ...	Hartcliffe, John, 1651-1712.	1691 (1691)	Wing H971; ESTC R475	208,685	468

Tongues What it is to rule the Tongue is to weigh and consider what we are about to speak and to restrain our selves from uttering that which upon consideration we find is not fit to be made known And be we never so passionately earnest to ease our Minds yet we must chuse rather to offer the greatest violence to our Passions than give our selves leave to speak that which sober Consideration and sound Christianity do not allow of Both which do principally charge us to speak nothing when we are urged to speak much or to speak gently and wisely when our Passions would move us to speak at random THEREFORE we must bridle our Tongues especially from meddling with these five things 1. Vanity 2. Swearing and Cursing 3. Lying 4. Flattery 5. Reproach and Scoffing For by these Evils most of the mischief that is in the World is promoted He who babbles that which is vain and trivial is altogether useless and He who speaks that which is false is very destructive at least to himself He who Flatters abuses his Friends with false Countenances and feigned Speeches He who Reproaches wounds his Neighbour and violates the great Duties incumbent on us Justice and Charity He that swears profanes God which is a certain sign of a vain and light Spirit that considers little and cannot distinguish Things TO the Question Why we ought to bridle our Tongues I shall answer in two Instances Want of consideration the cause of speaking foolishly and rashly First BY shewing the Evils that accompany an unbridled Tongue 2. BY shewing the rare Effects of a well-governed Conversation NOW if a Man doth not consider what He is to say in some measure he speaks he knows not what how great a Folly is it to offer that to the judgment of others whereof a Man hath made no judgment himself to speak Words and expect the Hearer should put Sense into them though the Speaker intended none Whereas weighty and deep Sense lies low and deep in the mind is not easily and readily drawn out Wise Sayings and Sage Counsels do not dwell upon the Tip of the Tongue they do not edg and fringe our Lips they do not gush out like pent-Waters but spring gently and easily drop by drop So the heaviest Bodies lie nearest the Centre Gold and Silver are in the hidden Mines of the Earth while dirt and mire cover its Face So the Treasures of the Sea sink to the bottom while Foam swims aloft like unto which are rash und hasty Words that knock at every Ear that importune every Man that ask and answer every Question They are the Scum of an empty Mind the very froth of an unsetled and uncomposed Spirit WHEN therefore I see a Man swell with Pride and Scorn with Envy and Wrath saying This Man hath no Religion and the other knows nothing of the Power of Godliness This is a Formalist and That an Hypocrite this is Ignorant and the other meerly Moral I can no more think him to be a good Christian than I can believe Scorn to be Piety Bitterness to be Love or Fury to be Patience WHEN I see a Man haunt Atheistical Company hear him Rioting in Wine when vain Discourse fills his Mouth and Trifles wag his Tongue as puffs of Wind shake the leaf of the Asp when uncleanness flows out of his Belly into his Mouth I must needs think that his Heart is full of these Fornications which have debauch'd his Tongue and that all these Evils are painted tot he life in his impure Fancy which hedescribes in his Discourse Men will be judged of according to their words Wherefore let a Man speak as He would be thought to be For whatever slight Thoughts any man hath of his Words others will pass Sentence on him according to them and the less he considers them the more they will be considered by others and that to his shame and to the disgrace of that Religion which He doth profess MOREOVER an unbridled Tongue disturbs the World fills it with Confusion and darkens all with Smoak and no wonder for it sets all things on fire and no wonder at that neither being its self set on fire of Hell and as a spark will kindle a great Fire so a word hath been often the occasion of many Quarrels and of Deaths in the World For Words are the wings of evil Reports and evil Reports are the Arrows of evil Tongues and wicked Words feather those Arrows they carry an ill Tale through a whole Country and propagate Mischief as the Sun doth Light swiftly and on every side they publish it in the Streets or at the Table and whisper it in the Closet so every place is infected with Calumnies evil Surmises and bitter Censures Scornful Speeches the rise of most differences Look but into any Neighbourhood and how many Feuds shall you find between Brother and Brother How few Families shall you find not infected with this Breath that are not filled with Suspicions that are not exasperated with Contests and Contradictions Then if you enquire into the reason of these inordinate Heats and unchristian Distempers you will find they began thus this Neighbour spoke contemptibly of the other and He returned the Scorn again then mutual Scorns beget mutual Grudges and God knows where those Grudges will end For He that draws the Sword must as we use to say throw away the Scabbard So He that speaks a rash Word little knows the offence He may give what jarrs he may kindle and how far or how long they may be propagated For commonly men entail their Quarrels upon their Children and following Generations inherit the the Animosities of their Ancestors and Children study to Revenge their Parents sufferings Hence come endless Suits at Law and hence proceed many bloody Duels For how many have lost their Estates to satisfie a Passion How many have rather chosen to die upon the point of a Sword that have the pain of a sharp Reproof So great miseries doth Evil-speaking produce in the World besides the confusion it creates in a man 's own Soul for it makes the same shakings within as it does without Now there can no greater Evil befal a man in the judgment of the Holy and Wise than to have his mind the Seat of a War than to have Wrath Malice Fear and Revenge clashing one against another in his own Heart For every man 's own Spirit should be a Sanctuary or a place of Rest to himself after the hurries that he meets with in the World and in the government of its Affairs a man should always have God and a peaceable Mind to retreat to for this is the security of wise and good Men that the disturbances which are without them do not reach their thoughts looking outward when they see nothing but Disorder and hear nothing but Clamour within they find peace and joy and light even the Light of God's Countenance and of a clear Conscience But

Lust The Ancients for this is no new Device have prosecuted this part of obscene Story under the name of Fabulae Milesiae and lest perchance it might have fallen to the ground some that have born the Christian Name have made themselves Panders to publick Lust and by no meaner Authors than Christian Bishops have continued the course of these Speculative Lusts The first that opened the way to this Wickedness was Heliodorus whom in our time the famous Author of the Arcadia hath fully imitated nay for Wit and Elegancy hath not much failed if he hath not fully equalled him For this reason some Moralists resolve that young Persons must not be suffered to look into lascivious Books and some pieces of Poetry because tho they are fittest to learn Virtue by the Precepts of Morality yet they are most apt by the Arts made use of in these Discourses to be drawn into Vice being set forth in the most charming postures and in the most taking colours THE idle Monks have spent their time in furnishing the World with abundance of this Trash in all Languages I forbear to mention any because I would not serve as an Index to others to make enquiry I wish the Authors of these Books had all acted like him who made Amadis de Gaul for he gave order at his death that his Books should be burnt as being conscious of the mischief they had done upon which our Brittish Martial hath left this Distich Si meruit poenas quod flammam accendat amoris Mergi non uri debuit iste Liber Howsoever it had been whether by Burning or Drowning these Works had been abolish'd it is not of much moment so the World had been fairly rid of them What hath been said of Cavaliero Marini who at his death left all his Bones to be Glyster-pipes that there were more things to be praised and more to be condemned in his Works than in any whatsoever That may be affirmed of many of these Milesian Impurities for smart Wit smooth Elegancy pleasant Conceits and much fair Discourse have served as Salt for this insipid Stuff the better to excuse and draw it on And where we meet with polite Language and quaint Inventions without one good moral Saying those compositions are wholly unprofitable and besides their uncleanness is many times so foul and shameless that no modest Person can look into them whence we may conclude that Feasting and Romances have been the two main Props which have supported Gluttony and Lust the two principal parts of Intemperance THE last of which doth this mischief in the life of Man that it is sometimes like a Syren tempting with amorous Addresses sometimes like a Fury turbulent and ungovernable for many lustful persons are so impatient of any Bridle that they seem to think their Girdles and Garters to be Bonds and Shackles to them The contempt of Marriage most pernicious to Society But among all the Evils which the indulging of Lust doth bring forth the despising of Marriage is the most pernicious to Human Society for certainly Wife and Children are as my Lord Bacon observes a kind of Discipline of Humanity WE might inlarge our selves far more amply should we speak of all those things which by publick warrant plead for the sin of Lust under the soft and specious Name of Love which Passion when once it can take Men off from their serious Affairs and Actions of Life it troubleth their Fortunes and makes them that they can no ways be true to their own ends Something should be said concerning the abuse of Musick and Dancing to the same purpose Musick abused For excepting the practice of the former in our Devotions and religious Assemblies most other uses thereof are merely to be a Bawd to Lust For if we look upon the Subjects of those Lessons that are taught in the ordinary Education of Youth in this Art we shall find that there is scarce any Argument expressed but what plainly tends to the spoiling their Manners for either the Person boasts himself in the good success of his Love or lamentably bewails the Coyness of his Mistress or is profuse in the praises of her Beauty which none commonly sees but himself Love being the Architect of Beauty or he runs out in description of the Symmetry of her parts or despairs of ever enjoying his Wishes These and the like Fancies full of languishing and flattery are the usual entertainments in the practice of Musick AS for Dancing Dancing very Ancient the Antiquity of it may make us think it a branch of the Law of Nature which every Nation both Civil and Barbarous have expressed their mirth by whereof so much may be safely learned as may give a good and graceful motion to the Body But the use now made of it since it is become a difficult Study serves only to chaff the Blood and to set the Mind upon such pleasures as will corrupt the very Being and Essence of all Moral Virtues SHOULD we prosecute farther this and the other like publick provocations unto Lust it would appear unto most Men nothing else but affected Stoicism However ere we take leave of the Virtue of Temperance it will not be amiss to speak something concerning the moderate use of Sleep Somne quies rerum placidissime somne Deorum IF then it be so sweet it must belong to our Sense it were improper to attribute it to the Touch or Taste for no Man could ever tell us of what Taste it is yet certainly it belongs to all the Senses For in the definition thereof we say it is ligatio sensuum externorum a binding of the outward Senses by reason of the ascent of vapours from the Stomack or otherwise by which the passages from the Heart or the Brain are obstructed and cannot give a supply of Spirits to the outward Senses as for the inward Senses of the Mind they suffer not by Sleep which is the privation of the Act of Sense the Power remaining which is evident in the case of Dreams when the Brain is as it were benumm'd and having not its motion in every part alike its Thoughts appear like the Stars between the flying Clouds not in the order which a Man would chuse to observe them but as the uncertain flight of broken Clouds permits NOW the Natural end of Sleep is the refreshing of our strength when it is exhausted we therefore usually say that it is Sleep The end of Sleep which to make one part of our lives profitable makes the other unprofitable wherefore our King Alfred divided the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into three parts eight hours he allotted for Study and Business eight for Eating and Recreations and as many for Sleep So that moderate Sleep takes up one third part of our life which moderation of Sleep can appertain to no other Virtue than to that which is the Moderator of all sensual Pleasures Temperance And we have great reason to follow moderation in